Category: The Dork Report

U2 announces Zoo2Live [no longer online: u2.com/highlights/?hid=330], a new live album available exclusively to fan club members. Although it doesn’t say so explicitly, it would seem the audio is taken directly from the same show as the commercially available DVD.

Nine Horses, the latest project from David Sylvian, Steven Jensen and Burnt Friedman, releases their new EP Money for All on Samadhisound in January.

The Criterion Collection uses its new blog, On Five, to announce a new line of DVDs: “Eclipse presents a selection of lost, forgotten, or overshadowed films in simple, affordable editions. Each series is a brief cinematheque retrospective for the adventurous home viewer.”

Free Pinky! (passed around work)

What iTunes needs: tagging.

MacHeist‘s bargain-basement pricing on their bundle ($356.74 worth of shareware for $49) has ignited something of a blogwar. A particular sticking point is that aside from the aforementioned bundle, MacHeist gave away several “unlocked” software downloads (free, fully-functional apps, but not registered and thus disallowing upgrades) during an extended build-up to the bundle launch. Even the most cogent analysis of the affair on Daring Fireball fails to take into account one simple fact: what about upgrades? I used my unlocked copy of Voice Candy the other day to record some podcast voiceover audio, and I was prompted to download a new update. If I had done so, I would have kissed goodbye to my freebie and had been forced to pay the registration fee to continue using the program. I suspect most of these unlocked apps have similar built-in upgrade notices and users will be seeing them every time they open them up, basically amounting to free advertising for the developers, reminding users who already have the product sitting on their hard drive that they are not full owners in what they are using, and that they are missing out by not becoming full owners.

Anime in real life: Princess Mononoke flying thing [no longer online: akihabaranews.com/en/en/news-12983-Kaze+no+Tani+no+Nausicaa…+for+real?.html], Akira motorcycle, Ghost in the Shell female android. (guest submission by Dave)

At last, the IconFactory QuickPix 2006! (spotted on Daring Fireball)

All the bastiches wot done ripped off Panic. Not just their graphics, but even a photo of their office.

Cleaning up my bookmarks… Here’s one I saved a while ago but can’t remember if I posted: a working Lego Harpsicord.

The indispensible guide to Bad Movies. Everything from MST3K classic Manos The Hands of Fate (which translates as, of course, Hands The Hands of Fate) to Peter Jackson’s early classic Meet the Feebles. And remember, don’t Hassle the Hoff… in space!

Oh no! Movie Place has passed on! I wouldn’t go as far as Hodg-man: “IT WAS ARGUABLY the reason I moved into my first apartment on 105th Street. OK: I WILL CEASE TO ARGUE–it was THE reason” but I would say that it was a strong motivation to stay in Morningside Heights for several years after finishing school. And it’s also partly true to say that one reason I was more willing to eventually move out was the advent of Netflix. Spotted on 43Folders (no longer online: 43folders.com/2006/12/06/43f-links-for-wednesday-december-6th)

A Doctor Who Magazine poll picks David Tennant as the best Doctor, above no less than legend Tom Baker! Spotted on Behind the Sofa, with whose own list I also cannot agree. Who are these people? For my (US) money, here are the best Doctors:

1. Tom Baker
2. Christopher Eccleston
3. David Tennant
4. Sylvester McCoy
5. Peter Davidson
6. Paul McGann
7. Patrick Troughton
8. William Hartnell
9. Jon Pertwee
10. Colin Baker

Somehow I don’t see Les himself plugging his axe into a MacBook and fiddling around with Logic, but you never know: the new Gibson digital guitar. (guest submission from Dave)

A fully-annotated electronic version of the WII manual. Iconfactory helpfully fills in the missing pages. (guest submission from Dave)

Marginal Revolution Poorly designed objects. My planned contribution was scooped by “bhauth” about halfway down in the comments: not so much the standard cd jewel box packaging, but the cellophane wrapping. (spotted on Design Observer)

What if George Lucas were to take a crack at retroactively realizing the visions of other filmmakers? Here’s G-Lu’s Singin’ in the Rain. (guest submission from Andrea)

Continuing the wind-up to the new album, UNKLE’s online presence expands: UNKLE and James Lavelle on MySpace, Richard File‘s official site (no longer online: rich.fm), and new official UNKLE online shops.

Don’t Panic: Cabel Sasser is up to some mischief in his local Subway. Spotted in the comments: an even more ambitious TGI Friday’s menu substitution (no longer online: cockeyed.com/pranks/menu/atkinz_online.html). (guest submission from Dave)

Alan Moore on the 25,000 year-long history of pornography in Arthur Magazine.

Joseph Arthur is in the studio with his (newly-christened) band The Lonely Astronauts, and has posted Let’s Just Be, an entire album for free download (but donations appreciated!).

All the kewl kids are talking about Tom Waits’ new Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers, and Bastards. Especially check out the Pitchfork interview. (guest submission from Andrea)

Thank you, DaringFireball, now I know it’s not just me! I too adore Pilot Precise V5 Extra Fine black rollerball pens, and carry one with me everywhere! I loathe to lend one to anybody, and I’m thrown off for the rest of the day on the rare occasions I leave it behind. Further reinforcing my new feeling of community, the customer reviews are all raves. Incidentally, John Gruber was actually blogging about the game SketchFighter (no longer online: ambrosiasw.com/games/sketchfighter), which looks amazing.

The Number 23 onesheet owes a lot to Stefan Sagmeister’s Lou Reed Set the Twilight Reeling poster.

Listen to The Fountain score, and roll your own on The Fountain Remixed [no longer online: thefountainremixed.com].

Don’t let the brussels sprouts bite (no longer online: eyegas.com/xmas05). (guest submission from Andrea)

Typographical horrors on Flickr: Atrocious apostrophe’s and “quotation” “mark” “abuse” photo galleries. (guest submission from Dave)

Because the Dork Report loves to quibble with lists of things: sharpen your fangs for Time Magazine‘s All-TIME 100 albums. The editors attempt to preempt criticism by admitting their exclusion of Pink Floyd, but I’d like to add a few more points:

• I think the inclusion of so many greatest-hits compilation albums is a cop-out. I suppose one could argue that the concept of an “album” as a stand-alone work wasn’t established until around the time of The Beatles’ Sgt. Peppers and The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds, severely limiting the decades from which to cull a list of “best albums”. But look how many vintage artists are represented in the current decade: Elvis Presley, Muddy Waters, Hank Williams? If none of those could manage to squeeze out a classic stand-alone album in their own era, it shouldn’t penalize Pink Floyd’s massively popular and influential and critically acclaimed Dark Side of the Moon.
• Perhaps another rule could have been to exclude multiple albums from the same artist? That said, I love Radiohead too much to make the Sophie’s Choice between OK Computer and Kid A. But that said, if I had to pick one Bowie album, I wouldn’t choose Ziggy Stardust or Hunky Dory (the real contest is between Heroes and Low).

Preview the first four minutes of this year’s Doctor Who Christmas Special on Insomniac Mania.

MacHeist 2 ended last week, so catching up: I’ve landed a free trial copy of 1Passwd; at first blush it looks like it might actually help me bring some sense to the password chaos of my online life. (Hubert, are you listening?)

Information Architects Japan asserts Web Design is 95% Typography.

Trailing the MacZot, MyDreamApp, and MacHeist shareware marketing stunts comes MacAppADay, giving away 5000 copies of a different Mac shareware program every day starting December 1.

Tom Baker, (almost) everybody’s favorite Doctor Who, blogs for Blockbuster UK. Despite frequent allusions to mortality (he’s getting up there), he’s still a total riot.

Setting new standards in Doctor Who esoterica: Target Practice (no longer online: targetpractice.org.uk) examines each and every slim novelization (before video, let alone DVD, the sole way to collect and “re-experience” the classic stories – and come to think of it, still the only way since many of the original episodes have long since been junked). Lest that subject be too broad for the true Who anorak, From the Heart of Europe analyzes the nine novelizations by late Who star Ian Marter.

Genesis-Movement.org has the scoop on the Genesis remasters due as soon as March 2007.

“Weird Al” Yankovic, not only a brilliant satirist, is also a shrewd collaborator: check out his new video with Jib Jab: Do I Creep You Out (no longer online: JibJab.com/weird_al/do_i_creep_you_out).

Entertainment Weekly tasks a Star Wars virgin (no longer online: ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,1558880_1_0_,00.html) to watch all six Star Wars films in chronological order (as opposed to order of release), and is shocked to learn it doesn’t work. Well, duh. I assumed it was obvious to all that the correct order to watch them would be IV » V » VI » I » II » III. A prequel is not necesssarily intended to be viewed first. Or to put it another way, prequel is like one big-ass flashback, meant to illuminate what you’ve already seen, but whose significance isn’t palpable if seen first. (guest submission from Andrea)

Blender‘s most disatrous albums (link no longer online). Proud to say I only own one of them, Moby’s Animal Rights. (guest submission from Andrea)

Abandoned Places. (guest submission from Dave)

Piece together LEGO minifig bands. Hilariously accurate, especially the incarnations of U2 from 1987, 2000, and 2004.