Inspiring video sketch from the makers of You Look Nice Today. This, paired with a recent re-viewing of Ratatouille. Take it away, Ego:
In the past, I have made no secret of my disdain for Chef Gusteau’s famous motto, “Anyone can cook”. But I realize – only now do I truly understand what he meant. Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere.
Khoi Vinh on I Love Typography’s favorite typefaces of 2008:
Newzald looks like Matrix, FF Utility looks like Klavika, Soho looks like Apex Serif, etc.
Granted, I’m just being a jerk here.
He does, however, recommend MEgalopolis Extra, an interesting font with some great alternates. And free!
One of my new favorite music blogs, thanks to a project Adam and I are working on.
The Big Picture has some of the most gorgeous NASA photos of the Earth.
I’ve made no secret recently of my love for the up-and-coming blogging engine Chyrp, but there’s one CMS that I always return to for major projects: Textpattern It is absolutely my favorite CMS and just keeps getting better, even if a little slowly. What I love about it is its attention to detail and super-powerful templating engine.
Textpattern is quirky though, and takes some getting used to. One thing that sets it apart is the fact that all of its templates and stylesheets are edited through the browser and never as files. One nice thing about this is it makes it super fast – all the templates are stored in the database. However, it can get a little annoying typing in CSS through a web interface, so I always find myself installing this great plugin from Utter Plush. As the name suggests, it allows you to insert tab characters in admin textareas using some clever javascript. Very handy.
Nice recording of the first PEAT(Private Ear Audio Theatre) radio show. If you’re in New York, their second show is coming up on the 25th.
Great introduction, but I remain skeptical until I can get my hands on one. (I was originally excited about the Foleo, so.) Warning: The demo guy uses the word “newness” a lot.
When shapes attack. (Thanks, Gabe.)
Gabe really did a great job with the graphics for their new site.
And I agree with them both. It doesn’t make any sense for Apple to do CES next year. But, I’ve been wrong before.
Jason Santa Maria for 24 Ways:
For all of the advantages the web has with distribution of content, I’ve always lamented the handiness of the WYSIWYG design tools from the print publishing world. When I set out to redesign my personal website, I wanted to have some of the same abilities that those tools have, laying out pages how I saw fit, and that meant a flexible system for dealing with imagery.
He announced last week that he’s leaving Happy Cog He also recently discussed the possibilities of the “end” of print. He’s definitely one of those designers that marks the transition from print to web – he’s obscenely talented with both.
Check it out.
I’m skeptical, but it would be interesting to see how this would change CES.
(Thanks, Alex.)
Good list, as usual. I agree with this part in particular:
At the top of my personal wish list: improvements to iMovie and Pages. I see the logic behind Apple’s decision to scrap the old iMovie and start over from the ground up with iMovie ’08. But I find iMovie ’08 downright confusing. The difference between “events” and “projects” seems muddled, and it’s a clumsy tool when it comes to actually editing clips together to make a movie. As for Pages, I would love to see it gain additional professional-caliber typographic controls (including better support for OpenType fonts).
My newest theme for Chyrp. It’s way to specific for anyone to use it, right?
I think I may leave it as the default theme for the Chyrp Themes site.
I really should pay more attention to the news. I didn’t even know there was a scandal brewing. First impression: this is a real shame.
George H. W. Bush, when asked to elaborate on his son’s failures as President. Go to the link to watch it, it’ll make more sense.
I don’t really speak French, but these songs by the Tiger Lillies are a great find, especially “Anger.” Give them a listen. (The photo’s fun too. I bet they’re great to see live.)
Not suitable for those with faint constitutions. (Thanks, Eve.)
Good to keep in mind when programming on New Year’s Eve.
Somehow I missed this report from Wasilla, Alaska.
Added to the “to watch” file. (via Kottke)
One of the best personal dance websites I’ve ever come across. (Thanks, Alice.)
Rather was fired the day after the 2004 election for airing an allegedly false report about Bush’s attendance at the Texas Air National Guard. Rather’s reasons for filing suit are valorous:
“CBS broke with long-standing tradition at CBS News and elsewhere of standing up to political pressure,” says Rather. “And, there’s no joy in saying it, they caved … in an effort to placate their regulators in Washington.”
Fight the good fight.
This seems like a good list. And it comes from Evan Williams of Blogger and Odeo and Twitter fame. (Make sure to take note of number 11.)
This is a really neat idea for sites that are “deep and wide.” See it in action over at Yahoo Food.
He made a great contribution to theatre:
The playwright Tom Stoppard said that before Mr. Pinter: “One thing plays had in common: you were supposed to believe what people said up there. If somebody comes in and says, ‘Tea or coffee?’ and the answer is ‘Tea,’ you are entitled to assume that somebody is offered a choice of two drinks, and the second person has stated a preference.” With Mr. Pinter there are alternatives, “such as the man preferred coffee but the other person wished him to have tea,” Mr. Stoppard said, “or that he preferred the stuff you make from coffee beans under the impression that it was called tea.”
Times columnist David Brooks encourages young people to study Greek tragedy.
(My dad had this article lying around the house and read it to us today.)
Olivia Judson:
Some years ago, the evolutionist and atheist Richard Dawkins pointed out to me that Sir Isaac Newton, the founder of modern physics and mathematics, and arguably the greatest scientist of all time, was born on Christmas Day, and that therefore Newton’s Birthday could be an alternative, if somewhat nerdy, excuse for a winter holiday.
(Thanks, Elfie.)
Gorgeous ballet piece choreographed by Laszlo Berdo, one of my sister’s teachers when she was at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet.
With Santa climbing down millions of chimneys tonight (how does he get into homes without them?), it seems appropriate to offer this classic 1984 Atlantic piece up as holiday reading.
I’m on a roll — here’s my second theme for Chyrp. (I’ll start updating this site again more frequently soon, I promise.)
I just put out Bubbles, my first theme for Chyrp. Take her for a spin.
As interviewed by Keith Phipps at the AV Club about The Wrestler:
AVC: You’ve changed your style radically with each film. Why so many radical shifts?
DA: Well I’ve been joking that if Madonna taught us anything, you’ve got to reinvent yourself. I think it’s important as a filmmaker, as any person working in the arts, that you’ve got to try new stuff and challenge yourself and take chances. I’ve tried to take a chance with every film I’ve done—I’ve never done it the easy way, and I think that’s because that’s what excites me, is making as big a mountain as I can in front of me, and just trying to mount it.
As Kottke puts it:
Toddler or not, I’m getting out of the damn house to see this movie.
Hendrik Hertzberg on Malcolm Gladwell:
So what if whatever startling thesis he happens to be advancing doesn’t always apply to every situation? Isn’t it enough that he provokes thought and gives pleasure?
Paul Graham discusses the decline in the importance of credentials as predictors of success.
The course of people’s lives in the US now seems to be determined less by credentials and more by performance than it was 25 years ago. Where you go to college still matters, but not like it used to.
What happened?
Gruber:
The innovation isn’t that it’s a new product category. The innovation is that people are now willing to make trade-offs against performance. For the entire history of the PC industry, computers have been too slow, so trade-offs were made in favor of faster CPUs: higher prices and heavier laptops. But today, for many common tasks, the type of CPU you get when you build a $400 lightweight laptop is fast enough. That’s the breakthrough.
Old, but I just love the design, and Alex reminded me of it.
More from James Surowiecki. Just subscribe to his blog already.
James Surowiecki on why the newspaper industry is failing. Too many great points to single out just one, so just go read the damn thing. (It’s the Financial Page of The New Yorker for Christ’s sake.)
(as always, via Andy Baio)