fun
iRebecca
I don't recall Steve Jobs talking about this new product during the Macworld Expo keynote.
Twittering just got easier with Tweet
Scott McNulty noted Tweet in his Twitter feed as well as on TUAW. I downloaded Ted Leung's Growl-modified version of Coda Hale's script. Coda has good installation and usage instructions in the original Tweet script, which you can use if you don't care about Growl support. Tweet combines the power of AppleScript with that of Quicksilver (you are using Quicksilver, aren't you?) to make posting to your Twitter account easier and faster than ever. Sorry, Windows users, but all of this, except the Twitter service itself, is Mac-only.
<em>Night at the Museum</em>
I was going to blog about this yesterday, until I got slammed with the norovirus, aka, the stomach flu. My beautiful bride had Monday off (if the stock market's closed, her office is closed), so we did some shopping, sans little phisch, and decided to take in a movie. I wasn't in the mood for anything too serious, and the movie I really did want to see, Eragon (great book), has all but disappeared from most theaters. So we decided on the Ben Stiller vehicle, Night at the Museum. We at the phischbowl heartily recommend Night at the Museum. It's wholesome fun for the entire family, and you may even learn a thing or two. (Regarding the "entire family" bit: I wouldn't take my three year-old, mostly because he'd probably be bored, but I can see my friend's second-grader thoroughly enjoying the film.) Ben Stiller is, well, Ben Stiller, though not in a goofy Zoolander sort of way, more like in an Along Came Polly or Meet the Parents sort of way. Robin Williams is great as Teddy Roosevelt, though not in the usual obnoxious Robin Williams sort of way. I thought Steve Coogan was very amusing as Octavius, and a great foil for the uncredited Owen Wilson's Jedediah. Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, and Bill Cobbs are great as the three retiring security guards Stiller's Larry Daley is taking over for. One hint: don't leave immediately when the credits roll; there will be two more scenes within the credits you don't want to miss.
It's Twitterrific!
I confess I've been sucked in to the world of Twitter. It's kind of addictive, watching what folks like John Gruber, the Iconfactory boys, Maury McCown, and even Darth Vader, are up to. I'd love to know if my friends have accounts, so I can add you as a friend to mine, and please feel free to add me as a friend to yours. Ping me via IM, drop me an e-mail, or leave a comment. One cool thing Twitter did last week was they created a Macworld account. By adding this account as a friend, you could follow the postings of those at Macworld Expo as Steve announced the latest and greatest tech from our favorite fruit company. There were so many messages coming in to Twitter through AOL Instant Messenger that Twitter exceeded its allowable AIM traffic, and that service was unavailable for about a day. (To clarify, you couldn't post to Twitter via AIM; Twitter and AIM were each unaffected.) You can post to Twitter via your Twitter page, by instant message (Jabber or AIM), or by text message from your mobile phone. (Text message charges from your mobile provider apply, but there's no charge from Twitter.) If you're a Mac user, you can also use Maury McCown's TwitterPost, or the just-released-today Twitterrific from those aforementioned boys at the Iconfactory. Both apps are freeware. So the question remains, what are you doing?
Riddle me this
Why does my artificial tree shed? Does that not defeat the point--or at least one of the points--of the artificial tree? (Yes, I'm just now putting the artificial tree back in the box and storing it away for next year.)
Scarier words
There are few words I can think of at the moment which are scarier than "First Officer Chris Lawson". Except, of course, "Captain Chris Lawson". Seriously, Chris, congratulations on the job. Our Mr. Lawson will be flying the skies on behalf of American Eagle in the very near future.
A buggy musical
If you've ever wondered what Panic co-founder Cabel Sasser sounds like when he's singing, you can find out from viewing the hilarious Buggy Saints Row: The Musical. (Caution: Some adult language in the songs.) [Wave of the phin to John.]
The latest fortune
Cleaning out my wallet, I discovered the fortune from the last fortune cookie I had:
Alright, alright, keep the laughter to a minimum.
Further proof duct tape can be used for anything
You've all heard the adage (wrongly attributed lately, online, to Oprah): "Duct tape is a lot like the Force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it binds the galaxy together." You may have seen the various offerings of the duct tape wallet. Now, that amazing greyness has been used to create: The Duct Tape Shopping Bag.
"And Elmo is His prophet."
It's not really important how we got to this point of the discussion, just that we got to it.
Today's Gmail spam
Today's Gmail phishing (as opposing to phisching, which is the attempt to hook a phisch) spam is more humorous than most. A lot of phishing emails one receives are for non-location-specific entities: Citi, Bank of America, eBay, PayPal, etc. This one is highly location-specific: Hawaii.
I live in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex.
It amused me.
Briefly.
Beautiful day
It was a beautiful fall day here in DFW. The inside of the house was a pleasant 75 degrees Fahrenheit all day, the AC not running at all. We don't get too many opportunities to throw open all the windows here in the metroplex, so I took advantage. Few clouds in the sky, the sun shining bright, and I was treated to lunch by a friend, as thanks for a favor I was happy to do and expected no recompense for. Some good family time at dinner helped to wrap up a beautiful day. How was yours?
Miscellany
- For you baseball aficionados, Tiff has a great story on what happened when she gave tickets to some coworkers, and how they thanked her.
- Microsoft's Macintosh Business Unit, affectionately known as the MacBU, has its own blog.Via The Iconfactory
- Someone took the house I, and I'm sure thousands of others, would love to live in--Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater--and put it in Half Life 2.Via del.icio.us
What Your Freshmen Don't Know
Every year, an updated list of things incoming college freshmen, or graduating high school seniors, know and don't know circulate the Internet. Hugh points to the latest from Beloit College.
I won't rehash the list here, but thought I would share some of my favorite points:
+ There has always been only one Germany.
Whenever I think about this historic event, I am always reminded of Dennis Miller's (and there's a personality a lot of these kids may be wholly unaware of) commentary on SNL's "Weekend Update", when he said, and I'm paraphrasing, except for the last line: "Today, East and West Germany announced their plans for unification. France has already announced its formal surrender."
+ A stained blue dress is as famous to their generation as a third-rate burglary was to their parents’.
Actually, I'm pretty sure it's much less so for them than their parents.
+ They have never had to distinguish between the St. Louis Cardinals baseball and football teams.
This has been true for a long while now, for many incoming/outgoing classes.
+ Milli Vanilli has never had anything to say.
Do they even know who Milli Vanilli were?
+ Reality shows have always been on television.
Unfortunately. Oh so unfortunately...
+ Being techno-savvy has always been inversely proportional to age.
I don't believe this is something that is new to this particular class.
+ Most of them have never had the chance to eat bad airline food.
Since when is there good airline food?
+ Television stations have never concluded the broadcast day with the national anthem.
And that is a crying shame. It was something of a rite of passage in my childhood to stay up so late that you were still watching when the anthem came on. Though these days, it's mostly because there is no end to the broadcast day.
+ They have always “dissed” what they don’t like.
Do kids this age still use that word?
Miscellany
- Thanks to the folks at Xerox, with help from Layer 8 Group, you can send a postcard, with original artwork by a child, to a member of the armed forces serving abroad: Let's Say Thanks. I sent one, how about you?
[Via Susan via e-mail.] - About.com has some good advice in its Back to School section concerning backpack selection for students. The first tip they offer, to get a bag with two straps instead of just one, to help balance the load across the body better, is why I'm a dedicated backpack guy.
- My new addiction is Armagetron Advanced, an open source 3D game of the lightcycle contest from Tron.
"I can feel it, coming in the air tonight..."
So with my spouse not all that interested in seeing it, I took in Miami Vice this afternoon. I went in with preconceived notions, thanks to hearing about/reading reviews and opinions from a couple of friends. I knew to not expect much character development, I knew to expect to not be able to understand every single word from the actors (they mumble a bit, especially in the early parts of the film), and I expected some decent action and good cinematography. After all, it's a Michael Mann film. Possible spoilers ahead. Do not click through to continue if you don't want to know anything regarding the plot.
A Talledega night and a real type-cast film
Last evening, my bride and I had a date night, which included a viewing of Will Ferrell's Talledega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. Two enthusiastic thumbs-up, a Retrophisch™ Recommends. I laughed so hard at certain points, I cried. The out takes/"alternative scenes" at the end were worth the price of admission alone. My wife was right; the movie is so ridiculous, it's funny. Too often, comedy films are just outright ridiculous, and you're lucky to let loose with a few chuckles. Pure ridiculousness will only get you so far with the movie-viewing public. Pure ridiculousness in the hands of a master like Ferrell, however, will garner you big laughs. Such is the case with Talledega Nights, which even includes an exceptionally brief homage to the late Dale Earnhardt. (If you blink, you'll miss it; it's that fast. Fittingly appropriate, given the subject matter.) There's a lot to worry about in our world: Israel under attack in the Middle East; Iran and North Korea with nuclear power; Islamofascist terrorism; oil prices still way too high; our jobs; our families. Sometimes, we just need a good laugh, to forget about all the troubles for a couple of hours, and Talledega Nights fills the bill. Go see it.
In what may be the ultimate example of type-casting, there is a documentary under way about Helvetica. (It's a font, for those of you who don't know. Microsoft's Arial is a blatant rip-off wanna-be of it.) I am very tempted to nab a shirt. Director Gary Hustwit:
Why make a film about a typeface, let alone a feature documentary film about Helvetica? Because it's all around us. You've probably already seen Helvetica several times today. It might have told you which subway platform you needed, or tried to sell you investment services or vacation getaways in the ads in your morning paper. Maybe it gave you the latest headlines on television, or let you know whether to 'push' or 'pull' to open your office door.
Since millions of people see and use Helvetica every day, I guess I just wondered, "Why?" How did a typeface drawn by a little-known Swiss designer in 1957 become one of the most popular ways for us to communicate our words fifty years later? And what are the repercussions of that popularity, has it resulted in the globalization of our visual culture? Does a storefront today look the same in Minneapolis, Melbourne and Munich? How do we interact with type on a daily basis? And what about the effects of technology on type and graphic design, and the ways we consume it? Look for the film in 2007. [Via the Iconfactory.]
Miscellany
Photo mosaics have become popular; I have one of Darth Vader, made up of different scenes from Episodes 4-6. There are many tutorials online for making your own photo mosaics, but John Tolva has one where you create your mosaic with LEGOs. You'll need Photoshop, and a healthy bank account for all those LEGO pieces you'll be buying. [Via Photojojo.]
How close to you and yours does a convicted sex offender live? Find out, thanks to Family Watchdog. [Via Daily Dose.]
Happy Birthday to the United States Coast Guard, which turns 216 years old today.
Miscellany
The iPod cases from ifrogz look very nice. I like the customizable aspects of the design, but would love to be able to upload my own image for the Screenz. A Retrophisch-branded iPod case in "Gun Metal" Wrapz and "Thick Black" Bandz would rock.
Amazon Grocery is now out of beta after more than 200,000 people have used it to shop for food staples.
One of the recent winners of a Flickr Pro account speaks to my childhood.