Archive for apple
November 5, 2007 at 4:48 am · Filed under dance, home, culture, apple, environment, life, learning, inspiration, hans rowling, TED conference
“Culture is the most important thing I would say. Because that is what brings joy to life. That’s the value of living.” - Hans Rosling at TED
I’ve had a bad cough/cold for almost two weeks now, so in an effort to help eradicate it for good, I pretty much spent the day on our couch. Doug left for Arizona at 4AM this morning, so I was unfortunately on my own in my loud foggy world (I’m glad he’ll finally be able to get some sleep tonight though!).
We got an AppleTV when it first came out, hoping it would be as amazing as almost every other Apple product we’ve been able to get our hands on, but unfortunately we were a bit disappointed (it’s possible, though, that we were expecting too much). The only thing we really use it for (rarely) is watching YouTube videos on a big screen (they actually don’t look so bad, and the searching and selecting interface is pretty good).
So today, I felt like I needed a little extra nerdy inspiration, and so I caught up on watching some of the videos of speakers at the yearly TED Conference. I was fortunate enough to come across this talk given by international health professor Hans Rowling, in which he uses his incredible graphing system to visualize statistics about the world, particularly analyzing data that can begin to help figure out how to pull people in developing countries out of poverty.
After showing his revealing Trendalyzer software (which was apparently bought by Google 10 days after this conference - you can play with it here!), he pulls up one simple powerpoint page (above), detailing and rating the MEANS and the GOALS for improving people’s lives. The conclusion was that while economic growth is the most effective means of development, culture is, in the end, the ultimate goal to strive for.
“It’s a cultural expression that for thousands of years has inspired human beings to think beyond the obvious.”
He then removes his shirt (exposing a muscle tank decorated with lightening bolts) and proceeds to demonstrate the ancient Indian tradition of sword swallowing, driving home his point (through culture!) that the seemingly impossible is possible.
Amazing. See for yourself…
Recent Posts by kristin sloan
October 22, 2007 at 12:23 am · Filed under dance, dance event, DAVID, dance and technology, butoh, apple, brooklyn academy of music, david hallberg, dance theater workshop, dance culture, dance companies, ohad naharin, jeroma bel
After reading Kristin’s questions about performances and the aspect of relevance in dance to today’s Apple audience, I thought I would take a moment to tell you all what has been inspiring me lately…
And hope this sheds some light on curious readers to get out and see some performances.
Jerome Bel
Bel’s “Show Must Go On”
This choreographer is coming to Dance Theatre Workshop on Nov 7-11.
I caught his “Show Must Go On” two years ago here in NYC and LOVED it. He does such a great job of showing the audience a real part of performance, not just lights and tutu’s.
Japan Society’s Butoh Festival
October 9-27
Butoh is another form of dance that transcends classical ballet and brings you into another form of understanding of movement. It takes some patience but rewards the viewer with a new understanding of movement.
Ohad Naharin
Brooklyn Academy of Music November 13-17
This choreographer from Israel, whom I’ve written about before, is action packed and always takes such advantage of the aspect of theater. Never shy of the physical side of dance, I have always left the theater from his shows completely inspired and in pain from what I saw!
What have you seen that you loved lately?
Shows, Movies, Etc.?
Recent Posts by david hallberg
April 4, 2007 at 2:36 pm · Filed under websites, video, modern, contemporary, apple, RESfest, tronic studio, misnomer dance theater, chris elam, myspace, balinese dance
Posted by Sloan
Just a heads up about a dance company that’s doing some really interesting things both online and off…
I first saw them on myspace (a great way for companies to connect with more people). Then I found their website and blog, which is full of videos, info, rep list, calendar, tons of press. Very impressive. Chris Elam is the director/choreographer, (you can see a video interview of him here). He says he is heavily influenced by Balinese dance. (I took Doug there for his birthday a few years ago, but we were so destroyed by our jet-lag that we missed our one opportunity to see a traditional dance performance! ugh! maybe next time.)
So check out their videos, especially this one done by Apple about Misnomer’s collaboration with Tronic Studios (how cool!) for RES Digital Film Festival.
Their next performances are April 12 & 14 and NYU’s Skirball Center, followed by tours in the Ukraine, France, and Turkey.
Recent Posts by kristin sloan
March 30, 2007 at 12:36 am · Filed under SLOAN, home, video, apple, editing, tragiclovenyc.com, computer, final cut
Posted by Sloan | via mobile phone
Recent Posts by kristin sloan
February 16, 2007 at 7:42 pm · Filed under SLOAN, computers, technology, apple, new york, snow
Posted by Sloan
Last week, for reasons unbeknownst to me, my darling 23″ Apple HD Cinema Display died, suddenly.
And of course Wednesday, our first really snow-stormy day of the year, was the first day I had enough time to haul it to the SoHo Apple store.
With my precious cargo bundled up in towels and a giant Jack Spade take-away bag (good thing I got Doug’s V-day present the day before), I lugged the two of us down our snowy street and into a cab for a slippery trip to the Genius Bar.
The Genius Bar is Apple’s help desk. You make an appointment online, and then show up at your specified time, to wait until a Genius is ready to see you and your injured friend.
Fortunately they have a handy display that shows apple “quick tips”, as well as a list of where you are in the line. At least the line for computer issues was much less congested than the line for iPod issues.
Confirmed. Something’s wrong with his insides, so he gets to take a trip to Cupertino, hang out with some of his friends, and get a tune up. He will be missed.
Walking home…
4:30 PM
Intersection: Houston and Bowery
No snow plows in sight.
What’s up?
Recent Posts by kristin sloan
January 10, 2007 at 3:20 am · Filed under SLOAN, technology, san francisco, apple
Posted by Sloan
Oops, I crapped my pants.
This afternoon, Steve Jobs Apple finally gave birth announced the existence of their much anticipated Jesus phone iPhone at the Macworld Expo in the wonderfully tech-friendly city of San Francisco, California.
Just a quick rundown of the features packed into this mini-monolith…
2MP camera, WI-FI, Edge, 3.5″ display, 320 x 480 resolution, 4 or 8GB hard drive and most importantly… MAC OSX.
If you’re as much of a geek as me, you can see full coverage from our friends over at Gizmodo. And the kicker? My Cingular contract runs out in February…
It will be mine, oh yes, it will be mine.
O yeah, they also announced a little device that sends the video, photos and music from your iTunes… wirelessly to your television.
Though they may be getting to know the SEC a bit better than they would like right now…
They keep the future coming.
Long live Apple.
Recent Posts by kristin sloan
