snesDS WIP
SNES emulator for the DS? I need to get a card.
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January 29, 2006
interactive waterfall display
an interactive art installation built in a new children's hospital. as people move in front of this display they affect ripples of virtual water colours. the more they move, the faster the colours change, encouraging children to be more active & playful. when there is no or little activity in front of the waterfall, the display phases simple rainbow colors & ripples lightly. [setpixel.com]
Rice Admits U.S. Underestimated Hamas Strength
The secretary of state said the U.S. failed to understand the depth of hostility among Palestinians toward their longtime leaders.
Tuberaider Video
It's come to my attention that not everyone knows about Tuberaider, J-Smooth's best of YouTube blog. Enjoy The Meters live, Popping and Locking Lessons and Chaka Khan Playing the Drums.
OverClocked ReMix - Unofficial Game Music Arrangement Community
Hands down THE video-game-music-remix headquarters of the www.
Who Will Steal the Enron Show?
It could be lower-level Enron employees, not the star witnesses, who seal the fate of Kenneth L. Lay and Jeffrey K. Skilling.
Super Mario Brothers soundpack
create all the sounds from the original super mario game!
Electro-Graf V1
Q Branch posted a photo:
electro-graf1.jpg
Q Branch posted a photo:
Temporary architecture in Geneva
For fans of temporary architecture only: this bunch of temporary work capsules had been installed close to my place in Geneva. I like the way it looks - kind of apocalyptic shelter - though:
On the same issue, see Alain Bublex’s work.
Yahoo! Maps Web Services - Maps Application Gallery [del.icio.us]
a couple Upcoming.org mashups, other really cool stuff
Reason: Rethinking the Social Responsibility of Business [del.icio.us]
A Reason debate featuring Milton Friedman, Whole Foods’ John Mackey, and Cypress Semiconductor’s T.J. Rodgers
Introduction - In search of the One True Layout [del.icio.us]
Must read. (One CSS to bring them all and in the darkness bind them)
Mobil
Parody of the old Mobil Oil logo seen along Silverlake Blvd in Los Angeles.
The Consumption of Space
In November 2003, I blogged Edward Mazria’s analysis of the environmental impact of architecture in the U.S. Namely, that buildings are responsible for a whopping 46 percent of carbon dioxide production in the U.S.
Yesterday, Mazria and company launched a Web site to spread the word and promote a response. From the press release:
“www.architecture2030.org is part of an ongoing effort, initiated by architect Edward Mazria, to provide information and innovative solutions in the fields of architecture and planning, in an effort to address and reverse the destructive trend toward global climate change.
The website clearly illustrates, using the latest research, that the Building sector is currently responsible for about half of all U.S. and global emissions annually and that this sector’s emissions are increasing at an alarming rate. Architecture2030.org outlines the steps necessary to address this situation. As part of this effort, the website includes a variety of resources to help professionals, government officials, and those in the building sector, plan and design for a carbon-neutral future....
The website will report on the activities and progress in the building sector around the globe and critical information will be updated regularly.”
In particular, I liked the case studies.
Also of particular note is the organizing work of the American Institute of Architects, a professional association:“The American Institute of Architects, representing 74,000 prefessionals, recently announced a bold initiative to reverse the environmental impact and greenhouse gas emissions of the U.S. building sector. The AIA... set a goal of reducing the fossil fuel consumption of buildings by 50 percent in four years, with additional 10-percent reductions every five years thereafter. The implications of this initiative are considerable and when implemented will transform the built environment in a way we have not seen since the time of the industrial revolution.”
Contextual Advertising Gone Bad
A week before today’s 61st anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Red Army, Landeszeitung Lüneburg, a national newspaper in Germany, ran an article about the deportation of a Sinti boy from Lüneburg to Auschwitz.
The article was accompanied by a large red ad from one of the biggest energy companies in Germany bearing the tagline (roughly translated): “E.ON provides today for the gas of tomorrow!”
Click for a larger version.
The paper later published an apology to the author, readers, and energy company for the ad placement, claiming they had not checked the content of the ad.
brave new walls
Barcelona-based [Maxalot] (a gallery, boutique and website) is turning the hopelessly outdated aesthetic of wallpaper into a modern declaration. Exposiflatest artistic venture, sees them heading into some serious innovative terrain by introducing a limited-edition wallpaper by some of the hottest talents in the graphic design world. It’s no doubt a direct reflection of consumer’s ongoing infatuation with underground art. Eboy, The Designers Republic, Takora Kimiyoshi Futori, Kinpro, We Work For Them, among others, have all put a contemporary spin on the traditionally drab medium. More than just a funky backdrop, the Exposif project underlines the re-emerging trend of wallpaper as a way for people to personalize their space. Think more of a painting than wallpaper. All of the collection comes custom-printed in any size to fit from floor to ceiling, left to right. If you're planning on decorating soon, you know who to call.
Filmmaker Magazine: The Schizoid Man
Scott at Filmmaker Magazine talks to Rick Linklater about A Scanner Darkly. (I even get a little mention for suggesting the project).
the medium that is eating the world
"Fun is learning. Consider: animals play to learn behaviors that later on help in survival of the species. Fun is an endorphin dump, just like chocolate & orgasm, that you get from playing and learning."
Body Bouncer
Guess what this is?
- bouncy pregnancy exerciser
- peek-a-boo baby amuser
- special chair for hemorroid sufferers
- modern design cat jungle gym
- creative sex toy
- wedding gift
e home from work one day, and found it in our bedroom, I thought it was #1. How sweet of Dav to be so considerate. Then I noticed the hole, and thought of a friend experienced with preganancy and childbirth who suffered horrible hemorroids. Maybe she sent this chair I had not known she had.
Then I saw the instructions to the thing. Or actually a set of images exemplifying the positions possible when using the thing. No mistakes about it: it's #5. (If you don't mind the non-work safe video, it's actually kinda funny to watch.)
Now, if Dav and I purchased this, I'd be way shy and not blog all about it! But here, this wonderful Body Bouncer is a wedding present that had been ordered and arrived at our door. From Sean and Lani. Of course, there is the question about what Dav and I communicate to our friends to inspire such a wedding gift... ; )
So although I'll spare you the details about our learning curve in using this, I do feel only a little bashful in sharing the fact that we received it. It is a great wedding gift: unique, thoughtful, for the couple, not something most already have, etc. Thanks, Sean and Lani!
Jan. 28, 1986 | MetaFilter
Shuttle memory from someone that went to the same high school the teacher-astronaut taught.
Black cottonbuds
Coco:
Caught my eyes at 100yen shop. I guarantee these will drive you crazy once you start picking ears. it is embarassing to say but I spent two picks at one time.
Interview With Ladybird, The Moss Graffiti Artist
Yesterday, I e-mailed Ladybird and asked her a few questions. She answered them promptly, so here is the interview.
For those who have no idea who Ladybird is, she's been making waves all over the art blogosphere with her moss graffiti.. Her best works appropriate cracks in the ground and in walls, where she puts weeds and insects on display. Best described as "folk surrealism," she inspires childlike wonder with her fake beetles and insect houses. She subverts the cracks and potholes of modernity with her miniature dreamscapes.
Luis Buñuel film posters
Luis Buñuel posters, a flickr photoset by bittercinema
Documentary Exposes MPAA Hypocrisy
The Salt Lake Tribune carries an interesting story today, Documentary exposes ratings board's hypocrisy.
The article discusses a recently released documentary, This Film Is Not Yet Rated, that highlights the hypocrisy in the movie ratings system, specifically when it comes to sexual content. Similar charges have regularly been leveled at the ESRB.
Through interviews with filmmakers who have gone through the process, and illustrated with clips from the offending films, Dick shows what I and many critics have been saying for years - that the reasons why the MPAA assigns ratings are arbitrary, and reveal a pattern of biases that go beyond the ratings board's stated mission of protecting children.
iWalks Rolling Out in Dublin
The Official Online Tourist Office for Dublin has begun publishing free podcast audio guides that tell the story of Dublin. The guides are written and narrated by Irish historian-author Pat Liddy. Each talk will have a downloadable brochure. Talks and brochures can be downloaded from the tourism website. If you subscribe to the podcasts the new ones will automatically download to your computer as they roll out. Georgian Dublin is now available. It will be followed by The Historic Northside, Viking and Medieaval Dublin, and eight more titles. The podcasts and brochures are offered so that “You can download the guides and use them as free walking tour guides to the city, or you can just listen to them to discover the fascinating story of Dublin.”
Via PHYSORG.COM
Blame it on the txt
Chortle, the UK Comedy Guide, writes that comedian Stan Boardman blames text messaging for ruining his act. "The comic blamed the technology for his material dying sometimes. He said: I can tell a new joke on stage one night and get a huge laugh. But all it takes is for someone in the audience to text it to their mates and it spreads so quickly that the very next night you only get a little ripple."
Zéro de Conduite
OMG! Bibi has found an online version Jean Vigo's Zéro de Conduite/Zero for Conduct (1933). I haven't seen it so far but L'Atlante is one of my favourite movies ever.
Identity soup and igloos for the homeless
Right wing groups in France and Belgium have for weeks been handing out pork soup to homeless people on frigid winter's days. But Muslims and Jews are forbidden by their religions from eating pork -- and excluding these groups, say many, is exactly the point of the handouts.
Strasbourg has banned the distributions of the so-called "identity soup" earlier this month. Authorities in Paris have recently stopped the handouts at both Montparnasse and Gare de l'Est train stations on the grounds that the group had no permit. Elsewhere, for lack of legal violations, the pork soup philanthropy continues.
"Identity soup" is on its third winter in Paris, though this is the first year it has spread elsewhere. Local groups behind the scheme are planning a "great festive meal of European solidarity" in Paris in February. The goal is to defend the European identity. Anti-racism groups are concerned that the far right is attempting to drum up has support ahead of the 2007 presidential elections.
Via Der Spiegel.
Image: To protest against the lack of shelters for homeless in winter, the ONG Médecins du Monde distribuited a few weeks ago 150 "igloos" in prestigious zones of Paris. Picture shows the tents in front of the Centre Pompidou. (via Libération and 20 minutos)
Moving labyrinth at the ARTEFACT festival
NEVEL (picture on the left), by Lawrence Malstaf, is a moving labyrinth (11 X 11 m) consisting of 9 programmable walls able to rotate 360° and react to the presence of the visitors, determining their route. Architecture comes alive, walls become doors, spaces open and close, visitors are locked up, desoriented and set free again.
Performers, visitors and their shadow are part of a tablaux vivant set for each other. The space itself is turned into an actor in the performance. An abstract place in to go astray like in a mutating city.
During the ARTEFACT festival that runs from February 13 till 18 in Leuven (Belgium), four artists / scientists will get to work with or within NEVEL and create new presentation forms and performances. For the festival, artists and scientists will research space, place & distance and translate it into new forms.
There's more about Malstaf and his works (which include curiosities such as Shrink, a 1995 installation inviting visitors to be vacuum-packed in plastic, with only an air bubble through which to breathe, picture on the right) in kopenhagen.dk and Frame magazine.
Ecstatic Gumnaam!
Back in the 1980's when WFMU had its public access TV show that Mark Rudolph put together, one of my favorite bits was the dance number clip from the 1966 Indian film Gumnaam. Masked dancers bug out and go completely apeshit to a totally high-energy, mutated surf number "Jan Pehechan-Ho" performed by Bollywood music legend Mohammed Rafi (though, as Michael Cudahy once pointed out to me, the band's drumkit in the film wields the name "Ted Lyons and His Cubs"). Eventually Terry Zwigoff used this song in his film Ghost World, where his counter-culture-immersed heroine Enid kicks off the flick by mirroring the film's dancers while watching the clip on TV. The song appeared in whole on the soundtrack, and as if that wasn't enough, WFMU's Rob Weisberg sang "Jan Pehechan-ho" (Real Audio) a few years back with the Hoof N' Mouth Sinfonia (WFMU's fundraiser finale in-house covers band comprised of staffers!) My wife still doesn't let me play "Jan Pehechan-ho" in the house because she had to listen to me practice the guitar line along with the stereo nonstop for three weeks (I blew it anyway when we actually performed it). Besides the grainy, nth-generation clip I have from WFMU-TV, I have yet to see a clear complete video version of this great number, but thanks to Turbanhead and WFMU friend (and fellow FMU blogger) James Allenspach, we have it in its full glory right here (mpg file, 55 MB).
Pat Robertson Uncensored (video)
After his last few wacky pronouncements, calling the Reverend Pat Robertson "anti-gay" actually rehabilitates his image a bit, in an intolerant, religious-right kind of way. But here is a video clip of him letting his true feelings out during a 1992 taping of The Larry King show [download video, 13 meg wmv file]. This footage came from the satellite feed of the show, and was not broadcast on CNN. In it, you'll see the Reverend complain about being ambushed by homosexual callers, while a CNN handler (or a Robertson aid, I can't tell which) bitches about the call screener and most significantly, reminds Robertson not to answer the questions asked of him, but to speak about whatever Robertson wants. The clip gets good at the 1:56 mark, but you can't fast forward due to a weird conversion error. Found this on youtube.com but I think the original came from Brian Springer's 1995 documentary Spin, which featured uncensored, un-broadcast satellite footage of Robertson, Bill Clinton, Ross Perot and others.
Sensei Rebel's Archive Picks of the Week (1/16/06 - 1/22/06)
All RealAudio links are streaming links from the WFMU Archives.
Rock And Roll
Standards of Living - "Don't Worry" RealAudio
from Brian Turner's show, January 17, 2006
International
Die Welttraumforscher - "Kleines Madchen" RealAudio
from Ken's show, January 18, 2006
Experimental
Daedelus - "Something Bells" RealAudio
from Charlie's show, January 16, 2006
Dance
Awesome 3 - "Don't Go (Kicks Like A Mule Mix)" RealAudio
from Janitor From Mars with R. Lim, January 16, 2006
Ambient
Sawako - "Pink Liquid Cotton Candy" RealAudio
from This Is the Modern World with Trouble, January 19, 2006
Fave Song of the Week
Sounds of Tomorrow - "Overnite Run" RealAudio
from Scott's show, January 19, 2006
Today's Front Pages
A project of the Newseum, Today's Front Pages began in 1997 as an exhibit when the museum first opened in Arlington, VA. When the museum re-opens in its new Washington D.C. location (currently slated for 2007) they will display 80 newspapers in a gallery that looks out on the U.S. Capitol. Similarly, the online component that launched last year is a daily compendium collecting the front pages of newspapers from 45 different countries, a total of over 400 different papers. Organized alphabetically, a quick browse-through is a telling glimpse at what makes for news across the planet, particularly on major news days. (Today, a Golden Globes-winning Reese Witherspoon made several U.S. papers, while most other countries ran items of a much more somber nature.) The site also features a map-based locator, downloadable pdfs for easier reading, and an archive of pages from historical dates.
via Jungle Life
Blathering in the Blogosphere
I've been watching all the blathering about Yahoo! giving up search dominance to Google, which, I might add, is bullshit*. Quotes taken out of context by company executives do not an overarching business strategy make. This is exactly the kind of thing that most annoys me about blogs (and, I guess, media in general): the piling on, as also noticed by Jeff Clavier and Thomas Hawk, among others. Based on this sensationalistic headline, Steve Rubel says he has stopped using Yahoo! Search.
People!! Try to keep your knees from jerking! Of course, doing the legwork is a lot harder than jumping to conclusions, in the Olympiad of life. Loren Baker, in the comments in Micropersuasion quotes what CEO Terry Semel said in his Q4 Earnings report, which explains what the Yahoo! business priorities are, and is thus worth looking at in the context of the blathering:
Yahoo is concentrating on SEM and YPN. From Terry Semel's Q4 Earnings Report:"I would like to briefly give you an overview of our key priorities for 2006. Our #1 priority is building and expanding the suite of tools services and solutions for Internet marketers and publishers. In search marketing, our monetization efforts can be grouped into 3 categories.
First, we are expanding our content match services through the Yahoo Publishers Network to take advantage of the growing number of small publishers on the web. We plan to add new features to beta over the coming quarters including search and enhanced ad targeting. We believe the service will ultimately position Yahoo as one of the preferred advertising partners for small and medium-sized publishers.
Second, we are focused on improving RPS to better matching in relevance algorithms. While our matching initiatives will largely benefit coverage, we're also focused on improving tools to drive higher relevance and click through.
And third, we are increasing the number of easy-to-use tools for advertisers and publishers, so they can buy more keywords, touch more creative and add more listings faster."
Etc., etc.
Moreover, I really think people should be paying more attention to what's said by people working in Yahoo! Search. Amr Awadallah, who sits near me at Yahoo!, is typical of the many people who should always be paid attention to at Yahoo! -- he's one of the smartest guys around (I love Amr, he's bold, brusque and brilliant). He predicts Google will miss 2005-Q4 quarter revenue estimates.. He outlines the way Google padded their Q3 earnings a couple months ago, and this quarter too, with what are called in the industry accelerator changes: they added more ads to the top of their pages, and made them wrap when you ensmallen your browser window; they also jumped up the text size for AdWord listings, and Danny Sullivan also notes that Google has apparently embiggened their ads. We'll see what happens in about a week, when the earnings come out.
------------------------
* You'll notice I reserve swearing on this blog for occasions of particular exasperation. :-)
Every Lunch Wish
Last week i took a detour to Viet Nam Banh Mi So #1 after work. It's a tiny hole-in-the-wall serving up numerous kinds of banh mi, delicious Vietnamese-style sandwiches on toasted baguettes, plus freshly squeezed juices, snacks and other goodies like fresh spring rolls. Alongside boxes of Pocky, you can also buy jars of pickled fruits and vegetables and sriracha sauce from Thailand!* Anthony (the owner) once gave me a grand discount when he realized i worked with Q. Every moment i'm alive, i thank Q for introducing us all to the wonders of fresh spring rolls and banh mi!
On this most recent trip, i picked up 2 packages of vegetarian fresh spring rolls, which are filled with noodles, mushrooms, tree ears, carrot and radish shreds, tofu, cilantro and fresh mint leaves, with a side of sweet plum sauce and fried, crushed peanuts. These things are utterly addictive due to their amazing flavor combination. be served some for his birthday party last May, and i hear through the grapevine that people are still talking about these rolls!
I was also hankering to try some of the vegetarian banh mi. They offer 3 meatless versions, each for under $4.00:11. Veggies: pickled carrots, cilantro and cucumber
12. House Special Vegetarian: tofu, mushroom, clear noodles, carrot and sweet radish
13. Vegan Chicken with Lemongrass: (NOT Meat)
I asked for #12 and #13, both of which also included generous sprigs of cilantro and a spread of homemade mayo and rich butter. The smelled so good on the subway ride home, i bet the whole car was salivating like i was! However, upon opening my bag i found that i actually accidentally received #11 and #12. Like expected, #12 was absolutely delicious; the filling is similar to what's inside the vegetarian fresh spring rolls (minus the tree ears and mint) but heartier since it's on a toasted baguette with mayo and butter. I was skeptical of #11 since it sounded like a carrot sandwich, but in actuality, it was very delicious as well! The filling was so fresh, crisp and refreshing - combine that with creamy mayo and butter, cilantro and hot peppers and you have an amazing taste & texture sensation!
Of note were the hot peppers. I asked for them on the side since be doesn't like his food crazy hot. The man behind the counter gave me a little paper packet of a dozen tiny green peppers, the kind that look quite harmless compared to giant bright red ones. I'm aware that the smaller peppers are usually the hotter ones, but i didn't think they were that hot! I put a few whole peppers in my #12 and began eating, when all of a sudden my entire mouth was on fire. I opened the sandwich to inspect when i realized that i had only bitten into THE TIP of one tiny pepper! At this point, i knew i'd die if i ate 4 or 5 whole ones, so i removed them, chopped them up and sprinkled the bits over both the #11 and #12 sandwiches. Halfway through the #12, i was sweating and proclaiming to be that VNBMS#1 does not kid around!
The NY Daily News ran an article last year on banh mi in New York. I haven't been to any other shops so i can't compare, but if anything, the vegetarian fresh spring rolls are to die for at VNBMS#1!
*Huy Fong makes the best known brand of sriracha sauce in the US - you know those green-capped squirt bottles whose labels are in English, Vietnamese, Spanish, Chinese and French. Sometimes it's renamed "rooster sauce" or "cock sauce" by fans (but it's probably because they didn't know how to pronounce "sriracha!") Did you know it's made in California? Check out this interesting article on David Tran, the Emperor of Hot Sauce.
Slow
Can’t say I’m terribly impressed with the speed of my “blogging” so far.
try reblogging
I am a repeater [4]
(Off to the side: I’m a Buddha fan, like everyone else I s’pose, but I have to admit that most Buddha-stories I happen to come across in daily life leave me a little “Yeah, but so what?”-ish. This one conveyed its profundity directly to the centre of my attention and difused nicely.
Attempting the radical shift of perceptual stance from which one of us (humans, I mean) looks at all of us (ants! gods! fish out of water! eddies in the ambient material, swirled in the dissipation our sun’s heat!) is a great practice. And one at which I am solely out of practice. Up to the mountain!)
And here [blog -Ed.] I’ll try again, acting as a repeater for the repeating of Frank Boosman (Ludicorp board member and friend)’s on that aforementioned Buddha’s position, as repeated by the author of of a book about the same, as transposed to the situation of a guidebook for dealing with contemporary daily life.
(Parse that. I think I may have the worst part of Kant (the sentences) without the good.)
Anyway, this is what Frank republished:
Quote for the Day
From What Would Buddha Do? 101 Answers to Life’s Daily Dilemmas by Franz Metcalf. First the specific quote:
The real possession is life itself, and even that is only on loan.
Now the context:
What would Buddha do about material possessions?
See them floundering after their cherished possessions, like fish flopping in a river starved of water.
Sutta Nipata 777
Buddha compares us to these tragic fish, gasping in the brutal air, frantically looking for heaven-knows-what. Are we searching for deeper water? Are we struggling to snatch the last shred of food? Most pitiful of all, are we aggressively defending some useless possession in the very face of death?
We are some spectacle, I no less than the rest of us! I’ve told you about my computer—wait until you hear about my house and car. Meanwhile I age, I slowly die, but I continue to vainly thrash around. We have got to remember, the real possession is life itself, and even that is only on loan. Buddha doesn’t say we cannot enjoy the beautiful things we are lucky enough to have. He does say we should not let them distract us from our real job: awakening to our life and death.
to me has been the ultimate, complete, unencumbered, freedom to imagine myself.
(Bonus link from Frank: The Onion U.S. Troops Draw Up Own Exit Strategy.)
back to business
thank you library book sale
NYC - Conversations with Artists: Andrea Zittel (02/02/06)
Conversations with Artists: Andrea Zittel Thurs. 2/2, 6:30-8PM Andrea Zittel discusses her work with New Museum Curator Trevor Smith. This event will take place at New York University's Steinhardt School of Education, Einstein Auditorium, Barney Building, 34 Stuyvesant Street (between...
NYC - King Yellowman Performance (01/28/06)
Come celebrate the closing of Jim Drain and Ara Peterson's HYPNOGOOGIA with a super special bashment featuring live performance by Jamaican dance hall legend: KING YELLOWMAN SATURDAY JANUARY 28 9PM 18 WOOSTER STREET NEW YORK NY 10013 FREE! FIRST...
Yojimbo
Yojimbo is a new snippets-saving app for OS X. I've been enjoying it and I'll probably stick with it. It allows you to drag text files, text snippets or URLs into an unobtrusive sidebar, which adds them to your "library." Your Library is a sortable Mail-like view of all your snippets, and you can sort them into sub-libraries that are like iTunes playlists.
I've tried a bunch of note taking solutions but never quite stuck with one. vi was my old favorite when I was on Unix and a terminal was always open, but that's often not the case on OS X. BBedit is fast, and I love the diff tool and other flourishes, but keeping "notes.txt" open all the time felt ... wasteful. Voodoo Pad was fast and fun, but I always forgot to open it, and then I would have versions that were out of sync. I felt like I had to maintain it more than I wanted to. Most commonly I had a file of URLs and short snippets "to sort," but that was obviously suboptimal. I know people love and swear by DevonThing, but it just seemed like overkill for my needs, which are "keep" and "search." The absolute best-in-class notekeeping app in the world is still Microsoft OneNote, but Yojimbo is the first piece of OS X software that deserves mention in the same sentence as the heretofore undisputed champion.
There are some more features I'd like to see. I suppose this is a wish list of features that would be true of any of the above apps as well, but like I said Yojimbo is currently closest to my ideal.
- Clipboard Integration - Jumpcut is still the best-in-class OS X clipboard manager, but it's getting a little long in the tooth. I'd love to be able to sort and save anything from my clipboard within Yojimbo. I often realize too late that I actually wanted to save that thing that was in my clipboard ten minutes ago. A nice view of the last n (50?) items from my clipboard which I could easily mark as "saved" would be a lively feature people would appreciate. Like I said, no one besides Jumpcut (not even Quicksilver or Launchbar) does this right.
- "Smart" Collections - Right now you can create as many "collections" as you like, but their behavior is static. What I really want is smart collections as intuitive as iTunes' smart playlists. For instance, I'd like everything that starts with "#!/usr/bin/perl" to be a code snippet, and I'd also like to to look at everything I bookmarked last Tuesday. Luckily for Bare Bones, the company that produces Yojimbo, the text factory tool built into Uncle BBedit is a great start on the kind of intelligent regular expressions that regular people may want to use.
- A Better Dock Icon - The Dock icon looks amateurish, dare I say beta. It's the kind of "cool" dock icon that a college kid would put out or that would be attached to an internal build of an application. I don't keep any "persistent" icons in my dock, but at any given moment I may have fifteen to twenty applications open and Yojimbo's icon just doesn't sit right yet. Unless you're the Adium duck, your icon should make some attempt to describe what your app is doing, even if it's in a very abstract way (a la Camino or NetNewsWire's dock icons). And no, "kick ass" does not qualify as descriptive enough.
- Image support - This is the one area where OneNote eats Yojimbo's lunch $4.99/lb buffet style. Image support would be useful in a million ways, especially for web developers who often have desktops full of chopped up web mockups and icons. I could say "media" support, but I don't care about audio at all. I know other people will, I just don't.
- Outlining - I don't need this, but if I can't have smart collection lists I'd like some way to group items together logically, and an outliner is a tried and true way to accomplish that. It only needs to be one level deep, and it doesn't need any of Omni-outliner's magic. It should output OPML and XHTML lists regardless.
- Scriptability - This is a no brainer, and I'm shocked that it was absent from the first release. Bare Bones has always had fantastic Applescript support in their software, but in this case it's totally missing in action. Blog posts always start as fallow thoughts and bits of text or a few URLs open in tabs. Scriptability would also allow cool things like social bookmarking support. A few examples:
- Show me all my bookmarks about espresso!
- Post this to my weblog! Anil will link to you. This can work quickly with Atom, MarsEdit, or XML-RPC.
- Immediately slurp in my photos tagged nyc!
- MacBook Tablet Support - This is obviously notional, but it has flawless support for capturing chicken scratch and funny sketches so that the app is ready when Apple drops the Maclet on us. This is another area where OneNote absolutely thrives.
n to spend so long on that. While writing this post I realized that I really want a better "snippet" management app. All told, Yojimbo 1.0 is a great start.
Marketing Brokeback Mountain
There's a nice article in the Wall Street Journal about how delicately Brokeback Mountain was marketed. The goal was not to draw controversy, but rather to avoid it. The strategy worked, and Brokeback is one of the biggest hits this year. They also played very close attention to the social "microclimates" of New York City, bringing a little chaos theory into their marketing ideas. Me likey.
Like microclimates in Napa Valley that can produce dramatically different wines, neighborhoods in Manhattan can draw entirely different audiences: Chelsea attracts gay viewers, the Village students, the Lincoln Center-area affluent boomers. Word of mouth from a Manhattan opening can determine with what audience a film succeeds or fails.ntic, I also think that the movie does well because the crafting of the cinematography, editing and sound is well worth repeated viewings on the large screen. The incredible acting from top to bottom helps too - I think people are taken aback when they see actors who really act.Normally, 'Brokeback' would have opened in downtown theaters in the SoHo-East Village areas -- typical for an art-house film. Instead, on its opening weekend Dec. 9, Mr. Foley placed 'Brokeback' into a megaplex in Chelsea, another uptown at Lincoln Center, and only one near Greenwich Village. 'I didn't want New York to say this is an art-house film,' says Mr. Foley. 'I wanted a mix of voices talking about it to defeat it being called 'a gay cowboy movie.' '
You can track the box office results at the always excellent Box Office Mojo.
How Pixar Adds a New School of Thought to Disney
How Pixar Adds a New School of Thought to Disney is a fantastic article in the New York Times about how Pixar shunned the Hollywood style freelance/contract working model in favor of building long term talent. You're going to see this article linked everywhere because everyone in the world who takes pride in their work can relate to the lessons herein.
"The problem with the Hollywood model is that it's generally the day you wrap production that you realize you've finally figured out how to work together," Mr. Nelson said. "We've made the leap from an idea-centered business to a people-centered business. Instead of developing ideas, we develop people. Instead of investing in ideas, we invest in people. We're trying to create a culture of learning, filled with lifelong learners. It's no trick for talented people to be interesting, but it's a gift to be interested. We want an organization filled with interested people."This reminds me a little bit of Big Mouth Productions and MediaRights, where I used to work (they're hiring, by the way).
The title of the article is a little misleading since Pixar obviously hasn't added much to Disney in the six days since the merger became official. As a movie and animation lover, here's hoping that some of these ideas find their way into the notoriously worker-unfriendly Disney workflow.
Shipping Firmware
Remember Mark Lucovsky's rant about how Microsoft can't ship software?
Do you want to know how Nintendo ships software to your DS? A friend of mine got it straight from Nintendo's mouth: every time you connect to Nintendo wi-fi, your Mario Kart DS or Animal Crossing cart is upgraded to the latest firmware. So enjoy those fat turnip/snaking hacks while you can, they're going to disappear soon.
don’t let me forget this.
a bit stunned, Katrina was one of a number of recent tragidies on which i didn’t blog. however, this report from the Human Watch is a nugget i mean to keep in mind: Inmates in Templeman III, one of several buildings in the Orleans Parish Prison compound, reported that as of Monday, August 29, there were [...]
Growing Problem for Military Recruiters: Parents
Growing Problem for Military Recruiters: Parents Two years into the war in Iraq, as the Army and Marines struggle to refill their ranks, parents have become boulders of opposition that recruiters cannot move.
no more vegan marshmallows?
Vegan marshmallow scandal! AFB's favorite marathon-running vegan librarians Kate and Jenny couldn't find their beloved vegan marshmallows at Whole Foods or Teany and eventually discovered that the marshmallows weren't vegan after all -- it turns out that Emes Kosher-Jel, the...
RFID cooking
RFID cooking: A pan, cooktop, recipe card and RFID. Each pan handle is embedded with an RFID chip that uses a proprietary signal to communicate with coordinated chips in the cooktop and special recipe cards that monitor each cooking step...
two-buck chuck's a-comin'
Trader Joe's to Open in New York. At 15,000 square feet, including the wine shop, the new Trader Joe's will be less than a third the size of the Whole Foods that opened last year at 4 Union Square South....
The Saveur 100
The Saveur 100 is one of my favorite lists, featuring 100 favorites (food, drinks, restaurants, people, places, things) from the world of food. NPR spoke with the Colman Andrews, the magazine's editor-in-chief about the list. Listen to the interview...
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