Prompted by a mention on the ChicagoMusik list, I checked out the video by Mark Romanek for Johnny Cash's rendition of Hurt. The album is already under strong recommendation in our household, but because I never watch RealWorldRoadRulesTV, I haven't seen the video for it.
It's seriously worth checking out. A voyage through the past and present of Cash, replete with old footage. And yes, it does hurt - at least if you grew up with the music and imagery in your own home, as I did.
Go ahead. Click.
Now.
So all politics is local. But what if your locality has duelling forces?
Admittedly, there's been no love lost between Kelly (the ward committeeman) and Schulter (the alderman, just re-elected) since Schulter ran for Kelly's job a couple years back. But the confusing domain names.... Oy Vey.
note: corrected text, thanks to the sharp-eyed Mike Whybark
I wondered what became of the Data Domain in that last entry. Some sightings peeled out of Googling around.
The store in Bloomington where all us Apple ][ geeks would hang out, Data Domain, used to have one of these floating around.
While I wonder what happened to the owner of Data Domain - I recall there was some legal tussling on the demise of the business - and so many of the IndianAppleUs user group, I can contemplate (but not bid) on owning an available for auction Apple I.
Like I need more nonfunctional hardware here or in my attic....
From Idle Words, a more realistic rendition of the "Homeland Security - Where Security is in the Fears of the Citizens" Ready Website.
Laugh, Cry. Operatic.
Courtesy of Metafilter comes the Lord of the Rhymes video.
Review: wacky with moments of Hurtt-ian Genius.
Caterina cites a great word I've often needed. Treppworter.
Not that this ever happens to me. No sirree. Light on my linguistic feet and all that jazz.
Later on Saturday, Anne and I went off to attend the panel discussion entitled "Who Owns Ideas? Intellectual Rights and Wrongs", which was coordinatively brought together by Chicago's The Public Square and the Illegal Art folks.
The panel members were Jenny Toomey (unfortunately introduced 2 times as Jean), DJ Spooky, Lawrence Lessig and Jonathan Tasini.
All in all it was a good panel discussion, though I'm not sure new ground was broken - the speakers all come from the jaundiced view of copyright school at best, and no pro-copyright-extension, pro-DMCA-style-protections, or media consolidation advocates were present.
Lessig, each time I've seen him, has seemed to express darker views. I don't think it's because he recently was handed a loss by the Supreme Court, but rather that it's likely an aspect of being a lawyer (read: struggling for optimism in a pragmatic art). For example, when Jenny Toomey advocated rolling back the consolidation of media interest regulations being relaxed by the FCC, Lessig pointed out that the US Supreme Court was more likely to rule now that ANY regulation of such ownership is contrary to constitutional protections.
Despite the gloaming of consolidation and the rest, not all is without hope; inside the classic union rhetoric of Tasini is hope for reform of how creators can do business, in Lessig's calls for individual action of creators are some nascent tools to TAKE action, and in Toomey's acting for education of creators so that they can see the need for action, all combining for subtle but possible changes.
There are multiple sides to this die, and one of these is the distribution network. How can organizations that have real costs - costs of paper, of postage - treat the creators as fairly as possible yet continue to survive. These aren't the conglomerates of the world, nor the internet creators or the zinesters; but the small publishers, the advocacy organizations and associations. Close to the creators, yet subtly different Somehow they fit into this discussion, but weren't addressed that night.
Unfortunately DJ Spooky arrived late - delayed by an earlier engagement. So he didn't mesh with the the tenor of the panel to that point, effectively (and repetitiously) advocating that a lack of respect for current copyright law (as in extensive bootlegging of copyrighted works) is a way out; what he didn't address is how all sides can come together in such a world, where the creators vs the copyright holders vs the consumer can all live in an information universe together. Instead, he came off (inadvertently, and contrary to who I suspect he is intellectually) as almost a "theft is good" mouther, rather than the reasoned response to the Valenti's of the world.
Anne has already published her recap of the recent protests in Chicago, but to kibbitz in with some of my own thoughts...
Her chagrin at the press coverage and the varying crowd counts (and in Chicago, because the potential high was smaller than it ought to have been, the variance was exaggerated), but to chime in with the ones I heard:
My best frame of reference is rock concerts. By that count, I'd say somewhere in the 5 or 6 thousand range is most accurate.
It was a bit surreal at the beginning. The speakers at the start of the rally were encamped in a 7-Eleven parking lot with a faltering audio system. But the crowd was in good, if chilly, spirits. Once we got moving, it was more tolerable (some wags in the crowd recognised this would be the case, chanting "We're Cold, Let's March! We're Cold, Let's March" during the warmup.
Beyond that, a palliative effect of the march was that the business along the strip of Devon were probably recovered by the rush of customers escaping the cold after the trudge down the avenue. We knew the business were open but in a lull - as the waiters of restaurants stood in the windows and shopkeepers watched from their doorways. Usually Devon is bustling on the weekends with people doing their shopping and families (and yes, outsiders) getting together. But during the march, it was eerily quiet, without the usual mess of traffic and parking, just people.
The warhorse of a slogan regarding "No Blood for Oil" was a bit too used. For some portions, at least, the saner call for allowing sanctions to continue to isolate a dictator, was present. But nuanced concerns about what to do, what is right to do, and how far to accelerate doing those things that need to be done, are difficult to chant...
I've said it before, and Anne has already cited it, but if our current administration could admit that there are multiple points of view on the big issues, and that those multiple points of view - and the fact that they even exists - has a value that out nation ostensibly desires to bring to the world, I would be much reassured about out goals.
After updating, always poke things a bit to make sure they still work. Do they still work?
How could I have missed this. Two works by Bloomington animator (well, nee' Bton, to be absolutely clear) Tim Hittle are availableat shockwave.com.
Tim's animation has a deep resonance for me, as when I was a very young man (or even a child), I would see his animation on Channel 3. Some friends ended up doing some of their own stop-animation influenced by Hittle, if I recall correctly - part of an interesting childhood of Victrolas, dinosaurs, Firesign Theater, animation and art that I was privileged to be near to for a long time.
And the sound on these pieces, it should be noted, is Bloomington-centric also. A veritable hit parade of local talent.
Sundance seems to have spawned an online film festival recently, which announcement I missed. It contains a handful of flash
Courtesy of goodexperience, a reference to this take on the butterfly theory, purpose, goals, and Lou Reed.
Perhaps cooler is Kunstbar. Thankfully all the works used are (presumed) copyright unentangled (quick, what's the status of Jackson Pollock's work?)
OK. Let me see if understand this.
First Ashcroft deems it important to cover the exposed breasts of the Spirit of Justice.
Now (courtesy BoingBoing) we learn that the Washington Times (who I'd expect to be more in alignment with Ashcroft, actually) is covering the apparently well orchestrated draping of Picasso's Guernica (not the original, but a tapestry provided by the Rockefellers) when cameras are present for important press conferences involving the UN Security Council.
Of course, covering the symbols doesn't cover the goals behind the works, but still and all... Oy.
Now this is keen. An online repository of documents in computer science (and allied), replete with tools to browse citations and cross citations, referrals and rankings.
Of course, it's from a Research Institute, isn't it....
I mean, say what you will about MSFT, but their research team consistently puts out some nifty stuff. Why shouldn't NEC's also?
'Course, it does beg the question of what Apple's been doing in the research area of late. Is there anything to match the vision (if not execution in all cases) of things like cyberdog, opendoc or the flythrough filesystem browser?
Jon Udell details in his log some interesting experiments in place and planned for visualising information. Some of it has been covered here, but other bits (the audio-reflection of chat data, for example) is new.
The Reuter's News Temperature measuring sounds like an interesting experiment, albeit potentially gimmicky. Page forward to today's entry in Udell's log for a related entry....
According to this article on the state of the French Press, things are tough all over for journalists and their industry. Some interesting factoids(tm) though.
Do your part. Buy a newspaper tomorrow morning, no matter what country you live in.