March 04, 2007
Rosemary Goes to The Mall
Video and installation artist Rosemary Williams says she had an anxiety attack the first time she visited the famously gargantuan Mall of America in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As an art project and means to deal with her personal mall-shopping issues, Williams created the "Wall of the Mall," an installation made of shopping bags from store in the MOA. She also a produced a podcast series documenting the project, to which the Rosemary Goes to the Mall website is devoted.
The weekly Consumed column by Rob Walker in this week's Sunday new York Times Magazine explores William's project and the phenomenon of the Mall of America as a place that has transcended being just a place to buy stuff to being a tourist attraction in and of itself, comeplte with souvenirs shops and t-shirts.
Posted by Supercore at 01:38 PM
February 03, 2006
"The Office" Guy Has the World's Most Popular Podcast ... And It's Really Funny
A few weeks ago, while hunched in front of our computer at work, we heard a series of loud laughs coming from the other side of the floor where our company's interactive designers sit. The laughter quickly grew steadily, louder and more frequent. We went over to investigate.
Our design guru, let's just call him "S," was sitting at his desk with his headphones on and giggling. "What are you listening to?" we asked. "A podcast by Ricky Gervais, the guy from The Office, the British version of The Office," he said. As fans of the BBC's groundbreaking sitcom "The Office," as well as the HBO series "Extras," we were of course familiar with the British actor/comedian/writer/producer Ricky Gervais.
In fact, we had heard a month or so earlier that Gervais was going to have his own podcast on the website of the popular U.K. newspaper "The Guardian." Even though we like the Gervais brand of comedy, we just hadn't been that interested in listening to it as a podcast.
Until now.
The Ricky Gervais Show podcast on Guardian Unlimited is a 12 episode series now in it's ninth week. And it is pretty damn funny. If you're not a fan of British humor, Gervais and his two friends with whom he does the show, may change your mind. They are funny without even seeming to try to be funny.
Gervais has a keen sense of this -- he has made the show into what amounts to simply an entertaining series of chats among friends. The program follows a very loose format and seems almost entirely ad-libbed. As podcasts go, this is one of the best. And most popular. The show is available for free via the Podcast Directory in the Apple iTunes Store or via the Guardian website. Check it out.
Essential Links
The Ricky Gervais Show on the Guardian Unlimited
Ricky Gervais Web Site
Posted by Robsam at 01:48 AM