Microlog
Microlog entries posted in April 2010
Reunited Soundgarden Play Secret Seattle Show
Will they play over here? I sure hope so! Still regret missing them at Sunstroke ‘95. Sound & Screen ·
MagCloud: Publish your own printed magazine
Very nice print-on-demand service for small-scale magazine publishing. They don’t ship to EU countries yet (except for the UK) but this could be very useful in the near future… Media & Journalism ·
Make your own sourdough
Filing this for future reference. Mmmmm, bread. Arts & Culture ·
Homestead Records: Frontier Days
A brief history of the US alternative indie label that wasn’t Sub Pop or SST, and the dodgy business practices that brought about its downfall. I thought late-period SST was shady, but Greg Ginn’s got nothing on this. Sound & Screen ·
Charlie Brooker: My plan to save mankind
Basically, the inability of the average individual to transcend the linear comprehension of time is to blame for everything from climate change to the obesity epidemic. And it’s a very convincing argument. Says Brooker of the exceptional few: “Every jogger is essentially a clairvoyant. They’ve transcended the shackles of contemporary subsistence and risen above the likes of you and me, to witness a vision of the future so captivating it blocks out the pain of the present, so enticing, they’re literally compelled to run towards it.” Arts & Culture ·
Wikipedia entry on proprioception
One for the ‘so that’s what it’s called’ file. Interesting ·
Team sets out to clear bodies from Everest’s death zone
The whole idea of this just creeps me out. Interesting ·
Roger Ebert re-enters the ‘games as art’ debate
This isn’t even really a debate: anything can be art in the right context or circumstances. Ebert should know better. Arts & Culture ·
Irish High Court gives entertainment giants the power to disconnect whole families from the net
It’s bullshit of the highest order, of course. But at least our ISP isn’t willing to play along. Media & Journalism ·
Counting the cost of the long journey home
The one thing that seems to be forgotten with the recent stories and flighty prose about the ash cloud disruption is how most people just don’t have the time or the money! We have tight budgets, jobs to get back to, medicine to take, promises to keep, etc — we simply can’t sit there and wait while the airlines leave us hanging. Arts & Culture ·
An answer to the age-old question: why is doctors’ handwriting so bad?
The solution seems so simple. Yet as with all simple things, it’ll take fucking forever to fix it. Interesting ·
Salting ice cream
It turns out, plain old salt can intensify the flavour and/or texture of many things you wouldn’t normally associate with the main course. Also: entries like this are why Kottke is king. Food & Drink ·
John K reviews Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
One from the backlog, here. The verdict? It’s pure formula, but with enough interestingness in the animation to put it above the competition. That’s probably why I enjoyed it more than I expected, too. Sound & Screen ·
Chart of 2009 New York Mets Injuries
We want much less red this season, please. And some wins would be nice, too. [c/o Subtraction] Sports & Games ·
ANC’s Julius Malema lashes out at ‘misbehaving’ BBC journalist
South Africa can’t and won’t improve until dangerously misleading relics and liars like Malema are out of the picture. Media & Journalism ·
Deadspin on the life and career of Andre the Giant
A wonderful feature piece (with YouTube clips) on the ‘Eighth Wonder of the World’; part of a series on dead wrestlers that Deadspin’s treating with the kind of respect the business doesn’t usually get. Sports & Games ·
The Editor and the Curator (Or the Context Analyst and the Media Synesthete)
In short, the concept of curation is being corrupted by the use of the term as a fancy synonym for ‘editing’ or ‘selecting’. After all, the act of curating is about preserving things, not cutting them away. [c/o Fimoculous] Interesting ·
Film Noir Checklist
A primer for anyone who always wanted to but was afraid to ask. I defy you to watch Sweet Smell of Success and not be knocked out of your socks. Sound & Screen ·
The League of Moveable Type
High-quality open source fonts. Because we don’t all have the resources of a design house. Arts & Culture ·
Teal and Orange - Hollywood, Please Stop the Madness
I knew something was off, and now I know why. Sound & Screen ·
Dunkie Drinks Dunkin’s Coffee
Sadly it’s only an April Fool’s prank. I wish it was real. Arts & Culture ·
150,000 join start line for first day of London 2012 Olympics ticket race
Tickets go on sale in spring next year? That’s closer than I expected; not long left to decide if I’m going. Sports & Games ·
Infovore: A book of photographs that I made
Very, very nice. I may have to make one myself. Arts & Culture ·
Where to turn when you can’t ask the hive mind?
So nice to see there’s more to online advice than Yahoo! Answers (which really lives up to its name, come to think of it). Interesting ·
Every issue of Spin magazine on Google Books
More publications should do this sort of thing. (See also: every issue of Plan B magazine in a handy torrent.) Media & Journalism ·
Kottke on ‘the new rules for reviewing media’
It’s an interesting phenomenon, but not the kind of trend I want to see. Kottke says: “In the end, people don’t buy content or plots, they buy physical or digital pieces of media for use on specific devices and within certain contexts.” I disagree: people DO buy content. If I buy a book, I’m buying it for the story; the format is entirely secondary, regardless of my personal preferences. Giving a book a bad rating because you can’t read it on your Kindle or whatever? That’s just bullshit whatever way you cut it. Arts & Culture ·
About
This is the personal website of MacDara Conroy, a production journalist and mediavore in Dublin, Ireland. Read more »
Details
This page is a reverse chronology of Microlog entries by MacDara Conroy published in April 2010. You will find many more in the Archives.
Continuum
↑ May 2010
→ April 2010
↓ January 2010