March 2004 Archives

Gmail - Email by Google

MARCH 31, 2004

Arriving April 1st, 2004, here's an article from the NYT

Quick Post link: http://gmail.google.com/

Posted in Quick Post at 8:42 pm.
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Newsmap

MARCH 31, 2004

Graphical representation of Google News. Beautiful. Amazing. (via kottke)

Quick Post link: http://www.marumushi.com/apps/newsmap/newsmap.cfm

Posted in Quick Post at 7:31 pm.
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RSS is Ruining Me

MARCH 30, 2004

Currently, I am using NetNewsWire to manage all of the RSS Feeds I read. It is wonderful as I can look at a great deal of content in a short period of time. Its this ease of use that's a problem.

As of today, I have 212 subscriptions in NetNewsWire. This means I am pulling in information from over two hundred locations. In the past, I would never have considered this because I didn't have the time or desire to look at 200 sites every day. Who has four or five hours to spend surfing blogs and other news sources? So, RSS was a godsend at first because I could read the thirty sites I frequented in one-tenth of the time. Now that I have four times as many, it once again takes over an hour to read all of sites.

I believe the problem is that news readers don't allow me to forget sites I like. Instead of seeing a cool site and throwing it at the bottom of my bookmarks, I have my news reader checking once an hour to see if its updated. And since there are thousands of interesting sites, I am amassing quite a list of sites to look at.

So when I say that RSS is ruining me, I mean it in the best way. My real complaint is that the combination of RSS and a growing number of fabulous sites has lead to even more time-suckage. I just can't imagine what it's going to be like in another year when I have 500 RSS feeds. Someone's going to have to figure out a way to infuse all of this text into my brain, Matrix-style.

Posted in Technology\Web at 6:09 pm.
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My Leg is Pulsing

MARCH 29, 2004

I always keep my cell phone in my left pant pocket. Every now and then I will have a muscle spasm or some kind of vibration in my leg when my phone isn't ringing. It is similar (but not identical) to the feeling I get when my phone rings. I'm curious what is causing this. Is it a muscle memory sort of thing or are there waves being emitted by the phone that are now causing my quadraceps to go crazy?

It certainly doesn't hurt and isn't an issue, but I'm curious. Any thoughts or should I bring this to Ask Metafilter?

Posted in My Life at 5:08 pm.
5 Comments |

Madison Square Garden Seating Chart

MARCH 23, 2004

I love checking where my seats are before I head to a game or concert. It's nice to know exactly where you're sitting. In the past, you used to be lucky if you could find a seating chart, let alone one that was easy to use. Madison Square Garden's seating chart is better than anything else I've seen.

When you first get to the page you need to choose the location of your event (MSG, Theater at MSG or Radio City Music Hall) and then click on the image to launch the flash app. Assuming you choose the MSG seating chart, you will see what is pictured in Figure 1.

Fig. 1

If you would like to it's pretty easy. Figure 2 shows an example of the process of swithcing and how it changes.

fig. 2

My favorite feature is the ability to zoom in on a specific section (fig. 3) and then if you click on the section number in the zoom area it brings up a photo of your perspective from that section (fig. 4). Brilliant.

fig. 3

fig. 4

It's amazing how easy it is to make me happy as this is not a flashy, crazy implementation. It is just enough to get the job. Simplicity and ease of use at its finest.

Posted in Design at 1:33 pm.
1 Comment |

Visually Track Any Flight in the Air

MARCH 22, 2004

You can also see all of the traffic to a handful of airports or all air traffic.

Quick Post link: http://www.flightview.com/

Posted in Quick Post at 1:35 pm.
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My Cooper Temple Clause interview is live at twenty/forty

MARCH 22, 2004

Please, check it out if you have a moment.

Quick Post link: http://www.twentyfortyzine.com/interviews/archives/the_cooper_temple_clause.php

Posted in Quick Post at 12:47 am.
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The Movie Marathon Was a Success

MARCH 21, 2004

Despite skepticism from the readers of Capndesign.com, my family and my friends, I managed to see six movies yesterday at the AMC Empire 25 in Times Square. I only missed 50 First Dates and that was because of a scheduling error. This little recap will begin with the preparation, the event itself and then a small review of each film I saw.

Suppies and Preparation

I didn't begin preparing until yesterday morning, but I made sure to head to bed early on Friday night so that I would be at my most alert for a day of movie-watching. I fell asleep around midnight watching episodes of the Ben Stiller Show. I won't lie, the first two episodes definitely helped me to pass out.

I awoke the next morning around 10am and started by showering and eating a bowl of cereal. I needed some regularity. I then began to pack my food for the day. Although it was tempting to live on only movie food, I decided I should probably have some real nourishment. Thus, I made myself two turkey sandwiches and a PB & J sandwich. I also brought along a couple of apples and box of raisins.

My next concern was what to wear. I decided I would wear a sweatshirt, jacket and wool hat. This way I could take one or more items off in order to disguise myself a bit between shows.

At this point, I felt prepared to leave for the subway. By 11:30, I was out the door for my 12:20 showing of Triplets of Belleville.

I was right on schedule as I got out of the subway exactly at noon. Before I could begin the movie portion of the event I had to head to Duane Reade first. I needed some supplies. Once inside, I bought boxes of Snocaps, Dots and Junior Mints as well as a liter of water and a 20 oz. bottle of coke (Fig. 1). The Snocaps and Coke were indispensible during the final hours of my adventure.

Fig. 1

The Event

Finally, it's time to head over to the theater. AMC has a ton of those automated ticket machines, which made it really easy for me to check out the location of each of my movies. Since I didn't want to whip out my notebook, I wrote down the auditorium numbers on the back of my hand (fig. 2) for a quick reference. This proved invaluable as I didn't have to wander around between each showing. As a result, I saved time and it didn't look like I was just lounging around the theater (which I was).

fig. 2

I leisurely walked up the escalators and found the entrance to be unmanned. Already it was clear that only I could bring my marathon to an end, as the employees of this theater were not paying much attention. They took my ticket at the frontmost entrance, which meant that that I could roam the rest of the establishment without being asked for my ticket by anyone. My only concern was having to cross through the main mezzanine a couple times. This proved to be a non-issue, but I stopped at the customer service desk on my way up to make it seem like I was a bit lost. I asked for a brochure for their MovieWatcher program and where screen 12 was. She told me and I just walked upstairs. Immediately I thought, "This is going to be easy as pie. Nay! It shall be easier."

I went upstairs and watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in a full theater at 1:50pm. I missed most of the previews, which was nice. Afterwards, I had no problem heading down one flight to Spartan. Their down escalators are not cut off from the rest of the theater and the employees only hang out around the concession stands, so it was no sweat. My next transition was easy as well as I stayed on the same floor. The following movie, from Dawn of the Dead to Osama, would be tough as the up escalator was right near the exit. Thankfully, AMC's wondeful employees let me walk right by them and up the escalator. It was honestly sad as it was clearly his job to keep me from doing that exact thing.

Sidebar: The oddest thing about Dawn of the Dead was that I sat next to a mother and her four year-old daughter. This was an R-rated movie and it deserved it, so I found it odd to see this young child sitting next to me. There was tons of blood, some swearing and even a little sex. Parenting at its finest. On the other hand this movie was great because the theater was huge and everyone was cheering on the good guys.

I had a decision to make at this point. Osama began at 8:15pm and my next scheduled movie, the Dreamers, started at 9:30pm. I would miss the beginning if I went. I could have seen 50 First Dates at 10pm, but I thought I'd give it a shot and just miss part of Dreamers. It had gotten mediocre reviews anyway.

After the Dreamers I only had to move one theater over to go see 50 First Dates at 11:45pm, but it wasn't there. I had 15 minutes to kill so I checked every single screen and the showing didn't seem to exist. In a move of desparation, and because this movie was my last stop, I thought I'd just ask someone.

"Hi, a friend of mine is supposed to be seeing 50 First Dates at 11:45 and I wanted to say hi. Isn't it in theater three?"

"Uh, lemme check. No, I'm not showing that on my schedule?"

"Really? That's odd. Thanks for your help."

"No problem."

So, it appears the AMC employees are incredibly helpful but not at all concerned with theater-hoppers. Fine by me, but it seems a bit odd.

When I left the theater, I wasn't all that tired, but once I started looking at things that weren't on a screen my eyes were not happy. In fact, I had a really hard time keeping them open. When I got home I went straight to bed only because it hurt to keep my eyes open. This is the only thing that would really keep me from doing it again, as the employees weren't a concern and I felt fine while seeing all the movies. I had fun. In the end, I saw 6 movies and ate a bunch of candy for about 16 dollars and with only one ticket (fig. 3).

fig. 3

Movie Thoughts

Triplets of Belleville - Eh. It was wonderful animation, but I wasn't blown away by the story. That song is catchy.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Really cool. Jim Carrey was fantastic. The ending was really good.

Spartan - A typical Mamet movie. If you like Mamet movies, you'll like this one.

Dawn of the Dead - Really bloody, but fun. I can see why people want to see this. It's scary.

Osama - The movie was kinda boring, but it's amazing it got made. You could probably read a description of it and that'd be enough.

The Dreamers - Better than I thought it'd be, but still just ok. Lots of sex.

Final Notes

If you're ever considering doing this yourself, I promise that the AMC Empire 25 will be a piece of cake. Unless, of course, if the manager reads my blog and decides to crack down, in which case you won't be fine. Nonetheless, the experience was a positive one and I knew I could do it. I'm so proud of me.

Posted in My Life at 4:11 pm.
4 Comments |

Sports Illustrated's Digital Workflow

MARCH 19, 2004

Their setup is amazing.

Quick Post link: http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=7-6453-6821

Posted in Quick Post at 4:00 pm.
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The Grateful Dead on iTunes

MARCH 19, 2004

The Dead are finalizing a deal with Apple to put every live note ever recorded on the iTunes Music Store. Amazing.

Quick Post link: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/music/article/0,1299,DRMN_54_2725821,00.html

Posted in Quick Post at 10:18 am.
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I Used to Run Guns

MARCH 18, 2004

Well, that's what they thought. Nearly three years ago, I was a victim of identity theft. A man or a woman or kabal of con-people decided they would use my name in order to steal money from gun buyers online. Nothing was stolen from me and it didn't really effect me in any negative way, which meant it was kind of entertaining.

Today, I got a call from a postal inspector in Madison, WI, where it all went down. He told me they had "captured the target" and needed my information in case the prosecution wanted to use me as a witness. I was unsure I could trust him at first, so I asked for his name and phone number. After he gave me that, I gave him my info and said I'd be happy to help.

Moments later, I spoke to my mom and she said the same man had called our house saying he was an old friend of mine. "Odd," I thought. I did some research and it turned out he was indeed a postal inspector, but I was fairly nervous for a few minutes.

I'm kind of excited that this is coming back to life three years later. I'm also impressed that they actually caught the guy this much later. Apparently he had been doing the same sort of thing to others.

If you'd like to read all about my adventures as they happened, follow this search for "gun running" on my site and it will pop up all of the entries. There are about eight, I think.

Posted in My Life at 6:12 pm.
1 Comment |

A Movie Marathon

MARCH 17, 2004

This Saturday (or maybe Sunday), I am going to attempt something I have always threatened to do but never really had a good opportunity. I'm going to spend the entire day at the movies. I worked it out, and if I can manage to get into all of these movies without any problems, I'll be able to see seven films in one day. It's going to be tight, and I'm seeing a movie or two I wouldn't have seen otherwise, but I think I can do it.

I'm more than willing to do this on my own, which should make me a bit more inconspicuous, but if you'd like to join me for a movie or for the whole thing, you're welcome. I'm going to do it at the AMC Empire 25 in Times Square because it's easy to get around and they have 25 screens, which makes it easier. Here is Saturday's schedule. Below you can see my tenative schedule. I plan to work on backup plans in case certain ones are full or if there is some muscle outside the theater.

12:20pm: Triplets of Belleville (1hr. 22min.)
1:50pm: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (1 hr. 48min.)
4:20pm: Spartan (1hr. 46min.)
6:20pm: Dawn of the Dead (1hr. 40min.)
8:15pm: Osama (1hr. 22min.)
9:30pm: The Dreamers (2hr. 10min.)
11:45pm: 50 First Dates (1hr. 46min.)

You can expect a full recap of the event, complete with some photographs and information on preparation, after it's all finished.

Posted in My Life at 3:31 pm.
3 Comments |

One Less DVD, One New President

MARCH 15, 2004

Today, I donated to a political campaign for the first time in my life. I contributed $25 to John Kerry's campaign. I had been inspired by a couple sources (nedward, one of my coworkers), but this article is what pushed me over the edge. It explaied how Bush had been raising all of his money, but it also mentioned that he has already raised $159 million, which is significantly more than Kerry. Kerry is aiming for $80 million by the convention, while Bush is expected to hit $200 million.

The NY Times article stressed how the McCain-Feingold Soft Money Bill changed the focus to small donations instead large ones (due to the $2,000 cap on personal donations). As a result, I felt it was my duty to donate money to Kerry's campaign. As my coworker put it, "I don't want Kerry to lose because he was drowned out by Bush's marketting machine." Ok, so she didn't say exactly that, but it's more or less right.

As I said in the title of this post, if you can spare one new DVD, or one nicer dinner or a night on the town, then you can help Kerry to defeat Bush. So please, donate to John Kerry's campaign. Please.

Posted in Culture\Politics\Law at 3:28 pm.
1 Comment |

Welcome Home, 300D

MARCH 12, 2004

One Wednesday I called up CDW and told them I'd get them money if they'd send me a package on Friday. They agreed. Today a Digital Rebel and 512 MB CompactFlash card arrived at work for me. I had been saving up for a while now and with my move to full-time employment, I was suddenly able to buy the camera I've been oggling since it came out.

And so, welcome my new, wonderful camera. I love you already.

Also: Check out my first few pictures on the photo page.

Posted in My Life at 7:19 pm.
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Roku Soundbridge

MARCH 12, 2004

I want this (the smaller one). Now.

Quick Post link: http://www.rokulabs.com/products/soundbridge/index.php

Posted in Quick Post at 11:57 am.
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Information on E.T.A.

MARCH 11, 2004

This is the group believed to be responsible for the terrorist attack in Spain. I didn't know anything about them before, but this link was quite informative.

Quick Post link: http://www.teror.gen.tr/english/organisations/eta.html

Posted in Quick Post at 8:01 pm.
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Should Music Be More Expensive?

MARCH 10, 2004

In this month's edition of Esquire, Andy Langer asks, What is Music Worth? In his article, he suggests that by raising the price of albums we'll force artists to give us higher quality tunes. His theory is based on the fact that artists like Led Zeppelin and the Beatles continuely sell well even though their albums are sold at full retail prices. Here it is in his words:

At this point, the idea is totally and completely ridiculous. He does make a concession though.

That helps, because I was concerned about the effect his plan would have had on unproved artists, but I'm still miffed. I just can't understand how raising prices will improve quality. There are bands out there where it might take three our four records before they come up with something the public wants. Despite your personal opinion, take Vertical Horizon as an example. They release three albums of acoustic folk-rock, then switch up their sound (or sell out, depending on who you talk to) for their fourth record and sell a couple million copies. Under this proposed plan, that record wouldn't have been released.

Additionally, you are keeping out new fans of established bands. If I had never heard the Morissey before, but I wanted to buy his new album when it comes out later this year, I'd be forced to shell out $22 to find out about him.

I would consider following Langer's plan if you gave it a twist. Imagine if each shopper had to pay more for each record by a particular artist, regardless of which record he/she buys. I'd say that each album you buy goes up $2, starting at $10. So, if I'm interested in R.E.M., I can buy Automatic for the People for $10 and then go back and buy Document for $12 if I liked the first one. There would be a cap of, say, $18 an album. Granted, this would require some sort of record-buyer registry, but it would be great in a perfect world. My one rule is that for each subsequent record sold, the artist gets a higher percentage of the royalties. This way, if a label wants to exploit an artist by releasing greatest hits records or b-side compilations, they have to pay the artist more to do so.

The benefit of my plan is that you're still forcing a long-time fan to pay more for your album, but you're not making that decision based on album sales or on no basis at all. In other words, you are not allowing album sales to dictate whether a record is of high quality.

I appreciate that Andy Langer recognized there is a problem with the industry's attitude towards new bands, but I don't think raising prices across the board will help anyone. His plan is a populist one, yet he criticizes artists based on his personal critiques of their merit (i.e. Celine Dion). Essentially, he thinks raising prices will cut the crap, but it'll just give us fewer options that aren't necessarily better. Neither of our solutions are perfect, but I commend him for raising the question.

Posted in Music\TV\Film\Media at 1:38 pm.
3 Comments |

A Caa-razy Weekend

MARCH 9, 2004

Finally, I am no longer tired. For the entire weekend and all of Monday, I was pooped and it was all my Jori's fault.

On Friday she found out she was going to Alaska on Sunday for a week and that she had to photograph sixteen bars in the two nights before she left. Being the good boyfriend I am, I decided to help her out. This meant spending twelve hours of my weekend in bars and the rest of the time was spent helping her pack. Then, I capped off the weekend by seeing the Cooper Temple Clause at Maxwell's on Sunday. The show was awesome, but I probably should have rested since I overslept the next morning. Whoops!

A byproduct of this craziness will be the absence of my girlfriend during the next week. As a result, I have a lot of free time. To fill it up, I will be seeing TCTC again tonight at the Bowery, watching a whole lot of movies (saw the Italian Job last night, review coming), playing video games (just bought Time Crisis 3), and working on the new website design (with any luck, it'll be done for next week). My goal is to average a movie per day during the time she's away.

Also, if you're in New York and I haven't seen you in a while, drop me a line and let's hang out. I'm thinking bowling or going to Blip! at AMMI.

Posted in My Life at 2:29 pm.
1 Comment |

Cooper Temple Clause and Calla

MARCH 8, 2004

I just got back from the Cooper Temple Clause and Calla show. TCTC was fucking amazing. One of the best live shows I've seen ever. More on the show tomorrow. Here is a photo, to tease you...

Posted in Music\TV\Film\Media at 1:53 am.
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twenty/forty

MARCH 4, 2004

My friends and I have just launched twenty/forty, an online magazine focusing mostly on music. The tagline is "Perfect vision is for fighter pilots, not critics," which I think is awesome (unfortunately, it didn't come from my brain).

We've been working on it for over eight months and are happy to launch with about twenty reviews and fifteen interviews. The writing is great and I'm excited we've all gotten off our asses and made this real.

The magazine is edited by Matt and Natalie. It was designed/coded by myself, Steve, and Tim. So do me a favor and check it out as it has taken up a fair amount of time over the last couple months. Also, there are XML newsfeeds available for those who want to be informed when new reviews or interviews has been added.

Posted in Music\TV\Film\Media at 11:13 am.
2 Comments |

10 Great Things About New York

MARCH 3, 2004

Part 1, from Manhattan's User Guide

Quick Post link: http://www.manhattanusersguide.com/archives_content.php?contentID=030304&category=leisure

Posted in Quick Post at 10:42 am.
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120 Minutes Playlists

MARCH 2, 2004

It is so sad this show is gone. Its disappearance marks the death of the MTV I once knew. Sigh.

Quick Post link: http://www.altmusictv.com/120/archive.html

Posted in Quick Post at 11:14 am.
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Am I a New Yorker Yet?

MARCH 2, 2004

According to Colson Whitehead, yes. As he professed in his collection of essays, The Colossus of New York:

I've done that now, but I am beginning to consider myself a New Yorker for other reasons. The newest one is that I now subscribe to the three big "New York" magazines -- New York, The New Yorker and Time Out New York. Each week I spend most of my reading time working through these three publications. My recent desire to take a break from fiction is part of the cause, but the choice to subscribe is a bit bigger than that.

Truly, I think it stems from my recent decision to renew the lease on my apartment and commit to staying in New York for another year. Up until now, I hadn't committed to staying here for any definite amount of time. I've only really lived in sublets up until this point. My new commitment inspired a barage of purchases at Ikea and Crate and Barrell, as well as these new magazine subscriptions.

Thinking about it all, it seems I've always been a New Yorker and I'm only now admitting it to myself. The only thing I'm nervous about now is when I actually have to leave.

Posted in New York at 10:32 am.
1 Comment |