2 weeks ago
Tumblr
Tumblr doesn’t feel like home anymore. It feels like TV. All the good people on Tumblr have seemingly been replaced by brands and/or ultra-stylish, impeccably curated ‘style’ blogs. Why even try to be cool when Nevver has a patent on ice-cold nihilistic minimalism?
Basically, Tumblr is no longer about people, it’s about style and ‘culture’. This is not a bad thing per se. In fact, I am quite comfortable using Tumblr simply as an entertainment medium. But I still lament the lost voice of the ordinary dude/dudette; the angry masters in philosophy student; the witty dork.
As more and more of my friends (both real and digital) drop off the Tumblr grid, and as Tumblr continues to court High St brands to promote lucrative content partnerships, I feel my own voice and my own position within Tumblr’s community diminishing each time I log in.
I’ve been on Tumblr for almost five years now, and it has certainly provided a lot without asking for very much in return, but I increasingly have less interest in being an active member of the community, in favour of basically becoming just another passive consumer. Perhaps it’s time to go searching for greener pastures…
2 months ago
2 months ago
The Tragedy of Aaron Swartz : The New Yorker (Larissa MacFarquhar)
“I TOLD ALEC that Aaron was a bit too calm before Christmas. I told Alec that I thought he might try to kill himself. It was like he had one too many options. It was on the table.”
‘Aaron Swartz hanged himself in his apartment in Brooklyn on January 11th. He was twenty-six, but he had been well known as a computer programmer for many years.’
I’m not sure why, but something about this article really hit me hard. The interweaving of direct personal quotes with lucid, intelligent writing helped forge a vivid image of this incredibly talented, yet ultimately tortured, young internet icon.
Long-form journalism well-worthy of your time.
2 months ago
2 months ago
Seriously, who are these cats who, in this day and age, launch a music-sharing business which requires a ‘sign-up’.
NEWSFLASH: EVERY SONG EVER AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE FOR FREE!
YouTube 4 EVA.
4 months ago
””“A study of 2012’s most read Wikipedia articles reveals striking differences in what proved popular across the different language versions of the online encyclopaedia.
Facebook topped the English edition while an entry for adult video actresses did best in Japan.
By contrast, cul-de-sacs were the German site’s most clicked entry.””“
»HAHAHAHA, GERMANY!
6 months ago
7 months ago
8 months ago
If this blog was worth as much as a tennis shoe, I’d be over the moon!
8 months ago
Mike from the Idea Channel and Michael from Vsauce.
Two of the best balding, bearded white guys named Michael who host their own YouTube channels dedicated to science and technology anywhere on the internet.
Man love ++
8 months ago
I was just zooming around Brisbane on Google Maps and somehow ended up inside a hair dressing salon…… When did this become a thing??
8 months ago
9 months ago
The Future
Was today better than yesterday?
Was this week better than last week?
Is this year better than last year?
When we think of the future, we often think in binary terms of it being either Utopian or Dystopian. In both cases, the future world we imagine seems vastly different from the everyday present we live and breathe today. The future we envisage is always a distant reality, where our greatest hopes and/or fears are realised, and where radical change seems commonplace. The truth is though, these changes aren’t inherently born from the ‘future’, but are incubated in the present; are nurtured and encouraged in the present; are evolved and modified in the present.
The future we built in the 80s, in the 90s, in the 00s, is happening now. We are the future generation of our past imagination. We are living relics of a time which has always appeared both irrational, and in many respects, impossible. The question remains though - Is the future, that is, the present day we all live in, a Utopia or a Dystopia? Has the dream of wild technological advancement been realised, or are we living in a world of hyper-surveillance, environmental destruction, and moral deprivation?
The future doesn’t just appear - it is realised, slowly, progressively, and in a way, deliberately. The world we see tomorrow might seem identical to the world we saw today and world we saw yesterday, but in reality each day is another step forward towards a world we may eventually neither recognise or, wish to embrace.
Ultimately though, it all comes down to this:
Was today better than yesterday?
Was this week better than last week?
Is this year better than last year?
10 months ago
