CultureFuture: my mind

Showing posts with label my mind. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

How I was keeping my mind clean this week:

Star Wars Uncut is recreating the movie from scratch using 15 second user-submitted clips. Trailer here. First full scene here.

Important facts:

Marriages may be decreasing, but partnerships are up, and the sum of the two are increasing. At least, that's the way it is in France.
Increased sex drive among women tends to be towards both men and women, whereas increased sex drive among men tends to be for one gender or the other. RTWT, lest ye jump to conclusions.

Things to watch in the future:

Afghanistan is doing really, really poorly. Matthew Yglesias reports on how dependent Afghanistan is on US money, and a new Pentagon Report seems bleak. And General McCrystal said that "Nobody is winning."

Updates on previous "Things to Watch:"

Question: Will Nick Clegg break through? Answer: Yes.
Question: Will Harry Reid win his financial game of chicken? Answer: No. Wait -- Yes.
Question: Will Charlie Crist run as an independent? Answer: Yes. And it's already proving hysterical.

How I was keeping my mind clean this week:

San Francisco transvestites help fight the oil spill. Pat Robertson does not forgive them.
Honestly, just a lot of South Park.

How I was keeping my mind fit this week:

Ta-Nehisi Coates talks about GATE, and an area of NYC where 50% are considered "gifted and talented." The title ("The Gifted Class") also alludes to the economic considerations.
Scott Adams on Brain Management.

Important facts:

According to Yahoo (not the most reputable of sources, perhaps, but oh well), we're the single worst-paying degree out there. Although by mid-career, we make slightly more than people with Hospitality degrees. Woo.
Just asking for productions and money isn't enough, playwrights. Thanks to Don Hall for sorting that out.
The Neuroscience benefits of arts education.

Things to watch in the future:

3LD is on its way out. The pro-MTA opinion is provided by Isaac, the anti-MTA is provided by Matt Freeman. Particularly, this comment alleges some MTA malfeasance.

How I was keeping my mind clean this week:

Imagining playing with toy cars.
Feeling guilty about how funny I find news of a priest falling asleep during a suicide hotline call. Spoiler alert: nobody dies.
Scummy celebrities versus their critics: Baio v. Jezebel and LaBute v. Chicago.

How I was keeping my mind fit this week:

Wondering with Matt Freeman about raising children in the arts. If the 93% Childless rate amongst NY's Independent Theater as collected by the New York Innovative Theatre Foundation is any indication, the question is not being answered.
Weighing Tycho of Penny Arcade's response to Roger Ebert saying that video games aren't art. Shorter Tycho: Don't waste your time, Ebert can't take anything away from you.

Important facts:

A handy chart of where your tax dollars go: 20% to defense, 20% to Social Security, 14% to the safety net, 6% to debt, and then other smaller things. If those are the accurate numbers... it actually seems to me to be about right.
Another handy chart of sleep schedules. Bottom line: your 20s are an aberration, sleep-wise.
As polls go, Rasmussen leans furthest to the right, and not for easily-explainable reasons.
There are 1.1 Million virgins between the ages of 25 and 40. I'm finally part of a minority!
Voting Yes on Health Care was a big fundraising bump if you were a Democrat. If you were a Republican? Well, we'll never know.
California's state constitution is the third oldest in the world, after Alabama and India. All three fail to provide political stability or equal access to public services.
The Double Down is not as bad as many of its fast-food contemporaries. Thanks again, Nate Silver!

Things to watch in the future:

(I said I'm going to be testing out some

How I was keeping my mind clean this week:

B.C. today is incomprehensible (as the Comics Curmudgeon can easily attest to you), but did you know that in 1962 it was both incomprehensible AND incomprehensibly political?
Everyone wants tax-exempt status.
Portraits of office facades.
Flight maps of Europe.

How I was keeping my mind fit this week:

If you remember our old back-and-forth about quality (Guardian recap here), here's Mission Paradox on value. RTWT, obviously, but the take-away is that all those extras theater companies are looking to do beyond shows aren't just icing on the cake -- they may be what justifies your existence.
This awesome, if mind-blendering, series of graphs documenting how psychology lags behind the markets. And a Bonus Graph from the Frontal Cortex.
Ta-Nehisi Coates lays out the three sides that fought in the Civil War.

Important facts:

Israel will confiscate your iPad. Maybe they're afraid of what happens if Hamas has easy access to their PDFs from their couch?
If you didn't already know, the future of TV is online.
Evangelicals may not be more political than their counterparts. But take that fact with a grain of salt.
Obama can only be beaten by a generic Republican, not by most existing Republicans. (Scott Brown is not on that list, however, and considering as my only feelings about him is "Generic Republican," could he be that name?)
The price tag on a Public show, according to Oskar Eustice, is $600,000. (h/t Matthew Freeman who wonders if it's true that most of that is wages)
Greece is set to burn through IMF loans of $4,000 Euros per person in the next 11 months.
Toronto passed a measure that earmarks its Billboard tax to the arts.
The best way to make revenue from your own music appears to be a self-pressed CD. It beats iTunes, retail sold CDs, etc. by a wide berth -- only CDBaby comes close.

Things to watch in the future:

Will we ban whaling?
Did HP bribe the Russian government in 2003, when CA-SEN candidate Carly Fiorina was CEO?