Category: Odds & Endz

On my mind and in the reading queue this week. The “Happy New Year” edition

Hey look, it’s 2005. Here’s what I’ve been thinking about…

*The death toll from the tsunami which has reached 150,000. Officials have pretty much given up hope of finding any more survivors. President Bush has enlisted former presidents Clinton, Carter and Bush Sr. to lead fundraising efforts. Here’s a list of charities that could use your support.

*A round-up of 2004’s major trends in journalism. Courtesy of the Online Journalism Review.

*Cluesome. Played at a New Years Day game party (hosted by my friend, Austin). Wonderfully fun yet sadly requires like 18 friends to play properly.

*My favorite 80s band Glass Tiger is apparently still touring and playing in their native Canada. They just released a DVD called “No Turning Back” which I must purchase immediately.

*’39. An against-type little 19th century-sounding folk number on Queen’s “Night at the Opera.” It’s the first track on my Ipod, alphabetical and all.

*The Hebrew Hammer. Sounds like my kinda movie. Netflix has got it on the way.

Re: Josh’s post on writing, I couldn’t agree more. It’s one thing to stay informed, to be in a continuous state of learning. But a raging river of input with little output leads to a soggy mind, a waterlogged consciousness. It’s something I’ve felt for a long time but couldn’t vocalize.

Which means that I need to be doing more non-blog writing. Apologies to the dozen or so of you who read Where’s There’s Smoke regularly. But I think I’ve been using my jotterings here as rationale for not expending more effort on more substaintial pieces for publication.

So as my single concrete New year’s Resolution, I plan to write a little each day, not just on my blog but with an eye towards something bigger.

On my mind and in my reading queue this week. The “Getting Well” edition.

*All Consuming.net, a kind of Technorati for books, is a neat site designed by the endlessly creative Erik Benson. It not only tracks what books are being discussed on the blogosphere but allows you create lists from your own book collection and publish them on your weblog. The “Currently Reading” box to your immediate right is a product of All Consuming (discovered on the smooth redesign of Dansays).

*I’ve gotten dizzy from trying to keep track of all the Best Music of 2004 columns I’ve seen around. So I’m going with this column in the Dec. 15 issue of SFWeekly which also informed me that a bunch of artists I had heard of, neigh admired, were from right here in Da Bay.

*I had no idea that the legendary Ben Fong-Torres did a column on radio for SFGate. Another reason why The Gate needs RSS Feeds.

*A list of newspapers that have gotten their RSS on (via Micropersuasion).

*“The Next Big Thing” is a dense, rich public radio program like a hardy piece of maple fudge. It’s been described as a baby “This American Life” but that doesn’t quite get it. It’s got the same smart-people-addressing-topic-in-different-ways-format but TAL is a bit more structured, sticking rigidly to Act I, Act II,everything in mellow-tones. TNBT seems to give a bit more liberty to its contributors, honoring the diversity (shrill, whispery, resigned etc.) of their voices. I’m not describing it all that well so let them. I’ll just say it’s quite good.

*I’m trying out this program Audio Hijack, which lets you do timed recordings of radio, music and audio streams. It may be the Tivo for Radio I’ve been looking for.

*Mysteries are the most borrowed types of books from the nation’s public libraries (via ArtsJournal).

*2005 is being called The Year of Hyper Fragmentation. If even a couple of these predictions comes true, 2005 is going to be a very exciting year to be a cultural consumer.

On my mind and in my reading queue this week. The “Winding Down” edition.

*My girlfriend Suzan has been posting pictures on her Flickr account. They rock.

*An interview with Mark Pahlow, the man behind the simply awesome Archie McPhee toys in Seattle (via jjg).

*Macworld’s Best Digital Music Products of 2004. Guess what? They’re not all iPods (via Largehearted Boy)

*The Jimi: A wallet for people who hate wallets (via Cool Hunting).

*EventLab is a new Corante blog about how technology, live events and podcasting. Looks like great stuff and my buddy Eric Rice is one of the contributors (via New Media Musings).

*Chalkhills.org is a rediculously huge site about all-things XTC.

*Inkblots Magazine is looking to bring some additional writers onboard after being hauled valiantly for so many years on the back of its creator Geoff Long. He can’t pay you right now but Inkblots is a fine publication and a gold star on any aspiring writer’s resume’. Consider it.

*With 2 bobcats, 1 Great White Heron, 3 hawks and a beautiful sunset spotted in a single afternoon, The Tennesse Valley, just north of San Francisco, is a great place for a hike.

On my mind and in my reading queue this week. The “All Better Now” edition:

The San Francisco Chronicle is doing a multi-part series on Mayor Newsom’s homeless program’s one year after he took office. This is the first part.

According to Paul Graham, we’re living in The Age of the Essay. As a practictioner, I’m inclined (and selfishly motivated) to agree.

The historic Algonquin Hotel in New York has undergone a $3 million renovation in hopes of staying current with the needs of the 21st century traveller. Home to the Algonquin Round Table, perhaps the most famous lunch spot in literary history where Dorothy Parker Robert Benchly held court and the New Yorker magazine was born, the hotel has long been famous as having a grand lobby and cramped, unsavory rooms. The renovation’s looking to change all that, by even adding flat screen TVs to the rooms and wireless internet access to the public spaces. It’s a start (via Readerville).

Scott Andrew pointed me to a great interview in the webzine PopMatters with six indie musicians on how they pay the bills. Rolling Stone doesn’t have ideas this good.

15 Megs of Fame lets bands upload songs for users to listen to then evaluate. Best rated songs end up on the homepage. Haven’t tried it yet but interesting concept (via The Digital Music Weblog).

Abandonia is a portal for abandonware games (computer games whose creators no longer support them and have effectively let slip into the public domain). I’d love to have another crack at the King’s Quest series but I’m confused as to how it all works. Naturally Abandonia assumes you know, has no “About” page and thus tells you nothing. I assume you have to download some sort of emulator but where? How? What? Help me out here people (via del.icio.us/popular).

Micropersuasion is a blog I’ve been reading regularly for a few weeks now about how the relationships between blogs, participatory journalism and the pr business. It’s more interesting than it sounds.

Faultless list by my buddy Merlin Mann on the crucial mistakes to avoid on musician’s web sites.

Suzan and I have been watching the first season of Six Feet Under which up until last Wednesday, I had never seen before. Great TV. Too bad it’s finishing up. Ah well. I still have four seasons to go.

On my mind and in my reading queue this week. The “New York Summarized” Edition.

*The Cooper Hewitt Museum of Design has two superb exhibits on midcentury and functional design. They book run through the beginning of next year. Highly recommended if you are in the New York City area.

*Neil Labute’s new play Fat Pig, about a shallow office worker who can’t accept that he’s in love with ann overwieght women, has begun its run at the MCC theater in the West Village. Starring some of favorite supporting actors like Jeremy Piven (protagonist), Keri Russell (his imperious ex-girlfriend) and Andrew McCarthyAshlie Atkinson as the love interest who is funny, charming and quite cute.

*Better Burger was a major disapointment. After hearing about it on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, I had to see this healthy interpretation of fast food. Sounded right up my alley.

Until I got my tray. Twelve dollars for a hamburger the size of a hockey puck, fries that tastes like salted wall insulation, and a “regular” milkshake that came in an 8 ounce glass. What? Who only drinks eight ounces of anything? It may has well have come in a sippy cup.

Listen, I’m more than willing to pay more for quality. But giving me an afternoon snack at a lunch-for-two price is plain old bad faith. I won’t be going back.

*My iPod conked out after 30 minutes on the treadmill in the hotel gym. So I’m going to reformat it using this method. It can only help. Right now the thing’s about as powerful as an alarm clock (via Del.icio.us Popular).

*Little Havana is the best Cuban food I’ve had in a long time.

*Oh and there was a parade or something.

On my mind and in my reading queue this week. The “Departure” Edition

Elegant Variation has a rundown of reports on the recent National Book Award winners which I have blogged about exactly zero times but has aparently been all over the news. Here’s the long and short of it: All the fiction nominees were unkowns. Publishing industry is worried that awarding unknowns is bad for business. Critics say awards are not there to help book industry sell books. Kevin thinks book industry continues to blame others for its woes and needs to take a good long look in the mirror and heal itself.

An analysis of The Incredibles (which I saw last Sunday and enjoyed) from a design perspective .

My favorite bookstore in Baltimore, Atomic Books., now has a blog run by its employees. So does Booksmith, my neighborhood bookstore in San Francisco. Rawk!

Google Scholar: A separate search engine for those looking for “scholarly material”, a distinction Google will not expound on. ResourceShelf, “Resources and News for Information Professionals” has a review (via librarian.net).

A lengthy, solid rundown of current woes and future of the music industry, courtesy of The Economist (via Digital Music Weblog).

A look at Miramax, which turns 25 this year (via ArtsJournal).

Feed Envy: noun, first definition. When bloggers feel competitive with one another over who subscribes to more RSS feeds. Here at ‘Smoke HQ, we subscribe to 146. And we are not ashamed.

I’ve been playing around with Omni Outliner, a Mac OSX note-taking program. Good for creating snazzy, dynamic To-Do Lists (via Dan Budiac).

I’m in New York this week visiting family and friends for the Thanksgiving holidays. Eat in good health, ya’ll.

The “Evening Falls” Edition

Iron Jawed Angels, a fantastic film on HBO (and now DVD) about the passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Consitution which gave women the right to vote. Contains all the politicking, back-room deals, violence, generational conflict and moral backbone of a great political docudrama. This movie says, with dignity and firmness, that the road to women’s sufferage was not the neat correcting of a moral wrong but rather a messy, chaotic, stumble motivated as much by politics as by rightousness. In short, a daring, honest story about the imperfect machine called democracy.

A better-late-than-never rundown of fall culture offerings courtesy of The Morning News (via Nick Denton).

The most complete profile of author JT LeRoy to date.

An analysis of the New York Times’s Book Review’s redesign.

Mac Users: Find the RSS reader that’s right for you.

Rich loopy fellow tries to collect every MP3 ever recorded. Good for him (via Waxy.org).

A superb interview with David Neeleman, CEO of jetBlue Airways.

A rundown of the U2/Ipod deal (via Waxy.org).

A review of their new album How to Dismantle a Nuclear Bomb.

A round-up of what newspapers have endorsed what candidates. As of today, Kerry leads Bush 112-69, winning over 28 papers that backed Bush in 2000. Bush has grabbed only 2 papers that backed Gore (via New Media Musings).

I’m writing letters for Mainstreet Moms Oppose Bush.

Have you heard of Alternate Reality Games? It’s like the latest thing. Can ya dig it?

The Heart of Cole Valley Festival is today. I love our little neighborhood.

Libraries in Great Britian are in trouble (via ArtsJournal).

I must be a complete sap because, despite the Bulldog seaman jokes, I thought National Lampoon’s Van Wilder was sweet. Same with There’s Something About Mary and American Pie. Gross-out humor must be lost on me.

I really like this essay which looks at Apple Stores from a design perspective.

I’m headed to Austin next week for the Texas Book Festival where I’ll be speaking on a panel about the future of Literature and the Republic. Smart people, loads of books, great food and old friends. I can’t wait.

Burger King is bringing back The King, the advertising icon that starred in its commercials in the 70s and 80s, in order to juice its half-cooked breakfast business. Seems that when people think “unhealthy breakfast”, they reflexively say “Egg McMuffin” even if they are parked in front of a Burger King.

And on that note, isn’t it time they opened a museum for classic advertising logos? Shouldn’t the Coke Polar Bear, Max Headroom, and Snap Crackle and Pop be able to all frolic together? Then I wouldn’t feel so silly committing these 80s jingles to memory.

Will someone explain to me why podcasting is a revolution when there’s very little at this point to podcast? This article doesn’t tell me. Neither does Doc Searls, even though I find his efforts valiant. But I still want to know why I should care when all I can podcast at this point is audio versions of tech genius’s blogs that I don’t read anyway.