Tag Archives: shameless plugs

Gaming the Google Game… for Charity!

Posted on Tuesday May 17, 2011 | Leave a comment

If you Google “Sweet Home Alabama: A Performance to Aid Disaster Relief” you don’t get any automatic suggestions. But you do get a northern spin on a southern classic and an easy and duly rewarding way to contribute to the relief efforts in Alabama.

Listen if you want to, give if you can — and for goodness’ sake, pass it the heck on.

Arranged and performed by members of The Shake, Apollo Run and other yankee gonnabes. Directed and edited by our own Nick Schupak. Promise, you’ll never feel better (read: less regretful) about listening to Skynyrd.

Updated May 18: Go to help-alabama.org to care/give/help.

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Almost a Google Game

Posted on Tuesday April 12, 2011 | 1 comment

In lieu of your regularly scheduled programming (which has been preempted lately by life and napping anyway), today I present something Google-related, but less Game than Regurgitation.

Have you been on Google today? Did you notice the space theme? Did you wonder why there’s an astronaut on the page? Maybe I can help, with a couple  posts I wrote for LifesLittleMysteries.com:

Picture

6 Surprising Facts about the First Manned Space Mission

FAQ: The Maiden Voyage of the Space Shuttle

Click on for a quick lesson on this important day in history, when, in 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space, and then 20 years later, the Space Shuttle took off on its first mission.

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Posted in Information Stupor Highway, Lab Results

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Sharing Time

Posted on Thursday December 2, 2010 | 6 comments

I’ve been conspicuously unprolific  here lately. Too wrapped up in myself, I think, to give to the blog. What have I been doing instead? Well, you know, I’m often told that I can be frustratingly reluctant to talk about what I’m up to. So
in an effort to embrace a lemons-to-
lemonade attitude I’ll try to turn my uncomfortable internet silence into productive sharing. I’ve been sitting here for weeks with my horn in my hand, I may as well toot it. (How’d that metaphor work for you? A little funny, or just awkward?)

In lieu of any original content, please feel free to check out my story in the December issue of Wired magazine, probably the coolest publication to bestow on me a byline. (Sorry, NYU Physician quarterly.) If you’re feeling analog, you can find it on newsstands now, but it costs real money and you have to get up to get it, so I wouldn’t bother. Though it will help you achieve that plugged-in geekster look when you’re reading it on the F train.

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Posted in Unhappy Media

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Fundraising the Old Fashioned Way, the New Fashioned Way

Posted on Monday November 22, 2010 | Leave a comment

I don’t like panhandlers. Because they make me feel like a jerk. Because I’m usually too selfish/heartless/lazy/jaded to help them. And anyway, face to face interaction is so outdated. That’s why I like Craig Rowin’s direct but distant digital approach. Plus, when someone asks for an (M)-note instead of a dollar it means that when I say “Sorry, guy, I don’t have it,” I’m not 100% lying. I can pat my pockets all I want. It’s not showing up. Ever.

That gives me an idea for a video.

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Posted in Information Stupor Highway, Shoot the Messenger

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That’s Mr. Pizza-Face to You: Embracing geekdom now for corporate dominance later

Posted on Monday March 15, 2010 | 1 comment

When I saw this commercial it surprised me to find that it was a PSA for a program from Time Warner Cable. It takes a lot for me to say nice things about Time Warner (shyster assholes), but this is a much-needed message, well delivered. According to the website:

In November 2009, Time Warner Cable launched Connect a Million Minds (CAMM), a philanthropic commitment of $100 million cash and in-kind donations. This five-year program was designed to inspire students to pursue learning opportunities and careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

What do I see in the future? Well, I do hope that the US ups its STEM game in the global marketplace. But it’s disheartening to think that our bosses will have been encouraged in adolescence to nurture the chips that being a geek in high school piles on their shoulders.

Still, here’s hoping the nerds of today in fact become the innovators of tomorrow. Back up plan: train all these kids to put customers on hold for an hour.

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Posted in Lab Results, Shoot the Messenger

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History of the Internet (Right up to the Good Part)

Posted on Friday February 19, 2010 | 1 comment

Happy Monday, Nerds. Ever wonder how the internet started? No? Oh, well, once upon a time there was no internet. And then this stuff happened, and then some other stuff, like Eudora in the late 80s and Netscape in the mid 90s, and then your mom started contacting all your friends on facebook. This video, created by a recent “communication design” graduate in Germany, Melih Bilgil, takes a look at how it all began. I kind of love the retro educational film-reel feel.

A warning to true, God-fearin, freedom-lovin ‘Mercans — you’re about to find out so I may as well tell you: the word “Internet” originated in, gulp, France. (Contrary to popular belief.)

Vodpod videos no longer available.

True, it ends just as things are getting good. Look for Part II: Porn Takes Over and Part III: Update or Die! (wherein individuals who fail to document themselves online fade out of existence) coming soon.

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New Music: On the Pulse, in a Seat, Dignity No Extra Charge

Posted on Friday February 19, 2010 | 1 comment

Yes, someone is trying to revive the integrity of modern music. And it so happens it’s my brother, in New York (fucking) City. Forget the shuffle at the front of the stage and the jostle at the bar. Sit in seats like grown ups and enjoy a half dozen of NYC’s most promising musical upstarts in a civilized setting that puts the focus on performance and artistry, where it rightly belongs. The Theater Shows, presented by CitizenMusic. Three nights only in March at the Players Theater on MacDougal.

Folks, this is what happens when Rock n Roll puts on a suit and tie:

Click here for tickets. (Or here, if you’re into the Facebook.) Twelve measly bones for a truly unique experience in the New York music scene. Something new? Who knew? Get ’em while you can. I’ll see you there.

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Space Elevator Is No-Laughing Matter

Posted on Wednesday November 4, 2009 | Leave a comment

Space elevator + pop culture irreverence = scitechilarity

[xkcd.com]

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Jews Inherently Funnier than Shoes

Posted on Friday October 23, 2009 | Leave a comment

Remember that “Shoes” video that was circulating for a while? People seemed to think it was funny? I never understood why, and frankly I found it downright unwatchable. But behold the power of parody. This recent send up, entitled “Jews,” takes an un-joke and actually makes it pretty funny:

Redemption through video response. Imagine the possibilities.

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The Deli Serves Up Some Shake

Posted on Friday October 23, 2009 | Leave a comment
The Shake rock.

The Shake rock.

The CMJ Music Marathon is an annual, awesomely unnavigable smorgasbord of underground acts around the city. Yesterday a writer covering the festival for The Deli mag made her way into a pre-happy hour mini-showcase of artists from Citizen Music (my li’l brother’s management co.) to catch a set by The Shake, a freshfaced rock and roll four-piece with stellar vocals, catchy guitar hooks and a penchant for the occasional disco cover. Check out the review under “Lindsey’s CMJ day 3” — and be sure to watch the video for The Shake’s single Manic Boogie. I defy you not to chair-dance.

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