Frank Oz – creator of Yoda, Cookie Monster, Miss Piggy, Fozzie – classic 1988 interview

Is there anyone more iconic to our generation than Frank Oz?

Frank Oz is a British-born American film director, actor, voice actor and puppeteer who is known for creating and performing the characters Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear in The Muppet Show, Cookie Monster, Bert and Grover in Sesame Street, and for directing films, including the 1986 Little Shop of Horrors remake and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

He is also the operator and voice of Yoda in the Star Wars film series.

via Wikipedia

You can listen to a classic interview with him from 1988 on NPR’s Fresh Air.

In the first half he talks about directing and making Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. In the second half he discusses his puppeteer career, including how he got started, created his characters, and Jim Henson.

It is available on the NPR article about the latest Muppet movie, which is also a great interview if you’re a Muppet fan (midway down).

If you just want the interview then WBUR has a link that is better and works on mobile devices.

 

My favorite Muppet - Fozzie

Is it true that Facebook sells my name and contact info to make money?

When I last logged into Facebook there was a big info box called “About Ads.” I clicked on it and found this:

Is it true that Facebook sells my name and contact info to make money?

No. Facebook does not sell your personal information.

Facebook makes its money from showing you ads.

In other words, Facebook uses your personal information to sell ads. Which is exactly what Google does and every other advertiser on the planet.

Which is fine because this website survives by selling ads, but the next section reveals how Facebook is taking things a step farther.

Your name or profile picture might appear alongside certain types of ads and sponsored stories:

1. Facebook Ads
A business creates an ad to promote its message. If you’ve liked that business’s page, the story about you liking the page (including your name or profile photo) may be paired with the ad your friends see.

The last sentence reveals a lot about the latest in Facebook advertising. They are going beyond the basic ad “you should buy this” by adding you as a part of the advertisement “Steve bought this and you should too.” Here is that sentence again:

If you’ve liked that business’s page, the story about you liking the page (including your name or profile photo) may be paired with the ad your friends see.

It’s an innovative new strategy for advertising and may be the future (i.e. personalized ads) but Facebook needs to be honest about this. It’s not clearly identified on the page, nor even prominent. In fact, it’s not even a subject on the page, rather it is part of explaining another topic (Sponsored Stories).

For such a bold move, placing my picture next to an advertisers brand, Facebook is hurting themselves by hiding this information. Yes, ads do keep Facebook free and that is important, but trust is more important and they need to alert users to this practice.

 

PJ20 – Twenty years of Pearl Jam – directed by Oscar winner Cameron Crowe

Another awesome movie on Netflix.

Once in a while a film comes along that is clearly a labor of love. Pearl Jam Twenty, a documentary feature spanning 20 years in the life of Pearl Jam, lensed by Oscar winning director & writer Cameron Crowe is just such a film.

Painstakingly culled from 30,000 hours of material collected across two decades, Pearl Jam Twenty provides an intimate look into one of the most influential bands of our time.

via Netflix Blog

I’ve started watching and it’s incredible, especially if you’re a Pearl Jam fan. Chris Cornell of Soundgarden gives several interviews because he played a surprisingly strong role in the band’s success. Plus, you get early interviews of Eddie Vedder by the bonfire, the band outside the clubs, and so on.

Pearl Jam Twenty

Shiny Toy Guns – My New Old Favorite Band

I like my bands like I like my men — genius, on the brink of lunatic, with a romantic edge. That’s how I feel about LA-born band, Shiny Toy Guns. You get the sense that at any moment the ensemble will implode, and given its tumultuous path to success, it’s all but a likely conclusion.

Formed in 2002 by bassist/keyboardist, Jeremy Dawson, and vocalist/guitarist, Chad Petree, the band didn’t gain in popularity until the addition of female vocalist, Carah Faye Charnow, who gives the group its distinctive siren sound.

In January 2005, they released their first album We Are Pilots, then re-recorded and re-released it in November 2005, then signed with Universal Records in June 2006 and released a third, final version on October 2006, which received a 2007 Grammy Award nomination in the category of Best Electronic/Dance Album.

You Are The One, a single off of We Are Pilots, is featured on the soundtrack for the FIFA 2007 videogame, further catapulting the band into the spotlight. (SIDENOTE: I can listen to this song on repeat for at least six iterations when I’m on a treadmill):

So what happens next? If you guessed the two founding members kick out the band’s star, Carah Faye, you guessed right. Dawson and Petree claim it was Charnow’s decision to break off (due to “artistic differences”), but this interview tells a different story:

In August 2008, the band announces Carah Faye is no longer part of the band and Sisely Treasure, whose vocals are featured on the band’s second album, Season of Poison, is her replacement. Charnow goes on to pursue a new band, Versant, in Sweden, and Treasure, while giving the band a more metallic feel, fails to satisfy Charnow fans, who beg for her return.

Fast forward to 2011. On February 7, Shiny Toy Guns announces via Facebook that Treasure is no longer part of the band, and on February 11, a video is posted on the band’s website announcing that former member, Carah Faye, is rejoining the band along with her husband, Daniel Johansson, for their upcoming album III. On March 3, The Sun, the first single from III, is released, with the expectation of an early to mid-summer album release. But it seems The Sun was simply a tease, with fans still waiting for the promised III and 2012 tour dates TBA.

Whatever happens to @ShinyToyGuns, I’m hoping they can keep their egos in check long enough to complete a 2012 tour so I can see them play live in person. Without Carah Faye, they sound like a water-downed version of The Killers. The founders should take their cue from No Doubt and realize she’s their ticket to platinum success.

In the mean time, I’m relegated to enjoying my favorite tunes on Spotify.

 

 

New area of marine biology – the whale fall – adventurous and full of new discoveries

A new and interesting area of scientific research is called a “whale fall”. This occurs when a whale dies and the massive body falls to the ocean floor. During the fall and for many months afterwards the whale becomes a haven for life.

This process, first observed in 1987, revealed 30 previously unknown species and has since become a popular research focus. Imagine an entire school bus gradually sinking and then resting on the ocean floor. Whole species thrive off of nutrient-rich area and some, including the newly discovered species, live solely on the school bus (whale carcass).

This burgeoning area of research recently received a lucky gift, actually several of them. The story starts on a San Diego beach:

The 67-foot fin whale was towed to Fiesta Island on Nov. 23 for scientific study. When the carcass landed on the water line, about two dozen researchers started carving it up for biological samples.

Scientists quickly determined that the whale had been killed by a ship because it had numerous fractured vertebrae and large areas of hemorrhage that indicated that it was alive when hit, according to a report put together by Kisfaludy and his partners at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, SeaWorld and Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Then city officials, unsure what to do with this massive thing, “announced plans to haul the whale to a landfill,” and that’s when Virgin Oceanic got involved. They offered to tow it out to sea using their crew and 125-foot catamaran.

The organization, one of Richard Branson’s enterprises, promotes exploration of the seas. Its leaders wanted to see the carcass turned into an undersea laboratory.

For two nights, the whale was secured to a telephone pole by heavy rope and to an anchor in Mission Bay.

The day after the necropsy — Thanksgiving — Kisfaludy said he and Rouse “ran all over the county looking for steel that we could use.” They found 3,000 pounds of large shackles and 13 links of large ship chain that totaled about 1,000 pounds. They added that to 10,200 pounds of rusty steel mooring weights Kisfaludy secured from sources at Newport Harbor, where Virgin’s 125-foot catamaran docks.

via Whale almost didn’t sink with 14,000 pounds

 

The recreational catamaran then towed the whale 11 miles out to sea and released it. It sat there for a moment until it got crushed by a wave and then sank 800 meters to the ocean floor.

In the coming months Scripps researchers plan to visit the carcass using Remotely Operated Vehicles in search of new biological discoveries.

 

More:

Whale photos from San Diego Union-Tribune

Video of a whale fall, just landed and 18 months later

Facebook’s new office of endless snacks, cozies, and “hack out” spaces

Facebook’s new campus is up and the employees are moving in. Here are some insights into the goodies they have laid out:

The whole campus is connected through a central courtyard.  Right now it’s still filled with bulldozers and dirt, but when it’s finished, we’ll have two full-service cafes, two coffee shops, on-site doctors, a fitness center, and much more.  And as always, we still offer other perks like free dry cleaning and endless snacks in our micro-kitchens.

There are no private offices or cubicles.  We tore down those unnecessary walls so that everyone could sit out in the open with their teams.  We’ve scattered hundreds of conference rooms and “cozies”—little breakaway spaces filled with couches and brightly colored chairs—throughout the buildings.  As people run into each other in hallways or at the micro-kitchens, it’s important that they can quickly duck away somewhere if they want to chat or hash out ideas.

We’ve always believed in “hacking out” our space—putting up posters and scribbling ideas on the walls—so we lined the hallways with chalkboard paint and put a box of chalk on everyone’s desk.

We’ve sponsored Zimride to come to the wider city of Menlo Park and help their residents find rideshare opportunities, and soon we’ll launch Facebucks, a program that incentivizes employees to get out, enjoy and spend money in downtown Menlo Park.

We’re pursuing a LEED Gold certification—we offer recycling and composting bins everywhere for employees, and we’ve reused as much of the existing structure as possible.  For instance, there isn’t a single new door on the campus—they’ve all been recycled from those used by our predecessors.

We also offer a robust transportation program that provides alternatives to single-car commuting, including free shuttles from the surrounding areas, vanpools, (and) bicycles. Over 47% of our employees use one of these programs.  In fact, even as we grow, we don’t plan to add a single new parking space to the existing campus.

Our New Menlo Park Home

Continue reading “Facebook’s new office of endless snacks, cozies, and “hack out” spaces”

Facebook's new office of endless snacks, cozies, and "hack out" spaces

Facebook’s new campus is up and the employees are moving in. Here are some insights into the goodies they have laid out:

The whole campus is connected through a central courtyard.  Right now it’s still filled with bulldozers and dirt, but when it’s finished, we’ll have two full-service cafes, two coffee shops, on-site doctors, a fitness center, and much more.  And as always, we still offer other perks like free dry cleaning and endless snacks in our micro-kitchens.

There are no private offices or cubicles.  We tore down those unnecessary walls so that everyone could sit out in the open with their teams.  We’ve scattered hundreds of conference rooms and “cozies”—little breakaway spaces filled with couches and brightly colored chairs—throughout the buildings.  As people run into each other in hallways or at the micro-kitchens, it’s important that they can quickly duck away somewhere if they want to chat or hash out ideas.

We’ve always believed in “hacking out” our space—putting up posters and scribbling ideas on the walls—so we lined the hallways with chalkboard paint and put a box of chalk on everyone’s desk.

We’ve sponsored Zimride to come to the wider city of Menlo Park and help their residents find rideshare opportunities, and soon we’ll launch Facebucks, a program that incentivizes employees to get out, enjoy and spend money in downtown Menlo Park.

We’re pursuing a LEED Gold certification—we offer recycling and composting bins everywhere for employees, and we’ve reused as much of the existing structure as possible.  For instance, there isn’t a single new door on the campus—they’ve all been recycled from those used by our predecessors.

We also offer a robust transportation program that provides alternatives to single-car commuting, including free shuttles from the surrounding areas, vanpools, (and) bicycles. Over 47% of our employees use one of these programs.  In fact, even as we grow, we don’t plan to add a single new parking space to the existing campus.

Our New Menlo Park Home

Continue reading “Facebook's new office of endless snacks, cozies, and "hack out" spaces”