Pink Air

Book color distribution

Every so often, I like to sort our books by color. I find the process relaxing and it makes the bookcases less chaotic-looking. This time, I decided to make it even more enjoyable by estimating the distribution of colors. This is a sample of about 10% of our Amsterdam books. I was limited by the size of our dining table, so the long tail of orange (7%), purple (4%), pink (2%), other (2%) and unclassifiable (2%) isn't in the picture.

A good book store is a 3D, immersive search engine and book covers are like banner ads. Each jostles against its neighbors, using its strictly limited area to convince you that it links to something interesting.

How to get on reality tv

Two years ago, a memo written by the casting director of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition surfaced which identified the precise nature of woe they were looking for in candidate families. Most people claimed to be shocked by the creepily specific nature of the show's screening process. But really, how did they think the families were chosen?

The selection process for reality tv shows is one of the inflection points around which the celebrisphere has crumpled and there is no fakeness or realness, only character. Which is why the best piece of advice in How To Get On Reality TV sounds like the bumper sticker next to the Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac: "Be the most real version of yourself." Like hippies, bolsheviks and new age gurus, reality TV encourages the merger of public and private self through self-conscious, self-directed, self sculpting. In this context, authenticity is not a matter of what you truly are, but what you truly want and how truly you want it: to be visible, desirable, memorable. It's a populist, broadcast-based answer to the question of how to be interesting. 

Beyond its therapeutic value, the book is also full of interesting practical details:

• The famous Bunim-Murray screening process, pioneered by the producers of The Real World. It's like the focus group from hell, where everyone knows that hijacking the group is the point.
• If you're on a residential "social experiment" show like Real World, "change your hair color in the middle of the season because then the producers will have to present your experience chronologically." (Is that an issue?)
• To have any chance at getting Pimped, your Ride has to look terrible but must be in running condition. "After all, the show isn't called Repair My Car."

The disappearing nerd

Saturday's lineup for Interesting NY looks great. As a person of Aspergian tendency, I'm particularly interested in Grant's talk on the seeming ubiquity of Asperger's these days. I have sometimes thought that planning and Asperger's are a natural combination, what with the focus on noticing detail and deconstructing the social habits that most people take for granted.

I also wonder whether the characteristics of Asperger's are becoming, if not more prevalent, more visible and valued because of economic and social trends towards tech and the otaku mindset in general. Is it possible that Asperger's has become kind of cool?

A similar thought crossed my mind last year when Russell and I went to the dConstruct web app conference last year. The entry hall was ringed with booths of companies feverishly trolling for employees. And the attendees clearly knew that they were now the stars of the show, trollees and not just trolls. There was no furtiveness to their nerdliness. They were out and proud and apparently, happy. And I had to wonder: are these nerds? Do nerds sip cappuccino, wear expensive glasses and discuss stock options? Are there any nerds anymore or has that ecological niche been taken over by the sleeker, more confident and non-neurotic variant, the geek?

Dream picture

In 1924, the Oakland Tribune and the American Theater invited people to send in their most unusual dreams. The winners got $25 and had their dream made into a short film. You can see one of the winners here. As one commenter writes, it plays like Mack Sennett working from a script by Luis Buñuel. What a great idea. Some media company should do this again.