The inside of my fridge, shot with my cell phone. For Mobile Journalism class I'm embarking on a project to photograph my fridge at least 3 times a week. It was inspired by a similar project in Orion Magazine. Find my work at fridge.posterous.com. Also, a warning: I don't often update brandonsmith.com, as you know. … Continue reading Fridge project, follow me elsewhere
Author: paladin1787
Developments: Arianna and iPad
Arianna Huffington, right, has some mobile fun with a Columbia College Chicago student following her student-only conversation with us Wednesday, prior to her official speech. Huffington is the proprietor of Huffington Post, one of the biggest media brands on the Internet. (The photo's by Columbia's PR staff, but if they sue a student for the … Continue reading Developments: Arianna and iPad
Geohashing
"Now what?" This group of people found themselves at the same semi-random location in the middle of the British countryside one afternoon. Maybe they went to a pub! (Creative commons photo from the Flickr account of Yang "yangman" Zhao) Imagine it: You want to meet new people and see new places. Whereas before, you'd maybe … Continue reading Geohashing
xkcd faves
Long live the nerd! Computer engineers played by actors fawn over Ajay Bhatt, co-inventor of USB, in this hilarious commercial for Intel. T-minus 18 days until school starts again. Man, I need a job. Otherwise I spend all day, as I have the past few, reading. Thoreau usually tops my list, but this time it's … Continue reading xkcd faves
Industry turmoil
The Chicago Tribune sports the largest newsroom in the midwest, according to its advertising campaign. I chuckle at that choice. I wonder how many other journalists do, too. (CC Flickr photo from Alex Barth) When I turned to the journalism field for my career, the thought that most plagued me was this: generally, to make … Continue reading Industry turmoil
For all you greenies out there
Stumbled upon this xkcd comic tonight. Click the image to enlarge it to full size.
Books shed light on financial crisis
Wall Street's historic district, with the New York Stock Exchange on the right and the JP Morgan & Co. building on the left. (CC Photo from epicharmus' Flickr account.) In today's Wall Street Journal, Simon Johnson explains what three new books about the financial crisis tell us. (Simon Johnson is co-founder of the blog BaselineScenario, … Continue reading Books shed light on financial crisis
Speaking of Columbia College…
A screenshot from "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2," the most complex and realistic modern battle video game to date. (Creative Commons photo from the Flikr account of bigdigo) Have you heard about the $1.6 million the Pentagon is giving us to develop, essentially, a video game to train infantry? Two media outlets have reported … Continue reading Speaking of Columbia College…
Merry Christmas!
Take extra time and expend extra effort to hug your family or friends this fine day. Loving other people is, supposedly, what today is about. I think the Jesus who does simply that (but not weakly, that) gets lost in the shuffle. Here's a poem by Russel Jaffe, who got a Poetry MFA from Columbia … Continue reading Merry Christmas!
The List
The band Hellogoodbye—the apparent winner of my months-long Pandora search for new favorite bands—poses to support Oxfam America. (Creative Commons-licensed photo from the Flickr page of Oxfam America) When I discovered Pandora my life changed forever. From that point on, I've come to realize, there's a backlog of wicked music which I want but don't … Continue reading The List
Now I know why I loved Sonic 3’s music
Because Michael Jackson lent creative direction. Several inside sources have confirmed that MJ in fact played a big part in composing the music for the game, even though most of his music was removed a couple months before the game's release. (Rumor has it Michael's scandalous ways infuriated Sega execs.) This isn't really new news, … Continue reading Now I know why I loved Sonic 3’s music
Blog stats
A graph of traffic to this site by month, starting in April 2009. I switched domains from greenletters.wordpress.com to brandonsmith.com in late October, which seems to have helped marginally. The monthly peak was November, with 456 hits. Was reviewing the statistics on this site today, and thought I'd quickly share my findings with you. While … Continue reading Blog stats
Comments from an outsider
Remember my post complaining about American education? Someone wrote me back about it, and gave me permission to post her response here. What a wonderful surprise! Yiuka Leung grew up on the outskirts of Hong Kong, and moved to the U.S. for college, so she's experienced education from both sides. Here's what she had to … Continue reading Comments from an outsider
Random stuff
Here's all the stuff from the past several weeks that hasn't warranted a stand-alone post. Does anyone else like the new Levi's commercials as much as I do? The one that uses Walt Whitman's poem "Pioneers! O Pioneers!"? Here's the video clip: I like it for several reasons: first, it uses poetry, and a good … Continue reading Random stuff
Jensen nonviolent, after all
Art I made for the large open wall of my apartment. The metal numbers were someone else's garbage. (My Dad's, in fact.) This month Derrick Jensen took a step back from his usual extreme tone in his Orion Magazine column. (Orion represents the literary and philosophical side of the environmental movement.) Normally he advocates a … Continue reading Jensen nonviolent, after all
Clandestino
Lamb stew with microgreens over a root-vegetable gratin. Lamb by the Carr family, whose Mint Creek Farm is outside Chicago. Cell phone flash by Mariely Santiesteban, Clandestino staff. Photo by Brandon Smith. The end of the semester has been upon me. Super-crunch time. But now it's over until Jan. 20 or so, and I'm happy … Continue reading Clandestino
Educational theory
I sent a letter to TED.org really early this morning asking if they have any internships available. They'd be a perfect fit for me, and I for them, I'm convinced. After I sent the message, I started to think about education again, because I had linked to a couple of my favorite articles in the … Continue reading Educational theory
Awesome quote of the day
The awesome quote of the day regards the upcoming climate change conference in Copenhagen: And this being Scandinavia, even the prostitutes are doing their bit for the planet. Outraged by a council postcard urging delegates to "be sustainable, don't buy sex," the local sex workers' union – they have unions here – has announced that … Continue reading Awesome quote of the day
Quick shout-out
Annie Leonard lectures at a sustainability conference. (Creative Commons photo from the Flickr account of Kevin Krejci) Annie Leonard released a long-anticipated followup to her "Story of Stuff" video, called "The Story of Cap and Trade." It's more complex than the first (I, an environmental reporter, had to rewind a couple times), but it does … Continue reading Quick shout-out
And the Pursuit of Happiness review
What a name for a blog, And the Pursuit of Happiness. The blog's beautiful, but it's not really a blog. It's a place that, once a month, displays a new piece of written and visual art—created by author and illustrator of children's books Maira Kalman. It was one of the most popular items on New … Continue reading And the Pursuit of Happiness review
Brandon Smith 