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.