"Write now is good."

Mind the grocery store gap

2011-10-16T23:55:41-04:00

In many urban neighborhoods in the United States, supermarket shortages make it difficult for residents of these areas to buy affordable, healthy food. This lack can contribute to a host of health problems, including obesity and diabetes, as people tend to depend on fast food outlets, corner convenience stores, and bodegas for a majority of their meals. If these local venues do sell fresh produce, it's often at a premium, keeping it out of reach...

Searching for tweet-blogging

2011-01-05T10:58:38-05:00

Image via Hjem As I microblog (tweeting here) when I have a lot of non-blog writing to do, I've been looking for a way to feature choice tweets (of mine) on my blog. I tend to tweet interesting links I find, and I've been thinking about having a function to incorporate more lengthy discussion around a tweet. At this point, there is no fluid integration which allows tweeters/bloggers to pick a tweet and have it...

Playing with the moon

2010-11-19T14:00:14-05:00

These photographs of jeux lunaires — moon games — caught my eye. They're beautifully executed, playful and inspired. The above photo "Comme dans un tableau" — like in a picture — is one of many different images located in the online gallery of Laurent Laveder. Based on viewing his work, it looks like he often photographs life on earth during the evening and nighttime. You can purchase the book Quartier Libre by Laurent Laveder and...

Used-book dominoes

2010-10-24T18:49:51-04:00

The used-book-loving folks at Bookmans Entertainment Exchange in Arizona created this literary domino effect video. It captures my sentiment about bookstores: fun places full of information and wonder. Anyone have an idea about how many books were used? Via Galleycat

Friday needs a video

2010-10-22T12:44:42-04:00

I heard "Ready to start" by Arcade Fire on the radio yesterday for the first time. Enjoy!

"How to be alone" in a hyper-connected world

2010-08-29T13:23:02-04:00

"How to be alone" by filmmaker Andrea Dorfman and poet/singer/songwriter Tanya Davis is beautiful and perceptive in word, image and tune. After viewing the video many times, I realized that the benefits of being alone are visually implied in the film by Tanya's being in nature, outside or away from screens which constantly and digitally connect us to others. One of my favorite lines is "Start simple: things you may have previously avoided based on...

Print-your-own warning labels for bad journalism

2010-08-27T09:31:19-04:00

These journalism warning labels created by self-described "geek comedian" Tom Scott resonated across the Web. I saw them at popular design blogs like Swissmiss and NOTCOT, which have massive audiences and tend to propel their finds to Blogville's collective focus. What other products in our lives have warning labels? Cigarettes. Alcohol. Toxic substances. High doses of radiation. Medication. It is telling that labeling media with similar warnings seem to ring true with so many, and...

Tweets on paper

2010-08-06T12:21:35-04:00

Hilarious. A few questions: ° How do you get your paper tweet to your followers? Some tweeters have hundreds of thousands, even millions. Mailing them would certainly help the U.S. Postal Service cover its budget shortfalls, though regular paper-tweeting would bankrupt the average tweeter. ° How would paper tweets go viral? Would followers then have to get out their tweet pads and then mail tweets to all of their followers to pass on the info...

Time blends: A history and Photoshop gallery

2010-08-05T11:54:43-04:00

Photo: "Berlin 1945/2010. Wrecked tank "Tiger" in Tiergarten park" by Sergey Larenkov This photo set by Sergey Larenkov stunningly shows how even though time passes, ghosts or echoes of past events remain. Larenkov's images, including the one featured above, provide eerie glimpses of the violence and cost of World War II in Europe (his pictures focus on Berlin, Moscow and Vienna) merged with contemporary life that has clearly moved forward. Using these with students could...

Mesmerizing: "Stop motion with wolf and pig." and questions about web culture

2010-08-02T11:20:32-04:00

I found "Stop motion with wolf and pig." (see above) in a round-about way, one which has brought up some interesting considerations about Web culture. While visiting swissmiss, I saw The PEN Story, a stop-motion video with a very distinctive style. I tweeted about it, I was so impressed by it. Then I read the comments associated with the post, and two commenters said that The PEN Story was a copy of "Stop motion with...