Is Cuil Cool?

I remember the pre-Google days of Yahoo! and AltaVista. I also remember how Google just destroyed them all.

Today, Cuil went live. It's a search engine developed by nerds that worked on Google, that claims to have better searching capabilities. It's logo is kinda flickr-ish, but maintains a very simple and clean interface. I like that their search results are displayed in a 'newspaper style' of columns.

I did a few trivial test searches: mostly stuff involving me. What a blow to my ego that my name coupled with imdb failed to turn anything up! What haters coded this thing anyways!?!?

Passing Strange: A work of Genius.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of seeing one of the last performances of the musical Passing Strange on Broadway. I truly regret not seeing this earlier, because by the time you read this, the the curtains will have come down forever.

I am by no means a patron of the theatre. In fact, I find most of it full of terrible acting, outdated songs, and hokey writing. I never got it. Also, high ticket prices are not encouraging.

So after settling into cramped seats, and watching four musicians take the stage that was dressed more like a rock concert than rickety flats and cheap furniture, the show began. There is too much to cover, but there is just so much joy, inherent truth, wisdom and genuine beauty that I couldn't help but smile until the end of the show.

Each cast member plays their roles brilliantly, and the story is told with such irreverance, humour and humanity. Never mind all of the clever stage devices and thought-provoking dialogue, it's the songs that kept us happy.

In an age when Rent is long past relevant, Passing Strange blows everything else out of the water. It was won a slew of awards, and in my mind, it should win a Pulitzer. More importantly, it has me believing that the theatre is still relevant to my life and that people can still create inspiring, original work. Unfortunately, the public still won't support it.