Archives for 2007
“Today, it’s difficult to recall vividly that time when smoking was so prevalent in New York. Memories of that era are hazy and absurd compared to the altogether more sensible reality we experience today; that you can now spend an evening out with friends without inhaling the deadly byproduct of other people’s cigarettes and without [...]
A coworker of mine recently sent me a link and said “Cool, I didn’t know the Germans had a walking tank!” After a few seconds of conversation, it became clear that he was serious. To his credit, Kottke linked to this, and the stuff he posts is usually trustworthy. I’m not sure if Kottke was [...]
I was going to write a review, but instead I’m going to quote from an email Miles sent me, because he puts it better than I ever could: “It cracks me up how schizophrenic it is between apocalyptic horror and tongue-in-cheek wish fulfillment. On the one hand: Alien slavers colonize the earth! They’re sterilizing humanity, [...]
What you’re looking at here is one small slice of a waveform graph of my music listening habits over the last year, as recorded via last.fm. I generated this using the service at LastGraph, which makes it super easy by just giving your last.fm username and a date range. The guy who made LastGraph, Andrew [...]
Last week, Annie and I went to Seattle to see the special two-hour episode of Galactica, Razor. Microsoft was sponsoring a free screening in select cities, and one of the theaters happens to be near Annie’s parents, and we weren’t going to pass up the chance to see Galactica on the big screen. It was [...]
“Implication is more efficient than simulation.” – Don Hopkins, summarizing Will Wright, discussing why SimCity isn’t as realistic as it appears. Update: Edited to properly attribute the quote to Don Hopkins, based on his comment below.
This magazine cover is a perfect example of why you should always have someone else review any art decisions you make. There are several things in this illustration that don’t make any sense… The kid on the left, I assume, is supposed to represent current, cutting-edge technology — hence, the Web 2.0 shirt — so [...]
Annie: “I just wanted to let you know that I was right, she was pooping.” Scott: “This is the weirdest phone call I’ve ever received.” – Annie called me about ten minutes after I left the house to tell me this.
“The Web has given angry and vitriolic people more of a voice in public discourse. People in the past who have been on the nutty fringe of political life, who were more or less voiceless, have now been given an inexpensive and easily accessible soapbox, a blog.” – Former Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, [...]
“I was a baker. You can’t just turn up the oven and expect to take the bread out sooner.” – Eric Danielson, NorthTemple.com QA lead, commenting on the futility of trying to rush some kinds of development.
As far as he can tell, Dr. Robert Morgan (played by Vincent Price) is the only survivor of a plague that turns its victims into shuffling zombie-like vampires. Through flashbacks, we see the onset of the disease, and the growing horror as increasing numbers of people become infected, including Morgan’s wife and daughter. Price’s droning [...]
Annie has been planning this costume for a ridiculously long time, and the final result is adorable. I, for one, welcome our new octo-overlord. On a side note, I know that I’m running late with Zoe’s newsletter. But tonight I’m grumpy. Work has been kicking my ass lately, and knowing that I’m going to have [...]
Portal is absolutely good. The only criticism I have is that it’s really short. That said, in the commentary track, the developers mention that they’re just starting to explore this type of game, so it seems likely that we’ll see more in the future. The gameplay is nice and simple. You wake up in a [...]
In 1963, Marvel Comics published what became the first issue in a three-part crossover event that covered three different books and three sets of authors and illustrators over the course of 24 years! It’s remarkable because each successive part of the story added another layer of complexity while respecting the material that came before it. [...]
At a recent family reunion, my Uncle Bob and Aunt Susan brought a Tomato Pie. It sounds horrible, but it’s the most delicious thing I’ve ever eaten. They sent the recipe, and now I’m sharing it with you. This is almost guaranteed to cause a heart attack, but you’ll die happy. Tomato Pie – Theresa McKeegan [...]
The promise we got was that Halo 2 would be “a lot like Halo 1, only it’s Halo 1 on fire, going 130 miles per hour through a hospital zone, being chased by helicopters and ninjas… And the ninjas are all on fire, too.” It wasn’t. It was a disappointing sequel in every respect except [...]
“The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.” – Bill Gates
“The game is played on many levels.” – Sean, on revealing that he had just farted on Ryan’s seat during a Halo match
In honor of Talk like a Pirate Day, take some time to read some excellent (and some horrible) pirate jokes over at PirateJokes.net, run by my good friend Cap’n Karakas. Here’s one of my favorites: A pirate and his parrot, were adrift in a lifeboat following a dramatic escape from a valiant battle. While rummaging [...]
“The TV business is uglier than most things. It is normally perceived as some kind of cruel and shallow money trench through the heart of the journalism industry, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs, for no good reason.” – Hunter S. Thompson, Generation of Swine
Last night I had a dream that I was sitting in bed reading comics when I found a full-page illustration that I really liked. At the time, I had the impression that it was a Hellboy comic. I decided that I would tattoo the image onto my shoulder. As I started drawing the outlines, right [...]
Rant is the newest book by Chuck Palahniuk, the Portland author who wrote Fight Club. The full title is Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey, and it really feels like you’re watching a documentary. The style is an interesting change of pace, and made for some fun reading, but the story itself was disappointing. [...]
