Caps and Smalls… Why?

I’ve got work, so here’s a quick link dump:

-  The PitFalls of Indie Fame.

Klosterman evaluates that puzzling phenomena where a good, not great, band shoots up the “indie” ladder to become one of the most talked about bands of the year.  This time it’s Tune Yards (or however the hell you spell that shit; seriously… just write your name normally!!):

“When (and if) you listen to w h o k i l l by tUnE-yArDs, you are listening to two things: a record that’s very good, and/or a record that will someday seem way worse than it actually is. And logic suggests the latter is more likely than the former, even though that’s no reflection on the value of the artist.

I am rooting for you, Merrill Garbus. I like your record, and I hope you make many more. I want you to be a genius, and I have no reason to believe that won’t happen. But maybe don’t sell the puppets, because maybe you are doomed.”

-  Was Robert Hooke Really the Greatest Asshole In the History of Science?

It isn’t everyday one reads a headline like that:

“Robert Hooke discovered the cell, established experimentation as crucial to scientific research, and did pioneering work in optics, gravitation, paleontology, architecture, and more. Yet history dismissed and forgot him… all because he pissed off Isaac Newton, probably the most revered scientist who ever lived.

This seventeenth century polymath, who has been called the English answer to Leonardo da Vinci, almost disappeared from history entirely after his death in 1703, as even the only known painting of him was unceremoniously destroyed. It took over two centuries for his reputation to recover and his myriad of accomplishments to be properly celebrated. He’s a cautionary tale for just how dangerous it can be to find yourself on the wrong side of history.”

-  Get Your Ideas Out of Your Head and On Paper To Actually Make Progress Towards Your Goals.

“It may seem like common sense that you need to get your ideas out of your head to act on them, but how many of us walk around with an always-updating to-do list in our heads only to forget one of them later? One of the basic principles of GTD and many other productivity systems is that your first step is to get your ideas and to-dos out of your head and on paper or into some system as soon as possible so you have the clarity to actually work on them. “

Here’s an awesome video of Kristoff Krane playing in a record store for some people in San Diego.  He’s a wonderful performer, apparently even when there’s only like 10 people watching:

-Sonny

 

The Apple Cartel.

-  TubeGnosis has almost one hundred, free, mind-expanding documentaries to watch.  I’m warning you, some of them are batshit crazy.  But interesting nonetheless.  I’m a massive William S. Burroughs fan (I think he’s one of the best American writers of all time) — as you may know if you’re reading this — and the doc they have on him is very insightful for fans of his, and probably non-fans alike.  I have not yet watched the Charlie Mingus doc but I’m sure I would dig that too.

Again, the link.

-  Here’s a disgusting statistic: since 2007, almost 50,000 people have died in Mexico via drug-related violence.  It’s a goddamn war zone down there.  According to the BBC, the “Zetas” cartel has now overtaken their bitter rival, the “Sinaloa” cartel.  Here’s an interesting tidit:

“The Zetas control much of eastern Mexico, while the Sinaloa cartel has its stronghold in the west of the country.  The authors also point out their differences in strategy.  They say that the Zetas whose leadership is composed of ex-special operations soldiers, resort to extreme violence.  The Sinaloa cartel, although also ruthless, prefers to bribe and corrupt people, as well as providing intelligence on rivals to the authorities.”

Of course, there’s one way to make cartels completely impotent and insignificant.  I would hope we all know what that is.

-  Apple sued the Galaxy Tab 10.1 (Samsung) in a Dutch court, claiming it infringed on the iPad design.  Apple lost, like it did when it tried the same thing a year ago.  German courts are reviewing the a similar case.

It explains that the Hague-based judges noted that the backs and sides of Samsung’s tablet differed from the iPad’s, and that the two firm’s models differed in thickness – allowing informed users to distinguish between the companies’ devices.  It said Apple had sought a wide definition of its design rights, based in part on the idea that its model looked like a “mirror-smooth lake” onto which an image appeared.

“This ruling again demonstrates that Apple’s products simply do not warrant the intellectual property protections that it believes,” a spokeswoman said.”Samsung will continue to take all appropriate measures, including legal action, to ensure continued consumer access to our innovative products.”

Apple said it had nothing specific to say about the ruling.

Apple posted record quarterly profits in the 2011 holiday season, a massive 13 billion dollars.  During a recession, mind you.  This news coming behind news that when Steve Jobs sat down with Obama, he was grilled about how many non-American jobs Apple has, and how those can come back to the United States.  Jobs’ response: “Those jobs aren’t coming back.”  According to UC Irvine, the iPod created around 15,000 US jobs and about 30,000 overseas jobs.  To date, Apple has about 60,000 American workers (10,000 bartending at the genius bar).  In comparison, HP has 350,000 American jobs and Dell has 100,000.

Then there’s this article, explaining how the average cost of an iPad is about $250.  Looking at Best Buy, I’m seeing that they range from about 5 to 8 hundred dollars.  The laptop manufacturing costs vs sales costs are even greater.

Cheap, overseas jobs?  Cheap production costs?  Being able to charge essentially however much you want because your fans will never leave you?  It’s no wonder Apple is competing with Exxon Mobile as the wealthiest company in the world.

[/AppleRant]

-  Experiences Are Better When We Know They’re About To End.

Even if the experience is painful or negative, but concludes on a pleasant note, people will consider the event a more positive experience, says Ed O’Brien, a graduate student in the U-M Department of Psychology.

“Endings are powerful,” he said.

-Sonny

Godard’s Trainspotting.

-  Study Group Comics has lots of free, quality web comics at one’s disposal.  And it seems to me they update about once a week.  I really dig Simon Roy’s “Homeward Bound”; it’s about a couple migrating birds who discover a crashed space shuttle in the wilderness.

-  Sean Hartter’s original list of Alternate universe movie posters is up.  Familiar films, all of them, but something is amiss when William Shatner and Natalie Wood are starring in a 60′s looking version of “Avatar”.  The most apt directorial swap is Fritz Lang for Kubrick in the “2001″ mock-up.  The most apt casting has got to be his version of “Trainspotting”, good God I’d love to see this:

Ian Holm as Begbie is so perfect!

-  5 really cool wallpapers for the nerds among us:  Ghost Rider, Zombie Boba Fett, He-Man/Thundercats mashup, Captain America, and… of course… The Bat.

-  This came out a while ago, but Tarentino’s list of favorite films of 2011 is a little bit bewildering.

-  Another example of a perfect film being remade for seemingly no reason.  First, it was Metropolis… now the classic silent film (which served as inspiration for the creation of Batman’s “The Joker”) The Man Who Laughs is being remade for the talkies.  Let’s just remake The Gold Rush while we’re at it.

- All for now… Sonny.