Category: Storytelling
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C.R.E.E.P.
I had the creepiest IM conversation recently, from an IM handle I have never seen before (handle has been changed to protect, um, whoever) : (11:01:18) M****N: hi (11:01:28) Christopher Fahey: who’s this? (11:01:31) M****N: hi (11:01:36) Christopher Fahey: who’s this? (11:01:41) M****N: m****n (11:01:47) Christopher Fahey: obviously (11:01:53) M****N: ok (11:02:00) M****N: i dont…
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Performative Diagramming
The cover of Bill Moggridge’s excellent Designing Interactions features a sketch/diagram that looks intriguing at first glance. But then when you actually try to figure out what it means, you’re stumped. I tried, but I couldn’t even scratch the surface. Inside the book itself, we learn that the diagram is based on sketches that Bill…
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Dreamgirls and the Self-Referential Musical
I saw Dreamgirls this weekend — it was great! I’ve been to my fair share of movies where the audience broke out into enthusiastic and spontaneous applause before, but they’ve almost always applauded some kind of triumphant action scene, never clapping and cheering for an individual performer. Which is to say that they are applauding…
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One Month
I haven’t posted in a little over a month. I’ve been telling myself that my first new post wouldn’t be a narcissistic navel-gazer about why I haven’t posted — that I would instead just get back to the business of writing posts about real things, starting where I left off as if there were no…
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TV News is Vaudeville
On election night last week, we were channel surfing and comparing the coverage by the various networks. We ended up for a spell at Comedy Central, where Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert exchanged snappy banter with each other in a kind of parody of network news coverage. Surprisingly, there was a part of me that…
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“Snakes on a Plane” is Hurting America
I toyed with the idea of going to see Snakes on a Plane last night in order to be able to write a negative review about it with more credibility. I even considered the idea of making it seem like I went to the theatre with the expectation that the movie would be fun, thus…
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A Movie Studio in Your Pocket
Stills from Nuovi Comizi d’Amore (New Love Meetings) by Marcello Mencarini and Barbara Seghezzi. Two Italian filmmakers, Marcello Mencarini and Barbara Seghezzi, have completed a feature-length movie shot entirely with a mobile phone. It’s an interview-centered documentary, which seems the ideal form for a mobile phone movie. Here’s what they have to say about the…
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Be Evil?
What if Sergei Brin and Larry Page were actually evil? What if they were in reality sinister villains planning to take over the world, like Lex Luthor or Dr. Doom? If so, they’re certainly going about it with great efficiency, controlling all of the instruments we use to function in the information age: web search,…