To Yahoo!, from the streets

Wooster Collective reports that Michael Oliver has created a cool hack combining Flickr (a Yahoo! property) and Google Maps to create a dynamic map of street art snapshots as uploaded by users. Of course, Oliver's hack isn't working right now... but there's a similar hack that does work - using geotagged Flickr images and Google Maps - here (though there isn't much that's been mapped yet).

Hey, Yahoo!, maybe it's time to get your map application in shape enough to compete with Google's? This "hack" creates a combination of tools that are not unique to street art afficionados; wait until the travel industry and its journalists pick up on this... if they haven't already.

Cruelty-free living isn't what they say

PETA, in its holier-than-thou crusade for the ethical treatment of animals, has overlooked the fact that man is an animal, too. The alleged proponent of "cruelty-free living" has taken to paying homeless people a meager sum (less than ten US Dollars) to invade KFC locations and scare customers away. Since when are homeless people are lower lifeforms than chickens? PETA is clearly more about sensationalizing marginal issues and pushing propaganda than it is about being an ethical citizen. I suppose when your primary audience is over-privileged, arrogant suburbanites it's easy to lose your grip on reality.

Before you PETA folks post any comments (as if), see if you can answer these simple questions: If animals are not ours to exploit, why do we all drive automobiles that run on fossil fuels (animal byproducts)? Is there a time limit on how long an animal must be dead before it's okay for us to exploit it? Why do PETA booths at festivals sell DVDs and stickers that are produced with plastics (petroleum byproducts)?

Jet Blue Flight 292, via Caural

I just found out that my friend Zachary (aka Caural) was on that flight. He's blogged his account of it here. Glad to know he made it safely, and that he appears to be taking this all in stride. What a good sport! I'm interested to hear what new music of his this event inspires. Here's a quote from his account, which is very surreal (blogging about appearing on the media, where you were talking about how you watched your plane make an emergency landing on TV - while you were still on the plane):

As I was exiting the plane I was talking with Take. Watching the news, he informed me they were filming everyone walking down the ramp and to the tarmac. So when I got to the door, he recognized me and told me to wave. We both started to laugh, and I was waving around my hand- holding the cell phone- saying hi to him through the news cameras. That is the story behind the photo so many of you have seen on what made front page of the LA Times and other publications.
...
Soon, a producer for CBS' Early Show named Alan approached me to interview the next morning, and I even turned down Good Morning America! This was the ultimate in surreal. I was driven to the Beverly Hilton where I stayed in a beautiful room on CBS' tab, and we relaxed for about 10 minutes while taking care of some more logistics with the network. We flipped through the channels, and I did double-takes seeing the footage of the interviews I had just done on the flat-screen TV. I had made CNN, Fox, NBC, CBS, and local stations like KTLA. Huh? I just wanted to eat- we went for sushi and Sapporo on La Cienega and Wilshire.

Cheers, Zach! Get to Chicago safely for your next gig, will you? (Would rather see you there than on MSNBC or CBS News [w/pic, video].)

Shadow Percussion Project

I have to agree with Music Thing: this is amazing. Two tracks from DJ Shadow's Entroducing performed by an after-school percussion ensemble in Minnesota, under the direction of Brian Udelhofen. The Internet Archive this .WMV of the performance.

Music collaged from samples, recreated with live percussion. Brilliant.

Boot Sale Sounds

Boot Sale Sounds is

A music blog , mainly featuring records and tapes found at boot sales, charity shops and flea markets. Mainly comedy, novelty and odd items that are hard to catagorise.

... and it's going to keep me busy this weekend, going through all the wonderfully strange content. Another awesome find via We Make Money Not Art.

On "Across the Sound"

Big thanks to Across The Sound for quoting a comment of mine in the their second podcast. Across the Sound is the pairing of marketing gurus Steve Rubel and Joseph Jaffe, who "discuss the world of new marketing, media and PR"...

If you're a persuader by trade, you should be reading and/or listening to these guys. If you aren't in the persuasion industry, this is potentially even better: you can learn about how the marketing messages around you (and those that are to come) are crafted.

Dance me to the end of funds

There's apparently a lot that Leonard Cohen has been trying to keep from the public. This article calls it "a sordid tale involving allegations of extortion, SWAT teams, forcible confinement, tax troubles and betrayal."

The first thing I thought was, this is much too juicy for pander-happy cable networks to pass up. I am going so far as to predict a Lifetime Original, based on Cohen's former manager's perspective, to go into production any minute now... And this tale of a Tibetan Buddhist suing a Zen Buddhist would no doubt be sponsored by shampoo and cosmetics, department stores, quick-serve restaurants and the fad diets to which QSR customers resort, plus superfluous prescription medications that promise all kinds of "pharmaceutical enlightenment" that include dozens of unhealthy side effects. Perhaps I am more predicting that the premise of disambiguation will be sold (as it already is) through strict employment of ambiguity.

The next thing I thought was, this seems like the kind of thing that only could happen to Leonard Cohen. However ironic they may appear, these are rather epic, poetic circumstances - even for someone of Cohen's outlook. If my hunch is right, maybe he'll get to pick who plays him in the movie.