Fleshmap has put together a fascinating study of the occurrence of certain body parts in various musical genres.  Check out hip-hop for a good laugh.  [via Buzzfeed]

Thank Goodness that someone else has come out to say it. Jakob Nielson is not the guru he’s cracked up to be. Hank Williams has pointed out in a post at Why Does Everything Suck?[^1] that this particular bit of triteness is “unreadable.” And it is. Do you notice how there are no paragraph indentations? Do you notice how the leading is not adjusted to the height of the font? All the man does is try to dictate conventions and yet he literally dismisses print conventions that have been around for hundreds of years. Read more…

I love the late night shows. I love the irreverence, the stupidity of the comedy, the simple fact of being part of a group of people whom are night owls and maybe savvy enough to get political humor (i.e. Daily Show and Colbert Report). And there’s a ranking to what I like. But regardless of what ranking I could list here, there is a factor, an element, that only Craig Ferguson possesses. The genuineness of what he does is evident every night, every day of the week. I know Jon Stewart loves what he does; I know Colbert does, too. Maybe Conan still enjoys it. But beyond enjoying, Craig Ferguson sincerely wants to remain among us, to be like us, to avoid celebrity. He is amazingly honest about his personal life; at the same level as a novelist. And still he can make a joke, or not really make a joke, but just remain funny, about his own, most desperate of personal situations. These two monologues will convince you that he deserves the title “The Most Honest Man on Television.”

Craig on the Death of His Father

Craig on his own difficulties with alcoholism and his empathy for others with problems

Wow.  I can’t believe that it has been three weeks since I last posted.  However, I did not give up the blog, I just had to move to Louisville.  From here, I will begin the arduous process of earning a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology.  Woo hoo.  I’m very excited about it although it has begun rather ominously. Nonetheless, I will soldier on and continue to update this blog with my progress, and of course, any news about our minds on media.

To that end, I just noticed something funny about media. There’s a great vlog that I watch called Cranky Geeks (choose your medium here). The other day they had an episode dedicated to the future of journalism. Between breaks on the show, they have a little gimmick where they post and define some technical terms. So, for the future of journalism show, all the words were technical print terms like “color key” and “press proof.” That’s the future for ya!!

So you may be wondering what’s going on here at Banapana since things have been up and down and changing and disappearing. There are two things going on. One, I’ve installed the new version of Wordpress (2.5)–more on that in a minute. The other thing is a general change in the way that this blog is structured. Banapana has always been about the relationship between media and cognitive psychology (though it has wandered from the subject from time to time). So, my aim, with this new Wordpress installation is to really shift things into a tighter focus. Read more…