I’ve greatly enjoyed Alan Krueger’s “Land of Hope and Dreams: Rock and Roll, Economics and Rebuilding the Middle Class” speech given at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this past June. In the speech, Krueger compares the economics of the music industry to what is happening in the U.S. economy as a whole. It… Continue reading Rockonomics
Category: entertainment
Rock Show Concert Posters 2.0: Now on iPhone and iPod Touch
I’m pumped to announce availability of Rock Show 2.0. This is the first version of Rock Show that works on the iPad and both the iPhone and iPod Touch. A lot of fixes and tweaks are in this version of the application, along with some new posters as well! Two articles are up about the… Continue reading Rock Show Concert Posters 2.0: Now on iPhone and iPod Touch
Reprogrammed Animatronic Bear Band Plays MGMT Cover
Aaron Fechter the President of Creative Engineering, Inc has been reprogramming a working animatronic bear-band set up. It looks like the company created it for a line of restraunts similar to Chuck E. Cheese. He’s currently taking cash bids to do syncing or “choreography” for the band members. The way the performance is filmed and presented… Continue reading Reprogrammed Animatronic Bear Band Plays MGMT Cover
Review of Jandek and Thurston Moore at Hollywood Theatre in Portland
Ask any alternative music afficiando about their feelings towards Jandek you’re almost assured an animated response. Jandek’s life and music are puzzling to even his fans and yet his following endures. I had the distinct and rare chance to be in the audience for the Jandek / Thurston Moore show at the Hollywood Theatre in… Continue reading Review of Jandek and Thurston Moore at Hollywood Theatre in Portland
The Concept of Self and Use of RFID on the iPhone in Entertainment and Social Space
My friend Elissa turned me on to an article by William Deresiewicz titled The End of Solitude that addresses the culture of celebrity and connectivity as symptoms of an impulse for becoming known. Much of the article offers an overview of the historical concept of Self and what we get out of it. Something I… Continue reading The Concept of Self and Use of RFID on the iPhone in Entertainment and Social Space
Quake Live Beta
I received an unsolicited email a few days ago from id Software requesting that I join their beta program for Quake Live. I haven’t played Quake since since 1999, but remember playing quite a bit of Quake 3 Arena–especially capture the flag. In order to beta test, you first create an id Software user account,… Continue reading Quake Live Beta
World of Warcraft Patches Require Obscene Amounts of Hard Drive Space
I recently wrote a brief paper on World of Warcraft, a game I’ve never played before, for the Service Strategies course I’m taking at Babson. My paper discusses what about Blizzard Software’s functionality with the MMORPG of WoW was innovative or offered a bit of service differentiation. You can read the whole thing here. (pdf)… Continue reading World of Warcraft Patches Require Obscene Amounts of Hard Drive Space
RJD2 @ Paradise
I just got back from the 5/3/08 RJD2 show at The Paradise on Comm. Ave. I had been looking forward to the show for some time, pulling the on-sale date from an RSS item from tourfilter and within a week or two tickets sold out. It was with great anticipation that I approached the show.… Continue reading RJD2 @ Paradise
My First Database Refactoring
I spent a good portion of the day today refactoring the database used to power the Dave Matthews Band application I’ve been writing for Facebook. I’ve been interested in writing for Facebook for some time because I believe that companies need to be expanding their online presence into applications built for major social networking platforms.… Continue reading My First Database Refactoring
Fair-Weather Leaks Serve as a Strategic Method of Media Control
Ryan Grim at The Politico wrote an article about the political leaks in Washington D.C. that also offers insight into how and why leaks happen just about everywhere, from bands to business to family secrets. The article separates the types of leaks into three categories: the malevolent, the benevolent and the accidental. Grim’s article includes… Continue reading Fair-Weather Leaks Serve as a Strategic Method of Media Control