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U2 3D
I accidentally invited bleeding-edge tech journalist Robert Scoble to a private Kyte party. How it unfolded is a little embarrassing, but suffice it to say that the moral of the story is, don’t be Twittering first thing in the morning when you should be busy getting some work done anyway.
After drinks and deep-fried snacks at Johnny Foley’s Irish Pub & Restaurant, the Kyte team, along with Scoble and his Fast Company podcast producer Rocky Barbanica (a disarmingly affable fellow, despite looking like someone who drives a Harley and could be menacing in a dark alley), headed over to the Metreon to see U2 3D in the IMAX movie theatre.
I wasn’t sure what to expect, and, to be honest, I probably would have been more excited at the outset by a presentation of Aliens of the Deep or Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon. With a movie of a U2 concert, I assumed I’d get bored and space out, wishing I could be Twittering from my mobile phone without being rude to my fellow attendees who’d prefer to sit in pitch-darkness. (I was wrong about the movie; read on.)
It’s not that I dislike U2. In fact, in the ’80s I used to listen incessantly to War on vinyl, lifting the needle at the end of "Seconds" and setting it down at the beginning of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" over and over again, sometimes taking a break from this two-set to listen to "Drowning Man" or "40." When I lived in "Oblique House," a small temporary co-op in Oberlin, Ohio during the summer of 1989, a friend who was a studio musician tuned his guitar to The Joshua Tree and played impeccable renditions of "Where the Streets Have No Name," "I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For," and "In God’s Country." He emulated The Edge’s signature textural style (although neither of us remembers if he’d used delay taps to mimic the "shimmer" effect). Better even than listening to the album on a top-of-the-line sound system, it sounded like a private U2 concert in our house. Later, when I traveled through the southwest, I couldn’t look at any of the ubiquitous Joshua trees without thinking of the eponymous album. Tangentially, Boo owns an original Negativland’s U2 EP (rereleased under another title), purchased just before U2’s former label Island Records sued Negativland, a controversial lawsuit that the U2 members themselves thought was "very heavy."
But I stopped buying albums after Achtung Baby and years later realized that I’d quit listening to U2’s newer stuff altogether — with the possible exception of "Beautiful Day" from All That You Can’t Leave Behind (simply because it was unavoidable in the media and the public sphere). It wasn’t intentional on my part; perhaps it was because the anger and intensity of War (still my favorite U2 album) appealed to me more than the sweeter, feel-good material of later years. (It’s analogous to — though not as extreme as — my erstwhile enthrallment with Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy in the early ’90s before Michael Franti turned into a hippie peacenik; his sound mellowed out and got boring, at least compared to his previous musical incarnations. If I wanted tepid, unchallenging music, I’d listen to smooth jazz.)
Nevertheless, it’s fairly easy to get in the mood for a U2 concert, virtual or live. U2 is like The Beatles, comprising a solid, talented quartet of British Isles musicians with names memorized by millions around the globe, known for their iconic radio hits as much as for their social activism. At this point, U2 is classic — and one would be hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn’t like their music. 
U2 3D is a masterful cinematographic tour de force — the first of its kind in the realm of music concert films — combining cutting-edge 3D video recording technology with clever, larger-than-life post-production graphics. We, the movie audience, have a far better perspective of the concert than anyone in the actual live audience, as we omnisciently fly through the arena like a ghost with perfect hearing, hovering above and around the musicians, following them as they strut onto curved catwalks extended from the main stage. We suddenly find ourselves amid the concert audience, hands in front of us thrusting high into the air as we, too, yearn to throw our hands skyward, would that we weren’t in a movie theatre. I’ve never been to an actual U2 concert, and I was convinced that this experience must be even superior — but Kyte founder and CEO Daniel Graff (a hardcore U2 fan who’s attended five concerts and seen U2 3D twice) later assured me that there still was "no comparison" to seeing U2 live and in person, even if occupying just one small spot in the audience.
The state-of-the-art video equipment coupled with the IMAX theatre brought the images so close and clear that we could see every wrinkle in Bono’s face, every strand of hair on The Edge’s arms (these dudes are hairy), the wedding bands on their ring fingers, every pockmark on the surfaces of Larry Mullen Jr.’s rack and floor toms, the coiled cords of their musician’s ear plugs, the scuff marks on the stage, glimpses of video captured on mobile phones from the audience. I found myself becoming obsessed with spotting quotidian details, trying to sneak a peak at the set list taped to the stage, recognizing the major chords Bono was playing during one of his few guitar performances: Hey, that’s a C! And a D! Wow, he plays a G like that? He’s got big hands. The more access they gave us, the more I wanted to know. (Boo was instead busy paying attention to the actual musicianship, The Edge’s sublime arpeggios and harmonics and Mullen’s comfortable triple-stroke rolls.)
I peered inside the vertical receptacle for Mullen’s spare drum sticks and stared at the big box of tissues he kept within easy reach of the drum set (did he have a cold? wouldn’t a towel work better for sweat management?) and the large glass of pale yellow liquid (ginger ale? Orangina? Gatorade?) in ice. I looked for the camera operators: at one point it became obvious that the movie was spliced together from footage of different concerts, as in one moment we’re hovering above and behind Mullen and in the next, we’re in front of him at drum set level, but — poof! — the camera from the last cutaway was nowhere to be seen. (I should mention, though, that the editing was so competent that it was almost impossible to distinguish audio breaks within or between songs.)
The proximity became intense as Bono looked directly into the camera — into our own eyes — so closely that we could see the reflection of his pale hand in his trademark sunglasses, and the irises of his eyes behind them, as he reached out to us, gently singing Wipe your tears away in "Sunday Bloody Sunday."
Here are some other tidbits you might like to know about Bono’s performance, if you’ve never attended a concert, or if you were stuck in the nosebleed section: he dances like a stripper, alternately running a hand through his greasy hair (Mullen’s hair was greasy, too — what’s up with that?) and sliding it down his slowly gyrating hip. He vogues a lot, tilting his head back and singing into the microphone à la Roger Daltrey, conjuring the iconic silhouettes of iPod ads. He also changes jackets often — donning a Sergeant Pepperesque getup later in the show — as well as sunglasses (apparently he has more than one pair). At one point, he gently caressed Adam Clayton’s face and then, obviously confident in his heterosexuality, gave him a European-style man-kiss, almost on the mouth. After that, Clayton was visibly happy, smiling broadly and bouncing around with renewed energy. (Does Clayton, too, have a crush on Bono, as the rest of the world seems to?)
In addition, U2 integrates messages of various social causes into the music and the graphics on the giant backdrop, so be prepared to be preached at inspi(red). During "Yahweh," Bono donned the Coexist bandanna and chanted, "Jesus, Jew, Mohammed, it’s true: all sons of Abraham." Well, that’s nice — something I’ve known and agreed with for years — but, as a writer, I’m bothered by unparallel list of religious terms. Jesus and Mohammed were both prophets, but a Jew is someone who belongs to the religion of Judaism or the Jewish ethnicity/heritage. There is no prophet named "Jew." The father of the Jews was Abraham, but I realize it would be recursive to say "Jesus, Abraham, Mohammed, it’s true: all sons of Abraham," because Abraham can’t be his own son. Would it have been that difficult to recite the name of another Jewish prophet? There are many to choose from. Moses, despite his fascist tendencies in his later years, was revered for leading the Jews out of slavery. David won a fight, became a king, lived in some fine real estate and, like Bono, was a respected poet and musician. I suppose, however, that Bono was trying to maintain a simple rhythm as well as to rhyme something with true; I concede that it works musically, even if it doesn’t logically.
Overall, it’s hard to decide whether I was more impressed by the tight performance of these seasoned musicians (with nary a backup musician in sight) or the spectacle of the concert itself, with its bright visuals continually projected onto the huge screen behind the stage. Or perhaps it was the concert audience(s), as our perspective panned over and glided through teeming fans jumping in unison, occasionally just a bit out of synch with each other, so that they formed the surface of a giant human ocean, three dimensional waves rippling randomly through the arena. I was mesmerized by the galaxy of lights (glowing blue from mobile phones, golden from old-school lighters), and stirred by the ecstatic exhilaration of tan young women in cotton tanks and bikini tops perched atop the shoulders of strong young men, waving arms to and fro, mobile phones in hands, swaying to the rhythms of "Pride (In the Name of Love)" and "One" and singing along with the crowd’s roar of melodic white noise.
After the final encore, as intense white lights shone in our eyes, Mullen whispered something in Bono’s ear. It was one private moment we didn’t have access to, and I was dying to know what he said. Here are some possibilities of what it might have been:
- "This movie is gonna rock!"
- "I have to pee. Let’s go."
- "I’m a little tired of some of these songs; aren’t you?"
- "Do you think Kleenex will pay us for product placement?"
- "Why don’t you ever kiss me, for a change?"
- "Aren’t you glad you answered my ad in high school?"
After the virtual concert, in the lobby of the movie theatre, I asked Scoble what he thought. "It was f**kin’ awesome!" he gushed. Assuming he must be a devoted U2 fan, I asked, "Have you ever been to an actual U2 concert?"
"No, but I met Bono last week," he quipped, drawing laughter from the Kyte team. "I shook his hand! You can see me recording him in the corner of the video from Davos." We pretended to be nonchalant, but I think we were all in awe. For the evening, Robert Scoble was the rock star among us.
If concert movies of classic rock bands are your thing, mark your calendar for April 4, 2008, when the Martin Scorsese’s Shine a Light, featuring The Rolling Stones, is released in the U.S.
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Leo Laporte’s podcasting tips
Only days after my initial careless omission of TWiT (this WEEK in TECH) in the list of the best free tech industry podcasts, I was fortunate enough to see Leo Laporte — who has a background in media, including radio and television — give an insider’s talk about podcasting at last week’s MacWorld. Here are some professional tips I picked up for current or would-be podcasters:
- Bring passion. When developing a subject idea for a new podcast program, don’t try to game the media market — find what you love or care about and talk about it. If you focus your show on what you’re passionate and knowledgeable about, you’re much more likely to generate interest and be successful.
- Specialize in a niche. There are thousands of audio shows available, and, for every topic you can think of, there’s at least one podcast for it. So instead of starting a new program about old cars, for example, start out by focusing on old Corvettes. Interview Corvette owners, dealers, and restorers. You can always expand your focus later. Also, don’t worry about getting a huge audience right away. If you have an audience of 1,000 dedicated listeners, you’re doing well. One thousand is a lot of people; if you were speaking to that many in person, it’d be an impressive crowd.
- Overcome self-consciousness. The way your voice sounds to you — i.e., how it sounds literally through your own head — is very different from how it sounds through a microphone or recording. This is because mics and recordings are not "accurate"; they boost some frequencies and eliminate others. Many people hate the sound of their own voice on a recording and become very self-conscious of it. Laporte advises novice media professionals to stop worrying about what their voice sounds like, and similarly, if they’re videocasting, to stop worrying about their hair, their clothes, their physique, and so on. His secret? Remember that your function is to "serve the audience." The audience isn’t there to judge your voice, your hair, your age, your looks; they’re listening, giving you their time, because they’re interested in what you have to say. When you understand this, it becomes much easier to stop worrying about what you look or sound like and instead to focus on serving your audience with the enthusiasm and knowledge you have for the subject. (I later remarked to Laporte that "serving the audience" sounds like a Buddhist approach to audio programming; he replied that he tries to live his life this way. Perhaps he could write a how-to book titled Zen and the Art of Podcasting: East meets Web?)
- Be genuine. Along the same lines as overcoming self-consciousness, Laporte warned against developing a fake persona to hide your true self. He described the talking heads you see and hear in the media, with their gel-sculpted hair and veneered teeth and "early-morning disc jockey voice." (You know the sound: think of "Duffman" from The Simpsons, or any cheesy radio commercial for a dubious get-rich-quick scheme.) Laporte said that he’d relied on such a fake voice when he first started in radio because he was so nervous. Eventually, though, he realized that being himself — and focusing on serving the audience — garnered much better results, including a bigger, more dedicated audience, and more personal enjoyment. People want to connect with a real human being, not a superficial facsimile of one.
- Speak extemporaneously. Of course, you want to plan, research, and prepare a bulleted list of points and topics for the show — but once you’re live, don’t read. Reading is considered "radio death." The exception to this rule, Laporte mentioned, is acting; a good actor can read from prepared text and make it sound improvisational. (In fact, Laporte recommends taking improv classes and has done so himself; improv helps you learn how to listen, which makes you a better commuicator and, again, better able to serve the audience.) But the vast majority of radio personalities use a combination of solid preparation before the show and spontaneity during it. In fact, Laporte said, some of the best talk show hosts are on in the middle of the night, when very few listeners call in (and often the ones who do can be a bit nuts), because they can "B.S. for hours" and sound comfortable and natural.
- Avoid verbal crutches. Verbal tics like you know, sort of and like, if used often, distract your audience from what you’re trying to communicate. Of the ubiquitous um, Laporte theorized that speakers rely on this vocalized pause to fill silent time in between thoughts — because, in our culture, when one person stops talking, someone else will take the temporary silence as an invitation to start. "Saying ummm . . . is a way of holding the floor so that no one else jumps in and starts speaking." Toastmasters — (find a local club near you) — helps many speakers reduce or eliminate their filler words. In addition, Lifehacker advises practicing public speaking to overcome nervousness, and the referenced Mother Tongue Annoyances article recommends reviewing video recordings of yourself speaking (the Reddit comments for this article contains a collection of excellent tips).
- Invest in a good microphone. Experienced in both video (television) and audio (radio, podcasts), Laporte says he prefers audio. The connection to the audience is more intimate, and — especially if a listener is hearing the program via earphones — the communication travels directly from the host’s voice to the listener’s brain, without the distancing effect of a video screen. To this end, it helps not only to develop a professional sounding voice, but to enhance that voice with the best recording equipment. Each make and model of microphone is unique, with its own set of specs and sound. Mics can run between a couple hundred bucks on the low end to several thousand dollars. (Laporte describes the podcasting equipment he uses in detail, including photos.) Try out different mics to find one that flatters your natural voice. Women and others with a high-pitched voice would benefit from using a mic with warmer tones to reduce any shrillness (although Laporte joked that Gilbert Gottfried has made a lucrative career out of his "annoying" voice). If you have a call-in show, don’t worry too much about the quality of the incoming calls, even if it’s featured guests who are calling in for interviews and discussions. As long as the host sounds good, the show will sound professional.
Following his talk about podcasting, the audience had a chance to see Laporte’s media skills in action, as he joined co-host Megan Morrone for a live-from-MacWorld recording of Jumping Monkeys, a show about parenting in the digital age. You can also catch the live MacWorld edition of TWiT and post comments to the Leoville Town Square discussion forum.
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best free audio podcasts
Over the years I’ve developed a pathological fear of boredom, and subsequently a fear of mundane activities that lead to boredom, like waiting at the airport (especially at night), exercising (if it’s routine and not, say, a hike in an unfamiliar area), or cooking and cleaning in the kitchen. I like to keep my mind occupied; sometimes my own thoughts are enough, and sometimes they’re just not. For when my thoughts aren’t enough, and there’s nothing good on the radio, I listen to my favorite podcasts.
The irony? Alas, there is simply not enough time — even counting the stretches of boring time during aforementioned mundane activities — to listen to everything I want to, so the podcasts not yet listened to stack up in a sometimes overwhelming queue. I’ve realized that podcasts are like books or recorded TV shows: I probably won’t get to everything, but it comforts me to know they’re there, promising a rich intellectual landscape in which to escape from a wasteland of ennui.
Most radio programs are podcasted these days, although listeners often have to pay for podcasts of commercial radio programs. Fortunately, public radio — National Public Radio (NPR) and Public Radio International (PRI) in particular — for many listeners, represents the epitome of quality radio programming; and the podcasts are often available for free.
My absolute favorite, can’t-miss program is the quirky, compelling This American Life, hosted by affable mensch Ira Glass. (And it occasionally includes David Sedaris reading his own short stories.) A podcast of this weekly program is available for free, but keep in mind that it’s only available for download for the week after it’s been broadcast on the air. After that, the podcast is available for $0.95 through Audible.com. (You can listen online at any time for free, but, of course, that keeps you chained to the computer for fifty minutes or so instead of allowing you to travel freely with your listening device.) If you don’t use iTunes, and your podcatcher doesn’t automatically acquire the latest installment of This American Life, you can download the MP3 file manually (find the show at the top of the radio archive and click "Free Download"). New free MP3 files are posted every Thursday, replacing the previous week’s file. (I figured this out over time because I’m obsessed with not missing a single episode.)
My second favorite program is the podcast of Fresh Air, hosted by Terry Gross, who, in my opinion, is the best interviewer in any current medium. She is plainly comfortable with all her subjects (famous and not), asks questions that range from standard and expected to thoughtful and spontaneous, and, as far as I know, always conducts background research meticulously. Gross is herself interviewed in Salon.com twice, as well as a by site called Frugal Fun.
For those eager to keep abreast of current events, the Commonwealth Club podcast of its weekly broadcast is a must-download. Founded in 1903, the Commonwealth Club of California is the oldest and largest public affairs forum, hosting a wide variety of speakers on politics, culture, history and economics. (If you’ve missed a particular podcast, you may check the broadcast archive to listen online.) The podcasts of the speeches (which include a brief question-and-answer period with the live audience afterward) are often fascinating, and, in my mind, qualify as can’t-tear-myself-away listening. For topics of interest to the under-35 crowd, the Commonwealth Club launched INFORUM, which offers speeches by and discussion panels with rappers, actors, young activists, filmmakers, writers, and other influential personalities. A separate podcast for INFORUM is also available.
I am especially drawn to "thinking radio": audio programming that engages my mind and challenges my intellect. While "thinking" programs slow me down during exercise, they’re perfect for tedious household tasks. Two of my favorite programs are New York Public Radio’s Radio Lab, which investigates scientific and philosophical questions in a fun, conversational, almost storytelling format, and Wisconsin Public Radio’s To the Best of Our Knowledge, which explores similar topics via interviews with various writers and experts. In addition, PRI’s The Changing World offers a series of in-depth radio documentaries, each covering a single issue affecting people around the globe.
If you’re interested in science, Scientific American offers two podcasts: 60-Second Science for tidbits and the more in-depth Science Talk. NPR’s documentary series The DNA Files explores the science of genetics and its impact on learning, culture, society and the environment. Also, check out Earth & Sky: A Clear Voice for Change; despite its New Age-sounding name, Earth Sky brings you a few minutes of fascinating news in the natural sciences, such as recent discoveries in human evolution, climate, plants and animals, space and more. Earth Sky also offers slightly extended interviews with scientists through the Clear Voices podcast, as well as Kids Earth & Sky: Science News for Kids.
While many long-time radio programs have recently become popular podcasts — simply because of the convenience factor for listeners — there’s a new phenomenon that happens once in a while: the creator of a popular podcast is asked to host a radio program. This happened to Emily Morse (who I should disclose is a personal acquaintance) with her podcast, Sex with Emily, a program that piques interest just via its tongue-in-cheek (so to speak) name. It’s probably not as salacious as you might think: Sex with Emily is a fun and lively discussion about sexuality and adult relationships. Topics include dating, sexual health, personal hygiene, and celebrity culture.
For computer technology enthusiasts, there’s a growing genre of short-segment podcasts that offer industry news bites. Because they’re each only a few minutes long, I tend to store them up and listen to one after another every month or so:
Along with tech news, discussions about "personal productivity" is another geek fascination. One worthwhile podcast in this genre is The Merlin Show, hosted by 43 Folders creator Merlin Mann. I haven’t yet listened to Stever Robbins’s Get-It-Done Guy: Quick and Dirty Tips to Work Less and Do More, but it’s garnered good reviews from iTunes listeners. And I have yet to try Gaiam’s Lime, which provides a number of audio programs that appeal to those with a "green and healthy" lifestyle.
If you’re still podcast hungry, you can build your own listening library from these podcast directories:
Interested in creating your own podcast? Start here:
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Crocs
You know you’re wearing something distinctive when strangers — men, women and children — approach you on the street and say, "Cool shoes! Where’d you get those?"
Crocs makes a variety of slip-on active footwear, each model available in a rainbow of colors. I wear my Cayman Crocs (an updated version of the original Beach model) everywhere: at home, at the beach, in the river, on the street, at casual restaurants, in the shower. They’re cheap, waterproof, colorful, low-maintenance, appropriate for many types of weather and downright futuristic-looking.
The only downside is that one’s feet tend to sweat in them, and while socks mitigate the sweatiness, they make the footwear look not quite as cool as sans socks. Still, though, I plan to pick up spare pairs in pink, purple and turquoise.
1980 nostalgia
VH1 used to be the second-rate music video channel, targeting an audience about a decade older than MTV’s. But now VH1’s programming generally comprises time-wasting, guilty-pleasure filler shows, like I Love Toys. The show’s pointless exercise in conjuring nostalgia inspired me to dredge up my own memories of the not-too-distant past.
Girls’ fashion, circa 1980:
Toys:
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April 1
In the mood for romance? Or various other tomfoolery?
Oh, by the way: don’t forget to spring forward tonight. No foolin’.
time management haiku
work, home, health, friends, sleep
not enough hours in the day
just treading water |
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Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity 
by David Allen
The Time Trap: The Classic Book on Time Management 
by Alec MacKenzie
Time Tactics of Very Successful People 
by B. Eugene Griessman
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People 
(and other books by Stephen R. Covey & family)
baby safety
It’s hard to imagine a better — or funnier — gift for the parents-to-be who already have everything than Safe Baby Handling Tips by David and Kelly Sopp. 
This novelty picture book is basically a series of contrasting dos and don’ts with regard to taking care of an infant. For example, the correct way to "bond with baby" is to hold and coo at the baby, not attempt to engage him or her in a timed game of chess! And when you’re putting the baby down to play, put him or her in, say, a playpen, not a cage. When taking baby for a walk, put him or her in a baby backpack, not in an old potato sack.
I mean, sheesh, people — take care of the baby! Get this book.
feel-good commercials
I realize that advertising represents (and sometimes causes) many of the ills of our society, but I can’t help it — as something of a pop culture aesthete, I love me a good commercial. I think this is because I appreciate good design, clever concepts and creativity in any form. For better or worse — whether subsidizing theater companies and museums or hiring the best illustrators, writers and cinematographers — corporations have become the new patrons of the arts. I’m often astonished at how compelling the commercials for Volkswagon, Apple and Coca-Cola are.
And so, having said that, I sheepishly admit to admiring the recent Kaiser Permanent "Thrive" television commercial, which shows a montage of what modern society could look like in a utopian future:
- A man in a diner reads a newspaper with the headline "Remembering Obesity: A Look Back."
- A teenager in a museum of antiquities looks inquisitively at packs of cigarettes in display cases.
- A vending machine is filled with a variety of organic apples.
- A man pulls his car up to the drive-through window of a restaurant that serves neatly packaged "Mini-Size Me" fast food.
- An intimidating bouncer guards the velvet rope in front of a hot nightclub, above which the marquee displays "Yoga Nite."
- A young woman sits on the grand stairs of a large building, reading a book. Above the front entrance is a sign that says "Public Library," and above that is a neon sign that says "Open 24 Hours."
- An overhead view of bicyclists pans out to show a rush hour of nothing but bicycles on the freeway.
- The final scene is narrated with the slogan "Change — and the world changes with you."
One irony, of course, is that some people apparently feel that Kaiser has done the exact opposite of helping its customers "thrive." (In fairness, though, other Kaiser customers seem to have no problems — at least not yet.) Another irony is that the future may more likely look like this.
Still, though, good commercials generally do what they’re supposed to do: make me feel warm and fuzzy (or, more specifically, optimistic and connected) for thirty seconds.
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do it yourself
Remember "The Future"? When our environment was supposed to have become so technologically advanced that machines would do virtually everything for us, leaving us with many hours of free time to pursue various leisure activities? It turns out that the exact opposite happened, and so we’re left with less time for accomplishing the basic tasks of maintaining our lives, let alone for leisure.
Paradoxically, those with free time often use it to cram more work into their lives, inspired by the growing Do-It-Yourself (DIY) movement. (Granted, it’s work that’s taken on by choice — as opposed to the DIY work we’ll supposedly be doing after the post-peak oil crash — but still work nevertheless.)
Today’s Your Call radio program, "The New DIY", focused on this phenomenon, interviewing the editors of Make (purchase here) and ReadyMade (purchase here) magazines (both said to overlap techie and crafty interests, although Make focuses a bit more on the techie side) and addressing the practical questions of avid DIYers, which the program host referred to as a "growing community of punks, greens, anticonsumerists and Martha Stewart wannabes." The show addressed everything from the ubiquitous home improvement television shows and networks to crafts (especially knitting, which has developed an inexplicable "cool" factor among young women) to modifying high-tech electronic and mechanical devices.  
The host of the show, who admitted to being less than technically savvy, successfully made the Go-Torch soda can stove. The show’s producer attempted to make "Mousey the Junkbot" — and found that while the results weren’t successful, he enjoyed focusing on the journey, not the destination, and developed a better understanding of how electronic things work.
I happen to have copies of both Make and ReadyMade on my desk, and I have to admit that I find myself a bit more fascinated with Make — not that I would actually consider making a cigar box guitar or a LEGO PC myself. But the editor’s description of Make’s mission to help readers "liberate devices and bring functionality that was deliberately left out by the manufacturer" — or transform landfill-bound electronic appliances in novel ways, like turning a VCR into to an automatic cat feeder — seems almost revolutionary to me. Of course, some projects from the magazine and the Make Blog, like the pliers food chain or the AOL CD dodecahedron, seem ridiculous and remind me of the giant replica of the Golden Gate Bridge that some Silicon Valley programmers had constructed from empty soda cans and paper clips during the absurd excesses of the late ’90s dot-com boom.
Having said that, however, I am amused by the surprisingly numerous iPod-and-mint-case projects, which transform candy containers into a digital audio players, and vice versa. For a few examples (in order from easy to challenging), you can make an iPod Shuffle case from a Tic Tac box, an Altoids case made from old iPod Shuffle or an MP3 player out of an Altoids tin.
If this stuff intrigues you, here are some resources mentioned on the program and that I’ve found as well:
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gravity-defying boots
Whoo-hoo! Happy spring. 
book clubs and reading resources
A couple of years ago, I co-founded a major book club in my city. Because I was the facilitator, I felt it was my duty to read not only the chosen books but the study guides as well. It was like taking a literature class, without the term papers and oppressive overhead lighting.
Ah, those were the days. Now I’m in the middle of seven different books and can’t seem to finish any of them. Seriously. (I hope at least to finish Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix — yes, that’s Book 5, not even Book 6! — before the movie is released.) 
If you’re an avid reader — even a lapsed one, like myself — you might be inspired by the myriad book clubs and resources available online:
- Adobe eBook Mall: Compendium of online bookstores and retailers selling reading material in PDF format.
- AmazonConnect: Amazon.com’s service that enables readers to receive messages directly from their favorite authors.
- Barnes & Noble Book Club Center: Free online reading groups with authors and other readers.
 
- Book Club Resource: Comprehensive guide to discount book clubs and reading groups.
- BookCrossing: Free, serendipitous exchange of books “in the wild.” (BookCrossing is related to other forms of “Internet-Guided Offline Recreation” — a phrase coined by yours truly — like Geocaching and Database Rituals.)
- Booksfree.com: Online library of paperbacks and audiobooks delivered to your door.
- BooksOnline.com: Clearinghouse of book clubs, including specialty interest and niche clubs.
- Dear Reader: Serial portions of books delivered via email — an innovative yet simple way for busy people to get started on good books.
- Google Reading Groups: Large compendium of reading groups and literature lovers. (A great place to start.)
- Great Novels Wikispaces community: Anyone can participate in this wiki (collaborative online resource) for readers.
- Internet Public Library: Handy reference site put together by librarians. It includes a reading room of free books and other materials.
- Library of Congress: An important national reference site that should be on everyone’s list of bookmarks.
- MSNBC Today’s Book Club: Big-media resource for books that includes feature stories, book excerpts, interviews and individual sections for different genres.
- National Education Association’s Read Across America: National tour to inspire kids to read and — laudably — to bring books back to Gulf Coast public schools.
- NetLibrary: Partnered with many public library systems to provide library card holders with access to free digital books.
- Oprah Winfrey is credited with inspiring millions of adults to read good books in the age of information overload and media exhaustion. You can view her list of cited books and join the famous Oprah Book Club. If you’re feeling crafty, check out the nifty free Bookmark Maker.
- Page By Page Books: Free repository of public domain books in easy-to-read page format.
- Playaway: Pre-loaded, self-playing digital audio books.
- Project Gutenberg: Free repository of public domain books in plain-text format.
- Reader’s Circle: Online directory of face-to-face book clubs and reading groups, including readers’ circles (free-form groups in which people attend with whatever they’re reading, which can include books, articles, magazines and other print materials).
- Readerville: An organizational resource for readers interested in participating in lively, lofty discussions of chosen books on a schedule.
- Spaghetti Book Club: Book reviews by kids for kids.
- SparkNotes: Free study guides for literature and other academic subjects.
- Target’s "Ready, Sit, Read!" book club for kids. (You can use this $2-off book coupon until September 8, 2006.) Target also offers Bookmarked, a book club for grownups.
If this got you thinking about books and literary resources, you can listen to an imaginative discussion on libraries of the future. (Will they be bookless community centers chock-full of digital information, accessible from anywhere?)
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cutting straight lines
So many paper crafts, so little time. If you’re cutting paper (or even cloth!), you can — safely — get clean, straight lines with a Fiskars rotary paper trimmer (available with a 12-inch or a 24-inch cutting board), which is surprisingly affordable for quality home office/crafting equipment.
Perhaps the best part is the available assortment of rotary blades, including blades for scoring paper (for easy bending without cutting), perforation (for easy ripping along predetermined lines) and decorative edges (pinking, scallop, wave, tiara, Victorian, deckle, squiggle).
quote gifts
Sometimes the perfect thing to say has already been said by someone else. Lunch Mail has encapsulated this concept in an attractive product designed to uplift and inspire. Each Lunch Mail pack contains a set of thirty colorful business-card-size "surprise" messages. (Think fortune cookies or Cracker Jack prizes without the calories.) Created by the National Education Association, Lunch Mail was conceived as a special treat to include with children’s lunches, but I’ve seen them used for various grownup purposes, such as ice-breakers for cocktail parties, classes and business networking mixers. 
Another creative company that showcases pearls of wisdom is quotable, which produces notecards, magnets, journals and other stationery products that feature memorable quotes. Especially notable by quotable (ha!) is the Truth Be Told card pack, which contains "48 calling cards to give to your friends or enemies." Personally, I could imagine handing someone "nice to meet you" or "you rock" more than, say, "enough already" or "you need a mint" — but that’s just me.
As they say, though, words are cheap, so if you’re feeling crafty, you can create your own cards and gifts from the sayings of various wordsmiths. One of my favorite inspirational quotes, featured in the movie Rushmore, is: 
When one man, for whatever reason, has the opportunity to lead an extraordinary life, he has no right to keep it to himself.
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found my thrill
Thank goodness Fats Domino was found alive and well after the Katrina disaster in his native New Orleans. He was found in his home in the Ninth Ward, although some say he was actually found on Blueberry Hill. Domino is 78 years old, and despite losing his home, he’s in good spirits and still making music. He’s donating the proceeds from his latest album, Alive and Kickin’, to the Tipitina’s Foundation, an organization dedicated to rebuilding the music culture of New Orleans. On NPR’s All Things Considered, Domino demonstrates the rhythmic and tempo difference between rhythm and blues and rock and roll, a shift that occurred in popular music during the ’50s. 
Peyton Place: 50th anniversary
If you’ve ever read the scandalous classic Peyton Place — now in its fiftieth anniversary — or seen the movie, you’ll no doubt be fascinated by the backstory. The death of author Grace Metalious seemed similar to that of Jack Kerouac. As long as they shared that tragic ending, it’s too bad she didn’t meet up with the Beats while she was alive; perhaps their own penchant for producing salacious works may have made her feel a bit less like an outcast, or at least a total outcast.
One thing that struck me about the movie (other than the horrifying stuff, of course, which is still shocking fifty years later) was the abundance of stock footage of nature scenes inserted abruptly — yet not displeasingly, and often accompanied by voiceover narration — throughout the movie. Did the filmmakers not have a budget back then to pay a guy with a camera to romp around the woods, capturing bucolic scenes of ducks on lakes and snow-blanketed towns? Or was it more a matter of color correction?  
Cavallini & Co. stationery products
In the spacious but homey split-level basement of Cody’s Books, I always find myself drawn to the tables displaying the Cavallini & Co. stationery products. I can’t seem to keep my eyes off the passel of varicolored notebooks, notecards, carte postale (postcards), flashcards and magnets and accessories, among other products.
Many of the designs embody a neo-Victorian aesthetic, reminiscent of decoupage and Beatrix Potter books, whereas the frames have a distinctly Italianate flavor. Whole maps feature prominently in Cavallini’s collection of gift wrap, making the paper itself a gift. (With Cavallini map gift wrap, I don’t use tape and I advise the recipient to open the package carefully without tearing the paper.) The file folders are works of art, almost too beautiful to kept in a drawer. 
geek meets hip hop
The Treo mail alert Swoosh sounds a lot like the background piano drops in Kanye West’s song "Heard ‘Em Say," which is Track 2 on Late Registration (also available through iTunes). Every time mail is received, I start singing: 
Nothing’s ever promised tomorrow today
Nothing lasts forever — but be honest Babe,
it hurts but it may be the only way. . . .
live long and Prosper
I hear all sorts of business ideas at the monthly Entrepreneurship Meetup — some OK but need further development, some not so good, some downright ill-conceived. At the last month’s Meetup, I met the CTO of Prosper.com, an innovative financial startup that facilitates person-to-person lending — for example, a blogger in California lending $500 to a cafe owner in Maine — via a system that CEO and E-Loan co-founder Chris Larsen hopes to become "the eBay of loans."
Prosper seemed to be in the "OK but needs further development" category of startups until I heard more about it. My first thought was, "How safe is this thing? Could I just be throwing money away to strangers asking for a ‘loan’?" Other Meetup attendees voiced similar concerns. "Are these loans in any way guaranteed?" asked the hotshot from OngoBongo (which, tangentially, may have bigger problems with the advent of Lala — or maybe not: see the update below).
(Update on OngoBongo: At a more recent Meetup, founder Eric Swan explained that OngoBongo will be the music version of NetFlix, which rents out movies from its large inventory of DVDs. Lala, on the other hand, is more akin to PeerFlix, a peer-to-peer DVD sharing system. So perhaps Swan’s biggest problem — after he secures funding for the company, of course — will be one not of competition, but of perception.)
Is Prosper safe to use?
Apparently accustomed to this basic question, the CTO addressed our concerns. First he explained that no financial investment, except for typical savings accounts, are guaranteed. Stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and so on are not guaranteed, and neither are personal loans to family or friends. True dat. Having said that, he continued, Prosper does have a number of standard financial "safety features" designed to make lenders feel more comfortable with sending their money out into the ether, hoping for a nice ROI.
First, all potential borrowers must submit their information for a credit check. This way, lenders can view profiles of borrowers that include their credit ratings on a scale of AA through E, plus HR (high risk) and NC (no credit), as well as their color-coded debt-to-income ratios (20% or under appears in green; over 20% appears in red). Nervous lenders can focus on borrowers with better credit and lower debt-to-income ratios (and consequently charge a lower interest rate), whereas high rollers can gamble on high-risk, high-debt borrowers for a chance at bigger returns.
Second, Prosper has developed relationships with the major credit reporting agencies, so that missed payments or defaults — as with any other relationship with a financial institution — are immediately reported. Third, borrowers have a better chance of receiving bids on their desired loans if they join a group of trusted users. If a borrower misses payments or defaults, the reputation of the entire group is at stake. Fourth, a certain number of missed payments triggers the involvement of the dreaded collection agency (lenders can choose from three reputable agencies to take over the case).
Who lends to whom?
A borrower can request a loan for up to $25,000. A la eBay, Lenders must bid on loan requests so that borrowers can compete for better interest rates. The entry point for a lender is very low: the minimum bid is $50. How is this possible? A borrower asking for, say, $5,000 can receive this amount in one lump sum from a single lender — or in $50 increments from 100 lenders, or $250 increments from 20 lenders, and so on, in a piecemeal approach. 
Prosper has been up and running for about a month now, and already there are myriad borrowers and lenders doing business. I put in $200 just to see how it all works. I decided to forgo the fun but time-consuming process of browsing the list of potential borrowers and instead create a standing loan for the Prosper database to match my bids with loan-seekers who meet my comfort-zone requirements (B or better credit, debt-to-income ratio under 20%, belong to a group).
Already two borrowers have accepted my bids: one lady is starting a nifty small business; a guy is using the Prosper system to consolidate his credit card debt and pay it down at a lower rate. The latter borrower is an example of the most common reason borrowers request loans on Prosper; the system seems to have created a "sweet spot" of interest rates. For lenders, the returns are higher (and possibly safer) than many other types of investments; for borrowers, the rates are lower than those of most credit cards. I asked the CTO if Prosper could potentially supersede the credit card industry, and he responded, "That’s what we’re hoping!" Sweet.
Prosper also has potential to support low- or reasonable-rate microlending programs for poor neighborhoods, as well as investments in one’s own community. (In fact, a Google search for "microlending" garnered a sponsored listing for Prosper "people-to-people" lending — so Prosper marketers must be thinking of the potential for socially responsible investing.)
Issues and annoyances
Since the Prosper system is new — in fact, the first of its kind in the U.S. (although the first of its kind in the world may be Zopa, based in the U.K.) — it’s still working out the kinks. For example, the ability for lenders to turn off unsolicited messages from borrowers was only made available today, after many complaints about "Can I get a loan from you?" type spam. There’s no online loan calculator on the Prosper web site yet, which some Prosper employees admit was an oversight. (Update: At a more recent Meetup, Prosper’s community marketing directory told me that there is in fact a loan calculator, but she conceded that it should be accessible from a more prominent location on the site.) And it took a full seven days for my initial funds to be transferred from my bank account to Prosper — the long transfer time is another major complaint on Prosper’s lively discussion board. But overall, these are minor problems that will be addressed if Prosper stands the test of time. I believe it will.
Managing Prosper account data
Related to Prosper’s novelty is the fact that common financial management software applications like Quicken currently have no method to manage something like a Prosper account, with all of its associated data (balance of amounts borrowed, balance of amounts loaned, funds sitting in the Prosper system versus money loaned out, various interest rates on each loan, and so on). Just figuring out which type of account to use for Prosper raised some interesting questions about the nature of this financial service. Is it a loan? An investment? A series of loans and investments? An asset? A credit card account for borrowers using Prosper to consolidate their consumer debt?
The fact is, it can be any one — or a combination — of these things. Until the Prosper model is understood (and accepted) by Intuit, Microsoft and other financial management software developers, we hapless users have to create our own spreadsheets to manage our account data, or make awkward adjustments to existing account management systems. Because I’m only lending (and not borrowing) funds, I chose the "Brokerage" account in Quicken and used the generic "Transferred Cash In" to register my deposits into the Prosper system (I’ll use "Interest Income" to register the net earnings).
We are family
Perhaps what I like most about Prosper is its ability to humanize every member of a giant, scattered, diverse group of people — much like the internet itself. The borrower profiles are full of fun photos of people or their pet projects (like the vintage muscle car that one guy wants to fix up for $5,000), personal stories and compelling descriptions of hopes and dreams for the future. And in this age of record consumer debt — making some people too broke even to declare bankruptcy — Prosper’s straightforward interface and person-to-person lending system seems like a refreshing prospect.
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Geisha fashion
Oh, man. With all due respect to Crash, Reese Witherspoon and, um, Three 6 Mafia — Brokeback Mountain, Felicity Huffman and Dolly Parton were robbed. Oh, Oscar, I wish I knew how to quit you.
Also overlooked — by critics and the Academy alike — was Memoirs of a Geisha. While visually stunning in its cinematic narrative, Geisha may have made the critics happier if the screenplay had been bookended by (warning: spoilers — you may highlight the following white text if you’ve already seen the movie) scenes of New York City as the novel had been. I believe this would have made the story more cohesive and satisfying — especially to those who hadn’t read the book. But heck, what do I know.
The movie may not have inspired critics, but it did inspire Geisha fashion, renewed popularity of the Maiko Barbie Doll, and — from Fresh, makers of my new favorite scent — the "Memoirs of a Geisha" beauty collection.    
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