Aug 06
Ideas for this blog post pop in and out of my mindscape like a carnival whack-a-mole stand – they’re not quite where my focus is, taunting me with beady eyes and pearly whites. It’s not writer’s block that’s guarding the on-ramp to my editorial freedom – like Little John, he’s demanding tribute and all I can offer is some off the cuff fluff.
And it’s not for lack of trying – unlike Spider Jerusalem conducting research through an information binge, my data stream is operating at 80% efficiency. There’s a jam somewhere and my organic transistors are giving off a foul stench as they sizzle with ferocity. There’s too much confusion, I can’t get no relief.
Overloaded, I’m parsing through possible explanations, and the only logical conclusion is that somehow I’ve crossed the streams of my Gen X and Gen Y personas. Technically I’m from the latter caste, but I think I sympathize on many levels with the former. Regardless, the Focus Alliance is clashing with the Multitask Horde and my poor brain is caught in the middle.
I know I already wrote about this earlier. Can’t help myself though; repetition just drives my point home.
Maybe this information dump of things I’ve been meaning to blog about will help the process. Call it my idea spring cleaning ritual (at the height of summer no less):
- The need for greater transparency in all systems
- Entrepreneurship: why it matters, and how to cultivate it
- A return to my realist manifesto
- The failure of the activism methodology
- Luck, chance and my existence
- Cheese
Time to take that left at Albuquerque…
Jul 30
Some of you know of my love of comic books – or for the more academic term coined by Will Eisner and popularized by Scott McCloud – sequential art. A tight narrative that weaves around colourful characters, coupled with the artist’s dazzling imagination captured in pencil and ink, and highlighted by moody shades and hues: this is perfection.
So is a nicely grilled steak. And an ice cold beer on a hot day. And the view when day breaks on some picturesque landscape, rays of sunlight peeking over mountaintops like curious toddlers, quickly flooding the valley with warmth and life. But I digress….
Like other media that rely on physical formats, there has been much ballyhoo about how comics will survive in the digital world. Is that the sinister visage of Herr InterTubez, cackling with unbridled joy at the inevitable death of my beloved artform? One particular response is this meditation on storytelling, which literally explodes off the page and explores the electronic medium. It entertains and challenges the mind simultaneously, like caviar for your mind.
Pushing boundaries don’t have to happen through the delivery mechanism. A primary vehicle that makes you stop with unexpected clarity is content. New and bold ideas are often explored through fiction, especially within works of the science fiction variety. One of my current online reads is Escape From Terra, a webcomic that looks at how society might evolve in the future. The current arc has introduced an intriguing character, who develops “disruptive technologies” for the common good. His latest invention are “plants that will yield meat genetically identical to cows, chickens, fish and everything else.”
Meat seeds.
Just imagine for one second if we had meat seeds today. This is different than growing meat from a petri dish – which somehow conjures up images of mad scientists, and makes people squeamish. Instead you can sprinkle these seeds on the ground, water and tend them, and soon you’ll be harvesting gourds full of chicken-y flavour. Where do I sign up?
The ills of the world are being solved in the fantastic realms of artists. When will everyone else catch up?
Mar 13
My previous post ended with the question “So what does the digital medium give us?” Based on the continuum Okrent proposes, I believe it gives you a pulse on reality.
I think this becomes clearer when we try to answer the other question cited, “What’s the definition of the news they want?”
Basically, news is recent historical information that contains two components: facts and analysis. The facts are descriptions of events: gang violence leaves 4 dead, Les Habs win the Cup, President speaks at global forum etc. Facts are the basic ingredients; analysis is what gives each recipe its unique flavour. Analysis addresses the age-old question: “Why?” Connections between the facts uncovers a deeper meaning. Motivations of the actors involved laid bare provides perspective.
The traditional model to deliver news relied on a broadcast system where the flow of information went from the select few to the mass public. The newspapers & magazines, TV & radio stations controlled the information we consumed. They provide just one perspective – their analysis of the facts.
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