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February 25, 2005
A Scanner Darkly trailer
This movie looks pretty awesome. Based on the Philip K. Dick book, directed by one of the best directors of our time (Richard Linklater)...
Trailer (Quicktime),
(thanks BoingBoing)
Posted by ljh at 12:08 PM
February 22, 2005
probably my favorite video game of all time
BBC - Radio 4 - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Winners visit the studio
(thanks to Neil Gaiman's blog for the link)
Posted by ljh at 7:46 PM
"you gonna be a package of cream cheese in a minute"
Mr. T Soundboard (requires Flash)
Posted by ljh at 3:48 PM
more on sidewalk artist
Should have checked Snopes first. The sidewalk chalk artist is Kurt Wenner; read more about him in the Snopes entry.
Urban Legends Reference Pages: (Sidewalk Paintings)
Posted by ljh at 1:43 PM
sidewalk chalk guy
These images are pretty amazing...
Anyone know more about this artist?
Posted by ljh at 1:41 PM
February 21, 2005
back from austin
Just spent the better part of the week down in Austin on a business trip. Was kept fairly busy but got to see friends on Friday night and hang out with family on Saturday. Overall a good trip.
Saturday was particularly fun -- I spent the afternoon taking care of my little 4-year-old nephew Joshua. I had to get him ready and take him to a birthday party for a couple of hours, and getting to watch him with the other kids was priceless.
At one point at the party, he pointed at me and said, to the mother of one of his little friends, "That's Uncle Jack." As if they'd probably all heard of me, and here I was in person. Hilarious.
We had some really great conversations during our one-on-one time. One of my favorites:
Jack: I miss Allison, but I'll see her when I go back to New York tomorrow.Joshua: I want to see Allison!
Jack: Well, you'll see her next month when we're both here.
A pause.
Jack: What will you do when you see her?
Joshua grins.
Jack: Will you give her a hug?
Joshua: Uh huh.
Jack: She likes hugs.
Another pause.
Joshua: You don't know how to hug, Uncle Jack! ... I'm just kidding! You know how to hug!
Maybe you had to be there. But he cracks me up.
Posted by ljh at 11:55 PM
February 15, 2005
[Lifehacker] Photographers' rights
From Lifehacker:
Photographers, know your rights: attorney and photographer advocate Bert P. Krages II has created The Photographer's Right, a PDF file meant to be printed, stowed in your camera bag and distributed in the event of a confrontation.
Nutshell: you have the right to take photos in public places (with a few exceptions), they most likely do not have the right to confiscate your film, and except to law enforcement officials, you're under no obligation to explain the purpose of your photos or reveal your identity.
Posted by ljh at 2:13 PM
decameron movie adaptation
For some reason, I was surprised to hear that they were adapting The Decameron, which I spent a semester studying in college (for credit, so skip the jokes). Guess I shouldn't be, considering sex sells and that book is full of it. Can't believe that cast that insipid Hayden Christensen, though. Hope he doesn't suck as much as he has in Star Wars.
Maybe for future blog entries, I'll dig up some of my favorite Decameron stories. Or resurrect the entry I wrote for our class "Decameron Web" hypertext project.
Via Movie Poop Shoot
Posted by ljh at 12:02 PM
February 14, 2005
masks and totems
I love the Hall of Northwest Coast Indians at the Natural History museum. We went over to the museum on Saturday after looking at The Gates. It was very dark in the hall, but I tried to snap some pictures anyway.
Posted by ljh at 12:49 PM
The Gates
We walked into Central Park on Saturday to see the new Christo installation: The Gates. We both took pictures, here are mine.
Our initial reaction was, "What's the point? Central Park does't need this." But once we accepted it for what it was and didn't take it so seriously, we began to appreciate it. It's fun.
Posted by ljh at 9:10 AM
February 13, 2005
audioscrobbler
Audioscrobbler is an interesting idea... but I listen to most music on the stereo or the iPod, so I don't think I'd get much value out of it.
Posted by ljh at 1:17 AM
February 11, 2005
Wikiquote
I knew Wikipedia was great, but now it turns out they've launched a bunch of other sites, including my favorite, Wikiquote. Awesome. I really want an RSS or Atom feed of their "quote of the day".
Posted by ljh at 6:28 PM
"tell me off... $2"
The homeless guy who sleeps in the stairwell landing at the subway stop I come out of near work has a sign:
Tell Me Off
$2.00
I can't help but wonder if anyone takes him up on the offer. I mean, yes, New Yorkers like to tell people off, but I don't think they're willing to pay for it. And anyone who wants to give him $2 is likely too kind-hearted to tell him off. Maybe it gives some people a chuckle and opens their wallets, but it just makes me sad.
(No, I haven't given him anything. I'm not against panhandling on principal, as I once was, but I have yet to figure out what kind of system I should use for deciding when/how much to give. And I'm loathe to do it arbitrarily. In general, I prefer to donate to charities that help the indigent.)
Posted by ljh at 1:13 PM
alas, poor alias
So while you SHOULD be watching Lost, I can't in good conscious recommend Alias. This week's episode was truly bad. They've totally lost track of the characters. Not enough action. Too many close-ups. Far too many "significant looks." (Okay, maybe Alias has always had that last one, but the fast-pace always distracted me from it.)
I do recommend watching the seasons 1, 2, and 3 DVDs of Alias, though. Good stuff.
Posted by ljh at 1:09 PM
February 10, 2005
Befriended Hippo
Apparently, a baby hippo and a tortoise have become friends in captivity....
[edited to fix bad image link]
http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/hippo.asp
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4152447.stm
[edited to add BBC link]
Posted by ljh at 9:25 PM
anyone on Hello?
I love Picasa, and I've started playing around with its "photo-sharing meets IM" client called Hello. If you're on it, or try it out, add me as a friend: screen name ljackh.
Posted by ljh at 1:26 PM
you should be watching lost
I mean it. If you're not watching Lost, I assume you're waiting for this summer when they replay it all, or for the DVD of Season 1. It's an amazing show and everyone needs to be watching it. So that we can all talk about it.
Last nights episode was pretty good :)
Posted by ljh at 1:22 PM
[Lifehacker] your own handwriting as a font
Web service Fontifier creates a computer font of your own handwriting.
Write down the alphabet on a Fontifier-provided template, scan it in, upload to the site, and preview your custom font. If you like it's yours for nine bucks (Mac or PC.) Pretty neat way to personalize images, computer presentations or web pages.
Posted by ljh at 12:02 PM
omea reader + newsgator movabletype plugin
So, the previous post (about MP3Tunes, via BoingBoing) was one-click posted to my blog from Omea Reader, currently my favorite RSS/ATOM feed reader. It supports Newsgator (another reader) plugins, and I downloaded the one for Movable Type and set it up to enable me to duplicate entries directly to my blog. It uses the ATOM API, which can apparently do far more than I realized.
Very cool. Only complaint is that it doesn't let me put any of my own text on the post -- just duplicates it directly to my blog. And it isn't very clear on attribution (e.g. just the "Via BoingBoing" link at the bottom). I don't want people to think I'm stealing content...
(Note added 1PM EST: I've decided to come in and edit these forwards to include the the [Source] to the item title.)
Posted by ljh at 11:52 AM
[Boingboing] MP3Tunes - buy songs online, no strings attached
Newly-launched online music store MP3Tunes is a better music shopping alternative to say, the iTunes Music Store, for a few reasons:
- You get the songs in MP3 format, which most any music player software and hardware can play;
- There are no "only so many computers can play this song" limitations placed on the song files;
- The songs are 88 cents a pop;
- The musicians get 60 of those 88 cents per song sale.
The only drawback might be selection of tunes available, but that depends on your musical tastes. If you're looking to purchase a song online, check MP3Tunes first.
Posted by ljh at 11:39 AM
February 7, 2005
spoofing caller id
Saw this over on Neil Gaiman's blog:
http://covertcall.com/
I had no idea there were services that offered this functionality. Will be interesting to see if the phone companies manage to shut them down.
Sunny and 52 degrees in New York City. Went out on the balcony without a coat. Awesome.
Posted by ljh at 4:07 PM
February 1, 2005
don't care what you say, i love the french
Though as far as I know, the geeks over at Brown's Tech House thought of playing Tetris on the side of a building first, in 2000 [story, link], these Blinkenhouse guys have taken the next step [link]. And it is a thing of beauty.
Posted by ljh at 5:54 PM