Cursing

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A Candid Conversation

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The King of Kong is on DVD!

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Amazon MP3

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Hilarious.

Speciesist

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Toy Stories

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The Truman Show Was Ahead of Its Time

I was contemplating the movie The Truman Show this afternoon, and I came to the conclusion that it was way ahead of its time.

I mean, when that movie came out, reality television didn't really exist, there was no such thing as Youtube, and even blogging didn't really exist the way it does now. This story examined ideas that are, right this instant, an actual part of our culture of personal connectivity.

As a culture we've moved toward embracing the "real," or at least that which feels "real." A part of how we entertain ourselves now is seeing what our friends do on Youtube or blogs or social networking sites, and this has influenced our fantasy, to some extent. More and more popular shows and movies are being shot like documentaries, because we've begun to appreciate a more fluid, realistic style to the sterile production of the past. We're used to seeing things as they are, because it is so much easier for us to show each other the way it is for us.

I won't say that the "show" in The Truman Show really got this aspect of our current culture right. That movie presented the idea of a lifecast as being very much like a sterile television production, with one of the actors being unaware of the fact that things aren't really normal. But the end of the film is perfectly relevant to the Youtube era; when Truman steps through the door to the real world, he is saying, "The Real World is so much more interesting than this sterile hunk of crap."

I think that that is a message that anyone who has recorded a podcast, written a blog, put pictures on flickr, or uploaded to Youtube can understand:

The way we see and share the world with each other is so much more interesting than the entertainment of old.

JMix Interview

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JMix

Man So Boring Today

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Please Give Me a Sick Day!

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Delete Thine Myspace

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Segway

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In a Rush

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CarTorrent - Peer-to-peer networking for cars

"Researchers from UCLA are working on a wireless network that will allow cars within 300-1000 feet of each other to talk to each other, simultaneously downloading information in the shape of road safety warnings, entertainment content and navigational tools (i.e. traffic jam ahead). Toyota and BMW are on board helping to bring the project to life."

I think that Jeff can confirm that I came up with this idea over a year ago. I even have it written down in my idea notebook!

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CWKnightly Sixty-Fooooooouuuuuuuur!

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Delectable Slogans

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eBooks

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Elegant Engineering

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Leopard

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Arguments are Awesome

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ESRB, Meet the MPAA

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Neuron Firings

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Rock Band

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Candlejoy Junction!

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Ink Runner

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501?

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Guess There's a Space Theme!

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The Fiftieth Episode

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Format Wars

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Guitar Hero Broke My Brain

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The Amber Spyglass

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Ice Cream Sundaes

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Whoops! It Still Counts, Right?!

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