Sorry, this post is not related to teaching or IT, but I couldn’t let go of John Hughes whose movies influenced my generation. As reported by Variety, John Hughes passed away yesterday at the age of 59. Hughes directed The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and Weird Science. He also wrote and produced Pretty in Pink and Some Kind of Wonderful, as well as many, many others.
From the New York Times:
Over the last few years reality-show casting calls have become almost as much of a cultural commonplace as the shows themselves — the familiar scenes of hundreds of anxious strangers converging on a street corner with their résumés, their headshots and their A games, hoping for some kind of immortality or at least a more interesting career…
Produced by Sarah Jessica Parker, the show, which doesn’t have a title or a broadcast date, will try to do for the contemporary art world what the cable channel has done for the worlds of fine cuisine (“Top Chef”) and fashion (“Project Runway”): discover young, or maybe even middle-aged or old, unknowns with the talent to command the attention of both a television audience and a serious audience in the creative field to which they aspire.
Read the full story here.
Yes! Apparently Tokyo is number 1, but for the wrong reason. Since I live here, I thought I’d share what the BBC has reported and what we expats have thought here for a while now:
Tokyo has knocked Moscow off the top spot as the world’s most expensive city for expatriates, a survey suggests.
The strengthening yen meant the Japanese capital now had the highest cost of living, followed by Osaka, said data firm Mercer.
MJ Memorial
Humorous video. So, what is a browser? Go here to find out. Google Chrome? Find out here (or read the comic version by Scott McCloud). Since you are here, you may also wish to check out Opera Unite and take a peak at Google Wave.
Thanks to Shane M. for the video tip.
OK. Here we go. True story. A coworker is cleaning out his class, disposing of old materials. I walk in and lo and behold, what do I see? The instructional booklet pictured left. It’s a how-to for a construction kit toy from 1992. It’s geared towards kids. What were they thinking? I’m not even going to discuss the catchy title. Are the instructions clear to you? It’s a perfect example on why design is so important and what it’s like when it’s not done well. Click on the photos to enlarge them.
Look over to the right on my sidebar and notice that clothing store Uniqlo has come out with a tilt-shift video calendar. I love it and it also has music by Fantastic Plastic Machine. Click the calendar to go full screen mode.
While I’m at it, also go to Slide:ology to hear an interview with Daniel Pink on his creative process for his book Johnny Bunko.
For some strange reason, I really want to see this. The news has been circulating a lot recently through Japanese/tech blogs and to mark the 30th anniversary of Gundam’s arrival, toymaker Bandai has constructed a full-scale reproduction of it in Tokyo’s Odaiba Shiokaze park. It will be unveiled on July 11th and apparently remain there until the end of August. Go around dusk as it also lights up.
Well our school year finished yesterday and it is always sad to say goodbye to those students and teachers leaving. If you work at an international school, you will know approximately 20 percent of a population leaves a year. A co-worker (thanks JW) sent this out to us. All the best to those moving on. I said my goodbyes but now it is also time to say hello to summer. I will try to keep adding posts on this blog but they may fall irregular and less frequent. Have a good one!
Mr. Picasso Head allows you to click and drag facial features onto a canvas to create Picasso like portraits. Nothing spectacular but may get some art appreciation going and younger kids should enjoy it.
