January 2018

Hello, dear reader!

January is gone, but its links remain.

In my little corner of the internet, I posted a roundup of my favorite stuff from 2017 (including a look ahead at plans for 2018). As a subscriber, you may be especially interested in the stats I compiled about the 299 links I shared last year.

I released my first open source software project, Column Setter, a Sass tool for building custom responsive grids that… See more →

You’ll want to make some time for a long shower after reading @FranklinFoer’s in-depth profile of Paul Manafort. theatlantic.com/magazine/archi…

This moment is grosser than I thought it could be.

Some @AGWC footage of me is in a @HSpecialSurgery ad, but my @usairguitar buddy Papa Air actually had surgery there! So I updated the ad.

Yes, the likely actions are Snooze the Alarm, Stop the Timer. But the buttons’ inverted functions across modes mess with my head every time.

Apparently I was on the teevee last night (around the halfway mark): youtube.com/watch?v=W5GvsW…

My favorite film of 2017 was Negative Space, nominated for Best Animated Short. Trailer and behind-the-scenes: thisiscolossal.com/2018/01/negati…

Everyone listen up. Zoology should have another o. Zooology. Or if you’re @NewYorker, zooölogy. Let’s make this a priority in 2018, please.

The popular view of journalism as “someone saying what I want to hear” makes me wonder if the word will suffer the same fate as “literally.”

Hello! I like the World Economic Forum logo. That is all.

If you’re a web designer and/or dev, @mozilla’s Layout Land channel on YouTube with @jensimmons is a wonderful gift. youtu.be/7msERxu7ivg

Netflix’s animated show Big Mouth is impressive. Equally sweet and filthy, it’s a more honest take on puberty than live action would allow.

If I share my remaining days with only one companion, let it be the diesel engine that’s been idling outside my window for the past hour. 🌈

Actually, Google Drive File Stream, everything is not up to date.

How great is this 1980s “decade of cards” from Second Marriage Studio? @alyankovic and @FlavorFlav are the jokers! etsy.com/listing/585603…

Sometimes I want to express CSS animation keyframes in terms of actual frames, so I wrote a Sass function for that. gist.github.com/robweychert/5b…

One of my favorite things about Lady Bird is its quick pace. Character development via tons of tiny moments. avclub.com/lady-bird-will…

If you have experience with animation in other media, CSS animation’s percentage-based keyframe syntax can feel pretty alien, especially if you want to be very precise about timing. This Sass function lets you forget about percentages and express keyframes in terms of actual frames:

@function f($frame) {
  @return percentage( $frame / $totalframes )
}

When you create a new @keyframes at-rule, put the following three variables above it (customize the values for $seconds and $framerate but leave $totalframes as-is):

$seconds: 3;
$framerate: 30;
$totalframes: $seconds * $framerate;

Now just invoke the f function… See more →

All I ever wanted out of Column Setter was to force @stuntbox to do a tweetstorm. twitter.com/stuntbox/statu…

Meet Column Setter, a Sass tool that helps you build custom responsive grids for float- and flexbox-based layouts, with squeaky-clean code. twitter.com/ProPublica/sta…

Grid systems are fundamental to many visual design processes. They govern the spatial relationships in a layout by establishing a set of standard sizes and positions for various elements. In addition to helping achieve a visual harmony between components, they make the design process faster and more efficient and help ensure decisions aren’t made arbitrarily. If you’re reading this post on ProPublica’s website, you’re looking at a page that was built using one.

Grid systems… See more →

I’m not a podcast guy, but I make an exception for @JennLukas, @theledu, and @sara_ann_marie, the smartypantses behind the new @noyougoshow.

I get mail

An excellent visual explanation of how scan lines and color work on analog and digital video screens. youtube.com/watch?v=3BJU2d…

Sunday morning jackhammer. 🌈

Apparently @NewsHour redesigned recently, and it looks pretty great. pbs.org/newshour/

I know, you were eating lunch earlier or whatever and didn’t see this. Don’t worry; even hours later, it is STILL Def Lep o’clock. twitter.com/robweychert/st…

If you couldn’t tell, I have a particular fondness for High ’n’ Dry. flickr.com/photos/robweyc…

🚨 Today Def Leppard’s full catalog is streaming for the first time! Some of my faves from the first four albums: open.spotify.com/user/121632828…

One year into the Trump Administration, we’ve updated our Cabinet Cards to see who’s still standing. propublica.org/article/the-ch…

Kudos to the industrious ghostwriter working on the “making the most of a bad situation” memoir template for this administration’s enablers.

Catching up on conference talks. I’ve long been a @jensimmons fan but somehow never saw her speak. She’s so great! vimeo.com/147950924

Looks like I’ll be spending a good chunk of the day digging through all the goodies on the fantastic new @Slate redesign. twitter.com/jasonsantamari…

Web devs may be interested in this post’s tables styled as bar charts. I made a @jekyllrb include to generate them from CSVs. More to come! twitter.com/robweychert/st…

Here’s a look back at my favorite stuff from 2017, and a look ahead at what’s to come in 2018. v6.robweychert.com/blog/2018/01/t…

Projects

Since 2011, working with A Book Apart was my way of contributing to the design community while my own direction as a designer was uncertain. Over the course of 2016, as my new job at ProPublica restored my enthusiasm for design, I wanted to get back to working on my own projects and sharing what I learned in the process. Making time for that meant something had to give, so after producing the paperback/PDF… See more →

who are all these fucking idiots driving cars in midtown manhattan like how did they decide that was a thing they should do

Apparently @expensify turns 10 this year, and hey, good for them, but sending me an 1,800-word email is a weird way to celebrate.

Taylor Dayne stuck in my head. No complaints.

“We are miseducating the young to believe military heroism is the noblest form of heroism.” thenib.com/the-good-war

Five seasons into The Americans, Henry still seems like a wasted opportunity. What is his purpose?

Bienvenue Chez Weychert! On this morning’s menu we have a delectably watery instant oatmeal with a withered blueberry garnish. Bon appétit!

#a11y

I’d read this story without hesitation if I were sure it would answer all my questions about the image at the top. newyorker.com/magazine/2008/…

Everyone please continue making colorful geometric confections and I will continue admiring them. thisiscolossal.com/2018/01/comple…

This short report on a newly-discovered prime number is an interesting window into the world of pure mathematics. fivethirtyeight.com/features/we-ha…

Shows I Wish I Hadn’t Missed, Late Sunday Edition youtu.be/KbrFOt39qkM

A video essay about how Star Wars was saved in the edit inspired me to finally watch Harmy’s Despecialized Edition, which had been sitting on my hard drive for years. Not having seen the original practical effects in decades, I expected them to look a lot rougher than they did. Their toyetic artifice is definitely apparent, but knowing how much of a leap forward they were in 1977—the industry drafted behind this achievement for well… See more →

Antarctic Brooklyn
cabin fever amplified
by Spectrum outage

I finally saw Fist of Fury. Bruce Lee’s electrifying fight scenes may be the primary draw, but Nora Miao’s amazing outfit is a close second.

Bruce Lee’s electrifying fight scenes may be the primary draw, but Nora Miao’s amazing outfit is a close second. I didn’t expect this to be the case, but Gordon Chan’s loose remake with Jet Li, Fist of Legend, is a superior film in nearly all respects.

#a11y

Current status.

I hated Creep enough to make me kind of want to see Creep 2. 😐

Living my best snow day life.

“Every step of post-production on Star Wars reflected a revolutionary commitment to the craft.” youtu.be/GFMyMxMYDNk

Biopics are an almost universally boring and unnecessary category, but I, Tonya subverts that by a) relitigating a scandal and depicting as a hero someone long understood to be a villain, and b) being brutally entertaining. Its pitch-black comedy is reminiscent of The Wolf of Wall Street, with inferior style but a vastly more appealing and sympathetic protagonist. As Tonya Harding and her mother, Margot Robbie and Allison Janney own the film, and without performances… See more →

Not saying @ChamberMonster is excited to watch National Treasure for the first time, but she’s walking around the house singing about it.

A 10th anniversary air guitar performance. A personal concert diary website. Animations and prints inspired by Sol Lewitt and Steve Reich. twitter.com/anildash/statu…

For 2018, I’m aiming to get out of the habit of waiting for optimal conditions before acting. The water will never be fine. Just jump in.

If these links interest you, you can have more like them delivered directly to your inbox each month. tinyletter.com/robweychert

Happy New Year! Here are the collected links I shared or otherwise found noteworthy in December. v6.robweychert.com/blog/2017/12/l…