Jon Armstrong’s Blog

Tennis ace Sharapova unveils blinking phone dress

By admin | June 18, 2009

So far the marriage between fashion and technology has brought clothes barely worthy of a headline in the goofball section of the news. Say, like this:

Former Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova presented a prototype dress to reporters that is designed to light up when the wearer’s mobile telephone rings.

What?

I’ve seen other odd offspring like this and it’s discouraging. Is there some designer whose actually doing something useful and interesting. Something some might actually want to use and wear. Will it have to be Apple that leapfrogs over everyone else with the iRGB shirt?

For an uninformative image of the dress see: www.ubergizmo.com/

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Golf Swing of the Future

By admin | May 31, 2009

I got interested in golf in junior high. But at the time, I was short and rather small and was an awful golfer despite lessons and several summers hanging out at the Penn State Blue Course. A few years later, I was given Mindy Blake’s Golf Swing of the Future. I remember heading to a grassy field nearby to give it a try. [And - delete]] I hit the best shot I ever had hit. It was high, straight, and floated back down to earth like the way the pros hit it. I promptly topped the next dozen as [I - add]kept looking up early to see that beautiful sight again.

The next year we moved and my golfing ended, but I never forgot that one wonderful shot.

Many years later, my fiance bought me a set of clubs, and I’ve taken up golf and Mindy’s swing again. After finding this forum, I purchased GTTB, and while I rarely play and barely get to the range, I have enjoyed a little more consistency and distance.

A week ago my dad recorded me at a range, and I’ve posted a few videos on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/user/JonArmstrongAuthor

golfswing_impact

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I’d like to co-opt this for my upcoming novel, Yarn

By admin | May 5, 2009

A ball of yarn takes over San Francisco.

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“50 Years of Stupid Grammar Advice - ChronicleReview.com”

By admin | April 13, 2009

I’ve never been a huge fan of “The Elements of Style,” which turned 50. If you’re like me and had told to read and study the thing to learn how to write well, only to flip through its narrow pages and wonder what people were raving about.

Geoffery K. Pullum has this to say:

“April 16 is the 50th anniversary of the publication of a little book that is loved and admired throughout American academe. Celebrations, readings, and toasts are being held, and a commemorative edition has been released.

I won’t be celebrating.

“The Elements of Style” does not deserve the enormous esteem in which it is held by American college graduates. Its advice ranges from limp platitudes to inconsistent nonsense. Its enormous influence has not improved American students’ grasp of English grammar; it has significantly degraded it.

Read the rest at The Chronicle of Higher Education.

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A Cool-looking SteamPunk iPhone Game

By admin | April 7, 2009

I was thinking about a steam-punk sort of look for a game recently. Not a puzzler, though.

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The Flying Suit

By admin | April 2, 2009

wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.
In my upcoming novel, Yarn, which tells the story of the tailor from Grey, I have a short scene with a flying suit. The one I imagined was more fashionable … a high-twist charcoal twill … however, these are pretty damn exciting.

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Tonight I’m off to an iPhone/i…

By admin | April 1, 2009

Tonight I’m off to an iPhone/iPod Touch developers meeting. All I can say is: Developers! Developers! Developers!