December 2005
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Month December 2005

Entries 10 Total

2005 Year In Review

Dec 31, ’05 3:05 PM

In January, I replaced my Sidekick with a Sidekick II, realized I had been online for 10 years, embarrassed myself at a Shaun Of The Dead signing, had an amusing IM conversation about my cat, got dripped on, went to a snowball fight in Central Park, celebrated one year of VJ Army, and rediscovered my favorite short story.

In February, I took my first really good picture, rebuilt everything after my site got hacked, fixed a life-long health problem, surprised Katie on Valentine’s Day, saw Spamalot, and wrote another Quicksilver tutorial.

In March, I witnessed a very hostile panel discussion at the MT&R, saw TMBG vs. McSweeney’s at the Allen Room, indirectly helped get a game to market, got the shit kicked out of me by a movie, and explained where the names of my websites came from.

In April, I previewed the new NIN album, lost my faith in 24, had a very peculiar courtesy call, got dripped on again, was a “cool new person” on myspace, and played with Quartz Composer.

In May, I rewrote my biography page, got sick to my stomach at work, acted as a photojournalist for a day, did a long legal analysis on Konami vs. Roxor, went to the Nintendo World launch, made my sleep-talking come alive with Photoshop, revealed 24 Season 5 spoilers, and went to a Gorillaz Q&A.

In June, I saw Glengarry Glen Ross, went to Six Flags and did Kingda Ka, turned 25, transcribed the WWDC keynote and tried to get developers not to panic, recorded videos at SVGL, had a bizarre Flickr moment, started a musical project, waxed ecstatic over PokerRoom, explained what I do for a living, illustrated the benefits of workblogging, captured a subway ride, and worried about the health of the city.

In July, I took a stand against fanfic writers, went to the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, found out what a competitive eater listens to, rallied against blog luddites in higher education, explained how to make your own workblog, and spent 4.5 hours at the Del Close Marathon.

In August, I got the Shutterbugs bug, stood out in a thunderstorm, did the Monte Cristo, went to a Comedy Central taping and saw Ted Leo, and leaked a song online.

In September, I canceled my New Orleans vacation, geeked the hell out over the DJ Shadow box set thing, explained how to download Taiko no Tatsujin PSP songs, and went to my first Channel 102 show.

In October, my world shrunk just a bit more, I examined the new iPod Video files, my love for Pat Kiernan grew more, I took in the oddest music industry panel possible, took a week off, went to Eugene’s CD recording, mused on the mystery smell of ’05, told the tale of two comedy shows, and revealed that I am horrible at not cheating at games.

In November, I saw NIN in concert, reviewed the Channel 102 November showing, laughed at Pengo, had a joke catch up with me a year and a half later, and schooled a street team.

In December, I saw Ted Leo again, pondered the true name of my cat, walked to work, took another great picture, and caught the Lazy Sunday bug.

Other metrics of interest:

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Delayed Loot Report

Dec 26, ’05 8:13 PM

Far be it from me to not needlessly list what things were acquired during this magnificent gift giving season.

THE BIG ONE: Katie and I have collectively given ourselves a Canon EOS 20D. We’ve both really been enjoying the new-found photography hobby, and both wanted to take it a step farther. At the suggestion of yp, we went a little further than we originally anticipated and are now rocking the 20D. Some of the pictures are already up on Flickr – still getting used to the beast, but I’m certainly loving it this far. Also contributed from other sources were a 2GB card and a carrying bag.

THE HEAVY ONE: My parents shipped the behemoth Complete Calvin & Hobbes, which will nicely match my Complete Far Side collection from a few years ago. Like many people my age, I grew up devouring Calvin & Hobbes books, and am looking forward to thumbing through them all again. Oh, childhood, how I miss thee.

THE PEACEMAKING ONE: Katie’s parents got us a secondary TV and DVD player, so that Katie can get her critical TV/DVD watching in without nudging me off the video games. We may move the Gamecube into the other room as well.

THE USEFUL ONE: Katie’s parents also got me the Kensington SlimType keyboard, which for reasons I can’t quite understand, I type much faster on. Or maybe it’s just quieter, which gives me the placebo effect.

THE GAMES: Yes, of course I picked up a bunch of games. Pretty well distributed on the systems this year – 2 PS2 (DQ8 and Capcom Classics), 1 Xbox (Stubbs The Zombie), 1 DS (Castlevania), 1 GBA (FF4), 1 PSP (Midway Arcade Treasures Extended Play). Katie also got some games I may mooch on.

There was more, but I’ll save the point by point detailing of Kid Robot toys, DVDs, books, clothes, and candy.

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True That, Double True

Dec 24, ’05 6:23 PM

I know it’s been floating around online for a week, but the crazy ridiculous geek rap “Lazy Sunday” from SNL last week is free on iTunes, and is probably the funniest thing I’ve seen come from SNL in years.

The sad part? Watching this from Maryland makes me really, really miss New York City – because (as much as I hate to admit it), this is what most of my Sundays are like. Only without the bad-ass beat.

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Interesting

Dec 23, ’05 2:38 PM

Yes, I did make it home last night; I just hurt tremendously after the fact. My previously pained foot was in serious pain for the entire evening. In total, I walked a little over nine miles.

I won’t lie, I was debating the merit of walking that far for most of the night. That much pain brings everything you did back into question, even if you did get a nice workout and connected on a new level with the city in which you live. This morning, the confirmation was there.

8:49 AM - Crammed Tram

The picture of the tram from yesterday, thanks in part to a Gothamist post (check the comment from a girl who was in the picture!), is one of the most “interesting” pictures on Flickr for the day. As of my posting this, it’s received 1456 views (previous best: 1323), 26 comments (previous best: 12), 41 people calling it a favorite (previous best: 9), and I’ve received 7 people add me as a contact in the last day.

I post this not to boast but because I find it surreal. I know everyone has gushed over the photo, but…I don’t know, I’m missing something. I certainly like that it came out so crisply, and I like the way the water looks, and I enjoy that I centered it pretty well, but it’s missing that something that catches my eye when it comes to photos. All of this said, art is always subjective, and I by no means don’t want people to enjoy the picture. (It’s Creative Commons licensed, so feel free to use it for non-commercial purposes so long as you attribute it to me. If you’d like to use it commercially, please drop me an email.)

For the sake of a full explanation: the picture was taken while on the Queensboro bridge, on the north side walkway. There are a number of sections of the walkway that have no fencing up; I just happened to be going by one of these sections as the tram was coming up. The photo is unretouched – no cropping, no level tweaking. It was taken with my much derided Cybershot DSC-T7.

I did get one gripe from a friend about how he wished it would’ve been taken with a DSLR; perhaps after Sunday. (cue minor chord!)

On a personal note, I’m in Maryland until Monday for the holiday. I won’t be terribly responsive on AIM, or via any other channel you may be trying to contact me. Email is a safe bet, though. Happy whatever you’re celebrating, all!

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The Walk To Work

Dec 22, ’05 10:52 AM

7:34 - Starting My Walk

I promised myself I would do it at least once. Yes, this morning I left bright (!) and early at 7:30 to walk to my office on the Upper East Side.

7:41 - Steinway

After getting over the GCP, I cut down Steinway Street, which was thankfully empty and uncrowded. It’s also full of odd businesses, so that didn’t hurt either.

8:14 - Ruth

Ruth from work was my walking buddy, which made the commute considerably more pleasant and enjoyable.

Once we hit Northern Boulevard, we got asked by a lot of desperate drivers if we needed a ride. It was tempting, but the truth is, we were moving faster than they were.

8:31 - Bikes and Peds Only

Getting from my house to the entrance of the pedestrian walkway for the bridge only took an hour, which is about what I expected, maybe even a little better.

8:43 - Roosevelt Island

Once on the bridge, there were some fantastic photo opportunities, particular once you hit Roosevelt Island. Just based on the pictures I pulled out today, I’m planning on doing the walk again sometime when it’s warmer out.

8:49 - Crammed Tram

The Roosevelt Island Tram made an appearance just as I hit a fenceless patch of the bridge, so I lucked out with a picture. I’ve taken the tram before, and on the right day, it can be downright pleasant. But given the volume of people in there, I’m rather glad I didn’t try today. As Janelle pointed out, “not good for claustrophobics with fears of heights…”

The total walk took about 1:40, which was right around my estimate. My legs are okay (foot still hurts a little, but Advil has saved the day), my brain has returned to normal, and I’m almost – almost – looking forward to the walk home. Probably will take a different route, though.

(If you’d like to see the few more pictures of the walk, just check my photos tagged with “walktowork”.)

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Weapons of Mass Irritation

Dec 21, ’05 11:54 PM

Last time I posted about a mashup, I wrote:

Every now and then, there’s a mashup so goofy, so absurd, that you can only listen and try your damnedest not to die with laughter.

Today, I need to add a corollary:

Every now and then, there’s a mashup that is such a crime against humanity, that you can only listen in abject terror. It is the musical equivalent of a kick in the balls, and yet you will be unable to delete it.

If this isn’t enough warning, consider these quotes I’ve already gotten from people I’ve pawned it off on:

“There is no god.”

“Seriously, who ever did this needs to be tracked down and beaten to death.”

If that’s not enough warning, this is the last bit I can give before you go over the abyss: One of the source songs – nay, the source song – has been declared as “a stunning assemblage of awful ideas“, and “so monumentally vacuous, slapped together and tossed-off that it truly tests the definition of ‘song’“, among other lofty awards this year.

Ladies and gentlemen, behold: Aber N. Stein’s Turkey in My Humps. [as always, via GYBO]

Finally, something absolutely worse than the transit strike!

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Hit The X

Dec 20, ’05 8:50 PM

A few weeks ago I was walking down 31st Street near 8th Avenue and noticed a four-foot tall ledge protruding from a seemingly abandoned building.

The next logical step was to stage an Improv Everywhere Mission with a suicide jumper on the absurdly small ledge.

If those two sentences don’t sell you, I don’t know what will.

Read all about it, or just watch the video.

DID YOU KNOW: Will the Suicide Jumper shares a first name with the hilariously funny guy who played him!

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Struck Out

Dec 20, ’05 6:40 PM

It’s funny; the first day of the NYC transit strike has been one of the most exhausting days I’ve been through in a long time, but not for the reasons I expected.

When I had caught wind of the strike, I thought to myself – “Hey, this’ll be okay; the walk is about four and a half miles, there’ll be some good photo ops, and I could use the exercise.” I almost looked forward to the possibility.

But unsurprisingly, something got in the way – ironically, my foot. Something in my right foot got messed up over the weekend; can’t recall anything in particular, but the pain started then and grew steadily, hindering me slightly on the way in on Monday and considerably on the way home. As such, there was no way I was going to be able to hobble over the 59th St bridge – so I worked from home as best I could.

But just keeping up with everything for the strike is excruciatingly draining. Coordinating who’s in when at the office, figuring out the car pool, trying to fill the car pool now that a couple people have found other options, having NY1 playing the same segments over and over again, hearing first-hand about the LIRR backlog, wondering how Katie is going to get home with Penn Station shuttered… Jesus, I’m beat – and there’s little worse than exhaustion when you haven’t done anything physically exhaustive. Hell, walking the 9 miles roundtrip would’ve probably been pleasurable in comparison.

Here’s to hoping the MTA and the TWU reach a fair settlement soon.

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Revised Bill Of Rights

Dec 16, ’05 8:40 PM

George W. Bush, 9/20/01:

Americans are asking, why do they hate us? They hate what we see right here in this chamber — a democratically elected government. Their leaders are self-appointed. They hate our freedoms — our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other.

Amendment IV, US Constitution:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts, NY Times, 12/16/05

Months after the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States to search for evidence of terrorist activity without the court-approved warrants ordinarily required for domestic spying, according to government officials.

Go back to bed, America. Your government is in control.

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Follow The Trail

Dec 14, ’05 11:58 PM

Wrap your head around this one:

The big gaming geek news today is that there are official Katamari Damacy shirts available in the US. This is a Big Deal(tm) because Everybody Loves Katamari Damacy. (Before anyone else asks, yes, I’ve ordered a handful of shirts to help the perpetual shuffle of t-shirts in my wardrobe.)

But notice the site the shirts are being sold on – Panic. To 95% of the computing world, the name means little, but to us huddled in the Macintosh corner, Panic is revered for making a lot of kick ass software, including the best FTP client on OS X. Panic was founded in part by Cabel Sasser, who was the originator of the Cloudmakers. The Cloudmakers, you ask?

In April 2001, the very first alternative reality game was unleashed on the world. Codenamed “The Beast”, it was a promotion for the film AI. The Cloudmakers were the group of roughly 7,000 players who worked together to crack the case. The whole thing drew a lot of media coverage and, as a result, served as a launching point for all ARGs that followed in its path. The team that created The Beast would later go on to do (you guessed it) ILoveBees.

I’m not sure what this all means, mind you – but it was a fun stream of consciousness while it lasted. (Personal aside: My connection to all of this? Besides being in the Mac shareware industry for a good four years, I played for a good long while in the follow-up to The Beast put on by Cloudmakers (including Cabel) called Lockjaw. I even shilled it on this very blog back in 2002.)

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