more of what i like

A Funkaoshi Production :: India 2010

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 22:32:12 -0400

A Funkaoshi Production :: India 2010:

I really loving Ramanan’s posts about his trip to India. Wonderful photos + in-the-moment notes on the iPhone. Great combo.

When the last recording studio goes, what will go with it? | Word Magazine

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 22:23:49 -0400

When the last recording studio goes, what will go with it? | Word Magazine

Marginal Revolution: Why do people ask questions at public events?

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:52:00 -0500

Marginal Revolution: Why do people ask questions at public events?:

It matters a great deal if people have to write out questions in advance, or during the talk, and a moderator then reads out the question. That mechanism improves question quality and cuts down on the first three motives cited. Yet it is rarely used. In part we wish to experience the contrast between the speaker and the erratic questioners and the resulting drama.

I like the second commenter’s suggestion: “Take multiple questions at once. The moderator will take say three questions from three audience members before giving the presenter a chance to answer them one-by-one.”

Forecast for Los Angeles. Hell yeah.

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:01:49 -0500

Forecast for Los Angeles. Hell yeah.

"What you have to find is your own niche that will allow you to keep feeding and clothing and..."

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:22:24 -0500

“What you have to find is your own niche that will allow you to keep feeding and clothing and sheltering yourself without getting downtown. (Laughs.) Because that’s death. That’s really where death is.”

- Interview with Nora Watson in Studs Terkel’s Working.

Working: The Graphic Novel - Bryan Caplan | EconLog

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:08:32 -0500

Working: The Graphic Novel - Bryan Caplan | EconLog:

Interesting. There’s a graphically-novelized version of Studs Terkel’s book from 1974, Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do. Graphic novelizations make me cringe a little, but Harvey Pekar is behind it, so who knows.

Zane Grey holds a koala during a visit to Australia. I just...

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:37:20 -0500

Zane Grey holds a koala during a visit to Australia. I just started reading Riders of the Purple Sage.

Five tips for writing non-fiction | The Undercover Economist | FT.com

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:50:11 -0500

Five tips for writing non-fiction | The Undercover Economist | FT.com:

I like #2: “Read people whose ideas or research you ~~understand~~ value.”

Interracial divorce, the matrix of sex & race : Gene...

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:45:00 -0500

Interracial divorce, the matrix of sex & race : Gene Expression. (via)

"What people today are beginning to realize is what became obvious to us back then—the important..."

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:44:00 -0500

“What people today are beginning to realize is what became obvious to us back then—the important correlation is the one between familiarity and value, not scarcity and value.”

- John Perry Barlow, lyricist for The Grateful Dead in Management Secrets of the Grateful Dead - The Atlantic. See also John Perry Barlow in Wired, March 1994.

Tom & Jerry - Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2. One funny bit of...

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 11:28:51 -0500

Tom & Jerry - Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2. One funny bit of trivia from Note by Note… the pianist Lang Lang was inspired to take up the piano after seeing Tom & Jerry’s Cat Concerto episode.

Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037. This was...

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 11:15:54 -0500

Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037. This was interesting, but not a must-see. You get to know the multi-national cast of employees that put them together up in the Steinway factory in Astoria, Queens, NYC. There are also some scenes from the public showrooms and artist relations (patient employees help sensitive musicians searching for an ineffable something).

The scope of the actual construction is impressively broad—there are giant chunks of wood that just get absolutely manhandled, and there are tiny little fiddly bits that get tweaked and retweaked over a span of weeks. I used to work with my Grandpa in his workshop, and if you spend any time with smart carpenters, you catch on to the clever devices or tricks they invent to make the job easier. There’s some cool custom-made-for-the-job timesavers in the movie if you look for them.

The downside to all the behind-the-scenes stuff is that while you see a lot, they don’t explain a lot. E.g. you see a foreman selecting wood, but you don’t know what kind of wood it is or what kind makes it better than other chunks. I don’t know that I wanted a narrator intoning facts over all the footage, but it’s a shame that so much is kept at arm’s length. Maybe a more probing interviewer could have helped. If you’re really interested in the details, I think you’re better off reading something like the A Romance on Three Legs: Glenn Gould’s Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Piano.

noiseforairports: Papa Sangre is a forthcoming iPhone game that...

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 10:30:48 -0500

noiseforairports:

Papa Sangre is a forthcoming iPhone game that is audio only. Listen to this “video” above on headphones to get an idea of how awesome this game could be. I’m really looking forward to this one!

Yeah. Things like this are why I’m probably going to end up with a shiny new iPhone in a few months.

Joanna Newsom, the Changeling - NYTimes.com

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 10:09:27 -0500

Joanna Newsom, the Changeling - NYTimes.com:

Okay-ish profile, but I like this bit in particular:

In “Sadie,” a ballad with a distinct Appalachian flavor, Newsom sings lines that could speak for thousands of musicians who’ve drawn on the deep well of American folk music: “This is an old song/These are old blues/This is not my tune/But it’s mine to use.”

Chan Marshall Revisited « A Continuous Lean. God bless...

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 10:04:17 -0500

Chan Marshall Revisited « A Continuous Lean. God bless America.

Being foreign: The others | The Economist

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 10:01:18 -0500

Being foreign: The others | The Economist:

An American child psychologist, Alison Gopnik, when reaching for an analogy to illuminate the world as experienced by a baby, compared it to Paris as experienced for the first time by an adult American: a pageant of novelty, colour, excitement. Reverse the analogy and you see that living in a foreign country can evoke many of the emotions of childhood: novelty, surprise, anxiety, relief, powerlessness, frustration, irresponsibility. It may be this sense of a return to childhood, consciously or not, that gives the pleasure of foreignness its edge of embarrassment.

(via).

Alice in Wonderland. Mental note: refuse further invitations to...

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 18:44:35 -0500

Alice in Wonderland. Mental note: refuse further invitations to see movies for kids. (See also). Too bad, because I like the cast in this one. Anne Hathaway is particularly amusing.

Barry White Gets Pissed at the Copywriter During a Recording Session - Adrants

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:17:00 -0500

Barry White Gets Pissed at the Copywriter During a Recording Session - Adrants:

In which Barry White “cordially invites yo ass” to something or other at Paul Quinn College. Archival outtakes ftw.

Wired for Books : Author interviews on MP3

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 10:41:11 -0500

Wired for Books : Author interviews on MP3:

austinkleon:

Amazing archive of interviews with authors from the 80s and 90s. A must-bookmark.

Woah.

Madison Avenue, New York City, 1973 by Mitch Epstein.

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 09:53:00 -0500

Madison Avenue, New York City, 1973 by Mitch Epstein.