Category: Random

Disinfo.com is having a conference in NYC. Apparently, Mr Morrison is to attend. Very jealous.

There is this comic book called Doom Patrol, or at least there was a good few years ago. It was written by the immortal Grant Morrison, whom we adore. Anyway – in this comic book there was this character called Crazy Jane. Jane had multiple personality disorder, with a separate super-power for each one. It sounds amusing, but it wasn’t – she was a traumatised character who had been abused in her youth and who had absolutely no control over which personality (aggressive, catatonic, violent, sexual) appeared.

I don’t mean to scare people, but this cutting-edge and much-loved character may be the focus of a new movie featuring (gulp) Sandra Bullock…

Blogger is wacked out on drugs and speed. Whoa baby – watch that new, intricate and clever interface do its thing. Woof.

There’s this quote in Heathers (the film with Christian Slater) which goes something like “Now I use my high IQ to decide what colour lip-gloss to wear”. If you added to that discussions about inter-racial relationships and cultural stereotyping in Star Trek, you might have some idea of how far I have fallen over the last couple of years. Kudos to Nick to listening to me ramble on last night.

Red Meat appeals to the cynic in me, but is somehow unfulfilling. There’s something too easy about most of it. You know – not quite biting enough. Having said that, this one is pretty lovely…

The non corporate poll has got into silly money as the glassdog.org crew blast it with infinite votes. I can’t really be cross since it isn’t a competition. Still it is a funny thing to do with your time.

In the interests of fairness, here’s a few words about a few of the other sites that you should look up if you get a chance: Pixel Junkie is an elegantly designed site (rebuilt a couple of weeks ago) itself filled with links to sites of a similar classy standard. Much recommended. Soulflare takes design completely away from the technocracy of much online work towards a much more fluid, photo-impressionist style (forgive me if I get a bit florid here). A series of rotating exhibitions demonstrate some of the most intelligent work you will find on the net.

On an altogether more amusing note: for those of you who live in London check out pages 4,6 and 44 of the latest issue of Time Out. Advertrasharama.

Yay! The Bomb is the top rated site at Wahoo.

Could anyone who has a chance (and likes The Bomb) go to Wahoo! and rate it for me. They only include people who have been rated more than ten times in their top-rated sites, and The Bomb languishes with five.

The front page of barbelith reached 10,000 hits today. This is quite invigorating. The bomb has now had nearly 40,000 visitors, the nexus over 15,000. What a nice way to start the day…

Three brief things. The first is really important. Both Zeldman and I got the URL for Croon wrong. Which might explain why people aren’t voting for it (link goes nowhere). Turns out it’s not croon.com but croon.org. Bum. I suggest that EVERYONE goes and looks at the site today and votes for it (should they feel that way inclined).

Zeldman himself (awe) has written to me and explains his feelings on the poll. Having heard him out properly, and heard his position through, I must confess I think I agree with him. Um. Finally, I wrote the damn epinion on Tumbleweeds. I am now consumed with guilt as I think I sound right-wing and single mother hating, which fills me with horror.

Zeldman.com has commented on the non-corporate art poll. To quote:

“The poll asks readers to visit the independent content sites honored in the Vision, and vote for the one which gives them “the most hope” about the Web. Barbelith creator Tom Coates hopes the poll will guide newcomers to “the best content on the Net” since the big portals clearly don’t do this job. (They point to large corporate sites that advertise in their pages.)

By nature, polls are popularity contests, and that makes us uneasy. Competition is beside the point. We think the last entry should read “All the Above.” Still, we are happy that Barbelith – itself a damn fine site – is promoting independent content on the Web. ‘Cause, people, it’s our Web, not corporate America’s Web.”

I am completely honoured to be mentioned at Zeldman since it is, in many ways, the decentred centre of the web – connected intimately with the Web Standards Project and the fight to keep original non-corporate content visible on the web. It’s as close to representing the “spirit of the web pioneers” as you can get.

I don’t agree about the popularity poll thing though. I agree that polls are by their nature competitive – but only if they are taken seriously! The poll was designed to get people to look at some of the best independent content that the web has to offer, and the interactive part is merely a means to that end. However, if people think that it is against the spirit of the sites themselves then I’ll remove it post haste…

TUMBLEWEEDS

Last night I went to the press screening of Tumbleweeds. It was an affecting, slightly off-kilter film, which didn’t opt for the easy answers. I basically liked it. But it was more interesting as a treatment of mothers. You felt sympathy for the mother who serially marries and runs across the country with her young daughter, pulling her in and out of schools, getting involved with abusive and violent men. She was portrayed as so childlike and confused herself that she almost couldn’t be held accountable for her actions.

I sat there thinking that although the film was entirely convincing and moving, exactly the same story, with the same script but a different director, could have just as easily portrayed her as an inhuman monster.

This aspect slightly perturbed me. It made me wonder what actions couldn’t be justified on screen with a sensitive back-story and a likable actor/actress. And whether the love of her daughter should really be taken as such a barometer of her morality. It seemed just as likely to me that the daughter in ten years time would resent her mother with a vengeance.

I’ll think about it a bit more and then I’ll post an epinion.

I take it all back. Prehensile Tales is directing people to the poll and doesn’t even (really) try to influence the voting. I am Jack’s Desperate Needy Apologetic Aspect.

Did you have a good journey into work this morning? If you live in London it is pretty likely that you didn’t. Talk all about it at tubehell.co.uk.

On a rather different note, I’m perturbed by the progress of e-mail “i’ll show you mine if you show me yours” discussion which started on Monday. It’s just got a little, well, corporate. Don’t know what I think about it.