Sorted Books is an ongoing project by Nina Katchadourian. When she finds a book collection, she looks at the titles and rearranges the books in such a way that you can read the titles as a sentence.
Sorry, Phil Collins (and your scores of fans), but Peter Gabriel is the best thing to come out of Genesis.
Fitting for any number of reasons. Spectacular song from Mama Africa.
On f8
I am as excited about F8 this year as I’ve ever been. The rumor mill has hit fever pitch: Microsoft and Facebook have been brewing a very exciting project for about 5 months now, and the high highs and frequent lows of the process have been well-documented in a series of mood swings from Seattle, Mountain View, and from Palo Alto. A tight lid has been kept on it all, but now that we’re in the 11th hour, I can just say, assuming nothing’s going to blow up, congratulations guys.
Favorite restaurants, parents, beautiful weather, listening to the Beatles. Haven’t done nearly enough good to deserve such. #blessed
Another interesting company addressing the online music sharing fire-hose problem. www.stereomood.com (via @tosin9) Watch out Pandora!
On TelFree
My cousin’s company, TelFree, has launched its iPhone app at the Apple Store. It deserves a lot of attention, from what they’ve been able to accomplish. I am concerned about their ability to make money, as I am with any technology that is subversive and suspiciously free. But that’s their problem to figure out, and in the meantime I am thrilled about what they’ve been able to produce.
Here’s a video that explains what they do.
They did a competitive analysis in a table with Line2, Skype, Vonage, iCall, and TruPhone. As you can see, they match up remarkably well.
You can check out the app at the App store: http://itunes.apple.com/app/telfree-iphone/id364644194?mt=8
Honestly, I didn’t even know which one of their videos to post. Jack Conte, Stanford guy who cut his musical teeth with many of my dear friends, has evolved into an absolutely spectacular musician. Amazing work! Other notables include Single Ladies, Telephone, and Beat It.
(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)
On James Franco trying to be a writer.
A friend of mine showed me this Esquire posting of James Franco’s writing: http://www.esquire.com/fiction/james-franco-fiction-0410 and I just want to take a moment to point out a few things about this piece.
My window is cracked, just a bit, and the air plays on my forehead like a cold whisper.
Now, let’s look at some facts here. James Franco graduated from UCLA in 2008 with a degree in English (he took some time off to try his hand at acting). He is currently working on an MFA at Columbia, and is 31 years old. He isn’t a teenager. He is a college graduate and grad student, and this is in his so-called wheelhouse. Am I missing something, or is this absolutely awful? Hilariously awful, even?
Here’s another gem:
I often think about driving off the side of freeway overpasses, just plunge Grandpa’s old blue boat through the cement guardrail: The sculpted barrier crumbling about me and Grandpa’s blue machine; a great moment of metallic explosion and heavy ripping and jerking and then release; a soft, slow dive of arcing color through the windshield, into a hard second of impact, just before the black
If he used more inappropriate punctuation, didn’t use phrases like “slow dive of arcing color through the windshield,” and stayed in the same tense during that SENTENCE, I would be more willing to give him some credit. Now I’m not Hemingway, at all. But I didn’t study English or creative writing in college, or in my prestigious MFA program, or at Tisch. And to top it off, he’s about to start the PhD program in English at Yale. First of all, dude you’re famous and have a perfectly fine career. Why change? And why change to something that you’re terrible at, too? And second of all, seriously Yale? Is it just because he’s famous?
Musings 