Neko Got a Lot of Nerve
January 15, 2009
One of the warming thoughts this winter is provided by Neko Case. Her album Middle Cyclone comes out on 03/03/09.
In even better news, there’s a preview track available. It gets yet better, with this news from Anti-, Neko’s label. “Every time a blog reposts ‘People Got A Lotta Nerve’ by Neko Case, we will donate five dollars to the Best Friends Foundation.” That’s an animal rescue charity, in keeping with Neko’s ongoing efforts to help dogs in need. As if I needed any convincing to post the track here.
Via Stereogum, one of the many other sites to have already done its thing for charity by posting about its thing for Neko.
Side Projects in Music, Software, etc.
January 12, 2009
The Guardian’s music blog describes The curse of the side project. Johnny Dee cites projects such as Robert Plant working with Alison Krauss instead of Led Zep, Alex Turner being a Last Shadow Puppet when he could spend more time being an Arctic Monkey, and so on.
I disagree with the post for three reasons. First, I don’t think that most of Dee’s examples stand up: I’m not a fan of fortune-making reunions, and I don’t think that three quarters of Led Zep, almost three decades after the death of John Bonham, would do anything to change my mind; and I think that The Age Of The Understatement is pretty good.
Second are side projects not mentioned in the post, such as Tom Tom Club and The Postal Service. Third, I think that Plant, Turner, and others should make the music they want to make.
Then it struck me that side projects are important in software. Linux was a side project for a student, del.icio.us made a change from work in equity trading, and so on.
I found the Guardian blog entry via Largehearted Boy, itself a side project of a sort. I find myself firmly on the side of side projects.
The Power of Search
January 12, 2009
Performing two Google searches from a desktop computer can generate about the same amount of carbon dioxide as boiling a kettle for a cup of tea, reported the Sunday Times. There’s no need to tell you which Times, since the quantification is so very English.
Many kettles could have been boiled with the heat and other energy used in the reaction to the article. Om asked: Why Pick On Google? How Green Are We The People? and provides evidence that Google strives harder for efficiency than do most of us. From Google itself comes further context.
a Google search uses just about the same amount of energy that your body burns in ten seconds… the average car driven for one kilometer (0.6 miles for those of in the U.S.) produces as many greenhouse gases as a thousand Google searches.
So the “cup of tea” quantification is as misleading as it is English. I was going to close with the environmental impact of the pot of coffee I’ve just made, but that would probably have involved Google searches…
Sea Serpents and Suchlike
January 10, 2009
One of the things I suggested relatives buy for our 5yo daughter was The Sea Serpent and Me. I’m delighted to say that Maddie got the book, that Catia Chien‘s illustrations are just as lovely as I hoped, that Dashka Slater‘s words are also lovely, that words and pictures go together wonderfully well, and that Maddie likes the book as much as I do.
I was pleased to see that Sea Serpent was one of the books for sale at the Museum of Science: to be precise, it was in the stock of things relevant to the Mythic Creatures exhibition. We enjoyed the exhibition. The kids particularly liked being able to build their own dragons, and to release them so that they could fly through the virtual clouds. Apparently dragons can fly even in the presence of Microsoft error boxes.
The Monkey Wrench Gang
January 9, 2009
My introduction to Edward Abbey was Desert Solitaire, his memoir of the American Southwest – although memoir is far too genteel a word for that book. I asked for, received, and have just finished his novel The Monkey Wrench Gang.
Uniting the novel, the memoir, and the life of the author, is the theme of resistance to intrusion on the southwestern landscape by highways, reservoirs, dams, and the like. Here are the thoughts of “Seldom Seen” Smith, one of four members of the monkey wrench gang.
Like Hayduke [another of the four] his heart was full of a healthy hatred… He remembered the strange great amphitheaters called Music Temple and Cathedral in the Desert. All these things now lay beneath the dead water of the reservoir, slowly disappearing under layers of descending silt.
The quote illustrates a couple of things about Abbey and the novel. First, he really could write. Second, he, Abbey, is the main character. If he really wanted Seldom or Hayduke, or Doc or Bonnie, to be the main characters, he wouldn’t have qualified hatred with healthy. There are many other quotes I could have used to illustrate these points. I chose the above quote because it is the first I found that illustrated both well.
So, if you want to read an Abbey book, I recommend Desert Solitaire. If you want to read a sprawling novel about eco-sabotage, I recommend Monkey Wrench Gang. I should admit now that I have yet to read any of his other books.
Finally, a few words about pictures. First, credit and thanks to Kris for the photo. Second, it seems as though the Monkey Wrench movie will be made soon. I wish I could have higher hopes for it.
Nucleus of Totoro
January 6, 2009
I’ve posted before about the book and other aspects of the Totoro Forest Project. I’m glad to say that some of the art from the project is available at Gallery Nucleus, in the form of posters. Here’s Jennifer Chang’s contribution.
LiveJournal on Life Support?
January 6, 2009
LiveJournal has just shed a substantial proportion of its 28 employees. Reports differ as to how many have been let go. As usual, ValleyWag tends toward the negative.
The bubble in social networking has burst, decisively. LiveJournal, the San Francisco-based arm of Sup, a Russian Internet startup, has cut about 20 of 28 employees… product managers and engineers were laid off, leaving only a handful of finance and operations workers — which speaks to a website to be left on life support.
Executives at Six Apart, the blog-software company which sold LiveJournal to Sup, are happily counting the money… they should consider themselves lucky that Vox, the LiveJournal knockoff it started, hasn’t been more popular…
LiveJournal, founded by engineer Brad Fitzpatrick in 1999, predated most blogging services and social networks, and anticipated many of their features… But Fitzpatrick never figured out how to turn it into a business. Instead, he sold it to Six Apart, which didn’t have much more luck.
On the basis of history, I tend to believe the negative. I certainly echo Nicholas’ advice to back up your LJ, if you have one.
This is sad. LJ has for years integrated blogging and social networking. But somehow that integration remains one of the big issues in social media.
So, it looks as though there will be an exodus from LJ soon. Where will the people end up? If I were running WordPress.com, I’d buy more servers, and make social networking an even higher priority than it already is…
Fun, Games, and Family
January 2, 2009
Having kids changes everything, including the games one plays. I used to play a lot of board and card games, but the time available for that hobby decreased sharply just over five years ago, when Maddie arrived. I have of course played many games with Maddie, and with her younger brother Max, but those games have been along the lines of Peek-a-Boo or Candyland (the former being the more interesting of those two games).
I’m glad to say that Maddie is now five, and able to play some games for which I actually want to be awake. We’ve played a lot of Rat-a-tat Cat since it arrived as a present for Maddie. The same goes for Labyrinth.
It’ll be a while before we’re playing my favorite game together, but it’s a good start.
