• The Dork Report for December 7, 2006

    The Dork Report for December 7, 2006

    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)

  • The Dork Report for December 6, 2006

    The Dork Report for December 6, 2006

    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
  • The Dork Report for December 5, 2006

    The Dork Report for December 5, 2006

    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)

  • The Dork Report for December 3, 2006

    The Dork Report for December 3, 2006

    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)

  • The Dork Report for December 1, 2006

    The Dork Report for December 1, 2006

    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)

  • Everything You Know is Wrong: U2: Zoo TV Live From Syndey

    Everything You Know is Wrong: U2: Zoo TV Live From Syndey

    If I could build a time machine to take me to see any band in history, it would be a trip to the early 90s to catch U2 at any point along their legendary Zoo TV tour.

    New to DVD, director David Mallet’s Zoo TV: Live From Sydney documents the lads’ performance in Sydney during the aptly named Zoomerang leg. Rewatching the event in the 21st century is interesting; on one hand, it’s almost shocking how far ahead of the curve U2 was in 1993, preaching a pretty weighty post-modern, ironic kill-your-television thesis in front of thousands of rock ‘n’ roll fans each night.

    But on the other hand, the fixation on cable and satellite TV now looks rather quaint. True cultural desensitization and alienation via media oversaturation came, in the end, from the internet. “Everything you know is wrong”, indeed.

    Zoo TV was less a rock concert than a carefully choreographed theatrical event. Bono donned multiple costumes and personas throughout each show: a drunken rock star clad in leather and fly shades, a paramilitary guerrilla in fatigues, a gold lamé cowboy hat-wearing megachurch televangelist blasting millions of U2 bucks into the audience, and finally emerging as MacPhisto, a kind of washed-up wasted devil tired of life, but still up for a good time.

    U2 Zoo TV Sydney
    I’d hate to see the band’s utility bill at the end of this tour…

    Regardless, what’s amazing is that despite all the high-mindedness and avant-garde video art contributed by Brian Eno and Emergency Broadcast Network, U2 still managed to put on a truly spectacular rock concert and get millions of people around the globe to come and love every second of it. And for me to buy the DVD.

  • The Dork Report for November 28, 2006

    The Dork Report for November 28, 2006

    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.

  • The Dork Report for November 27, 2006

    The Dork Report for November 27, 2006

    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.

  • Is George Miller’s Happy Feet about bootyshaking or overfishing?

    Is George Miller’s Happy Feet about bootyshaking or overfishing?

    Happy Feet is a tough one to try to reduce to a single stars-out-of-five rating. It possesses two extreme split personalities, its lack of integration calling into question its integrity. Was there a struggle behind the scenes between a studio wanting another cookie-cutter cartoon animal kid flick vs. a filmmaker envisioning something of substance?

    The first film totally embodies the worst cliches of the contemporary CGI animated film: dancing, singing animals talking the kind of stereotypical enthnic jive that would be condemned as racism in a live-action film. People laugh at Robin Williams’ “let me ‘splain something to joo” Mexican schtick in Happy Feet, but feel queasy about Ahmed Best’s gay rastafarian routine as Jar-Jar Binks in Star Wars Episode I. The cuteness of seeing anthropomorphized penguins shimmying to contemporary pop hits wears off fast, yet takes up at least half the film, sorely testing the patience of any adults forced to be in the audience (in my case, it was a free work junket).

    The second film is more in keeping with director George Miller’s track record with Babe: Pig in the City. A surprisingly dark and edgy film, the sequel to Babe was a stealth “real movie” that appealed to adults as much as kids, having more in common with City of Lost Children and Brazil than Charlotte’s Web. After seemingly endless, I say endless, musical routines, Happy Feet slowly begins to reveal its true nature as an ecological parable. Don’t get me wrong; I’m all for turning kids into ecowarriors, but many childrens’ films have managed to blend life lessons more fully into the narrative; Toy Story II is about engaging with life, love and friends now as opposed to worrying about the future or pining for the past; Iron Giant is about breaking the cycle of violence; Happy Feet is about… either bootyshaking or overfishing. I’m not sure, and neither is the film itself.

  • The Dork Report for November 16, 2006

    The Dork Report for November 16, 2006

    “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.