There’s been a ton of (predictable) reaction to Walter Isaacson’s cover story this week, in which he argues that micropayments could save the newspaper business.
Bloggers and old media guys alike have derided the idea. People don’t want to pay for Web content online, they argue. They don’t want to be nickeled and dimed. Even …
A Pittsburgh neighborhood pulled together to stage a work of street theater for the benefit of the Google Street View van. See it here.
Two teachable points here. One, it’s funnier when people don’t know they’re on Street View. And two, I really don’t ever want to move to Pittsburgh.
It is the the purpose of a virus to possess its host, then force that host to in turn create copies of the virus. This the viral videos below have done to me.
1. Robot Chicken‘s opera version of The Wrath of Khan:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xW2-MrHNJSE&hl=en&fs=1]
It’s funny because the special effects in operas …
The walk from 8th Avenue over to the Javits Convention Center on 11th Avenue in Manhattan is one of the most depressing walks in existence. It’s straight up industrial urban wasteland, and it’s not even wasted enough to be picturesquely post-apocalyptic. I’ve done it many times, and never without experiencing some form of suicidal …
This is microculture news, but too bizarre and delicious not to click on. Band of Brothers, a massive, longstanding, malevolent alliance within EVE — a game I don’t play, but which is, for my money, the most beautiful game in existence — was abruptly hacked apart this week by a double agent from the rival alliance GoonSwarm. Its assets …
New York Comic Con starts today. I’m not there, because I have a job. But I’ll be there tomorrow to sign galleys (that’s publishing-speak for early, cheapo, paperback versions) of my book and generally to enjoy the free access that my autographing gig gets me.
Though I’ll be missing the Futurama premiere, which is today, and the Joss …
I am an unabashed Neil Gaiman partisan, and so I bring with me a deep affection to any adaptation of his books. (Instead of rose-colored glasses, perhaps I see Neil’s work through sewn-on button eyes.) I have every expectation that Neal Jordan’s Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book will be a classic. I do so want someone to make
…
I somehow missed it when they posted a teaser-trailer for a sequel to Donnie Darko called S. Darko:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dczcw0aNMEo&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1]
It’s not clear to me from this what connection if any Richard Kelly, who created Donnie Darko, has with this. …
The line is so, so fine.
The deal: apparently there is a new educational institution, headquartered at the NASA Ames Campus (i.e. right next door to Google), that is entirely devoted to the study of the Singularity. The Singularity being a term borrowed by Vernor Vinge from astrophysics and re-borrowed by boy genius Billy Quizboy …
Another year, another Super Bowl not watched. I know lots of nerds are actually into watching the Super Bowl. I could never get behind watching a game I don’t play, played by people with whom I don’t have very much in common. I suppose there are passionate regional loyalties in play, plus genuinely interesting strategic calculations. …
1. Red Dwarf. It’s coming back, in the form of a two-part special with the original cast that will take them back to Earth. I never got into Red Dwarf — I was in college when it was on and never really watched it. But everybody says it’s good. So it must be good. Now all that’s left is to bring back Quark. Or sorry, I meant Quark. Yeah, …
Maybe you’re not used to seeing the word GROW in all caps. Or used as a noun. And yet, weirdly, when you see a GROW you feel like you recognize it, as if surreal Flash sculpture/games have been with you all your life — indeed have evolved to co-exist with us as a species. Like dogs. The new one is here.
For those to whom family honor …