My wife sat down with Michael Norris and talked about writing the screenplay for Eye of the Sandman. Go read it already…
Jakub (Aaron Graham) and Joey (Tom Herman) in "Paint Crew"
We shot our latest short yesterday, a comedy written by MT, produced by LouAnn, and directed by yours truly. Starring Tom Herman, Aaron Graham, and Kirby O’Connell. It’s off to the editor tomorrow, and should be done this summer. More stills from the raw footage:
Jakub (Aaron Graham) and Joey (Tom Herman) in "Paint Crew"
Laurel (Kirby O'Connell) in "Paint Crew"
My good friend Tom Herman interviewed me this morning on Vocalo.org. They’ve been running a series on local musicians, so I came in and talked a bit about life as a Chicago freelancer. As promised, here’s what I played, and where you can hear more:
Vocalo is a really interesting concept. Its mission is to be “a place to create,” and users are encouraged to share their audio, video, and images, which the hosts then use on the air.
The New York TimesIn Newark, Ohio, a shifting economic landscape is affecting the town's high school musicians.
This excellent New York Times video profiles the Newark Ohio High School Sinfonia and its trip to New York for a national orchestra competition. The piece reminded me (yet again) of how fortunate I was to have grown up in Alaska in the 80’s, when a lot of oil money went to schools, the arts, and extracurricular activities.
Anchorage had a great orchestra program in the schools, and a city-wide Youth Symphony, with which I traveled to Australia, New Zealand, Washington, D.C., and New York. It’s good to see that much of that continues, but the fact remains that these programs are under constant threat from those who question their value. The difference between the value of a thing and its cost is subtle. Well, it’s not subtle to those who understand and appreciate value.
Yes, we’re in an economic downturn. But if we let these programs disappear now, our society will pay a much higher cost in the future. Also see the companion article.
TelegraphA Dalek from Dr Who was found submerged in a pond by volunteers enlisted to clear it of rubbish.
I’ve been watching a lot of Doctor Who, lately. Mostly the new series, but also some from the 70’s. Whenever I become involved with a series like this, I suddenly have to consume as much of it as possible, exploring the canon, and discovering all its clever connections. It’s a mild obsession, however, so don’t expect me to spout off too many fine details.
There are many things to like about Doctor Who. Its humor, the vague-but-plausible science, and the robots. And the zombies. And the zombie-robots dressed up as Santa. And the zombie-robot-scarecrows. The producers must have a long list of extras ready to suit up for any given episode.
So, when I ran across Urban Camouflage, I thought these would make fantastic Doctor Who zombie-bots:
Be sure to watch some of the videos on the site. There are some fun reactions from IKEA shoppers, and it’s amazing how they blend in with the store. Until they start moving.
RUN!
If you live in New York, or happen to find yourself there next week, then go to LaMaMa’s La Galleria on Wed, Feb 18th. My wife’s play Infernal, will be read, along with several other new works. More info at Playbill.
I’ve had the pleasure of watching Infernal get better and better over the last several months, and I’m extremely proud of the great work MT has done.
If you can’t make the 18th, then go the 19th and see our friend Carlo Matos’ Amalia’s Magic Mirror, because MT will be reading in it. And because it’s a great play.
We saw this "As You Like It" just a couple weeks ago, and I'd agree that it's a beautiful production. And while it's not as violent as Brantley suggests, the wrestling scene is quite exciting.
"What’s surprising about the study is that ear choice had such a decided impact on the behavior of participants in a natural, or as the researchers put it, ecological, setting. Why would people feel more generous when their right ears are addressed?"
Wordnik may be addictive. If you're into language. Words. Etymology. Synonyms. Antonyms. Homonyms.
This is disturbing, mostly because even I'm having a difficult time coming up with a clear, simple definition. Of course, I know perfectly well what a browser is, but I'm not sure I could really explain it to my grandmother. In the end, though, people really shouldn't have to care about what they use to access the internet.
{ via Tim Van Damme }
"But it seems risky and unbecoming for a company of Palm’s stature. It’s a hack, and if they’re really using Apple’s USB vendor and/or device IDs, it’s a duplicitous hack."
I had a Palm III that I got back in 1998, and loved it. I thought I'd have that PDA for 20 years. Of course, it only served me for maybe 4 years, but it was a great little device, and I've had high hopes that the Pre would return Palm to some of its former glory. Sadly, this fake syncing business (assuming it's fake) does not give me hope.
I'm a sucker for content management systems. I'm always looking for a better one, or one more suited to the current project. Despite that, I've stayed with Joomla and Wordpress because I'm used to them and they perform pretty well. Most of the time. But, I like the less-is-more approach that Perch is taking. Definitely keeping my eye on them.
{ via Dan Cederholm }
Wave just looks amazing. Such an obvious solution to all our communication problems, though I'm sure it'll create its own set of problems.
{ via O'Reilly Radar }
A solution to the web font licensing conundrum?
{ via Jeffrey Zeldman }
Fantastic live recordings from earlier this year. I'm listening to the first movement of No. 3 right now. Antonio's idyllic chamber music festival is one of my clients.
I read about Better Place in Wired last fall and love their idea.
Does rattle snake freeze well? Great, er, GOOD site design, too.
My cousin's blog on car safety. Includes some fun new TV ads around their Click It Or Ticket campaign.
Very nice theme for Wordpress's Admin, made by Dean Robinson and implemented as a plugin. Features a number of improvements over the default admin. I especially like the keyboard shortcuts and the flyout menus.
It's not complete, and setting some preferences has zero effect, but I've played with Chromium just a little bit and it looks pretty good. Certainly does the up-top tabs better than Apple does with Safari 4.
For the fellow string players out there: great tips on relaxing all your muscles. Hilarious. Also see Matt Albert's great recovery.
Oh, I'm such a geek.
{ via Coudal }
Translation of markings in the first symphony. My favorite: Am Griffbrett - As if in tune
{ via Alex Ross }
"These windows are so tight they can only slip onto your desktop at an angle, dripping wet with shiny hot sex oils."
{ via Garrett Murray }
Neven Mrgan simply provides the links, allowing you to form your own opinion.
Brilliant.
Um, something's different. I'm not sure what, exactly.
Mesmerizing transformation. Very well executed.
{ via Coudal }
