infobong.com

folders become public

Following Edith's lead, I decided to publish the RSS feeds that I read to a public profile on Bloglines.com. Be forewarned that this list is pretty unedited, and many of the feeds are updated infrequently. While some readers may regard this as more navel-gazing, this may introduce you to some new, interesting blogs and news sites.

I'm still really happy with the the RSS Reader Panel plugin for Mozilla Firefox, but Bloglines will give me the ability to check my feeds when I'm stuck in a place without wireless, and it has greater granularity than Kinja, so I'm not swamped with a gazillion bOINGbOING posts when I log on.

pirates or ninjas

Maybe I haven't been reading bOINGbOING fastidiously enough, but this NYTimes story is the first I've heard of the latest wrinkle on [anti]social networking technology, alibi clubs. Alibi clubs are networks of strangers which broadcast SMS messages requesting assistance in concocting alibis for dodging social obligations and suspicious partners. Alibi clubs almost seem like the opposite of Friendster and Orkut, where people use software to link themselves online with their putative friends; here people go online for one-time offline interactions with strangers.

glued into your favorite

Team Ouch! may be the first attempt to link a consumer product to extreme sports that actually makes sense.

kaleidoscopic opening salvo

Pitchfork has posted the top 20 of their "Top 100 Albums of the 1970s," and, considering I own 80% of the records in the top 20, I can't quibble too much with their rankings. Okay, I might have swapped Another Green World (#10) for Low (#1) and I positively despise Led Zepplin, but I think the list is far better than the bizarre Guardian list Nigel recently blogged.

through the collective

The folks at Eyebeam have an interesting new project, a Weblication called Street Memes which collects images of visual themes like Andre the Giant, No More Prisons, or the Foodcrew's household foodstuffs that are replicated or re-interpreted on the street in stickers, posters and graffiti. Users can add new street memes to the collection or simply persuse the database.

manifest in the paper

I was a math major for much of my undergraduate experience. I wasn't a very focused student, finally deciding to major in the subjects I had the most hours in, English and Film-Video. I'm still a little bemused about having been a math major, but this NYTimes story reminds me why. It exposes the underground world of computational origami, which the story doesn't adequately explain, but involves math professors making really complex origami. The pictures in the story make my inner math geek go, "Whoa, that's rad."

cut on solid lines

This is the best template I've found for making inserts for Jewel Cases; its a Microsoft Word template with the correct proportions and text fields for printing and cutting inserts. I've used it several times before, but this morning it took me far too long to find it via Google; apparently companies producing non-free templates have managed to increase their rankings on the search engine, crowding out free solutions like this.

recording remastered import

I decided to create an Amazon.com Listmania! list, "The CDs on My Desk Right Now." The purpose of this project is to give readers a sense of my musical taste and parody the pedestrian lists Amazon publishes on it site, by documenting the CDs sitting on my desk right now.

Amazon asked me to give myself a title that would indicate my qualifications for making a list. I couldn't think of a better qualification for a navel-gazing exercize like this than "blogger." If you're hungry for more navel-gazing, you can check out my Amazon Wishlist.

how many drops

This site gets a lot of hits from Google searches for "robo-tripping," and there's an old thread on DXM abuse that seems to never die. I've been a little concerned watching these trends in my site stats, and a New York Times story says that more kids are getting high on cough medicine and searching for information about DXM online..

nor dark of night

I just realized that I think its fun to send stuff through the mail. When I ordered stuff from private carriers, I used to sit in my office and obsessively check the tracking page to see where UPS is routing my package. I used to sell computer books through half.com and get a slight thrill from packing up a book on SONET configuration to exotic locales like Buffalo and Reno, knowing that the recipient was footing the bill. When I was an undergrad, I told a used car salesman I knew that I was an English major, and he replied, "So you'll be working in the mail room." At the time, I took that as an insult, but know I think I might have enjoyed that career path.

I also realized that my fascination with shipping services is a pretty geeky interest. (I'm suddenly reminded of The Crying of Lot 49, which has a preoccupation with postal systems.) A lot of my interests are pretty geeky: public transportation and FCC policy come to mind. I should find some non-geeky things to do.

to the callipygian

I've been enjoying the heck out of downloading TV episodes via BitTorrent using the Suprnova.org tracker. Its nice being able to go back and watch old episode of Chapelle's show, or perhaps even downloading an entire series run in a compact 5GB file. But this item seems a little over the top. Arguing that trackers should publish RSS feeds, Scott Raymond first asserts that BitTorrent and RSS are two solutions in search of a problem, and then outlines a pressing problem:

Um, I think the idea of rss-ifying Suprnova or whatever is a great idea, but I'm not sure if his "problem" is a problem that merits his solution. I mean, is it really worth reworking software when all he needs to do is go out and drop $200 on a TV receiver?

In related news, which I'm sure is only interesting to other RTF students, my dad informed me that Dollar Tree stores are selling DVDs for, well, a dollar, so I went by the store at 71st and Mingo on a lark, and picked up bunch of old episodes of TV shows on DVD for a buck a piece. Old TV is often hard to come by, so I was please to grab some "Beverly Hillbillies," "Dick Van Dyke," and "Dragnet." I passed on "Ozzie and Harriet" and "You Bet Your Life."

arranged or looped

Stay Free! has an awesome interview with Public Enemy's Chuck D and Hank Shocklee on how changes in attitudes toward intellectual property have affected hip-hop. I've often wondered why the aural assault of PE's early records - or even the atmospherics of the Wu-Tang Clan - have largely disappeared from mainstream hip-hop. I've often thought that lame drum-machine driven tracks like "Rubberband Man" were instantly catchy on the radio, while denser cuts just sounded muddy. But the gentlemen from Public Enemy contend that music with layers of samples is difficult and expensive to clear with copyright holders, leading them to strip down their sound.

Its great to see an old-school 'zine like Stay Free! still around; when I ran across the article it was a pleasant surprise to see that old familiar title on the page. They even have a print edition!

take me back to tulsa

I'm heading up to Tulsa today for a few days. I usually like going back to Tulsa and seeing my friends and family, but, last night, I was really dreading going back. I wanted to call my mom and tell I wasn't going to make it, but my mom is throwing a party for my sister's graduation from college, and I feel like I have to go. Hopefully this will be a pleasant trip nonetheless.

rifling around

This morning I was digging around the glovebox of my '94 Ford Ranger pickup, looking for a tire gauge. I didn't find one, but after I pulled out all the owners manuals, maps, and legal documents, I found a .22 round at the bottom of the compartment. This was something of a surprise. I used to shoot guns as a kid, but its been years since I've even handled a gun, so I was pretty darn sure it wasn't mine. My dad drove the truck before me, but he takes pride in the fact that he hasn't shot a gun since boot camp in the 60s, so it didn't belong to him either. I imagine the previous owners left it in there, but I guess you know you live in the Southwest when you discover loose bullets in your vehicle.

rethinking its revenue sources

The New York Times is running a story on Burnt Orange Productions, the new in-house studio part of UT's Department of Radio-TV-Film, where I'm a doctoral student. Burnt Orange is a commercial project to bring Hollywood films to campus and employ students in productions. The University and the department get a cut of the proceeds and students get experience working on big-budget films.

Although its a good opportunity for undergraduates - who often aspire to editing and D.P. jobs - and screenwriting grad students, many people in the department are skeptical about the project. Media Studies folks like me are worried about the growing commercialization of the school - we're here to critique the media, rather than endorse it - and the production division has earned a reputation for fostering independent films that operate aesthetically, discursively, and industrially outside the established coastal industries. It will be interesting to see how Burnt Orange pans (sorry about the pun) out.

in the dark night

Hooo-doggie, my pal George's band The Ills have landed quite a gig! The Norman band is opening up for Thrill Jockey mega-stars Tortoise this month in OKC. They'll be playing at Bricktown Live June 11 with Tortoise and Warp recording artist Beans of the Antipop Consortium. I'm still not very IDM-literate, but Warp is one of the best dance labels around, so there's some assurance of quality with that show. I've only seen Tortoise once, in Philly in 2001, but I will say that I actively disliked Tortoise until I saw them live, and now I'm a believer. Congrats George, Blaine, and the rest of the Ills!