snap culture: March 2007

  1. Can't We All Just Get Along? ben, 3/30/2007 0 comments
  2. Mind of...Ned Holness? ben, 3/29/2007 0 comments
  3. giving credit where credit is due ben, 3/28/2007 0 comments
  4. This American Life: Now for your eyes! William, 3/23/2007 0 comments
  5. O.J. Mayo will call you. You don't call him. William, 3/23/2007 0 comments
  6. life is like... ben, 3/23/2007 1 comments
  7. My RSS experiment ben, 3/19/2007 0 comments
  8. run, don't walk ben, 3/16/2007 0 comments
  9. who owns splendakills.com? ben, 3/15/2007 0 comments
  10. It's different in the Ivy League ben, 3/10/2007 1 comments
  11. a discourse on new media ben, 3/07/2007 1 comments
  12. super time-suck ben, 3/01/2007 3 comments

3/30/2007 Add a comment

Even atheists can't seem to agree on anything these days, as this article in the Times describes. I didn't know that Harvard has a position called "humanist chaplain," but that's awesome. California U.S. Representative Pete Stark "came out" as an atheist last month. Who's the next famous person to announce that they don't believe in a higher power? And where are the agnostics in this whole fight? ben

Comments

3/29/2007 Add a comment

I'm not a fan of Carlos Mencia's humor, but now I like him even less. I watched this video, which has been around for a while, of Joe Rogan taking Carlos to task for stealing jokes. Plenty of evidence there, as well as in this video where Carlos steals from Bill Cosby, of all people.

The most shocking part to me is that Carlos's real name is Ned Holness...doesn't really have the same authenticity for his "beaner" jokes, does it? ben

Comments

3/28/2007 Add a comment

The latest scandal to dominate the news, the case of the fired US Attorneys, would never have reached the light of day were it not for one of my favorite blogs, Talking Points Memo. In the usual "I knew about this blog since before it was cool" kind of way, I've been reading TPM ever since it started back in 2000.

It's finally getting some of the recognition it deserves, from a glowing write-up in the LA Times to shout-outs in the NY Times and the Post. It's about friggin' time for the media to realize that there are other people out there who can do their job just as well, if not better, than they do. ben

Comments

3/23/2007 Add a comment

This American Life, my all-time favorite radio show (and I am not alone in this belief), aired its first TV show last night on Showtime. A lot has been written about this, and I have yet to see it because of a lack of Showtime (though looks like you can watch the first episode on their website), but this clip is a good example of what to expect.
William

Comments

3/23/2007 Add a comment

A great article from the NYT on how Tim Floyd "landed" big-time recruit O.J. Mayo. But the article could cause problems for USC, per The Big Lead, if the Ronald Guillory guy gets investigated. William

Comments

3/23/2007 Add a comment

Tecmo Super Bowl, you never know what you're gonna get. Unless it's Bo Jackson, then you know you're getting a touchdown:
ben

Comments

  1. Blogger ben: Actually, this Christian Okoye is better. 3/23/2007  

3/19/2007 Add a comment

On a whim, I set up a Google Reader account three weeks ago to manage all of the blogs I like reading. If you aren't familiar with RSS or other feed programs, basically it works like an email account that counts a new blog-post as a "message" in your "inbox." It took me about 20 minutes to set it up and subscribe to all of the blogs I read in RSS format [if you want a list, i'll post it in the comments].

The biggest advantage for me has been the convenience of going to one place and seeing which blogs have been updated, then skimming the posts quickly. This is especially useful for blogs that aren't updated 6 times a day. And I can try to limit my blog-reading to first thing in the morning (though that doesn't always happen). Another perk is that there are some blogs I forget to check regularly, and RSS keeps me in the loop.

The only disadvantage is that I signed up for a few blogs which I used to only read occasionally, but now I'm notified every single time they post something new. So I'm ending up spending more time reading blogs than I was before [Economist note: For me, the price effect dominates the substitution effect]. Which means that it's time to trim back the list of blog subscriptions.

Do you read blogs via RSS? Are there any blogs that you didn't used to read but now find yourself addicted to on a reader program? Or blogs that you used to enjoy in moderation but now can't handle continuous updating? ben

Comments

3/16/2007 Add a comment

to see The Lives Of Others. I just saw it the other night and it was incredible. As far as movies in the past year, it's right near the top. I loved Borat for all of the opposite reasons (I think that will go down as one of the funniest movies ever), and I also really liked Pan's Labyrinth and The Departed. But the Lives of Others is an absolute must-see. ben

Comments

3/15/2007 Add a comment

Why, Johnson & Johnson, the makers of Splenda, of course! They also own SplendaSucks.com, SplendaPoison.com, and many more variants of website names that people could set up to attack the sugar substitute.

Much like this guy (where I read about this), I don't see the point. Someone could always come up with a variant like SplendaEqualsDeath.com. That's the beauty of the internet, you could never come up with all the variations on hating Splenda. Unless you had infinite monkeys...

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go buy SnapCultureSucks.com... ben

Comments

3/10/2007 Add a comment

With March Madness upon us, I try to find interesting sources for my basketball fix. The New York Times has started up a blog called The Bracket, which allows their college basketball beat writers a chance to sound off on fun tidbits and gossip, some of the behind-the-scenes material that doesn't make it to the ink of the Grey Lady.

I particularly liked this post, written by the center of the Penn basketball team. He's averaging 9 points and 5 boards a game, and he's a Rhodes Scholar finalist. Historically, the Ivy League has provided a disproportionate share of great upset moments in the tournament, so I'm looking forward to seeing their first round matchup. ben

Comments

  1. Blogger Roy: Alas, Penn is not a part of the upset history. Here is what you can expect: hot shooting in the first half culminating in a 1 point advantage for halftime. Then we will get totally dismantled in the 2nd half. 3/13/2007  

3/07/2007 Add a comment

or, instead, how about a crazy Korean farting game? Use the space bar to fart when the car passes so the guy can't hear you. Use the left arrow to release SBDs. At last, the potential of the internets has been realized!

(Thanks, Kevin!) ben

Comments

  1. Blogger William: This reminds me of the Sarah Silverman program from a couple of weeks ago when one of her gay friends left an SBD in a cop car, was talking on the phone about the "bomb" he left, and after the police overheard it, the bomb squad came to diffuse what they thought was a real bomb. If you're not watching that show, you should. It's pretty funny. 3/07/2007  

3/01/2007 Add a comment

this game is really hard. i found it on digg... ben

Comments

  1. Blogger bc: pr: 5.55'' on level a 3/02/2007  
  2. Blogger bc: after 40 more wasted minutes of life, I'm proud/ashamed to say that I've got 5 of the top 10 times today, and the 46th fastest of all-time (5.16 on level a). 3/03/2007  
  3. Blogger bc: another 20 minutes... 4.71 seconds. I think it's time to retire. 3/04/2007