Once, some time ago, during another time of economic downturn, a president named Roosevelt created a federal program called the Works Progress Administration. It hired unemployed people to construct buildings, dams, roads, river works, ports, bridges and schools. Is there any possibility of a program like that today? Not a dream. That would be “socialism.” You can’t have the federal government spending our tax dollars to fund public works. But spending them to grope our genitals? Why, that’s different. It’s a matter of principle.
Links in November 2010
The Battle for Starcraft 2 (next-gen.biz)
Even so, the numbers playing in PC baangs (net cafes) have been lower than expected, with only two to three per cent of Korean gamers playing SCII in the month after it was released. It’s a tiny number given that Korea is perceived as StarCraft’s home market, that the game was released in time for the school holidays, and that it launched with a $30m ad campaign. In fact, StarCraft II’s three-million-plus sales have been mainly in the west.
For good measure (youtu.be)
Orbital at Glastonbury, with special guest.
Astounding picture of the day (nasa.gov)
Astronaut Tracy Dyson aboard the International Space Station in late September, 2010. She returned to Earth with her Russian crewmates Alexander Skvortsov and Mikhail Kornienko on 25th September.
We see this sort of image all the time now, but typically released as a promotional still for a film, or as some other demonstration of artistic exploit. And to be fair, they often look even better than this. More perfect, more pristine. Crisper. One of my film lecturers spoke a few times about the 9/11 attacks in New York, and the impression they left upon us as viewers. As modern film-goers we regularly see destruction on an even grander scale than that, and far more beautifully. One of the strangest experiences of those attacks was seeing the violence in the comparatively mundane setting of TV news.
So looking at this photo here with its softness, and other artefacts, I’m reminded of that comparison. An astounding sight (this time at least, a positive sight), cloaked in delightful, comforting mundanity.