D.E.A.R. Fridays!
Remember in grammar school when your teacher had DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) Fridays? I’m reinstating it.Actually, only this Friday. I’m not trying to be NYT-centric, but they posted their?Top 10 Books of 2007?and it seemed right to draw your attention to it. I’ve been consumed with academic readings, and am looking forward to my graduation if only for the extra personal reading time I’ll get. First on my list is “Then We Came to the End” by Josh Ferris. Lots of glowing reviews and a?National Book Award mention?to boot!?I’m also looking forward to reading “A Circle is a Balloon and Compass Both” by Ben Greenman ? which is finally in paperback. A collection of stories about love and loss. Maybe not the most original topics ? but I’m still putting it on my Amazon wishlist.
Google saves energy by spending money
In an article in The New York Times today, Google announced it would be spending hundreds of millions of dollars trying to go from “the Internet company with a seemingly limitless source of revenue” to “finding limitless sources of energy.” Clever play on those words, Brad Stone. Clever.
However, what’s kind of appalling about the whole thing is the flack economists gave the idea. From the Times:
For some Wall Street analysts, the most relevant question is not whether Google can save the world, but whether the company?s idealism may ultimately distract it from its core businesses of organizing the world?s information and selling online ads.
?My first reaction when I read about this was, ?Is this a joke??? said Jordan Rohan of RBC Capital Markets. ?I?ve written off Google?s competition as a threat to Google?s long-term market share gains. But I haven?t written off Google?s own ability to stretch too far and try to do too much. Ultimately, that is the biggest risk in the Google story.?
Yeah, spending “hundreds of millions” of a billion-dollar net worth company’s money to ultimately save it said money kind of is a bad idea. Who wants to help the rest of the world, anyway?
Ugh. I say it’s about time a huge company invested some money into alternative energy resources. Let’s face it ? putting “go green” bumper stickers on your Prius is actually kind of counterproductive, wouldn’t you say? (Someone’s got to be mass-producing those suckers, and using valuable energy to do so.)
image courtesy of Businessweek
Rollin’ on double C’s
-Oh hey, cool Bike!
Yeah, it’s Chanel.
-Wow!
It was $13,000.
-HAHAHAHA!
image courtesy of stylesightings.com. An extra special thanks to the lovely VSchnei for the tip. Be on the lookout for her riding the South of France on this bad boy. In gold heels, natch.
Cavalli chianti + Smart guy vodka = pre-Thanksgiving Party ‘07
Tomorrow is the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, or the biggest drinking night of the year to most avid binge drinkers. Good news for the classiest of said drinkers: Roberto Cavalli’s got a little something for you to indulge in! He’s been growing grapes at his Tuscan estate all these years, and now he wants to share with everyone. Sounds delicious, all though I do find it kind of funny to drink an Italian designer’s wine. I don’t know ? something seems suspiciously unclassy about turning to a friend and saying, “Oh, this? I’m just enjoying the 2004 Cavalli Cab Sauv.” Did I say unclassy? I meant stupid.
But if technology is more your thing, maybe you’d be interested in the new Lotus vodkas from Rob Bailey (the MIT alum and former Yahooligan). Apparently, the guy was getting sick of pouring his Redbull into vodka, and figured it would be more efficient to combine the booze with taurine, Vitamin b12, and caffeine … in the same bottle. That’s Blue Lotus ? not to be confused with WHITE Lotus, which prevents hang overs. Makes sense! Those Techies … always trying to save us time!
TV is making it work
Bravo could not have planned it any better ? WGA strike right as their reality television show premiers! Now, not only is Project Runway the best reality show on televison, but it’s also the only thing I feel like watching anymore, now that there aren’t any new episodes of The Office after tonight.
Just thought I’d weigh in ? Chris’s dress was my favorite:
I mean yeah I loved Rami’s winning design, but I really wish I had Chris’s dress to wear somewhere. Somewhere.
And in other fashion related fun … Marc Jacobs is out of his mind! This isn’t news … he’s been all over gossip sites and Page 6 and Gawker and all else. But it’s always fun to see how the NYT tries to pretend they’re all professional, whilst discussing Marc Jacobs, who is a crazy creature of nudity. Who canoodles with Perez Hilton. With blue hair. And enjoys creepy ads featuring Dakota Fanning. No, no. Marc. We love you!
There will never be another Andy
I really enjoyed Boing Boing co-editor Cory Doctorow’s take on the Pop Exhibit at London’s National Portrait Gallery. He brings up the idea that it’s hard to look at pop art and not wonder how anyone could do anything like that with the present copyright laws. I’ve thought the same thing ? as soon as I were to create millions of apples growing from a wild tree in some yuppie college town, you know, hypothetically, to make a statement of sorts, Jobs would be all over that with lawsuits.
So what’s the message of the show? Is it a celebration of remix culture, revelling in the endless possibilities opened up by appropriating and reusing images without permission?
Or is it the epitaph on the tombstone of the sweet days before the UN set up the World Intellectual Property Organization and the ensuing mania for turning everything that can be sensed and recorded into someone’s property?
It’s no wonder that we’re the Youtube generation. Of course we are, we necessarily have to be. Even then, though, advertisements and pop cultural icons are so deeply embedded in our daily lives, it wouldn’t be surprising to have to go around copyright issues even with background signs or home decor. Which might completely defeat the idea of being able to do anything original with all the signs we’re so exposed to, as Doctorow put it, “unless you could somehow contrive to get a shot of Leicester Square without any writing, logos, architectural facades or images in it.”
Photo of “Meet the People from ten collages of BUNK!” - Eduardo Paolozzi. Courtesy of npg.org.uk
Zune: Because you hate Leslie Fiest
Microsoft introduced the new Zune 2, or its version of an iPod. It’s cheaper ($199, as opposed to apple’s $299-$399 pricetag), and I think the Brazilian singer C?u is to Zune as Fiest is to iPod. Unfortunately, I have been spending all of my money on DVD late fines at IC’s library, so I can’t provide a review. But Gizmodo can ? 6 of ‘em.
This is all you need to see to make an educated purchase. Gates vs. Jobs in a battle royale. Whose side are you on?
Pumping neurons
Okay, I write this sitting on my couch with a cup of coffee in hand. I was too exhausted to go to class, so it may seem as though I’m not the best to administer advice on how to expand your brain power/potential/potency. But maybe you’ll trust our good friends at Wired? They’ve chosen a coupla games that require major focus and tenacity. Which is cool, although my prowess in gaming doesn’t extend much past Spiro the Dragon or Wii Bowling.
Then the Times ran this piece about exercising your brain … which can reduce the risk of dementia and stroke. So exercising is healthy? Who knew?
Eee! A super-small and super-unnecessary PC!
I know that when I have an extra $400, I’m not looking to take a trip or save or anything ? I wanna spend! If you’re in the same boat, maybe you’d like to buy a super small computer, that looks like a MacBook but isn’t? It’s also only got 4GB of space, but you know, it’s cute. Check out the company’s site here. Although my favorite quotes come from that NYmag feature:
“It?s so damn cute that everyone I?ve shown it to wants one. If you swoon at the idea of a low-cost, two-pound computer that?ll fit in a handbag, my advice is to check it out in person…”
And from Wikipedia:
“The Eee PC is an ultra-portable laptop designed by Intel and ASUSTeK, aimed at the consumer market.” (emphasis mine.)
Oh, to be young and obbsessed with spending money on pointless, but “damn cute” technology.
NYTimes: Have a seizure, on the house!
The Times wants you to start seizing in the name of art: Just click here!
In all fairness, the short is pretty cool. I watched it in the computer lab instead of making a study guide.
Also, let it be known that I, the lover of all coffee tables books, would really like this one . Lights and lamps and a big book ? every guest would love that.
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