Category: The Dork Report

After years of getting picked up and put down by various labels, Joseph Arthur is launching his own independent label (no longer online: billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002839192), Lonely Astronaut. His new album Nuclear Daydream drops on September 19, to be followed by a long-awaited-by-The-Dork-Report US tour running through November.

I’m still immature enough to think things like this (no longer online: youtube.com/watch?v=u-kfLf_RGqk) are awesome. (spotted on CNN)

An flurry of activity from one of my favorite old (and I mean “old” in the geriatric sense) bands, The Who (no longer online: petetownshend.co.uk/projects/thewho):

• Their first world tour in over 20 years, if you ignore the numerous reunion mini-tours.
• A new EP “Wire & Glass” comes out August 1, excerpting a song cycle (known to music snobs as a “rock opera”) from a forthcoming studio album, their first in 23 years!
• Tons of video, some free, on TheWhoLive.tv (no longer online)

Roger Waters live in Italy on July 12 (no longer online: bigozine3.com/rarities/?p=32), a concert dedicated to Syd Barrett.

A Geographical Study of Lost (warning: very large image download). Despite the massive wealth of information, it still can’t explain the greatest mystery yet: why Mr. Friendly was nominated for an Emmy and not, say, Michael Emerson, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, or Terry O’Quinn (not to mention the show itself). (guest submission from Cartographer Andrea)

Brian Eno on the Here and the Long Now. (spotted on Kottke.org)

Two blasts from the past regarding Wired Magazine, which I used to read cover-to-cover every month during the dotcom boom:

• Key early web designer Jeffrey Veen discusses Hotwired and posts vintage screenshots. (spotted on Kottke.org)
• Dead-tree dinosaur Conde Nast finally rescues Wired News from online dinosaur Lycos. The latter will still retain old Dork Report favorites HotBot (the best search engine during the pre-Google dark ages), Hotwired (now offline), and Webmonkey (where this Dork Reporter learned his chops). (also spotted on Kottke.org)

Mock up your fantasy Mac OS X “Leopard” screenshot for a cool $1000 in prizes. (spotted on IconFactory)

The 2006 Bulwer-Lytton Prize winner Jim Guigli (guest submission from femme fatale Andrea):

“Detective Bart Lasiter was in his office studying the light from his one small window falling on his super burrito when the door swung open to reveal a woman whose body said you’ve had your last burrito for a while, whose face said angels did exist, and whose eyes said she could make you dig your own grave and lick the shovel clean.”

Jim Guigli

Jeffrey Zeldman puts designers’ everyday frustrations into perspective.

Don’t mess with Joey the flesh-eating ‘roo. (guest submission from hippity-hoppity Jill Andrea)

More Hoff: Secret Agent Man (video no longer online). Amazingly, just as in his last video classic Get Into My Car (link no longer online: www.perezhilton.com/topics/listen_to_this/watch_listen_to_this_the_hoff_makes_us_hot_20060702.php), his massive ego appears to have kept him filmed in separation from the scantily glad girls again. (guest submission from Bond Girl Andrea)

Snakes on a Plane:

• Snakes on a book: a love letter to New Line.
• A couple of well-scrubbed young hotties distract Dept. of Homeland Security employees and Bring It (video no longer online).
• Esquire takes a sober look: “It’s not a bad movie that’s accidentally good, and it’s not a good movie that’s intentionally bad; it’s a disposable movie that people can pretend to like ironically, even though a) it’s not ironic and b) they probably won’t like it at all.”

Japanese tv has the answer: what to do if you have too much stuff (video no longer online), complete with anachronistic brassy calypso score. (guest submission from Dave)

Thousands of layoffs (no longer online: online.wsj.com/public/article/SB115258401032003019-JvwJXcKU8cCSAU7Il5cAGpRhKKE_20060810.html)? Note to self: now is not the time to send AOL your resume.

Futuro Mash-Up. (guest submission from DJ Andrea)

How much Rock will $699 buy? How about all 10 Led Zeppelin studio albums remastered on 45rpm, 12″ single-sided vinyl. As standard lps are 33rpm and double-sided, this comes to a whopping 48 records of glorious songs about ringwraiths and fucking!

It’s been a long time coming, but the crazy diamond will finally shine on forever in the great gig in the sky.

Michael Brook’s “RockPaperScissors” cd release party is Tuesday, July 18, at Joe’s Pub in NYC.

The already-excellent Criterion Collection edition of Terry Gilliam’s Brazil is being reissued with a new high-definition digital transfer and remastered sound, but with the same bonus materials.

Stephen Hawking asks, “Dude, WTF?”

Roger Ebert’s Great Movies. But what on earth was he thinking with Ripley’s Game? As someone who works at New Line / Fine Line (and in fact actually started to design the official web site), my impression was that it went straight to video not because of Lord of the Rings, but rather that no one thought it was very good. That said, I agree with nearly everything Ebert has to say about it; I’ve read the novel and Malkovich indeed is Ripley.

Oh. My. God. Lego football stadia [no longer online: bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=157301&page=5]. Look at all the little smiley-faced Lego people! (spotted on IconFactory)

Some Lost tidbits:

• Lost desktop icons volumes one and two. [no longer online: http://www.mixthepix.com] (spotted on IconFactory)
• Lost, from a design perspective [no longer online: beadesigngroup.com/blog/archives/2006/06/designing_a_better_enigma_1.html].

Steven Hill in Mother Jones: “an elite, trickle-down political system eventually dead-ends in arrogance, secretiveness, and abuse of power. History is filled with examples of this bitter lesson, from the Roman Republic’s prototype democracy imploding into Caesar’s dictatorship, to Germany’s Weimar Republic transmogrifying into the brutality of Hitler’s Third Reich.”

The New York tabloids are always worth a glance, and one of yesterday’s is an instant classic.

The 10 most beautiful Mac OS X apps (no longer online: phillryu.com/2006/07/03/the-top-ten-most-beautiful-os-x-apps), only one of which I use (Transmit). (spotted on Kottke.org)

Google must be delighted; they’ve officially become a verb. (guest submission from Proper Noun Andrea)

Michael Brook’s new album RockPaperScissors is due July 18:

• Watch the Making Of.
• Check out the hi-res album cover (no longer online).

Here’s a technical blog post about the new Flash Player (that I don’t recommend any layperson to read). As a designer I’m delighted to learn Adobe/Macromedia has created a new, separate application called Flex for developers. Hooray! Let them have their own little thing while I can focus on design!

Paranoid Androids want to know: Have you seen this man? [no longer online: have-you-seen-this-man.co.uk]

As Doctor Who Season Two draws to a close, a pair of Who News (both spotted on Outpost Gallifrey):

• Who’s the new Who Girl? Freema Agyeman is Martha Jones.
• The Radio Times pits the Cybermen vs. the Daleks in the World Cup. [no longer online: bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/news/cult/news/drwho/2006/07/03/33411.shtml]

New technojargon: Blackberry-go-round: an endless whirlpool of second-guessing, spontaneous opining, and one-syllable utterances by a minimum of four executives mashing thumbs on portable email devices. (I doubt I’m the first to coin this, but I wanted to get it on record just in case)

Remember, girls, don’t hassle The Hoff. (guest submission from The Halk)

Senator Ted Steven’s staff sends him internets through a series of tubes [no longer online: blog.wired.com/27BStroke6/?entry_id=1512499]. These are the people legislating the internet, mind. (guest submission from Dave)

Doctor Doom, Spider-Man, The Thing, Dr. Strange, and Silver Surfer meet their maker [no longer available: newsarama.com/marvelnew/StanLee/StanMeets.html]. Excelsior!

New Snakes on a Plane mutha&%$@in’ onesheet. It’s just not cheesy enough.

This debate is far dorkier than almost anything that ever finds its way into The Dork Report.

The 2005 Hollywood Reporter Key Art Awards are out. Even better, view all on one page.

The Transformers teaser trailer is out, and what a teaser it is; just a silhouette? Is that all we get? (guest submission from Dave)

Stanley Kubrick’s first short film! (guest submission from Kubrick the Kute & Cuddly Hippo)

Oh boy, how exciting: Flash Player 9 (no longer online: adobe.com/go/getflash).

Attention actors, line up for the Transformers open casting call (no longer online: boingboing.net/2006/06/27/transformers_casting.html). (guest submission from Dave)

Forget Norway! Come to Kenya! (no longer online: weebls-stuff.com/toons/kenya)

Despite the fact they’re still filming in New York City, the Spider-Man 3 teaser trailer (no longer online: apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/spider-man_3) is out and it looks brilliant.

Look, robots!

1,000 2,000-year-old skeletons (no longer online: news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=916922006). (spotted on Fortean Times) (no longer online: forteantimes.com/breaking_news/breaking_news.shtml)

The Beatles are taking it to Vegas. But what really interests me is the NY Times reporter’s preview of the new Beatles remixes/remasters.

After audio quality, the next detraction to digital music is the lack of packaging, artwork, liner notes, etc. Some “albums” on iTunes include PDF documents as “digital booklets”, but now The Residents have a new scheme (no longer online: cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Music/06/26/music.residents.reut) on how the music industry might transition the long tradition of album packaging to the digital realm.

Mac-obsessed Goobers who can’t wait for Mac OS 10.5 (“Leopard”) are already mocking up their own fantasy versions in Photoshop: Dream 1 , Dream 2 (spotted on AppleInsider)