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Open Culture
A Page of Madness: The Lost, Avant Garde Masterpiece from Early Japanese Cinema (1926) It’s a sad fact that the vast majority of silent movies in Japan have been lost thanks to human...
4 weeks ago
14
4 weeks ago
It’s a sad fact that the vast majority of silent movies in Japan have been lost thanks to human carelessness, earthquakes and the grim efficiency of the United States Air Force. The first films of hugely important figures like Kenji Mizoguchi, Yasujiro Ozu, and Hiroshi Shimizu...
Open Culture
Tim Burton Visits a Paris Video Store & Talks About His Favorite Movies Tim Burton grew up watching Japanese monster movies in Burbank, which must explain a good deal about...
3 weeks ago
12
3 weeks ago
Tim Burton grew up watching Japanese monster movies in Burbank, which must explain a good deal about his artistic sensibility. It seems to be for that reason, in any case, that the new Konbini “Vidéo Club” episode above takes him first to the Asian cinema section of JM Vidéo, one...
Seth's Blog
Digital prepwork It’s so tempting to simply begin painting a wall. After all, it’s pretty easy to lay down paint. But...
over a year ago
109
over a year ago
It’s so tempting to simply begin painting a wall. After all, it’s pretty easy to lay down paint. But it turns out that masking and dropcloths, painstakingly put into place, save many hours compared to cleaning up a mess afterward. The same is true for what happens when we have a...
Seth's Blog
Blame your tools Blame the clients. And blame the conditions. But then, you’re on the hook to get better tools, find...
a year ago
137
a year ago
Blame the clients. And blame the conditions. But then, you’re on the hook to get better tools, find better clients and work in better conditions. It’s not convenient, but it’s possible. If it’s not worth the effort, we can simply accept what we’ve chosen and get back to work.
Seth's Blog
Nice bike A well-designed bicycle is efficient, inexpensive and delightful. If you use your bike on the right...
a year ago
38
a year ago
A well-designed bicycle is efficient, inexpensive and delightful. If you use your bike on the right paths, with appropriate goals, it can deliver exactly what you need, while also allowing you to go at your own pace, see what’s going on around you and feel grounded. Until, of...
Blog - Mac Pierce
Creating art out of a weapon. Using the Stuxnet Virus. How and why I made Portrait of a Digital Weapon, a piece of electronic art made from the Stuxnet...
over a year ago
Seth's Blog
There are no stupid mistakes There are mistakes. These are moments when reality teaches us something. And there’s stupid. This is...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
There are mistakes. These are moments when reality teaches us something. And there’s stupid. This is what happens when we refuse to learn from our mistakes. “Don’t be stupid” is a fine mantra. It’s particularly apt when talking about cultural forces, political agendas and our...
cabel.com
The Snacks & Cereals of 2024 Welcome to 2025. The vibes are a little heavy, so, I’m trying very hard to focus on the things I can...
7 months ago
61
7 months ago
Welcome to 2025. The vibes are a little heavy, so, I’m trying very hard to focus on the things I can control — and yes, that includes remembering to share things that delight me like the latest #new snacks and cereals I find at the grocery store!! Yeah. It’s an age-old, very-odd...
Seth's Blog
Kinds of power There’s the James Bond villian sort of power, based on division, dominance and destruction. This is...
10 months ago
72
10 months ago
There’s the James Bond villian sort of power, based on division, dominance and destruction. This is the short-term power of bullies, trauma and mobs. And then there’s a more resilient form of power. This is power based on connection, discussion and metrics. A power based in...
Seth's Blog
Getting AI to do your work That’s the first step, certainly. If you don’t, your boss will. The second step is to take the time...
11 months ago
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11 months ago
That’s the first step, certainly. If you don’t, your boss will. The second step is to take the time you’ve freed up and do work that the AI can’t do.
Prolost
Introducing Prolost Beta Prolost Beta is a new subscription offering on the Prolost Store. It's an occasional email from me...
over a year ago
36
over a year ago
Prolost Beta is a new subscription offering on the Prolost Store. It's an occasional email from me containing a download or a link to something cool I'm working on, that's not quite ready to become a product yet. Or maybe ever. This will most often be Lightroom presets or...
Seth's Blog
Useful assumptions for teachers Not simply in the classroom, but anywhere we hope to inform, inspire or educate: Assume enrollment....
over a year ago
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over a year ago
Not simply in the classroom, but anywhere we hope to inform, inspire or educate: Assume enrollment. Either someone is committed to learning or they’re not. While many situations place people into a spot where they are compelled to show up (exhibit A: learning arithmetic in grade...
Open Culture
Ray Bradbury Wrote the First Draft of Fahrenheit 451 on Coin-Operated Typewriters, for a Total of... Image by Alan Light, via Wikimedia Commons It sounds like a third grade math problem: “If Ray...
a year ago
96
a year ago
Image by Alan Light, via Wikimedia Commons It sounds like a third grade math problem: “If Ray Bradbury wrote the first draft of Fahrenheit 451 (1953) on a coin-operated typewriter that charged 10 cents for every 30 minutes, and he spent a total of $9.80, how many hours did it...
Blog - Amy Goodchild
Meaningless My ArtBlocks debut, releasing on 30th May 2023. Find out how the algorithm works and explore some...
over a year ago
28
over a year ago
My ArtBlocks debut, releasing on 30th May 2023. Find out how the algorithm works and explore some conceptual thoughts.
Seth's Blog
Organizing for urgent There are many ways to prioritize our time and focus, but the easiest and most vivid way is to do...
7 months ago
52
7 months ago
There are many ways to prioritize our time and focus, but the easiest and most vivid way is to do the urgent things first. If we wait until a house plant is sick before we take care of it, though, it’s too late. Deadlines, loud requests and last-minute interventions are crude...
Open Culture
Hear the Long-Lost Chants of English Monks, Revived for the First Time in 500 Years Listening to music, especially live music, can be a religious experience. These days, most of us say...
a week ago
9
a week ago
Listening to music, especially live music, can be a religious experience. These days, most of us say that figuratively, but for medieval monks, it was the literal truth. Every aspect of life in a monastery was meant to get you that much closer to God, but especially the times...
Open Culture
Fritz Lang First Depicted Artificial Intelligence on Film in Metropolis (1927), and It Frightened... Artificial intelligence seems to have become, as Michael Lewis labeled a previous chapter in the...
a year ago
38
a year ago
Artificial intelligence seems to have become, as Michael Lewis labeled a previous chapter in the recent history of technology, the new new thing. But human anxieties about it are, if not an old old thing, then at least part of a tradition longer than we may expect. For vivid...
Seth's Blog
Your own billboard Large sections of Los Angeles are studded with billboards for minor TV shows. These billboards exist...
over a year ago
81
over a year ago
Large sections of Los Angeles are studded with billboards for minor TV shows. These billboards exist nowhere else, even though there are televisions globally. Obviously, there’s ego at work here, but it’s sort of productive. First, there’s the ego of the producers/networks. They...
Seth's Blog
Bought or sold? Most things that consumers acquire are bought, not sold. We decide we’re interested in something and...
over a year ago
48
over a year ago
Most things that consumers acquire are bought, not sold. We decide we’re interested in something and we go shopping to get it. Potato chips, wedding venues and cars are all purchased by people who set out to get them. Selling is a special sort of marketing. It’s interactive,...
Seth's Blog
The paradox of self skepticism If we’re to publish, teach, invent, imagine or promote, we need the confidence to believe that we...
a year ago
71
a year ago
If we’re to publish, teach, invent, imagine or promote, we need the confidence to believe that we have something to offer. That we are, in some way, right. But the enterprise of rational thought is based on theories, tests and improvements. We can never be certain, all we have is...
Seth's Blog
The challenge of N + 1 “Just a little more,” might be a useful way to self motivate, until it isn’t. N + 1 pushes us to win...
a year ago
58
a year ago
“Just a little more,” might be a useful way to self motivate, until it isn’t. N + 1 pushes us to win every race, every argument, every bank balance competition. Sometimes this is simply a self challenge, not designed to hurt others, but the problem with never being satisfied is...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Gemma Berenguer (Monostereo) My name is Gemma Berenguer and I'm from Barcelona. I'm a printmaker specialising in screen printing,...
a year ago
98
a year ago
My name is Gemma Berenguer and I'm from Barcelona. I'm a printmaker specialising in screen printing, although I also dabble in etching and block printing as well. I run Monostereo, a screen printing company in Barcelona, which has been operating for 15 years now.  I first...
Seth's Blog
Chasing cool The cool thing is always a little out of reach. And for most of us, once we get it, it’s not seen as...
over a year ago
31
over a year ago
The cool thing is always a little out of reach. And for most of us, once we get it, it’s not seen as cool any more. This is not an accident. One definition of cool are things that are just out of reach.
Seth's Blog
Everyone wants to be connected But we hesitate to be the connector. Everyone wants to be trusted, but we hesitate to trust. And...
a year ago
63
a year ago
But we hesitate to be the connector. Everyone wants to be trusted, but we hesitate to trust. And everyone wants to be respected, but we often fail to offer our respect. What an opportunity.
Seth's Blog
When we get to where we’re going …perhaps we should stop. Unless the going was the point.
over a year ago
Stat Significant
Unpacking the Rise of Fan Fiction: From 'Star Trek' to 'Twilight'—A Statistical Analysis An exploration of modern fan fiction and the unique demography of its participants.
9 months ago
Seth's Blog
All that torque A screwdriver works because the handle is bigger than the screw. You can twist the handle with...
2 weeks ago
13
2 weeks ago
A screwdriver works because the handle is bigger than the screw. You can twist the handle with leverage, causing the screw to turn. The bigger the handle, the more leverage you have. We’ve spent a trillion dollars building a worldwide communications and AI network, and you can...
Handprinted - Blog
Using Schmincke Water-Based Inks to Create a Jigsaw Linocut We love the range of colours that are available in Schmincke water-based inks. We’re creating a...
over a year ago
89
over a year ago
We love the range of colours that are available in Schmincke water-based inks. We’re creating a jigsaw linocut to allow us to use multiple colours of Schmincke ink in just one block! We are using Easy Carve Blue as it’s soft to cut up with a scalpel, making it ideal for a jigsaw...
Seth's Blog
Compared to perfect Perfect is useful. It’s an absolute measure, a north star, a chance to improve our work. But it’s...
a year ago
63
a year ago
Perfect is useful. It’s an absolute measure, a north star, a chance to improve our work. But it’s also a shortcut to persistent dissatisfaction. Compared to perfect is helpful when we’re creating something. But it’s also worth noting that perfect is unattainable. What’s on offer...
Open Culture
Take a Virtual Tour of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London The story of the Globe Theatre, the ancestral home of Shakespeare’s plays, is itself very...
a week ago
8
a week ago
The story of the Globe Theatre, the ancestral home of Shakespeare’s plays, is itself very Shakespearean, in all of the ways we use that adjective: it has deep roots in English history, a tragic backstory, and represents all of the hodgepodge of London, in the early 17th century...
Blog - Mac Pierce
The Whys and Hows of the Opt-Out Cap. Why I built the Opt-Out Cap cap, and how it all came together.
over a year ago
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker - Rebecca Perdue Hello! I'm Rebecca Perdue. I am a printmaker and artist based in a small garden studio in Wiltshire....
a year ago
96
a year ago
Hello! I'm Rebecca Perdue. I am a printmaker and artist based in a small garden studio in Wiltshire. I work primarily in linocut and monoprint, but also paint and make occasional silver jewellery pieces and textiles. I'm very interested in linking work across several...
Prolost
The M1 Max MacBook Pros Apple opened their October event with a young musician creating an Apple-inspired music track in a...
over a year ago
32
over a year ago
Apple opened their October event with a young musician creating an Apple-inspired music track in a dingy garage filled with gear worth tens of thousands of dollars. Some viewers commented on the unrealistic portrayal of a creative professional. But I felt like I was looking in a...
Seth's Blog
A branding exercise My friend’s organization is working with a branding studio to think about how they appear to people...
a year ago
68
a year ago
My friend’s organization is working with a branding studio to think about how they appear to people who don’t know them well. This is sometimes called ‘rebranding.’ What is almost always done in practice is actually better referred to as re-logo-ing. A brand is not a logo. A...
Open Culture
David Lynch’s Weird Espresso Maker Gets Taken for a Test Drive David Lynch loved his coffee. For decades, the filmmaker let coffee fuel his creativity, drinking...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
David Lynch loved his coffee. For decades, the filmmaker let coffee fuel his creativity, drinking five, six, even seven cups per day at Bob’s Big Boy. Famously, Lynch celebrated coffee in Twin Peaks (remember the line, “That’s a damn fine cup of coffee!”), and later directed a...
Seth's Blog
Birthing tech No one knows the name of the maternity nurse who helped with the delivery of Marie Curie or...
5 months ago
44
5 months ago
No one knows the name of the maternity nurse who helped with the delivery of Marie Curie or Esperanza Spaulding. You might grow up to be a genius, but the team that helped your mom give birth don’t have to be geniuses–they simply have to be pretty good at their craft. The same is...
Seth's Blog
Is it a t-shirt brand? Not all projects become t-shirt brands, nor should they. The risk is in thinking you’re building one...
over a year ago
69
over a year ago
Not all projects become t-shirt brands, nor should they. The risk is in thinking you’re building one when you’re not. T-shirt worthy brands are a very small subset of the whole. The question is: Would your customers want to wear your logo on a t-shirt? Why? If you’re creating...
Open Culture
Leonardo da Vinci’s Elegant Design for a Perpetual Motion Machine Is perpetual motion possible? In theory… I have no idea…. In practice, so far at least, the answer...
3 months ago
45
3 months ago
Is perpetual motion possible? In theory… I have no idea…. In practice, so far at least, the answer has been a perpetual no. As Nicholas Barrial writes at Makery, “in order to succeed,” a perpetual motion machine “should be free of friction, run in a vacuum chamber and be totally...
Not Boring by Packy...
Hyperlegibility Trading Secrets for Attention
5 months ago
Open Culture
How John Lennon Wrote the Beatles’ Best Song, “A Day in the Life” If you’re under 60, you probably heard the line “I read the news today, oh boy” before encountering...
3 months ago
44
3 months ago
If you’re under 60, you probably heard the line “I read the news today, oh boy” before encountering the song it opens. Even after you discovered the work of the Beatles, it may have taken you some time to understand what, exactly, it was that John Lennon read in the news. The...
Seth's Blog
PW 4: Productivity and tools Adam Smith and Karl Marx both wrote about the pin-making machine. Not too long ago, pins (for hats,...
a year ago
32
a year ago
Adam Smith and Karl Marx both wrote about the pin-making machine. Not too long ago, pins (for hats, to hold shirts in place, etc.) were incredibly expensive. They were a luxury item, and a handmade pin might cost more than buying lunch. The pin-making machine changed this. It...
Open Culture
How the Hugely Acclaimed Shōgun TV Series Makes Translation Interesting Many of us grew up seeing hardback copies of Shōgun on various domestic bookshelves. Whether their...
11 months ago
65
11 months ago
Many of us grew up seeing hardback copies of Shōgun on various domestic bookshelves. Whether their owners ever actually got through James Clavell’s famously hefty novel of seventeenth-century Japan is open to question, but they may well have seen the first television adaptation,...
Open Culture
Download 1,000+ Digitized Tapes of Sounds from Classic Hollywood Films & TV, Courtesy of the... Watch enough classic movies — especially classic movies from slightly downmarket studios — and...
a year ago
73
a year ago
Watch enough classic movies — especially classic movies from slightly downmarket studios — and you’ll swear you’ve been hearing the very same sound effects over and over again. That’s because you have been hearing the very same sound effects over and over again: once recorded or...
Marian's Blog
Agent V – Global Game Jam 2018 Project This year I participated in my first game jam, the Global Game Jam 2018. With a team of artists,...
over a year ago
24
over a year ago
This year I participated in my first game jam, the Global Game Jam 2018. With a team of artists, programmers and a sound designer, we made a video game within 48 hours. You play the game as a virus that infiltrates a company’s headquarters. The virus can not move on its own, it...
Open Culture
Buckminster Fuller Tells the World “Everything He Knows” in a 42-Hour Lecture Series (1975) History seems to have settled Buckminster Fuller’s reputation as a man ahead of his time. He...
a year ago
78
a year ago
History seems to have settled Buckminster Fuller’s reputation as a man ahead of his time. He inspires short, witty popular videos like YouTuber Joe Scott’s “The Man Who Saw The Future,” and the ongoing legacy of the Buckminster Fuller Institute (BFI), who note that “Fuller’s...
Seth's Blog
The paradox of brittle Optimizing a device or system means squeezing every drop of productivity out of it. In the...
11 months ago
69
11 months ago
Optimizing a device or system means squeezing every drop of productivity out of it. In the short-run, optimization works as long as the world stays the same. We can optimize a device to work at capacity. However, something working at capacity blows up if you step on the gas when...
Seth's Blog
The Weekly World News version of the future What if someone is just making stuff up? Years ago, I worked with the supermarket tabloid to make an...
3 months ago
25
3 months ago
What if someone is just making stuff up? Years ago, I worked with the supermarket tabloid to make an ironic, shouty, somewhat funny book that has turned out to match much of the discourse we find surrounding us. When we flew down to Florida to meet their team, I was amazed to...
Seth's Blog
Nothing to ad A recent discussion about the challenges of direct-to-consumer marketing of a skincare product ended...
a year ago
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a year ago
A recent discussion about the challenges of direct-to-consumer marketing of a skincare product ended with one participant describing the hard part with, “nothing to ad.” She was referring to how much the thread had covered, but the pun wasn’t lost on us. Social media offered an...
Seth's Blog
Complex or complicated? Complicated problems have a solution, and the solution can often be found by breaking the...
a year ago
30
a year ago
Complicated problems have a solution, and the solution can often be found by breaking the complicated portions into smaller pieces. And complicated problems often have an emotional component, because there are parts of the problem we don’t want to look at closely, or deal with...
Seth's Blog
Consider switching sides One of the spokespeople for the new milk marketing campaign confessed that she doesn’t really like...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
One of the spokespeople for the new milk marketing campaign confessed that she doesn’t really like drinking milk. Sales are way down, and an entire generation is drinking other beverages. Other than the people who are paid to sell or lobby for milk sales, few people are...