danielg's posterous

Dec 27 / 12:47pm

quirky, funny video game demo with sheep

Gridrunner Revolution (sheepintology).....a simple 2D shooter, but what colors, what quirky animals!

Dec 27 / 7:03am

Avatar is shockingly different from what you expect

Avatar will change the movie business for the next decade. This is not like other "3D" technologies, it isn't used as a special effect. Instead the 3D creates a subtle but powerful sense of immersion. You might think of earlier 3D effects as similar to panning effects in stereo music, whereas Avatar's placement of the viewer inside the imagery is analagous to 5.1 surround sound. Also, it isn't all about the CGI...I found the 3D effect more powerful when used on the human actors. The story will resonate overseas even more than the U.S. due to the not very subtle political commentary on the prior administration's foreign policy, so I don't think it matters what we think of it here as far as the economics go. This franchise could last longer than Star Wars. Also, if this technology can be ported to the living room at a reasonable price, it will completely reinvigorate the home video content business, and may provide a slight reprieve in the battle against piracy.

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Nov 29 / 9:04am

I joined a non-profit board! (Manhattan New Music Project)

I'm excited to have joined the board of directors of the Manhattan New Music Project.

Founded in 1990 by late jazz artist Paul Nash (listen to his album here), the Manhattan New Music Project (MNMP) has steadily advanced its dual mission to educate audiences in jazz and improvisational music forms, while offering student populations opportunities to experience hands-on art-making. MNMP has presented music by emerging artists through our New York City-based concert series, New Composers, Interactive Music, and New York Anthems. These concerts have been held at such venues as Carnegie Hall, Galapagos Art Space, Abrons Arts Center, Chelsea Art Museum, and N6 Media Labs.

On the educational side there are many cool programs that make me wish I was back in school again. MNMP has a Dept. of Education grant that funds, among other things, a "Blank Page to Stage" program where elementary school kids write and perform their own musicals, a music program to study Brazilian percussion, and a dance workshop comparing West African folk dancing with modern hip-hop dancing.

A big 20th Anniversary party is coming up in early 2010, stay tuned.

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Nov 9 / 12:41pm

Bloodbelly Comb Jelly video

All the regular jellyfish must be jealous.

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Oct 28 / 9:27am

Listen and vote for my remixes of N.A.S.A. tracks featuring M.I.A., Ghostface Killa and Del!

I produced remixes for the indabamusic contest, check it out and please support if you like it by voting.

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Oct 21 / 6:20am

the future is now - prosthetic robot hand now provides sensation

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Oct 20 / 7:09am

absolutely shocking sales numbers for pay-what-you-want video game

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/10/20/world-of-goo-sale-provides-fascinating-results/

Read the last line first. Unlike Radiohead, it would be hard to argue that these guys had a brand, I mean the game has won some awards, but in a niche of a niche of a niche. And more importantly (when you think about the speed of market value drop-off of a console game from launch date), this game is old.

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Sep 24 / 5:21am

Dust storm in Australia - The Big Picture

via boston.com

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Sep 23 / 1:19pm

shenanigans with $

F.D.I.C. may borrow funds from healthy banks to give to unhealthy banks

The FDIC does not want to borrow directly from the Treasury for political reasons, even though it has a $100 billion line of credit. As a result, additional loan interest will go to the healthy banks without any risk on the part of those banks. Why? Because, the healthy banks don't need to use their own money, they can just act as the middleman by borrowing from the Fed at near zero interest rates and passing the money on to the FDIC. Articles on this issue have in large part been misleading in presentation of the FDIC's goal of using future bank assessments to repay the bonds. But the reason the loan to the FDIC is needed in the first place is that the other banks can't afford to pay assessments now, and if they can't pay in the future, then the taxpayer will. So this is another bailout, this time of smaller banks, backstopped by the government.

I am not against all bailouts, but this one could be shady.

Look at the last sentence of the NY Times article above. The banks would receive bonds in exchange for the loan at a rate set by the Treasury Secretary. That interest rate would represent a direct transfer of value from taxpayers to private banks without value in exchange, and how ironic that the article claims it would be done to avoid political furor.

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Sep 17 / 6:46pm