Category Archives: Media & Culture

1966: “rock ‘n’ roll” became “rock”

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“But 50 years down the line, a case can be made that 1966 may have been the single most creatively expansive year of all. That was the year that “rock ’n’ roll” morphed into “rock,” the year that the 45 rpm single yielded to the 33 1/3 rpm long-playing album as the dominant medium for the music and the year that social and political issues became a regular topic of exploration among musicians looking beyond the next hit and aiming to exert a real impact on the world around them.”

— 1966: Rock ‘n’ roll’s most revolutionary year (Los Angeles Times)

Tiny House Hell! This fall on HGTV.

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I have a hard time believing very many people continue living in these tiny houses for as long as a year (6 months?). The HGTV producers show the design, construction, a reveal and — maybe — a real short “now that they’ve been in for a month…” at the end of the segment.

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What I want to see is two people actually living in one of these shoe boxes. You want some reality TV? Set it up like this: We’ll build your tiny home and give it to you on the condition you let us put cameras in and record continuously for three months. If you live in the house for one year, it’s yours, free and clear. If you can’t make it for 12 months, you have to pay back the cost of the house (let’s $50,000). This would work even better if it was a live stream on the net. We could tune in 24/7, just like The Truman Show.

How I use Google+

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I’ve been making a lot of screencasts lately. (Sort of like the guy with a new table saw can’t stop cutting up 2x4s and sheets of plywood) I’ve done a bunch for a friend with a new Chromebook, but this one is just me cutting up 2x4s. It runs 15 minutes which is too long for a screencasts but once I realized nobody was going to watch this anyway I figured, why not? My imaginary audience is made up of people who insist Google+ is a dying ghost town.

CORRECTION: I was wrong in saying the “All” circle was posts from everyone using Google+. It is everyone in any of your circles. 

Roger Ailes

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“He may have wanted to enhance conservatism, but decimated it instead, along with political discourse itself. At 76, he will not have to live much longer with the consequences of his actions, but many of us will. He has made his mark on America, and left the rest of us a lot worse off for it.”

— W. Richard Benash (The Dartmouth)