the cacophony of sarcophagi (and other tales)

The way the next decade will progress in this industry that...

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:16:00 -0500

The way the next decade will progress in this industry that I’ve so stupidly chosen is impossible to grasp today, but I am, and have been, a person who is hopeful that technology can figure out a way to maintain some facsimile of the traditional magazine-reading experience. That is sort of what the folks in the above video are envisioning. The possibilities for digital publishing/magazines that they present are the best theoretical representation of one likely future for magazines/journalism that I’ve seen. And, oddly enough, it’s pretty close to the sort of thing that has existed in my head for a while now — which is oh-so-soothingly helping to combat the alternate, Freddy Kruger-after-a-trip-to-Balco-like nightmare I have otherwise been having where Google Reader-style aggregation of plain text ultimately destroys any widespread demand for the traditional article presentation stylings that magazines have been advancing for the past, oh, 150 years. But if something like this — or even better — can be achieved to a scalable degree, then all the opportunities laid out here by these Silicon Valley-type R&D guys (plus such concepts not really addressed, like being able to use video and other interactive graphics for sidebars) are incredibly appealing to the point that I wish the industry would just hurry up and revolutionize itself already so that I can stop wasting my — and everyone else’s — time and energy by continuing the exercise in fighting against inevitability that is primitively writing on printed paper. If the advances of digital media can be embedded and incorporated in this type of a hand-held experience that maintains — as the dude seems to prioritize — the unique, editorially finite quality of the magazine as a medium rather than fully embracing the “never-ending happy, happy, joy world that is awesomely cool yet ultimately too distraction- and nonsequitor-laden to work optimally” quality that is the current state of the internet, well then, jeez, that’s just sweet. Maybe this whole “publishing” industry thing does have a future after all.

(from Bonnier with a hat tip to @themediaisdying)

via DryedMangoez and from The World Series Defense episode of...

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 19:49:00 -0500

via DryedMangoez and from The World Series Defense episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia aka the best show since The Wire.

tumbledore: National Equivalents of Greenhouse Gas Emissions...

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 13:39:27 -0500

tumbledore:

National Equivalents of Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Energy Consumption

fuckyeahtvpicspam: Charlie: Hello, Charlie Kelly here, local...

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:42:37 -0500

fuckyeahtvpicspam:

Charlie: Hello, Charlie Kelly here, local business owner and cat enthusiast. Is your cat making too much noise all the time? Is your cat constantly stomping around, driving you crazy? Is your cat clawing at your furnitures? Think there’s no answer? You’re so stupid, there is: Kitten Mittons! Finally, there’s an elegant, comfortable mitten for cats. I couldn’t hear anything. Is your cat one legged? Is your cat fat, skinny, or an in-between? That doesn’t matter, ‘cause one size fits all. Kitten Mittons, you’ll be smitten. So come on down to Paddy’s Pub, we’re the home of the original Kitten Mittons. Meeeoooow.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia 5.08 - “Paddy’s Pub: Home of the Original Kitten Mittens”

(via barnumyay)

(via notbeingserious)

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:17:17 -0500

(via notbeingserious)

Glad they stopped before Universal Mind...

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:13:11 -0500

Glad they stopped before Universal Mind Control.

okayplayer:

jaywade:

michaelwho:

hiphop-quotables:

click to enlarge

This guy suffers from all three major forms of awesome. Happy...

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:14:12 -0500

This guy suffers from all three major forms of awesome. Happy birthday, Sam.

anidlersdream:

Mark Twain — b. November 30, 1835

It is always extra impressive when someone does something that...

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 13:13:00 -0500

It is always extra impressive when someone does something that remains funny despite being based on an already-played-out joke. Way to go, signmaker girl/guy. (This was #16 on YepYep’s 163 Pictures of Awesomeness via HotClicks, which was nice enough to route like 20,000 people over to my Both Teams Played Hard site the other day. Good looks, Jimmy Traina.)

Pretty much sums up the whole organ donation...

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 12:19:00 -0500

Pretty much sums up the whole organ donation “debate.” (from xkcd)

Forgot to put this up here, too, somehow. It’s been a busy...

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 11:59:00 -0500

Forgot to put this up here, too, somehow. It’s been a busy month. Regardless, here’s “The 100 Greatest Quotes from The Wire,” although any list that fails to include Michael’s “That’s just a knee” and Bunk’s “I’m just a humble muthafucka with a big-ass dick” is clearly not entirely authoritative. Still, they definitely got, like, 75 of the best. Probably could of used some more Freamon and Herc in it, too. (Gus Triandos, perhaps? And gotta have something from Herc during the Shaft chase scene.) And definitely needs more Bodie. Everything always need more Bodie.

Ok. My bad. Lied on that last one. This is by far the funniest...

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 01:00:55 -0500

Ok. My bad. Lied on that last one. This is by far the funniest thing I’ve seen in the last month. The whole site Snacks and Shit, I mean, with this DMX one probably being my favorite.

Please design a logo for me. With pie charts. For free.

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:37:00 -0500

Please design a logo for me. With pie charts. For free.:

Funniest internet thing I’ve seen in a month.

The New Yorker's Great Piece on Rio's Violent, Lawless, Drug-Infested Favelas

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 14:15:00 -0400

Unfortunately, this requires a subscription to read online, but Jon Lee Anderson’s “Gangland” gives a great inside look into the crimelord-run favela Ilha in Rio de Janiero, which is overseen by drug-dealer/murderer Fernandinho, who actually gives an extended interview to Anderson that is incorporated into the article.

It’s a fantastic piece on a horrifying problem that seems so endemic and intractable that Brazilian officials have essentially surrendered a large portion of their second largest city to criminals due to the sheer fact that they have no idea how to even begin reversing decades of crime or properly safeguarding millions of impoverished citizens.

For a more dramatic, gripping portrayal of this whole sad reality, watch Fernando Meirelles and Katia Lund’s amazing film, City of God. It came out in 2002 and is easily one of my favorite ten movies of all time. It’s cinematically gorgeous, wonderfully scripted, filled with captivating characters and unveils a world containing many of the worst aspects of humanity.

My publisher, Bill Coffin, also recently wrote a blog post on whether the violence in Rio makes it possible for the city to host a safe Olympics. Obviously, the Olympic Committee believes it can. But regardless, Bill included a video of recent firefight in one of the favelas that resulted in a helicopter being shot out of the sky.

Scary stuff.

In under 10 minutes, Jon Stewart manages to succinctly sum up...

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 13:51:00 -0400

In under 10 minutes, Jon Stewart manages to succinctly sum up everything that is wrong with television news. It’s really a shame because, as things like 60 Minutes and Meet the Press have shown, video really can be an amazing medium to explain and discuss the most important news and problems of today’s incredibly complex world

Oh well. So much for technology equating to social progress.

Silver lining: in addition to this catch phrase, I can now add “Nobody Leaves More Things There” to my mental rolodex of reasons that sports and comedy are almost the only things of value left on television. Here’s another fun way this can help you amuse yourself: if you find yourself at someone else’s house and he or she is flipping through the channels on TV and stops on CNN, yell out ”NOOOooo. Don’t leave it there. Why would you leave it there? There is a terrible place to leave it.”

The lesson here: Read, people, read.

"It is not an accident that it took a non-Jewish director to concoct this story of brutal Jewish..."

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:31:00 -0400

“It is not an accident that it took a non-Jewish director to concoct this story of brutal Jewish revenge. It is difficult to imagine a Jew in Hollywood—each one more self-conscious than the next—portraying Jews as vengeance-seeking knifemen. Neal Gabler, the author of “An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood,” told me that Jewish revenge fantasies aren’t entirely alien to the movie industry, but they’ve always been exercises in sublimation, Superman being only the most obvious. “Jews have gone from being nonexistent in film to being thoroughly represented, but no Jew would ever make a film like Inglourious Basterds,” Gabler said. “It’s too brazen.””

- from “Hollywood’s Jewish Avenger,” a cool little article from the September issue of The Atlantic that looks at how, in making Inglourious Basterds, Tarintino has created, as the film’s producer, Lawrence Bender, termed it, “a fucking Jewish wet dream.”

"Last September, as Wall Street turned to rubble and panic threatened to come unleashed, Ken Lewis,..."

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:54:00 -0400

“Last September, as Wall Street turned to rubble and panic threatened to come unleashed, Ken Lewis, the CEO of Bank of America, agreed to swallow one of the country’s most toxic investment houses [Merrill Lynch]. The deal was not altogether voluntary; as details have slowly emerged, the coercive role of the Fed and Treasury has loomed larger. What exactly happened in the weeks leading up to the merger? Did the deal save us all from economic apocalypse? And what does the government’s unprecedented role in it portend for the future of our economy?”

- The introduction for “The Final Days of Merrill Lynch,” an article by William D. Cohan in the September issue of The Atlantic and the best act of journalism I’ve read in months. The details behind the role that the Fed and the SEC played in making this deal happen between BoA and Merrill — and, more importantly, what these details represent for the bigger picture in terms of governmental/executive branch intrusion into the economy — are vital to read about for anyone who wants to formulate a better-informed view on what role the federal government should aspire to in society and how largely it should intervene in the private sector…which is something that, as you may have heard, is on a lot of people’s minds currently in regards to health care.

The fact the the caption for this photo is “Right foot gas...

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:39:33 -0400

The fact the the caption for this photo is “Right foot gas pedal. Oh man you got lucky with that one Billy Ray!” is all the evidence you need that PeopleOfWalmart.com is the best website you will see today. The prosecution rests.

Google's Fast Flip

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:17:00 -0400

Google's Fast Flip:

Google Fast Flip is yet another, and maybe the largest, reason that the publishing industry must, as the well-known philosopher Rock of Heltah Skeltah would say, “respeckanize Google’s gangstafication and G-dentials.”

Honestly, this looks to be about the simplest, easiest-to-create way to flip through news possible and has an aggregation concept to it that is clearly designed to make things as easy/fast for the reader to use as possible. While other news media companies continue to try to exploit readers seeking information into extra page clicks that game the ad-generating game by doing things like breaking up a 1200-word article into four separate pages for absolutely no benefit to the reader, Google just keeps making kick-ass ways to read news that make my life easier.

This reminds me a little of NewsMap in its “Here it is right in front of you and all you need to do is click around” philosophy. Plus, it has a magazine page-flipping aspect to it that, as a person who has always preferred magazines to newspapers, I think is pretty sweet. It also creates a clear meritocracy of news, at least from the standpoint of “if people are interested, the media site will get more clicks.” Obviously, the meritocracy where great investigative coverage of the Sudan outranks Kanye West being drunk in public is still not happening. But, ya know, not even the AP could think to blame Google for that. As Google sorts through the click-popularity of different sites, it will likely become very clear as to why places like the NYT, BBC and Wired are more popular than many of their competitors — they are simply creating better articles with better coverage of better topics.

It’s good to see that a bunch of prominent publishers are jumping on board to partner with Google, too, rather than foolishly trying to further curtail innovation in a sector that desperately needs all the forethought it can find to remain relevant — and simply in business. Since this is new, it obviously won’t be used all that heavily in the near-term, but the publishers should soon start to appreciate Google a little more once the ad revenue checks start arriving — particularly since the NYT, et al have done almost literally nothing to gain these extra dollars.

Says Google:

To build Google Fast Flip, we partnered with three dozen top publishers, including the New York Times, the Atlantic, the Washington Post, Salon, Fast Company, ProPublica andNewsweek. These partners will share the revenue earned from contextually relevant ads. This gives publishers an opportunity to introduce new readers to their content. It also tests our theory that being able to read articles faster means people will read more of them, driving more ad revenue to publishers.

Good stuff. The company also has this to say:

The publishing industry faces many challenges today, and there is no magic bullet. However, we believe that encouraging readers to read more news is a necessary part of the solution. We think Fast Flip could be one way to help, and we’re looking to find other ways to help as well in the near future.

We’ve also made a mobile version of Fast Flip with tactile page flipping for Android-powered devices and the iPhone, so you can browse on the go. This is accessible at the same address.

Check it out.

"The ongoing debate about the future of daily newspapers grows wearisome. The end game is already..."

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:12:51 -0400

“The ongoing debate about the future of daily newspapers grows wearisome. The end game is already apparent. With or without pay walls, with or without events, salons and corporate sponsorships, with or without community-oriented websites, newspapers are going to do two things: survive and diminish.”

- David Klein, from his article “Good Newspapers Can Survive if They Break Their Old Culture” in Advertising Age. It’s a good, short piece on the future of papers if you have a minute.

"My goal is to be the best-communicated high school in the state. We want to be almost streaming in..."

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:07:00 -0400

““My goal is to be the best-communicated high school in the state. We want to be almost streaming in real time from sports scores to the school play schedule to Project Graduation to informing parents at the classroom level what the kids are studying.””

- John Chasse, the new principal of Orono High School, the esteemed schooling institution in Maine that done learneded me so good, on how he and his administration are embracing Web 2.0. And in other “Maine is embracing the internet” news, Maine.gov was ranked as the fourth best state website and “a survey by Rutgers University and San Francisco State University ranks Maine first of all 50 states for electronic delivery of public service and citizen participation in governance.”