Whenever I hear a theater audience applauding for a movie, even one I enthusiastically approve of, I look like this:

At the same time, I’m happy to applaud during live events when the recipient of the applause — usually performers or athletes — are in attendance. But it’s always felt “wrong” for me to applaud after a pre-recorded film concludes, unless of course I knew the makers of that film were in the theater and I did in fact approve of their work.

Technically, however, the definition of applause makes no reference to my individual contingency:

Applause is primarily the expression of approval by the act of clapping, or striking the palms of the hands together, in order to create noise. Audiences are usually expected to applaud after a performance, such as a musical concert, speech, play, or sporting event. As a form of mass nonverbal communication, it is a simple indicator of the average relative opinion of the entire group; the louder and longer the noise, the stronger the sign of approval.–Wikipedia

So what do you think, Smooth Harold readers: Is applause appropriate in the absent of performers? If so, in what ways does applause benefit the consumers of the performance, be it live or recorded?

I suppose it can create a sense of belonging or shared beliefs among participants, even in the absence of the actual performers. But then again that would also seem to dilute the purpose of applause, no?

Image via Imugr

As I’ve said before, the idea of overworking yourself while you’re young so you can relax later in life is bunk. Which is why I take issue with the below remark by Amber Mac, writing for Fast Company on how to validate your unwillingness to take time off:

I’m not saying that [notable businessmen who leave work after hours and on weekends] don’t work hard. Quite the opposite. Clearly they’ve hustled for years, propelling themselves into fantastic careers that I would argue finally give them the opportunity to design their lives with the freedom they’ve shared as of late.

Wrong. Some success stories just have different priorities than others. If you’re like most people and are driven by a “getting ahead” mentality, then sure: work your tail off while your body is in tip top shape while neglecting family, friends, and hobbies in the process. Then regret it later as you sit in a empty home with lots of stuff, a deteriorating body, and wishing instead you had followed your passions.

Or you can do it the other way: Work hard during the work day. Want less (aka be content with the simple things in life). Take nights and weekends off to foster relationships, listen to good music, eat good food, read great literature, watch film and volunteer. Then pepper that several times a year with wonderful vacations to see the world.

As for me and my house, we choose the latter.

Reason #428: The YouTube comment thread for Maurice Ravel’s masterful single-movement crescendo, Boléro. Some of my favorites:

• doesn’t anyone ever feel bad for the drummer?
• if i could squeeze my whole childhood into one thing it would be this song
• If I had a dollar for every poorly written Ravel piece, I’d have zero dollars.
• I love the part from 0:00 to 14:52
• Little known fact is that this was originaly going to be the legend of zelda theme. Look it up.
• I’m more into house music,hip-hop and reagge but this music is a master piece.
• thumbs up if your awesome taste of music brought you here.
• The trombone part at 8:00 gives me goosebumps every time i hear it, without fail. amazing how jazz was such an influence in orchestral 20th century music. love it!
• As someone who has played this snare part, I can confirm that it is indeed excruciating.

Although I really like this piece, the only thing I don’t like is the tempo change right at the ending climax. With the flat (or is it sharp?) notes, it comes off sounding a bit sloppy. If I were a conductor, I’d remix it to keep the tempo, kill the flat notes, and finish strong on the last note like it already does. Either way, the YouTube commenters are witty if not insightful.

Trolls — breaking online comments since 1994.

Online comments and reader reaction to news are often enlightening. Unless of course they’re disrupted by attention trolls, which they often are. Which is why commenting for the most part is still broken. Even the world’s largest bloggerprenuers know this.

Blocking trolls, however, is useless. They just create new accounts to perpetuate the insanity. To really nip them in the bud, you have to ensure that they fail to get a reaction.

Here’s how I would do it: Keep comments open, allowing anyone to register and make a remark. Flag the ones (either individually or by email/account) that are off-topic, rude, or spam.

But instead of removing these comments, keep them visible to the IP address from which the comment was made, while hiding it from all other readers. Basically making it visible to only the troll.

In other words, the best way to discourage trolls is to ignore them. Of course, a small minority of technical trolls might wise up and try logging in on different accounts from different IP addresses. But I think this could do wonders to fixing the problem.

Am I wrong?

The below commentary by Sherry Turkle in the New York Times is brimming with so much contemporary wisdom, I’m gonna share my favorite excerpts in the hope you’ll not only read the entire article, but ponder what it’s telling you:

I spend the summers at a cottage on Cape Cod, and for decades I walked the same dunes that Thoreau once walked. Not too long ago, people walked with their heads up, looking at the water, the sky, the sand and at one another, talking. Now they often walk with their heads down, typing. Even when they are with friends, partners, children, everyone is on their own devices…

During the years I have spent researching people and their relationships with technology, I have often heard the sentiment “No one is listening to me.” I believe this feeling helps explain why it is so appealing to have a Facebook page or a Twitter feed — each provides so many automatic listeners. And it helps explain why — against all reason — so many of us are willing to talk to machines that seem to care about us…

We think constant connection will make us feel less lonely. The opposite is true. If we are unable to be alone, we are far more likely to be lonely. If we don’t teach our children to be alone, they will know only how to be lonely…

Ignore that advise at your own analog peril.

The Timex easy reader is the best watch I’ve ever owned. The reason: The clock typography is perfectly weighted, sized, and immediately recognizable. You might say a watch is just a watch, or that the time it takes to discern one analog clock from another is immaterial.

It’s not.

After using my smoking hot Puma watch for a year, the milliseconds gained in using the Easy Reader is noticeable. Not enough to lengthen my day. But from a user experience, it just feels right.

I’ll still reach for my Puma for style and casual reasons. But for everything else, I prefer the Easy Reader. Know what font it is by chance? It looks like its from the Bookman family, but I haven’t found an exact match.

The New York times ran an insightful piece this weekend on the decline of Sony, which is valued at just a quarter of where it was a decade ago, and just one thirtieth the size of Apple:

“Sony makes too many models, and for none of them can they say, ‘This contains our best, most cutting-edge technology,’ ” Mr. Sakito said. “Apple, on the other hand, makes one amazing phone in just two colors and says, ‘This is the best.’ ”

In addition to department infighting, that really sums up Sony’s troubles: too much product, none of them hits. Continue reading…

The problem with social media is that most of what is said falls on deaf ears. You need celebrity, novelty, or credibility, to be heard.

Furthermore, we tend to congregate with like-minded individuals, making it difficult to be exposed to truly new ideas and perspectives.

All of which makes Listserve an interesting social experiment. It’ll probably end up just being spam or generalized thoughts. But if not, I’ll stay subscribed as long as it keeps on giving.

A smart thermostat from Nest.

I’ve worked from home for nine years now. That means lunch with the kids almost every day, water cooler talk with my hot wife, afternoon delights, no traffic, more leisure, greater flexibility. Way more pluses than minuses. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

At the same time, Lindsey and I get in each other’s hair on occasion. I have to announce an important conference call to the whole house to remind the kids not to run down my wing. Understandably, Lindsey doesn’t like being told how and when she can use her house during the much more demanding job of raising kids.

Continue reading…