I came across this video and just had to share it. To me, it is a revelation, life-changing, paradigm-shifting, and — as our host says — mind-blowing:

I want to go buy a bunch of bananas now to try this.

I didn’t intend to bid for a Dell Mini 10v that was souped up with a 320GB hard drive, 2GB RAM, WiFi-N, and OSX 10.5.7 preinstalled and all the necessary tweaks to the 10v already done to make it work all right with OSX, but, well, I felt sorry for the guy who posted it “Buy Now $575″ and hadn’t gotten a single bid at the starting price of $400. I did the calculations that I could have picked up a refurbished one from Dell Outlet with a 15% coupon for around $260 and then do the hard drive and RAM upgrade myself (not super easy to do, but doable enough) for about $100 more, but it wouldn’t have WiFi-N and it would be a 1024×576 screen, not the later 1024×600. Add to that the time to hack and tweak (which I actually like doing) plus the preinstalled iLife (another $50), plus the original 120GB hard drive with Windows XP on it, I figured that if I could actually snagged it for $400, then it was worth it. And this was a virtually new machine, not refurbished. How could I let it go? So, I asked a bunch of questions of the seller who was very helpful and fun to chat with–he even asked for the mirroring off code needed to properly use the Mini 10v with an external monitor (he hadn’t figured on that), which I sent him and then he applied it, photographed the unit working with his bigass 42″ HDTV, and sent me the photo to demonstrate its functioning. He clearly wanted to sell this thing. So being a Good Samaritan, I helped him out. WIth 30 seconds to go I decided to bid the lowest amount and figured if no one else was in the game then it was meant for me (or Sara or someone). Well, $400 it was, with free shipping, no tax. It’s already on its way. My problem now is finding a new small bag for it because I don’t think it’ll fit in the Target-bought bag I have for my Mini 9. Who knows what I’ll do with it — users say they love the bigger more normal keyboard and the larger screen helps a bit. However, I really truly love the small form factor of the Mini 9 and its 2.2lbs (the 10v is 2.5 lbs. plus it has the upgraded 6-cell battery that sticks out the back and weighs another half-pound or so. I might end up flipping it if it doesn’t truly overwhelm the 9. It should get here in a week or so.

Yesterday I FINALLY got my invitation for a Google Voice number, completing, for the time being, my Google Universe. After going through hundreds of available numbers for the Nashville area (in theory I could have gotten a number for Beverly Hills or Manhattan if I were pretentious enough to do so), I settled on one that’s easy to remember, easy to dial, and full of lucky 8s. GV is pretty cool because I can set it to ring whatever phones I want for whichever people I want. For example, my family members ring my iPhone and home phone while Sara’s family members ring her iPhone and home phone. The kids could in theory (if they had cell phones) have only one number to remember to ring all our phones, including work phones. International rates meet or beat Skype. And I can make international calls from abroad to the US on any phone (or on the GV website) for cheap as long as I go through the Google Voice phone system. All very cool things; I recommend  Google voice to all. Accounts are free with Google gmail accounts, but if you’re not in the queue for a number it might take a while for an invitation. Another feature are call widgets to embed on blogs. This one should send you straight to my Google Voicemail after a few rings. All you need to do is put your name and the phone number of the phone you’re calling from. It’ll ring you and connect to GoyaVoicemail:

At long last I watched the film 300 last night. I had been avoiding it because of all the hyped up criticism of its depiction of the Persians as decadent monsters and the Spartans as Abercrombie and Fitch poster boys with swords. Yes, the Persians are depicted as decadent (transsexual) monsters and the Spartans could indeed be straight out of an Abercrombie and Fitch poster. And yes, liberties are taken with historical details. But this is a film based on a fictional graphic novel, and a damn good one at that. I was wanting to watch it mainly to see how the graphic novel (which I have not read) was translated to film. It was mostly shot with superimposed chroma key with oodles of CGI effects. The result is visually arresting, very stylish (another predictable criticism — the aestheticization of violence), and completely entertaining. The choice of dropping out all but accent colors with the chroma key and adding a subtle graininess to evoke the palette of the graphic novel is beautiful. Slow-mo and stop-motion are used to great effect, and the fight scenes are fantastically choreographed — as exciting and dynamic as any HK martial arts fight on wires. I watched this film a day after watching “Taken” — what a crappy movie that is, not even worth commenting on — so it seemed even that much better. Having also low expectations might have helped as well. In any case, a film worth seeing before being pre-judged.

I recently finished reading Scott McCloud’s minor classic, Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art, and highly recommend it to anyone interested in discussions of art, comics (Euro-american and/or Japanese), and media in general. Itself is written as a comic as it defines and analyzes how comics—an often underrated art—work. In the process, McCloud brings in a good deal of art and comics history and brings clarity to what makes comics a very particular, complex, and utterly fascinating art form. The form and content of his presentation are very smart, engaging, often amusing. And you come away having learned a LOT. In particular, I think his discussion of time and narrative in comics is illuminating and in shedding light on the strangeness of the treatment of time in comics he sheds light on time in other media (photography, film, painting, novels). And his handling of how the eye and brain process iconic and symbolic visual forms has application far beyond comics. You might want to check out McCloud’s blog as well for interesting tidbits. That he mentions in his book Marshall McLuhan has prompted me to pick up another book I’ve been meaning to read for a while, McLuhan’s major classicUnderstanding Media. I think I like the prospect of “understanding” stuff if I read these books. (BTW, I’m still in the midst of reading Neil Gaiman’s Sandman comic. I think I’m about through 18 of 75 issues. Very dark, very good.)

Okinawa just had its Memorial Day today, marking the 69th anniversary of the end of the Battle of Okinawa. I’ve been to at least three June 23rd events in Okinawa, June being the time I have usually gone to the island. In addition to the formal prefectural ceremonies at Mabuni:

and the march of the Okinawa Bereaved Families Association:

there are also private observances at memorials and grave sties:

Coincidentally, today I’ve been re-reading the first chapter of my longstanding Okinawa tourism project and it’s all about the formation of war/peace memorials and even mentions the formal adoption in 1966 of June 23rd as Memorial Day (it had been established as June 22nd a couple years previous). I’m using this coincidence to get back into that project; it has been sitting for too long and I’m on leave now to finish it. I aim to have the next chapter done in a month and then another in a month after that. Maybe sooner. It’s hard to sit down with my materials and read and write without a proper study (aka. Figals’ Folly). I’m skeptical of that being completed within a month, but hopefully by August 1 new inspirational study space will be ready to use.

While there is the “Film Is Not Dead!!” Flickr group, one hallmark film type has its days numbered. Kodak announced today that it is ending its production of Kodachrome film. Demand has shrunk to practically nothing and apparently only one lab in the world still processes Kodachrome, Dwayne’s Photo in Parsons, Kansas. Kodak lost $4.58 billion in market value in 2008 and despite trying to carve a spot in digital photography, it started too late and hasn’t really produced anything worth buying. I remember my uncle in Windsor, Colorado where there was a big Eastman Kodak plant chiding me for using Fuji film because that plant was the town’s livelihood. I guess he would be cursing all digital camera users now. I guess it’s slightly sad to see Kodachrome go the way of the dodo only because I have certain childhood memories in those little yellow rectangular boxes. But I won’t miss it too much.
Now if they could put an end to that horrible Paul Simon song as well….

Vienna is known for its music, but you don’t have to go to the symphony or opera to hear it. As we wandered back from dinner one night, we encountered this young Czech man playing wine glasses on Graben (a main shopping drag and pedestrian street):