Category: Culture

While currently still in Beta mode, the Digital Public Library of America brings together the riches of America’s libraries, archives, and museums, and makes them freely available to the world. It strives to contain the full breadth of human expression, from the written word, to works of art and culture, to records of America’s heritage, to the efforts and data of science.

The developers have released an API that allows developers to utilize the massive amount of information in new an innovative ways. I will be sifting at this site for a while!

A very interesting story about Microsoft’s new Excel integrated geomapping technology here. This software will allow Excel users to visualize geographic and chronological data in 3D. Data visualization is about to become much easier to do!

I just finished watching episode 1 of the Starz series da Vinci’s Demons. It is a drama set in Renaissance Florence. It’s got Medici intrigue and some (potentially) good characters. The young Leonardo is presented as a revolutionary, always prepared to challenge the powers that be. It has some very interesting (again, potentially, since I have only watched the one episode) story lines of a subterranean Hermetic culture that could challenge the power base of the corrupt Vatican and its Pope.

I am, however, pissed that I cannot get the accompanying iPad app since it is only available in the United States. I sure wish that someone would invent some technology that would allow for instant access of data across the world. They could call it, oh, I don’t know, the Internet? You’re welcome.

Sweet typography here.

It is a pictorial representation of various neighbourhoods in Paris using typography. Bastille, for example, is a barricade that masks in using gas smoke. It struck a cord since motion graphics was one of my first loves, although it wasn’t called that at the time, it was just movie intros that I loved so much (Saul Bass rocks). I grew up on the various James Bond intros, most notably For Your Eyes Only (I saw that four times in the theaters).

I’ve been quite busy lately.

The weather just keeps teasing. It promises sun, then gives us cold and rain. I’m pretty sure it will snow this afternoon. My friend sent me a photo of Pont Alexandre that was covered in snow taken last Thursday. Not much nicer here. I’m still (sort of) regretting postponing my trip but no biggie, in the grand scheme of things 🙂

Watching Kurosawa’s Kagemusha this lazy afternoon and I’m finishing a few books that I have been reading concurrently on my iPad such as the incredibly interesting Maps of Time. Grand swathes of history that puts Toynbee to shame. But, although good, there is something different about e-reading as opposed to the book. Maybe it’s different with a dedicated ebook reader but I’m not sold on e-reading. And I also don’t feel the same sense of shame as I do seeing an open book lying somewhere in my apartment. Since they are digital, those books can be hidden, and, perhaps, forgotten.

Oh yeah, Kagemusha is yet another Kurosawa masterpiece. Literally, “shadow warrior” is an excellent tale of intrigue and also one of the last Kurosawa films. I have studiously watched each and every Kurosawa film that I could lay my hands on, including various edits. The only one left is Madadayo! It is a very interesting, although long, process to review an entire filmography!

Spartacus, the TV series, is almost over. Amazing season with great CGI and effects. The addition of Caesar was an interesting development! We will be watching the finale at lunch next week. We’ll have to keep the volume down!

And while I love the Sherlock Holmes character I must object to the U.S. network version. Watson is a chick (and my objection isn’t to her being a woman, I really enjoyed The Return Of Sherlock Holmes from 1987 with a female Watson) and Sherlock is falling in love with her, overcoming his mild social idiosyncrasies. Barf. Seriously? The Brits deploy Benedict Cumberbatch and excellect storylines for their remake of SH and you put out the Little Pony of Baskerville? Double barf.

Tomorrow is the date for the server migration so, fingers crossed, I wont lose my entire blog. With the server upgrade I hope to expedite my workflow, including writing posts using my iPad.

Very cool, God Saves and Satan Invests poster by the master of the print image here.

There were some clear winners of yesterday April Fools festivites. My favorites: Lulu Leather here, and Chris Hadfield’s UFO hoax here.

Very funny stuff! Also notable was the replacement of the .ca domain with .eh and Scope’s bacon flavoured mouthwash. Funny stuff here!

I was surprised that bacon mouthwash didn’t already exist! 🙂

A very relaxing weekend! I have enjoyed puttering around and doing nothing. Well, I ate a lot of food. Lots. Brownies. Red Meat. Bacon. Did I mention the multi-berry pie?

So not much to update. Hot yoga was great. Quiet class. I’m going to do a Game of Thrones mini-marathon in anticipation of episode 1 of season 3. After I finish watching this video of the Whistled Language of Oaxaca, Mexico. Interesting that some believe that language evolved from an earlier form of vocal communication: mimicking bird song.

Here is a great article on the re-opening of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. It was closed last year when I went so I will have to go back and spend hours there as well as the van Gogh, across the street.

Here is Simon Schama writing about it here.

The museum opens April 13.