neat cultural anthropology blog

I like this blog.

I should probably steer more towards a visual blog since I seem to be terrible at producing text.

One question some of his observations brought up (he does work for Nokia), regarding the constant presence of cell phones (which he finds to be one of three essential objects always carried worldwide, no matter what culture), is this; are they somehow, by their perception of security and constant connectivity to information and services, making everyone so lazy that personal resourcefulness will eventually get outsourced like everything else.

Will the cell phone become everyone's personal concierge? You see it in cars with the onstar system which can unlock your doors should you lock your precious child in there, saving you the personal embarrassment of calling a locksmith (who will certainly judge your parenting negatively); don't worry, onstar won't tell!

Ultimately these sorts of things are all positive, we don't want any more kids baking in the sun and how cool is it that you can use that camera phone to get the license plate of that sicko that tried to lure your daughter in his car.

Yes, I realize I still don't have one of the infernal things.

Anyway, I think this guy has my dream job, except that part about working for Nokia.

incredibly addictive game

http://www.k2xl.com/games/boomshine/

Fast Food Nation

Watched Linklater's latest and I'm at a loss to say whether it really is just a complete mess or am I just angry that he didn't make the movie I wanted to see? My first reaction is that yes, it really is a mess and they should have either stuck with just one aspect of the book rather than trying to weave the multiple stories together. I realize that it is a faithful adaptation of the reporting in the book but what you don't get with the movie is the depth of each of those stories and you just end up confused and frustrated. Any one of the intersecting lines could have made an interesting movie in it's own right, but unfortunately giving each so little time doesn't allow any involvement. It seems just as you are staring to sink into one story, it has to cut away to catch up with the next one. Granted, that web of connections is the entire basis for the movie's concept, the hidden stories of how fast food gets from the farm to the consumer. Upon watching the making of extra, you really get a sense of what they were trying to accomplish and just wish that they could have pulled it off. I might come back to it and see if I have a different opinion later, but so far Linklater is not happening for me. I thought Scanner Darkly was, if not as much a failure, equally frustrating.

If water didn't exist...

Would we invent it?

There's certainly a market for it.

3 months

I don't hate my job anymore, it's going to be OK.