Cool Shit 2/21

Look over the shoulder of a director as he fills out an Oscar ballot. Some of the comments he makes are insightful; others offensive. It really is amazing for all the pomp the Oscars get (especially from the everyone who is up for the award, specifically people like this director) they don't take it seriously yet get angry at people who don't take it seriously.

Want to feel more like a real man? Learn how to rip a phone book in half.

Full disclosure: I didn't like Carnivale. Thought it was pretentious, slow moving and had no direction. Obviously this interview with the creator suggests otherwise. But seriously, in a battle between good and evil, when you're actively rooting for good to die (the Ben character was so mopey and uninteresting) you might have a problem.

I include this, I guess to laugh at the failure of an otherwise successful person. Possibly out of jealousy and envy (you may certainly think that, and there's certainly a hint of it), but mostly because I find it hard to accept that simply because you are famous means you should have creative doors always open for you. So sorry Mr. Pete Wnetz of Fall Out Boy, I won't read your new novel. I couldn't even get through all the examples posted in this article deriding it.

If you're looking for something with merit, creativity and instant readability, please take a moment and check out Matt Debenham's The Book of Right and Wrong (Ohio State Univ Prize in Short Fiction) and Eric Raymond's Confessions from a Dark Wood, two authors and books who have an unique voice and original style. And didn't grow up in a shitty pop band. As far as I know.

What people will be talking about for the next few days. Google Glass:



Can't tell whether this is going to be cool or not. To put my marketing hat on for a second, I think I would have shown a few more practical applications for them in the video; as it stands it makes Glass seem like not much more than a video recording device. (Yes, I know there were other things, in there, my point is what most viewers are going to take away). I also really wanted to see what the device looked like, in case it was a huge helmet cam that Al Franken would wear, but I was pleasantly surprised when I googled it. It doesn't seem to cumbersome and would look fairly cool in the Bladerunner type world we're inevitably hurtling toward.

Of course, I also had flashbacks to this movie, which can't be a good thing. I mean, Natalie Wood died during its production!