Another sick day means a bit of web browsing. I found two particularly great posts without venturing any farther than Gizmodo today. The first is an unbearably adorable comic, originally from xkcd. Too cute for words. The second is a compelling collection of floppy disk-based paintings from artist Nick Gentry. Check out the images below or head over to either of the articles.
It seems that – at least according to Gizmodo’s Mark Wilson – my Apple tablet mouth-frothing might come to an end when my pre-ordered copy of Mass Effect 2 arrives tonight.
We shall see. Right after a trip out for birthday drinks with Karishka…
I have just recently been reminded (again) of the existence of Retro Thing. This time via Engadget’s posting of a vintage 1983 Sony CD stereo review. Not just a collection of funny old verbiage about dead and dying gizmos, there are also some really artsy and thought-provoking artifacts. Take this video of San Francisco from the 1958:
San Francisco 1958 from Jeff Altman on Vimeo.
Of course, it doesn’t hurt that they are leading with an article with the Lego Architect Fallingwater set – which I may or may not have received for Xmas.
Kate today recommended to me a brand new webcomic by the name of Not So Distant. She had seen it on Aaron Diaz’s Dresden Codak, a not-often updated but sublime comic itself.
Here’s the first panel:
It’s a story about a young alien archaeologist studying the remains of a dead Earth. Or is he? I’m about halfway in right now, so there’s still some mysteries that I need to unravel. But it’s riveting and whimsical at the same time, so I’m hooked.
Luckily, we are only about 75 panels in, so it’s still possible to get caught up! I absolutely hate feeling like I’ll never be able to read the new installments because of an insurmountable backlog, so that certainly made getting into Not So Distant a lot more palatable to me.
Sometimes following one of Michael K‘s stories the whole way down the rabbit hole can lead to unexpected treasures. Get That Look is one of them.
It seems that this blog is written by a woman with a remarkably twisted sense of humor. One that fits perfectly with my own and kept me laughing for at least an hour as a plodded my way through the archives of her Tumblr site. She has a real knack for picking up the detritus of the web, adding a witty one-liner and posting it up for all to see.
An example of the oddities found on just one page:
Firekites – AUTUMN STORY – chalk animation from Lucinda Schreiber on Vimeo.
Again, that’s only one page of this blog. So, no matter what you’re into, Get That Look is sure to deliver. Something.
I don’t normally go in for podcasts (sorry, podcasters) but this episode from the smallWORLD has actually been a pretty compelling listen. So far, I’ve only gotten through the Cory Doctorow interview, but I’m definitely looking forward to hearing what Annalee Newitz has to say since I love io9 so very much (and she’s the editor.)
Things get fascinating at around 16:00 for Mr. Doctorow, when he starts talking about e-Readers and then turns completely controversial as he moves in to discussing ownership, customer-war and Apple. Good to hear an author that’s in to the idea of digital distribution being free and open and not entirely terrified of never getting paid again if/when this ecosystem comes about.
Worth your time, most certainly, whether you produce media, support producers of media or just consume the media they produce.
Update: when you hit the 53:00 mark or so, you’ll find J.C. Hutchins talking about trans-media artifacts. This makes me beyond happy.
I was browsing about this afternoon, looking at uses of Posterous, a service that had escaped my notice and was luckily pointed out to me by my coworker, Nancy (“gold star for the day,” I told her.) In this state of wide-eyed absorption, I fell on to The Sartorialist, a blog that chronicles what’s being worn on the streets from New York to Cologne to Paris and beyond. It’s like walking through the city, staring at the stylish and beautiful without all the awkward eye contact (or walking.)
As someone that would like to believe himself at least a little fashion-forward and marginally on-trend, it’s refreshing to step out of Corn Field, MD and into the world. Because we all know I’d be this guy if I wouldn’t get dragged into the back of a diesel F-250 for doing it:
Would that I could...how I envy you, random Parisian.
Update: as if hell-bent on proving my point, I found this moments later from the local “newspaper:”
The scene: intersection of MD-544 and MD-20.
It’s like people here are predisposed to drive like ‘tards. Could it be genetic?
The supporting evidence that I’m not losing it:
In a new study of college undergraduates, those with a common genetic variation scored 20 percent worse in a driving simulator than their counterparts.
“The people who had this genetic variation performed more poorly from the get-go and learned more slowly as they went along,” said Steven Cramer, a University of California, Irvine neurologist, who works on helping stroke victims recover. “Then, when we brought them back four days later, they had more forgetting.”
From Don’t Tell Geico: You May Be A Natural Born Bad Driver.
(Thanks, Sharenator and Wired)
(Actually, it was yesterday, but John Allison broke his schedule.)
The newest comic from John Allison, Bad Machinery, has launched. The style seems to split the difference between old ScaryGoRound and new and the storyline feels familiar and intriguingly unfamiliar at the same time. Won’t you give it a spare moment?
I’ve also just realized that this is my 500th post (catalogued on this blog, at least.) September is the month of milestones for me, readers! Happy 500th post to all – but most especially you, Mr. Allison, since I’ve unwittingly made a donation to your cause.
As of Friday, ScaryGoRound has said goodbye to its present form. Its creator, John Allison, moves on to a new comic endeavor – can’t blame him! I get bored with my artsy activities about an hour in, so I can’t quite imagine seven years! I’m going to miss this amazing little gem of Brit-humor and quirky monster tales. My SGR fix has been a daily institution for at least the last five years and it’s going to be hard to let Amy, Shelly, Ryan, Bat-Friend, Desmond, etc go.
I’m certain, though, that whatever Mr. Allison has in store for us will be fantastic. I’m just glad I finally got around to ordering my “Nosferatu doesn’t share his toffees” t-shirt before they all ran out.
Now, what to do with the SGR link in my right sidebar? Suggestions?