Advanced exasperated sigh maneuvers: When things get really hairy, you can deploy the stretched face.
Per Mike’s tweet, the classic “exasperated developer sigh”. I encourage you all to post your own.
Open Distribution of iBooks Author Books
From the Terms and Conditions for iBooks Authors, an interesting note on open distribution of books built with the application, so long as you do not charge for them (which opens up a whole possible ecosystem of book sharing/creation/modification):
B. Distribution of your Work. As a condition of this License and provided you are in compliance with its terms, your Work may be distributed as follows:
(i) if your Work is provided for free (at no charge), you may distribute the Work by any available means;(ii) if your Work is provided for a fee (including as part of any subscription-based product or service), you may only distribute the Work through Apple and such distribution is subject to the following limitations and conditions: (a) you will be required to enter into a separate written agreement with Apple (or an Apple affiliate or subsidiary) before any commercial distribution of your Work may take place; and (b) Apple may determine for any reason and in its sole discretion not to select your Work for distribution.
Apple will not be responsible for any costs, expenses, damages, losses (including without limitation lost business opportunities or lost profits) or other liabilities you may incur as a result of your use of this Apple Software, including without limitation the fact that your Work may not be selected for distribution by Apple.
So basically, as long as you don’t charge, you can release your book however you want, which is partly because: if we don’t like it, we won’t distribute it for you. Github for iBooks, anyone?
There is, we recognize, a historical danger here. Someday, the record of this exhibition might be dug up by a young art historian, or perhaps a blogger like us, or perhaps some sort of future blogger who does things with brainwaves. They’ll see that there was a massive show spread across every location of the most successful gallery of the time, entirely comprised of one of the most successful artists of the time, and that it was supported by some of the most illustrious voices money could buy. So I’m going to lay this down, just to clarify, so that nobody from the future gets confused: we hate this shit. Everyone hates this shit. These spots reflect nothing about how we live, see, or think, they’re just some weird meme for the impossibly rich that nobody knows how to stop.
A Nice Note From Senator Gillibrand
For posterity, and the consumption of those who are interested today, a note from Senator Gillibrand explaining why—despite vocal opposition—she nevertheless supports and co-sponsors the SOPA bill:
January 11, 2012
Dear David,
Thank you for writing to me regarding S. 968, the PROTECT IP Act of 2011. I understand your concerns.
I am a cosponsor of this legislation because I believe that we must protect American intellectual property against foreign websites that infringe upon our rights. By empowering the Attorney General of the United States to go after foreign infringing websites, this legislation becomes a necessary tool to ensure that U.S. companies remain competitive in the world marketplace. I recognize that there are technical concerns with the enforcement of this bill that need to be addressed. I am committed to working with my colleagues in the United States Senate to ensure that this legislation protects the Constitutional rights of Americans and does not stifle lawful free speech or innovation on the internet.
Thank you again for writing to express your concerns, and I hope that you keep in touch with my office regarding future legislation. For more information on this and other important issues, please visit my website at http://gillibrand.senate.gov and sign up for my e-newsletter.
Sincerely,
Kirsten E. Gillibrand
United States Senator
Shown here: a “Secret Santa” gift I received yesterday that stunned me and all my coworkers. Said Santa apparently walked the streets of NoLiTa one evening asking people to reproduce a portrait of me onto a ping-pong ball. The seven resulting ping-portraits are shown here. Only one person here at 20x200 would know to give me speedily hand-drawn ping-pong ball effigies as a present. To that man, Matthew Tribe, I offer my sincere gratitude—and a daily challenge to the death at the ping-pong table that inspired him.
My Favorite 20x200 Prints This Year
Jen asked us all at 20x200 to throw in our Top 10 20x200 Prints of 2011 (a list of which I think you’ll all have an opportunity to see soon). We released more prints this year than ever before, and the work—especially considering how much effort was required to release it—is beautiful. In putting together this list, I thought just a little bit about why I picked each print, and I’ll share them with you here. They’re in no particular order, except in how I remembered them.
1. Jason Polan: 50 People of New York










Internet Smart People Aficionados: Nobody Has Noticed This?


Am I crazy here? Let’s try this again, but use the conference headshots:


Enhance.


Enhance.


Am I right, people? Come on.
This! This, people, is the point. This exercise is what I am all about right now—the connection between really spending time remembering what something looks like and then reacting to the thing something is in your memory. This is the space between the half-hour and the five-seconds, and exploring that space is the greatest obsession.
I’ll rail on about Lynda Barry to all comers—artists, writers, programmers, and business folk alike. Go read her books and see what I mean.
The Near-Sighted Monkey teaches a picture-making class once a week in Madison, Wisconsin. All of the work is done in a standard composition notebook with white glue and paper scraps and Flair pens. Tonight the class did a barely modified exercise from a book by Ivan Brunetti called “Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice.”
THEY DUG IT!!!! WHY NOT GET IVAN BRUNETTI’S BOOK AND TRY IT???!!!
In your composition notebook, turn to a blank page and then….
1. Draw a car for exactly three minutes. Keep your pen moving the whole time. The quality of the drawing doesn’t matter as much as adding all of the details of a car you can remember. (door locks! Side mirrors! Tail-pipe!) Don’t let your pen stop for the whole three minutes. Have someone time you.
Now….2. Draw the car in two minutes
Then,
3. One minute
4. 30 seconds
5. Five seconds.
Etc.
Ivan Brunetti says to repeat the exercise with cats, castles, telephones— (Really, any noun you can think of )—-and to really notice how when you don’t have enough time to freak out, a certain kind of spontaneous gesture appears.