My favourite song at the moment. Nicky Minaj ("Barbie" as she calls herself) and Lil Wayne are pretty funny together, and I love her tricolour wig.
I like the combo of hiphop and rock, but most people got sick of it really fast (or they got sick of Fred Durst, and therefore the genre) so it didn't survive long. I therefore appreciate artists like K'naan and Lil Wayne who have succeeded in rebooting it.
Fave lyrics:
Cause once you go black, you never go back
And once you go Wayne, everybody else is whack!
There's a party going on across the parking lot. Music doesn't sound very good.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Research - digi land
I keep reaching the hard drive storage space limits with my computer--I have over 50 gigs of music, which is half my hard drive. I've got about 5 gigs left and then I either need a new computer, or a new hard drive (I have an external drive for backups, but I don't want to have a permanent external with my laptop--not practical.)
A picture of my hard drive, using Disk Inventory X. (I recently used this program to discover a huge folder full of unneeded installation files, which won me back some disk space.)
It didn't occur to me that I'm not the only one with this problem, and the problem will only grow. People who are now buying all their movies and tv shows by download have an even bigger problem. Even a terrabyte hard drive could potentially fill up!
So there are businesses now that operate by "cloud." Your date is stored on the internets, and with a premium subscription you can make some of it available offline for the times when you're not connected. I don't know if this will become the necessary standard one day--this dude says yes, his commentors say BS. But something will have to change--maybe just better ways to compact videos and such.
I realized that kobo already works in a "cloud" way. The books I buy don't download to my computer permanently, so if I accidentally delete it off my eReader or software, I can download it again. Mind--then your content, which you OWN, is held in third party hands. What if they go under? Or what if it's something like photos, which are more personal?
It's a mad mad mad mad world out there in digi land. Gosh knows what the landscape will look like once the dust settles; and I don't even know if the dust will ever settle, because revolutions and advancements are happening at a neck-breaking speed.
So vair vair interesting.
A picture of my hard drive, using Disk Inventory X. (I recently used this program to discover a huge folder full of unneeded installation files, which won me back some disk space.)
navy blue = mp3
red = mp4 (itunes AAC format)
yellow = applications (software)
apple green = documents
turquoise = pdfs (mostly articles from my school days)
red = mp4 (itunes AAC format)
yellow = applications (software)
apple green = documents
turquoise = pdfs (mostly articles from my school days)
It didn't occur to me that I'm not the only one with this problem, and the problem will only grow. People who are now buying all their movies and tv shows by download have an even bigger problem. Even a terrabyte hard drive could potentially fill up!
So there are businesses now that operate by "cloud." Your date is stored on the internets, and with a premium subscription you can make some of it available offline for the times when you're not connected. I don't know if this will become the necessary standard one day--this dude says yes, his commentors say BS. But something will have to change--maybe just better ways to compact videos and such.
I realized that kobo already works in a "cloud" way. The books I buy don't download to my computer permanently, so if I accidentally delete it off my eReader or software, I can download it again. Mind--then your content, which you OWN, is held in third party hands. What if they go under? Or what if it's something like photos, which are more personal?
It's a mad mad mad mad world out there in digi land. Gosh knows what the landscape will look like once the dust settles; and I don't even know if the dust will ever settle, because revolutions and advancements are happening at a neck-breaking speed.
So vair vair interesting.
Bye bye Dennis & Louise
Little Hopper is gone. He was one of my boyfriends. I think the first movie I saw him in (that I really noticed him) was My American Friend. I saw it in Ron Rower's film class, where he always made us watch movies 2-3 times.
Also sculptor Louise Bourgeois died. She made this great statue, Maman--there's a few of them, I first saw it in London, and then the one in Ottawa.
A Life in Optimism
I have some old stories I've been meaning to tell you.
1. At Catsitting, the bus stop is down the street. One morning I went out and the bus passed in front of me -- doh! I was late! I didn't bother to run cause I knew I wouldn't make it. But then the bus sat there, and people were getting on very slowly. So I ran, and I made it on. After I settled, I noticed a man near me who didn't have enough change for the bus, and only a $20 -- the woman he was with was searching through her wallet, trying to find more. So I gave him the change he needed. I realized a minute later that it was because of him that the bus had been held up, and I'd been able to make it. What a great example of... good karma? Not quite. Synchronicity? No. Paying it forward? No--paying it backward! I realized there's such thing as unwittingly paying someone back for a favor they never even knew they'd granted you, and paying them in the currency of that favor. It was like time traveling.
2. I may have told this one already, I can't remember. I was waiting at the bus stop to go BACK to cat sitting, on that weird night we had this spring where it was a slushy snowfall. I was chatting with an Indian woman at the bus stop, about the weather and such. As the bus pulled up, she looked across the 4-way intersection and said--There's my neighbour, she's trying to make the bus! She's quite old!
This intersection is always busy, even at night--you can't really jaywalk it, you have to wait for the walkee light. And the walkee light was just ending as this old woman started furiously hobbling into the road. The light turned against her, but still she hobbled on, determined to get across in time.
The Nice Indian Lady told the bus driver, and made sure that he waited for her. And when they got off (at my stop) the NIL took the old lady by the arm, and walked her home.
3. Today I was in the grocery store. I picked up a see-through container of dates for $3. An older gentleman, in a white, Middle Eastern sort of outfit, moved towards the dates--so I shuffled over to make room for the fellow date lover. He picked up a package of dates, inspected it, and then told me--the one you have is empty on this side, take this one instead, it's fuller. (Something like that.)
Now then. Don't stories #2 and 3 make you feel like there are still a lot of really nice people in this world? Who make sure their neighbors get home safe, and their fellow shoppers get best value for $3? Doesn't it give you hope? It does for me. I get all warm and gooshy inside.
1. At Catsitting, the bus stop is down the street. One morning I went out and the bus passed in front of me -- doh! I was late! I didn't bother to run cause I knew I wouldn't make it. But then the bus sat there, and people were getting on very slowly. So I ran, and I made it on. After I settled, I noticed a man near me who didn't have enough change for the bus, and only a $20 -- the woman he was with was searching through her wallet, trying to find more. So I gave him the change he needed. I realized a minute later that it was because of him that the bus had been held up, and I'd been able to make it. What a great example of... good karma? Not quite. Synchronicity? No. Paying it forward? No--paying it backward! I realized there's such thing as unwittingly paying someone back for a favor they never even knew they'd granted you, and paying them in the currency of that favor. It was like time traveling.
2. I may have told this one already, I can't remember. I was waiting at the bus stop to go BACK to cat sitting, on that weird night we had this spring where it was a slushy snowfall. I was chatting with an Indian woman at the bus stop, about the weather and such. As the bus pulled up, she looked across the 4-way intersection and said--There's my neighbour, she's trying to make the bus! She's quite old!
This intersection is always busy, even at night--you can't really jaywalk it, you have to wait for the walkee light. And the walkee light was just ending as this old woman started furiously hobbling into the road. The light turned against her, but still she hobbled on, determined to get across in time.
The Nice Indian Lady told the bus driver, and made sure that he waited for her. And when they got off (at my stop) the NIL took the old lady by the arm, and walked her home.
3. Today I was in the grocery store. I picked up a see-through container of dates for $3. An older gentleman, in a white, Middle Eastern sort of outfit, moved towards the dates--so I shuffled over to make room for the fellow date lover. He picked up a package of dates, inspected it, and then told me--the one you have is empty on this side, take this one instead, it's fuller. (Something like that.)
Now then. Don't stories #2 and 3 make you feel like there are still a lot of really nice people in this world? Who make sure their neighbors get home safe, and their fellow shoppers get best value for $3? Doesn't it give you hope? It does for me. I get all warm and gooshy inside.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Scenes from an office - The List
Years ago I worked with someone who was a great coworker, and is still a friend, but who seemed to Hate a lot of things. I don't know if it was because he was getting tired of the job, or if he's always like this. But he would have these regular outbursts of "I hate--!"
Another coworker and I started secretly writing a list of his Hates whenever he said them. I wish I still had it. There's only three that I remember.
#1 "I hate people who don't have answering machines!" - He thought it was barbaric.
#2 "I hate Elie Weisel types!" There was me--aghast: "You can't hate holocaust books! It's not allowed!" But then I realized he meant books that were put on the market in a wide variety of formats.
#3 The best one: "I hate intertextuality!"
Actually, he's French-Canadian, so it came out: "I hate intertextualité!"
Another coworker and I started secretly writing a list of his Hates whenever he said them. I wish I still had it. There's only three that I remember.
#1 "I hate people who don't have answering machines!" - He thought it was barbaric.
#2 "I hate Elie Weisel types!" There was me--aghast: "You can't hate holocaust books! It's not allowed!" But then I realized he meant books that were put on the market in a wide variety of formats.
#3 The best one: "I hate intertextuality!"
Actually, he's French-Canadian, so it came out: "I hate intertextualité!"
back on the chain gang
I'm reading a great New Yorker article on Icahn. But it's 5 AM and I must go to bed. It's back to work tomorrow!
James Cameron and Marina Abramovic and BP
An article about the inclusion of James Cameron for brain-storming over the Gulf, and they're trying out a technology invented by Kevin Costner or something. (The Cameron inclusion isn't as weird as you think--read here.)
While it's scoff-worthy, I was recently reading about divergent vs convergent thinking. Convergent thinking is where you bring all your resources to bear on problem--it's the Sherlock Holmes method of eliminating everything until you have the answer. Logic. Divergent thinking begins with an idea or question, and then spins off in as many directions as possible. Apparently artists and schizophrenics have brains more wired for divergent thinking, which supports the age-old theory that it's a fine line between madness and artistic genius.
So maybe they should be inviting the WEIRDest artists they know. Like the performance artist whose latest work just closed at the MoMA: The Artist is Present. For 3 months, she sat for 7 hours a day facing an empty chair, and you could come and sit in the chair and stare her in the eyes. Now that's the woman you want on your committee!
(And I'm not mocking her art--I lurv modern and contemporary art.)
While it's scoff-worthy, I was recently reading about divergent vs convergent thinking. Convergent thinking is where you bring all your resources to bear on problem--it's the Sherlock Holmes method of eliminating everything until you have the answer. Logic. Divergent thinking begins with an idea or question, and then spins off in as many directions as possible. Apparently artists and schizophrenics have brains more wired for divergent thinking, which supports the age-old theory that it's a fine line between madness and artistic genius.
So maybe they should be inviting the WEIRDest artists they know. Like the performance artist whose latest work just closed at the MoMA: The Artist is Present. For 3 months, she sat for 7 hours a day facing an empty chair, and you could come and sit in the chair and stare her in the eyes. Now that's the woman you want on your committee!
(And I'm not mocking her art--I lurv modern and contemporary art.)
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