Acceptable

January 26, 2015

Hello, internet friends!

For no apparent reason it is Monday again. Onwards!

The New York Times is excited about messaging apps. I have been excited about messaging apps since ICQ, which is still around. Here is me.

Big in the 90s and still around now? Marilyn Manson. He has a new album, which means interviews – I liked those in Esquire and on Grantland.
And the album itself? Well, I quite like it. But then I was also big in the 90s and happen to be still around.

I have completely no musical skills or talents, but I’d still like to play around with these little synthesizers.

Sometimes I compare the IRL people in my life with the internet people in my life and I always feel like, why can’t the IRL people be more like the internet people?

– ​I Took the Internet Addiction Quiz and I Won
Obviously I picked that quote to tell you how great you are.

Take care, treat yourself to something nice today.

Ramen in Space

January 19, 2015

Hello, internet friends!

How nice to see all of you still reading this, it means a lot to me.

I never heard of “Lucky Peach” before, but at the moment they cover a topic near and dear to my heart: ramen.
There’s a biography of Momofuko Ando, a timeline of the history of ramen and a guide to the different types of ramen.
Now excuse me while I hide a bit in the corner and cry about the fact that the only way to get some halfway decent ramen nearby where I stay just got way more expensive.

Since we’re already on the subject of Switzerland: if you happen to be a robot that orders illegal substances and fake passports over the internet, the Swiss police will come and arrest you.
2015.

In a very different way just as cyberpunk-y (if not more so) as robots in jail: turning a modern inexpensive compact camera into a waist-level Rolleiflex replica.
I am pretty sure there’s someone thinking about putting a pre-made kit for these up on Kickstarter.

More things that are old: coyotes, British mars spacecrafts, VHS tapes and old websites.
Me, especially on Monday mornings.

Have a good week, take care.
Eat your vegetables.

The Orange of Everything

January 12, 2015

Hello, internet friends!

I signed up here – the dangers of it becoming a Tamagotchi are pretty small, though. I mean, after all: this. Onwards!

Always good to know: What caused Gandhi’s insatiable bloodlust. Well, in the first Civilization game at least.

Talking about numbers that don’t add up – here is Ev Williams’ take on website statistics.
In case you wonder: I measure “greatness of readers” for this newsletter and the numbers are through the roof. (And now I also raised the kiss-ass metrics, so all is well.)

How Lego Became The Apple of Toys – worth reading even with that cringe-worthy title. Can we just stop calling anything the “Apple of X” this year? Or basically the “X of Y”?

Scroll Slow. Have Fun.

Damn.

Take care, people.

Properly Whelmed

January 7, 2015

Hello, internet friends!

Epiphany is a public holiday where I am, so for all intents and purposes, today is Monday. Onwards!

The Pacific Standard wonders How Ambient Intimacy Became So Overwhelming. Sometimes I wonder, too.
I still really like both the term and the idea behind it, but in many ways the services we use to stay in contact with our friends or even random interesting strangers do not scale. (Remember issue 63 and the smattering of articles about how Twitter is not the internet porch anymore?)

So, here are a few predictions how 2015 might be for media. Here are some more.
Mostly it seems like media brands will enroach more and more on our ambient intimacy tools.

How Millennial Are You?
Hey, let’s compare scores! I’m apparently 80 units of millennial. (Which is more than I should be, based on their own calculations.)

If your Millennial score is not too high, you might remember when Jurassic Park was released. If you watch it these days – more than 20 years later – it is astonishing how well it holds up. Much of that can be attributed to Phil Tippett, who seems like an interesting fellow.

Well, fellow millennials, take care!

Onwards!

January 1, 2015

Hello internet friends!

A happy new year to all of you, may things be great for you and those you care about! (And slightly inconvenient for those, who you secretly wish ill upon.)

2014 in tech.

2014 in science.

I wanted to round up this very short list of 2014 reviews with “2014 in goats” because obviously goats where the big winner of our hearts. But either the internet let me down or my googling skills are deteriorating faster than I want.
So no goats for you, sorry.

Be safe and brace yourself: once the whole holiday and new year ordeal is over, you’ll get these email in a more regular irregular pattern again.
Thanks for reading, I enjoy writing these. And say hi if you want.