Can A Song Save Your Life? I Think So.
My friend Jon’s brilliant blog Songs That Saved Your Life returns from hiatus today with a great piece on Bob Dylan’s “Desolation Row”. In the piece, besides letting us know how this particular song has saved his life, Jon reminds his readers (and, perhaps, himself) why he started the site in the first place:
When I get right down to it, this is why I’m doing what I do with this site. Whether most of us realize it, or not, the choices we make about the art we involve ourselves in says something about who and what we are. Our aesthetic choices reflect our personalities—our dreams, desires, fears, regrets, and favorite brands of toothpaste—and they can leave a real impression of us for those that come after. You all have the opportunity to leave a tangible, historical record of your life to those that would listen. You really can say something about yourself with a good mix tape. You can tell us something about the people you loved, and the things that matter. All it takes is a moment of starting a record, being still, and telling a story.
And if you’re looking for someplace to share, allow me to share the good news that Songs accepts submissions.
Worth Your Consideration 010 - A GF5 Linkdump
- David Pogue and Walt Mossberg have chimed in with the first reviews of iPhone 3G, and Mac Rumors has got the linkage. Pogue makes the point that “the really big deal is the iPhone 2.0 software and the App Store, neither of which requires buying a new iPhone,” but the general consensus seems to be that the device is a nice upgrade.
- Apple expects a fifteen minute set-up process for iPhone 3G, according to this article from Bloomberg.com. That’s a little bit better than what I’d been expecting, but it’s still way too long. I wasn’t among the lucky ones who got to buy an iPhone last summer and then activate the thing from the comfort of my own home, but I was looking forward to the simplicity and easy nature of that process quite a bit. I don’t like standing around retail stores. They kind of stress me out. Oh well.
Twittering “Two Weirdoes” (Crosspost)
[Cross-posted from the blog at echristopherclark.com]
I am very busy at the day job today, but on my breaks from work I’ll be twittering the entire text of “Two Weirdoes, a Shovel, and Lots of Open Land,” which I discussed on Making the Book the other day.
The Twitter version of “Two Weirdoes” starts here.
Worth Your Consideration 009 - A GF5 Linkdump
I know it may not seem like it to those of you who are not Apple people, but I’ve actually been holding back on the number of Apple-related stories I’ve been publishing in the lead-up to the release of Apple’s iPhone 3G. There’s a ton of quasi-news coming out of the Apple sites every day now, but I’ve been trying to limit my coverage here to stories that I actually have a little something to say about.
Okay, now that that’s out of the way, on with the linkdump.
- Apple will open its U.S. retail stores at 8 a.m. on Friday to launch the iPhone 3G. This is exciting sure, but the main reason they’re doing a morning launch instead of their typical evening launch is because the process for purchasing an iPhone will be infinitely more complicated than it was the last time. Customers are being asked to bring a credit card, a valid, government-issued ID, their social security number, a copy of their current wireless statement, and the naming rights to their first-born child.
- If you can’t wait until Friday to experience the sheer awesomeness of unboxing a new iPhone of your very own, then Engadget has you covered.
- Or, if you’re like me, and won’t be able to get your iPhone on Friday (I’ll be working and then camping) and are therefore thirsting for some Apple-related goodness to call your very own, check out this news about Apple’s MobileMe service. It will apparently be launching on Wednesday night. If a free trial is available at some point on Thursday, you can be damn sure I’ll be signing up for that. It should make the pain of not being able to be an opening-weekend adopter of iPhone 3G a little easier to bear.
- Or, if you hate Apple and loves yourself some Microsoft, check out this news from InformationWeek. It turns out that Redmond will soon be responding to Apple’s ubiquitous Get a Mac attack ads. The campaign will apparently operate under the umbrella tagline “Free the People.” How long until Apple responds with a “Yeah, free the people from Vista” ad?
The Ins and Outs of Shooting Smut
News Askew has scored scans of an Empire Magazine feature on Zack and Miri Make a Porno that is chock full of interesting info on the upcoming flick. The sub-headline reads, “Kevin Smith explains the ins and outs of shooting smut,” and its his comments on the first sex scene they shot that were most amusing to me:
...Smith was eased into his first sex scene with a little help from a seasoned veteran and the director’s best buddy.
“I got really lucky, as the first two people we shot were Katie Morgan, who is an adult film star in her day job, and (Jason) Mewes, who was actually born to play this role.
“You’ll never find two people who are less inhibited than those two. Katie was like, ‘Anything we do here is gonna be tame compared to what I normally do,’ and Mewes is just a guy who spends most of his days air-fucking anyway. If I had two serious actors I’m sure it would have been uncomfortable, but with these two it was just like, ‘Okay, can you do this in this position?’ and they’re like, ‘Alright.’ And boy, did they make it seem believable.”
Mewes gets to have (simulated) sex with an actual porn star? Is this something that Kev promised Mewes (in addition to Clerks II) when he was trying to get the boy to kick his heroin habit? Because, if so: brilliant move, sir.
