Archive - Jun 2008

I am not going to say much about this one cause I just spent all my brain energy (and judgement) over at Shameless, but I'd love to hear what people think of this (hella long) article from the Globe and Mail: Mending a broken mind. It describes a new treatment for depression that involves constantly stimulating certain regions in the brain with electricity, prompting emotional and mental changes in peopel who suffer from severe depression.

Giver'ha people.

Little What?

So this is a new charitable organization called Little Geeks: “Little Geeks is a philanthropic organization and registered Canadian charity that collects, refurbishes and re-distributes donated home computers to children in need.� How about that graphic design - like Toys R’Us on poppers. I feel like Joe Matt must have done the illustrations since no-one has eyeballs. Seriously though, “Little Geeks�? I can’t say I like it.

Though it may seem harsh to take shots at a good-hearted enterprise, I strongly believe that people from the corporate sector, (and take a look at the board of directors if you want to know who’s backing this project) need as much educating about social change as people who barter for used monitors need educating about interest rates and borrowing to save.

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Amid less fanfare then perhaps it should have had, Neil Diamond released an album in May called 'Home Before Dark'. So, the big deal here is that he is an old guy now. The other big deal is that Rick Rubin has produced his last few albums. But really, and none of the reviews seem to be picking up on this, the real big deal is that his persona has made this wonderful transition from playboy, to slightly melancholic playboy. It's like he always seemed to be someone's ex-husband with that ego, you know the showmanship of buying a sportscar and a linen suit and dating younger ladies. But now he's like the ex-husband/boyfriend you still quietly love. He comes in and sits at your kitchen table and whips out his guitar and it turns out that for 30 years he's been thinking about what went wrong.

It's great, he's managed to stay inside his goofy "I'm a loverman" act, but turn it into something bittersweet. Also his voice with it's gravelly texture gets better over time. The less suave he is, the more I love him.

If I Don't See you Again

Wow. ShikShantar: The people's Institute for Rethinking education and development.