Ben Pieratt, Blog

"Arthur C. Clarke considered Star Maker to be one of the finest works of science fiction ever..."

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:25:18 -0400

“Arthur C. Clarke considered Star Maker to be one of the finest works of science fiction ever written.”

- Star Maker - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

FWIW.

I’m about three-quarters through this. It’s pretty amazing.

/Via Folkert Gorter’s Varsity Bookmarking interview.

"I’m always tomorrow."

Thu, 16 May 2013 17:18:45 -0400

“I’m always tomorrow.”

- Jack Welch Interview - Chairman and CEO of GE - Quotes on Wind Energy from Jack Welch - Esquire

"I’ll go to the bookshop in town, grab three or four books of poetry, sit in the coffee shop,..."

Thu, 16 May 2013 16:38:21 -0400

“I’ll go to the bookshop in town, grab three or four books of poetry, sit in the coffee shop, and read those for a while. It’s like loosening up your muscles before a workout.”

- Thom Yorke Interview - Thom Yorke Quotes - Esquire

(via (1) Kevin Kelly - Google - In 10 days I am headed back to...

Mon, 13 May 2013 12:17:08 -0400

(via (1) Kevin Kelly - Google - In 10 days I am headed back to the Circle. I go there to…)

“There are more people living inside this circle than outside of it”

sureilikefun: Michael Macaulay Michael Man this photo hits me...

Thu, 09 May 2013 12:40:40 -0400

sureilikefun:

Michael Macaulay Michael

Man this photo hits me in the gut. Reminds me so strongly of growing up outside of the US and lusting after its culture.

These days, I’m shooting almost exclusively with the iPhone. I...

Fri, 03 May 2013 16:44:00 -0400

These days, I’m shooting almost exclusively with the iPhone. I only bring out the DSLR when I need a telephoto lens, like if I see a bear cub. I’ve always tried to keep photography feeling like a hobby, and the iPhone keeps it that way. I can shoot an image and have it processed in 30 seconds with one hand. I’d rather be out exploring than sifting through gigs of images on a computer screen. (via VSCO Cam x Kevin Russ | vsco.co)

VSCO Cam x Kevin Russ | vsco.co

Unbelievable

/via @bijan

thenearsightedmonkey: What is an Image? discovery: The Hubble...

Fri, 03 May 2013 06:32:06 -0400

thenearsightedmonkey:

What is an Image?

discovery:

The Hubble Telescope just celebrated its 23rd Anniversary of being in Space. more, here - http://bit.ly/ZTHuG1

Man. I don’t even

Just published: Varsity Bookmarking Interview #003 with Jason...

Thu, 02 May 2013 13:16:00 -0400

Just published:
Varsity Bookmarking Interview #003 with Jason Kottke.

- -

VB: “What do you find interesting from over 50 years ago?”
Kottke: “Duck Amuck”

Nice.

gimmickbook: (via Command-Line Interfaces) I love the way this...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 05:45:41 -0400

gimmickbook:

(via Command-Line Interfaces)

I love the way this must have made your typing feel like it was folding into infinity.

Her first bite of solid food. They grow up so quick! sniff

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 08:54:00 -0400

Her first bite of solid food.

They grow up so quick!

*sniff*

The first Great artist of the 21st century will be a programmer.

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 10:18:34 -0400

The first Great artist of the 21st century will be a programmer.

Varsity Bookmarking Issue #002 - Justin Ouellette Just posted...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 10:26:46 -0400

Varsity Bookmarking Issue #002 - Justin Ouellette

Just posted VB’s second interview with Tumblr’s own Justin Ouellette.

It came out great. Justin is the man.

"Gibson: I came to that out of a perceived need to find an arena in which I could set science fiction..."

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 12:48:55 -0400

“Gibson: I came to that out of a perceived need to find an arena in which I could set science fiction stories. The science fiction arena of my childhood was space travel, and the vehicle was the rocket ship, the space ship. And in the late 70s early 80s, that wasn’t resonant to me. I knew I didn’t want to do that. I knew I didn’t want to to do the post-apocalyptic wasteland. I knew I wanted to try to write science fiction, but I didn’t have an arena. And I arrived at cyberspace—”

- The Evolution of William Gibson | The Awl

Incredible

"For the past several years, I’ve taught a class at the University of Pennsylvania called..."

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 09:31:00 -0400

“For the past several years, I’ve taught a class at the University of Pennsylvania called “Uncreative Writing.” In it, students are penalized for showing any shred of originality and creativity. Instead they are rewarded for plagiarism, identity theft, repurposing papers, patchwriting, sampling, plundering, and stealing. Not surprisingly, they thrive.”

- Kenneth Goldsmith - Uncreative Writing - The Chronicle Review

"These writers function more like programmers than traditional writers, taking Sol Lewitt’s dictum to..."

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 09:30:35 -0400

“These writers function more like programmers than traditional writers, taking Sol Lewitt’s dictum to heart: “When an artist uses a conceptual form of art, it means that all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair. The idea becomes a machine that makes the art,” and raising new possibilities of what writing can be.”

- Kenneth Goldsmith - Uncreative Writing - The Chronicle Review

"From the looks of it, most writing proceeds as if the Internet had never happened. The literary..."

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 09:30:00 -0400

“From the looks of it, most writing proceeds as if the Internet had never happened. The literary world still gets regularly scandalized by age-old bouts of fraudulence, plagiarism, and hoaxes in ways that would make, say, the art, music, computing, or science worlds chuckle with disbelief. It’s hard to imagine the James Frey or J.T. Leroy scandals upsetting anybody familiar with the sophisticated, purposely fraudulent provocations of Jeff Koons or the rephotographing of advertisements by Richard Prince, who was awarded a Guggenheim retrospective for his plagiaristic tendencies.”

- Kenneth Goldsmith - Uncreative Writing - The Chronicle Review

"In the early part of the 20th century, both Duchamp and the composer Erik Satie professed the desire..."

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 09:29:00 -0400

“In the early part of the 20th century, both Duchamp and the composer Erik Satie professed the desire to live without memory. For them it was a way of being present to the wonders of the everyday.”

- Kenneth Goldsmith — Uncreative Writing - The Chronicle Review

Here’s Goldsmith on Twitter

(Sorry for the avalanche, so many good things about this article.)

Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 19:23:45 -0400

Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man

"Most wars in the 20th century have started as a result of lies. Amplified and spread by the..."

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 11:26:18 -0400

““Most wars in the 20th century have started as a result of lies. Amplified and spread by the mainstream press. And you go, well that is a horrible circumstance, that is terrible that all these wars start with lies. And I say no, this is a tremendous opportunity, because it means that populations basically don’t like wars and they have to be lied into it. And that means we can be truthed into peace.””

- Transcript of meeting between Julian Assange and Google CEO Eric Schmidt | Hacker News

The motivations behind Varsity Bookmarking: 1. Contribute to internet-native culture 2. Create an...

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 10:16:52 -0400

The motivations behind Varsity Bookmarking:

1. Contribute to internet-native culture
2. Create an interview format for introverts
3. Extract as much information as possible from the figures I admire