I'm excited to announce that my friends and fellow dancers Heather Flock and Laura Jeffers (along with Felix Pitre and Jessie Patz), are starting up a new lindy hop program at You Should Be Dancing Studios in Manhattan. Heather has been running our dance lessons at Yehoodi's weekly dance for the past couple of years…
Video of “Switchcraft” LED Flower at Computational Textiles Workshop
Here's a quick video of the LED flower that my team created at the Computational Textiles workshop. This was the moment of truth where our team saw whether or not our "switchcraft" flower was created so that the conductive thread, foil, switch and LED all functioned properly. Seeing it light up was a huge thrill! This…
Digital Media & Learning Conference in San Diego: Hanging with my Peeps
Right now I'm blessed to be at a couple of gatherings in San Diego for the next few days. And it's not just the sunny weather and easy access to the Pacific that I'm happy about — although that certainly helps. No, it's being among hundreds of folks who are just as excited as I…
Swing This Week: 7th Anniversary of Jelly Roll & Fundraiser for NYSDS!
I'm unfortunately travelling this week, so I'll be missing the celebrations of two great swing institutions in New York: Jelly Roll Productions and the New York Swing Dance Society. But you should go if you can! First up, on Friday, February 19, Jelly Roll Productions will be celebrating their seventh year of operations with a…
Breaking Practice Today (video)
Link to original video.
“Autorretrato”: Compania Maria Pages Breathtaking Flamenco Show at City Center
I and a friend had the pleasure of seeing Compania Maria Pages perform their ensemble flamenco show "Autorretrato" ("Self Portrait") last night at the New York City Center. The show was breathtaking, a fine example of how this ancient artform still has new life and power. Despite being staged at the enormous City Center, "Autorretrato"…
Self Portrait: Rik the Wily Chinaman
I was invited to submit a picture of myself for an ad campaign, so I got a bit wacky taking self portraits of myself this morning. It's the first time I've used my Canon Rebel with an external flash, I don't own a remote, plus I'm not a very good photographer, so this took way…
My pics from Snowpocalypse in Brooklyn
While I didn't get to play in the snow (curse that telecommuting), I did get a few pics of the "Snowpocalyse" snow storm that hit New York City yesterday. So gorgeous when snow covers all the urban grittiness of my nabe Prospect Heights.
A Sad Reminder of the State of Digital Iliteracy in the World
Apparently many, many people don't know how to use the address bar on their web browsers. This entertains, alarms and depresses me all at the same time. From my friend Matt Stratton: Somehow a ton of idiot Facebookers who apparently log onto Facebook by doing Google searches all landed on this ReadWriteWeb post (must have…
Feed by M.T. Anderson: Does Technology Empower or Disable Us? (mini-review)
A couple of weeks ago, I finished the cyberpunk novel Feed by M.T. Anderson, and have been meaning to post a little review of it, along with several other books I finished recently. I keep thinking about the message and story of Feed, which relates directly to the overall themes of this blog on technology,…