Capn Design

November 2004

This month I posted 33 entries, watched 5 videos and took 26 photos.

Virgin Mobile Keeps You From Drunk Dialing

This feature could save relationships across the UK

David Bowie Loves the Arcade Fire and Secret Machines Records

So do I!

David Byrne has a Blog

[via What Do I Know?]

Wilson Miner Live

I like his design, but I haven't gotten around to reading any of his posts.

New York Changing

See NYC buildings from 1930 and today side-by-side. Very cool

Picasso's Guernica Refashioned to Show the Pacers-Piston Debacle

[via kottke.org]

Trixie's Burn to Shine DVD

According to Silent Uproar, a new dvd series featuring bands playing in buildings that are soon to be destroyed is coming out on January 20th. Sounds interesting. (The Trixie site is just a placeholder right now.)

Well, I'm Stuck

Posted November 24, 2004

Man, this was the perfect day for travel. It's raining in New York, it's snowing in Chicago and it's the day before thanksgiving. As you'd imagine, that spells smooth sailing (not literaly, it's a metaphor).

I'm sitting in Laguardia waiting for my flight to board. It was scheduled to leave at 8:00pm on the nose, and it was pushed back to 9pm, 9:30pm, 9:50pm, 10:30pm and now 11:10pm. It's fantastic. Thankfully, I have my laptop and I was willing to splurge for the wifi access (how come it still costs money here? ridiculous).

I've also been having fun with my cameraphone. I've been documenting the CNN crew and the flight arrival board. I really love flickr, in case you haven't noticed.

Next up will be a movie, I think. I just have to find a electrical socket because I don't have enough power for a full movie. If anything exciting/entertaining happens, you can be sure I'll let you know.

Update (9:47pm): Here are all of my photos from Laguardia. Also, my flight is now leaving at 11:30pm, but I am pretty sure it'll go later. Wheeeeee.

Update (11:07pm): Well, my flight is leaving at 1:30. In total, I will have a FIVE AND A HALF HOUR DELAY. Batty. I think I'll walk around this place and take some eerie empty airport photos.

I Have a Beard

Posted November 23, 2004

This is me with my beard

If you've been wondered why I don't post so much anymore, it's because I've been working really hard at growing this beard. According to all the with-it kids, beards are the number one cause of blog apathy.

p.s. I've finally gotten around to uploading more photos. It's been a while. I'm also posting pictures at flickr.

Google Scholars

I love this new tool. You can search scholarly papers. For instance, here are references to Starship Troopers

How are Porn Movies Legal?

The Defective Yeti breaks it down for us

MoMA Reopens in Manhattan Tomorrow

and admission is free all day

Adobe Booksshop Reorganizes Book by Color

Documented by Derek Powazek

Movable Hype at the Knitting Factory

Posted November 17, 2004

I attended Gothamist's Movable Hype event this evening with Karen. Before I talk about the event, I'll tell you that we went to Great New York Noodletown to start things off, and it was good. I'd like to go one more time before I give it a heartfelt recommendation.

In regards to Movable Hype, I had a good time even if things did not start out promising. This event was a four-band concert at the Knitting Factory with proceeds going towards the NYC Public Schools, which is good. The first band was one person who calls himself "The Fresh," and he was not good. At best, he was the bad/offensive lovechild of John Mayer and Dave Matthews. I was not feeling it. But, go to his site and decide for yourself.

The next band was The Sons of Sound, who I liked. They had a very epic, Tears-for-Fears-like quality. At one point I thought it sounded like Bono fronting God Speed! You Black Emperor, but then I realized that was crazy. Sons of Sounds lead singer has a great voice and their sound is interesting. I'll definitely keep tabs on them.

I took a break after their set and chatted with Karen and Aaron about movies and Aaron's recent encounter with a lamb-burger-enduced grease fire. I also got to meet a few other people whom I've never seen face to face. The Real Janelle was nice and gave me some pointers on architecture school, which I'm considering.

Back into the venue I go to check out Snowden. They could have gone either way, but in the end I wasn't really that into it. They did help me to realize that the revival of the 80s will indeed be real and I'm hoping that we can move on fairly quickly. This sound is already becoming too commonplace.

I missed out on seeing Asobi Seksu, as I was pooped, but I'll check them out later online. The event was fun and I helped a good cause, but it's clear that Gothamist is building an empire. Sponsoring cultural events and aiming to open up three more locations means they are taking over. It'll be interesting to see where all of this takes them. If you don't feel like watching, I'll take notes and let you know.

Wired Interview with Jeff Tweedy

Talks about music and the internet

Ugh. Host Recommendations Please.

Posted November 12, 2004

So I just had my Movable Type software suspended by my host, Midphase.com, after I rebuilt the montly archives. This was baffling as they claim to be Movable Type compatible in their feature list. I was able to get it reinstated, but I obviously can't have it shut down everytime I make a change to one of my templates.

In the event that I can't come to some agreement with them, does anyone have any good hosting suggestions? I need MySQL and at least 500MB of space, but I'd like mailing lists, lotsa bandwidth, multiple domains and subdomains. Oh, and some decent stats. I'm willing to spend as much as 20 per month, but I'd like to spend 15 or under. Your thoughts?

Cream Reunion in the Works

[via waxy.org]

Two New Pee-Wee Movies!

[via boing boing]

Introducing Cinema Ahh*Some

Posted November 10, 2004

Early in the summer, my friend Jen and I decided we wanted a way to bring together our friends to watch movies. We envisioned something like a book club, but with films instead novels. And thus, Cinema Ahh*Some was born.

Next week we will be watching our tenth film, An American in Paris, and I thought I'd bring the group to the next level. I have a launched a companion website, Cinema Ahh*Some: The Blog. One of the problems with watching our films during the week is that we don't have much time to discuss it. So, we turned to the web. Additionally, the site will allow people who can't make a screening, because they live out of town or have something else to do, to participate, which should liven up discussion.

The blog is still young, but it will contain discussion from our films and information about upcoming events. Currently, we have a little bit of discussion from our last film, Plan 9 From Outer Space, which was not as exciting as we'd hoped, but worth seeing. Even though it's horrible, you owe it to yourself to see what's considered the worst film of all time.

If you're interested in watching the films with the group in NYC, send an email to cinema_ahhsome-subscribe@yahoogroups.com to join our mailing list (you can also see when we're meeting on the website, but this list has contact and venue information). If you'd like to watch movies on your own and contribute to the blog, and I'll get you going.

The Room Defender

Awesome motion-activated toy that shoots nerf discs [via gizmodo]

Firefox 1.0 is Go

Since the site is being slammed right now, here are links to download the OS X version and the Windows version.

A Recap of Movie Adventure III is on Gothamist Today

I Want to Create a Word

Posted November 8, 2004

On the way to work, I thought about the word Blaxploitation. It's an obvious combination of two words, black and exploitation. Anyone could see that, but it got me thinking about the man or woman who first used the word. Someone had to have created it and I'm sure that William Safire knows who that is. I envy the creator but I think I could do it too.

I am excellent at combining words. Just last night some friends and I were deciding between thai and chinese food. Immediately I tried to placate everyone by offering either Thainese or Chai food. See? See how good those combinations are?

So, if I can just be in the right place at the right time, I think I could create a word that would stick. My best attempt ever was not a combination, but a refashioning of a word. I thought the word boolean could became the next awesome. For instance, "That shit's so boolean." It didn't work out. Thus, I shall combine words and hope for some good luck.

If you have any thainese food anytime soon, you'll know who created that wonderful word.

Sideways: Sure the Movie's Good, But How's the Wine?

Moblogging the Marathon

Posted November 7, 2004

Here are a couple people moblogging the marathon:

David
Meg
Alaina

Also here's a general marathon tag.

Movie 2

Posted November 6, 2004

Movie 2

Birth was odd. I feel bad for the crazy writer. Friday Night Lights is next Should be more...normal.

The Movie Adventure Begins

Posted November 6, 2004

The Movie Adventure Begins

14 hours, 7 movies

Movie Marathon III

Posted November 6, 2004

Today I am holding Movie Marathon III, but it's a team effort this time. Karen of Cinecultist will be joining me. I'll give you a full report when I get back and might even moblog about it while there. We'll see.

Yasser Arafat is Clinically Dead Probably Alive

Reported by the Jerusalem Post update: There are conflicting reports right now, but it seems he is likely brain dead

List of Words That are Fun to Say

[via TMN]

Very Large Font Sizes Around the Web Say Kerry Has Conceded

Breaking News from Liberty Village!

Posted November 2, 2004

My roommate Scott and I are watching election results come in from our couch, which shall henceforth be referred to as Liberty Village. Our breaking news: NBC News has named their set location "Democracy Plaza." How ridiculous is that?

Anyway, nothing exciting has happened yet. At one point the campaign manager for Ronald Reagan said, "You know, I think it's going to come down to the swing states." I'm gonna go out on a limb and say I agree. That man is a visionary.

I'm looking forward to seeing how they'll try and entertain us until something genuinely important happens.

Update (12:47am): Am I crazy, or is it possible for ther to be a tie in electoral votes? Here's some math. Bush: 246 + 20 (Ohio) + 3 (Alaska) = 269. If Kerry can win the rest, it's a tie. Granted, he's likely to lose New Mexico, so this moot, but if Kerry has to lose, this is how I'd like it to go down -- a trip to the Senate. At least we'll finally have a chance to get rid of this craptastic election system.

Update (1:01am): Bah. Based on my estimates (looking at CNN.com's county breakdown), Kerry is going to lose Ohio. That means it's over. Fuck.

Update (2:30am): I was going to go to sleep an hour ago. I didn't. Just now Edwards spoke to the crowd at the Kerry camp and told them "we'll fight for every single vote." In other words, even though Ohio looks almost certainly like a Bush win, the Dems are going to fight it. I hope this isn't as messy as last year.

2:35am: CNN just announced three projections going for Kerry, which makes it 249 for Bush and 242 for Kerry. I think they're just trying to make it a close race because it's more exciting. At this point, I think Bush has got it, but I think Kerry will drag it out at least until the morning, if not much longer.

2:47am: That's it. I quit. It's completely and totally bedtime.

Vote Tomorrow!

Posted November 1, 2004

This is a reminder to all of those who just woke up from a 31 year coma. Please vote tomorrow.

If you don't know where to vote, you can call 866-OUR-VOTE or go to mypollingplace.com. If you're not sure whether or not you're registered, please go anyway. At worst, you will fill out a provisional ballot that will be contested. The New York Times has all the voting information you'll need.

I'm incredibly anxious for tomorrow. It's like the day before the SATs, first day of school and first date rolled into one.

Finally, don't forget to watch Indecision 2004 tomorrow night on Comedy Central. It's one hour of live coverage from the Daily Show team.

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