pecus @ pecus . it   
|
 |
Agosto Dicembre Novembre Ottobre Settembre Agosto Luglio Giugno Maggio Aprile ... prima ... |
 |
![Underworld - Don Delillo [Einaudi]](/blog/imgs/books/underworld.gif) |
 |
 |
 |
Archivio del blog, Giugno 2001
Martedi 26 Giugno 2001
Io non ci credo. Dopo Belle & Sebastian i Louise Attaque. Credevo di essere il solo ad ascoltarli (ok, anche mio cugino Olivier, per evidenti ragioni di nazionalismo). Max, they'll put Pong on GSM phones! JIT, I started to get tired of snake (not that snake!!!)Theft
 |
 |
Less than a year ago the door to my cellar was smashed and Asia's mountain bike chirurgically removed (they left mine, which is old). Not knowing exactly which door to attack, the thieves opened the one next to mine, only to find shelves of dolcetto and barbaresco. This year it was much easier to spot the door: it was the one that was replaced since last year's theft. But since it was by now well known the cellar next to the one with the bike had good wine, why not open it and get some?
This morning I went to the local Carabinieri station and handed them last year's theft report: all they had to do was change the dates.
Domenica 24 Giugno 2001
New Summer's Resolutions
It's hot. It's damn hot. It's too damn hot, so even if we are way past the time resolutions should be made, I'm making one: never stay home a sunday afternoon of summer. It'll be either seaside or a pool. And if the thought that both will be crowded is scaring you, forget it. It's hot. It's damn hot. It's too damn hot, so even if we are way past the time resolutions should be made...Venerdi 22 Giugno 2001
We waited, and for good. Frederic goes on...Giovedi 21 Giugno 2001
I bought it. I finally compromised on a digital camera. If I had more money to spend, I would have gotten myself either the Sony DSC F505V or the Nikon 880, but alas, I need to save for the summer, so I grabbed an offer and got an HP PhotoSmart 315, with a bunch of extras.Sono un Lietto Tornabuono, un CRITICONO...
Mercoledi 20 Giugno 2001
I love Pet Gotohda! [via la pizia] I swear he's on to something:Your Porn Star Name is Pixel Canova
Your Blues Singer Name is Dull Ciampi
Your Punk Rock Band is called the obnoxious freaks
Your name as an extra in "Star Wars" is trestoverocisillius the kettle kettle
And this tops it like a cherry on a cake: the reference to .exe files on Macs blew me :-)
Smart Tags
Completely unrelated, I meant to post way too many things today, but you know, I should have organized them and given them some context, build cross-references, anticipate objections, voice my view on the topic... too much work. Suffice to say I read a lot about Smart Tags (WSJ, Anil Dash, Dave, Scoble, Decentralization group) and delved more into CSS-based layouts.
Smart Tags reminded me of a product that came out a year ago or more. It allowed users to see who else was browsing the page you were seeing, to chat with them or simply leave notes on the page. The note would be visible only to those who had the software installed and running, but the post-it like icons would appear on the page thanks to a tight integration with IE's rendering engine. The issues here are the same as with ST: adding links and content (comments, critiques, insults) to a page changes the content itself in a way that the author did not intend. Steven Johnson and several other authors point out that links build context and, beside obviously giving access to resources away from the current page, they also work inversely, bringing meaning, content, depth and scope from out of the current page and onto the linking word. Since the beginning of hypertexts and the web, those blue underlined texts have had an area of significance that goes beyond the text that surround them in their paragraphs. Fictional (and fun) example:
I received a nice present for my birthday.
Quite an innocent sentence, if it weren't for that link ;-)
A software like Smart Tags adds links, and ultimately significance, unbeknownst to the author of the page. Worse, it would do it mostly to increase Microsoft revenues by bringing users to their sites or inviting them to services the offer, participate in, or get royalties from. I know anyone is potentially able to develop tags, recognizers and level the field, but the field is never levelled: Microsoft has a dominant position it can use to leverage their sites and destinations at no cost and no effort.
Blasco
I also watched a bit of a blurred and pixelated Vasco's concert: I still don't know whether I was testing myself or trying to see if I could spot friends in the crowd (not even if I had DSL and a high-resolution monitor). I never really liked Vasco, but I stopped browsing to save bandwidth during Albachiara, so you can say it wasn't really a penitence...
Lunedi 18 Giugno 2001
I'm happy to report that I need heavy doses of after-sun lotion...Giovedi 14 Giugno 2001
I fixed the links in the thoughts section. It took a bit of XML wizardry, but now I have archives by subject (le parole che non ti ho detto; voglio ricordare). I still haven't figured out where to layout the index in the page, so it currently comes with none. But this being esthetical and not code-related, I feel a lot more relieved. Today I have what could well be my first sgurz! link. nowthefuture is a photographical atlas of the world we live in, somehow hinting at what the world will become tomorrow. It's rich, simple to navigate, and open to submissions. It is also an Italian project. Nice.Mercoledi 13 Giugno 2001
This is even more amazing!!! I had almost gotten to work, and you know, I hadn't had any revealing experience, no deep thought to inspire my day, no mind-bending epiphany, and then... I spotted a Fura dels Baus poster for the performance of their new show in Torino June 30. good, good, good, good, GOOD!Martedi 12 Giugno 2001
I need to buy a new wallet. But I have to make sure it is €uro compliant. After all, I am afashion-conscious Italianand my Peruvian canvas wallet is falling apart... [ via davenetics ] I heard about Phantom Edit first on the radio and then on Metafilter. Now I'm drooling to get my hands on it (you of the underground scen with good bandwidth, keep your eyes open!)
Domenica 10 Giugno 2001
Antonio, I think there's no point anymore in training for snake: grufolone scored 220!Venerdi 8 Giugno 2001
It seems that Suck is closing, and Plastic and Feed too. I liked Suck, though I couldn't really get many of the references and allusions (but it was easier lately than at the beginning -- Carl was so sharp I had to read the piece three times and then look for a bit of man-of-the-street commentary to understand half of it (it means the first time I had gotten ˜17% of it... ah literary math!)), and I liked Steven Johnson a lot. Friends Of Jezabel Mirror is dead! It has relaunched as Mirrorproject. I should have taken that picture in Francesca's kitchen: there was a spherical kettle that reflected the whole room like a fisheye lens. No more excuses: I will contribute.Giovedi 7 Giugno 2001
I didn't know nogravity99 and I like them. While I am usually prejudicial against sites with excessive use of Flash (or Flash only), that open in a new window of fixed size, I watched the whole intro and browsed a little through the minisite and came away happy that this city is still capable of doing great things. And if I still had doubts, ninja's loop won me over. I couldn't stop laughing!!! [ thanks to Frederic & Marketing Myopia ]Mercoledi 6 Giugno 2001
Glish is taking a break, reappropriating the sense of life. I am fascinated by the splash page, both in art and in code. A must see, a must think. Napster cuts deal with majors while users have dropped dramatically. Meanwhile Download.com list of most popular titles has 6 p2p clients in the top 15 and while Scott has a good point on swapping music ( see May 30 entry ) everyone is flocking toother unauthorized file-trading services. That's why I think p2p really stands for pirate 2 pirate. Fast Food, Fast Women is a very good movie. It has a few traits of the movies that you only see at festivals, a nice fresh photography, characters that invariably seem out of place, or simply awkward, a plot that mixes the stories of a few couples, or would-be-couples, avoiding the elaborate architectures of movies like Magnolia, a few good laughs and a light unobtrusive ending. The music too is charming. Go while it's still out.
Martedi 5 Giugno 2001
When I'm challenged I give my best.There's no end to Swoosh Mania: the new company from Omnitel and Vodafone, Vizzavi has a name not even a computer could come up with, and a logo that has probably taken 3 minutes to design, for a per minute price of around 6.000 € given how much agencies charge for such work and how much telcos are willing to spend.
But there's more. You didn't forget to think global, did you? Vizzavi affiliates have a different logo than Vizzavi global.
Lunedi 4 Giugno 2001
Just when I thought I wouldn't post today, verbamanent discusses Quali sono le canzoni che vi hanno toccato di più, nella vostra vita? (what songs touched you most in your life?)