News on a Shirt

Robin says,

I just bought this. I'm pretty sure I'll regret it in fifteen minutes. Maybe not, though.

Jump!

Robin says,

Oh man this is way too cool. Check out that J. Robert Oppenheimer photo. Unreal.

Book of Chap

Robin says,

There's a new Revelator chapbook with nine poems by Gavin. It's called... Nine Poems. Number four is my favorite -- it seems exactly correct to me. (And it describes exactly my favorite kind of bookstore.)

And, not to be overlooked, Brandon Kelley's design continues to be absolutely terrific.

Hurrah chapbooks!

Spectral Presence Watch

Robin says,

Note once more the terrific phrase "spectral presence" -- this time in the NYT's review of (er-hem) the new Britney Spears CD.

They're All Unique... and Scary

Robin says,

Holy crap, I've never looked at a snowflake like this before. It's so... not... delicate.

Via the sublime Ffffound.

Music and Movement

Robin says,

So true:

Some of the strongest bonds in our society are formed by people who march together in military units, as William McNeill, the historian, has pointed out. Members of orchestras and performing groups today likewise develop bonds. As Frank Zappa told me years ago, playing music with other people can be more intimate than any other activity. The turn-taking and accommodation involved call for great amounts of empathy and generosity.

Hmm. By this logic, the strongest bonds of all must be formed in... marching band!

The Way

Robin says,

The IHT's interview with one of the rebel monks of Burma, who's now in Thailand, is electrifying. This graf is not the most exciting, but it might be the most revelatory:

Ashin Kovida said he had led a week of daily protests, meeting with his group of organizers in the mornings and beginning the marches at noon. He heard reports on the Burmese-language service of the BBC about other monks who had organized themselves but he never met those groups.

Forget flash mobs; how about moral mobs?

Read the story; it's amazing.

The Lost Columnist

Robin says,

So, this Washington Monthly piece is nowhere near as glib as its title makes it seem: Why Is Bob Herbert Boring?

In fact it turns out to be a sophisticated, sensitive exploration of the paradox of NYT columnist Bob Herbert (and, by extension: informative, well-meaning journalism in general): This is important stuff. It's largely correct. Why doesn't it... grab me?

It's a good reminder for journalists of all stripes, and maybe bloggers, too: You have to do more than just report and present. Truth and clarity, difficult as they are to achieve on their own, aren't enough.

Ya gotta have style, too.

Green Graffiti

Robin says,

Via Current.com: This is one of the coolest things I've seen in a while. I want to reach out and touch it.

Primary Sources

Robin says,

Current citizen journalism covers the fires in Southern California.

Universal Computing in Two States and Three Colors

Robin says,

As previously noted, I couldn't hack Stephen Wolfram's big book but I like his way of thinking. This new post from his blog is fun and fascinating. It's about a 20-year-old kid who met a challenge Wolfram set out earlier this year -- with a $25,000 reward attached. Good (if esoteric) reading.

The general concept of "discovering" solutions vs. engineering them seems fairly profound, yeah?

A Good Hour

Robin says,

So I've mentioned Larry Lessig's new ten-year project on corruption before. Now I just finished watching his inaugural "alpha" lecture on the topic and it was terrific. An hour long, but well worth it, both for a glimpse of Lessig's cool, patchwork presentation style -- I'd heard it was great but never actually seen Lessig-slides in action -- and also for the framework he provides. He is an A+ presenter and an A++ thinker, and this is an A+++ subject.

Madness

Robin says,

Fareed Zakaria on Iran:

We're on a path to irreversible confrontation with a country we know almost nothing about. The United States government has had no diplomats in Iran for almost 30 years. American officials have barely met with any senior Iranian politicians or officials. We have no contact with the country's vibrant civil society. Iran is a black hole to us -- just as Iraq had become in 2003.

Gahhh! How is it that such walls can endure?

Domestic Monsters

Robin says,

Nick Carr waxes philosophical on vampiric business models and dark pools of self. Super good.

Kurdiwha?

Robin says,

Have to admit, I have no idea what's going on with this Turkey/Kurdistan/Iraq thing. Current's Laura Ling explains. Oh man the world is complicated.

Also: Some terrific pictures of Kurdish rebels. A bit too terrific, in a way -- see my comments over on Current.com.

Drudge

Robin says,

So, see if you can guess which two words I love in this graf:

His status was solidified after the 2004 election at a steakhouse dinner in Miami with Mr. Drudge, who for all his renown in politics is a somewhat spectral presence who rarely agrees to meet with political operatives or journalists and who did not respond to requests for an interview for this article.

"Spectral presence"! Somehow that just bowled me over.

And, somewhat more seriously, wow:

The Democrats have come to believe, Mr. Dyke said, what Republicans have always thought: “No single person is more relevant to shaping the media environment in a political campaign.”

This, from a webpage still rocking a 1994-era design. Pretty amazing.

Breakfast

Robin says,

Cribbed from Current.com: Portraits of people and their breakfasts. Minimal and lovely.

Suddenly realizing I need to up my breakfast game in a big way. I don't actually want to be part of the cup-of-coffee crowd (as I currently am).

Marjane Satrapi

Robin says,

...is too cool.

Megacities

Robin says,

We have talked about cities lots (!) here on Snarkmarket. Now two of my favorite Current colleagues, Darren Foster and Mariana van Zeller, are doing a pod about our planet's urban future. Chime in if you've got thoughts. Open-source TV production whaaat!

(P.S. I know I know, it's all Current links all of a sudden. I'll backfill with nerdy journal articles as soon as I have time to dig back into Bloglines, promise.)

A Little Media Criticism

Robin says,

...from my pals at infoMania. Watch it -- it's good in that way that makes you sort of mad. Grrr media.

Nice Note on Current.com

Robin says,

From one of my favorites: Virginia Heffernan at the NYT.

The Present is a Balloon

Robin says,

Great image from my colleague Joe Brilliant's brother Jon Brilliant's China blog:

China is like a great red water balloon, bright and shiny on the outside, but turgid with murky history. The more the tension of memory pushes upon the glossy membrane, the larger, and the more fragile, it becomes.

No comment on actual truth-value here; I just like the image.

One Democracy

Robin says,

John Edwards' democracy reform platform is pretty terrific. The Citizen Congress sounds interesting; the public financing of congressional campaigns and universal broadband access sound necessary.

Short Schrift on Sasha

Matt says,

Hot diggity. Sasha Frere-Jones writes a whizbanger of an article about indie rock's racial influences, then Tim Carmody blows it out of the water. I adore dialogues like this. Read 'em both!

Musical Genre Name Generator

Matt says,

If you're a music critic, you're constantly searching for combinations of terms to describe the flavor-of-the-moment in a novel but legitimate fashion (e.g. "metal-queer," "mumble-core"). I've made it easy for you. Presenting the Musical Genre Name Generator™. After you generate your new musical genre, you can click the term to search Google to see how original you are. (By the way, this won't work in the RSS feed.)

Clearly, this is a statement on how nothing's original anymore; everything's been done. Even the Musical Genre Name Generator™.

Nobel Prize for Webcam Commentary

Robin says,

There's a big emphasis at Current.com on webcam comments: We built a super-simple tool to get your face into the comment stream and into the Viewpoints matrix (designed by my pal P.J.). In case you're worried "the cool kids" won't be there with their webcams on, check it out: The chairman leads the charge.

We Totally Launched Current.com

Robin says,

Only a few hours remain. It's up! And I have never been more excited about a Current web project.

So Current.com is open for business. I'll post lots more about it in the days ahead -- there is lots to link to! -- but for now, just give it a spin. To my (deeply biased) eye, the site -- even in these dawning days -- feels remarkably alive. It is actually a fun place to hang out.

So come hang out -- and say hi :-)

The Word 'Aubade' Is Way, Way Underutilized

Robin says,

A lovely poem in the New Yorker.

Tracing the Virtual Band

Robin says,

When the band isn't the band: There was Prodigy and his "frontmen," of course. Then the awesomely synthetic Gorillaz. Now (via Rex) Justice subs in some, er, new faces of its own. I think it's terrific. Other examples? (Only honest ones -- I know you could cite a whole history of lip-synching, etc.)

Hitotoki

Robin says,

This odd little storytelling site, found via Kottke, is a visual treat.

Behold, the Stateless Media Elite

Robin says,

Dopplr, the very slick social networking site for super travelers, is opening up its invite system to people with email address from "the Dopplr 100" companies -- and to my eye it looks like a pretty perfect proxy for the global tech/media/finance/NGO cosmopolitan elite. I mean seriously! This could be an infographic in Foreign Policy magazine!

(Appropriately, I am writing this from terminal four at JFK.)

The Second Constitutional Convention

Robin says,

Larry Sabato on DailyKos:

To begin with, by what sort of mechanism would all of this constitutional change be achieved? Our present Constitution outlines two ways to bring about amendments. The method used for all amendments up until now has been a proposed amendment passing both houses of Congress by a two-thirds majority in each house, then getting ratified by three-quarters of the states. For interlocking reforms of the scope and scale that I am proposing, however, such a piecemeal process wouldn't work.

Instead, we need to turn to the second process, one never before used in the history of the United States: a Constitutional Convention. Thirty-four states would petition Congress for a Convention, and the Congress would be obligated to call it -- while designing a "Call to Convention" document that would list the subjects to be considered by the delegates.

What an electrifying idea. Sabato's going to be writing about it -- it's the subject of his new book -- and responding to questions for the next few weeks on Daily Kos.

Burma and the Junta

Robin says,

Smart and revelatory piece on Burma's military rule by Seth Mydans in the NYT:

Foreigners who may hope to change this government, or to deal with it, must assess its stature in the country, its belief in its mission and an insular worldview and value system that may make communication difficult.

Even if the ruling junta is removed, it is most likely to be replaced by another military government, analysts say, and even if some form of democracy is adopted, the military will still be the country’s driving force.

You can't just rip the guts out of things, even if the guts are, er, non-optimal.

For some reason I keep thinking of the Ship of Theseus though I know it's not exactly applicable...

Sampleur

Robin says,

Sampleur-Sample: a blog of pop song sample origins.

The Large Hadron Collider Is, In Fact, Large

Robin says,

Normally not a huge fan of QTVR but these panoramas of the Large Hadron Collider are unbelievable. The color palette in particular is so pleasingly industrial-primary.

More Hungry Planet

Robin says,

ZOMG so busy busy busy. So is Matt, all re-launching a site and such. Snarkmarket will be quiet for a bit.

Accept this link as a meek offering.