retro gaming fun!

Todd Levin is writing a fun series called "Consoles I Have Known," a personal narrative of his video game history. Well written, and it will send you down memory lane.

designer life

Ever wonder what it's like to write software? Here's a pretty cool piece about the life of a software engineer, with some good ruminations on coding and art.

she has a way with sauce

more Bourdain love!

unmentionables

two weird sites:

• safe2pee, a searchable database of public bathrooms....this could be helpful if you have internet access from a cell phone
  
• KnickerPicker, an online lingerie store with virtual underwear models
  

art is where you find it.

Those wonderful folks at Coilhouse have introduced me to another fabulous artist, Edward Burtynsky, who specializes in manufactured landscapes They're a real shocker, a strange and wonderful mix of beauty and massively conflicting motions on civilization and the environment. Also, check out the Burtynsky's web site for more cool shots.

the next shot in the tech wars

The New York Times has a very cool article analyzing Microsoft's bid for Yahoo. In short, this bid, the article argues, is "a tacit, and difficult, admission that the company did not get its online business right" and is thus really Microsoft taking on Google. It goes deeper than that, of course.

I wonder how much in a panic Microsoft really is. Vista is regarded in many circles as a bust, and Word 2007 inspires more loathing than any piece of software I can recall seeing. On top of that, Apple largely spanked Microsoft in the music player war, and the Zune ain't gonna get them caught up. Microsoft might very well be panicking, looking for some line of business to enter when their software dominance finally dries up.

And their software seems on the ropes, getting smacked around by open source. Firefox is undergoing significant market share growth. More and more students are turning in papers using OpenOffice. And the signs of Linux's entry into the public consciousness are growing. Hell, even I now have an Ubuntu machine.

This should get interesting. Stay tuned.

trendy stuff

If we've ever talked academics, you've probably heard me praise to the skies the network theorist Duncan Watts. I just found a cool article on the man that I think everyone should read. Go to it.

helpful technology

Popular Mechanics has a cool article by Mythbuster Jamie Hyneman on his pet peeves with technology. Lots of good stuff here...most of all, the recognition that many producers of consumer goods have "ease of use" as the last thing on their minds.

do I make you laugh?

Smithsonian Magazine has a brilliant article by Steve Martin on comedy theory. It's amazingly intense, theoretical, intelligent, and just plain goofy funny.

words...words...words

Virgil, the genius who brought the web WikiScanner (a site which tracks what organizations are editing Wikipedia), had taken Facebook "my favorite books" list, correlated them by university average SAT score, and come up with a brilliant chart called Booksthatmakeyoudumb.

The findings are fascinating. The smartest book? Seems to be a tie between Lolita and 100 Years of Solitude.

What will computers of the future look like?

Here's a demo on how to do 3d computer desktops with current technology...very cool, and the possibilities are great.

Josh Ritter Returns to Letterman (

A cool music clip.

another "pop culture is evil" story

...only this one has a twist. CNN tells of the anti-popular culture crusades of the evangelical movement. It's a sign of humanity that there are so many people who, rather than examine something with an open eye, would rather regress into puritanical rage.

naked

A few days ago, Slate had a cool photo essay on Spenser Tunick. Tunick is the art photographer who specializes in arranging naked people into the popular landscape. I was first exposed to him via the marvelous HBO documentary Naked States.

The essential question here is, "How much does authorial intent matter in determining if something is art?"

the A/V Club strikes again!

Two very cool interviews from The Onion A/V Club...whom I'm increasingly becoming convinced might be one of the finest web publications out there.

First off is an interview with Nina Hartley. For those of you who don't know Ms. Hartley, she is an adult film performer and feminist activist. No, that's not a contradiction in terms. This is a fabulous interview, a must-read for anyone interested in the sex industry, but also for anyone interested in the politics of gender.

Secondly, it's more on Anthony Bourdain, talking about the new season of No Reservations, one of the top ten shows on television.

honestly, officer, I thought she was hitch-hiking

A very cool paper about the economics of prostitution for you.

you can"t look away!

From the "this is important and I should pay more attention to this, but I spend more time thinking about conservative weirdos than I want to already" file, apparently media blowhard Rush Limbaugh is taking exception to Newt Gingrich's assertion that the era of Reagan is over.

It's both interesting and convoluted, which is why I'm trying to rebrand myself as a media studies scholar rather than an eighties guy.

free fiction!

Here's a page with links to 17 complete free online comics, including issue one of Sandman, issue one of Fell, and much more. If you are one of those poor unfortunates who only thinks of comics as "kid's stuff," please read here to see serious, adult material (and I don't mean "adult" as "boom chaka lacka").

the worst consumer product in the world

The geniuses at Anheiser Bush have decided--no lie--to combine Bud and Clamato. I am utterly incapable of making this up or adding to the conversation in any way.

new fave artist

One of the things I love about the internet is the ability to discover neat, interesting, wonderful things that you wouldn't even hear about otherwise. A prime example is the painter Zdzisław Beksiński, whom I discovered via a brief Coilhouse profile. They also link to a cool gallery of his work.

If only I could see some in the flesh. It's gorgeous, creepy, nerve-wracking, and seductive all at the same time.

identity politics parodied

Another cool parody, this time in the form of a "I Think I Might Be Straight" pamphlet. This one does a particularly good job of covering the uneducated/"this might happen to you" vibe of the original.

Journalism 2.0

A while back, Warren Ellis posted a link to Journalism 2.0: How to Survive and Thrive (as a pdf). Ellis calls it “digital literacy guide for the information age”...and who are we to argue with him?

offensitivity perfection

Those wacky folks at The Onion are at it again, with a great headline: "Man Finally Put In Charge Of Struggling Feminist Movement." Like all great Onion headlines, this plays on pervasive stereotypes yet ultimately skewers the stereotypee...kind of like Zappa.

Tom's unknown advantage over Jerry

Korean scientists have developed (is this the right word?) glow in the dark cats. The video is very creepy, although it's not as scary as glow pigs....hey, isn't that a Black Sabbath song?

The Original Human TETRIS Performance by Guillaume Reymond

It's even more addictive than the original!