Mostly because it is an overused marketing term with seemingly no real meaning aside from “a new generation of web sites with nifty features and groundbreaking/useful services.”
However, there’s a great comparison of US/JP Web 2.0 sites over at PingMag that’s definitely worth a look: Web 2.0 in Japan
Category: Web
“Push this button!” to be the new “Pull my finger!”
Engineering nerds in Tokyo are building the ultimate fart joke:
“IMAGINE being able to record a smell and play it back later, just as you can with sounds or images.”
Read the full article here.
I can see the tagline now: YESTERDAY’S SMELLS TODAY!
………
In all seriousness, though, I have recently been thinking of what I will miss the most when I leave Japan. Unsurprisingly, certain smells are scoring high on my list. A sample:
- The smell of the pine forest in Nara on a hot summer day
- Old tatami (not rotted, just properly cured)
- The smell of fear when you enter a classroom full of new English students
- The pinsuyaki stall at a village matsuri
- The heavenly scent of yakitori / yakiniku on an empty stomach
- The aromatic combination of natto, sesame oil, and diced shallots spread evenly across the quivering naked body of a geisha
- The stench of shit when you disembowel an uppity peasant with your +7 Flaming Wakizashi!
The full list is being drawn up in my mind and will appear sometime before departure.
(link found over at Collision Detection)
Poltergeist
How many times must people be told not to build stuff on ancient Indian burial grounds? On the other hand, it might serve as a handy scapegoat for endeavors that are doomed from the start.
Eternal Sunset
Yo, this shit is pretty dope:
Eternal Sunset endeavours to ensure you can enjoy the sunset live from any location, at any time. As the sunset moves westward, Eternal Sunset continuously tunes into different webcams, chasing the sunset around the globe. This service is currently provided through the use of 206 west-facing webcams across 42 countries.
They need more webcams, though. I’ve been watching the same shot of Tehran for five minutes – that’s four too long.
check it out here (click on the “more” link on that page for background info)
RICE FORCE!
I saw a commercial for this on SkyPerfect today and almost bust my gut laughing.
South Park Memo
My favorite line of the memo from Matt Stone to the MPAA:
“Although it is not animated yet, we put a new storyboard in for the scene with Saddam Hussein’s penis …he is in fact using dildos both times.”
Gnarls Barkley Revealed
NY Times magazine has put up an excellent profile of Danger Mouse: The DJ Auteur
You know what? You can kind of hear the fact that he digs Portishead in his music.
I remember telling M’s boyfriend (self-declared “biggest Jay-Z fan in the world”) via long distance call to Canada that my favorite Jay-Z album was the Grey Album. His reply (he hadn’t heard it yet): “Even better than Blueprint 2?”
Oh, hell yes.
Forbidden NK Photos
Check out this translated gallery of subversive photos taken by a Russian visitor in North Korea: LINK
hint: It’s not just that first page, it goes on and on.