Saturday, June 19, 2004
I LOVE DEMOCRACY [Chris]
Here's one reason why I love the free world and modern personal international diplomacy...
Bag Tag...
"A label from a laptop computer bag that is made by a small American company for overseas customers:
Here is the translation from the French:
Wash with warm water.
Use mild soap.
Dry flat.
Do not use bleach.
Do not dry in the dryer.
Do not iron.
We are sorry that our President is an idiot.
We did not vote for him."
Found via Corpus Callosum, the label is on a computer bag made by Tom Bihn.
Posted on
10:30 PM
Friday, June 18, 2004
SPIDEY'S FULL RUN [wrench]
Ever contemplated how much an entire run of Spider-Man comics is really worth? Of course not--BORING. But have no fear, because I geeked out, ran some numbers, and found the skinny: Ok, if we want to do this right then we need to account for not only Spider-Man's ongoing series, past and present (which includes Amazing Spider-Man, Spectacular Spider-Man, Web of Spider-Man, Spider-Man Unlimited, Sensational Spider-Man, Ulitmate Spider-Man and, uh, Spider-Man) but all of the arachnid's mini-series (Marvel Knights Spider-Man, Tangled Web); his anthology stories (Webspinners); alternature future stories (Spider-Man 2009); and team-up books (Marvel Team-Up, Spider-Man Team-Up, Ultimate Marvel Team-Up)--are we nausious yet? Anyway, you could bare down on this even more and go transcontinental, such as collecting the adventures of the rising sun webslinger in his Japanese import, Spider-Man Manga. Plus, there are the movie adaptations, freebies, and kid-targeted books based on the wall crawler's many cartoons...
All of which, as kindly guesstimated by the professional comic geeks at Wizard, comes to, oh, somewhere around $141,000.
Posted on
9:23 PM
NO WORDS [Jason]
I'm not usually caught by sensational stories but this one Homeless man was too shocking and horrific to not notice.
Eight rotten people set a poor homeless man on fire while he was sleeping on a bench. It's incomprehensible to me how anyone could do that to someone with so little.
I have a lot of empathy for the homeless, as I was once homeless at roughly the same age this poor guy is. It's such a reprehensible act, I can't fathom why it happened, why they did it.
Posted on
1:24 AM
Thursday, June 17, 2004
HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER? [coolmel]
these Metafilter junkies think they know the answer. but i'm more interested on how to get away with suicide.
Posted on
4:15 PM
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
TO GENIUSES EVERYWHERE [.j.evonne.]
One of the great joys of being on the road these past few weeks was catching the graduation recital of Erin & Caitlin Stephens-North, two New England songsmiths and artists on a higher plane. They performed 20+ pieces, mostly their own works like this one from HOW TO BE A GENIUS:
How 'bout this
Have your own ideas
MANIFEST them
Use ellipses to get YOUR point across
Because it feels right. Is right.
Use the right color, the right movement, the right interval to convey
Not because it's regurgitated
Because it has to be born
Easy enough to say
Of course not everyone needs to create
Needs to communicate the flickering profundity
Or couldn't tell Quality from mediocrity if they were wearing little "hello-my-name-is" name tags
Though so many fewer than we perceive
If we only dug and thought and didn't settle until we felt
Something, waiting expectantly for reality not knowing we aren't living it
And it won't come until we decide to claim our genius
The Smiling Buddha
The real moments
Of art beauty passion glory wisdom truth transcendence fire bliss agony epiphany euphoria angst revelation nightmare catharsis connection sweet melancholic reflection the present REALITY
They have nothing up on you if you decide to live
Take nothing less than what is worthwhile
It is waiting...
Posted on
11:41 PM
PROPS TO THE BIG DADDY OF THE WORLD WIDE WEB [coolmel]
"If I had tried to demand fees . . . there would be no World Wide Web, there would be lots of small webs,"
Sir Tim Berners-Lee is not only a visionary, he also understands the concept of free culture. he deserves the honor."Building the web, I didn't do it all myself," Berners-Lee, 49, said at the award ceremony. "The really exciting thing about it is that it was done by lots and lots of people, connected with this tremendous spirit."... "I was just taking lots of things that already existed and added a little, little bit,"....
really fluffy.
Posted on
12:17 PM
"ELVIN IS THE BEAT OF LIFE." [wrench]
That's what rocker, Carlos Santana, had to say regarding the death of acclaimed jazz drummer and Coltrane quartet member, Elvin Jones, who passed away May 18th from heart failure. He was 76, and even with failing health continued to perform until his very last weeks. Santana sums up Jones' poly-rhythmic playing and its influence best by citing the stickman's seminal drum work on Coltrane's A Love Supreme:When that intro comes in. . . it's like the gates of heaven opening. . . In fact, when I die, if I don't hear 'A Love Supreme,' I'll turn back; I'll know I'm in the wrong place. For me, Elvin was Numero Uno, forever, for all ages, for all existence.
Rest easy, El.
Posted on
12:01 AM
Monday, June 14, 2004
FOREVER YOUNG, DIE YOUNG [coolmel]
found this cool thread on Slashdot via Instapundit -- Engineering An Age to Aging.
forget about reincarnation. start pondering on your infinite lifespans. depending on your personal life condition, this could either be a blessing or a curse. for me it's a curse.
Posted on
6:52 PM
EQUALITY IN HYPE [Matthew]
An ethical something or other requires me to give mention to the upcoming film called Michael Moore Hates America. You can watch the trailer here. According to the statement by the filmmaker: Contrary to its title, Michael Moore Hates America isn't a hatchet job on the filmmaker. It's a journey across the nation where we meet celebrities, scholars and average folks alike, and we find out whether the American Dream is still alive! In the process, we'll look at Michael Moore's claims about the country, its people, and our way of life.
The really funny thing is that the documentarian, Michael Wilson, has been following Moore along the famous personality's promotional paths, and has tried (to no avail as of yet) to interview him for MMHA. So I guess we'll see how well Moore takes some of his own cinematic medicine. For those who aren't a big fan of Moore's, this strikes me as exactly the way to express their disagreement with his movies and style.
Posted on
2:05 PM
Sunday, June 13, 2004
WHAT IS A FREE CULTURE? [coolmel]
perhaps one could begin by asking, what does a free culture look like?
better yet, checkout the Flash presentation. it's a good start... Lessig rocks!
Posted on
7:20 PM
