Category: Society

‘Kill Shakespeare’ Act I

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FasEBYDkGw4]

 

Finally—and it took too long—I edited the 18-minute video interview with “Kill Shakespeare” artist/illustrator Andy Belanger and creators Anthony Del Col and Conor McCreery. We chatted during San Diego Comic-Con 2010. They reimage the Bard’s characters in a good versus evil hunt for Shakespeare. You’ll never think of Hamlet the same way again.

Nemu-Nemu

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhtnpEuRqEg]   Here is my third video interview from San Diego Comic-Con 2010 (but fourth recorded). I’ll finish editing and posting the other videos by end of week. Here, I speak with “Nemu Nemu” […]

Fat Rabbit Farm

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jY8wD0H3VZI]   During San Diego Comic-Con 2010 Day 2, I interviewed Fat Rabbit Farm creators Patty Variboa and Jason Ponggasam and writer of the first book Nicholas Doan. Cramped space in the booth made for tough […]

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The Roles We Play

I am catching some down time in the Press Room at the San Diego Convention Center. Outside in the hall, Comic-Con rumbles on with a crowd I would estimate to be at least three times the size of Day One. The noise and bustle makes taking good photos or conducting video interviews difficult. So I’m shacked up with my laptop in this quiet place, contemplating what Comic-Con is all about: Role playing.

Many attendees have come here as someone else. For a day, or even a few, they take on another persona. They become someone else—perhaps whom they would rather be, but most certainly not who they are. They can be heroes and even stars, for most anyone well-costumed will be repeatedly stopped for photos. Comic-Con lets them be not just someone else but someone special.

Mollycules

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnqMEn7qaIw]   In my first San Diego Comic-Con 2010 interview, artist and illustrator Molly Hahn shows off some delightful monsters and offers tips for aspiring storytellers. She’s bright and articulate, Mollycules is superb branding […]

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Does the Net Necessitate Social Media?

It’s the question I seriously ask in context of web users’ constant state of distraction and increasing inability to concentrate for long periods. Nicholas Carr’s book The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains looks at this state of distraction. I’ve blogged posts: “Internet Attention Deficit Disorder” and “Of Course, Technology Changes You.” Are people losing their minds, so to speak, only to gain another—group mind—through online social interaction?

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Journalists, Don’t Fall for Predicto’s Flack Attack about iPhone 4 Recall

This morning, I received a PR pitch from social networking survey service Predicto, which existence I had no prior knowledge. I’m simply aghast by the flagrant misuse of data and assertion that based on a Predicto survey, Apple will likely recall iPhone 4.

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Ken Hansen: Mr. Leica

Since late February, I looked to buy the Leica X1, but the camera is unavailable most everywhere. Steve Huff’s review turned me onto the X1, which, aside for price, is exactly what I have been searching for: A compact digicam with high IQ (image quality). In early March, I got on the Pro Shop for Photographers Leica X1 waiting list and waited and waited. The call came in late June when I was too cash poor; I had to pass on buying one of the two cameras the Leica dealer received that month.

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Are Night Owls Brighter, or Just Late-Night TV Watchers?

There are some things that really go oddly together, like sleep and intelligence. This week I saw several blog posts and tweets referring to Psychology Today article “Intelligence: The Evolution of Night Owls.” That people are talking about the article demonstrates the distressing power of the social Web. The article posted on Nov. 1, 2009, so it’s not exactly new. Matthew Hutson recounts—and without substantive details—a sleep and intelligence study.