The Virtual Piano is (judging by the notes that have been echoing out of a bedroom for the past hour) a big hit in our house. (courtesy of).
And while I’m here, Lifehacker recently pointed me to RainyMood.com. On a whim I pushed play and then, after about an hour of interneting, realized it was still on. Super job of drowning out ambient noise.
Calvin and Hobbes is without a doubt (and by a hefty margin) my favorite comic of all times.
My first car had a sticker of the two of them flying in a box.
.
My only tattoo is a small one of Calvin dancing.
My oldest daughter started reading through some of my Calvin and Hobbes books
So here now is the Kickstarter (fund raising site) page for Dear Mr. Watterson, a documentary about the strip.
Dear Mr. Watterson is a film that will look to the readers and fans of Calvin & Hobbes to tell the story of the strip and its creator. As we explore the art and impact of Bill Watterson through this unique perspective, the undying appreciation and love of Calvin & Hobbes and the man behind it will be evident in the anecdotes, stories, and memories shared by readers of the strip and friends and colleagues of Mr. Watterson.
While the crew has been donating their time to make this project happen, we’ll be taking several trips to conduct interviews and collect footage, so the costs of air tickets, rental cars, meals, and motel stays will add up. The benefit of raising our goal of $12,000 all at once through Kickstarter is that we’ll be able to move forward on this film without the hurdle of funding, and the more we raise on top of that, the more we can do with the film.
I would love to see this happen and am working on my contribution as these words type to my screen. Consider doing the same!
Is anyone else watching Kings? I mean, is it a “hit”? Are the ratings good? Is it going to last for more than this first season? I ask because I care. I care because I really like this show, and I’m not seeing much in the way of internet chatter. Granted, I haven’t actively searched for people’s reactions, but normally you come across this or that, here or there, while idly browsing around. And I haven’t, which surprises me.
If you’re not familiar with it, the gist is: Story of a royal family in a modern, fictional world. And the ruler, the king, is not a figure-head. He’s the real deal with power to spare. And so there are the expected power struggles internally and externally. Military action and political action.
It’s all very well done and fun to watch. A sometime small twist to it all is the idea of the king being truly “chosen” by God. There is a strong undercurrent of signs and symbols the leads look for and notice.
I hope people are watching. I hope the show lasts (and continues to be entertaining and interesting). I hope I’m not the only one watching.
This is a little convoluted, but it’s the journey not the destination. Apologies.
A couple months back, I came across Dewey (via Waxy, Feb 2, 2009). It offers a new, web-two-ohee method of navigating the music available at Archive.org. I wanted something to listen to at work and so started looking for some familiar names. I eventually stumbled on some Guster shows.
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I know I can’t be the first to make this observation, and more than likely I am one of the last. I finally saw Wall-E
Speaking of which:
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NETTUTS has an extremely thorough, step-by-step video tutorial that covers slicing a site design in Photoshop, coding the HTML, creating the CSS and then (briefly) adding a touch of Javascript.
I make this recommendation with a bit of hesitance though, as the total running time is a bit over 90 minutes. I actually skipped the last third or so of the first video (slicing the PSD). But there is something strangely mesmerizing about watching someone else progress through their work like this. It’s also interesting for me to see someone else’s work flow and tools use.
The presenter/author, Jeffrey Way, states that the tutorial is for beginners, but I’d say that it edges closer to the intermediate level. The CSS section, though long, progresses pretty quickly. You have to already be pretty familiar with the selectors syntax. And he moves right passed terms like “inline” and “block”.
If you’ve got the time and the inclination, it’s an excellent howto for that area of web work.
The Sound of Young America has an interview with Graham Linehan (creator of two of my all-time favorite comedies: IT Crowd
The questions, as you might expect, pretty much stay focused on his work in TV (i.e. there’s no childhood memories or ‘how I met my wife’ stories). I had never heard an interview with him, so this was fun for me. He comes across as a light-hearted, nice man.
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A couple of days ago I came across various news items regarding the launch of Yahoo’s “Smush It” service. Point their web app towards any image online (or just upload one) and it will try its best to decrease the file size with no visible degradation of image quality.
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Go here, click “Listen”, then do just that for all the available songs. I have to buy this. It’s a couple bucks cheaper from Subpop (the source I guess).
The epic Sea Lion was intended to be a world music album, but reverb and psychedelic pop crept in to create a unique mixture of exotic sounds, accomplished with an impressive array of instruments—from steel-string ukulele to djembe drums to pots and pans, all set upon a cozy cushion of synths and cassette samples.
I can’t wait to listen to some of these songs with my daughter during the morning ride to school. Did you listen to “Tane Mahuta”?! How’s that for starting your day!
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Dueling Analogs linked out to a comic that I had never read before: Cyanide and Happiness. It’s fantastic. And best of all is that there’s no continuing storyline or set of regular characters. This is good news because now I don’t feel compelled to spend the next few hours reading through the entire archive to make sure I’m all caught-up.
The humor is mostly adult. Basically you gotta like dirty jokes. Also notice that there’s a Random button available, which is what I’ve been hitting the past few minutes. I’ll display a few of my favorites (so far) on the underside.
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It’s like this smorgasbord of cool stuff all packaged together in one neat little news-worthy package. Yes, the world does revolve around me.
I love The Wire
I also really enjoyed Cormac Mccarthy’s book The Road
He looked at his father and then tilted the can and drank. He sat there thinking about it. It’s really good, he said.
Yes. It is.
You have some, Papa.
I want you to drink it.
You have some.
He took the can and sipped it and handed it back. You drink it, he said. Let’s just sit here.
The Road has been transformed into a movie, and Omar (Michael K. Williams) is in it as (ironically enough) “The Thief”.
thanks BigScreenLittleScreen
Know how I’ve wasted my time lately? MySQL Game.
It’s the type of thing where the barrier to entry (Firefox, Google account, SQL knowledge) is just small enough for me that I’ll jump in a give it a try. It’s also the type of thing that I tend to overly obsess over.
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As with all things, tastes will vary. So when I strongly profess my adoration of this show, please keep in mind that my humor is very tolerant. Now, if you don’t mind foul language and topics that include racism (episode 1) and abortion (episode 2), then have I got a show for you.
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Coding Horror, a blog that I’ve started reading regularly, has some fantastic advice on how to improve your skills (regardless of the domain): Quantity Always Trumps Quality.
When it comes to software, the same rule applies. If you aren’t building, you aren’t learning. Rather than agonizing over whether you’re building the right thing, just build it. And if that one doesn’t work, keep building until you get one that does.
This is advice that I sincerely need to start following. I tend to have the debilitating problem of starting to work on an idea but never completing it because of constant tweaks and muddles and experiments and refinements ad nauseam. With an approach like that, your results are always incomplete. And when you feel like you can never complete something, you tend to move on to something else (i.e. quit).
When I used to create and record music, it was the same thing. The difference, however, was that there was always something to show for the effort, even if I wasn’t totally satisfied. No matter my perceived flaws, there was still a piece of recorded music I could share with others. But when the code isn’t finished, or the design still “in-flux”, it’s pretty difficult to call it a day and let the beast loose on the world. I hereby resolve to…oh who am I kidding.You are the only thing in any room you’re ever in
Guy Garvey is a fantastic lyricist. The above is from Elbow’s most recent release, The Seldom Seen Kid
If I had to pick one for you to listen to, though, it would be One Day Like This. Listen to it and tell me it doesn’t force your senses to perk up.
‘Cause holy cow I love your eyes. And only now I see the light. Lying with you half awake. Stumbling over what to say. Well anyway, it’s looking like a beautiful day. So throw those curtains wide. One day like this a year would see me right.
