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Cultural Core Samples and Sidelong Glances:
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Feb
1st

Wed

Health Warfare: Susan G Komen For The Cure has politically and religiously weaponized cancer. It’s now The Ideologically Selective Cure.

— CultureHack

Apr
26th

Tue

“Aim well, shoot fast, and scram.”
—Henri Cartier-Bresson.

“Aim well, shoot fast, and app that bitch until it sings.”
—Knox Bronson.

Jan
14th

Fri

True simplicity comes not from imitation, but from understanding. Certain situations will suggest a minimalist approach, but others won’t. Our digital worlds should feel like they sustain life—not just geometry.

— Jonathan Harris, “World Building In A Crazy World”

Nov
7th

Sun

Each step requires asking “What’s really important?” That’s the most important question you can ask yourself about anything. The class would really be about answering that very question at each step of the way. Whittling it all down until all that’s left is the point.

— Jason Fried, “The Class I’d Like To Teach”

Nov
5th

Fri

Got a working illusion
In the palm of your hand
Why in the world would you want to lose that?

Clung on to believing
Just as long as I could
How in the world could you fail to see that?

Hasta luego modern guy
When did I cease to see the light?
and maybe you were right
Matbe I’m all dried up inside
Maybe I’m not built for these times
Maybe I don’t know how to live
Maybe I don’t know how to live

— Lloyd Cole,
“Why In The World?”

Nov
3rd

Wed

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

— Leonardo da Vinci

Sep
4th

Sat

The sun shines high above
The sounds of laughter
The birds swoop down upon
The crosses of old grey churches
We say that we’re in love
While secretly wishing for rain
Sipping coke and playing games
September’s here again
September’s here again

— David Sylvian
“September”

Aug
30th

Mon

Sometimes it seems
as if I just paint one painting,
from a white canvas
through an experience of colors and lines
and then back to white again.
Yet always enriched, nothing is ever lost,
everything that is achieved,
even though it does not appear to be present, remains.
And some of my canvases are just this:
a final experience of white on white,
having traveled through and through,
like an area of ground wherein
much dancing has occurred.

— Richard Pousette-Dart,
describing his white paintings

Jul
31st

Sat

I’ve been chasing ghosts and I don’t like it
I wish someone would show me where to draw the line
I’d lay down my sword if you would take it
And tell everyone back home I’m doing fine
I was with you down in Acapulco
Trading clothing for some wine
Smelling like an old adobe woman
Or a William Burroughs playing for lost time
I was thinking about my mother
I was thinking about what’s mine
I was living my life like a Hollywood
But I was dying on the vine
Who could sleep through all that noisy chatter
The troops, the celebrations in the sun
The authorities say my papers are all in order
And if I wasn’t such a coward I would run
I’ll see you me when all the shooting’s over
Meet me on the other side of town
Yes, you can bring all your friends along for protection
It’s always nice to have them hanging around
I was thinking about my mother
I was thinking about what’s mine
I was living my life like a Hollywood
But I was dying, dying on the vine

— John Cale
“Dying On The Vine”

Jun
12th

Sat

Word Count

Apr
23rd

Fri

I need you Deck. I need the old Blade Runner. I need your magic.

— Captain Bryant in Blade Runner

Apr
17th

Sat

Namely, why is it we are still stuck with WIMP, or more specifically real world metaphors? It’s good, definitely, but we are constraining ourselves in a comfort zone. Something like Cooliris for example is a great way to view search information on a large scale. Microsoft recently debuted some search software that uses graphical arrangements of multiple images to create a more manageable volume of data.

I think that recently retrograde steps have been made, particularly by Apple. The iPad (I know, not that again) heavily relies on real world representation, as does most Apple software, in it’s software. They keep sticking to solid pages for example in iBooks, and try and make it look as booky as possible. Why not take advantage of the limitless scrolling capabilities for example? They always aspire to make computers simpler, and what that ends up doing is making computers less useful. We should be helping everyone get more tech savvy, not narrow down productivity to a select few. If the iPad is a game changer (which I don’t think it is) and everyone ends up following the same paradigms, like those in the tech press (Jesus Diaz and John Gruber in particular) would have us believe, then the growth into technology and the real usefulness that computers could have for society in the future is already being limited. It sounds over dramatic, but simplifying everything at the expense of functionality is going to create a massive group (maybe majority?) of people who can’t do anything more than browse the web and download a few twitter apps. Have we no greater aspirations?

— David Bailey