connecting*the*dots

Thanks to the good folks at plasq, my screen will now be saved by surreal urban environments splashed with graffiti and textures, all at the discount price of nothing.

Now if I could only have my RSS Visualizer appear within the environment itself…

(via FactoryCity)

Last September, I happened upon Michal Levy’s brilliant computer animation of the Coltrane classic, Giant Steps. After reading John Amato’s latest musical post on John Coltrane, I figured John and his audience would dig it. Thanks for the h/t, John.

Now, if you’re truly a political head, yet only a casual a fan of jazz, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point you over to the life work of Charles Mingus. The man lived life on the edge, spoke from the heart and translated his political perspective into complex compositions and straightforward lyrics that would make even the most polished, political pundit take notes.

Check out this quote from a review of the Mingus Big Band release of Blues & Politics:

…Mingus’ song titles are also fascinating because they are so suggestive — how does the Haitian revolution or the rise and decline of man (”Pithecanthropus Erectus“) sound? The titles make you think and pay attention to the music as it is played — this is what Mingus desired most as a performer. Throughout his career he sought a conscientious audience working with him to bring meaning to the music. Reprinted within the liner notes of Blues & Politics is Mingus’ untitled prose poem about pledging allegiance to the American flag as well as the lyrics to “Oh Lord, Don’t Let Them Drop That Atomic Bomb on Me”, “Don’t Let It Happen Here”, and “Freedom”. These pieces reflect Mingus’ concern with justice for all Americans across racial lines…

Pure genius.

What a fun and truth-laced animation this is from Iain Anderson (all made from airport iconography). Man, I wish I had more free time…

HearUsNow.org just released a fantastic cartoon/music video to raise awareness about media deregulation and consolidation, which reminded me of a post I dropped inn 2003, a few months after the Iraqi War began, entitled, “Art Prophesying Reality?”

Back then, society (people at parties, the media, popular culture, etc.) seemed more than willing to pigeonhole bloggers as everything from self-indulgent to narcissistic to mindless to geeks. That didn’t slow down the revolution, as many early adopters knew that there was a huge opportunity for blogging to change the way humans communicated between, and learned from one another. There was just no way we could’ve possibly imagined how this ecosystem would come together.

Recently, services such as Technorati, Bloglines, and IceRocket began to make blogs more accessible, with Google Blog Search adding eyeballs and Yahoo! News topping that by presenting blogs at the same level as the MSM as a result of a news query. The blogging ecosystem has finally become more mainstream, extending the reach of blogs beyond the world of early adopters, and providing useful and usable transparency into the mechanics of the inter-connectivity of the muck and mire of human knowledge.

The MSM “Tower of Consolidation” really does have something to worry about, as their ivory tower world is beginning to crumble down around them — whther they want to recognize it or not.

(via Joho the Blog)

UPDATE: It looks like Fox is now trying to force bogus opinion into their local news broadcasts.

First, there was theDancing Baby. Now we have an internet superhero capable of swinging (literally) from the West Village to San Francisco, as well as from criminal to criminal. I’d like to introduce (drumroll please) gay Spiderman!

Don’t ask me who created this, but whoever they are, they’re my new heroes. Brilliant! It answers all my questions about Peter Parker after sitting through Spiderman and watching him turn down Kirsten Dunst — he was probably holding out for the Green Goblin.