Monthly Archives

August 2010

Experience: “The Wilderness Downtown” by Arcade Fire

Art, Internet, Music, Technology by
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I’d normally say “Watch” for something of this sort, but Arcade Fire went entirely HTML5 extravaganza on us with their new project in support The Suburbs.  Appropriately, my own experience of this Google Maps-enabled mix of audio, video, text and on the fly graphics wouldn’t work with the childhood address I provided it so I used Kate’s suburban home instead.  I think it came out for the better because trees bursting through the ground and birds swooping down from the skies are pretty much par for the course back in the wilds of my home.

Anyway, if you have five minutes to be amazed by the possibilities of HTML5, “The Wilderness Downtown” is more than worth your time.

Car maps

Art, Cars by
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Jalopnik has posted up a very handy (and I suspect anger-fueled) guide to the geography of the automobile.  As a pretty big car design lover I was surprised by how many terms I didn’t know.  Gotta keep your strakes, tumblehomes and cowls straight, you know.

Two thought-provoking ideas

News, Unexplained by
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Taking a breather after student orientations today, I ran across these articles on Wired Science and thought they might be worth your consideration:

  1. Do gooders are unpopular team members
    • Definitely an example of one of those studies that seeks to prove what is already commonly known, but still a “huh, isn’t that neat” kind of short read.
  1. Is homosexuality an evolutionary step towards the superorganism?
    • While making the connection from insects to humans might be a bit of a stretch, it is interesting to wonder whether or not people who do not want to – or can not physically – have kids are perhaps a product of mother nature at work on a species-wide level?  I mean, maybe.  How you’d prove it, though…

Own horn, tooted

General Entertainment, Internet, Technology by
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As part of a feature on the iPad going back to school this Fall, The Baltimore Sun interviewed me about our ongoing iPad pilot program. The reporter was particularly interested in our focus on faculty and staff as many other schools seem to be taking a different approach by giving them to students foremost. Nice to see some recognition on the front page for sure!

(Via Case for the iPad)

The 328i has replaced me

Cars by

The BMW 328i that Kate is using as a loaner car right now seems to be exactly what was necessary to get her interested in cars. Before it, I couldn’t get her to even check out my new A3 when it arrived. After, though, she wanted to take not one but two drives just for fun AND suggested we get up early to go driving before work!

You take away 700 lbs compared to a girl’s X3…

Watch: Black Swan trailer

Movies by
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Okay, this is finally a dance movie that looks worth seeing.  No 3D gimmicks, no ridiculous whitewashed hip-hop culture.  Just Natalie Portman losing her mind to a haunting score, trippy cinematography and mutant ballerinas.  Oh, Aronofsky…you are excellent when you are twisted.

(Thanks, io9)