Trisha Solyn's Reels

Here is yet another example of a case for launching first, with basic functionality, and refining later (though we haven't gotten to the refining yet).
Cybil's sister needed to share her film reel to get DP gigs and interviews (she's in the graduate program at NYU). I had just moved over to a new host that offered quicktime streaming, and allowed me unlimited domain names. So we all talked about it and decided it wouldn't be to hard to set up a website for her, but I've been busy lately so it wasn't at the top of my list. For several weeks I puttered around in my spare time trying to embed the streaming video, but not having access to the encoding software there was only so much I could do.
Eventually we decided to just post a page with links to download the files. That's what we should have done in the first place. Since they've been up (like 2 days) she's gotten one paid gig and the interview with NYFA that she's been trying to get for a while.

Kershaw E.T.

Reminiscent of this paratrooper knife I used to have (though I imagine less self-dulling). I dig knives with unique opening mechanisms, especially those where gripping the handle locks the knife open (like with a butterfly). In reality for actual outdoor jobs I prefer a straight sheath knife, and for handyman jobs the leatherman wave in its belt sheath. But I've been between pocket knives for a while now. Carried a leatherman micra for a while, then a mini-utility knife. Got annoyed with bulk/weight and the crappiness of a mini-tools. Next move will either be to shrink the size of my 3x5 card notepad and add something like the Tool Lite II Deluxe (which is so tiny it makes up for the crapiness, and has a flashlight which I've been missing), deciding to clip one somewhere, or just making sure I've got a blade in my backpack, glovebox, desk at work, etc (like Josh and his 17 Spydercos).

The Rasterbator

One of the few "modern art" devices I've ever found that appealing is when they take a photo of a flower or something, blow it up real huge, print it out in little pieces, and mount each piece separately with an inch or two gap between them. Here's a tool that facilitates this technique. And it sounds like one of my favorite pastimes.

Words I Can Easily Type With My Left Hand

My list:

• I
• a
• you
• keep
• pee
• pox
• quip
• yep
• yuppie
• joke

But then again I'm on a dvorak keyboard, intentionally designed to be balanced between left and right.

What we really need to play this game properly (i.e. as dorkily as possible) is a scrabble assistant program. Maybe Google Suggest will help…

MaleContraceptives.org

Not often that I encounter a website where I fully intend to read every word on every page. Here's one.

Town won't let unmarried parents live together

I have this theory that there is one particular war in our country's history that we might be better off had we lost it: the civil war. I keep telling myself that we aren't actually living in a country of "red states" and "blue states" as the media would like to simplify it, but that it's more of a "shades of purple" political climate. But the fact that these outragious injustices always come out of the south or the bible belt makes it difficult to temper my prejudice.

Kolibri Art Studio

The paintings page on this site continues to garner attention, specifically the Lillian Shao. A representative from Kolibri Art Studio was the latest in a string of people, dealers and individuals, to contact me regarding Cybil's favorite painting (my favorite is the Tomasz Rut, 'cause I'm an ass man). This representative was kind enough to IM me, rather that call my cell, so I thought I'd repay them with a link. Cybil isn't really thinking about selling her painting, but everything has a price, right?

Cybil's New Studio

 

A full post with pictures of the location will follow later, for now you'll have to settle with a tricked out google map.

May 22 Update: Here's a photo I snapped of Cybil in her new studio. It's still a work in progress, but mostly functional.

May 31 Update: here's a jpeg of The Sign that's going to go over the door. The printer said go for it, make it full color, so full color it's gonna be. Two feet tall and three feet wide of intense red, orange, and crazy fonts (Baka and Corky).

2008 Honda Fit Hybrid to get Insight engine

"Guess what happens to fit perfectly between the front wheels of a Honda Fit… the Honda Insight's hybrid powertrain."

gristlestick

My brother's band's album is out. Based on the new songs on Myspace, the production value is top notch, lyrics are much crisper than the earlier songs they posted to myspace.com/gristlestick. Oh, and everyone's singing now. Update: they've got some Lyrics up on the site, and their album Flesh Tunes is available for purchase from CD Baby.

SFBags - WaterField Designs

Some good lookin' bags and gear cases. But I don't think I could bring myself to carry a wallet that's not made out of dead animal skin, sorry Josh.

Powazek: Just a Thought: The Art of No

That's one I need to work on. When a client comes at you with what appears to be a stupid request, instead of saying no, or giving up and saying yes, ask why instead. I'm beginning to formulate a unified theory of client stupidity (which needs to be re-titled if I'm going to publish it), connecting all stages of client feedback under one concept … clients are incapable of abstract thought. More realistically, it's that we as designers/developers deal with this shit every day, so we're capable of abstracting concepts, and visualizing possibilities, whereas our clients are doing this for the first time, and are only concerned with their data as it appears immediately in front of them.

all in the head - Five Most Important Considerations

These are spot-on the questions that I asked my two most recent freelance clients at the start of those projects. Of course the last – on measuring results – remains the most difficult for me. If I were more business oriented, or my freelance projects were more direct-sales in nature this would come more naturally.

Using the universal selector | Bite Size Standards

Universal selectors rock. They're great for equalizing browsers by defaulting margin and padding on all elements (this is now the first line of every stylesheet I write – no surprises that way). And as I've mentioned before, they're a great solution to margin issues such as the "Liquid Layout Gutter Dilemma". And here's another one I'm not sure if I've mentioned here… I use it as a debugging tool. Not sure what attribute is causing that annoying gap? Try * { margin: 0 !important; }. Not that? try * { padding: 0 !important; }. Granted, it's a ways down my list of CSS troubleshooting tricks, but it's can be a handy tool at times.

Fixed: IE 6 min/max-width hack ~ Authentic Boredom

A minor technical note, but if you plan on hacking max-width for IE6 (and shouldn't you be? it is the perfect compromise between fluid/fixed width) then here's something to keep in mind.

iFox - Firefox Theme

It's been a while since I've checked out the firefox theme scene, but the default theme has been pissing me off. Since I installed Tab Mix Plus (Session Saver leaks memory) I've been frustrated with the lack of contrast indicating the current tab. The iFox them satisfies this requirement, as well as fending off a little bit of the mac envy.

Introducing DOM Builder

We all know that innerHTML is wrong, but it's faster. Faster to code, faster to render. And it's easier to read the code. So I've just been sticking with it except when forced to branch out (adding rows to table). Now here's an option that's making me re-think doing it the right way.

Yamaha - SVC-100 Silent Cello - [Sam Ash]

If I could blow our entire tax return on a birthday present for my brother I'd get him this.