I flew to Austin by way of the most conservative flight route in all of western North America: Orange County to Salt Lake City. The in-flight magazine exalted the merits of Utah. An article about Munich referred to the city’s “complicated past," a really terrific euphemism. While waiting for a gate in Austin for thirty minutes. I checked my phone. In two hours, I’d gotten 25 e-mails from publicists wanting me to see their films. They’re form letters that all look the same: Bold and centered 18-point font announcing the name of the movie. Two sentences in italicized 16-point font briefly explaining the film. A six paragraph press release, [...]

"My mayorships have been whittled away to meaningless 7-Elevens and gas stations." -Maybe I'm a little chemically "off" today but for some reason that strikes me as the most melancholy, maybe even heart-breaking thing I've heard in a while. And it's about fucking Foursquare!

Today Gizmodo carried a slightly confusing item about an "application" called "Foursquare Monopoly," taken from an interview earlier this month with Foursquare founder Dennis Crowley's brother, Jonathan. Here is a transcript of that part of the interview: "There's an application I'm planning right now called Foursquare Monopoly. And um because Foursquare's open and everyone can build applications on top of it, there's a guy in New York, his name's Christian Bovine, and he built an application in which–so you take 20 venues that you hang out with, 20 venues that you hang out at, and you take 10 of your friends to compete in this game, [...]

The future is now: "There’s a new first in the realm of outer space social media activity: a Foursquare checkin. Moments ago NASA astronaut Doug Wheelock checked in to the international space station, hence unlocking the 'NASA Explorer Badge.'" Up next: Rex Sorgatz opens a burger joint on the moon.

That's right. Check out this exciting email we just received!

I'm in Chinatown, on my way to somewhere not Chinatown. Chinatowns, in whatever city, or China-strip-malls, in whatever small city or town, are a great place to land before going elsewhere, because they are a zone that exists outside of the context of the neighboring contexts. Good for a deep breath. I take the opportunity to grab a plate of fried dumplings, or "dollar dumplings" as I call them, because in my Chinatown they cost a dollar. They are fast and cheap, plus also they are more delicious than they have any right to be. It's a dumpling house in a quiet corner, and it's a beautiful evening, with [...]

Here is a video documenting what happened when a blogger at the AOL tech blog Switched left the confines of his cube and headed out to ask Times Square visitors whether or not they were aware of Foursquare, the not-a-contest social-networking application that is currently making both money and waves. Spoiler alert: "Huh?" is a common theme! I do wonder what the cutting-room floor footage might look like, as well as what the results of this experiment would be in other neighborhoods / cities / worlds. [Via]