Haiku (俳句) [Haiku Reviews]

I was rereading a lot of my reviews and realized that I'm one wordy kid. While I am moved to write about a book or a movie, I want to find a succinct way of getting my way across. I've settled on writing a Haiku (俳句).

According to Wikipedia, Haiku is:

a form of Japanese poetry, consisting of 17 Japanese on (a phonetic unit identical to the mora), in three metrical phrases of 5, 7, and 5 on respectively, and typically containing a kigo, or seasonal reference. In Japanese, haiku are traditionally printed in a single vertical line, while haiku in English usually appear in three lines, to equate to the Japanese haiku's three metrical phrases.

I was telling K, yesterday, about this great new idea. However, after a quick search, the law of the Internets prevailed. The one that says that any idea that you may have is already in the Internets. You can find how unoriginal my idea is here, here, and here.

A Slum O'Kay Rags to Raj-ah Tale [Slumdog Millionaire Review]

There's been a lot of buzz about the film. However, this is no typically bollywood film. Slumdog is a heart-warming crossover directed by Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, and the underrated Sunshine).

Typical bollywood films have the following characteristics and themes:

• Love and betrayal (on a scale of 1 to 10 in melodrama, they're typically as high as south korean soaps
• Exploration of family dynamics
  
• And always always always... a dance sequence

To be honest, I liked the film, but didn't love the film. You can see Danny's hand through the entire film. Maybe I walked in with expectations too high, but I found the film a little predictable.

However, maybe the best films are predictable. K loves watching Love Actually around this time of year. There is something clever about how the film is constructed and warm about how the main character's (Jamal) journey to be with his destined that will make this a repeat film watched on a movie night between a couple.

[3 of 5]

I want to try something new, i wrote a haiku for the movie:

boyle in bollywood

boy seeks girl melodrama

rags to raj-ah tale

Don't Count Your Seats Until You've Sat Down [United Suites]

On my return trip from visiting Egypt and Jordan, I spent many miles to upgrade myself to business class.

United Airlines has been slowly rolling out "the next generation" of business class seats. Shown below, they're like miniaturized first-class cockpits.
These seats have all sorts of bells and whistles:

• Ability to lie flat. True 180-degree seats
  
• On-Demand TV
• Menu designed by Charlie Trotter
• Output for your laptop
• Ipod Dock (you need to buy the converter)

After visiting UA's promotional website and reading blog posts about the new business class chairs, imagine my surprise when I stepped into the plane to find... just seats, no cockpits. I quickly realized that I had been bamboozled. Luckily, I was one of the first to board the plane and got to see everybody's reaction as they piled onto the plane. It was fun.

It was a look of utter surprise and disappointment. Some people looked side to side and probably wondered, is this the right plane? Am I flying back to Chicago? In our section of the cabin, the one and only thing people talked about was on the (lack of) the inquiring how they were expecting something different.

These new cockpit suites are only available on a couple routes (LHR to ORD, for example) and on select planes (21 of 91 planes have been converted).

Business class on a 7 hour flight is a lot better than economy class. But we all felt that we got the short end of the stick. My "single serving friend" had read UA's press release, visited the website, changed his route to fly through Heathrow instead of Frankfurtused a TON of miles to upgrade himself, and double checked that the plane had the new suites, just to try it out. It's an adult version of taking candy from a baby.

Too bad, so sad. I guess I'm telling you this story because I find it fascinating how important it is to manage expectations. We would've been fine with our tattered beige business class seats that couldn't even go "angled flat."

Who knows when I'll be able to fly on an international flight again, but I'll be going in with managed expectations.

This post is a bit of promotion [Gallery 400 Exhibit]

On Wednesday, I will be attending the opening of Gallery 400. This will be K's first professionally curated show and from what I hear, it's going to be a doozy. There's been a lot of buzz around it and I hear the emerging artists are hot hot hot.  The likes include: Karl Erickson, Andrew Falkowski, Matt Hanner, Shana Lutker, Debora Warner, and Jordan Wolfson.

From the press release:

This Shadow is a Bit of Ideology, gathers a group of artists working against the darkness cast by a long, drawn-out war, a rancorous spirit in politics, a social landscape obscured by rampant information retrieval, and a crumbling economy. The artists in the exhibition do not turn their backs on current socio-political issues, but neither do they embrace propaganda. Rather, they harness anxieties—political, economic, personal—as productive generators for form. Introspection, reflective criticism, oblique commentary and cohabitation of past with present are just a few of the tactics by which these artists navigate progressively through the twilight.

With my sister is visiting from San Diego; and since she's a foodie, we have reservations after the opening to grab dinner at Alinea.

It's going to be night of multi-sensory exuberance. First sight and sound, and then taste and sight. All with 2 of 3 of my most fave women in the world.

i'm a momma's boy after all...

Research Shows... [Data validity]

We've entered a linked information world. The emphasis for information distribution isn't focused on creation but the aggregation and filtering of information. The splicing, rebroadcasting, linking, editing, aggregation becomes one lengthy game of information telephone. We'll often take it for face value and begin quoting it for our own use. For example, given the current testimonials for the auto industry, the 1 in 10 US jobs tied to the industry has been given a lot of press. However, with some casual searching you'll find this on Economix, a NY Times blog.

Frank Furedi, professor of sociology at the University of Kent, writes in Times Higher Education about the assumptions, and sketchy data the term: "research shows"

As someone devoted to academic research, I feel increasingly embarrassed when I encounter the words "research shows" in a newspaper article...Last month a study by John Alford of Rice University proved that right-wing Americans are likely to be far more nervous than left-wing counterparts. Liberal readers will be delighted to learn that they are typically relaxed.

We know this is cutting-edge research because he interviewed as many as 46 people.

Image Source: Wessex Archaeology

Tribute to John Williams [A Cappella]

The Pitch: Based on the music of John Williams, Star Wars - A Cappella Tribute to John Williams was originally released in May 1999 to celebrate the release of Episode 1. On October 31st, a video version of the song was produced with the help of the Moosebutter comedy group. This video was featured on YouTube last week.

Source: slashfilm

Jordan Part Deux [Petra Pictures]

Thusfar:

• Eaten hummus at every meal
• Climbed about 10 miles worth of Petra, Jordan
• Found a Popeyes, 7-11, and a Burger King
• Honored Moses' resting place
• Visited the Dead Sea

Pedigree Ad [Agile Advertising]

This ran in USA Today the Thursday right after the election speech. Much props for the ad guys...
Source:Adsoftheworld

Here's a wordle of Obama's victory speech:

A taste of Egypt and Jordan [Pix Preview]

Thus far:

• Climbed Mt. Sinai
• Drove under the Suez Canal
• Rode a camel
• Rescued from the Red Sea
  
• Saw a piece of the flaming bush

If a picture is worth a thousand words, and Internet costs a lot of money, this should be a great preview of my journey so far in both Egypt and Jordan.

Chicago on election night

This past Tuesday, K and I took up Mayor Dailey's offer to go down to Grant Park. I've never seen downtown Chicago as crowded and excited as I did last Tuesday night.

I've posted some of my pictures of the night. You can see them on flickr.

All Shoes Considered [Nike Considered]

Nike has launched a new initiative called Considered Design. When trying to develop a more sustainable product, Nike realized that instead of creating a new shoe, they came up with the idea of using old shoes to make new ones. Vanessa Farquharson writes:

It's a perfect example of "upcycling" -- a green trend in which an expired product is upgraded into a new, more superior product -- and it's just one aspect of Nike's new approach to sustainability, which the company calls Considered Design.

Some examples of Considered Design's objectives: - A closed-loop system, in which Nike designers and manufacturers use old material and scraps from the cutting room floor to make new shoes, in order to reduce excess waste at the outset and create less demand for virgin resources. - Mechanically locking soles, meaning no glue or solvents are required in the production process; plus, insertable booties, removable logos and other design features that make the shoes easy to dismantle for recycling. - Apparel made entirely from recycled polyester and organic cotton, with water-based adhesive techniques in place of toxic cement or VOCs. - Open-sourced technology, allowing other companies to share research and development and promote sustainability throughout the marketplace.

Read the article from National Post here.