Archive for February, 2007

Breaking designers’ block

Wednesday, February 28th, 2007

I’m not about to count the number of time I’ve bemoaned my design process on these pages, but needless to say, it’s been a long running theme with me since the start of my career. While I know that others go through these same thoughts, it’s always better to have some substantial content to hang onto to bolster your reassurance.

So imagine my pleasure when I read this great post by Jason Santa Maria where he not only shares his thoughts, but also points out some possible ways to break the block and keep in touch with the living, breathing essence of the cutting edge. Well, maybe not in those terms exactly, but still well worth a read.

Out of Control, and then some

Tuesday, February 27th, 2007

Reggie Watts: a vocal virtuoso

Ever since a chance viewing at a long ago concert, i’ve been a big fan of the vocal stylings of one Reggie WattsMaktub front man and Soulive contributor. This loopy, beat box driven, a cappella composition entitled “Out of Control” just makes me like him all the more.

And while I’m talking music, let me drop some more music-related linkage on you. Nutritional content may vary:

  • Maktub’s 2001 recording and 2003 release Khronos should be in any soul music lover’s collection.
  • While cleaning through the numerous blog posts I started, yet never posted, I found this article about the release of Medeski, Scofield, Martin & Wood’s “Out Louder“. Months after getting said album, I’m still digging it.
  • As of this moment, Clutch tops my Last.fm account as the most played band, year to date. A lot of that is due to great tracks such as “The Drifter” on great albums such as Jam Room.
  • My old boss Christian threw me a link to this funny — yet catchy — little ditty: Code Monkey (MP3).

Grab some of the above and make your ears happy.

“In fact we like you. We like you very much.”

Thursday, February 22nd, 2007

George Takei responds to Tim Hardaway's homophobic comments

What’s the best way to counter intolerance and ignorance? Why, lampoon the absurdity of it all, of course! That’s just what George Takei — the gay actor of Star Trek fame — has done in this little video response to the unbridled display of homophobia shown by former NBA player Tim Hardaway last week.

If you can’t laugh at this, then you best go get yourself some therapy right away.

Work is da bomb (threat)

Thursday, February 22nd, 2007

Well, this certainly was a first. Here I was, thinking it was going to be an average, run of the mill day at the office when an email from the office manager arrived in my inbox that read:

Exit the building there has been a bomb threat.

Yeah, that sure is one hell of a way to start the day! It turned out to be nothing, thought it did lead to a bit of confusion, if not any real anxiety. Still not sure of all the details. It could have been an anonymous phone call threat. Or perhaps it was a threat against one of the many lawyers working in my building. Hell, it could have been a wild rumor that got passed around telephone style for all I know.

While in the end it was a lot of blustering about nothing, at least we took it seriously. You don’t play around with this kind of stuff.

I’m all a-Twitter lately

Wednesday, February 21st, 2007

Those of you who are semi-regular visitors to my site (and with my lack of updating recently, I could understand if you weren’t) might have noticed the new little brown box in the sidebar, with updates powered by my Twitter account — a nice way to leave short, instant messenger style status messages for friends (or the public at large) to view.

I’ve grown quite fond of the service in a short span of time. Updates can be made and received via the web, an instant messenger or the texting service on your cell phone, and the short form nature of the posts (maximum size is 140 characters) means updates are easy to make and easy to consume. They also offer an API, which means other programs can interact with the service, such as Iconfactory’s Twitterific, which Khoi Vinh speaks on over on his blog, Subtraction.

So in short, give Twitter a try. It’s good fun.