September 2010
32 posts
Themes, Memed. Part III
The popularity of memes has become a hot topic since cheezburger network began mining 4chan for material. this has led to much uproar among the die-hard 4chan community. See details here.
4chan members feel that Huh is ripping off their community for his own profits. And, according to a WIRED article, Huh’s profits are quite large.
This brings me to ask the question: what next? If we...
Themes, memed: Part II
The thing I like most about memes is how they are just big, worldwide, inside jokes. When you look at knowyourmeme.com, you learn the history of these memes and realize that the medium in which you originally viewed the meme is probably so far removed from it’s actual origin. Again, we have the theme of storytelling because these memes wouldn’t be so significant without their...
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Themes, Memed: Part I
One of the primary building blocks of authenticity is storytelling. It seems that nothing can feel “real” without a history, an anecdote, or a story. You can’t really say that storytelling is one specific meme, but you could say the theme of storytelling has been memed all over the place - from viral youtube videos, to ads, to short documentaries. Specifically, these short...
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Google Transparancy
Which countries in the world are the least transparent?
Google knows.
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Iron Mania at Thrift Town
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Tangible vs. Tangible
While we’re on the subject of print shops I’d like to talk about print vs. not print. There are a lot of people who feel that the death of print is a severe tragedy; that it represents how much the internet is ruining our culture. Somehow, print is more authentic to them. I’m guessing this has mainly to do with the fact that they can hold it in their hands and, as a result,...
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Levi's on Valencia Street
Levi’s recently opened up a print shop on Valencia Street in San Francisco. I was skeptical at first. But then I found out that they aren’t selling much clothes. Instead, they are providing workshops and workspace for local artists and newcomers to printing. This seemed more acceptable to me. You can read two articles about it which have two completely different tones. One from...
Continuing with the Slow Theme
21 Imaginative Illustrations
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Slow Moving Street Art Project
London’s Slinkachu reminds us to walk slower and take notice of the things around us.
Also be sure to check out his Little People project!
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the Lava House
Growing up in Tiburon, CA we used to go to this place called the Lava House. It’s called the Lava House because a really rich guy imported lava to use for the construction of his really really fancy house but he just decided to never finish building it. This weekend was the first time I saw the Lava House in the daylight.
Wow.
Dear Diary, I am soooo Mortified
It doesn’t really get any more authentic than watching people get up on a stage and read entries from their high school or middle school journals outloud.
It’s happening tonight at SF’s Makeout Room but will be back October 22 + 23. Be sure to get tickets early, as they sell out.
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Creating authentic experiences for yourself
This summer, I visited my favorite friend in my favorite city: New York. I noticed that when she left the house to go to work she never brought her ipod. To me, this seemed insane. Without headphones, I don’t know how I’d get through my commute. When I asked her about it she just shrugged and said she liked to hear the things around her.
I was kind of speechless. I’d never...
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Tweet Nest helps us reminisce digitally
I never thought about it before but I guess it would actually be really cool to store your Tweets in a searchable way so that you can go back and easily find out exactly what you tweeted one year ago. Well guess what? Somebody made this totally possible for us!
Think about how weird it is to look back and read entries in your journal from a year ago, or even weirder: looking at notes you passed...
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Company culture should reflect brand image
Who are some people and companies that are doing something authentic? But wait, what is the definition of authentic, anyway? Of the above definitions, I think number two is the most relevant to what we’re trying to figure out. Everything is copied these days, so the first definition doesn’t really matter.
I like the idea of unquestionable evidence. A while back, it would have been...
Rejected by This American Life
I’m excited that these guys just started following my blog.
I love This American Life and it sure adds a whole new dimension to storytelling to hear the stories that were rejected from the show.
That gets me thinking - does my life have anything worth retelling on a popular NPR show? I think that what usually makes a good story is not necessarily what you tell but how you tell it. I...
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California is a place.
Thanks to Digital Heirloom for drawing my attention to these amazing short docs from California is a Place.
Amazing windows into subcultures I’ve hardly ever given a thought to. I can’t wait for more posts!
Backpacking trip with Dad circa 1994
Nostalgia in Brooklyn
Google images tells us what's authentic
These are some of the first images that come up in Google Images for Authenticism.
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Found out about this awesome song by Bob Dylan and...
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Infographics Anonymous
What does your name for soft drinks say about you?
I found this infographic at laist.com. Along with the rest of the creative community, I’ve recently become pretty addicted to infographics because they always manage to tell a boring story in a new, interesting way. Sometimes, like this soft drink graphic, they go even farther than that and show us a pattern we never even new existed. And...
Things I've found since approximately 2006
I love finding people’s lost notes, photos, etc on the street. It’s like a window into a person’s life about whom I really have no idea. But then I get to make a whole story up about their lives based on this little tidbit I found. I think this post also relates to the previous image posted: Fuck Eyes: Bulletin Boards are the Windows to the Soul.
A Poem?
Promising cat...
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FYI:
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Newsflash: Luxury isn't luxurious anymore.
Did you know that in 1834, when Louis Vuitton was thirteen years old, he wanted to get to Paris so badly that he walked there? His small hometown of Jura, located at the foot of the Alps, is 292 miles away from Paris. It took him two years. Now, that’s dedication.
Unfortunately, that dedication has now been completely lost in the world of luxury goods like the Louis Vuitton brand.
In her...
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Sorry people, no WiFi. Also, no vanilla syrup.
Is simpler more authentic? More and more coffee shops are limiting, rather than expanding options for their customers.
Check out this bit from PSFK about coffee shop limitations.
This is a theory I’ve been shaping for a while. In fact, I made an entire deck about it last Spring!
Coffee culture predicts consumer culture
View more presentations from ReneeZalles.
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Pissing in a River = my favorite Patti Smith song.
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Patti Smith's accidental fame
I recently finished reading Patti’s Smith’s Just Kids, which is not only about her complicated relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe, but also documents her move to New York as a young woman and her slow rise to success as a performer.
Her account reminds me of Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast or Didion’s Year of Magical Thinking. I think her prose is different from these...
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Maira Kalman
I love this TED talk by Maira Kalman. I like her storytelling style because it’s so matter of fact. Like she and I are just sitting at a cafe drinking a glass of white wine and schmoozing (I wish).
She is well-known for illustrating the New Yorker covers and also recently illustrated an edition of Strunk and White’s Elements of Style. Her work is currently on display at the...
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This American Life
This American Life is one of my favorite radio programs. I feel like a grandmother using the phrase “radio program.”
Okay, let’s try that again:
This American Life is one of my favorite podcasts. At least once during each podcast, I cry, laugh, get the chills, or actually talk out loud directly to the radio or computer, as if the people telling their stories will somehow hear...
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