Jill links to the companion piece of Tufte's article. Those are definitely the coolest Powerpoint slides I've ever seen.

CultureCat

David Byrne, yay! I just watched his "Stop Making Sense" video. It defintiely has an appropriate title.

Is it just me, or does David Bryne and Eric closely resemble each other?

I can definitely vouch for the way powerpoint induces stupidity. I had a temp job last summer in which I turned a pile of notes into powerpoint slides for some big cheezy payroll service presentation. The guys didn't know how to make a simple slide, but they knew about all the bells and whistles of Powerpoint and wanted them included.

Despite all my efforts to keep the thing streamlined, they forced me to churn out this gaudy, over-blown, and thoroughly contemptible presentation that would have caused any audience to immediately fall asleep.

Then again, the material probably wouldn't have been more exciting anyway. At least a few rotating slogans or random slides give the brain something to focus on.

Instead of Powerpoint, I'd ask people to consider using PowerPint, a wonderful piece of organic-ware involving wheat and a Belgian fermentation process.

blacklily8 said: "Is it just me, or does David Bryne and Eric closely resemble each other?"

I'll admit to resembling Bryne to some degree, though I've yet to have the honor of being called a "pseudo-intellectual" as he has. I can only hope and wait. Or I can point out the grammar mistakes of my colleagues. That should bring me a little bit closer. ;) (And I know "tense" is the wrong word here, but it was just too close to the Bryne video title to pass up.)

I just watched "Stop Making Sense" and thought it was remarkable how closely you two resemble; even body language. I bet if you started a band and made music, it'd be quite Talking Heads-like.

You also resemble Anthony Perkins, esp. during the early Hitchcock and "The Beach' days.

It's amazing the role "resembling someone 'famous'" seems to add some sort of legitimacy to our everyday lives.. I think of Walker Percy's "Moviegoer."

How's that last paragraph for being pseudo-intellectual?

Nice to see someone with Tufte's credibility saying this.

Note that Tufte doesn't take issue with the presentation software itself, but the way its charr templating wizards mess stuff up.

I've always thought "wizard" was an ironic choice of words -- the appeal to magic and mastery is definitely part of the mystique. Wave your magic wand and make my work go away...

cbd.