Part of me wishes I knew about this a couple of weeks ago: it would be fun. But the part of me that is not totally fucking insane (getting smaller and smaller) is glad that I didn’t. I just heard about this via bloggingheads: a bunch of intellectually (and otherwise) ambitious young blogger-types have set out [...]
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I was going to do this Thursday night but I got sidetracked. Dan Brown at the The London Free Press took up my challenge (which was “both 100% ironic and 100% sincere at the same time”) to “take a few hours or a few months to figure out what really matters” and compose it into [...]
The news sure spread fast. It interrupted broadcasts and seemed to consume Twitter — as much as it can be consumed by any single event. Ethan Zuckerman of Global Voices reported, according to his metric, that 15% of all posts on the service mentioned Michael Jackson. By comparison, he never saw Iran or Swine Flu [...]
I’m astounded that this subculture keeps building momentum — not just in size but in flamboyance. In case you’re new here: By now, the traits of hipsterism are easily recognizable to culture vultures: Hipsters are white, urban, occasionally privileged, attitudinally earnest and functionally alternative. They live life at the intersection of Pabst Blue Ribbon and [...]
I’m in the habit now of picking something from the ‘Discovery Zone’ every time I goto the Central Library — which is every Saturday. Last week I picked up Outlaw Journalist: The Life and Times of Hunter S. Thompson. I probably won’t finish it. I usually don’t finish what I grab. I was bored when [...]
I’m looking through my notebook and remembered that back in February I was starting to develop a Buddhist-like ‘practice’ based on writing. I’m going to make another effort. It looks like I was onto something. A few months ago, in search of discipline, I started copying out Upanishads during my breaks at work. My intention was [...]
I found this book by Eric A. Havelock at a used bookstore last week. It’s turning out to be more interesting than I expected. Specifically, there are some fascinating comparisons to the changes in our own media and cultural landscape. Preface to Plato (1963) focuses on the great philosopher’s attack on poetry — trying to [...]
Some time last week I realized I’ve made a turn towards a more “professional” mindset in my writing. They say “amateurs write for themselves, professionals write for others,” and until very recently I was doing it mostly for myself — which I unabashedly admitted. For me writing has mainly been simply the best way to think clearly. [...]
Thanks to Twitter I was able to catch some of an interesting conversation on Rogers 13 with LOLA organizer Andrew Francis. He suggested that the fact London Ontario is not where it should be… should be seen as an opportunity (I’m going from memory here so forgive me if my interpretation is a little skewed). [...]
