The Puget News

Apparently this was shown at the radio/tv press corps dinner, in front of MC Rove and GW. Incredibly sad or hilariously funny? You make the call…

There are only two video podcasts I watch religiously: Cool Hunting and TEDTalks. They never fail to impress and inspire.

In this week’s Cool Hunting video, I was inspired several times over by the work of Jonathan Harris, being drawn in initially by his beautiful scrap-books. Journaling, as a concept, is something I’ve always admired and yet have always failed to devote myself to. Half a dozen journals sit within my book collection, nearly all of them empty beyond the first several pages. And yet, when I look at what I actually have written, the memories come rushing back and I find the experience engaging.

Harris’s journals have a freedom to them I’d love to attempt in my own journaling. The pasting of travel mementos, paintings in watercolors, pencil sketches, and words, all take advantage of where his mind is at during the time of creativity. It seems somehow easier to avoid writer’s block if you don’t have to write. While I am not the painter or the sketch artist he is, I am certain that I too can aspire to create something which is at least occasionally worthy of exploration and self-review, and that seems like as good a place to start as any.

Most of my friends are creative and feel like they should be spending more time on their artistic endeavors than they actually do. In the act of creating a journal, to exploration and archival of detritis of those things that make up a life, there is a built-in review process for ideas and thoughts, all done in an environment where the intention is not necessarily to share with others. It’s a place to work out your good and bad ideas. This is freeing. MySpace and blogging somehow seem like poor substitutes.

Moving from interior spaces to exterior explorations, Jonathan’s other works shown in the video are websites focused on filtering the shared experiences of others through creative digital visualizations, automated web-based aggregators, and inventive new use of old metaphor.

• We Feel Fine - A “Global study of human emotion using large-scale blog analysis”
• Universe - The exploration and creation of modern mythologies visualized as astral constellations.

If you missed it above, here’s that link to the video.

Let me know what you think of it. Have any of you tried journaling/scrap-booking in the past? Do you still do it now? Does anyone know of any good websites which discuss this sort of autobiographical creation?

This video re-enacts some of the most tense Samuel L. Jackson lines from “Pulp Fiction.” With the focus on just the words, and sometimes even just the syllables, I just came to realize the ironic foreshadowing of this dialog in the movie. I hadn;t really noticed before that Samuel L. Jackson basically calls out what will happen to Marcellus Wallace later in the film.

My intent in this post is not to bring things down and I promise to return to our normally scheduled programming shortly. Several days ago was the 3-year anniversary of my father’s pre-mature passing. Those who know me know that this was a huge and horrible moment in my life. He was a bright, talented, funny, and honorable 50-year old man. I expected to have many more years to spend with him.

I remember living in the country when our TV was a house decoration with few fuzzy remote channels. As a result, we listened to a lot of music. I remember spending nights in front of the record player with Neil Young, CSNY, Leo Kottke, Jimi, and early Stevie Ray. Most of all, I remember my dad’s searing renditions of “Needle and the Damage Done” and “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” His voice was beautiful, powerful, and darkly soulful, which is probably the main reason he sang “Danny Boy” at the funerals of so many friends and acquaintances.

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A funny Norwegian video paralleling today’s technology adoption practices with yester-year’s by parodying introduction of the first books.

How’d you like to go to a concert of a great band and have them block the way out to play you one more?

This video fits wonderfully with the purpose of this blog. It’s an artistic examination of the ways in which humans are providing universal content which machines (directed by humans) supply form. It’s an intelligent feedback loop which is accelerating.

On a brilliant SNL skit this weekend, Amy Poehler played Dakota Fanning as star of her own talk show, a place “for child actors to discuss cinema, theater, politics, and the cultural zeitgeist at large.” Her guests on this week’s episode are Daniel Radcliffe of “Harry Potter,” and Abigail Breslin of “Little Miss Sunshine.”

Just after the 2nd minute in the video below, you get the most cryptic and hilarious reference of the whole video when Dakota responds to Daniel Radcliffe’s assertion that people have a “soft spot” for children’s books like “Harry Potter” and “Cat in the Hat” (which Dakota Fanning played a part in):

Dakota: Speaking of books, have you read the new Pynchon?

Radcliffe (shaking head): No.

Dakota: You know I never thought I’d agree with Michiko Kikutani but I really don’t think it’s his best work. Thomas Pynchon? Michiko Kikutani? Reggie? [as she looks to the band leader]

[Reggie shakes his head that he doesn’t understand]

Dakota [turning back to Radcliffe]: If it’s not on the checkout counter at Walmart, Reggie hasn’t read it.

What do you guys think? Have seen any other good and obscure literary references out there in the real world?

OK, so maybe this one isn’t up to any real literary standard, but I think it’s funny. I have to admit to being a little intrigued by the marketing campaign that some “asshat” turned into a “terrorist event” in major US cities last week. That would be the one where a guerilla marketing campaign from Turner Broadcasting, in support of “Aqua Teen Hunger Force”, went slightly awry and caused the city of Boston to shut down while lite-brite installations were removed from around the city. I can’t make this stuff up.

I like this short on YouTube regarding office politics.

One of the volunteers at 826 Seattle made a video that absolutely smokes the one I made a month ago (although they were for different audiences/purposes). Check it out, volunteer, and spread the word - this is a great organization preaching the power of imagination.