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Entries for December 2006
My year in music, 2006
Last.fm keeps track of what music I like so I don’t have to. Here’s a list of my favorite artists from 2006, apparently:
1. Boards of Canada
2. Ladytron
3. Cloud Cult
4. Marumari
5. Gnarls Barkley
6. Metric
7. John Digweed (good coding/writing music)
8. Röyksopp
9. I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness
10. Alexandre Desplat (Syriana soundtrack, haven’t listened to this in six months)
11. Mogwai
12. Sigur Ros
13. Mint Royale (I didn’t even like this)
14. Daft Punk
15. The Smashing Pumpkins (golden oldies)
16. Fischerspooner
17. Coldplay
18. Broken Social Scene
19. Sound Advice (Gnarls/Biggie mashup)
20. Bloc Party
21. Ulrich Schnauss
22. Sasha (good coding/writing music)
23. Wolf Parade (didn’t like this either)
24. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
25. Arctic Monkeys (nor this)
Not sure this is such an accurate representation of the music that I enjoyed this year. And where’s CSS? I’ve been listening to them a ton in the last couple of weeks and they’re not even on the list. Upon closer inspection, it looks like last.fm doesn’t include the current month in their “rolling year charts”.
A tourist map of Gotham City. Gotham
A tourist map of Gotham City. Gotham resembles “Manhattan below 14th Street at 11 minutes past midnight on the coldest night in November”.
The BBC’s annual list of 100 things we
The BBC’s annual list of 100 things we didn’t know last year. “Barbie’s full name is Barbie Millicent Roberts.” Here are the 2005 and 2004 editions. The Tampa Tribune has a list of 50 things for 2006.
Diagram that shows what it takes to
Diagram that shows what it takes to move 15,000 people/hour using different modes of transportation (car, bus, light rail, etc.). A fast train with one track going each way (using a space 8 meters wide) moves as many people as a freeway with 7 lanes in each direction (51 meters wide).
La Jetee
After getting an email from a reader last week (thx, david), I poked around a little and found the cult French film on YouTube:
Some notes on the film:
- It was made in 1962 by Chris Marker and is only 28 minutes long.
- La Jetée is regularly included on all-time best-of lists.
- The film has no dialogue and is almost entirely comprised of still photography.
- Terry Gilliam’s Twelve Monkeys was based in part on La Jetée.
Top 100 wines of 2006 according to Wine Spectator. (via lists 2006)
Top 100 wines of 2006 according to Wine Spectator. (via lists 2006)
A nearly continuous wire that encompasses 150 city
The Orthodox and other observant Jews living within this ‘home’ are permitted certain actions outside their literal homes — pushing a stroller to the synagogue, carrying keys, walking a dog on a leash — that would otherwise be forbidden on the Sabbath.
Scans of the New York City Transit
Scans of the New York City Transit Authority Graphics Standards Manual from 1970. (thx, jake)
Odd games
Over the holidays, Mike Monteiro discovered there was a Nacho Libre game for the Nintendo DS. Thinking that an arbitrary choice for a movie tie-in game, he started the DS Tie-In Games I Wanna Play group on Flickr to showcase other possible odd media tie-ins for the DS. Some of my favorite submissions so far include: The Passion of the Christ, Birth of a Nation, Empire, Remains of the Day, My Dinner with Andre (Bon Mot controller sold separately), Super Mario Bros, Learning GNU Emacs, Requiem for a Dream, The Cremaster Cycle, and Getting Things Done.
Here’s a couple of ones that I’ve done: Dancer in the Dark and The New Yorker Draw Your Own Cover Electronic Entertainment (with noncompulsory coöperative mode), pictured below.
If you join the group, there’s a Photoshop kit you can download to join in the fun.
Noah Kalina (this Noah Kalina) recently had
Noah Kalina (this Noah Kalina) recently had his photo taken with several celebrities at a VH1 awards show. Here’s some background on the project. “The only celebs that were actually familiar with the phenomenon that is Noah K were Weird Al Yankovic and Paris Hilton. How perfect is that?” (via jen)
Santas riding the NYC subway in 1987. Seeing
Santas riding the NYC subway in 1987. Seeing graffiti on the subway always amazes me.
Holy crap: playing the Wii on a
Holy crap: playing the Wii on a huge movie theater screen!
Update: Here’s how they did it.
Addictive little online games
It’s the Friday before Christmas weekend. Stop pretending you’re trying to get any work done today. Your boss is either off on vacation already or has her feet up on the desk, waiting for the appropriate hour to sneak off for a “late lunch” and never come back. To help you in your final hours of pre-holiday work, I compiled a list of some addictive online games, easy to play but hard to master. Have hours of fun. Go on, you deserve it.
Line Rider - You know it, you love it. This is the new version, just released.
Winterbells - Jump a bunny from bell to bell.
Finger Frenzy - How fast can you type the alphabet? (My high is 8.54 seconds. (Slow typer.))
Sober Santa - Steer drunk Santa away from the rails.
Falling sand game - Part game, part physics experiment.
Throw Paper! - This would be more fun on the Wii.
Bejeweled - Billions of collective hours of productivity lost.
50 states map challenge - Place the US states on a map. (I got 92% accuracy.)
Cursor Thief - The short little dude wants to steal your cursor.
Mini golf - 18 holes. (Another version.)
Collapse - Kinda like Columns, if you’ve ever played that.
Fly the Copter - A simple one-button game.
Pingu Throw - Wherein a Yeti hits a penguin with a club to see how far it will fly.
Mission in Snowdriftland. Like Super Mario Bros, but with a snowman.
DoubleJeu - Balance a ball while playing Pong.
Chaos Theory - A bit like a chain reaction Missle Command.
Troyis - A chess-like puzzle game.
MotherLoad - I’m telling you, don’t get started on this one. Like crack, it is.
Domino Pressure - Knock down the dominoes to squish the tomato.
Dodge - Dodge the blocks with your mouse.
High scores to share? Other neat online games that people should know about? Taunt my slow typing skills? Leave ‘em in the comments.
Ikea instructions for making Dick in the Box
Last Saturday, Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg collaborated on a music video for a new holiday gift idea: Dick in the Box. If you haven’t seen the video yet, go now and then come back…it’s pretty funny and you won’t understand the rest of this if you haven’t seen it. So go!
You back? So, my favorite part of the song is the instructions and yesterday while we were alternating between watching the video like 50 times and assembling some IKEA furniture for the office, I had the obvious idea. Ikea instructions for making Dick in a Box:
More Dick in a Box: Mr. and Mrs. Potatohead version, Line Rider version, some guy dancing in his living room with a box fastened to his crotch with a belt version, and a this is either brilliant or completely stupid (DURRR! DURRR!) video response.
Here’s what kottke.org looks like using
Here’s what kottke.org looks like using the browser on the Wii. The browser is from Opera and is available for free by going to the Wii Shop Channel, then Wii Ware, and then click “Download”.
My Year in Cities, 2006
Last year I listed all the places I visited during the course of the year. My friend Zach already posted his 2006 list, so following his lead, here’s mine:
Waitsfield, VT*
New York City, NY*
Boston, MA*
Albany, NY
Austin, TX
Tulum, Mexico
Valladolid, Mexico
Chicago, IL
Orange, MA
Napa, CA
Minneapolis, MN
Cameron, WI
Linz, Austria
Salzburg, Austria
Innsbruck, Austria
Zurich, Switzerland
Camden, ME
Rochester, VT
One or more nights spent in each place. Those cities marked with an * were visited multiple times on non-consecutive days. Less travel than last year, thank goodness. Where’s your list?
In the WSJ, Dow Jones Chairman Peter
In the WSJ, Dow Jones Chairman Peter Kann lists “10 current trends in the mass media that ought to disturb us”. “There are too many instant celebrities. Too many two-day crises. Too many ‘defining moments’ from people in search of instant history. In a world where everything is considered critical, nothing needs to be taken very seriously.”
Interesting (and probably fake) photo of Apple’s
Interesting (and probably fake) photo of Apple’s alleged iPhone, which phone has no buttons…only a screen and a mousepad.
Read it and weep: the TED 2007 speaker
Read it and weep: the TED 2007 speaker list…unless you’ve already got a ticket, you’re not going (the waiting list is like 1000 people long). Lots of interesting speakers tho.
Real men Wii standing up
Browsing the various Nintendo Wii forums around the web, I’ve noticed more and more people pratically bragging that they play the Wii sitting down, flicking their wrists instead of the beautiful and healthful full-body motion that nature intended. These couch potatoes shall not be suffered. For the Wii purist, I made this prototype for a tshirt:
A ladies version is also in the works, even though the pun doesn’t work as well.
Why I Celebrate Christmas. “[Santa Claus is]
Why I Celebrate Christmas. “[Santa Claus is] clearly what Jesus would be if he was real. Nobody would ever consider nailing this omnibenevolent deity to anything, would they? Nor does he hold anything against you longer than a year.” (via cyn-c)
Robert Birnbaum interviews Donald Hall, who was
Update: Newsweek’s Brian Braiker talked with Hall shortly after his appointment (by fax!) in June.
Cover story on Scientific Republican magazine: “The
Cover story on Scientific Republican magazine: “The Stork, A New Look at an Intriguing Old Reproductive Theory”.
Great True Hoop piece on Allen Iverson
Great True Hoop piece on Allen Iverson. “In other words, missed in all the hand-wringing about his lackadaisical practice habits in the NBA is the possibility that so much of his work is cerebral. Unlike, say, Jordan, who was a craftsman, someone who would take hundreds of jumpshots a day, Iverson imagines the possibility and then acts it out.”
The top 10 underreported news stories in 2006, including
The top 10 underreported news stories in 2006, including US funds going to the Taliban and Israel & Iran holding secret talks.
People with low self-esteem don’t like surprise
People with low self-esteem don’t like surprise endings in mystery novels while the self-confident did. (via mr)
Chan Marshall (AKA Cat Power) on the
Chan Marshall (AKA Cat Power) on the Richard Avedon photo of her in the New Yorker: “I was so drunk I could barely stand up. I couldn’t zip up my pants because my stomach was killing me. I didn’t even realize I wasn’t wearing underwear until the magazine came out.” (via conscientious)
A look at Saks Fifth Avenue’s new
A look at Saks Fifth Avenue’s new logo and identity. The identity system consists of cutting up the logo into patterns….98,137,610,226,945,526,221,323,127,451,938,506, 431,029,735,326,490,840,972,261,848,186,538, 906,070,058,088,365,083,852,800,000,000,000 possible patterns.
Paper Thin Walls is offering an mp3
Paper Thin Walls is offering an mp3 mix tape of their favorite music writers’ favorite songs of 2006…that’s 31 mp3s for free. (via art fag city)
Quirky West Village eatery Shopsin’s finally closes
Quirky West Village eatery Shopsin’s finally closes for good. Once more, with feeling: the Shopsin’s menu and Calvin Trillin’s classic piece about the restaurant in the NYer.
Update: James Felder wrote a nice remembrance of eating at Shopsin’s on its final day for Serious Eats. (thx, adam)
Here’s the 3129 character code you need to
Here’s the 3129 character code you need to enter into a car’s keyless entry pad in order to guess the 5-digit passcode. It’ll take you 20 minutes or less to enter it. (via j-walk)
Awesome. Director Michel Gondry recently posted a
Awesome. Director Michel Gondry recently posted a YouTube video where he is pictured solving a Rubik’s Cube with his feet. A few days later, this response debunks Gondry’s effort as a stunt. When I read the title, I half-expected the person to claim that Gondry had used CGI to fake the solving, but that wasn’t likely because Gondry doesn’t like to use special effects in his films. The actual answer is decided low-tech and clever, just like his movies. BTW, here’s someone solving the Cube with one hand in 20 seconds. (via cf)
Update: Regarding the CGI, then again…. (thx, oscar)
TSA travel tip: cheesecake is not a
TSA travel tip: cheesecake is not a gel. “So, as you’re traveling for the holidays, if you should feel the urge to surprise a loved one with a piece of cheesecake or some other gelatinous food product and are questioned by the TSA, make sure you remind them about the ‘LaGuardia Cheesecake Precedent of October 2006’ and claim your right to bring that cheesecake on the plane with you.” Consider this a companion piece to the security theater article from earlier in the week.
Mena Trott: “If you aren’t going to
Mena Trott: “If you aren’t going to say something directly to someone’s face, then don’t use online as an opportunity to say it”.
John Hodgman reports that the audiobook for
John Hodgman reports that the audiobook for The Areas of My Expertise is available for free at the iTunes Music Store.
Update: From what I can tell from the first 3:34, THIS IS THE WORLD”S BEST AUDIOBOOK!1!!
What is Wrong with the Use of
What is Wrong with the Use of these Terms: “Deaf-mute”, “Deaf and dumb”, or “Hearing-impaired”? “Overwhelmingly, deaf and hard of hearing people prefer to be called ‘deaf’ or ‘hard of hearing.’”
Interview with Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy
Interview with Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy about For Your Consideration and filmmaking in general. Interestingly, they don’t write any dialogue for their films (it’s all ad-libbed) but only do three takes per scene to get it right. “It’s the dialogue aspect of this process where you realize how great, how talented this troupe really is, because they’re able to improvise some amazingly, brilliantly funny lines.”
The proprietor of the Book Design Review
The proprietor of the Book Design Review blog picks his favorite book covers of 2006.
Interview with Steven Soderbergh, mostly about The
Interview with Steven Soderbergh, mostly about The Good German but also about some upcoming projects. “I think for the most part intellectuals don’t make very good movies. It’s an emotional medium and I think you can really outsmart yourself.” That quote reminds me of something I read on Clusterflock last night: “the giants of the imagination can set the giants of the intellect aquiver”.
Professor Richard Dawkins Speaks at Fair Hills
Professor Richard Dawkins Speaks at Fair Hills Kindergarten Regarding Santa Claus. “If you are the sort of person who is interested in the truth, perhaps you would consider asking yourself this question: how exactly does a single elderly man not only manufacture but also deliver in a single evening what would, by all forms of logic, account to be millions of toys?”
James Surowiecki discusses the waste of holiday
James Surowiecki discusses the waste of holiday giving. “Waldfogel’s main finding is that, in general, people spend a lot more on presents than they’re worth to those who receive them, a phenomenon that he calls ‘the deadweight loss of Christmas.’” This is one of my big problems with the whole Christmas thing. Related: gift cards worth billions of dollars are left unredeemed each year.
How do motion-sensing video game controllers (like
How do motion-sensing video game controllers (like the Wii remote) work? “The accelerometers used in the Nintendo controller are thinner than a penny, small enough to fit twelve on a postage stamp, and sell for under $6 a piece. They can accurately measure forces more than three times stronger than the pull of gravity in three directions - up and down, side to side, and forward and back.”
Update: The folks at Spark Fun Electronics took the Wii remote apart to see how it worked. (thx, david)
The DrawerGeeks are a collection of artists
The DrawerGeeks are a collection of artists and illustrators that all draw a fictional character every couple of weeks. The Harry Potter page is a good introduction to the work. (via snarkmarket)
Celebrity Mii Contest results!
From over 220 entries in the Celebrity Mii Contest, the judges have selected their favorite celebrity avatar created with the Nintendo Wii. And the winner is Dave Curry with his Zach Braff Mii:
Judge Spencer Sloan of Goldenfiddle said of this entry: “What’s beautiful about this one is the truth in this piece. Yes, Braff, you’re a nose and some lip. Bravo to the artist for taking a risk.” Judge Jen Bekman of the Jen Bekman gallery said of the Braff: “There is this eerily human quality - I mean it really looks like him, as a person, in a weird way.” The Braff Mii was not the most faithfully rendered celebrity Mii but with a few broad strokes, Curry created something more than the sum of its parts and ventured close to art. Well done. As the winner, Dave will receive the Wii game of his choice and a 3-D statuette of the Zach Braff Mii provided by Fabjectory.
Here are some other entries the judges felt strongly about (i.e. the runners-up) with commentary:
Jack Black by both Brandon Erickson and Shane Walsh
Jen: “Faithfully rendered.”
Spencer: “The artist really captured Black’s unsettling feline qualities with confidence and skill, and for that he/she must be congratulated.”
Condoleezza Rice by Alex Chang
Jen: “The Condi one looks like her and also is a caricature at the same time, embodying the devil-essence that surely corrupts her soul.”
Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Stephanie Goins
Spencer: “This one is like the Mona Lisa. I cannot escape her glazy stare, try as I may. She’s perfect in every way.”
Woody Allen by Adam Preble
Jen: “Great, immediately recognizable, somewhat of an easy target though.”
Frida Kahlo by Adriana Tatum
Vito Corleone by Benjamin Lim
Jen: “Don Corleone came close to being my top pick before I decided that he too, was a bit too easy.”
Steve Zissou by Mark Husson
Spencer: “Nice work on the hat, I guess, but the moustache is weird. Plus, no pock marks. And Stevie definitely needs him a frown.”
Admiral Ackbar by Eric Eberhardt and Mike Boccieri
Spencer: “Admiral Ackbar is fantastic, obviously, because I immediately knew who he was, and maybe you didn’t. I’m interested to find out whether the artist went in with Ackbar in mind or saw him in some of the available features. Very well done, indeed.”
Klaus Nomi by D.J. Ross’ girlfriend
Spencer: “The Klaus Nomi is a strong work but possesses little confidence. This Klaus is all fear.
More timid mime than weirdo alien swagger.”
And here are the rest of the finalists that the judges had to choose from. You may notice a few excellent cartoon entries…the judges felt that while they were worthy finalists, they did not merit the top spots because of a lower degree of difficulty involved in their construction (i.e. making a cartoon character with what is essentially a cartoon editor).
From top to bottom, left to right: Velma from Scooby Doo, Hannibal Lecter, Jack Skellington from A Nightmare Before Christmas, Dick Cheney, Tom Cruise, Hulk Hogan, Jennifer Wilbanks (aka The Runaway Bride), George Costanza, Charlie Brown, and V from V for Vendetta.
Missing from the finalists are the multiple Michael Jacksons, Hitlers, Satans, Walter Sobchaks, Beatles, and Kim Jong Ils. So many Mii versions of all these people exist online that it didn’t feel right including them in the final round because they were both too easy and too easily copied from elsewhere.
Finally, a personal favorite that didn’t make it into the final round:
David Foster Wallace by Nick Maniatis
I get the feeling that in the Maniatis household, there are a lot of Wii Tennis matches pitting Wallace and Hal Incandenza against Tracy Austin and Michael Joyce. Awesome.
Thanks to everyone who entered and to the judges for deciding amongst such a strong field of entrants.
The top 5 most dangerous roads in the
The top 5 most dangerous roads in the world, but I liked these roads carved through rock better.
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