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Entries for December 2003
Toshiba makes coin-sized 3GB hard drive
Toshiba makes coin-sized 3GB hard drive. Your iPod is about to get a whole lot smaller
Subscribe to an RSS feed that informs
Subscribe to an RSS feed that informs you when new stars enter your light cone.
A winter story by David Sedaris for the New Yorker
A winter story by David Sedaris for the New Yorker.
American Film Institute announces their top films of 2003
American Film Institute announces their top films of 2003.
Saddam captured
If you haven’t heard yet, Saddam Hussein has been captured alive in Iraq. He was found in a farmhouse near Tikrit, in a “spider hole” (basically a small cellar). At the press conference announcing the capture, L. Paul Bremer, the head US civilian administrator in Iraq, said, “We got him” and the assembled crowd cheered as Bremer held back tears.
Update: Unsurprisingly, the small but particularly vocal segment of the blogos-whatever that can be identified by their non-ironic use of the word anti-idiotarian, is asserting that there is only one right reaction to Saddam’s capture and any other possible opinion is incorrect. It’s a toss-up these days as to whose coverage of current events is worse, cable news or that of weblogs. Fox News may have Bill O’Reilly, but reading the weblog coverage lately is like watching 1000 cable channels at once, each with their own O’Reilly arguing with all the other O’Reillys. Warblogs, you’ve jumped the shark. Next!
Master and Commander
Surprisingly good. I’ve been told the books on which the film is based are meticulous in adhering to historical accuracy w.r.t. what it was like serving aboard a naval ship in the early 19th century, and that’s carried through to the film version.
More Google search features
More Google search features. My favorite is the “I’m feeling sad” button
Skin your flowcharts in the style of
Skin your flowcharts in the style of the London Tube map. Includes Powerpoint templates so that you can make your own (no stencil files for Visio tho)
Urban cycling in Copenhagen, Amsterdam, and New York
Urban cycling in Copenhagen, Amsterdam, and New York.
Remix of the London Tube map
Remix of the London Tube map. Reminiscent of Simon Patterson’s The Great Bear
Ebert’s review of Y Tu Mama Tambien
Ebert’s review of Y Tu Mama Tambien nails why the film is so good.
Google is offering more contextual search results,
Google is offering more contextual search results, including package tracking options.
Y Tu Mama Tambien
Reminded me of Run Lola Run (and Amelie, says Meg) in how the filmmakers were interested in the stories tangential (and seemingly incidental) to the main narrative. The side stories have the potential to be distracting, but they actually strengthen each of the three films as a whole.
An amazing bunch of Edward Yoyohands show off their skills
An amazing bunch of Edward Yoyohands show off their skills.
Here’s my Mr. Picassohead painting
Here’s my Mr. Picassohead painting. Make your own and post the URL in the comments
Using a TypePad photo album to put PowerPoint presentations online
Using a TypePad photo album to put PowerPoint presentations online.
Spoiler-filled timeline of the rumored plot of
Spoiler-filled timeline of the rumored plot of Star Wars Episode III.
Mad lib the classics
Customized Classics takes novels & stories that have passed into the public domain (A Christmas Carol, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Alice in Wonderland, among others) and prints personalized paperback versions of them on demand…”starring YOU!” Instead of “Call me Ishmael” or “Oh Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?”, you could get “Call me Jason” or even “Oh G. Gordon Liddy, G. Gordon Liddy! Wherefore art thou G. Gordon Liddy?” They’ve even modified Romeo and Juliet to make a “happy ending” version:
SCENE IV. IN THE SEPULCHRE.
[Romeo and Juliet awaken, rubbing their eyes]
Romeo: What uncommon commotion stirs these folk? Ah, blessed apothecary, whose potion miss’d its mark!
Juliet: And perhaps ‘twas the keenness of mine love that hath dulled the dagger’s blade.
Romeo: What sayest thou we hasten to Verona?
Juliet: Come, prince, love, husband, shining angel! Let’s leave this cold sepulchre for Verona’s warm embrace.
[Exeunt Romeo and Juliet hand in hand]
This is exactly the type of thing that gets Michael Eisner’s panties in a wad w.r.t. Mickey Mouse, but I think it’s fantastic. (thx Jenn)
A fucking brilliant cover
I’ve been keen on book design lately, especially the covers. I love looking at all the new arrivals at the bookstore and have been following a few sites that talk about book design on a regular basis (Cheshire Dave’s book cover reviews, Readerville’s most coveted covers, Rebecky, etc.). When I IMed Lance about his book of stories from Glassdog (and other places) and related my book design preoccupation to him, he said, “well, why don’t you design a cover for my book?” And I said, “holy crap, yes!” and here we are:
You probably can’t tell from the smallish picture, but the cover is a cross stitch pattern (detail here). It doesn’t look so nice thumbnailed on the web, but the design should be quite effective when observed on the real article held at arm’s length. At least that’s the hope since I haven’t actually seen the book yet…Brown is on the case and it’s being hurriedly UPSed to my present location.
You may order the book with the above cover or with your choice of three other covers (two by Lance and one by Heather Champ)…with more cover designs on the way.
Word Spy word of the day: uncanny valley
Word Spy word of the day: uncanny valley. “n. Feelings of unease, fear, or revulsion created by a robot or robotic device that appears to be, but is not quite, human-like.”
How you play the game
Bill Murray doesn’t want an Oscar for his excellent performance in Lost in Translation:
It’s a really unattractive sight to see an actor or actress who really wants an Oscar. And you often see it on the show, you see their faces and the desperation is so ugly.
Desperation is not a quality I long for. I’m over the Oscar. Sometimes people win it and you think, “This can’t be true.” It’s a little bit of a popularity contest, too.
Sometimes it’s right, but it’s wrong just as often, so I don’t care. I’d rather make movies that lots of people saw and liked. I’m happy with the results.
Rolling Stone interviews Steve Jobs
Rolling Stone interviews Steve Jobs. Jobs: “I don’t know what hand-wringing is.” What?
Rich folks fighting the horrors of food allergies
Rich folks fighting the horrors of food allergies. Rebecca Mead carefully takes the piss out of “even the most pampered New Yorkers”
Routing around WiFi surcharge at the XML 2003 conference
Routing around WiFi surcharge at the XML 2003 conference.
The Last Samurai
The Last Samurai reminded me a lot of Braveheart. Both starred actors that are hugely successful but who have audiences divided and sometimes puzzled over their genuine acting ability. The ending battle scenes were very similar, even down to the surprise battle tactics used against the superior forces. Both Mel and Cruise played the unlikely/unwilling hero of the underdog. And I liked both movies about the same.
Excellent fan-produced trailer for The Hobbit
Excellent fan-produced trailer for The Hobbit. The prequel that most everyone wants Peter Jackson to make
Message a building or mountain during the UN tech summit
Message a building or mountain during the UN tech summit.
World map color coded by how much
World map color coded by how much attention each country is getting in the news.
A vote for kotte.org is actually
A vote for kotte.org is actually a vote for kottke.org (and freedom!). I’m no longer in the running
Interview with Howard Zinn and Thom Yorke
Interview with Howard Zinn and Thom Yorke about politics and art.
Long Bet: no Nobel Prize by 2020 for superstring/brane theorist
Long Bet: no Nobel Prize by 2020 for superstring/brane theorist.
Spike Jonze and Sofia Coppola marriage finally
Spike Jonze and Sofia Coppola marriage finally kaput after months of rumors.
The Day After Tomorrow
At the theater the other day, I saw a trailer for a movie called The Day After Tomorrow. The trailer doesn’t give any of the plot away, but the movie is about the aftermath of global warming, basically an audiovisual depiction of the direst of effects of massive global climate changes. A flooded-and-then-frozen NYC seems to be one of the featured locations, as does a tornado-ravaged LA. I have a soft spot for this genre of movie (I don’t know that the genre has a name…it’s part sci-fi, part disaster flick, but not really entirely either). Take all of humanity, add a global catastrophe/event of some sort (the event doesn’t have to be negative, just global), and see what happens.
Unfortunately for me, movies of this type are rarely done well. Off the top of my head, the only good representative film I can think of is Dr. Strangelove (ooh, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind). The not-so-good ones are easy to name: Independence Day, Godzilla, Armageddon, Deep Impact, The Core, etc. etc. It looks like The Day After Tomorrow will also be of the not-so-good variety. Schlockmeister Roland Emmerich is writing and directing, the guy behind such films as The Patriot and Stargate as well as the aforementioned Godzilla and Independence Day. I’ve (unfortunately) seen all of those movies and I haven’t groaned that much since….well, you know.
Our Milky Way galaxy may actually be
Our Milky Way galaxy may actually be several galaxies colliding with each other.
Ethiopian Fossil Finds Elucidate Elephant Evolution
Ethiopian Fossil Finds Elucidate Elephant Evolution. It’s double alliteration day at Scientific American
Alternate slogans for the ipodsdirtysecret.com folks
Alternate slogans for the ipodsdirtysecret.com folks.
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