& a blog

we are tired of division: media, culture, society, law, meaning, humanity, and so on. these are interconnected terms, defined by one another. they must be re-united.
explication has been held prisoner by written language for too long. as if we only understand words. as if true meaning were only possible to produce there. we do not [...]

[Read more →]

If Avatar has changed anything about then movies, then it has changed everything. Let’s begin by considering what depth means to cinema. Historically, depth has only existed as a perspective, the idea taken from painting and camera optics that all viewed reality merges at a ‘vanishing point’ somewhere behind the picture plane. The whole notion [...]

[Read more →]

Now that the internet has become an ambience, we have become enveloped by it. Just ten years ago, society traveled to the internet. It was something somewhat site-specific, a cafe, a library, a corporate office. At that point, the internet still had a certain physicality- one could move into its reach, and, more importantly, out. [...]

[Read more →]

i’ve been missing my gaming fix lately. this time last year, i was rock band-ing daily a la berkman center, and even exercising my gamer theory with monthly mit-harvard game design meetings hosted by the ever brilliant gene koo.
anyway, between a brother who is no longer all that interested in video games (or staying up [...]

[Read more →]

 
david plouffe, the campaign manager for obama 2008, just finished giving an hour and half speech at pomona college in claremont, california. he was described in the event’s “lecture bill” in the words of his former boss, now president, obama. “he is the unsung hero of this campaign, who built the … best political campaign, [...]

[Read more →]

the non-profit newspaper idea appears to be getting some traction. from early op-eds in the new york times kicking the idea around, to senator Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) introducing a bill to establish a non-profit status for newspapers, it appears that some people have begun to actually try to solve the problem, not just analyze it.
the [...]

[Read more →]

its been a long time since i’ve read a paper copy of the new york times. its been an even longer time since i read a copy of the boston globe. yet everyday, i manage to peruse these publications in great depth, because their websites have become better and better, and i am spending more [...]

[Read more →]

the first awesome present of the year has been given, and received by me. this delightful remote control wall-e was a gift of a housemate for our seasonal secret santa, and boy did she impress. my wall-e moves backwards, forwards, and turns! the noises are user-provided, but i am more than capable of that!
Waaaaaahhhhhllll-eeee!

[Read more →]

mckenzie wark was at brown this morning, talking about his recent gamer theory project. for those who haven’t read it, gamer theory is a rather indirect assessment of what we might call the gamic experience. i mean this in the sense that whatever pauline kael was to cinema, mckenzie wark might be to game studies. [...]

[Read more →]

here is a story about stories; with a question about whether stories are still stories and whether we are beginning to live in a post-story age.
the already cool mit media lab has founded a “center for future storytelling.” the purpose of this “labette” as the initiative is described, is to engage in studying and possibly [...]

[Read more →]