Continue reading "Clinging to piano covers and other bad assumptions"
Sometimes the battle between good and evil is really the battle between what I want long term vs what I want here and now.
In English, we say things like “the president annoys me”. Now, be honest - that’s not really true. Someone else can’t inflict annoyance upon you; you allow yourself to become annoyed in response to someone. That’s why you can choose to ignore it (though in some specific cases, it takes a lot of effort).
In German, we say “Ich ärgere mich über dem Präsident”. It’s a reflexive verb, thus, litterally translated, it means “I annoy myself about the president”.
Ain’t that the truth…
Update: Fixed the grammar… German may be cool, but it’s hard. Who ever heard of having to conjugate nouns???
Overture has an interesting tool I’ve been using for some market analysis I’m doing for a startup. You type search keywords into it and it tells you how many people searched for those keywords on Yahoo last month. It also gives you a ranked list of related searches. So, in need of a little break, I decided to type in something really general to see what it would come up with. I entered “house”:
Here’s what people are scouring the internet for using the word “house”:
We may have the internet, but some things never change…
I used to look down upon those who could not discern the difference between “they’re”, “there”, and “their”. Now I’m one of them. I find that my spelling is getting more and more phonetic. I just wrote “they’res” instead of “theirs”. Earlier I wrote “ov” instead of “of”. I’ll stare at these mistakes knowing that they’re wrong, but not able to figure out why.
A few weeks ago I heard that the rapid frontal-lobe expansion that takes place in the late-teens and twenties stops in your mid thirties. Case closed; old age here I….. uumm… What was I talking about?
Steve Jobs gets it. Technology cannot prevent piracy, and such copy protection schemes do nothing more than annoy customers, stifle innovation, and increase costs for digital media vendors. I’m very happy that Jobs has got it and is being public about it - as CEO of Apple, former CEO of Pixar, and board member of Disney, he’s uniquely and powerfully positioned in both the technology and media worlds, thus has the best chance of being heard.
While waiting for my previous post, Constitutional demolitions experts, to upload, I was forced to stare at another of my posts entitled, Finding happiness. It’s just such synchronized that get the gerbils in my head (we’ll call them Earl and Larry) running in their little rodent wheels. I wondered how much of my grumpiness is due to my pre-frontal cortex’s extrapolation of the world from current events. Dan Gilbert implies that the pre-frontal cortex often exaggerates a bit or is outright wrong and that people shouldn’t dwell too much on its prognostications. Was I just getting worked up based on a probably false prediction (or more likely, getting worked up over a very real situation, but overly so)???
This made me realize that the pre-frontal cortex is the prize modern politics seeks. If you can take hold of people’s pre-frontal cortex, you control their satisfaction and their fear. You can create polarization, thus simplification, thus control.
They’re not after the hearts of men - they’re after that squishy bit of grey matter right there at the front of your head. Right about where you smack yourself when you say, “What was I thinking???”
“It would indeed be ironic if, in the name of national defense, we would sanction the subversion of one of those liberties which make the defense of our nation worthwhile.” - former Chief Justice Earl Warren
The Military Commissions Act (S.3930) has passed both houses, granting the president the ability to establish military tribunals for Guantanamo Bay, dodging the Geneva Convention, and eliminating the need for habeas corpus. Habeas corpus is one of the specific, fundamental rights a bunch of colonials fought a war to get back in the 1770s.
I am pissed off. No, I’m way beyond anger. The United States is a great country. Yet Bush continues to dismantle everything good about this country down to its historic foundation. And congress repeatedly grants him permission to do so.
In more sane moments, I often reflect that though American democracy is an excellent system, it has the shortcoming that it can be hijacked from time to time by fanatics and mass hysteria. We did pass the 18th Amendment with a 2/3 majority, after all…
They called the internet the great democratizer. Here’s a great example.
I’m absolutely bouncing with unbridled delight at the release of Jessica Simpson’s song, “A Public Affair” on Yahoo! No, I haven’t suddenly become a Jessica Simpson fan. In fact, I’ve never really listened to her music. My joy at the release is Yahoo’s decision to release this song as an MP3 without DRM! Go buy yourself a copy today - only $2. (For those not in the know, DRM stands for Digital Rights Management - it’s an evil technology that prevents you from listening to your music on any music player you’d like (as in the case of ipods), or renders your music collection unplayable because of some bug or crash (as happened to me), and generally treats you, the customer, like an unscrupulous, pirating criminal instead of respecting that most people are not all that bad. Guilty with no option for innocent).
It used to be that when you bought a copy of a movie you loved, you got exactly what you saw in the theaters. Occasionally, directors would bring out “director’s cuts” of their movies - new edits that present the movie the way the director had originally intended the movie to be. That’s great when the theatrical release was butchered by studio politics.
Lucas took it a step further by updating a much loved film, Star Wars, each time it was issued in a new medium. Spielberg followed suit with a remixed version of ET, with a new computer-generated alien. Peter Jackson built his remix into the filmmaking process, creating a monster 12+ hour version of the Lord of the Rings trilogy in addition to the theatrical version. These remixes and director’s cuts are interesting curiosities, but are they really worthwhile?
Continue reading "Take the director out of the director’s cut"
My buddy Dave pointed me to The Virtual Director web site in response to my post on digital technologies in art making. The folks behind TVD are working on making motion capture technologies affordable and simple to use on low budget movies. I think this is great work and will make for some interesting new movies, however I do not believe it’s the end-all, be-all that mocap enthusiasts think it will be.
Jeff Skoll may be my new favorite person. You may remember him as the guy who started eBay. I just found out that since cashing out, he’s gone on to create Participant Productions - a production company built around the idea of using movies as a catalyst for change. They’ve helped produce Good Night, and Good Luck, Syriana, North Country, and Murderball. He didn’t stop there: he’s created participate.net - a nexus for activism on the issues brought up by the films. So, not only does he try to inspire through film, he gives you a place to go so you can do something with all that energy.
Ahh, the holiday season: The air turns crisp. People dash about completing their shopping. Cheery music plays from every speaker. Deadlines loom; time grows short. Every conversation begins with a statement about how busy you are. Welcome to the mass hysteria that is the holidays. Does any of the following describe you?
I am a This American Life junkie as anyone who’s been following this blog knows. For those who are just joining us, TAL is a wonderful radio show on NPR in which they tell a number of stories, most often true. Old-school storytelling at its best. A few days ago, I was listening to an episode about an electrician who thought he could disprove Einstein’s theories. I was laughing hysterically when slowly, insidiously, my life changed.
I love books. No, nothing so abstract as to include a PDF. I’m talking about a good old fashioned hunk of pressed wood I can hold in my hand, thumb through, or drop on the table with a satisfying thud.
I noticed this article, by Richard Clarke in the November 2005 issue of the Atlantic Monthly, describing the Katrina relief efforts (or lack thereof). It’s well worth reading. What infuriates me most is how it demonstrates that this administration thinks of the public only as pawns to be played to political ends.
I just got a call from Senator John Kerry. A former US presidential candidate called me on the phone, out of the blue. Well, a recording of him, anyway. He, or rather his senatorial tape player, told me to vote not on Washington state initiative 330.
“Good Night and Good Luck”, the movie chronicling Edward R. Murrow’s fight against Senator McCarthy, is tearing up the box offices. I saw it at a little theater by my house on a Wednesday night - usually a dead night for cinema attendance - and the theater was completely packed. I saw how entranced people were during the movie, and listened to them rave afterwards. They loved it. I loved it. Yet, how is it that a script which is almost entirely made up of transcriptions from 50 year old TV broadcasts have such an impact on people?
Second Life both fascinates and frightens me.
Yesterday, the house passed S.397 which makes gun manufacturers not liable for any crimes or damage done by people using their products (NY Times, AP).
Meanwhile, this summer, Grokster v. MGM mandated that software companies can be held liable for crimes committed by people using their products.
If a society’s values can be measured by the laws they pass, then our society values stopping piracy more than it does stopping assault, armed robbery, and murder.
Or, perhaps, a different explanation: Government for the money, by the money.
SEATTLE, June 12. Coffee shops crack down on readers, students, and writers in order to improve business.
I’m fed up with Bush’s idiotic tax policies. Now they want to replace income tax with a national sales tax. They’re spending out of control, taxing the wrong people, and Greenspan - who I used to greatly admire - has gotten all politic on us.
I had no idea how addicted I was to email until I tried to quit. I was happy in my eLife until I ran across two articles in as many days about how people let email run their lives. The NPR program was amusing, and the 43 Folders post was prudent as always. All very interesting, but these folks weren’t describing me. Oh no, I wasn’t an email junkie. Boy was I wrong.
The other day I ran across a description of the Monkeysphere (warning: though fun, it’s very crudely written). It’s an amusing model for why people don’t “just get along”, why we have wars, and why Rush Limbaugh seems like a complete idiot to me.
When the administration first started re-justifying the Iraq war as an effort to spread democracy, they made it sound so easy. The rhetoric made it seem like bringing democracy to a new country was as simple as removing the old government and having an election. Uninstall; reinstall - just like software! So since installing democracy is just as easy as installing Windows or Linux, I thought I’d jump on the bandwagon and write this helpful installation guide for Democracy 1.0.
I’m driving home late on a thursday night. Other drivers look like they’re thinking about getting to bed, tomorrow’s work, or how much they like the music playing. Me, I’m thinking about the anthropological undercurrents of the fight against music piracy. I’m weird that way. Still, I can’t shake the though that our need for self expression and our deepening identification with our music conspire to make the war impossible for the recording industry to win.
The net seems very still in the aftermath of the election. My morning blogs were rather thin (boingboing had half it’s usual daily volume, as did several others). CNN and the New York Times haven’t bothered updating their election pages with the final data. Michaelmoore.com and moveon.org are showing yesterdays news.
I think this is where the word dumbstruck comes from…
My friends, however, are not mute. One of my friends called to tell me that she’s going to publish an open letter to the world apologizing for our country re-electing Bush. Old friend, Jay Babcock - editor of Arthur Magazine - will be spinning at Amoeba in LA. In his own words: “Let’s move this culture forward, on whatever scale we can do it at, and let’s have a good time doing it.” I couldn’t agree more.
I guess I’m a bit struck dumb as well. I saw it coming. Now that it’s here, the thought of four more years feels like a bad dream - that I’ll encounter some friend on the streets who will tell me it’s not true.
Oh well. As I said, Kerry’s loosing means he wouldn’t have been effective in office - especially since congress is even more right-wing now. Guess I’ll start looking forward to 2008.
I hate when fortune cookies are incredibly accurate:
Be content with your lot. One cannot be first in everything.
I was just having a conversation with a friend of mine in which I came (somewhat jokingly) to the conclusion that, “You mean I don’t have to be the best of the best - all the time - in everything???” Along comes this fortune cookie that says exactly the same thing… Guess I haven’t learned my lesson yet.
LOL! I just realized something else - this fortune cookie may apply to Kerry & everyone who voted for him. Ok, now that is funny - sad, but funny.
I love fortune cookies.
Well, it’s part way through the counting. MSNBC & CNN are reporting Bush ahead with 54%/156EV vs Kerry’s 45%/112EV. That’s about the ratio that it’s been for the past hour & a half. Looks like my optimism may have been a fantasy.
It makes me wonder about people who voted for bush. I don’t think they’re crazy; I’m sure they had some reasons that made sense to them. I’d love to hear those reasonable reasons. [guess I better install that spam software so I can turn on comments]
From where I sit, it seems like there’s overwelming evidence that this administration has harmed the country more than helped it. Do folks see this? Am I just not seeing all the data?
Or - is it that reality-based vs faith/fantasy-based thing that is so much talked about: Perhaps it’s just that there is a group of people who hear factual arguments and disregard emotional arguments and there’s a group of people who hear emotional arguments and disregard factual. Perhaps, there are just more of the later than the former. If so, it seems like the Dem strategy going forward would be to figure out how to be fantasy-based while staying true to the reality-based folks.
It gets down to knowing your audience.
Dems think everyone in the audience is just like them - that if you just explain all the facts, you can’t help but agree. But the audience isn’t that homogeneous. There are some that glaze over when presented with facts, but listen in to the emotional pull - something that makes them feel good. You have to speak with a different voice to these folks if you want to win them over. Put down your 9/11 report and appeal to emotions alone.
(meanwhile, I think that Republicans are a little more pragmatic than Democrats in this regard - they know there are other types of people in the audience; they just don’t care).
Anyway, enough ranting. Time to go hit refresh on all the browser windows and see if Ohio’s pink shade has changed.
Well, it’s the night before the biggest and most contested election I’ve ever experienced. I thought it’d be interesting to record a few pre-election thoughts to compare with tomorrow’s aftermath.
It actually feels like Kerry may have a chance at winning. Back during the primaries, I had declared that the Republicans would win simply because there were 17 people in the Democrat primaries. I couldn’t see how a party so divided and uncoordinated could stand a chance against the well-regimented Republican party, especially considering it’s media infrastructure (Fox, Rush, etc).
But, I may have been wrong. This administration’s numerous mistakes motivated a lot of opposition. Moveon.org has been amazing in their ability to mobilize grass-roots efforts. The push to get new voters has been incredible. Everyone I know who’s been lackadaisical about voting is proudly declaring their intention to vote, and, in fact, to encourage others to do so.
So, I’m pleasantly hopeful about this election. I think we may be able to get our own necessary regime change.
And, even if Bush does win, I’m still hopeful. If Kerry wins, he’ll be facing hadr battles in dealing with Iraq and trying to get all these changes through what will probably still be a republican dominated Congress. These battles will make this election seem easy. If he looses the election, he wouldn’t have been effective at those later battles; he wouldn’t be the right man for the job. The stage will be set for 2008.
And while I’m playing Fantasy Elections: how about Hillary Clinton vs John McCain in ‘08?
|
|
