Categories
Posts

Extra Future 2010 Retrospective: Kreskin

I made a bunch of weird stuff in 2010, and I’m going to spend the new few days or weeks telling you about them with short posts about each one. Up first is [Kreskin][kreskin], a project it took about 12 hours to spit out and another 12 to make usable.

[kreskin]: http://kreskin.extrafuture.com “Kreskin”

##Kreskin (Cat. No. EF-027)

[Kreskin][kreskin] plays the [Wikipedia Band Name Game][game] for you, rolling up a band name, album title, and cover art, and showing it to you. Every album it generates is persistent, meaning you can pass it around to your friends. It’s really fun, and I find once you [generate one][kresgen], you tend to stick around for at least a few more. Recent favorites include: [GAMA ENERGY, INC. – in his own][kres1], and [Brain Sponge – more of it][kres2].

Kreskin was [featured on Buzzfeed][buzzfeed] which got it a pretty good amount of traffic which, sadly, didn’t last. There is a track listing for each album, but it is experimental and generally not super good. To date Kreskin date has created 6,867 albums by request. It is available, day or night, via the URL [http://kreskin.extrafuture.com][kreskin].

[buzzfeed]: http://www.buzzfeed.com/katamandaa/kreskin-automates-the-wikipedia-band-name-game-xej “Buzzfeed: Kreskin Automates the Wikipedia Band Name Game”
[game]: http://www.buzzfeed.com/peggy/wikipedia-names-your-band “Wikipedia Names Your Band”
[kresgen]: http://kreskin.extrafuture.com/album/generate “Generate a new album on Kreskin”
[kres1]: http://kreskin.extrafuture.com/album/6867 “Gama Energy, Inc. on Kreskin”
[kres2]: http://kreskin.extrafuture.com/album/6895 “Brain Sponge – more of it”

Categories
Posts

My 2010 In Music, According To Last.fm

It was a pretty predictable year.

### Most Played Artists

1. [They Might Be Giants][tmbg]
2. [Yasunori Mitsuda][yasu]
3. [The Smashing Pumpkins][pumpkins]
4. [R.E.M.][rem]
5. [Weep][weep]

[tmbg]: http://www.theymightbegiants.com/ “They Might Be Giants”
[yasu]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasunori_Mitsuda “Yasunori Mitsuda”
[pumpkins]: http://www.netphoria.org/ “Netphoria”
[rem]: http://remhq.com/ “R.E.M.”
[weep]: http://www.myspace.com/weeptheband “Weep”

### Most Played Songs

1. Weep – Right Here, Right Now
2. Misfits – I Turned Into a Martian
3. Weep – Let Me
4. Weep – Snow Scenery AND Weep & Weep – Calm Down (tie)
5. Weep – When I’m Wrong

Based on the most played songs list you might’ve guessed that my favorite album this year is [Worn Thin, by Weep][worn]. Honorable mention goes to the [Zola Jesus EP, Stridulum][zola]. Based on the most played artists list you might’ve guessed that I didn’t have much time for new music this year. I’m convinced that needs to change in 2011. There is nothing sadder than a man with almost no favorite bands who haven’t broken up or descended into self-parody.

[worn]: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/worn-thin/id377034281 “Worn Thin, by Weep”
[zola]: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/stridulum-ep/id3577885944 “Stridulum by Zola Jesus”

Categories
Links

Bruce Sterling’s State of the World 2010

[Sterling is, as always, a funny-but-teriffying doom-prophet][link], but without the thin hope for mankind that Bill had in his heart.

>Okay, you’ve treated your future as an “unpredictable lurching thing…” and now you’re all morose about that… You and your generation CREATED that situation! Ever heard of “disruptive innovation,” “disintermediation,” “offshoring,” “small pieces loosely joined,” “de-monetization,” “plug and play,” “the network as a platform”? Of course you’ve heard of all that crap, because you’ve been tub-thumping it your entire adult life, but what the hell did you think that was all about?

There is much more at [the link][link].

[link]: http://www.well.com/conf/inkwell.vue/topics/373/Bruce-Sterling-State-of-the-Worl-page01.html “The WELL: Bruce Sterling: State of the World 2010”

Categories
Links

Popular Mail Scanner Spam Assassin Marks All Mail From 2010 As “Spammy”

[When the software was first developed][link], a rule was hardcoded that marked the years 2010-2099 as “grossly in the future.”

[link]: http://jwz.livejournal.com/1147218.html “jwz – A special treat for the ten year anniversary of Y2K…”

Categories
Links

Raindrops on Roses

[So here we are.][link] Can we all agree on Twenty-Ten and abandon this Two-Thousand-Ten nonsense?

Back to work.

[link]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010 “Twenty Ten”