Thinking Out Loud

  • The Dork Report for October 3, 2006

    The Dork Report for October 3, 2006

    U2 will release a definitive single-disc Best Of album in November, in addition to the two already-released Best of 1980-1990 and Best of 1990-2000.

    In preparation for the Lost season three premiere on Wednesday, I thought I would check out the end result of The Lost Experience, a summer-long alternate reality game I didn’t have time to follow. It seems the verdict is… meh.

    Love any typeface enough to permanently fuse it to your skin? Body Type: Typographic Tattoos Etched in Flesh (no longer online: cooper.edu/art/lubalin), a new exibition opening in New York. This fellow [no longer online: timeout.com/newyork/Details.do?page=1&xyurl=xyl://TONYWebArticles2/574/out_there/best_font_forward.xml] is fond of Univers Gothic.

    Stylus Magazine’s Top 100 Music Videos of All Time (no longer online: stylusmagazine.com/articles/weekly_article/stylus-magazines-top-100-music-videos-of-all-time.htm). (spotted on Kottke.org) See also Pitchfork’s 100 Awesome Music Videos.

    Know your terms: ‘font’ vs. ‘typeface’. (spotted on Kottke.org)

    ‘Boards highlights the latest in music videos, including Thom Yorke’s “Harrowdown Hill”, Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy”, and Chris Cunningham’s horrorshow for The Horror’s “Sheena is a Parasite”.

    Bringing new meaning to the phrase “death by chocolate (milk)”, Energy Field helps you find out exactly how much of your favorite poison it would take to kill you.

    Hel-Fucking-Vetica! Wear it with pride!

    Wow, the MyDreamApp contestant Hijack has really let rip with a stunning mock-up of the BBS-reading app’s full-screen mode. It certainly looks amazing, now if I could only see the point in the first place.

  • In which I complain at length about Adobe Illustrator & Updater

    In which I complain at length about Adobe Illustrator & Updater

    IconFactory vents their Top 5 Adobe Illustrator pet peeves. A flood of “I know, right?”s from fellow travelers quickly followed, but on the plus side, so did a hopefully productive dialog with Adobe. I couldn’t agree more with the selection weirdness. Frustrated by Illustrator, I frequently find myself using Macromedia Fireworks for vector graphics (hardly its intended forte, but Fireworks’ vector tools are far more intuitive and immediate, perhaps because it’s descended from Freehand).

    Along those lines, Subtraction hopes Adobe will sit up and notice Lineform (no longer online: freeverse.com/lineform), an award-winning $79.95 competetor to the $499 Illustrator. Khoi Vinh’s complaints are right on target: massive bloat in Photoshop & Illustrator, and annoyingly arbitrary changes to long-standard features. Two examples in the Photoshop Layers palette alone: linking layers with the shift key (instead of easily with one click as before), and the new needlessly huge size of layer groups. (spotted on Daring Fireball)

    I experienced what must have been a bug in Illustrator CS2 the other day. I was working in a file set up to use pixels as its unit of measurement, but noticed that A) the menu command to outline strokes was missing (just plane gone), and B) the positioning palette was reading in points. I triple-checked the document set-up window, and started changing the strokes on the object I wished to outline. Illustrator up and crashed on me. On relaunch, everything was back to normal.

    “The Adobe Updater must update itself before it can check for updates. Would you like to update the Adobe Updater now”

    Adobe Updater

    Just last week I read a series of blog posts about an absurd bit of found poetry in the Adobe Updater interface (“The Adobe Updater must update itself before it can check for updates. Would you like to update the Adobe Updater now?”), but now I am frustratingly unable to retrace my steps and find the original links. But here are a few: Brainfreeze (no longer online: brainfrieze.net/comments.php?id=A578_0_1_0_C), BlueStateBanter (no longer online: irvingavenue.com/BlueStateBanter/blogJonny/view_by_permalink.php?the_id=17). To top it all off, an admission of guilt (no longer online: weblogs.macromedia.com:80/xd/archives/2006/02/improving_exper.cfm) from Adobe itself.

    But that’s just the beginning of Adobe Updater hell. Once you’ve updated the updater, get a load of the main interface above. Perplexingy, the left column is a hierarchical list of all available updates for every Adobe application, even if you’ve already installed them, and even if one is has been since superceded by another. For example, “Bridge 1.0.4 update” supercedes “Adobe® Bridge® 1.0.3 Update” as the updater for “Adobe Bridge 1.0” (Adobe aparently can’t settle on a naming convention), plus there’s some other component called “Photoshop Services Update.” Got that? The right-hand column tells me what I have installed so far, and by omission, what I have not. Regardless, everything has a check-box in the left column. Now that I’m used to it, I can see that I have yet to install “Photoshop 9.0.2 Update” and “Adobe Stock Photos 1.0.7,” but I feel sorry for those seeing this window for the first time.

  • The Dork Report for September 30, 2006

    The Dork Report for September 30, 2006

    Like Doctor Who‘s perpetually predicted feature film, the Genesis reunion rumors keep coming back. Now The Sunday Mirror cites a source claiming Phil Collins’ recent divorce has cleared the way for a 3-piece Banks/Collins/Rutherford Genesis reunion world tour (no longer online: sundaymirror.co.uk/showbiz/radar/) in 2007. I call bullshit, but we’ll see.

    Me as a LEGO minifig
    Me as a LEGO Minifig, via The Mini-Mizer

    The LEGO Fanlisting (no longer online: fan.sebadrian.net/lego/extra.php), a collection of LEGO links, including these classic goodies:

    • Immortalize yourself as a LEGO “minifig” with The Mini-Mizer (no longer online: reasonablyclever.com/mini). The above is the closest I could get to me.
    • The LEGO set I always wanted as a kid! 1977! Wow! I’m old!
    • Field recordings of LEGOs being dumped on tables.

    The Guinness Book of Records belatedly recognizes Doctor Who as the longest-running science fiction television show (it crossed that threshold, oh, decades ago).

  • The Dork Report for September 28, 2006

    The Dork Report for September 28, 2006

    Claim a space for yourself on the official site for Neil Gaiman’s new short story collection Fragile Things (and see if you can find Neil while you’re at it).

    MyDreamApp round 2 voting [no longer online: mydreamapp.com] is open; vote for 12 out of 18 wannabe America’s Next Top Mac Programs. My favorite (the only one I can picture using) is still Ground Control. The last round featured guest judge comments by Mac gurus including Cabel Sasser from Panic, and this time the guests are eminent bloggers from Daring Fireball, The Unofficial Apple Weblog, et al. (although they seem to be generally negative about everything!)

    AguaT, a free band-aid for iTunes 7 that reverts the button styles back to iTunes 6-style blue glossy buttons. I’m all for fixing Apple’s questionable design choices, but I’m not into permanently mucking around with my system: “AguaT works by replacing elements of the /resources/ folder in the iTunes application. These changes are permanent to an installation of iTunes, so if you think you may want to revert back to the default iTunes 7 theme, you should back up iTunes.app before installation.”

    An unnamed source told The Star that unspecified producers of the Doctor Who tv series “decided to make a big budget film.” [no longer online: entertainmentwise.com/news?id=22809] What a tease; there’s no news here. Deciding to make a big budget movie is decidedly different from procuring a big budget.

  • More iTunes and iPod minutia

    More iTunes and iPod minutia

    Because I just can’t help myself, a few more comments on iTunes:

    The iTunes 7.0.1 maintenance update (no longer online: apple.com/support/downloads/itunes701.html) has finally dropped. I haven’t noticed any real speed improvements, but Apple has fixed the bug of dragging image files to the album art window not working. Partially fixed, rather… you can now only drag one image, not multiple as you used to be able to do, pre-version 7 (you can still do so via the pop-up Song Info window).

    I’ve had an “iPod with Video” for months, but just now noticed an oddity. One of Apple’s touted features is the elegantly simple “Shuffle songs” menu item. One click and you’re served up a random steam of the entire contents of your iPod. The problem is, it draws from the entire contents of your iPod, including video!

    So if a video comes up on shuffle, it plays the audio only, with a still from the video serving as album art. I obviously rarely look at my iPod screen unless I need to change something, so the only reason I noticed this issue is that it started playing a song for which I know I only have the music video purchased from the iTunes Store. Video soundtracks are typically of a much lower audio quality than a dedicated MP3 or AAC audio file, so it sounded terrible.

    To avoid having videos mixed in with your audio, you apparently must forgo the Shuffle menu command altogether, and take the extra step to navigate through the “Music” menus, or to a playlist you’ve manually created yourself.

    And finally, an iTunes Smart Playlist question: is there a way to refresh a smart playlist generated at random? If you set up a smart playlist of, for instance, 10 random songs from the 1980’s, iTunes will create exactly that for you, but it appears to be frozen that way unless you change a criterion. What if I just want to refresh it, to get a different random 10 songs from the 80’s?

  • Joseph Arthur with special guest Michael Stipe, live at Bowery Ballroom, New York, 2006

    Joseph Arthur with special guest Michael Stipe, live at Bowery Ballroom, New York, 2006

    Rating: 4 out of 5.

    I hope to post my reactions soon, but the five stars above should give a hint as to my general feelings.

    In the meantime, here’s some coverage of the show on the web: The Tripwire’s review features excellent photographs by Erin Chandler. Billboard also reviews the show and posts a video of Joseph’s duet with Michael Stipe on “In the Sun.”

    And two more photos of my own:

    Joseph Arthur and Michael Stipe live at The Bowery Ballroom
    Joseph Arthur live at The Bowery Ballroom
  • The Dork Report for September 27, 2006

    The Dork Report for September 27, 2006

      Jasper Hauser on designing an icon.

      Steven Heller interviews Gary Hustwit, director of the documentary Helvetica.

      A new record in narrowly focused blogs: Hawk Wings (no longer online: hawkwings.net) focuses exclusively on Apple’s Mail.app. Who knew there were so many add-ons (no longer online: hawkwings.net/plugins.htm)?

      Disco (no longer online: discoapp.com/blog) is having Toast for breakfast. A much-needed tool for the Mac, cool-looking and blessedly cheap.

    • The Dork Report for September 26, 2006

      The Dork Report for September 26, 2006

      Greenpeace asks for a greener Apple [no longer online: greenpeace.org/apple]. Although Greenpeace is most concerned with the noxious chemicals in devices Apple markets as disposable (aka planned obsolescence), Apple’s product packaging has also long been an issue. Until recently, it seemed as if they had been making progress; iPod boxes, for example, went from large 6″ cubes stuffed with massive hunks of styrofoam to slim cardboard sleeves [no longer online: www.macintouch.com:80/ipodvidreview.html]. However, they’ve taken a suprising step backwards with their new plastic Nano packaging.

      Brilliant singer/songwriter Joseph Arthur relaunches JosephArthur.com. One notable new addition is digital downloads of studio (the Junkyard Hearts EPs are very rare) and live recordings.

      Time travelling Doctor Who star David Tennant discovers an unwelcome surprise [no longer online: timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2090-2372683,00.html] in his own past: his Scottish ancestors were Sectarian Protestants, aggressively anti-Catholic and home rule.

      As usual, American Doctor Who fans must practice their patience: the Season Two DVD box set comes out on January 16, 2007 [no longer online: syfyportal.com/news.php?id=2875].

    • The Dork Report for September 22, 2006

      The Dork Report for September 22, 2006

      Aww, look! The cutest li’l spaceships you ever did see, from IconFactory.

      Voting is open for the MyDreamApp first elimination round [no longer online: mydreamapp.com/vote]. You can vote for up to 18 projects, so the task is really better described as choosing which 6 will have to leave the island. The three I find most interesting and/or useful to me are Blossom (a virtual plant that feeds on productivity), Ground Control (an at-a-glance view of well, everything going on in your Mac), and Whistler [no longer online: mydreamapp.com/contestants/view/richardwhitelock] (bringing music making to the masses in an amazing new way, which if is technically possible, could be huge).

      Two of my favorite Doctor Who stories are coming to DVD as parts of the Return of the Master [no longer online: bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/news/cult/news/drwho/2006/09/19/36478.shtml] DVD box set: “The Keeper of Traken” and “Logopolis,” plus “Castrovalva.” The exhaustive repair work done by the Restoration Team [no longer online: purpleville.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/rtwebsite/ReturnOfTheMaster.htm] should put George Lucas to shame for dumping sub-par copies of the original Star Wars trilogy out on DVD.

      WHO’s a good dog? Park Entertainment posts details and a poster (WHERE’s the hyphen?) on their site about K-9 Adventures.

      Download Peter Gabriel’s Passion Outtakes, a bootleg of unreleased recordings from the Passion sessions and location recordings for Martin Scorcese’s The Last Temptation of Christ.

      Gorillaz’ Phase Two – Slow Boat to Hades, a DVD of videos and live performances from over the past two years, is coming out in Europe on October 30. Comes with a CD-ROM and an absurd amount of extras.

    • The Dork Report for September 20, 2006

      The Dork Report for September 20, 2006

      Yo La Tengo, Hoboken institution, says I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass (no longer online: iamnotafraidofyouandiwillbeatyourass.com)

      The endearing cat sites just keep coming; now we have My Fat Kat (no longer online: myfatkat.com). I take it myfatcat.com was taken. I take back everything I ever said to Buckminster about his weight. I mean, look at Andy (no longer online: myfatkat.com/view/andycat/cat/228.html) crushing his poor owner, for crying out loud. (guest submission from Andrea)

      Arrrr, I be forgettin’ Talk Like a Pirate Day yesterday! Bah! ‘Til next year, maties! Undead monkey! (guest submission from Lady Cutthroat Andrea)

      Beck’s two-turntables-and-a-microphone D.I.Y. aesthetic manifests on his next album The Information‘s blank cover and four sheets of stickers.

      I have a Rubik’s Cube on top of my TV, but I’m too much of an idiot to solve more than the top layer. Is it cheating to read a solution (no longer online: peter.stillhq.com/jasmine/rubikscubesolution.html)? My feeling is that anything that involves learning algorithms can’t count as cheating.

      MyDreamApp posts mockups (no longer online: mydreamapp.com/news/post/129/) of some of its contenders, which goes a long way towards clarifying what they’re supposed to do.

      Another detailed iTunes 7 interface critique (no longer online: blog.wilsonet.com/archives/2006/09/16/facelift). Spotted on Dsandler.org (no longer online: dsandler.org/wp/archives/2006/09/12/other-it7-commentary)

      While everyone (or should I say, everydork) is ganging up on Apple for changing a single pixel on iTunes, one should remember that the other giant computer megacorporation is far worse when it comes to inexplicable interface design. (guest submission from Dave)

      The MPAA’s Greatest Hits, compiled on the official site for the documentary This Film is Not Yet Rated. The very first two items speak volumes. Also, I had never heard about Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction gambit: “1994 – Quentin Tarantino, fearing an NC-17 rating for his cult hit “Pulp Fiction,” includes an effects sequence of a head exploding when he submits his film to the MPAA as a diversionary tactic. As expected, the MPAA suggests that he remove the image of the head exploding (which he had never actually planned to include) but allows him to hang onto the image of brains in Samuel L. Jackson’s hair (which he was worried they would reject).”

      Rhino’s boxed set packaging design just gets better: A Life Less Lived: The Goth Box (no longer online: rhino.com/gothicbox) is bound in black leather and lace, and Tori Amos’ A Piano is, well, guess.

      Weird Al wants to bowl with the gangstas in “White and Nerdy.” Multiplatinum Weird Al nails it again. How can one man cram 800 jokes into 3 minutes?

      AppleInsider reports Apple is scrambling to slap together iTunes 7.0.1, which readers of previous reports will know this Dork Reporter eagerly awaits.