Present Tensed

For the most part I’m swamped until May 23rd (our Tech Expo at work is on the 22nd), and one of the few things I’m putting on my schedule before then is the UofC’s Summer Breeze Concert.  The UofC’s Summer Breeze Concert has always been a good time. This year’s lineup is: The [...]

Here’s a muxtape of Vusi Mahlasela songs for your listening pleasure. The recordings don’t do justice to his live shows, but one has to start somewhere.
Also, here is Vusi’s performance at TED Africa this past year.

Tags: features, music, muxtape, south_africa, TED, vusi_mahlasela

Considering all that’s happened since the publication of Phil Jackson’s “The LAST Season: A Team in Search of It’s Soul” which chronicled the Los Angles Lakers 2003-2004 season, it’s tough not to be critical of Jackson and see some amount of hypocrisy in his text.
Jackson’s “The Last Season” was meant to be a scornful accounting [...]

Since I’m making quick notes on what I’ve read this year, I should say that I read Freakonomics in February, long after the hype had made the essential vignettes (the abortion-crime link, sumo society, CPS trying to cheat high-stakes testing, and gang wages) familiar.
It’d good interesting writing that’s well-worth reading, even well after the fact. [...]

Films I’ve seen recently:
Lessons of Darkness :: Werner Herzog gives us a visually stunning look at the landscapes of war from his visit to Kuwait in 1992. The burning oilfields have a terrible beauty to them. The visuals are almost the entirety of the movie, don’t expect much more.
Manufactured Landscapes :: Canadian [...]

Films I’ve seen recently –
“I Am Legend” :: I read Richard Matheson’s vampire classic “I Am Legend (1954)” in 2000 and really enjoyed the “twist” ending. Will Smith (who excels in this kind of heroic role) does a fine job, and the conceptualization of a post-human decaying NYC is worthwhile. Replacing the [...]

Here’s a muxtape of Vusi Mahlasela songs for your listening pleasure. The recordings don’t do justice to his live shows, but one has to start somewhere.
Also, here is Vusi’s performance at TED Africa this past year.

Tags: features, music, muxtape, south_africa, TED, vusi_mahlasela

I see Vusi Mahlasela every time he performs in Chicago. To be honest, I’m now at the point where I permit myself a little bit of nostalgia for the “good old days” in South Africa whenever I see Vusi (or Hugh) perform. Good times.
He played a typically great set at the Old Town School [...]

Films I’ve seen recently:
Medium Cool — Continuing my obsession with 1968, Medium Cool is somewhat famous for marrying a fictional story with real life events. Haskell Wexler shot his film (in part by design) in Chicago during the run-up to the 1968 Democratic National Convention.  The historical footage of Chicago (and the protests) [...]

Films I’ve seen recently:
The Murder of Fred Hampton (1971) — Fred Hampton’s murder at the hands of the establishment is well detailed in this Facets film from 1971.  He’s a remarkable (and remarkably young) leader of the Black Panther movement that was taken too soon.   The film gives some great footage of Hampton (and a [...]

It feels like forever ago, but let me say that we had our 1st OLPC @ UCHICAGO meetup on Lincoln’s Birthday, February 12th @ Chapin Hall.
The group was composed of folks from CUIP, USI, the Lab School, and an interested college student.
For the most part we did some background on the OLPC project (I have [...]

As if I don’t deal with education enough, I recently watched 2 education films.
Chalk (2006) — A fictionalized comic documentary-style account of a high school in Austin Texas produced by Morgan Spurlock.  Littered with hyperbole and cringe-inducing moments, Chalk does manage to get across a sense of the range of experiences that [...]

When I got to the microphone I asked Madeleine Albright, “what, if anything, has the international community learned from Rwanda, and how are these lessons playing out in Darfur?”, and then stepped away from the microphone to signify that I wasn’t looking to be combative in any way.
Dr. Albright’s response was essentially the predictable hypothetical [...]

Since I’m making quick notes on what I’ve read this year, I should say that I read Freakonomics in February, long after the hype had made the essential vignettes (the abortion-crime link, sumo society, CPS trying to cheat high-stakes testing, and gang wages) familiar.
It’d good interesting writing that’s well-worth reading, even well after the fact. [...]

I took a few minutes today and went ahead and upgraded to Wordpress 2.5.
The experience has been mostly good. I like the look and feel of the new admin panels. I’m also immediately impressed with the 1-click plugin updates, which has simplified the otherwise arduous process of downloading from the web, unzipping, [...]

It feels like forever ago, but let me say that we had our 1st OLPC @ UCHICAGO meetup on Lincoln’s Birthday, February 12th @ Chapin Hall.
The group was composed of folks from CUIP, USI, the Lab School, and an interested college student.
For the most part we did some background on the OLPC project (I have [...]