Microlog: May 2006
OMG!! Lordi wins Eurovision 2006!! Sun 21 May 2006
And Australian MeFites have a hissy fit about this thread being a spoiler because the poor babies had to wait for the tape delay broadcast. Well you know what? Tough titty, wallabee-wankers.
Meat Puppets reunite! Sun 21 May 2006
The Kirkwood brothers are back together and working on new material, which won’t nearly be as good as Up On The Sun. But still… it’s the Meat Puppets!
BLDGBLOG's Your Hidden City favourites Sun 21 May 2006
I like the last one the best, if only for the lighting.
Soundwalk Sun 21 May 2006
As the tagline says, these are ‘audio tours for people who don’t normally take audio tours.’ A bit on the expensive side, but might be worth it if you want to get a new angle on a played-out environment, to better appreciate it.
Travels with iPod Sun 21 May 2006
Basically, audio travel guides and walking tours for your mp3 player. A great idea, especially to help lone travellers to get a feel for unfamiliar places [c/o del.icio.us/mhonan].
How Pink Got So Violent Sun 21 May 2006
Another grindhouse sub-genre gets the reissue treatment — and some socio-cultural context [c/o MetaFilter].
Farms of fear Sun 21 May 2006
A recent Sunday Times Magazine story on an extraordinary spate of racism-fuelled killings in South Africa’s Limpopo province. If it does only one thing, it shows just how much further the country has to go, socially and economically, before full reconciliation can ever be reached.
journalism.newsvine.com Sun 21 May 2006
Newspaper design consultant trawls Newsvine and the web for the best US media-related stories.
The New York Times Newsroom Navigator Sun 21 May 2006
All newspapers should have something like this [c/o kottke.org].
Wikipedia entry for San Francisco burrito Sun 21 May 2006
I’d love one of those right about now.
Record sleeves designed by Peter Saville Sun 21 May 2006
He did a lot more than just the Factory stuff, you know [c/o del.icio.us/jonhicks].
This Boring Headline Is Written for Google Sun 21 May 2006
On the so-called death of the art of headline writing, the news of which has been greatly exaggerated. I think we will be seeing more dual headlines, to compensate for the linguistic formality of search engine algorithms, but that’s as bad as it’s going to get — as if it isn’t bad enough already [c/o SimonWaldman.net].
Mini Pixel Icons Sun 21 May 2006
A great collection of minuature infographics for websites. I may be using a few of them here in the near future.
Howard Zinn: America's Blinders Sun 21 May 2006
The radical historial tells it like it is.
Hanging out over London at 1,000ft Sun 21 May 2006
Or to quote The Guardian’s own Charlie Brooker: “Wahey! I’m in a HELICOPTER!!”
Google Trends: Pirate Versus Ninja Fri 12 May 2006
It had to be done. As you can see, the pirate just about has the edge (aside from a particularly huge influence in Scandinavia — because of its historically maritime culture, perhaps?). However if you pluralise the terms, ninjas are completely trounced across the board. Which can only mean one thing: that ninjas work better alone.
Kinja card for MacDara Conroy's website Fri 12 May 2006
I’d forgotten all about Kinja, but it seems to have improved slightly and differentiated itself somewhat with these ‘card’ thingies. Mine is even using a screenshot from this site as it looked 18 months ago. That’s so cute!
The Tumblelist Fri 12 May 2006
Probably the most comprehensive listing of tumblelogs in the world. And they deemed this humble site ‘close enough’ for inclusion. That’s nice of them.
Wikipedia entry for the Irony mark Fri 12 May 2006
If the internet ever needed its own punctuation symbol (emoticons don’t count) then this would be it [c/o Tumble].
PDFLab Fri 12 May 2006
For splitting, combining and generally tinkering with PDF documents. It’s not very elegant but it works [c/o paulhammond.org].
Jay Rosen on The New York Times, blogging and 'self-absorption' Fri 12 May 2006
A bit too dense for a quick read, but there’s some excellent points raised.
City In Silence Fri 12 May 2006
“This daily project, started in 1997, aims to capture the beauty and mystery surrounding New Yorkers in the majestic setting of the Big Apple.”
Why is the mafia so often associated with the garbage industry? Fri 12 May 2006
The answer — money laundering, more or less — is pretty mundane and pretty much what I always assumed. But still, it’s good to know.
Paper Pixel Fri 12 May 2006
A new photolog discovery for me. Excellent stuff.
Are US campuses in the grip of a witch-hunt of progressives, or is academic life just too liberal? Fri 12 May 2006
My view? It’s neither; the root of this is merely the age-old conservative fear of education.
Race against time Fri 12 May 2006
Id est, the Afrikaaner underclass in today’s South Africa. There’s still a lot of bitterness, still much resentment. But by and large, they only have themselves and/or the apartheid goverment’s protectionist policies to blame for their current predicament.
White off the scale Fri 12 May 2006
The Observer Music Magazine explores the murky underworld of neo-Nazi hate music. A great place to start for those previously unaware, although it does ignore two factors: that a) as a contributor to the letters page points out, plenty of (if not most) skinheads are anti-racist, which has been the case since the culture first emerged over 40 years ago, and b) the insidiousness of many elements within the black metal scene, where white supremacism and anti-semitism are rife.
The Art of Wesley Willis Fri 12 May 2006
He could whup a donkey’s ass.
MetaFilter on Chic-a-go-go Fri 12 May 2006
Remember that Bobby Conn video from the late ’90s? Well it’s from a real TV show. Who woulda thunk it?
Coney Island I Fri 12 May 2006
There’s something about these images that really captures that intangible transition from spring to summer.
The Go-Betweens' Grant McLennan Dead at 48 Mon 08 May 2006
Bit of a shock, this. At least it seems he died a happy man. And I’m glad I got to see them live on their comeback tour a few years ago, too. He will be greatly missed. (See also: Pitchfork links to a video for Bachelor Kisses, one of my favourite Go-Betweens songs.)
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This is the personal website of MacDara Conroy, a (no-longer) 20-something production editor living in Dublin, Ireland. Read more »
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This page is a reverse chronology of Microlog entries by MacDara Conroy published in May 2006. You will find many more in the Archives.