Kiwis: I commend to your attention givealittle, “New Zealand’s online giving community “. It’s pretty neat. and could do with a bit more attention than it’s getting, so consider taking a look.
How it works is: charities and project funds set up pages on the site, and people go and give ’em money or just sign up to support and watch them. This is a general fit with a big trend online in the last couple years, of using the power of social media to drive many small acts of philanthropy with good feedback systems. (Some of this was covered in CauseWired, the book I read last year; recently Jamas wrote about his experiences with a giving system called Kiva.)
It’s a neat, painless interface and a good way to make a contribution that sticks around in your life rather than disappears into a collection bucket never to be thought of again. That’s important, I think – this kind of technology allows us to connect with our actions, which is a surprisingly powerful thing in terms of creating the self that we want to be.
They’re looking for more causes right now. That’s a sensible approach – each cause they get on board means another set of people trying to bring others to the Givealittle storefront, and you get the network effect kicking in. So if anyone out there has hooks into a non-profit, a volunteer organization, a charity, etc., consider passing them this link to check out.
Do check it out. If you like how they roll things, then you might even want to sign up.
Author:
Writing Update
My short-story-a-month plan is running along with a few bumps. I’ve written two short stories in Feb, but I’m not happy with either of them. I think there’s some potential in the second one, but the first one (while fun to write and hopefully fun to read) is probably not salvageable, it came out more like a writing exercise than a story. Will see about typing them up anyway, anyone who wants to take a look is welcome to stick their hand up…
Dollhouse Ep 3 (No Spoilers)
Again with the by-numbers A-plot while the B-plot runs setup for more interesting stuff down the road. This time the A-plot highlights exploitation, raising implicit questions about the show premise – but man, the fan service is a bit of a pill to swallow for any feminist reading of the show. These opening episodes feel like they’re marking time, but it isn’t unpleasant riding along with them. Three episodes in, the show has not grabbed me with what it has done, but I’m very curious about what it will do next. Roll on episode six.
Live! Linky! Tonight!
I bang the worst dudes (Sorry, Mom) (via the bassett hound)
Nosing ahead – the lovely fluffworld writes about the difficulty of creating space and taking the leap to live life on her own terms, particularly by becoming a writer. The comments and replies are great, except for that one by that tone-deaf mr_orgue dude.
Some Ukulele awesome:
first, ukulele hero Jake Shimabukuro making his uke gently weep (don’t know where I saw this one)
second, a great little number by two performing arts grads in London, I Heart You Online (this one thanks to badjelly)
More awesome retro-fied book covers, this time for the Harry Potter and Lemony Snicket books.
Conchords fans rejoice: Tim Denee recreates those great NZ tourism posters for your downloading pleasure (New Zealand… Rocks!), Kiwi Gothic delivers an icon mixup, and a t-shirt design that knows what time it is. And for those who haven’t seen season 2 yet (me included), here’s something: My Sugarlumps.
Pride and Prej as Facebook updates
And finally… a two-minute film adaptation of Lovecraft’s Shadow Over Innsmouth, with CGI fishmen. And it’s a musical.
Things I learned the hard way
(part of an occasional series)
When you’re sending an email to a bunch of strangers to deliver news about a mutual friend who is seriously ill – it is unwise to send from your “morgue” email address.
People tend to get the wrong idea about the friend’s health and wellbeing…
(Other solution: choose better nickname for yourself 17 years in the past.)
Reasons To Stay
I love our landlord.
Last week we received a notice saying that, with great regret, the rent would have to increase. It was unsustainable at current levels. So Cal and I now have to come up with… only ten extra dollars!
And this week, delivered to every apartment in the building:
“Please note we have created a library on the third floor lift lobby for your use. Please feel free to borrow books at any time and please ensure they are returned… If you have any books that you would like to share with others please feel free to add them to the library.”
This is a good place to live 🙂
Dollhouse Ep 2 (no spoilers)
Intriguing second ep. The A-story goes into full-on suspense-thriller mode, with plenty of shocks and reversals, some of them easy to see coming (indeed, some as homages to filmic jump-scares), others not. The B-story throws out a whole heap of plot background and arc development into the mix. The balance between the ongoing plot and the episode-of-the-week stuff is signalled – the ongoing elements are already stronger than I expected them to be. The moral/ethical issues to do with the Dollhouse are squarely in the foreground but aren’t interrogated at all, I think because they don’t need to be – the viewer can be expected to be interrogating them anyway, so the show doesn’t need to spend time on it.
I really liked this episode, even with its cheesy moments. The show is demonstrating that it can sustain its initial premise, but that it is going someplace else anyway. I stand by my initial call of a five-episode intro and then things start to switch up; word on the nets this week has been that episode 6, written by Joss, is the turning point, so I might be right on the money there.
This show has potential. Worth sticking with to the turn, anywise. I’m digging it.
Blacked Out
This website was blacked out all morning in protest against a pretty bad copyright enforcement law on the verge of coming into play in NZ.
More info.
Meanwhile, I’m not watching the Oscars and getting drunk, which may be a step forward for me.
Lie-day Frinky
Some concept art from Alien 3 that even I haven’t seen before. This is for the wacky “Vincent Ward wooden planet of monks” version.
Jeremy Bulloch. Gold bikini. Well.
Dude makes Doctor Who anime. Is surprisingly awesome.
More Sesame Street 70s goodness: Stevie Wonder does Superstition. Rock it out!
Beloved leader has screenshotted the panorama from the new high-def Simpsons opening. Hail beloved leader!
Dash Shaw’s wild Bodyworld has just finished. Begin here with the prelude. If you are like me, you will want to read more.
And finally… AHHHHHHHH WRONG
Clues and drinks
Getting away from all that serious stuff for a bit, I want to give due respect: the Alligator’s birthday adventure on Friday night was incredibly fun.
How it worked: we turned up for drinks at Mollys, and split into teams. The Alligator, looking smug, issued each team a water pistol and an envelope full of clues. We had to figure out the locations referenced by the clues, and snap photos of our team members at the locations; if the location was a bar, it was compulsory to have a drink and get a camera shot of the proof. One clue marked the final location; first team there with a full set of correct photos won the trophy.
(Yeah, he made a trophy. It looked like a large silver phallus with the words “smarts” and “speed” on it, and was therefore extremely desirable and a worthy object of competition.)
So we burst out into the night and proceeded to run around Wellington, solving clues, snapping photos, downing shots, and having a grand old time. Seriously, it was a huge amount of fun, easily the most stupidly good time I’ve had in a while. (Wedding doesn’t count of course because that was a non-stupid good time.) There’s just something straightforwardly cool about rocketing around the streets, taking goofy photos and trying to make sense of clues, then stopping for a drink. And the water pistols… well, we didn’t spot the other team so ours didn’t get used. But it was cool to have it there…
Take this as proof of concept that you can do the same sort of thing in future. I reckon it would be more fun with more teams; six or so would have been even more fun. Give it a try for your next work teambuilding exercise, sports team social, or religious meeting. If you’re in Wellington you can even steal the Alligator’s clues.
(All y’all who didn’t make it, you really missed out on something special. This alligator, he’s a partyin’ alligator, and that’s all there is to it.)