Five Minutes with Jason Kottke
From a five minute interview with Jason Kottke at The Verge:
You wrote a post about David Foster Wallace’s idea of the Decider a few years ago. Since then, has anything changed when it comes to your process?
It’s much easier to find interesting things to read and look at online than it used to be…the web is now largely filters on top of filters on top of filters. So I don’t have to sift through as much stuff as I used to. But also around the time I posted that link, I got much better at blogging. I don’t know if the 10,000 hours thing kicked in or what, but what used to take me 6-8 hours to do now takes me 2-3 hours.
(via @tcarmody)
Censoring Wired
Wired has a good overview, explaining their opposition to the Stop Online Piracy Act:
Under the current wording of the measures, the Attorney General would have the power to order ISPs to block access to foreign-based sites suspected of trafficking in pirated and counterfeit goods; order search engines to delist the sites from their indexes; ban advertising on suspected sites; and block payment services from processing transactions for accused sites. If the same standards were applied to U.S.-based sites, Wikipedia, Tumblr, WordPress, Blogger, Google and Wired could all find themselves blocked.
Such requests would need to be reviewed and approved by a judge. But accused sites would get little notice of a pending action in U.S. courts against them, and, once blacklisted, have little effective means of appeal.
As you probably know, sites like Wikipedia, Wired, and BoingBoing are going black today, or censoring their content in protest, but for those in need @FakeWikipedia is going strong on Twitter.
Update: If you would like to register your discontent, Google can point you in the right direction, or simply call your representatives.
There’s really one reason,
and one reason only, that I put this photo here on clusterflock.
Joel, I love you, man, but that photo out of context was beginning to make my tummy sad every time I stopped by.
Besides, I know you love Culver’s.
from the moderated comment spam
I came across my grandfather perusing your blog site instead of taking out the waste
Sign of the Times
I just got chided by my 91-year-old mother for not being on Facebook more often.
clusterflock in a Firefox for Android Tablets Commercial
Well, holy poop, clusterflock showed up in a Firefox for Android tablets commercial.
(thanks, Garrett)
Best Blogs of 2011
I was very privileged to be asked to contribute to this year’s Bygone Bureau list alongside some very fine bloggers. Worth a read, even if I cheated.
Film.com Reviews
A Roundup of our reviews for the weekend.
I wrote these:
Young Adult
We Need to Talk About Kevin
Other people wrote these:
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
New Year’s Eve
The Sitter
Hobo Lobo of Hamelin
Just go here.
And scroll.
headline of the day
Chicago universities preemptively buying up porn domains
This is 100% Real
Be sure to scroll down and read some of the testimonials.
(thanks, Rich)
FYI
Telephones — The Ur-Supercut
Christian Marclay’s Telephones (1995) showed famous actors answering ringing telephones in a string of surreal, disjointed conversations throughout Hollywood history. Edited together, the cadence and rhythm of nonstop clips feels very reminiscent of modern supercuts. Apple tried to license Marclay’s film for the launch of the iPhone in 2007, but he refused. Instead, they made their own, borrowing the idea wholesale. (Marclay decided not to sue.)
Andy Baio, in his new column for Wired’s Epicenter blog, discusses supercuts, those videos that mash-up dozens or hundres of short clips of a type. His article traces the evolution of the form from proto examples like Telephones to their use as tools of political critique. More examples at his supercuts site and more analysis at his Wired article.
Chevy Rips-Off Dear Photograph
Not too many seem to be watching the Rangers – Cardinals World series, so maybe this has gone unnoticed, but Chevrolet seems to have done a pretty thorough job of ripping off Dear Photograph.
Robottke — building a Kottke-bot
From an article at Slate about an attempt to automize Jason Kottke:
How does it work? We began by crawling all the sources that Jason Kottke is likely to look at every day—we look at all the sites he links to, and all the stuff that people he follows on Twitter are sharing. The hard part is choosing the best, most Kottke-like links from Robottke’s collection. It’s helpful that the human Kottke meticulously tags all of his posts with keywords. When Robottke finds a link, it searches for topics that it knows Kottke likes—the more it finds, the higher the article ranks.
(via @jkottke, of course)
quote out of context
She says a pornographic site will allow PETA to reach a broader audience and that publicity about the site is just as important.
dear clusterflock
Instapaper vs. Readabilty.
google.com/flights
(thanks, Joel)
Amazon and Boston Globe redesigns
Amazon and The Boston Globe have recently redesigned their sites, and while I haven’t thought about it long enough to make any substantial observations, I do see a similar openness and brightness in each of the new designs. Amy mentioned that Target recently went through a redesign as well, but their site appears to be down this morning, so I haven’t been able to see how it compares. Also, not everyone seems to be seeing the new Amazon design, so maybe they are rolling it out in phases.
Update: If you’re not seeing the redesigned Amazon, this is what it looks like.
The Oracle
Dear Google,
How are you? I am fine. I have a couple of queries, so back the hell off with the auto-fill answers for right now, okay?
So, seriously, how do you know so much? If I could access useless information as quickly as you do, I would get totally laid. Lightning-quick responses to trivia questions are an absolute panty-dropper—everybody understands that women can’t resist a guy who can do that.
Stellar Invites
I’ve got two one more Stellar invitations invitation. Let me know in comments.
Update: Jason says:
And I’ve got unlimited invites if other ‘flockers want to try it out. Email me at jason {at} kottke {dot} org.
Stellar
I have two Stellar invites if anyone is interested. Let me know in comments.
Update:Michael has one invite left.
Update: All gone.
Telex — ‘A radical new approach to thwarting Internet censorship would essentially turn the whole web into a proxy server’
Telex is a proof of concept that would harness multiple servers outside restrictive countries that would make it harder, or impossible, for governments to block access to specific websites.
“This has the potential to shift the arms race regarding censorship to be in favor of free and open communication,” said J. Alex Halderman, assistant professor of computer science and engineering at U-M and one of Telex’s developers.
“The Internet has the ability to catalyze change by empowering people through information and communication services. Repressive governments have responded by aggressively filtering it. If we can find ways to keep those channels open, we can give more people the ability to take part in free speech and access to information.”
windoodles
Friend of clusterflock Garrett Miller’s got himself a new endeavor.
Interview with an Ubu
The mainstream art world knows nothing of Ubu. Why would they be interested? Ubu is intended for people who don’t have access to the centres of urban culture and all the riches they offer. We often receive emails from people living in rural, isolated or suburban areas whose only line to the outside world is a web connection. For them, Ubu is an open-source museum and offers a full education on a type of culture that is unavailable, say, in their local mall or library. The museum world, although claiming to be interested in education, only serves those who can afford to come to them, a privileged class. Ubu is free and embracing of everyone, regardless of their geographic location or income.
