Movie Night: Alice in Wonderland

(click images to enlarge)



Clicking on the "More Theatre's Link:



A review will undoubtedly follow. :)



mh

Facebook: Game playing Xenophobes stalked by Tricky-Dick snake-oil Salesmen

As an interactive communications tool Youtube is still just a one way device, much like old broadcast media. It's big difference is that users are producing a lot of the content, instead of a New York or Hollywood production colossus - and - it's On-Demand.

But the experience of Youtube is boring compared to the typing and clicking social networks like facebook and Twitter.

Facebook brings in multi-media better than twitter right now, so it's part of the way to that multi-media all-in-one "UberApp" that the world is looking for. In 2006 facebook opened a developers interface to allow open source applications in, and subsequently - because it didn't have a vision of what it wanted to be - began to go off coarse. So the progressive step of allowing users to create new functionality, became facebook s' death knell. It has since become a refuge for neurotic game playing xenophobes stalked by tricky-dick snake-oil salesmen.

Sometimes I enter and heroically try to dig out lost friends, dragging them out with inspiring "off-world" stories. Usually though, I won't touch facebook with a ten foot RSS feed.

It's icky in there, I don't like it.


(This is the 2nd snippet of an article on 'new media' that I am in the process of writing called, "The Interactive Narrative".)




mh

Youtube: Betcha George Orwell Didn't See This Metric Coming!

Youtube remains a TV set 'On Demand' but with a difference. There is a popular myth that surrounds the Youtube user community - that they are "Sticking it to the Man" by posting and watching stuff without permissions. This zeitgeist gives users the idea that stealing (which they are not) = freedom (which it is not).

Betcha George Orwell didn't see that metric coming!

People use P2P file sharing to share TV content and Youtube to post the content online. Users are not breaking copyright law because no one is charging anything. Youtube simply has to pay the producers a percentage of what they make through ad revenue on the site. These amounts are being settled in court and in the market place as we speak write.

Youtube is another revenue stream for producers, one they're going to need as ad revenues are currently imploding. Unless TV gets with the On-Demand thing quickly (which they are), they'll all be bankrupt by summer.


1984 Image courtesy: Slavenka & Obi Blog (no attribution)
YouTube Image courtesy: University of Kentucky - Engineering - Solar Car Team page


(This is a snippet of an article on 'new media' that I am in the process of writing called, "The Interactive Narrative".)



mh

As it Happens back to the Hard Questions

"The fact is, the crafts' of Carol Off and Barbra Budd, and the As it Happens team, has matured since 2007 - but more importantly, the show is tackling the hard issues again."

In a rant about CBC Radio's show "As it Happens" (published January 23, 2007) - a show I love - I picked on the hosts Carol Off and Barbara Budd for not being competent as journalist and story teller. I thought then that the surface of the thing - the presenters - were the gut of the problem; that the faces of the production were not competent enough to deliver the promise of the show - using technology to create a Marshall McLuhan-ist "Global Village".

Over the past few months I've found myself drifting back to the show. I still think the production values of the show lacked a certain level of competence between 1997 and 2007. But now, with that, I'm including Mary Lou Finlay in my critique of the face of the show; surly there must be some other factor functioning here.

The fact is, the crafts' of Carol Off and Barbra Budd, and the As it Happens team, has matured since 2007 - but more importantly, the show is tackling the hard issues again.

So I owe an apology to the hosts, it wasn't their fault the show sucked. Sorry.

As it Happens sucked because it was missing hard content.

At one point I remember a decision to lighten up the first half hour of the show. This was at the demographic height of the baby-boom-echo, people who listened to the show were upset with hard content as they were sitting down to diner with their young children; so the lead in a news show was buried, left until the middle of the show. This changed the nature of the beast; the show became softer and softer over time.

I remember back in the days of the first neo-con federal government in this country (September 17, 1984, to June 25, 1993) the pressure was on CBC. The Feds were reducing funding year after year and implicit in the Mulroney government's actions was an inference that the content of the network needed to change for success to be guaranteed. (No producer would ever admit to this; that government pressure had effected content would be like saying you had lost the war - you were incompetent at your job.)

In "The Secret Mulroney Tapes" (Google Books) a book by Peter C. Newman the author hi-lights Mulroneys pet peeve, the 'liberal media'. Mulroney saw the liberal media as his greatest impedament to completing his adgenda. He still rants about this every time parliament drags him back to answer the latest allegations of treason. In Canada the cornerstone of liberal media is the CBC - in that it isn't corporate media (with the neo-con/corporate global empire agenda).

So what's happing now? Another neo-con government inhabits Ottawa and the neo-con global dance continues?

One answer may be that lately, while we have a neo-con government, it has always been a minority government - and a minority government acts as a 'check and balance' to the incredible power of the Prime Ministers Office. Prime Minister Stephan Harper strictly manages information just as Mulroney tried to do; but the pressure on the CBC seems to be relaxing.

And better Art would appear to be a result. 8-).

Now years into funding cutbacks many of the CBC's content producers are Independent or "out of house" and thus, at arms length. The baby-boomers are again with out their children. That we are at war gives CBC power as it always has. The connectivity of CBC to the audience has increased as the CBC begins to prefect it's Web 2.0 functionality.

CBC is in a renaissance in this observers opinion, and As it Happens has always been a cornerstone of what CBC is.

None of this should belittle the fact that the research, the writing, the art is the kernal of production, individuals working together in a creative process create great things.

The team at CBC Radio's "As it Happens" is rocking!



mh

CBC Radio Comedy Is King Again!

All right, I've been keeping WireTap with Jonathan Goldstein a secret from all you out there in Webville, but I guess the time has come - after 5 seasons I'm pretty sure now this show will not let me down [like the Airfarce, The Frantics or As It Happens (sigh)]. Enough of me alone with my radio, laughing out loud (LoL), it's time to share this treasure I've found. This is the best comedy show CBC has ever produced! (or had someone else produce)

Download the new seasons first episode "A Better You". (mp3 file: runs 24:30)

Not only that but it has a video presence on youtube; and all the shows are available as podcasts.

WireTap with Jonathan Goldstein for you people who like frequency and amplitude modulation, is on free radio - CBC Radio One - 1:30 p.m. on Saturdays and 11:30 p.m. on Thursdays.










Photo Credit: CBC

Host, Writer and Genius,
Jonathan Goldstein

Illustration by Jack Dylan



mh

Trouble Shooting. Sounds Technical but...

From the WEBCOMIC xkcd.
Always in Filterblogs Sidebar---->



Click on image for larger size.

This works with any technology.



mh

Crack Cocaine Allusion Hidden in The Replacements "Can't Hardly Wait" Obvious in Justin Townes Earl's' Take

Sometimes song writers bury the meaning of a song in metaphor and allusion. One example came to my attention the other day; the lyrics follow under the video in case your not familiar with the tune. Something tells me The Replacements, under pressure from the motion picture industry, were forced to - or chose to - straighten-up the song to guarantee a specific censorship rating.

'Can't Hardly Wait' written by The Replacements




I'll write you a letter tomorrow
Tonight I can't hold a pen
Someone's got a stamp that I can borrow
I promise not to blow the address again

Lights that flash in the evening,
Through a crack in the drapes

Jesus rides beside me
He never buys any smokes
Hurry up, hurry up, ain't you had enough of this stuff
Ashtray floors, dirty clothes, and filthy jokes

See you're high and lonesome
Try and try and try

Lights that flash in the evening,
Through a hole in the drapes
I'll be home when I'm sleeping
I can't hardly wait

I can't wait. Hardly wait.



But while listening to Justin Townes Earl's' version on CBC 2 the other day I'm sure I heard these lyrics(changes in bold italics colour).

I'll write you a letter tomorrow
Tonight I can't hold a pen
Someone's got a stem that I can borrow
I promise not to blow the screen again

Lights that flash in the evening,
Through a crack in the drapes

Jesus rides beside me
He never buys any smoke_
Hurry up, hurry up, ain't you had enough of this stuff
Ashtray floors, dirty clothes, and filthy jokes

See you're high and lonesome
Try and try and try

Lights that flash in the evening,
Through a hole in the drapes
I'll be home when I'm sleeping
I can't hardly wait

I can't wait. Hardly wait.


Justin Townes Earl's' - 'Can't Hardly Wait'




It's a better song the second way.

Several references to the effects of the drug tie in with the 'stamp'/'stem' and address/screen re-write, (address doesn't even fit the rhythm of the melody):

• "The crack in the drapes, Lights that flash in the evening," refers to the long bic lighter flickering that, from the outside of the house advertise the presence of a crack party;
• "the hole in the drapes", specifically the attention to the details of security, refers to paranoia the drug infuses in long term users.
• The lines "Hurry up, hurry up, ain't you had enough of this stuff, Ashtray floors, dirty clothes, and filthy jokes, See you're high and lonesome" are the lines in the song that first grabbed my attention,
  
• "I'll be home when I'm sleeping" both refer to the drugs amphetamine effects.

Either I'm projecting or I've had too many coffee's this morning.
Comments always welcome.



mh

Johnny Depp Reading From Hunter S. Thompson's' "Fear and Loathing in Los Vegas"

Now back up on YouTube after a few years in legal purgatory; I still have no idea why this content could be deemed copyright infringement, unless the guy with the camcorder... .

Anyways, here it is again, one of my favorite paragraphs...






mh

Futher On The New Word: "Padumps"

In an earlier post on Etymology...

"New Word: "Padumps" (Pronounced, Pa - Dumps) The thingy's that go in your ears with the I-Pod system, that 'dump' content into your ears, padumps.

Vicki-Lynn, Toronto, August 26, 2007"

Since then, it has come to my attention that it is a term used in music, as exampled in this Google search result:

Boolean search: "padumps computer science"

1 Result:

[PDF] FSU’s new president—on the job
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat -view as HTML
degrees in computer science from. FSU and succeeded in their. careers. ..... “padump-padumps” and other sounds. imitating trombones and kettle drums. ...
www.fsu.edu/~fstime/FS-Times/febmar03.pdf - Similar pages

From the article written by Mark Hinson on page 6 of the February/March issue of the FS-Times, reprinted from the original in the Tallahassee Democrat (my emphasis):

"Don't casually question Jim Croft
about the music of John Philip Sousa
(1854-1932) if you're expecting a quick,
easy answer of “yeah, he was OK when it
came to marches.”
Croft, a much-respected music professor
and the director of bands at Florida
State University, loves to talk about Sousa's
harmonic structure, “his judicious use of
contrast,” the “little hooks he throws in”
and the “diaphanous transparency and
dancelike quality” of certain marches.
If you'd like, he can sound out passages
of marches by sounding out the
music with lots of “hurrrrrumps” and
“padump-padumps” and other sounds
imitating trombones and kettle drums."

This took about 5 minutes of work to land the hit -- along the thread of "beat".

The kicker to solving the puzzle was the algorithm, computer science.

As far as I understand, in the dictionary makers world, one more reference and it's a word!

Or maybe it already is... so the headphone usage is only new not the word.

Etymology.



(please excuse any cashed pages on the Internet with a 'bug' label)
mh

New Word: "Padumps"

New Word: "Padumps" (Pronounced, Pa - Dumps) The thingy's that go in your ears with the I-Pod system, that 'dump' content into your ears, padumps.

Vicki-Lynn, Toronto, August 26, 2007



mh

Garrison Keillor

On "A Prairie Home Companion", I think he said, "Stuck to a vinyl couch like a melting Paris Hilton."

Listen to the July 28, 2007 compilation show.

Well actually, on a re-listen I found out he said, "Paris Hilton getting up off a vinyl couch."

And then sound effects master, Tom Keith made the sound with his voice that would be Paris Hilton getting up off a vinyl couch.

But I like mine too.



mh

While browsing BANPC, I found this rating system at redjenny.

This blog is rated 'R' due to the words: shoot (3x), dead (2x), hell (1x) by a computer algorithm. Apparently the thing needs some tweaking.

You have to be 18 to study war?

hmmm...

To rate Your blog go here.



mh

We Made Paris Hilton Cry

Images: Yahoo.com

"GOOD! We made her cry."




That IS what we wanted wasn't it?

Here's a different edit of the same photograph - that says something more.



Some tabloid style newspapers ran the top picture, accuracy be dammed. The story became the media rather than the equal enforcement of a judicial order upon a very wealthy young woman with the best lawyers money can buy.



mh

Time Burns By; Johnny and Roseanne Cash Home Gone.

The Video, filmed in this house: losthighwayrecords.com
Photo credit: Tennessean.com

Jim Henley, of Unqualified Offerings, says of the Cash Home burning,“God really didn’t want Barry Gibb writing songs there.”

I have similar tastes in music.

Before I knew there was a Icon, as I realized, it was burning right in front of me; on TV.

More sad news...

RIP.

here's 'Man In Black' From YouTube;






mh

Cosmology Interactive Mash up Fun

Q) What do these links have in common? (check out each colored link and try your Answer A, B, C and D, at the bottom).

Themis Mission
Advanced Concepts Team
Bow Wave of the Solar System
Aurora Borealis
Grand Unified Theory
Curved Space
The Jetson's

ANSWER: click the red letters

A. PBS show ZOOM?
B. Karl Rove's plan to Win in '08?
C. Goddesses?
D. Hover Cars?


Interactive learning technology mashup
mh

We're all going to Hell.

Jessica Hagys site is Wonderful! Here's her 'about me':

This site is a little project that lets me make fun of some things and sense of others. I use it to think a little more relationally without resorting to doing actual math.




Link is in the Title.

Stephen Colbert interviewed by Bill O'Reilly on the O'Reilly Factor,

Bill O'Reilly plays Stephen Colberts' shtick and between the lines admits to being all about Hartred and War.

And then on Comedy Central later that night, confirms as much admitting the role playing had exposed his evil plan... "...this was a huge mistake, me comin' on here..".

Billy O'Reilly is a fascist. Yes. That's right, you heard me. I'm not listening. I can't hear you...

..lalala, lalala, lalala, lalala...



mh

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

Every letter of the English alphabet is used in this Pangram. Read from left to right, top to bottom; follow the dots back up to the sentence to confirm.



This sentence is used to make sure the keys on typewriters and computer keyboards are working.



mh

'AS IT HAPPENS' must have Marshall McLuhan Spinning In His Grave.

I've been listening to CBC Radio's As It Happens for 30 years. Barbara Frum was weaving the story back then, with Alan Maitland drawing the pictures with voice.

Over the years many great hosts have sat in those chairs; many great producers and writers have created magic behind the scenes.

"It takes a special talent to deliver a radio script..." says the current announcers biography. Barbara Budd does not have that talent.


Perhaps the writing staff can't compose; the narrative is usually so badly butchered I can't tell if the writing was good or not. The trips-ups, flubs and miss-takes of rhythm are too much to bear.

They say a great actor can't save a bad script - but a good script can save a bad actor; perhaps in this case it's a mixture of both the bads.

Carol Off doesn't help. The introduction to the production says, "As It Happens is like taking a trip around the world five nights a week." It has become one of those Red-Eyes you wish you'd never booked. The hour and a half used to fly by - when the people who worked on the show understood the reference in the introduction to Marshall McLuhan's Global Village.

Carol Off treats her role as "medium-intermediate" as if it's an old stale formula. Instead of taking us on a trip around the world, she convinces us with every burdensome, half-baked, lineal question that the show isn't really modern at all.

The guest is left telling the whole story from beginning to end while Carol waits for a pause where she can interject one of a list of questions the team came up in the pre-production meeting; trying to make apparent some pseudo-intellectual point.

Happily, there is a solution to all this. In August I heard two masters at work on the show: Helen Mann and C. David Johnson.

Really enjoyed their work this summer, a special team.



mh