I recently got back from a week of vacation in Maine at my families' camp. It was great to be off the grid and relax with nature as a backdrop. The only real technology I took along was my camera, which I used to capture the beauty. It had been many years since I was last at the camp for a vacation. My last couple of trips were to replace the roof. It was as I remembered it from my youth. Simplicity is good.
I've been very impressed with USA's lead up to the start of this season of 4400 (Jun 17th). I've been getting a steady stream of SMS messages since signing up for them at the end of last year. They have also launched an aggressive online video, blog, website campaign (which at times has been more interesting to follow then the real news). The focus is around these sites:
Then there are the YouTube videos (which are linked from the above sites).
I just got back from visiting Erin in Aberdeen Scotland. It was a blast. I've not had time to collect my thoughts and do a proper summary but I have done a first pass at putting up pictures.
If ever there was a comic that captured much of what I feel this is it. That being the squirrel guy :)
I think I've caught up on a bunch of pictures that had been sitting on my camera. For your viewing pleasure: David and Karen's Wedding, Gilman Manor's Roof, Saying Goodbye to Matt, Bubbles, and Elissa's Apartment.
My camera acted up a bit so I didn't get a picture of Matt driving off or of Craig during the wedding. Yeah, I should get a new camera, but gosh darn it if my current one just mostly works... Also Elissa's room was just too messy to subject her to having a picture of it on the web.
In the beginning there was the song "Dragosteta din Tei" by Romanian boy band O-Zone.
Next came a man called Gary Brolsma who posted a video of himself dancing and lip-syncing to the song.
This made news.
Along came Brooker.
She posted a spoof of Gary's video on YouTube.
This along with her other videos created a growing fan base.
Then Carson Daly found her stuff and is going to sign her up.
I love the Internet!
I can't believe I never linked to this. Must see. Although most of you that read this blog probably already have, multiple times.
I finally posted some pictures for the events over the weekend. I was too busy having fun at both events to really take that many pictures.
I saw the Blue Man Group tonight. It was incredible. I hope to be able to say more later.
Cirque du Soleil's latest touring show is coming to Boston (Sept. 8 to Oct. 8). I saw Corteo when it debuted in Montreal and loved it. Get your tickets now, they are on sale for Cirque Club members and the good seats always sell out fast.
Also if you want to borrow it, I just got a promotional CD-ROM in the mail about the show.
Just explore: http://tokyoplastic.com/
I've been having fun over the past few days spending a few minutes when I get home from work playing the daily puzzle in the Da Vinci Code Quest on Google. I'll be curious to see how much more difficult they get over the next couple of weeks as the first week was really easy and this week they added a few more elements to make it more interesting.
These are too funny. Send one to everyone you know! http://www.careerbuilder.com/monk-e-mail/
I'm half way through watching the HBO mini-series from 1998 entitled From the Earth to the Moon and I have to say that it is wonderful. The series has a great combination of archival footage, reenactment, and a top-notch level and quality of detail. I realize I'm probably behind the times since this came out eight years ago and I'm just watching it, but it's a prime example of better late than never. It won a bunch of awards when it did originally come out and from what I've seen, they were all deserved. If you have any interest in the history of the space race, I'd highly recommend this series (and I've only watched half of it).
The demo video for Multi-Touch Interaction Research blew me away. It was inevitable that touch screens and the backing software would start to approach the Matrix or Minority Report level of interaction, I was just not aware what state of the art in the field had gotten to. The ability to visualize and manipulate data in such an intuitive fashion fills me with excitement of the future possibilities.
A neat puzzle game with cows.
I came into work this morning to find that my cube had been completely covered in duct tape. It was well done and mad props to the perpetrator. Unfortunately, he didn't cover his tracks very well and left a receipt with his last name on it in one of the adjacent cube trash cans.
I was planning on leaving it up for a day, but the fumes coming off of the six or so rolls of duct tape used were giving a few of us headaches, so we took it down before lunch.
A friend of mine has put together a nifty Buddy Icon Maker. You can crop and zoom an image in real-time through his site and then generate an image suitable for a buddy icon at the end. I thought I'd mentioned it before, but I guess not.
The American Civil Liberties Union and Robert Greenwald (Outfoxed, Unconstitutional) present The ACLU Freedom Files, a revolutionary, 10-part series that tells the stories of real people in America whose civil liberties have been threatened, and how they fought back.
At John's birthday on Friday night Brian and Clara attempted Bananas Foster. I tried to capture it as best as I could along with some other pictures from the party.
I have today off. I finally got around to sorting through a bunch of pictures. I've decided to complicate matters and have uploaded them all into my new gallery. The list includes adding a 4th wall to a cube, Christmas 2005, decorating a cube for a birthday, a couple of random photos, moving into Gilman Manor, random stuff done to my cube, the Ruckus holiday party, the big snow storm, a collection of old t-shirts, and a freaky van. Enjoy!
UPCOMING: Tuesday, November 22, 7 p.m. @ Coolidge Corner Theatre
THE ELEPHANT MAN with guest speaker Jerome Groopman, M.D., whose research on degenerative diseases has lead to groundbreaking advances in the study of cancer and AIDS, as well as multiple sclerosis, Lou Gehrig's disease, and Alzheimer's.
A little early for this Christmas season, but still very funny. It's got a good loop going on.
I love eBay.
I got your TPS right here!
Optimus Prime gets prostate cancer
There should be more PSAs like this.
Slava is a friend of mine who I used to work with at BiT Group. He's quite the photographer and has put up a gallery with some awesome photos. Enjoy.
The first week of November I took a vacation to Bangkok. I had a wonderful time and really got to explore the city. I've finally gotten around to putting up my pictures and getting some descriptions added.
The site says it all. The higher levels offer a good challenge.
Neat little flash game.
This guy does creates amazing origami pieces. Most of them use just a single piece of paper.
A video that calls into question what really happened at the Pentagon.
The BBC currently has three animated Doctor Who adventures. These are excellent quality and really fun to watch.
Finally got around to putting up a pet project I've been working on to capture the various elements of Z styling found around the car. I'll let you be the judge if I've stretched a little too much on some of them.
I, I can't stop laughing!!!!
A great little exploration of the Sun and Microsoft money settlement.
Next up from the South Park folks.
The joys of the Java GridBag...