Will Web Designers Become Obsolete?
September 30, 2010
Smashing Magazine has an excellent analysis of the future of web site design, and the news is not good for professional web designers. Could we become the next generation of typesetters – the well paying job that was eliminated with the advent of desktop publishing? There are lots of reason to think so. Function over Form. Content is King. Mobile Apps are King. Even (shudder) FaceBook.
Read this piece and a rebuttal, I Want to be a Web Designer When I Grow Up here.
My Dog Tulip – Classic Dog Book becomes Classic Animated Film
September 30, 2010
About 10 years ago I came across J.R. Ackerley’s book My Dog Tulip. It is, I think, the single best book ever written about the relationship between a man and his dog. It was first published in 1956 and failed to find an audience. Since then it has grown in reputation immensely.
One reason for it’s intital faliure was its utter lack of sentimentality and the unblushing accuracy of the physical functions of a female dog. Even today, you’ll find readers who are put off by the gorsser aspects of Ackerlys’ memoir. Personally, I react the same way to the mawkishness and treacle of contemporary books about dogs, like the hugely successful Marley and Me.*
Ackerley was a writer, arts editor of The Listener, the weekly magazine of the BBC, openly gay at a time when that was not the norm, and in mid-life still in search of a best friend or perfect life companion. He was not in any way prepared to be a dog owner and the German Shepherd Dog he adopted at 18 months old was not socialized or well trained. In the book the dog is referred to as an Alsatian, since the recent war made connections to Germany unacceptable to most, even in dog breed names. Misfits both, somehow they struggle together to accommodate each other and their love story, for surely that is what it is, ultimately, is one of the most moving, yet realistic I have ever read.
Now animated filmmakers Paul and Sandra Fierlinger have adapted Ackerly’s work for the screen and created a new vision of his book and it, too, is a classic. The character designs are perfectly suited to Ackerley’s prose and the lead vocal performance by Christopher Plummer is spot on. Read Ackerley’s book (it’s now available everywhere) and either get to a screening of the Fierlinger’s film or rent it when it comes out on DVD. I plan on buying a copy as soon as it is released. My highest recommendation for both!
Here are links for more information and clips:
mydogtulipfilm.com
YouTube – My Dog Tulip
Film Forum – My Dog Tulip
New York Times – Article
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*For a journalist I found John Grogan one of the least curious or insightful writers about dogs. Marley was certainly not the ‘world’s worst dog’ as Grogan labels him, but Grogan certainly failed as an owner to deal in a positive way with Marley’s separation anxiety or even basic obedience training. Don’t try this at home, should be stickered across the front of each book cocver. Yet this has been the most successful dog book of the new century, proving that most people want the ‘Disney version’ of life with canines. (For a much better recent book I highly recommend Merle’s Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog by Ted Kerasote).
Street Art: Joshua Allen Harris’ Inflatable Bag Monsters
August 24, 2010
This video is from New York Magazine, July 22, 2008. Joshua Allen Harris creates moving sculptures on the streets of NYC using garbage bags, tape, a matt knife and, crucially, subway exhaust. Video by Jonah Green.
3D Photos: Wings and Wheels 2010 Car & Air show
August 18, 2010
Sunday, May 30, 2010. Sikorsky Memorial Airport, Stratford, CT.
Naughty Tomatoes – File Under “Strange Snacks”
August 16, 2010
Naughty Tomatoes, a spicy, tomato-flavored snack that looks like thin, orange-red Cheetos, purchased in Jackson Heights, Queens, August 7, 2010. The packaging shows a tomato with the product itself as ‘devil’ horns and a full-lipped cartoon mouth. Would like to have been present at the marketing meeting for this product.
From the back of the package:
Upload your tedha photos, videos and voice recordings on www.kurkure.co.in to showcase your tedhapan!
Kurkure Mast Taatar Sev
Fry mustard seeds & jeera in 4 tsp. oil. Add 3 crushed cloves & 1/2 tsp. tumeric powder. Ass 4 tomatoes cut in the shape of flowers. Add 1 cup water. Add dhaniya, jeera powder, sugar & salt to taste. When the water starts boiling, add thick ratiami sev. Cook for 1 min. In a separate bowl, take small pieces of Kurkure Naughty Tomatoes, coriander leaves & green chillies. Mix well. Add as filing to the tomatoes. Serve with tea. Recipe courtesy Gada Family.
3D Photos: Summer Dogs 2010
August 16, 2010
Anaglyphs of Luna (black) and Huxley (chocolate) Labradors and Bailey, Golden Retriever. Russian Beach, Stratford, CT. Summer 2010.
3D Photos: Sculpture Art from the Crosby Street Hotel, NYC
August 16, 2010
A trio of anaglyph images from the fantastic collection of art that graces the lobby of the Crosby Street Hotel in New York City. May 1, 2010.
Clarity on Copyright: The Purpose of Copyright Law – It’s Not What You Think
August 16, 2010
In the digital age with the almost frictionless ability to reproduce audio, video and text the issue of copyright has entered the mainstream in a big way. No longer the rarified domain of intellectual property attorneys, copyright issues make the news with the regularity of the latest RIAA lawsuit over the unauthorized sharing of music files and the current sturm and drang over Wikileaks posting of the Afghan War Diary.
It seems people only remember the first half of Stewart Brand’s famous pronouncement in 1987, “Information wants to be free. Information also wants to be expensive . . .That tension will not go away.” In 1984 at the first Hackers Conference, Brand put it in a more nuanced way:
“On the one hand information wants to be expensive, because it’s so valuable. The right information in the right place just changes your life. On the other hand, information wants to be free, because the cost of getting it out is getting lower and lower all the time. So you have these two fighting against each other.”
Thanks to the good folks at TechDirt for linking to this excellent article by attorney and associate professor Lydia Pallas Lorn of Northwestern’s School of Law of Lewis & Clark College, The Purpose of Copyright Law.
Copyright and patent law derives from a clause in the US constitution and “the primary purpose of copyright is not, as many people believe, to protect authors against those who would steal the fruits of their labor,” according to the author. The purpose of copyright is “to promote the progress of knowledge and learning.”
Pallas Loren traces the origin of this concept from English common law and the early publishing industry to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 and beyond. I believe this is essential reading for anyone who creates content today – from the lowly blog scribe all the way up to Lady Gaga. Understanding copyright is necessary and Lydia Pallas Loren lays it all out clearly and definitively, in my opinion.
I wish the web contained more writing of this quality and thoughtfulness and less gossip, opinions, trivia and noise about disposable celebrities and manufactured scandals. ” ‘Tis of no importance what bats and oxen think.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Pekar Project at Smith Magazine Online
July 22, 2010
Cleveland, and the world, lost a great curmudgeon recently when Harvey Pekar passed away. But we can console ourselves with the fact that there’s more new, collaborative work from Harvey (and the artists who illustrate his writing) in the pipeline.
One place to find this material is at the Pekar Project online at Smith, an online magazine that is new to me. (Looks pretty interesting, tho).
I’ve been following Harvey’s work since the first issue of American Splendor back in the bicentennial year of 1976. Although I must admit it was the Robert Crumb artwork that initially drew me to this independent comic, sold in what were called head shops: dingy store front operations that retailed smoking paraphernalia not intended for tobacco, T-shirts, head bands, incense and underground comics.
If you’ve never read one of Harvey’s comics, or only know of him through the 2003 film (American Splendor) starring Paul Giamatti you’re in for a treat. Harvey’s was a unique voice and he will be sorely missed. The compensating factor for his passing is that he’s left behind such a substantial body of work for all of his fans to treasure. If you’re not already one of them, I urge you to check him out with my highest possible recommendation.
Ice Cream Van for Dogs in Regent’s Park, London
July 22, 2010
What’s being billed as the first ice cream van for dogs is set to make an appearance on this weekend at the Boomerang Pets Party in London’s Regent’s Park. The event is called “A free super furry fun day out for everyone who loves pets and animals. Best of all, you can bring your pets along with you!”
They’ll be serving two flavors vetted by pet nutritionists: “Dog Eat Hog World” — a chicken and gammon sorbet — and “Canine Cookie Crunch,” vanilla ice cream sprinkled with dog biscuits.
For the complete story from Reuters, go here.