Life On the Wicked Stage: Act 2

10 Optical Illusions in 2 Minutes from Samsung

This is some sort of promotion from Samsung. I'm not sure for what, but it is fun.

 

Technorati Tags: optical illusions,samsung

Speilberg, Harrison Ford, and Karen Allen Do Q&A on Seesmic

Well, this is certainly interesting. Steven Speilberg, Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, and others promoting the new Indiana Jones flick were doing the celebrity interview thing, this time with a Seesmic twist. Turns out they were taking questions via Seesmic. That should certainly be an eye-opener, and most likely a boost for Loic Le Meur's video social network. It will be interesting to see how this rolls out (or not) in the future as we all know Hollywood PR types love to play follow the leader. You can check some of the Q&A on pda: the digital content blog, which is a good thing, since finding it on Seesmic is not that easy. I'm not sure if this was open to all comers or not.

Twitter as a Performing Arts Tool

Raj Dash says he hasn't searched much and hasn't turned up many performing artists on Twitter. In his post he offers tips for why performers and entertainers should use Twitter to build brand and a following. Makes sense, just like it does in any other of life's many pursuits. By the way, Raj, I can be found on Twitter here and I tweet quite a bit about my professional theatre exploits, among many other things.

David Byrne Turns a Building Into a Musical Instrument

This just looks like it would be cool. The head Talking Head, David Byrne, who is always a bit on the edge, cutting or not, of experimenting around with music is up to some fun. He’s turned the Battery Maritime Building in NYC into a musical instrument that anyone can play. Called ‘Playing the Building’ this exhibition allows anyone to make a little building music with parts of the building’s structure connected to an organ. I may have to go see this.

Technorati Tags: Playing the Building,David Byrne

Crazy, Crazy Day

On a day where everyone went crazy over John Edwards endorsing Barack Obama and the Chicago City Council rescinded the law that banned foie gras from restaurants and Twitter hiccupped again, and AT&T limited iPhone sales to one per customer, and Comcast bought Plaxo, and the US listed polar bears as endangered, I watched the first three episodes of Slings and Arrows and felt like I was looking in a cracked mirror.

How could I have not seen this until now?

That Old Happy Birthday Copyright Thing

TechDirt digs up some of the best stuff on the ongoing saga of Intellectual Property and copyright issues. One of the wackiest stories in the IP struggles surrounds the copyright on the song, "Happy Birthday." TechDirt links to a great paper by Robert Brauneis that calls the original copyright into question. Apparently the original owners may have composed the original melody by it looks like they didn't pen the lyrics. There's even evidence that the melody wasn't original. By the way, did you know that the copyright on this song generates over $2 million a year and accounts for over 1% of the money that ASCAP distributes to songwriters. Fascinating.

Technorati Tags: copyright,Happy Birthday,ASCAP

Don't Watch This If You're Easily Offended or a Clinton Supporter

Oh. My. Goodness. There is so much wrong about this, and yet, there is so much funny about this, and I'm afraid there is probably a smidgen of truth as well. Foul language galore, so you've been warned.

via Fake Steve Jobs

Technorati Tags: Hillary Clinton

Patriots Video Scandal Heats Up Again

Just when you thought it was safe to signal in a new play, the New England Patriots taping scandal is heating up again. Apparently a Patriot's assistant has sent the NFL eight videotapes showing that the Patriots did violate league rules by taping opposing team's signals.

Via The New York Times

Another Bloom Is Over

Another Apple Blossom Festival is over and like all of them, this was fun and a good tonic of relaxation. Of course we ate and drank too much, but not as much as some. The Grand Feature parade featured Jerry Rice, (his daughter was named the Queen of the festival, that's how Jerry got there), Nadia Comaneci, Fantasia Barriino from American Idol, Larry Gatlin, Gayle Sayers, and Kelly Washington. The pink and green official colors are enough to make you go blind after awhile, but at least we only see them for a few days. I imagine a lot of folks are trying hard to recover tonight. As you can see from the last picture, the weekend can take a toll on anyone.

Technorati Tags: Apple Blossom Festival

Sunday Morning Reading

Some Sunday morning reading to share.

Spam is 30 years old this weekend. Who knew?

Another reason to keep the war in Iraq running. We need to test out new things. Robobugs going to war soon.

David Broder on Clinton's Tough Path. More on what happens if she steals the election.

Frank Rich goes after McCain's Revered Hagee. Can we leave cartoon ministers alone soon. Please. All we do is elevate them instead of popping their buffoonery.

Thailand wants to form a Rice Cartel.

Your tax dollars and government security at work. Air Marshals prohibited from boarding planes because their names are on the no-fly list.

American Civil War cannonball kills collector. This is scary, especially around here. There are plenty of these relics all around this area.

Charles Mee and Stephen Greenblatt take on Shakespeare's lost play (with Fletcher) Cardenio.

Sign of things to come? Hillary's Derby horse goes down and has to be euthanized after placing second.