December 2009
The Second Death Of Caspar Helendale →
If the work is commissioned again, Caspar Helendale will return to life for long enough to die again, and another group will see him disappear. This rehearsed, repeated death reinforced the message he gave to “the gods”, the creators of the avatars there:- “We will outlast you all”.
Wonder if they’ve read Animal Man! (link via @dan_griffiths on Twitter)
My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-11-29) →
Kraftwerk (27)
Rihanna (14)
Fever Ray (13)
Maxwell (10)
Cam’ron (5)
Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz
November 2009
Psychological Obesity →
There is a thought-provoking idea in pretty much every section of this danah boyd talk but this bit especially leapt out at me:
“People consume content that stimulates their mind and senses. That which angers, excites, energizes, entertains, or otherwise creates an emotional response. This is not always the “best” or most informative content, but that which triggers a...
Of course I bet there’s a Wikipedia page which renders that whole post redundant.
Methods Of Collective List-Making
For a “Top albums of the year” list, say. Assume you know who you want to participate.
FREE VOTING: All participants name a number of things, and their votes are tallied to produce an ordered list. This is probably the most common way of making a list, and the most common variant is for participants to order their lists to produce a standardised weighting. Other variants include...
Unmade ILX post
Saying “There is no ‘broader culture’ to have a sense about” is sort of missing the point, in that like the existence of God, what matters is whether or not people ACT as if there’s a broader culture to have a sense about.
(The analogy isn’t perfect, since the existence of a broader culture is testable, and also since if enough people act like a broader culture...
The half-mile wide web page →
I have only been able to spot two planets so far :(
Numbers
Here’s the results of the Twitter/Tumblr “Best Kraftwerk Track” poll. YOU BIG ROBOT EMOS.
(NB songs are listed in English but often the votes were for the German version so imagine them that way if you like)
8 VOTES: NEON LIGHTS
7 VOTES: Autobahn, Trans Europe Express
4 VOTES: Computer Love, Tour De France
3 VOTES: Numbers, The Model
2 VOTES: Metal On Metal
1 VOTE: Aero...
The 50 Most Interesting Articles On Wikipedia →
These are not actually the 50 most interesting articles on Wikipedia. But they are 50 Wikipedia articles which sustain a high rate of interest and that’s good enough for several joyfully lost hours.
Via @peteashton on Twitter.
Down with the kids
Like many people half my age, I have a formspring. http://www.formspring.me/tomewing
I don’t have any kind of purpose for it, or motivation, other than “I’ll sign up for anything”, obviously.
“Did Nin feel guilty about any of this? If so, she had a ready excuse: she was an...”
– nin (via melissa.tumblr.com) (via douglaswolk)
This - more than somewhat critical, perhaps also unfair - portrait of Anais Nin kind of makes me want to see a schlocky film or miniseries mixing biopics of Nin and Ayn Rand. (I’m not the first to have had this thought.)
Rated R →
Rihanna is not the first superstar to have made a deliberately difficult album; Rated R is the latest in a proud history of implausibly cold, alienated and deeply personal works that includes Madonna’s Erotica,Janet Jackson’s Velvet Rope and, more recently, Kelly Clarkson’s My December and Kanye West’s808s & Heartbreak. What makes Rated R impressive and important beyond...
Selling Brains →
I felt I needed a label because I wanted to sell my brain. If I could package my brain up in a nice tidy product then I could stick a price on it and people would be more likely to buy it. And, to a certain extent, it worked – I’ve made a pretty decent living over the last couple of years – yet every time I describe myself as a Social Media Consultant a tiny part of me dies.
I can’t even...
Don't let's be beastly to the Germans
OK, what’s the best Kraftwerk track?
My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-11-22) →
Bob Dylan (18)
Kraftwerk (16)
Keri Hilson (15)
Neon Indian (11)
Saint Etienne (11)
Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz
I endorse all these artists except for Neon Indian, who are dreadful.
Decade's End II: This Time It's Serious →
Frank Kogan is writing a decade-end essay and wants to know what ideas are floating around out there. Go help!
The thread already contains this - really terrific - point by girlboymusic:
The arc of pop music is long, but it bends toward weirdness. We started the decade with relatively neat ‘n’ clean stuff from ‘NSync and Britney and the like. And then we had this movement...
