April 27, 2007 3:38
Discount Maxi-Post: Transformers, Second Life, Hawking, Apple, Bees
My body has been invaded by strep-bearing nanites that are sapping my ability to type coherently and without hallucinating. So I will transmit this post in compressed bullet-point form (I wanted to use the phrase "stuttered tight-point" right there, but I don't think that actually means anything outside the Culture novels of Iain Banks).
-- There's a first review of Transformers at Ain't It Cool. It may also ultimately prove to be the longest. Warning: naked display of fanboy lust. Contains the sentence, "It had a little geek chubby, I couldn't stop smiling."
-- David Kushner goes behind the scenes at Second Life. Apparently its founder, Philip Rosedale, is eccentric. I've never been much tempted by Second Life -- I tend to think of cyberspace as a way to display data, not a virtual environment -- but my sister -- under her Second Life name -- is fascinated by its potential as an artistic medium. Apparently Sun and IBM agree with her. Pretty sneaky, sis.
-- Stephen Hawking can fly, and not even in Second Life. He did 6 parabolas on the Vomit Comet, then 2 more just 'cause.
-- USA Today has a largely content-free first look at Robert Downey, Jr. as Iron Man. At least it comes with a photo.
-- I don't agree with this, even remotely, but it's interesting to hear somebody articulate challenge the critical orthodoxy and trash Apple's approach to design. Sample quote: "Basically the iPhone is a 1996 Ford Taurus — that car in which all design problems, from logo to windscreen, were solved with an Illustrator-stretched oval."
-- What's bugging the bees. It wasn't cell phones after all. Nope. Fungus.
About Nerd World
Lev Grossman
Lev Grossman blogs about anything and everything that could be plausibly labeled geeky--science fiction, fantasy, video games, comic books, tech stuff, and so on. If it could get you beaten up in junior high, it's fair game. About the Author
Matt Selman
Matt Selman has worked on eleven seasons and over two hundred episodes of The Simpsons. He currently serves as an Executive Producer. About the Author
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Reader Comments (5)
Hi there!
Pardon me, i'd like to comment on "The Hyperconnected" article you wrote on "Time". The 'data addicition' you speak of is real and the great majority of people don't give it a second thought. Maybe this happens as an an evidence of the need to communicate. The problem is that perhaps we're forgeting the old traditional way of comunicating - being with people face to face. As internet citizens we can enjoy the fact that we can select the kind of information the others receive, which is something really difficult to achieve when we're talking to our friends.
I wonder if you know "L'Imertie Polaire" by Paul Virilio...
Posted by Olga Quintela | April 27, 2007 7:17 PM
Lev -
Although you haven't "been tempted" by Second Life, i've enjoyed your coverage of the virtual world. If I remember correctly you were one of the first mainstream guys to take a look at us, and perhaps had a hand in selecting SL as one of 2003's Coolest Inventions in Time (i used to work at Linden Lab)?
Anyway, as someone who worked closely with Philip Rosedale, the Second Life founder, I found Kushner's portrayal to be interesting. Profiles about Philip seem to anchor on his messianic potential within the world but I can tell you that from a design standpoint he was never interested in being a worshiped deity.
Posted by hunter walk | April 27, 2007 7:57 PM
Where? I don't see...
Posted by Church | April 28, 2007 12:23 AM
Probably it wasn't totally accurate to say that I've never been tempted by Second Life. Because I was pretty wowed by the scale of it, when I first saw it, and the competence and commitment w/ which it was/is being executed. In the years that followed I just find myself, personally, not really wanting to go there.
Posted by Lev | April 28, 2007 1:55 PM
they've got. You got to stoop pretty low to argue with them, so why bother? Just don't even lower your standards to respond to them.
Posted by runescape money | November 13, 2007 3:21 AM