Technology

watching Hollow Man II in bed. Without such wonderful technologies as Google Video and the iPhone, I might have wasted these two hours.

wondering once again why the Weather widget in Dashboard only sometimes lets me click on the city name for more info.

Anyone know of any freeware or shareware apps that can produce vector EPS barcodes?

Using the Mac OS X Update's required Restart / Shut Down to segue out of the office.

"customizing" a "customizable" Flash video player.

PC people: suggestions for good software that syncs Google Calendar with Outlook?

wondering just how many clicks it takes to get to the Unsubscribe center of the Print Magazine newsletter.

wishing Photoshop would let me set up grid preferences for individual documents.

trying to figure out why Apple doesn't offer a podcast (or even RSS feeds) of the movie trailers it hosts both on its site and in iTunes.

cursing the gnomes that infiltrated my copy of Photoshop last night. I envision the scene looking like the campfire sequences in Golden Axe.

completely fucking sick of Photoshop color profile bullshit.

Box set ID3 tags: Disc 3 is tracks 13-24 of 100, or Disc 3 is tracks 1-12 of 12? I've been doing the former but might switch to the latter.

The only way to find friends on last.fm is by importing contacts from an online address book? Genius.

hoping Drawn will fix the broken image links that are making its otherwise awesome RSS feed useless.

wishing Evite didn't suck so much.

decking out the iPhone with some badass Crimson Ghost wallpaper.

trying out Facebook. Apparently this "social web" thing is all the rage.

enjoying wireframing with OmniGraffle about as much as I ever have, which is to say I am not enjoying it at all.

Problem fixed! Turned Hold on and then off again. Thank you Google!

Anybody ever salvaged a fourth-generation iPod with a busted scroll wheel? Clicking works, scrolling doesn't. :(

For the last few years, I’ve been getting the bulk of my world news from a number of New York Times RSS feeds. I’m sure you don’t need me to extoll the publication’s manifold virtues. However, as a Philadelphia resident, one thing the New York Times can’t give me is detailed local news. As my schedule’s density has increased, my ability to absorb the local goings-on through my usual channels (free weeklies and sheer osmosis)… See more →

On the Web

• Refill 7: Fucking sick laser-engraved skate decks.
• Happy Cog Philadelphia Is Hiring: We’re looking for a standards-savvy front-end web developer that is nothing short of amazing.
• Letterhead Fonts Embraces DRM: The suggested alternative to embedding fonts in PDFs? Convert to outlines. Welcome back to the 20th century! I’m all for protecting your products from theft, but this ain’t the way to do it.
• The Super Stunt: The full story behind the biggest… See more →

A brief history of type

Like all the arts, [typography] is basically immune to progress, though it is not immune to change. —Robert Bringhurst, The Elements of Typographic Style

The art of typography has a rich and storied tradition, and like most art forms, its production processes have moved at a snail’s pace. After Gutenberg’s landmark invention of movable type (a printing method consisting of individual letters carved out of metal) in the fifteenth century, the… See more →

On the Web

• The Jerry Springer Episode Debacle: The Lost Film Fest’s Scott Beibin tells the full, outrageous story of faking his way onto the Springer show, complete with clips from the episode.
• swfIR: A new standards-friendly, whiz-bang image replacement technique that harnesses the power of Flash.
• Great (Chalk) Album Covers: Coudal Partners’ and 37 Signals’ bathroom chalkboard is put to very good use.
• Looking to Cash in on a Punk Rock Youth: Apparently there… See more →

I’ve done a bad thing. And I didn’t act alone.

Nine esteemed colleagues and I collaborated with Friends of ED editor Chris Mills to create a book called Web Standards Creativity, which will be released early in March. It is poised to infect the minds of innumerable readers with several creative approaches to standards-based web design and development. These progressive ideas in XHTML, CSS, and DOM scripting could single-handedly set back the cause of mediocrity… See more →

When I saw the gorgeously dreadful October 2006 edition of Stan’s site on Sunday, I remembered that I had intended to dust off my site’s costume from last year and put it back on. I dug around in my files, and was somewhat horrified to discover that the costume had vanished. Then I realized that if I was looking for that costume, summer must have ended. And boy oh boy, was there a lot of… See more →

I was born on 3 June 1976. Today, I am thirty years old.

I share 1976 with some important stuff. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak formed Apple Computer, which would inadvertently revolutionize creative technology and desktop computing. Seminal releases from the Ramones and the Damned—and a legendary television appearance by the Sex Pistols—brought punk rock’s disaffected bite into the public consciousness. We said goodbye to luminaries like Alexander Calder, Max Ernst, and Howard… See more →

On the Web

• Deadguy138’s YouTube Channel: A growing collection of rare live video footage from some great underground bands: noise, punk, metal, jazz, and more.
• Lawsuit Over Brokeback Mountain Reveals Unease Over Pay for “Arthouse” Films: Are major film studios’ “independent” divisions lowballing creative talent and then cashing in on awards buzz? Yes.
• Time to Redesign: Someone has finally taken notice of how much I “suCkSS.”
• Best Fight Scene of All Time: A truly inspiring… See more →

A recent conversation with Eric Meyer about his history degree got me thinking about the web standards community’s seemingly anomalous lack of formal education in web technology and design. Indeed, some of the most influential people in the web standards world spent their school days and/or early careers scrutinizing subjects that have little or nothing to do with divs, hex values, kerning, or color theory. Jeffrey Zeldman has an MA in Writing, and worked in… See more →

While it admittedly still has a long way to go, the web standards adoption rate is growing by leaps and bounds. For those of us that came from non-semantic web design traditions (laying out pages using tables, for example), the contrast between our old, backwards methods and the much more reasonable standards-based way of doing things is profound. This perspective strengthens our understanding of exactly how good of an idea web standards are, and makes… See more →

A few weeks ago, Lego made their free Digital Designer software available to the public. It’s a kickass little 3D program that allows you to build virtual Lego models, share them online, and—this is the really cool part—order the physical Lego bricks that your creation would require to build in the real world. It’s a fantastic idea, but it got me thinking. With the tremendous success of the iTunes Music Store, whose wares are accessible… See more →

I have owned a few web sites in my day, and like anyone who makes their work available to the public, I like to know the whos, how manys, from wheres, and so on, of the people checking out my stuff. Luckily for me and my fellow narcissistic publishers, there are plenty of stats packages out there that can inform us how many hits our sites have gotten, where our visitors are coming from, what… See more →

On the Web

• ZombieWalk Vancouver: The undead answer to Critical Mass. What a completely fantastic idea!
• Hollowed-Out Human Head: Frivolous product design ruffles my feathers.
• Remastered: A fellow Rock Snob laments the age of digital music.
• A List Apart 4.0: A great site made even greater.
• “Imagine five of the top voiceover artists in our country all in one car—mine!”: Hilarious trailer for the 26th Annual Key Art Awards.
• P.E.A.R.T.: A drum machine that plays actual… See more →

Lately I’ve been very aware of the fact that the art forms I’d like to participate in vastly outnumber my own creative capabilities. There is just too much stuff I want to do. It’s gotten me thinking about how, in its own way, the digital age compares to the Renaissance. During the Renaissance, it wasn’t enough for an artist to be a master painter or sculptor or architect. Notoriety was reserved for people who managed… See more →

For years now, pseudo-futurist designers have equated the emergence and explosive adoption rate of the web as a communication tool with the death of printed media, ignoring the irony that such a proclamation is very short-sighted. While I’m of the opinion that print’s centuries-old legacy speaks for itself, skeptics may need periodic reminders of print’s continued relevance and untapped potential. Enter Is Not Magazine. In its editors’ own words:

Is Not Magazine is a magazine… See more →

The Unofficial Apple Weblog was gushing itself dry yesterday over The ABkey Revolution, a new computer keyboard which promises to deliver us from the soul-sucking tyranny of the standard “QWERTY” keyboard layout once and for all. As I am apparently a brain-dead boob who didn’t even know he needed to be saved, ABkey has provoked a critique from me.

For my critique to be valid, I must be careful not to confuse my criticism of… See more →

As the spread of web standards reaches exponential levels, there has been much reflection on just how far the web has come, and how much our individual perceptions of it have changed since we were first introduced to it. To look at the first web site I ever made compared with the work I’m doing now makes me wonder if there isn’t something to the notion of “progress” after all. Here is the story of… See more →

On the Web

• Chris Harding Animation Concern: Wonderfully designed cartoons reminiscent of Gene Deitch-era Terrytoons.
• A Whole New Internet?: Jason Kottke assesses the State of the Web Union
• Guess the Google: A fun Flash quiz game using Google Image Search
• 54 Optical Illusions & Visual Phenomena
• Amusement Park in Decay: Three pages of lovely photos (1, 2, 3)
• Five Simple Steps to Better Typography: Sound advice from Mark Boulton.
• Singles Night at Wal*Mart: I think I… See more →

In the 77 days since I last posted:

I started a new full-time design job at TMX Communications. My face graced television screens nationwide in several episodes of VH1’s ILL-ustrated. I finished the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Kutztown University that I started ten years ago. I saw Andrew W.K. for the ninth time. I had my 28th birthday. My bedroom was swarmed by dozens of winged ants. I got a cellular phone. I… See more →

Philadelphia is in the eye of a winter storm today; the snow and ice already coating the ground will soon be joined by reinforcements. During this temporary absence of airborn aggravation, my inbox is relentlessly pounded by dozens of MyDoom/Novarg messages. I delete them to the tune of Talkie Walkie, Air’s triumphant return to the magical realm of Very Good Music (after vacationing in Mediocre Music with 10,000 Hz Legend).

Meanwhile, Jason Santa Maria has unveiled… See more →

Over the last couple of months, this site has offered its visitors little respite from boredom. I’ll make no apologies for this, since the lack of updates results directly from my own boredom, which is itself respite from my heated, ongoing battle with the coding of the site’s long-overdue web standards-compliant redesign. There have, however, been a few recent occasions that my attention has been occupied by something other than a spot on the wall… See more →

There has been plenty going on, but I haven’t had much to say about any of it. Lightning Bolt, Hangedup, Battles, and Lost in Translation are all great and were all taken in last week. Over the weekend, I saw a bumper sticker that said “Abortion Causes Breast Cancer,” watched my dear friend Mary get married, and cheered as some friends’ 48-hour film submission took 2nd place in the 2003 CAmm Slamm in Baltimore. At… See more →

I had a dream that Sebastian Bach (of Skid Row fame) moved in with my next door neighbors. In the dream, I was really excited to tell the world about it here on my web site, so out of respect for the “dream me,” I’ve decided to tell the world (or at least whoever reads this site) about it anyway. Here’s hoping that in subsequent dreams, Baz and I can belt out the classics together… See more →

While I’m sure all (3) of my regular readers are enjoying my media critic pretensions, the About section does say something about the intentions of this site aimed at keeping people informed of what I’m up to creatively, so I think some relevant news is in order.

Lately most of my time has been been spent working on version 2 of the BREDSTIK Entertainment site, including a brand-new design and a bunch of new content.… See more →

At long last, “The Simpsons: The Complete Second Season” DVD set arrived yesterday. As with the first season set, the special features are pretty weak (I’m finding that to be the case on most DVDs now, actually), but those shortcomings are far outweighed by the fact that the season has been preserved in its entirety for consumer posterity. The commentary by various key players (Matt Groening, James L. Brooks, et al) is generally pretty good… See more →

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today I am learning how to use Corel KnockOut 1.5 (the new version is procreate KnockOut 2). It is my new favorite thing.

I’d swear it used to be possible to provide a direct link to a wish list on CDNOW… Whether or not that’s true, it doesn’t seem to be possible now, and Insound doesn’t have a wish list feature, so I’ve moved the whole thing over to Amazon. Anyway, my birthday is next week, so go buy me stuff.

For some reason, yesterday afternoon I decided I wanted to learn more about the history of Photoshop. After hunting around a bit, I found an interesting and detailed article on the subject, published in February 2000 by PEI Magazine. A PDF of the article can be found here, on the author’s site.