http://www.compositemedia.com Out of Many / Many More Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:24:43 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Jon Stewart has something to say.  This matters because Jon Stewart is very extremely politically powerful and when he has something to say he invites America to the National Mall to hear it.  The last time he put his foot down, Tucker Carlson was out of a job and CNN ... http://www.compositemedia.com/2010/11/16/introducing_jon_stewart/ http://www.compositemedia.com/2010/10/25/dispatches-8/ The pennycandystore beyond the El The pennycandystore beyond the El is where I first fell in love ... http://www.compositemedia.com/2010/09/22/poetry-is-5/ The thing that really really creases me about life is that the effort involved in maintaining the status quo, when reapplied to some sort of magically aligned endeavor (free from pre-ordained accomplishments, expectations, or sequences) would be really...whatsthatword? Good. And that is the bothersome thing.  The bug stuck on its back; legs ... http://www.compositemedia.com/2010/09/19/good/ In the summertime, this is how you "do" Utica. http://www.compositemedia.com/2010/09/16/dispatches-7/ The battle against Powerpoint presentations has been won (except for the US military).  The world has recognized that bullet points are best pointed inward; anecdotes serve the narrative of a point and visuals paint better pictures than words.  Powerpoint - whose name connotes boring glossy eyed reading slides to an ... http://www.compositemedia.com/2010/09/13/its-complicated/ “Aapko kya fayda hoga?” At first I was a bit taken aback with the question. I was unsure of what was asked of me, and certainly uncertain of what to say to what I thought was being asked. There was a definite sense of assertiveness along with a clear politeness with which ... http://www.compositemedia.com/2010/09/08/dissertation-flames-2/ Editor's note: Today's poem comes from an actual reader email! What the fuck Is this website? http://www.compositemedia.com/2010/09/03/poetry-is-4/ Books at Grandma's House. http://www.compositemedia.com/2010/08/30/dispatches-6/ Mother Teresa looked andlookedandlookedandlooked For fifty years (under the rug, inbetween the cushions of her sofa, in her sock drawer) All of that extraterrestrial space Just yellowed paper and candle wax She confided to no one in particular *** It is important to note That Mother Teresa It is important to note that Mother Teresa Left mountains of paper bundled and stacked Fifty ... http://www.compositemedia.com/2010/08/30/poetry-is-3/ Hell is other people (not going to the carnival you're already avoiding). http://www.compositemedia.com/2010/08/14/dispatches-5/ There's probably no bathroom here.  And if there is, it has a key and the door is on the side of the building. http://www.compositemedia.com/2010/08/08/dispatches-4/ This publication is dedicated to the pursuit of skills (among other less important things).  It has documented game-show hackers (pre-internet), video-game virtuosos, and race-car driving bike-riding video-game-shooting master Italians.  Each of these examples document individuals with skills that were acquired only through impossibly hard work and that have no redeeming ... http://www.compositemedia.com/2010/08/08/motivated/ How to play Bridge in your basement rec room in August. http://www.compositemedia.com/2010/08/05/dispatches-3/ Waiting at a bus stop is your weakest, smallest, most ignorant (in the technical sense, not a personal stupidity sense) moments in your day.  You cede all sorts of control and information that you could use to understand the context of your wait to a process that is subjected to ... http://www.compositemedia.com/2010/08/03/smart-buses/ Sylva, North Carolina http://www.compositemedia.com/2010/07/30/dispatches-2/ How do we square the fact that there are people in our society that find ways to work and live with skills that are even more meaningless than the most scrutinized bean-counter?  It is not enough to say that these people earn a living at these tasks.  In some respect, ... http://www.compositemedia.com/2010/07/30/little-pockets-of-nothing/ America: View through a Friendly's window. http://www.compositemedia.com/2010/07/18/dispatches/ A man rides a bike on rollers with no hands in a room while playing an online action video game with both hands and most of his brain. He can easily fall off his bike. The amount of brain power utilized to perform this task is incredible. This man ... http://www.compositemedia.com/2010/07/12/multitasking/ O It's Nice To Get Up In,the slipshod mucous kiss of her riant belly's fooling bore - When The Sun Begins To(with a phrasing crease of hot subliminal lips,as if a score of youngest angels suddenly should stretch neat necks just to see how always squirms the skillful mystery of Hell)me suddenly grips in chuckles of supreme ... http://www.compositemedia.com/2010/07/12/poetry-is-2/ Several posts on this publication have analyzed the normal everyday structure of life in the US.  The way we speak and think, the way we wait, the way we pursue goals and now the way we furnish our apartments.  Technically, and more specifically, the way I just re-arranged the furniture ... http://www.compositemedia.com/2010/07/11/the-campfire-is-out/ An everyday order belies the incredible weirdness of life.   There are phrases and words and compliments and mannerisms and womannerisms and made up words and single and double and triple entendres all like a giant raging river and it's dammed and controlled by whatisit? our language or our God ... http://www.compositemedia.com/2010/06/22/the-power-you-wield/ It's so hot, the crystal key in Jeremy Piven's Chrysler Imperial just set fire to the back-up hair piece he keeps in It's so hot, the crystal key in Jeremy Piven's Chrysler refracted the spitting image of Ricardo Montalban It's so hot, the Corinthian leather in Jeremy Piven's Chrysler just drove itself ... http://www.compositemedia.com/2010/06/22/how-hot-is-it/ Everybody shut up for a second: The internet is being used to solve the world's problems.  Let's zoom in on that ridiculous statement to Slate.com, which recently asked its readers to propose inventive solutions to the world's public transportation woes.  Notice that this question, which I have paraphrased and then ... http://www.compositemedia.com/2010/06/18/an-online-community-contest/ -- Einstein & Freud & Jack --   Death is a dead, at least that's what Freud said. Long considering, he finally thought Life but a detour longer or less long; Maybe that's why the going gets so rough.   When Einstein wrote to ask him what he thought Science might do for world peace, Freud wrote back: Not ... http://www.compositemedia.com/2010/06/13/poetry-is/