Atoning for my silence

I kept a pretty decent blog in 2009, or at least I wrote fairly regularly. On January, 2010 I published my last post on my old blog. I am not under any delusion that great psychological damage was done to my small group of regular readers, but I feel bad about it nonetheless.

To atone for my inactivity, I will share 545 discoveries I have made in the 545 days I stayed blogosphere silent. It might take a few days, but I worry that throwing the whole lot at you in one post would be overwhelming. All items have a L.L. Bean-style quality guarantee. You may return them for any reason, but since you are paying nothing to get them you will get nothing for giving them back.

Counting down in no particular order...

545. Symphony of Science videos featuring Carl Sagan: here is my favorite, and you can explore from there.

544. Ai Wei Wei's sunflower seeds: if you are unfamiliar with the man or installation, read this great profile of him in the New Yorker by Evan Osnos.

Can't explain it's coolness in a caption, read up on it here. Simon Dogget / Flickr Creative Commons

543： Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was adapted from a Japanese show of the same premise and made media mogul Haim Saban look like a genius when it became mega popular. (Profile of Haim Saban, "The Influencer," in the New Yorker)

542: “Last year, Cambodians consumed 21,000 tonnes [of MSG], the equivalent of nearly 4 grams per person per day，” Info gleaned from this story by Steve Finch. 

541: The King of Thailand was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts and lived in Switzerland for most of his teens. A million other interesting things about the Thai monarchy in Andrew MacgGregor Marshall's 4 part expose, posted on his blog.

540: Talking tape: "Adds voice to products without electronics," and a bunch of other awesome inventions at inventibles.com.

539: Kopxyo and Khinzaw: two designers from Myanmar who worked with me at Ｔhe Phnom Penh Post and could not be more chilled out thoughtful dudes.

My Burmese brothｅｒｓ ｂｕｓｙ　ａｔ　ｂｅｉｎｇ　ｃｏｏｌ

538: Cambodian Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith's Facebook page, particularly the photos of his dogs and related conversations with random fellow dog owners.

"Lucky. He's 5 years old. Weight: 85 kilos." Khieu Kanharith

537:  Journalist David Grann 

536: Sidewind landings performed by pilots touching down in Hong Kong.

535: This sign. Or, more specifically, the fact that the owners decided on E from Entourage as the face of their outfit.

534： White Diamond, a documentary by Werner Hertzog. I hesitate to share this unrefined poem for fear that a poetry snob might be prevented from watching the movie, but here are the lines I wrote while watching the masterpiece. 

Dear Mrs. Enis Abbot,

Werner Hertzog is on his way

I and I

fair skies promise

westward on treetops

your sprawling canopy

respite on and on

rest assured

sunbeams rooster red

days strobe I imagine

Your boy looks and sees

and reflects on reflections.

Sand grain washed

on such a beautiful beach.

Mother moon down the delta.

Look at what’s flying here

Redbeard on White Diamond

Hertzog at the helm.

You’re sailing now, Mrs. Enis Abbot.

It’s good.

533: The trailer for Crocodile Movie, widely recognized as the best piece of film-making to come out of Cambodia in the last decade. I haven't seen it, as it is unreleased on DVD, but will jump at the chance if it is presented. 

532: Magazine designer Darhil Crooks, who was hired to head the art department at Esquire and has been on fire. He also did the redesign of Ebony, which was predictably sweet. (On the subject of magazines, check out some of the covers I designed ｆｏｒ LIFT Magazine)

Two of many covers and spreads directed and designed by Mr. Crooks.

531: Jinro, a South Korean spirit comparable in potency to wine, but with a bit more kick, and without the whole vintage/aroma/snobbishness that goes along with a bottle of red, white or rose. Truth be told, I adore a glass of rose, and my preference for Jinro is 96% financially motivated.

530: Column 5 Media: A really cool media company that specializes in designing innovative info-graphics that tell a stories in totally original ways. Below is one example, go here to see dozens more.

I'm gonna call it a day at a round number and pick up where I left off soon. 

Tell your friends and dare your enemies to start reading my ramblings. I will try to be more interesting.

-C