Blog Random Archive

OK, so this supposed onslaught of blogging that I promised has produced a whopping 3 new posts in the past couple weeks. Not exactly something you would describe as an “o-Rama” type of situation. “Blog-o-Slightly-More-Frequently-Than-Usual” would be more accurate.

As far as I can tell only like 5 people read this anyway, so I doubt there was a huge wave of disappointment rippling its way through the “blogosphere” when I failed to live up to that promise. If I’m wrong, please let me know. I’d be way more motivated to post new stuff if there was more of a response when I did. I do appreciate those of you who do comment, though, so keep it up if you’re enjoying the blog. Hopefully, something I post will incite a comment riot and we’ll all be better people for it.

In the meantime, (as I finally get to the god damned point) I thought it might be interesting to list some of the sites/blogs I read on a daily basis. If I’m not getting something done, these sites are most likely to blame. All of them have RSS feeds that I subscribe to with Bloglines.

» Digg
Back when there was a channel called TechTV, I used to watch this show called The Screen Savers. In one episode the host at the time, Kevin Rose, mentioned a new site he was working on called Digg. It was supposedly similar to Slashdot, which I was reading on a daily basis, so I checked it out. It was pretty minimal at the time, but seemed like a cool idea. Instead of having the people who run the site pick the news stories that get published, they let the users of the site do it themselves.

Since then Digg has become one of the most influential “social” news sites on the web. Appearing on the front page even for just 30 minutes can send 10s of thousands of people to your site, which more often than not will be crushed under the weight of the incoming traffic.

The main focus is on “tech” related news stories, but they’ve since brached out into other areas like entertainment, sports and world news.

» Boing Boing
One of the most (if not the most) popular blogs on the planet, it’s maintained by Cory Doctorow (author, activist, public speaker), Xeni Jardin (WIRED magazine), and some other people with impressive resumes who still somehow have time to post to their blog all day, every day.

» Signal vs. Noise
A design and usuability blog by 37 Signals, the creators of incredibly simple, yet useful products like Basecamp, Backpack and Writeboard.

» Coolfer
A New York City based blog about music and the music industry.

» Kottke.org
The weblog of Jason Kottke. Or as he puts it: “My wunderkammer. Wunderkammer is a German word meaning, roughly, ‘cabinet of wonders’ or ‘cabinet of curiousities’.” Another one of the most widely read blogs around. Generally there’s some really good stuff here, although not updated as frequently as some others.

» 43 Folders
A blog about personal productivity, focusing on the “Getting Things Done” methods of organization. I seem to have adopted the “Not Getting Things Done” method, although if I follow some of his advice, I might be able to turn things around.

» A List Apart
Explores the design, development, and meaning of web content, with a special focus on web standards and best practices. If you make websites, you should be reading this site. Conveniently, the latest article is perfect for those who are new to ALA - The ALA Primer: A Guide for New Readers

» Apartment Therapy
A blog about apartment living. Even if you live in a house, a garage or even an underground missle silo, you’ll probably find something useful here.

» Copyranter
An advertising copywriter who apparently hates everything. Watch as he tears into all your favorite (and probably not so favorite) ad campaigns.

» Ars Technica
Tech news, product reviews and forums.

» Aurgasm
“Aurgasm brings to you an eclectic menagerie of aural pleasures. I scout out music you’ve never heard and deliver only the finest. Expect music curiously different, yet simply enjoyable.”

» Mike Davidson
Personal blog of the CEO of Newsvine.

» Bob Donlon’s Digital Video Blog
Not the catchiest of titles, but if you do any work with Adobe Premiere or After Effects there’s some good stuff here.

» Kevin Kelly’s Cool Tools
“Cool tools really work. A cool tool can be any book, gadget, software, video, map, hardware, material, or website that is tried and true. I am chiefly interested in stuff that is extraordinary, better than similar products, little-known, and reliably useful for an individual or small group.”

» IndieHQ
A forum for bands, record labels and everyone else who is interested in independent music.

» Cool Hunting
Cool Hunting: finding things in the intersection of design, culture and technology that excite the imagination and inspire creativity.

» Giantmonster
One of the more random blogs I subscribe too. There doesn’t seem to be an overarching theme to the kinds of stuff they post… it’s all usually pretty weird though.

» FlickrBlog
The companion blog to Flickr, almost certainly the best online photo management and sharing application in the world.

» Idolatr
“When the internet came, we overthrew the pasty white tastemakers, the duplicitious music marketers and the manufactured pop idols. And then they all came back. This is Idolator. We’re so disappointed.”

» Michael Showalter’s Web Log
Do you know who Michael Showalter is? If you do, check out his “web log”. You’ll like it. If you don’t… well, you probably do, you just don’t know it. Most recently you may have seen him on the Comedy Central show Stella. That’s pretty unlikely though, since (apparently) not a lot of people watched that show. You might also know him from underappreciated films like Wet Hot American Summer and The Baxter. And if all else fails, you probably know him from the MTV show The State that aired for a couple years back in the early 90’s.

I’ll just stop there for now. That’s only a small part of my ridiculous list, but it’s mostly the good ones.

What sites do you check on a daily basis?

More random bookmarks:

»50 ways to become a better designer

»King’s Quest III Remake. The classic PC game remade with more modern graphics and sound. Available for free download!

»700 Hobos. In the beginning, there were hoboes. Then, a notable non-historian wrote some lies about them in his wonderful and wholly inaccurate almanac. That man was John Hodgman. The book was The Areas of My Expertise. Amongst the lies was a comprehensive list of notable historical hobo names, numbering 700. After Hodgman read the list into a music flattening device, one Mr. Mark Frauenfelder of the Boing Boing teletyped a suggestion that 700 cartoonists volunteer to draw one hobo each as a public service or for no particular reason. And so it was, more or less, and here they are.

»Newshutch. It’s like a bag hutch. Except it’s for news.

»Gay Sausage. One of many amazing illustrations this guy does with “biro” pens. Apparently, that’s what the British call “ballpoint pens.” Whatever you call them, the stuff he does with them is pretty amazing.

Just to get a bunch of stuff out of the way, here’s some random links that don’t require much explanation:

» Akaine is mostly likely more talented than you. And she’s only 12 years old.

» Urban Counterfeiters. Companies like Urban Outfitters and H&M are stealing designs from independent artists and designers. Fuck that shit.

» Super-long and awesome interview with Louis C.K., stand-up comedian and star/creator of the new HBO show Lucky Louie. If you haven’t seen the show, definitely check it out.

» HEAD-ON! Apply directly to the forehead! Yeah. What the fuck is right. If you think about it though this commerical is genius. Interesting analysis here.

» It/ll Be Better Tomorrow. Documentary about the late Hubert Selby, Jr., author of “Requiem for a Dream“, “Last Exit to Brooklyn” and some other books that I haven’t read yet. View the trailer here.

» Love him or hate him (or just think he’s OK), Dane Cook is probably the most popular comedian in America right now. As this Wired article points out, it’s all about connecting with the fans. And he certainly knows how to do it.

» Sensitive Floor. An interactive video projection that reacts to the way people walk on it.

» Free Spirit Spheres. The sweetest treehouses ever. If I was gonna get a treehouse (and I just might do that someday), I’d have to go with one of these.

» Lords of the Ring. Short Film about the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. If you’re not a complete dork like me you can probably skip this one. Some of you might recognize the name CERN from the book Angels and Demons. Yes, it’s the same one.

This video shows what could happen if a giant meteor hit the Earth. Anyone with a bit of common sense could tell you that giant meteors hitting the Earth is not good. But seeing it actually happen (or a simulation of it anyway) just shows how not good it would really be.

Unfortunately the narration is in Japanese, but on the YouTube page there’s a pretty long description of what’s going on. Here’s some of the good parts:

The velocity of the meteorite is 70,000 km/h. But the meteorite is bigger than we can imagine, so that it appears much slower… The earth’s crust of 10km in thickness where ground in the earth is composed is wholly peeled off. This is called, “Earth’s crust tidal wave”. There is 1km width of the rock, and it flies to the sky it by the impact. The impact surges to the Japanese Islands and, as a result, the Japanese Islands are crushed. The splinter of the crushed rock easily exceeds the height of 1000Km. After exceeding the atmosphere it reaches space. Afterwards, the splinter of the rock falls again in surface of the earth. The edge of Crater completed by the collision of the meteorite is 7000m in height. It looks like a huge mountain range. The diameter of Crater has 4000Km. Crater is big to swallow a part from Guam to a Chinese continent. But, it was only an introductory chapter of the tragedy that would start in the future…..

http://www.youtube.com/v/3JHdYBet_4Q

Pretty random, but I thought it was worth a post. Them Nascar-ians is crazy!

From insiderracingnews.com:

“folks on Staten Island are lining up and taking sides, either for or
against the building of the new track. Those against the track are
identified by the acronym SCAT (Staten Island Citizens Against the
Track) and those for it are called SINCH. (Staten Island NASCAR Hopefuls)”

First of all, I ripped this idea from kottke.org. Not that anyone reads this thing anyway. But if you do and you’re about to cry “ripoff”, the line to collect your $0.00 refund forms to the left.

Anyway…

Some film critic I’ve never heard of published his list of “201 Movies You Need To See Before You Die”

I’m not sure that I’ll care that I haven’t seen The Maltese Falcon when I’m dead and buried. According to this guy though, it’s pretty important. Either way it looks like I have a lot of movies to watch if I want to keep up.

Here’s his list, with the ones I’ve actually seen in bold.

2001: A Space Odyssey
The 400 Blows
8 1/2
Aguirre, the Wrath of God
Alien
All About Eve
Annie Hall
Apocalypse Now
Bambi
The Battleship Potemkin
The Best Years of Our Lives
The Big Red One
The Bicycle Thief
The Big Sleep
Blade Runner
Blowup
Blue Velvet
Bonnie and Clyde
Breathless
Bringing Up Baby
Carrie
Casablanca
Un Chien Andalou
Children of Paradise / Les Enfants du Paradis
Chinatown
Citizen Kane
A Clockwork Orange
The Crying Game
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Days of Heaven
Dirty Harry
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Do the Right Thing
La Dolce Vita
Double Indemnity
Dr. Strangelove
Duck Soup
E.T. — The Extra-Terrestrial
Easy Rider
The Empire Strikes Back
The Exorcist
Fargo
Fight Club
Frankenstein
The General
The Godfather, The Godfather, Part II
Gone With the Wind
GoodFellas
The Graduate
Halloween
A Hard Day’s Night
Intolerance
It’s a Gift
It’s a Wonderful Life
Jaws
The Lady Eve
Lawrence of Arabia
M
Mad Max 2 / The Road Warrior
The Maltese Falcon
The Manchurian Candidate
Metropolis
Modern Times
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Nashville
The Night of the Hunter
Night of the Living Dead
North by Northwest
Nosferatu
On the Waterfront
Once Upon a Time in the West
Out of the Past
Persona
Pink Flamingos
Psycho
Pulp Fiction
Rashomon
Rear Window
Rebel Without a Cause
Red River
Repulsion
The Rules of the Game
Scarface
The Scarlet Empress
Schindler’s List
The Searchers
The Seven Samurai
Singin’ in the Rain
Some Like It Hot
A Star Is Born
A Streetcar Named Desire
Sunset Boulevard
Taxi Driver
The Third Man
Tokyo Story
Touch of Evil
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Trouble in Paradise
Vertigo
West Side Story
The Wild Bunch
The Wizard of Oz

Only 28 out of 102. I left out ones that I’ve only seen parts of or that I somehow watched but have no memory of. But even if I cheated and included all of those, it’d still be less than half.

I’m not sure if I really care, but it’s kind of interesting for some reason. I feel like I’ve seen a lot of movies (I’ve never really kept track as I would guess most people haven’t). And I’ve certainly seen quite a few that I’d consider really good or even great. I could probably make my own list of 102 (or even more) essential movies. But according to this guy I haven’t seen shit. But I have a feeling that I’d probably sleep through a bunch on this list. Generational difference maybe? Or am I just unable to appreciate good movies? I hope not.

Besides, any essential movie list that doesn’t include Big Trouble in Little China is obviously flawed.

- Dan

My new favorite cooking show is Starvin’ with Louis. It’s actually not on TV though. It’s what you might call a “video podcast.” Or maybe it’s called a “vidcast.” Or possibly a “castvid.” I’m not really sure what it’s called but it’s a series of videos that you can get for free through iTunes.

They describe it as a cooking show for people with “no food, no money and no cooking skillz”. In the latest episode they make Brass Monkeys and Spam Cupcakes. Watch and learn:

Link: Starvin’ with Louis

Today is the first day of TV Turnoff Week 2001.

In 1994, Adbusters launched TV Turnoff Week as a seven-day break from the dreamworld of the tube. It’s an explosive idea - this year, millions of people in over 25 countries around the world will take a break from televised culture. Some will host rallies, parties, or TV smash-ins to let the world know that TV Turnoff is a turn-on to reality. Most, though, will quietly celebrate. They’ll have friends over for dinner; play with their kids; go bowling, hiking or swimming; start a journal. Above all else, they will have time to think - and that makes them the most dangerous kind of citizen.

If you don’t think the TV Turnoff is for you (or you don’t think you can make it), try the Zen TV Experiment. It might give you a different perspective on what actually happens when you’re watching TV.