Travel

Beginning a road trip without sleeping the night before is not really what you would call advisable. And with the physical fatigue compounded by my anxiety over the scope of the trip and a number of last minute aggravations, hitting the open road was not nearly as cathartic as I might have hoped. It was actually downright awful.

This will be both the longest time I’ve spent on the road and the longest time I’ve… See more →

Arrived in DC. Thanks everyone for the warm wishes and apologies to those I won't get to see.

I am taking the month of May to drive across the country and back. I got tired of the fact that friends from abroad have seen more of the States than I have, and this year is something of a crossroads for me for a few reasons, so the time seems right. Since I design web sites, it made sense to put one together to document the trip, so that’s what you’re looking at. It… See more →

Okay, I have to make this really quick, because I’m already leaving much later than I wanted to. Leaving for what, you ask? A month-long, cross-country road trip, naturally. I made a web site for it which is where I’ll be writing exclusively for the next month (not that you expected to see anything new here). My bitchin’ Corolla is leaving Philadelphia momentarily—jump in the passenger seat!

Just made the heftiest Dopplr update I ever expect to make. dopplr.com/traveller/cowpiesu…

Planning a month-long, cross-country road trip is an intense amount of work.

Sorting out road trip details.

Homeward bound. Goodbye for now, dear friends.

My fourth year at Austin’s juggernaut of an interactive conference was more of a mixed bag than years past, as both I and SXSW adapted to its growing pains.

This year’s conference was, I believe, about three times the size of my first (in 2005). Daytime sessions expanded to remote areas of Austin’s sprawling convention center, and overcrowded lunch and evening activities tested even Texas’s deft corralling hand. Those who knew the territory well enough… See more →

On the bus to the train to the plane to Austin.

March has arrived, and since college basketball doesn’t interest me any more than a zombified messiah figure selling chocolate or an ophidiophobic Irish folk hero selling Budweiser, March means just one thing: South by Southwest. In just a few days, I will descend on Austin for nearly a week’s worth of quality time with good friends and good ideas. If you see me there, I hope you won’t hesitate to say hello. Here are some… See more →

Continental US peeps interested in a visit during my May 2008 US Tour: Please D me your address (I won't share it or stalk you, I promise).

appreciating Amtrak's maternal instinct, but trying to think of a tactful way to tell it I don't require incubation.

heading up to western MA for some quality time with the lady's folks.

There are four people in this train car, and I still can't hear myself think. Why must portable devices breed such ugly sollipsism?

on a FOWD-bound train, as Tom Waits once sang.

off to catch a train to Baltimore.

So who wants to join me for a leg of my cross-country USA road trip next year?

Another busy summer has come and gone, most of the fruits of which are still not quite ripe enough to talk about. I do, however, have a few things going on this month that are worth a mention.

Screens ’N’ Spokes

Throughout the year and across the country, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society hosts the MS Bike Ride, a lengthy cycling excursion whose participants have raised a considerable amount of money to fight the organization’s… See more →

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Whoever “they” are, they say you never forget your first time. And in 2005, my first SXSW was definitely unforgettable. They also say twice is nice, and as such, my second SXSW was all sugar and spice. As we all know, though, the third time is the charm, and this year’s SXSW charmed the hell out of me.

The people, panels, presentations, and parties were more plentiful than ever, but I still managed to absorb… 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 →

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Although most people are completely unaware that it encompasses anything other than music, South by Southwest is one of the world’s largest interactive conferences. 2006 was the biggest SXSW Interactive ever, or so assumes this second-timer, for whom the scope of “ever” begins in 2005. There were more panels, more parties, and most importantly, more people, many of whom were old friends, and many of whom are now new friends.

Things were looking a bit… See more →

If anyone is still reading, I’ll be leaving for Austin in a little over a week for South by Southwest, where I will be immersed in symposiums, cinema, and suds-soaked socialization for five glorious days. Last year’s SXSW was a big part of what made 2005 the best year I have had in a long time; it was a steel-toed inspirational kick in the pants, and a networking free-for-all whose participants generally inhabited more warmth… See more →

It is a beautiful January morning in Philadelphia. The Pixelworthy office is incandescent, its twentieth story windows unable to find refuge from the sun. Shaded by a pillar, Stan glares at the iMac on his desk.

“Damn Zeldman. Fucking meme shit.”

A few feet away, Rob snickers into his cinnamon roll.

“Keep laughing. You’re getting tagged next.”

“Come now, Stan. I can’t break over three months of editorial silence by participating in some retarded meme.”

“Tough luck.”… See more →

I’m not often interested in shows that could conceivably sell out in less than five minutes after tickets have been made available, so imagine my disappointment when that exact thing happened on Friday as I waited in line for Darkness tickets. Now it appears that my only chances at seeing what will probably be the best show of the year are spending upwards of $100 on eBay or winning a radio station contest, neither of… See more →

Since Pittsburgh is the other big city in Pennsylvania, and I had never been there, I decided to check it out with Merritt this past weekend. The chosen weekend was timely; The Animation Show (which isn’t scheduled to visit Philadelphia) was screening in Pittsburgh, and since I wasn’t going to Ottawa this year, this was a good excuse to drive several hours to see some animation, and see whatever else Pittsburgh had to offer while… See more →

The summer technically ends on September 22 (as anyone eagerly anticipating the redesign of this site should note), but most people pack up their lawn sprinklers and sun dresses after Labor Day, moribundly lumping the whole of September into the Autumn category. Apparently Mother Nature’s embitterment toward this trend compelled her to adjust the calendar herself; it was 65º and raining in Philadelphia this afternoon. The crap weather seems to have followed me back here… See more →

Every year, I take a trip to Chicago to visit some friends and spend some time in one of my favorite cities. Every year, my trip to Chicago is scheduled to coincide with one or many Philadelphia events that I’d really rather not miss. It’s uncanny: bands, film festivals, exhibitions, and all manner of special events all pop out of the woodwork moments after my plane tickets are booked, secure and relieved in the assurance… See more →

Peter and I took a trip up to New York yesterday. The early afternoon was occupied by sifting through galleries in Chelsea, the highlights of which were the Tim Gardner and Michael Craig-Martin exhibitions, held (respectively) at 303 Gallery and Gagosian Gallery. The late afternoon was spent being herded around NBC Studios in Rockefeller Center, waiting to see Interpol perform on “Last Call with Carson Daly”. The vast majority of the audience was Interpol fans,… See more →

I’ve been back from Ottawa for nearly a week now and the annoying cold I contracted while I was there is on its last leg, so I am finally getting around to reporting on the festival. This was the third bi-annual Ottawa International Animation Festival I have been to; I counted seeing 162 short films in just about three days and for the first time there was nothing that really blew me away. Which is… See more →

I’ll be in Ontario for the next five days at the Ottawa International Animation Festival. Some brief scattered comments before I leave:

One Hour Photo was a stale and boring waste of 95 minutes. I went to see it based on the strength of some decent reviews and the fact that it looked subtly creepy, and while I’ll concede that the production design (particularly set design and lighting) was exceptional, the story was practically nonexistent.… See more →

You may or may not have noticed that I redesigned the site. Welcome to robweychert.com Version 2, lovingly dubbed “The Motörhead Version” by my friend Merritt. Version 1 has been permanently archived and will no longer be updated. As with that original version, I welcome any and all comments, suggestions, criticism, praise, and disparagement regarding content, functionality, and/or aesthetics.

To coincide with the Version 2 launch, I finally finished the Ireland project I’ve been talking… See more →

I have returned from Ireland in one piece. Details and photos should be up within a few days, but I see that the Resident Evil redux for GameCube arrived in my absence, so don’t hold your breath.

We struck out north from the midlands on what would be our last full day in Ireland. First stop: Clonmacnoise, still more monastic ruins. The addition of a Visitor’s Center to a location of this sort has a tendency to rob it of much of its ambience, and Clonmacnoise was no exception. A little walk-through museum with excessive information about the craftmanship found in the area’s many, many stone crosses was enough to bore me… See more →

Today we trekked south to Kilkenny, primarily to see Kilkenny Castle, but I was also keen to check out the Design Centre and Butler Gallery of Contemporary Art. Unfortunately the gallery was closed while they assembled an installation. the Castle and Design Centre were open, however, and worth a visit.

I’ll say that Kilkenny Castle was my least favorite of the castles we’ve seen over the last week, mostly because its restoration was so thorough… See more →

Much of today consisted of the adventure that was finding our way out of Dublin and onto a solid route southwest to Roscrea. On the way out of the city we stopped at the James Joyce Tower and Museum, which was filled with original printed editions of his books, letters, articles, personal belongings, etc. I found it funny that the museum itself addressed the absurdity in naming the tower after Joyce, since he lived there… See more →

With public transportation finally at our disposal, my sister and I left our parents behind to make the most of our one day in Dublin. One day is not nearly enough for a satisfactorily thorough Dublin experience, but as that was apparent at the outset, we did our best to maximize our time spent there.

We covered much of the city centre south of the Liffey on foot throughout the day, including the Guinness brewery… See more →

Last night I dreamt that I pulled out all of my facial hair. My parents – reasonable, considerate, and loving as they are – have in them the capacity to irritate me beyond belief, and like no other. So my anticipation for the remainder of the trip’s Irish destinations is rivalled by my anticipation for our final destination: home, where ambitions of escape are boundless.

Most of today was spent on the road between Blarney… See more →