Month: June 2005
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MS Office and Open Formats
Dwight Silverman on Microsoft’s plan to offer more robust XML support: Traditionally, the formats in which Microsoft Office’s applications have saved documents have been proprietary. That means that only Microsoft’s own applications can be guaranteed to render those documents the way their creators intended them to be seen. Other programs, such as Corel’s WordPerfect or…
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What Writing Classes Do Not Teach Us
After reading Dan Green’s thoughts on Stanley Fish’s thought experiment, I started recalling my own writing undergraduate classes (none of which I received an A in). A professor of mine once lamented about how lack of direct experience prevented students from writing convincingly. He once suggested (half in jest, obviously) that all students be required…
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Small Apologies for our Inhumanity
I didn’t blog about this event when it occurred, but the “orphaning” of an Iraqi family who accidentally ran a road block was one of the most shocking things about our involvement in Iraq (Be sure to read the original article about the scandal). Nothing speaks more than the corruption of the American military justification…
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Whim of a Hat
Jacob Weisburg on Bushisms (long) “Free societies are hopeful societies. And free societies will be allies against these hateful few who have no conscience, who kill at the whim of a hat.” “We have enough coal to last for 250 years, yet coal also prevents an environmental challenge.” “See, free nations are peaceful nations. Free…
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Kadare Wins International Booker; A Missed Opportunity
It was bound to happen. Ismail Kadare finally won a major international literary prize even though all the English translations are based on French translations. I have a feeling that winning this prize will expedite the hunt for a good English translator. If we didn’t have the civil unrest and I had had the opportunity…
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Donald Santiago Nagle, Born June 1, 2005
My new nephew. Son of my brother, Tom Nagle, born in Houston, Texas.
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Famous Last Words & Chicks Dig Novels
Here’s a novelty/trivia page of famous last words of fictional and real people. Compiled by Kurt A. Sanftleben. This small site (which hasn’t been updated in years) was worked on between 1997 and 2000, and –get this–received 518,000 visitors! While we’re at it, here’s a page (actually an online book) about the culture and sociology…
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2 Filmmaking Books: Photographing the Trivial
I just wanted to mention that I’ve found two excellent books on film narrative: Directing the Documentary by Michael Rabiger and Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of screenwriting by Robert McKee. Both books contains lots of insights and both combine the rigors of academic analysis with the practical knowledge of people who have…
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Rent to Own, Breaking Away and HDTV Eye Candy
Jason Kottke links to some explanations of the film Primer, which I’d seen last year. If you haven’t seen the film already, don’t look at these articles. Treat yourself first to this perplexing film (hopefully without any foreknowledge–that would spoil the fun!). Expect something different. On another film note, I was delighted to hear that…
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Media Centers with HDTV?
Using a modded Xbox as a media center. You may not be able to play HD signals unless you upgrade the chip. Speaking of media centers, Haupage has some cool media/networking solutions, although it’s unclear about HD support. A slashdot discussion on the topic.