Language: Quote Unquote

I was sitting in traffic this morning. I looked out the car window and saw a large banner for this west side establishment. Nekkid girlies, basically.

But what struck me was the liberal use of quotes. "Beautiful Entertainers" and "Unforgettable" and no quotal attribution! WHO said this?? If you put something in quotes, it's either because someone said it, OR, you're being ironic.

So, was it some dude who mumbled into his beer one night, "unforgettable", after his $20 lap dance was over, and the bartender heard it, and told it to the guy who does their marketing, and the guy was like, "That's it! We'll put it on a banner!"

Or, are they mocking themselves, and the quotes are more like a *wink wink* to passing patrons. Yeah right we're unforgettable. Surrrrrre they're beautiful.

Life: Gaming

Went to a very large education conference this week. Took in a lecture about Gaming and Education. Wrote notes really quickly in a free notebook I got from one of the zillion vendors who were there trying to sell me things I didn't need.

Here are my notes:

Kids produce today (music, videos, blogs), not because they aspire to be next great filmmaker or composer, but because media-modules are a form of CURRENCY within their social network.

My thoughts: This concept stayed with me for a long time, and I kept thinking about how interesting that is! And true. Kids want a certain # of myspace friends, a certain # of youtube appearances, a certain # of AIM buddies. None of that really has anything to do with anything resembling real friendships, or real budding acting careers. They know that. What they want is volume. In my days, our currency was stickers. We traded, hoarded, invested in the big ones, gave away the smelly ones. Until money starts to mean something to these kids, one cent is as valuable as one thousand dollars. Either way, they know they're getting fed tonight. BUT. Getting to the next level on the new Wii game, that gives them value in their social network.

Kids today, through gaming, learn on a NEED TO KNOW basis.

New term: GAMING LITERACY
This does not mean "let's play a specific game to learn our multiplication tables", but the understanding that Gaming is a MODEL FOR THINKING.

Gamers look for a visual representation of an underlying system.
They question: What do I need to know now in order to succeed later?

COLLABORATIVE GAMING: Recruit people who have certain skills, combine those skills to conquer the game. Gamers organically figure things out as they go along. Gamers know they need to communicate with one another in order to succeed. In recent studies, grad students are more likely to huddle by themselves and hide their research from others for longer periods of time. Middle school kids thrive on the collaboration, practically sitting in each other's laps sharing information in real time. That is a SHIFT in learning styles.

Gamers care little about visuals (design) and more so they look for DATA. They seek and desire DATA at all times in order to see how they are doing. When designing games, EMBED ASSESSMENT. Don't just tack it on at the end.

Gamers are now using the BODY as well as the MIND (Wii)

Instead of being the GAME PLAYERS, we should encourage kids to start being the GAME DESIGNERS. It requires them to think about content, and about something.

When designing games, don't put too much pressure on the game itself. Games are really about creating an EXPERIENCE for people. HOW are your players going to learn?

Site to check out: www.gamestarmechanic.com

In a recent study watching the way kids design games, kids produced DENSE NARRATIVES for their games, which came as a surprise to the experts. Kids with learning disabilities, who were normally hesitant about writing, were very driven and successful in this experience.

---> !!! The GIRLS were deeply invested in the physical space they would be playing in, and spend tons of time DESIGNING THE SPACE before they even began to play. The BOYS quickly filled the whole space with enemies, pressed play, and then realized they didn't have a game. So they had to go back and revise.

Look into beta: M.I.L.K.
Mobile Informal Learning Tool
Kids designing games solely for cell phones. Encourages turning any space into a gaming space.

As a game designer, kids learn to anticipate their player's moves. You have to figure out WHY someone would want to play your game.

In order to be a game designer, a kid has to:
-- have a theory
-- test it
-- get reviews
-- revise

Kids are very excited about building FOR EACH OTHER.

Travel: Where I Was...

Product: Lamp

I really want this!!

I "need" a blue lamp shade for this lone lamp stand I have, that I want to put on this little desk that would get a lot more use if it had a light on it. But then I found this lamp, and I think... no, wait, I'm certain.... it would make me a fully satisfied human being in all aspects.

It's by Lite Source, Inc.

Available now on amazon.

(Hint Hint: Someone has a birthday coming up in 8 months!)

Singer: Vandaveer

I am loving ALL things Vandaveer right now. First I found this one song, and then I found all the rest of his songs (and this all happened because I discovered the wonderful world of music blogs!) (Never listen to the same song twice again!) (Unless, of course, it's Vandaveer, and you must, must, must listen to this song (below) over and over and over.)

Absolute Favorite Song Of The Day, And Then Some:
"However Many Takes It Takes" by Vandaveer

Listen here

Lyrics:

We're swimming in the deep end
I find out where your faith begins
You're waiting for an answer that's acceptable

The current sweeps you out to sea
And it keeps you guessing helplessly
You're praying for a savior who's exceptional
Someone who'll lift you from your knees
And save you, and hand you the keys
And offer you the kingdom of your dreams

But nothing's ever as it seems
You find yourself further down stream
Alone, save for the echoes of your screams
Ah, honey, fairy tales are prone to tease

Well candles burn you warm and safe
You lock your door and control your space
And curtains drawn, you think that you're impenetrable
But demons they don't live outside
They burrow deep where they can hide
Inside a safe, you will still feel vulnerable
You draw a bath and pour some wine
You drink yourself into another time
Where you feel truly free
The water's rising overhead
And you wake to find yourself in bed
You're gasping, for a breath that's hard to breathe
Ahh, honey, dreams are rarely what they seem

Oh, how, ever, many takes, it takes

Well, step outside into the sun
Let it dry your eyes and run around
Feel the warmth underneath your skin
The clouds will soon move in again
You can't expect to always win
You got to, take it as it comes

The marching bands and beating drums
Play familiar songs for the alum
We all got scars, but we don't like to show them
Sometimes it's better to be strong
We all got to be moving on
You got to walk a million miles
Ahh, honey, go walk them with a smile.

Oh, how, ever, many takes, it takes.

Video: Valentine's Day Video

Quote: Really?

"The latest research shows that we're surprisingly bad at predicting what will make us happy."

Website: Davey Dance

now this. THIS. is brilliant.


Davey Dance-BLOG. A project started while traveling Europe during Spring 2007. Armed only with an ipod and a Canon PowerShot, Davey picks a location and a pop song. Then Davey records an improvised dance.

Keep in mind, he's listening to the music on his ipod as he dances. So everyone walking around him doesn't hear a thing. Lucky he's a good dancer!!

The best ones are here:

Germany
New York City @ Christmas (my favorite)
The subway
Brooklyn Bridge
Florence
Pisa

And this was his first one (using Tom Waits at the Vatican)

Video: The Rainbow Chasers

The Rainbow Chasers from Erin Wallace on Vimeo.

Song: I Feel It All, by Feist

Is this going to be Feist's thing?

As in, will her music videos consistantly involve her dancing around like a 6-year old in front of highly complex choreography (by people, fireballs, or otherwise) all orchestrated to fit into one single take?

If it is, that's so very cool by me. I'm just a little bummed because that was MY plan for rock stardom. [pause. glance into the camera with a shrug.] Well, you know what they say. If you have an idea and you don't grab on it, it's someone else's for the taking.

PLAY: Video for Feist's new song, "I Feel It All".

And I forgive her.

Art: Private

Art: Hands

News: Dr. Phil

Typo! Typo in the New York Times!! And I found it!

Should it have been: Do you like your therapist?
Or, should it have been: Do you lie to your therapist?
Is the word like spelled wrong, or is the word to inserted by mistake?

Good questions. But I'm sorry, our time is up for today.

Book: Blue Pills: A Positive Love Story

This book was beautiful.

I've been looking for a good opportunity to foray into the graphic novel genre. I didn't want to choose something "just because" it had pictures. And in the past, graphic novels haven't really done it for me. They should. Know me, and you'd know they should. But they just haven't.

Maybe it's because, and I'm just pontificating here, the story lines are somewhat unemotional. Correct me if I'm wrong, but tons of these (let's abbreviate here) G.N.'s are written by men, with these hard-to-grasp, somewhat unemotional concepts. They're more like adventures. Or something. It's like, it takes so long to get to the meat of the story, and there's always so much in-between stuff happening. And it makes it hard for me to concentrate. And sometimes, I'm not sure what I should be concentrating on. The story? The pictures? It's not the type of book I really know how to read. Because the thing is, I really like words, and I really like pictures. Separately. But together? It's like listening to an amazing singer singing with an amazing guitarist, at the same time, each at the same volume. It's hard to know what to focus on. Well, anyway. That's been my experience. Mostly, I haven't liked the stories.

But I was in the neighborhood bookstore, waiting for something to grab me. This book was misplaced, left out on a shelf, not quite fitting in with anything else. It should have been with the Valentine's Day book display up front, but I guess people don't really consider AIDS stories a romantic gesture.

But really, this is a love story. A total package love story. It's about a young man, who meets a young woman, and they're both pretty awesome people. And she has a kid. And she is divorced. And she is HIV positive. And so is her little boy.

So, what's a man to do?

This is their love story (and a true story!) and it's just beautiful, and mesmerizing, and sensitive, and vulnerable. Yes, the story is vulnerable. Always on the verge of falling into tears, or self-defeating, or missing out on it's own chance for happiness.

But it doesn't. And that's not giving anything away. The book is called A Positive Love Story, which of course, is really what caught my eye. How can something so sad be so utterly uplifting?

Also, I found it warmly inspiring, artistically.



[The author is Frederik Peeters, and is considered one of Europe's up and coming illustrators. Blue Pills was previously published in Europe, where it won the Premios La Carcel de Papel in Spain and the Polish Jury Prize at Angouleme. It has sold over 20,000 copies in its original French edition, and now Houghton Mifflin is publishing it in the United States. -- source]

Art: Words

Video: Leo's Song

Leo's Song from impactist on Vimeo.

Art: Flower

“A person asked a rabbi why the truth was written on our hearts, he said so that when our heart breaks, the truth can fall in … since there is no more fertile a place than inside a broken heart.”

Art: Colors

"A ship in the harbor is safe.

But that is not what ships were made for."

Art: Colors

"Sometimes I wish a million things were different.

But then I wish those million things, weren't things I wished for."

Art: Pattern

Art: Connected

Art: Doodle

A doodle is usually something you draw without thinking or planning. It just sort of happens. People always say, "I don't know what to draw," but no one really says, "I don't know what to doodle." There's a routine to it, for most of us. Maybe you always draw boxes. Maybe it's eyes. Maybe its letters of the alphabet. Mostly the doodle happens when you're thinking about other things, or talking on the phone, or waiting for a file to download. Your hand reaches for a pen and paper and the next thing you know, images start to appear. And sometimes you look down and exclaim, "Oh my goodness, what did I just draw?"

Favorite things

LETTERS: Cable company

Dear 877-blahblahblah-something something something Optimum cable,

I know you're probably just psyched I spelled your name right (and P.S. I didn't). Optimum? Optimal? Optic fcking nerves blowing up in my head? STOP THAT COMMERCIAL RIGHT NOW.

Lucky for me I know how to write a proper business letter, so that I can scribe this one to you now and make it effective.

At the risk of humiliating myself and my forefathers (and mothers), you need to know something irregardless. When your commercial comes on the air, I TURN THE TV OFF. Yeah, I don't even "mute" it and divert my attention otherwise. I don't raise the volume on the new hot song playing on my computer. I don't change the channel to see what Rachael Ray wants me to cook in 5 minutes or less. NO. I have to turn it off. I'm in the middle of watching a pointless youtube flick, and I literally stand up, walk allllllll the way across the room, and shut the TV off, just so I do not have to listen to your commercial for the a thousand billionth time. And yes, that's a real number.

I don't want to hear all that crap about how TV is bad for me, blahblahblah. I know it is. Why else would I watch it? But if I'm going to be properly inundated with product endorsements and propaganda that I pretend to believe I think I agree with, then at LEAST make it a good commercial! Your song (or jingle or whatever) is worse than a Mariah Carey ballad at Christmas. It's worse than some 6 year old kid who wants to be famous and belts it out for guest judge Sharon Osbourne. Your commercial is so bad it makes my cat bark. Your commercial is so bad it makes me think Vanna White is my hero.

Ever read a book called The Tipping Point? Yes? No? Yes? The point, my FRIEND(z), is not to make your audience tip over in their chair because they think they are going to go insane if they hear your commercial one more time during a Tyra B. rerun. Girl, I am trying to learn how to strike it fierce, and you are ruining my runway walk practice time.

So. In conclusion. Stop airing that commercial. So that I can return to being the passive, complacent television watching viewer that I've always been.

Gracias.
And good night.

Language: portmanteau

portmanteau

a word that fuses two or more words or word parts to give a combined or loaded meaning.

examples:

• spork
• guesstimate
• wikipedia
• ginormous

News: RIP = Rodent In Peace

Check it:
http://mysesame.blogspot.com/

Life: Hopes for the new year

Things I would like to see happen (to u and me) in 2008:

1. I don't want to put cashiers out of business, but I really, I mean really, love those self-checkout machines at the A&P. I also like it when there's a guy (or gal) standing at that little podium overseeing all the self-checkers, just watching over us, you know? like, angels or something. It makes me feel better. Like, if I run a box of Tam Tams over the laser beam and the bar code doesn't generate a price check, I know that all I have to do is look over my shoulder and my "angel" will run over and say something like, "step aside ma'am" and I will. And then they press some button or something, and everything works out in the end, and they say something like, "go ahead," and so I do. My wish for 2008 is that you will always have an angel behind you letting you know when it is safe to go ahead.

2. I would like to receive more self-address stickers in the mail from animal rescue league conservation forest children in peril organization companies. how do they know that exact moment when I run out of last year's cute kitten collection?

3. I would like to see youtube take off.

4. I would like to see certain people come back together: Brad and Jen. Donald and Carolyn. Heidi and Lauren. Angela and Jordan. Brit and Lynn.

5. I would like to learn how to play an F.

6. And sixthly, my wish for you is that you finally learn how to take your photos off your cell phone. Or even better, learn how to use the real camera you own. Yes. You. YOU.

7. I'm done. No, wait, wait! There's more!

8. I want to invent a hugely monumental e-business that makes me e-millions in a matter of e-months. And the only office supplies I want to have are a pile of purple post-its, 2 Ziploc bags, 1 change of clothes, a sharpie, 3 expo markers, and a dream.

9. Front row tickets to A CHORUS LINE. [check]

10. I can feel it. This is going to be our year. OUR YEAR, BABY! [for Prozac].

Life: The Best Of 2007...

The New York Times and Radar Magazine both asked me to compile a list of 2007 Best Of's for the new year (yeah, both! it was so weird. I was like, I've got my own blog I don't need you, thanks so much).

So here's what I wrote anyway, for free, because I believe that your job should be what you would do anyway if you weren't getting paid. And I'm not getting paid to do this, and it's not my job, so it all works out for everyone in the end.


Best Movie(s):
The Savages
Flannel Pajamas

Best Book:
Man Walks Into A Room, Nicole Krauss

Best Song:
Kill To Know, Amy Miles

Best Pet:
Sesame (RIP)
& the ball will roll no longer

Best City:
Florence

Best Bubby:
Bubby

Best Restaurant:
Aqua Due

Best Website:
Blurb.com

Best Magic Marker:
Sharpie, ultra fine point

Best Artist:
Alex Webb

Best Way To Locate Your Birth Mother:
Maury Povitch

Best Catch Phrase:
"Move it to the top"
(aka: "Put it on your queue")

Best Use Of My Time:
Not this

Best Answer I gave someone who asked me how it's possible for me to meet people if I don't do online dating:
"Serendipitously"

Best Use Of Mother Nature:
Full moons

Best Line:
"I'm really busy and I don't know what I'm doing with my life."

Best Name for a Restaurant:
The Bourgeois Pig

Best Airline:
British Airways


Add your own in the comments below.

News: Guess the story

"Information is not private because no one knows it; it is private because the knowing is limited and controlled," argues Danah Boyd, an anthropologist and social-networking expert at the University of California, Berkeley.

Art: Street Dancing

Street Dance from Robin Cantrell on Vimeo.