Has the Internet made communication boring?

Feb 25

Design, Technology Comments

Several months ago a blogger by the name of Shaun Usher began a blog called Letters of Note. If you haven’t checked it out you really, really should. The concept behind the blog is that every weekday Shaun posts a scan of an old piece of correspondence, along with a transcription of the text. Moreover, the sender and/or recipient of each letter is usually a famous person that figures greatly into history.

I really enjoy the way that Shaun lets each piece stand for itself; at the beginning of each post he may give a small bit of context, but other than that we are left to read the letter and draw our own conclusions. It helps that almost every post is extremely outstanding, bringing history alive with emotion and drama. For example, here is a letter written by Mary, Queen of Scots to her erstwhile brother-in-law hours before she was to be executed.

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Forest Rock

Feb 16

Entertainment Comments

forestI occasionally have music-nerd conversations with my friend Chris Weiermiller. Last summer we were noticing the sudden influx of bands with names taken from the woods: Fleet Foxes, Grizzly Bear, Animal Collective, Blitzen Trapper, etc. What was more interesting was that the bands we were naming also had much in common stylistically: high vocal harmonies, lot of reverb, and a naturalistic view on the world. So I dubbed these bands part of a trending genre: Forest Rock.

Fast forward to last week– I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, Sound Opinions from Chicago Public Radio. It’s a great show, and at the end of each episode they invite their listeners to leave a message on the Sound Opinions answering machine, with a lucky few to be broadcast the next week. I decided to give the hotline a call, since I had just heard them refer to a similar trend as the one I outlined above, so on a whim I left a message on their machine describing Forest Rock. I was in New York over the weekend and didn’t hear the show, but I’ve been getting email from a few friends that heard it so I thought I’d pass it on. Enjoy :)

Sound Opinions: Show 220
(Show #220, about 55 minutes in)
Listen to the MP3 Stream: (link)
Download the Podcast: (Download the MP3)

Photo by lorentey