Showing all posts about legacy
Panoramas that take you in circles around the Moscow Metro
19 May 2011
A collection of panoramic photos of stations, and even tunnels, that are part of Moscow’s Metro, or underground train system, by Russos.
Originally published Thursday 19 May 2011, with subsequent revisions, updates to lapsed URLs, etc.
RELATED CONTENT
Cool kids never have the time, nor much of an adult life either
18 May 2011
Children who are marginalised at school because they are considered to be geeks or nerds, tend to be more successful as adults.
This because they are far more self aware, spontaneous, and creative, than “popular” students, says Alexandra Robbins, who has written a book on the subject, The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth.
So called popular students are more likely to act and think according to the wishes of the groups or cliques there are part of, rather than on their own, behaviours that are unhelpful in adult life.
Even if the kids in these cliques are momentarily on top of the world, Robbins says the traits they are learning could be toxic in their future lives. “When you are in the popular crowd you are more likely to be conformist, you are more likely to hide aspects of your identity in order to fit into the crowd, you are more likely to be involved in relational aggression, you are more likely to have goals of social dominance rather than forming actual true friendships,” Robbins says, pausing for a breath. “You are more likely to let other people pressure you into doing things. None of those things is admirable or useful as adults.”
Originally published Wednesday 18 May 2011, with subsequent revisions, updates to lapsed URLs, etc.
RELATED CONTENT
Analysing the music of Daft Punk with help from HTML5 and CSS3
17 May 2011
Sydney based Web Technologist Cameron Adams has put together “Anatomy Of A Mashup” a mashup/data visualisation of Daft Punk music with HTML5 and CSS3 (no Flash…), using the canvas and audio elements, plus transforms and transitions.
In order to explain the layering and interplay that goes into something like a Girl Talk album or The 139 Mix Tape I decided to take my own mashup of Daft Punk’s discography — Definitive Daft Punk — and reveal its entire structure: the cutting, layering, levels and equalisation of 23 different songs. By dividing up the sound data for each song and computing its appearance in realtime, the resulting visualisation gives you an understanding of the unique anatomy of this particular mashup.
While Adams recommends viewing the mashup with Chrome, I found it worked quite well with Firefox 4.
Originally published Tuesday 17 May 2011, with subsequent revisions, updates to lapsed URLs, etc.
RELATED CONTENT
Daft Punk, legacy, music, technology
A short history of the letter J the alphabets last member
14 April 2011
While sitting in the tenth place in the English alphabet, the letter J, which split off from the letter I, was actually the last addition to the writing system.
“J” is a bit of a late bloomer; after all, it was the last letter added to the alphabet. It is no coincidence that i and j stand side by side — they actually started out as the same character. The letter j began as a swash, a typographical embellishment for the already existing i. With the introduction of lowercase letters to the Roman numeric system, j was commonly used to denote the conclusion of a series of one’s – as in “xiij” for the number 13.
Originally published Thursday 14 April 2011.
RELATED CONTENT
Jucy, a film by Louise Alston, with Francesca Gasteen and Cindy Nelson
14 March 2011
Jucy, trailer, a comedy/drama, is the second feature of Queensland filmmaker Louise Alston (All My Friends Are Leaving Brisbane). Alston teams up again with Leaving Brisbane writer Stephen Vagg to tell a story that is — coincidentally — inspired by the actual lives of its two stars, Francesca Gasteen who plays Lucy, and Cindy Nelson as Jackie.
Collectively they are Jucy, their variation possibly of the media penchant of naming celebrity couples by one-word nicknames, such as TomKat, in the case of Tom Cruise and wife Katie Holmes. Jucy screened at the Ritz Cinema, in Sydney, on Thursday 10 March 2011, as part of this year’s Australian Film Festival.
Jackie and Lucy have been best friends forever (BFF) since they met at school as teenagers. Now in their mid-twenties, they have — on an emotional level at least — changed little since those days. Although they don’t live together, they otherwise live out of each other’s pockets, and work together at Trash Videos, which Jackie manages.
Lucy lives in the family’s opulent harbourside apartment. Her mother has taken off to Tuscany indefinitely with a new boyfriend, leaving Lucy with younger sister Fleur (Nelle Lee). Fluer is somewhat of a control freak, who appears to have her life in order, and has taken it upon herself to sort out Lucy. This by way of ultimatum: “get a real job, or finish your degree, or move out of home!”
Tired also of the taunts served up by the people they socialise with, where they are variously referred to as “straight lesbians” or “friends with emotional benefits”, Jackie and Lucy decide things need to change. Each sets a goal in order to prove themselves to their peers. Jackie will find a boyfriend, while Lucy will seek out the job of her dreams.
And the stage production of Charlotte Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre, being planned by the amateur theatre group they belong to, looks like the way both can realise their goals. Should the show succeed, Lucy believes an acting career awaits, while Jackie has a soft spot for the play’s star, Alex (Ryan Johnson), and thinks the feeling is mutual.
Jucy lifts the lid on co-dependent relationships, platonic or otherwise, and peers inside. Here are often murky situations — to say the least — where reality is distorted — to say the least — to the point that nothing else matters. Career ambitions, relationships with other people, and any semblance of a normal life, go out the window in the name of remaining faithful to the “other half”.
Jucy ventures into some heady territory, yet keeps the tone light, and for the most part upbeat. This through the on, and off, stage antics of the Jane Eyre production, and Lee’s comedic carry on as Lucy’s domineering sister. Here’s a story that demonstrates even super close BFF’s can — sometimes — remain best friends without appearing “creepy” to the outside world.
Originally published Monday 14 March 2011, with subsequent revisions, updates to lapsed URLs, etc.
RELATED CONTENT
Australian film, Cindy Nelson, film, Francesca Gasteen, legacy, Louise Alston, Nelle Lee, Ryan Johnson
Une Fête dans le Papier, an exhibition by Penelope Benton and Alexandra Clapham
10 January 2011
Penelope Benton, a Sydney based photography, performance and installation artist, and Alexandra Clapham, combine to present a representation of a Versailles-inspired ballroom made entirely out of cardboard.
In this recent collaboration Benton and Clapham propose to marry royalty by birth and royalty by imagination, constructing a Versailles-inspired ballroom entirely out of cardboard such as is associated with the early life of Basquiat the street-artist/dreamer: Basquiat’s cardboard box for a bed, Marie Antoinette’s palace.
In this necessarily flimsy set the two will hold a dinner party, a feast of unimaginable scope, which will be in full view of the public (most likely consisting of starving artists and hangers-on) who will be invited to later riot over the leftovers of the important guests in a literal free-for-all.
The exhibition opens at The Paper Mill, 1 Angel Place, Ash Street, Sydney, on Tuesday, 11 January, 2011 at 6pm, and concludes on the following Saturday, 15 January.
Originally published Monday 10 January 2011, with subsequent revisions, updates to lapsed URLs, etc.
RELATED CONTENT
Alexandra Clapham, art, art shows, Australian art, legacy, Penelope Benton
The Social Network film and what it says to bloggers, online publishers
28 December 2010
The Social Network was one of my favourite movies of 2010, needless to say it was something I looked at a couple of times. The story speaks volumes to entrepreneurs and geeks, and anyone who has an idea, or knows of one that could be improved, that others might find cool.
It was also a film, that through many of its lines, also spoke I thought, to bloggers and online publishers. While a lot of lines could be quoted in a variety of contexts, here are a few that I thought were especially relevant to writers working online.
I need to do something substantial in order to get the attention of the clubs.
The blogosphere has its own variation of the final clubs — the undergraduate social clubs of Harvard University — though such things don’t appeal to everyone… I don’t care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members. In other words always do your own thing.
I shouldn’t have written that thing about the farm animals. That was stupid. But I was kidding for gods sakes. Doesn’t anybody have a sense of humor?
Humour is subjective… anyone who has been writing online for even a short period of time will appreciate this comment.
The internet’s not written in pencil. It’s written in ink.
Ain’t that the truth? Need I say more.
It won’t be finished. That’s the point. The way fashion’s never finished.
If you’re onto a good thing you’ll be doing far more than merely writing and posting articles.
We don’t even know what it is yet. We don’t know what it is. We don’t know what it can be. We don’t what it will be. We know that it is cool. That is a priceless asset I’m not giving up.
Never underestimate the value of cool in the rush to monetise, or turn a profit.
He was right. California’s the place we’ve gotta be.
You might already live in California, but that’s not the point, your blog could seriously take you places and you need to be ready to move with it.
We lived in farms, then we lived in cities, and now we’re gonna live on the internet!
I suspect bloggers and online publishers realised this well before Facebook came along.
Originally published Tuesday 28 December 2010, with subsequent revisions, updates to lapsed URLs, etc.
RELATED CONTENT
blogs, film, legacy, self publishing, social networks
A certain type of screw head in time saves almost 29
15 December 2010
The more common, well-known, Flat and Phillips screw heads are just two of some 28 varieties of screw drive type… you may therefore need to expand the range of screwdrivers you own in case you encounter any of the not so common sorts. Image via Apartment Therapy.
Originally published Wednesday 15 December 2010.
RELATED CONTENT
Ladies of the Letterform, an art show by Sofles, Lo-Fi Collective, Sydney
10 December 2010
Here’s your chance to see the work of Australian graffiti and street artist Sofles.
Sofles has burst from the anonymity of the graffiti world onto a public stage in a manner comparable to the explosive impact of his images rendered on canvas, brick, paper and human bodies. Witness blank space being filled with imagery from the over-running cup of his enigmatic mind.
Ladies of the Letterform is quite possibly Lo-Fi Collective’s last ever exhibition so make sure you don’t miss it. The show takes place at Lo-Fi Collective, Floor 3, 383 Bourke Street, Surry Hills, Sydney, on Thursday, 16 December, 2010 at 6pm.
Update: I posted some photos from the show on my Flickr page.
Originally published Friday 10 December 2010, with subsequent revisions, updates to lapsed URLs, etc.
RELATED CONTENT
art, Australian art, legacy, Sofles
Illustration by Eric Slager, the muppets go minimal
6 December 2010
Since I can’t get enough of minimal design and illustration… graphic designer Eric Slager’s Minimalist Muppets illustration series.
No Cookie Monster then?
(Thanks Jessica)
Originally published Monday 6 December 2010.
RELATED CONTENT