Freigeben über

The Best Software Writing I, and 'I love Bees'

  • Artikel

I bought this book yesterday and just finished at lunch today.  Some of the articles were ones I'd read before as almost all of them are online.  However they are such good articles it was a joy to read them again in print.  Joel mentions reading every single blog entry by "Rands" when he first discovered them.  I had the same reaction when I discovered Eric Sink and Clay Shirky's writings, both of whom are featured in the book.  I look forward to finding Rands online.  Strangly the book made me think most about some old friends from the Swing Dance community in Seattle.

Lindy Hop is the original form of Swing Dance as created in Harlem during the harlem Renasaince https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindy_Hop.   A few friends from the Seattle community Alex and Elan set up https://www.lindyexchange.com/.  That website did not create the first Lindy Exchange ... the first exchange happened in Chicago and was more informal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindy_Exchange.  However I do believe the central exchange site helped as a catalyst and informal way to ensure that exchanges don't overlap.  It is an example of lasting social software that Clay Shirky speaks about.

I remember Alex as being the dancer most likely to try some odd ball move the would end with both him and his partner on the floor.  I suspect follows were more than willing to take that chance as Alex was a great dancer.   Elan on the other hand practiced and practiced this one insane move from a class David Dalmo taught at the Beantown dance camp until he was able to do it.  The move involved flipping yourself up into a one handed handstand from laying on the floor.  And yes this was incorporated into a partner dance.  Lindy hop is not exactly the Waltz.

Elan is the probably the most likely person I know to be remembered 100 years from now.  Not because he can flip himself up into a one handed hand stand, but because he is working on ARG's (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternate_Reality_Game) when they are in their infancy.  He in one of the founders of 4orty 2wo entertainment and one of the prime people behind the games "The Beast" and "I Love Bees".  I last saw him at a swing dance right as "I Love Bees" was ending.  His crunch time was over (running an ARG seems like a 24-7 logistically nightmare if you ask me).  He shared a few stories about what was going on and the thrill of seeing people have a real emotional connection to the game.  Also ... after much prompting he flipped himself up into a one handed hand stand.

Comments