My friend Jose writes on his blog about the shift from email to facebook as primary communication tool thanks to spam.  It's a situation that feels like a 15-year long train wreck to me, watching the rising volume of unsolicited commercial email wash over the world like a giant tsunami ever since the start of the popularization of the internet.

Email, using a non-web client, is still the center of my daily time-management practice. it's how information flows from the world to my calendar and to-do list. it's still the killer app, for me. but i'm a power user. I spend a non-trivial amount of time every day categorizing and deleting spam, and some time on a less-frequent basis tweaking my various spam filters.  It's something that works ok for me, but I realize that a lot of people don't have the tools or the time to live this way.  However, I still can't stand when people try to organize and do business via facebook messaging - FB's interface is just so bad and annoying...  but it's happening more and more, and i realize it's all because most people don't have the tech skils, resources, or patience to continue to battle email spam.  

what would the internet look like if spam hadn't destroyed email for most users? sigh.  the other thing i often forget and then re-remember is that for most people email IS the web - they just use a web app to get their email, which, even with gmail, is a poor interface compared to a dedicated client.  so to a lot of people, facebook's UI is no worse than the yahoo or hotmail or squirrelmail interface that they once were stuck with.

it's interesting that one communication mode was destroyed by unethical marketing and is now replaced with another communication mode that is funded by another type of marketing, which, when you take into account the concerns about FB's escalating privacy-violating practices, is also probably unethical (and in a deeper way, is harming us) but is easier for the average person to put up with on a daily basis. Read more>>>

author: Kim Stanley Robinson

name: Steev

average rating: 3.87

book published: 1990

rating: 2

read at: 2010/05/09

date added: 2010/05/11

shelves: novels, own-it

author: Edwin A. Abbott

name: Steev

average rating: 3.78

book published: 1880

rating: 4

read at: 1990/01/01

date added: 2010/05/04

shelves:

review:

author: Jon Ronson

name: Steev

average rating: 3.57

book published: 2004

rating: 3

read at: 2010/05/01

date added: 2010/05/03

shelves: fun, politics

Truth On The Line Teaser

This is a brief look at some moments from Truth On The Line's pilot episode, which is in post-production and planned for completion this summer. more information at http://truthontheline.tv

Note that in this teaser there are some post-production rough spots, especially the audio and color correction. Thanks for your patience and imagination in filling in the blanks!

Read more>>>

author: Randy Olson

name: Steev

average rating: 4.05

book published: 2009

rating: 4

read at: 2010/04/20

date added: 2010/04/20

shelves: filmmaking, politics

I've been editing video with Final Cut Pro for 9 years now, yes that's NINE YEARS. Yet today I'm wrestling with a problem that brings me to the brink of complete, throw-up-my-hands frustration. Absolute utter despair that makes me want to just give up being a filmmaker completely, or at least being an editor.

It's pretty much too complicated to describe here quickly and not have someone mistake it for a stupid mistake.  Trust me, it's not a stupid mistake.  I'm not an idiot, and, like i think i mentioned, I've been using FCP for NINE YEARS.  Trust me when I say this is a completely new and weird fuck-up that is a total mystery and that you would probably have no idea how to solve either unless you have as much intelligence and experience with this software as I do. 

In other words, I'm not posting this to ask for help. I'm just screaming my frustration.   Thank you, Apple, for once again leading me to believe that I could trust you and your products. sigh. Read more>>>

This is a quick update just to briefly note that post-production is still rolling along.
We're in the middle of working on audio and our screen looks something like this most of the time.

We also recently had a plan for a soundtrack composer fall through and are now looking for someone else. If you know an experienced or semi-experienced soundtrack composer who might be right for this project, please contact us.