pjhstudios blog

Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

  • Black Swan

    The ballet Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky serve as both a back drop and an allegory for the film, Black Swan, directed by Darren Aronofsky. Natalie Portman’s Nina Sayers is turned against herself in the ultra competitive, cutthroat world of ballet. The supporting cast of Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey and Winona Ryder serve only […]

  • Kevin Smith and how to work for yourself

    Kevin Smith on working for yourself: Life is mutable; the rigidity of working for someone else doesn’t allow for much flexibility. So create your own ideal universe.

  • Kevin Kelly – What Technology Wants

    In What Technology Wants, Kevin Kelly views technology’s evolution from multiple perspectives–the anthropologist, the sociologist, the evolutionary biologist, the technologist and the futurist. Using these perspectives, he examines his core thesis: technology is an extension of our abilities. Broken into four sections, Origins, Imperatives, Choices and Directions he combines ideas from various disciplines with stories, […]

  • Seth Godin – Tribes

    Seth Godin’s Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us serves up a compact guide to be a leader of ideas. How should a leader of a tribe, a movement, cause, purpose devoted to a singular mission act or think? That’s what Godin covers with a mixture of anecdotes, stories from people who have led and […]

  • A Darwinian theory of beauty

    Denis Dutton gave a TED talk about beauty from the perspective of Darwin. In it, beauty is a representation of the best possible outcome, be it animals (rabbits), art, a soccer kick and on and on. We’re hardwired to recognize beauty, despite its subjectivity.

  • Can technology end poverty?

    Kentaro Toyama worked at Microsoft Research India for several years leading research initiatives but also ICT4D, or Information and Communication Technologies for Development. ICT4D seeks to address global poverty with technology. He learned a few things while there. Technology—no matter how well designed—is only a magnifier of human intent and capacity. It is not a […]

  • Marroon 5 – Hands All Over

    Hands All Over by Maroon 5 continues the jazzy, funk, keyboard and drums driven pop about love, longing for love, hurt by love, sorry for for hurting for love and redeeming oneself for love that they do well. Of the stand out tracks: Misery kicks off and sets the tone–upbeat and thumping. Stutter is a […]

  • Keane – Night Train

    Keane’s 31 minute EP, Night Train, is a bland assortment of mash up pop. K’naan and Tigarah guest spot (rap?) to a confusing effect. Sure, artists experiment with sounds, but you kinda have to wonder what direction, a band that built its following on piano driven anthems, the rap collaborations bring.

  • Processed war photography

    Brian Barrel of Gizmodo spots Hipstamatic photos on the NY Times front page. When NYT photog Damon Winter went to northern Afghanistan to catalog the efforts of the First Battalion, 87th Infantry of the 10th Mountain Division, he took all the fancy camera equipment you would expect. He’d shoot video of firefights with a Canon […]

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