Minimoonstar

Our Zynga overlords in class-action lawsuit

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 03:42:00 -0500

Our Zynga overlords in class-action lawsuit:

(~~Stealing~~ Reblogging Kristin’s link description as I’m posting this just to save my back-of-napkin calculation.)

If Zynga had revenues of $250M in 2009 but 1/3 was from partner offers**, and yr avg punter plunking down for FarmCash or equivalent in their dozen other games buys $10 worth, that is 16.7M paid users out of the 50M daily actives they claim as of November 2009 on their website. My guess is that there’s a more marked divide between the paid customers and the freetards, but an assumption of $20 avg purchase still makes for 8M paid users out of 50M, or 16%. It is not a bad conversion rate for 1) freemium and 2) online social network anything. OTOH Farmville becoming a killer app is maybe a mixed blessing for Facebook - at this point ppl literally creating fb accts for the first time in order to play these games, but also creating dummy accts in order to, er, farm. (Hi, Kristin!) Which I guess is something Facebook contends with daily with regard to pr0nb0t girls and such, but not real ppl who are part of real offline social networks. So to speak. Also, being on the transgressor side of the equation doesn’t mean I’m not aware that Zynga games are creating massive “noise pollution” of the live news stream for the uninterested; the sort of pollution that cripples functionality and drives users away from sites. If I were FB I would be yelling at them to give gamers the option to lock updates to gamer-only friends lists, or by gum I (the FB liaison team in question) would push that through on the FB end.

** Alternately, not all of that remaining 2/3 is direct revenue from gamers, and the company has income from other activities I’m not taking into account, because I haven’t done more than cursory research ahaha.

barthel: circumpolarnavigation: aaronleaf: Granta 17: While...

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:22:51 -0500

barthel:

circumpolarnavigation:

aaronleaf:

Granta 17: While Waiting for a War | Magazine | Granta Magazine

Except when he gets sued for calling Shirley Temple a whore, Graham Greene’s war journals are pretty boring. The best part of this Granta, and among the best things I’ve read anywhere, is an excerpt from Teresa Torańska’s Them, a series of interviews with Poland’s former Stalinist leaders. It’s a glimpse into the minds of the powerful and the absurdity of totalitarian propaganda. Here’s an excerpt:

Jakub Berman: Whenever we went to Moscow after the war, Stalin would invite us to supper, followed by a film. It became a custom, and our visits never ended without a meal together. Dinner would start late in the evening and last until morning. The food and drink were exquisite. I particularly remember a delicious roast of bear meat. Bierut always sat next to Stalin and I sat next to Bierut. Stalin propose toasts… Then Stalin would put on a record, mostly Georgian music, which he loved. Once, I think it was 1948, I danced with Molotov [laughter].

Teresa Toranska: You mean with Mrs Molotov?

Berman: No, she wasn’t there; she’d been sent to a labour camp. I danced with Molotov—it must have been a waltz, or at any rate something simple, because I haven’t a clue about how to dance—and I just moved my feet to the rhythm.

Toranska: As the woman?

Berman: Molotov led; I wouldn’t know how. he wasn’t a bad dancer, actually and I tried to keep in step with him, but for my part it was more like clowning than dancing.

Toranska: What about Stalin, whom did he dance with?

Berman: Oh, no, Stalin didn’t dance Stalin turned the gramophone: he treated it as his duty. He never left it. He would put on records and watch.

Toranska: He watched you?

Berman: He watched us dance.

Toranska: So you had a good time?

Berman: Yes, it was pleasant but with an inner tension.

Toranska: You didn’t really have fun?

Berman: Stalin really had fun. But for us those dancing sessions were good opportunities to say things to each other which we wouldn’t be able to say out loud. That’s when Molotov warned me about being infiltrated by various hostile organizations.

Toranska: Did he threaten you?

Berman: No, it was called a friendly warning. Molotov took the opportunity—or perhaps he’d arranged it himself since after all he was the one that asked me to dance—to mention a few things which he thought would be useful to me. I made it clear that I understood and didn’t say anything in response.

DJ Stalin!

I know right, was thinking “why am I not surprised Stalin was that guy at the party hogging the iPod playlist” (nb this is also me).

perpetua: Vampire Weekend“Oxford Comma”Live on Later with Jools...

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:55:03 -0500

perpetua:

Vampire Weekend
“Oxford Comma”
Live on Later with Jools Holland 2007

Vampire Weekend should play at least one show in which they perform “Oxford Comma” at the end of the main set, but after starting the second verse, the song would break down into total cacophony. At that point, Ezra Koenig would start screaming “WHO GIVES A FUUUUUCK ABOUT AN OXFORD COMMA AHHHHHH” a few times over some grinding, disgusting dirge riff. After maybe three minutes of that, they’d throw some stuff around and storm off the stage. A few minutes later, they would come back for an encore, and play the song totally straight. Smiling and polite.

I keep coming back to this one and ROTFL.

"It’s confirmed: U2 will play Montreal on July 16. The band will perform on the polo field at..."

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:30:03 -0500

“

It’s confirmed: U2 will play Montreal on July 16.

The band will perform on the polo field at the Montreal Hippodrome, kicking in 3 million for the construction of a temporary open-air stadium to fit 60,000 to 80,000 people.

”

- —The Gazette front page this morning.

WHAT SHIT IS THIS BONO I DON’T EVEN

BUT CARBON FOOTPRINT

BUT

Also “on the polo field” means they’ll be ripping up everything I wrote about on October 22nd, argh the hate

Reviving an old one (made this post-Italy 2007) as it is still...

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:54:16 -0500

Reviving an old one (made this post-Italy 2007) as it is still funny.

67752: Icarus and Daedalus, Frederic Leighton Oh, I have...

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 04:58:22 -0500

67752:

Icarus and Daedalus, Frederic Leighton

Oh, I have always particularly liked this one.

katstevens: Lady Gaga - Bad Romance. …Where to start? How about...

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:49:00 -0500

katstevens:

Lady Gaga - Bad Romance.

…Where to start? How about at the end, where Gaga is having a post-coital cig next to the charred skeleton of her ‘highest bidder’ whilst her bra randomly fires sparks, accompanied by a chirpy harpsichord refrain?

Nah - let’s start with those HOOFS in the middle eight (3.27, just after the spinning gyroscope bit). It’s all very well saying “walk, walk fashion baby” but feet are not meant to DO that, dude - I don’t care what Alexander McQueen says.

Then there’s the post-middle 8 bit with her polar bear dress catching fire while she says some words in French then screams “I don’t want to be French!” (or “friends”, whatever). At this point you may end up overlooking the fact that she’s wearing a red belt-based outfit with only one leg. Only Lady Gaga would make a video where this is barely noticeable.

See how many other things you can spot in amongst all the vodka:
- wrinkly cat
- solar eclipse
- Burberry trenchcoat
- sunglasses made out of razor blades
- the Judderman
- gold chin protector

Well done everyone involved in the making of this video.

This video has been posted five times in 24 hours in my immediate online social network vicinity; who am I to fight the tide.

(The story is also sorta Metropolis, right?)

EDIT — This just in: vid also receives official Lindsay Lohan seal of approval via Twitter!

(via xebec)

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:46:53 -0500

(via xebec)

‘we’ve got some work to do now’ alt. version...

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:40:45 -0500

‘we’ve got some work to do now’ alt. version (via Dr. Monster)

Monster Hunter Velma: now there’s a Halloween costume idea.

Plus 10 minutes to make an insignia pin out of cardboard, and a...

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 18:38:08 -0400

Plus 10 minutes to make an insignia pin out of cardboard, and a glue gun (if you’ve got one) for a phaser.

via www.johnwaterhouse.com The only online reproduction that...

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 02:11:51 -0400

via www.johnwaterhouse.com

The only online reproduction that comes close to conveying the intensity of the original’s colouring. That peacock blue! The bubbles sent skittering over the surface of the pool by the column of poured liquid are reproduced in the pattern of Circe’s pleated robe - or does it represent the scales of the water dragon on which she stands? In Waterhouse’s portrayals of Lamia, she has the legs (and gauzy pink dress) of a young girl but artfully trails a shawl that looks like the discarded skin of a boa constrictor. If dude hadn’t made it as a salon painter he could’ve had quite the career as a fabric designer.

The exhibition currently showing at the Montreal Fine Arts Museum is only a water nymph or three short of comprehensive and completely worth the visit, though the design - the art direction of the exhibition itself - is kind of lulz. Firstly, everything is painted black and thematically arranged, so you have the black Roman peristyle, the black underwater cave, the black Victorian boudoir (black chair and easel), the black enchanted garden (black clambering silk roses!). Secondly, all the text is done in this font called “Raphael”, which I can only assume is a private joke on the part of the designer; you know it better as the font used on the cover of Britney Spears’ self-titled third album. The overall effect was maybe not so much Waterhouse as xxxHolic-era CLAMP. I felt like I should’ve left and come back in a Black Chii style gothloli outfit. To pile goth on goth, the curatorial wall text seemed convinced that Waterhouse (who left very few papers) was a student of occultism. This had never occurred to me, and I’m a student of occultism ahahaha, but believe it or not when one views the paintings side by side the thought becomes plausible. At least, there was some heavy-duty visual symbolism being carried obsessively from one work over to the next, that only related marginally to the purported subject matter of any given canvas. Britannia could have been Penelope could have been Circe could have been the Lady of Shalott, but who she really represented is anyone’s guess.

Also check out: Melissa Auf De Maur’s Waterhouse-inspired film OOOM (I wouldn’t have ID’d the connection if it hadn’t been made explicit by its inclusion in the exhibition, but there’s an aesthetic debt for certain). And Waterhouse’s very own copy of Tennyson - it turns out he was a doodler.

67752: The group’s intention was to reform art by rejecting what they considered to be the...

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:02:00 -0400

67752:

The group’s intention was to reform art by rejecting what they considered to be the mechanistic approach first adopted by the Mannerist artists who succeeded Raphael and Michelangelo. They believed that the Classical poses and elegant compositions of Raphael in particular had been a corrupting influence on the academic teaching of art. Hence the name “Pre-Raphaelite”. In particular, they objected to the influence of Sir Joshua Reynolds, the founder of the English Royal Academy of Arts. They called him “Sir Sloshua”, believing that his broad technique was a sloppy and formulaic form of academic Mannerism. In contrast, they wanted to return to the abundant detail, intense colours, and complex compositions of Quattrocento Italian and Flemish art.

To be mysterious they started off signing all their paintings with the acronym “PRB” for “Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood”, but had to stop as the rumour got around their college-age crowd that it stood for something rude.

(…And now I’ll review that Waterhouse exhibition, yeah.)

Ladytron appearing on Yo Gabba Gabba (via...

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:34:23 -0400

Ladytron appearing on Yo Gabba Gabba (via LadytronOfficial)

Remember, kids - listening and dancing to music is AWESOME!

helen-of-troy: Christina Aguilera’s shoe closet. I DIE. From...

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 02:36:58 -0400

helen-of-troy:

Christina Aguilera’s shoe closet. I DIE. From NYMag.

Seriously, this will be a project for my next apartment, because my current shoe cabinet from Ikea is over-flowing, AND i store additional heels and boots in my closet. Hiding them away just doesn’t do the shoes justice. I’d rather have them displayed on pastel shelving than resting in clear plastic coffins. Although, I’d prob skip the leopard carpet and small child. Just sayin’.

This is just…… :O

Blue Bonnets in happier days, and someone else’s photo...

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:12:00 -0400

Blue Bonnets in happier days, and someone else’s photo (via Blog Story)

Attractions Hippiques finally declared bankruptcy some weeks ago, probably to the relief of all: death throes have been ongoing for two years, thanks to a botched industry reorganization by the provincial government, and decline protracted before that. When my parents purchased the family home in the early 90s the barnyard odour was a depressor of property values on hot summer days, but I would wake up on sunny Sunday mornings to the sound of trotting hooves beyond the railroad tracks facing my backyard. Those were the essential tween-age years when horses mattered, to inveterate city girls most of all. The smell disappeared when the stables and practice yards were moved. The condo association voted to plant hedges that hid the view. Tempus fugit.

My parents insist that we went to the races once, but I don’t remember ever seeing the place in daylight. As part of this summer’s intensive practice and refinement of flânerie (feminist at that apparently; theorists of the 19th and early 20th century understood that la flâneuse did not exist, the detached urbanite gaze being male by definition) I hopped the fence dividing the racetrack from the Wal-Mart parking lot a few times, usually around midnight. I suspect there would be nothing to stop one from doing so at midday, either, other than self-consciousness. The buildings are always lit up, deserted, ceiling fans turning behind monumental walls of glass. Before it what amounts to an overgrown hayfield stretches out, wind bowing seeding grasses as tall as one’s chest, soft billows of clover. The view is oddly reminiscent of the Iowa starship yards in Star Trek.

Closer to the stands the vegetation is better trimmed, even mown. The massive screen is still there, dark, advertising deprecated phone numbers and URLs for the benefit of bettors. Two years of unchecked precipitation runoff have patterned the surface of the track like a riverbed. The walk that cuts across the central green is less even: there’s a dip and swell in the ground, the usual doomed young poplars that spring up in the city’s “third spaces”. But few unpleasant things like ragweed or thistle, no swampy bits that ruin shoes and breed mosquitos and spiky sedges. One can fall over backward into the grass as if onto a mattress. The growth in August was so tall it narrowed one’s view of the sky to a tunnel, at the end of which were clouds and stars. The massive floodlights that had made my bedroom bright enough to read by were off forever. (Property values! Good riddance, says the condo association.) Last I checked - on a warm night a couple of days ago - the hay had all fallen over, but it was warm and dry and still sweet-smelling. The rain’s probably ruined that for good.

The debate now, they say, is between 2,000 and 10,000 residential units. No bets on how much will have been decided (or more likely, “extensively studied”) by next summer.

PLoS Biology: Real Lives and White Lies in the Funding of Scientific Research

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:45:11 -0400

PLoS Biology: Real Lives and White Lies in the Funding of Scientific Research:

This does really make the situation sound dire. ^^; Thoughts?

What problems does Google Wave solve?

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:48:07 -0400

What problems does Google Wave solve?:

Seems right to me - Google should’ve gone with a corporate workflow demo, instead of that naff one about sharing one’s vacation photos (iirc).

(via tweefeet) Check out the LEGO-person-head jar near the sink!

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:32:09 -0400

(via tweefeet)

Check out the LEGO-person-head jar near the sink!

dgblackout: http://www.cyanworks.net/dboardTunesTEXT.html Just found this brilliant lyrics widget....

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 20:56:00 -0400

dgblackout:

http://www.cyanworks.net/dboardTunesTEXT.html
Just found this brilliant lyrics widget. It’s fast and I think better than pearlyrics

I haven’t Mac OX, but passing it on in case it comes in handy to anyone else…

Ancient Chinese form letter

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:49:36 -0400

Ancient Chinese form letter:

charmian:

Are you an official who drank waaaay too much at a party and made a fool of yourself? This may come in handy.