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Gimcracks Herein

"The Lovely Bones" (PG-13). A deplorable film with this message: If you're a 14-year-old girl who has been brutally raped and murdered by a serial killer, you have a lot to look forward to. You can get together in heaven with the other teenage victims of the same killer, and gaze down in benevolence upon your family members as they realize what a wonderful person you were. Peter Jackson ("Lord of the Rings") believes special effects can replace genuine emotion, and tricks up Alive Sebold's well-regarded novel with gimcrack New Age fantasies. With, however, affective performances by Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon, Stanley Tucci and Saoirse Ronan as the victim. One star

via blogs.suntimes.com

From the "Your Movie Sucks™" files, Roger Ebert's pans for the year collected in one place.

'Citizen cartographers' map the microcosms of the world

"Maps are expensive and proprietary," said Coast, sipping on his coffee and explaining the core tenets of the project, called OpenStreetMap. "They should be free."

Coast had the idea for OpenStreetMap in 2004, when he was a student living in London. Coast had a GPS and a laptop, you see, and he figured that with a little programming magic he could build a map of his local haunts that contained more useful information than any service he could find online.

What's more, he said, "I figured that if I did that, and he did that, and you did that, then, together, we could put together a jigsaw map of the world."

via www.washingtonpost.com

I've been trying but OpenMaps and OffMaps on my phone. I prefer OffMaps, but they're both great, and they both rival Google & Apple's "Maps" in terms of user experience.

OffMaps lets you download maps onto your phone for local storage, which is especially useful when you are roaming or travelling.

Jane Jarvis RIP (Loge 13)

via www.loge13.com

The New York Times today confirmed the death last Monday of Jane Jarvis.

A sad day for Met fans. Jane Jarvis was a class act who touched millions of Met fans with her musical gift, and her often witty choice of between-inning tunes.

Jane Jarvis was 94.

Bad Romance by @capndesign @ambienttraffic @nataliepo & @liz

Bad Romance by @capndesign @ambienttraffic @nataliepo & @liz, originally uploaded by buhny.

I'm not there, but this is the next best thing.

Bill Simmons: The Levels of Loving

I was thinking about her three Mondays later, after the NFC Championship Game, when I was sifting through e-mails from devastated Vikings fans, and I realized that, for some readers, I apparently have turned into the "Sports Whisperer." They channel me as an outlet for their pain.

Why me? Because I have a column and an e-mail address. Because, as a Red Sox fan, I suffered through a lifetime of losing lowlighted by two of the worst defeats in sports history. Because I once wrote the "Levels of Losing" as a way to quantify sports pain. Because things worked out for me; the Red Sox won titles in 2004 and 2007. If any stranger could understand your anguish after a heartwrenching loss, it's me. You don't even have to trap me in a car and blare Coldplay. Just send me an e-mail.

via sports.espn.go.com

In the sports world, that's job security.

Testing something fun.

Giraffes Have Long Necks

Cuse: And also, we also are aware that answering questions inevitably raises other questions. We call it the Big Bang conundrum. 

Lindelof: A.k.a, Kate’s plane.

Cuse: Yeah, if you go back and you say, "OK, Jacob is obviously someone who was of great significance to the mythology of the show, but who was before Jacob? And then but who created that person?" If you go back in the universe you can say, the universe was created in an event called the Big Bang, but then you can inevitably ask the question, "Well, what was before the Big Bang?"

I think the audience has to have a sort of respect for the fact that there is only a circumscribed set of answers that we can ever give. And we’re not sitting here trying to evade our responsibility to provide answers. We are going to answer the questions that, for us, feel like they need to be answered and we feel like we have some cool and satisfying answers for them.

via featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com

From The Watcher's "The 'Lost' Lowdown," an epic three-part interview with Cuse and Lindelof, with no spoilers. It's going to take a while to read.

Cuse: And also, we also are aware that answering questions inevitably raises other questions. We call it the Big Bang conundrum. 

Lindelof: A.k.a, Kate’s plane.

Cuse: Yeah, if you go back and you say, "OK, Jacob is obviously someone who was of great significance to the mythology of the show, but who was before Jacob? And then but who created that person?" If you go back in the universe you can say, the universe was created in an event called the Big Bang, but then you can inevitably ask the question, "Well, what was before the Big Bang?"

I think the audience has to have a sort of respect for the fact that there is only a circumscribed set of answers that we can ever give. And we’re not sitting here trying to evade our responsibility to provide answers. We are going to answer the questions that, for us, feel like they need to be answered and we feel like we have some cool and satisfying answers for them.

Some stuff about the iPad

Right at the end, Jobs showed a street sign marking the intersection of "Technology" and "Liberal Arts". I guess that means that kottke.org is now in direct competition with Apple, Inc. YOU'RE GOING DOWN, STEVE!

via kottke.org

#teamkottke

East of Havana - New Cuban Hip-Hop Film Premieres Online - Hip Hop Republican

East of Havana is a blunt, unflinching close-up on the lives of these young rappers compelled to address their generation’s future from the confines of a Cuban ghetto. Soandry, Magyori, and Mikki are the defacto leaders of Cuba’s rebellious underground hip hop movement.

In America, Hip-Hop like other musical formats is very much a commercial product not necessarily known for being a potent political player. The music is generally aligned with leftist politics and defines itself as being generally opposed to authority. However the Hip-Hop Industries’ push to elect Barak Obama to be President has all but made the music a staple of “Democrat get out the vote drives”.

via hiphoprepublican.com

I'm going to watch this.

Retweets Don't Show up in Lists

Jake made a meta-list consisting singly of my RTDjacobs account, where I retweet ("RT") the best stuff on twitter. It's like blogging, but less. Fun! Sadly, the list is blank. It appears retweets don't show up in lists.

I asked Jake for comment: "That seems a bit odd, wouldn't you agree?"

I would, Jake. I hope Steve Jobs or Barack Obama step up and fix this oversight.