Time To Jailbreak

The folks over at Teehan+Lax plan to make my iPhone a lot more useful. They’re in the process of working with the Cydia folks to release a new lock screen for the iPhone entitled Element. I’ve spent a fair amount of time with the Android, and the single feature that always stood out as heads and shoulders above the iPhone is their notifications system. Hopefully, as soon as next week, that will no longer be a problem. Take a look at some more screenshots.

Watch Out Andy Rooney

I admittedly have a soft spot for Jon Stewart (who, thank goodness, now has a key to Bellingham, WA) and Stephen Colbert, and not so much of a soft spot (a hard spot?) for Christopher Hitchens. I first became skeptical of Hitchens after reading about his stance on the Iraq War. And that feeling only increased after he attempted to join Richard Dawkins at the head of the Atheist movement by trying to mask his lack of scientific background with an even larger combative ego than Dawkins.

Hitchens uses the fact that Stewart was ranked as the #1 trusted newscastor in an online popularity pool to whine and complain that he is no Mark Twain (Is anyone really arguing that point?). His evidence seems to be Al Franken’s books (I’m still trying to figure out what that has to do with the Daily Show). My best guess is that either Hitchens is still bitter 4 years later that Stewart didn’t promote his Jefferson book well enough, or is formally applying for Andy Rooney’s position as Old Crank Laureate.

The Game That Keeps On Loving You

Take one look at this image and say out loud what it makes you think.

You got it right: REO Speedwagon, the Video Game!
Apparently someone is making a Halo killer in the forum of a casual hidden object video game. I am currently going to great lengths to make sure that the video game company I work for is going to sell this.

Twitter fave “Shit My Dad Says” heads to TV

What?! That is enough basis for the foundation of a television show? My pops might not be that cranky, but give him 5 years. He’s on his way; and soon I’ll be rich.

PS: I love that the one person he follows is Levar Burton.

Dan Scanlon covers X-Men 1

Probably the 2nd best post (just behind this one) on one of my favorite blogs.

Dear American Airlines

Interesting:

1. Designer dreams up a redesign of American Airlines’ website and chastises the company (particularly their design department)
2. An employee from the AA design group writes back to say, “You’re right.”
3. AA fires said employee for breaking their NDA.

Lots to take away from this. For me, most of all is that I’ve been in this employee’s shoes and this story reaffirms that I will make sure to never be wearing shoes like his in a company like that again. It sounds clear that AA is a seriously messed up company, and, as folks have said, the original critique is a little naive of the situation: A little screenshot does not a website make.

Chris Ware Does Halloween

This already appeared to make the rounds on the internet, but was too good not to pass up posting. Make sure to read the 4-page spread.

Pet Care For Those Left Behind By The Apocalypse

You’ve committed your life to Jesus. You know you’re saved. But when the Rapture comes what’s to become of your loving pets who are left behind? Eternal Earth-Bound Pets takes that burden off your mind.

I am dying to know how much $$ they’ve pulled in from this…

Poodle Doodles

Speaking of pets: This is very, very, awesome.

Star Wars Uncut

Someone took “A New Hope” and cut it up into 15 sec. segments, then set up a site that assigns users to “swede” chunks of Star Wars. Once completed, this will be a surreal mishmash of glorious proportions.

Mario Kart Jamboree

Speaking of collaborations: Over 40 DeviantARTists picked a Mario Kart Character and rendered them in their own style. Make sure to check it out in its full size.

Far Foods

Interesting design concept for grocery receipts to drive the point home about the thousands of miles your food travels to get to you and the result it has on global warming. I bet this would have a dramatic effect on people’s food choices. They’d either shop locally or stop buying fruit and vegetables.

Fancy Fast Food

Speaking of food: Take the shittiest food possible, and make it look convincing enough that you might eat it until you realize that you’re about to loose a couple years of your life. Great idea for a website.

Love this idea from Fusca Design. Must remember this for Future-Brummel for when Future-Brummel has a “need” for a shelf like this.

Cow DNA Now Fully Mapped

And what have we found? That over the years of domesticating cows and selective breeding, we’ve ended up with a mentally retarded version of the species former selves. GREAT FOR BUSINESS!

Both types of cattle show evidence of natural selection in genes that appear to be involved in making the animals — large, horned and potentially dangerous — docile. In some breeds, specific variants of behavior-related genes are “fixed,” or seen in essentially every animal. Curiously, some of those genes are in regions that in the human genome seem to be involved in autism, brain development and mental retardation.

Bill Moyers Interviews the Wire’s David Simon

Great for any fans of the Wire. BONUS: Also great for fans of inner city crime and bureaucratic mess. BONUS BONUS: A fan caught Simon before his appearance with Moyers and took him out to lunch. I like this David Simon character. If you haven’t started the Wire yet, start now. And you can’t stop until you at least finish a season; they start off decidedly slow.

Pt. 1:

Pt. 2:

M.S. Corley Re-imagines His Favorite Movies With Classic Penguin-Like Covers

I love this trend of design reinterpretation that’s been going around. Kottke did a nice roundup of some of the better redesigns, some noted previously here.
UPDATE: Here’s some more – Blue-Note Wu-Tang
UPDATE UPDATE: The Magic continues!! – Classic records as Pelican Books.

In Defense of Eye Candy

Stephen Anderson makes a great case that good looks in design go more than skin deep:

The more we learn about people, and how our brains process information, the more we learn the truth of that phrase: form and function aren’t separate items. If we believe that style somehow exists independent of functionality, that we can treat aesthetics and function as two separate pieces, then we ignore the evidence that beauty is much more than decoration. Our brains can’t help but agree.

The Royal Tenenbaums Prologue, Annotated in Video

An in-depth look into Wes Anderson’s style and choices through the first few minutes of The Royal Tenenbaums. Some of the analysis is a little manufactured, but most of it is pretty interesting. Make sure to pause often. If you’re an Anderson fan, be sure to check out parts one, two, three, and four.

Great student project by Thomas Nilsson

The Loudness War Analyzed

The music industry makes records louder and louder and have pushed beyond reason in an effort to stand out amongst the rest of the radio. This drives me nuts. Every time I listen to a Lily Allen record, I can’t stand the fact that the drums are distorted to make a buck; and I particularly can’t stand the fact that the people who perpetuate this problem know about it, but deny that it’s a problem in the first place:

“Somebody told me about [people complaining that the Guitar Hero version of Death Magnetic sounds better]. Listen, what are you going to do?… …The Internet gives everybody a voice, and the Internet has a tendency to give the complainers a louder voice. Listen, I can’t keep up with this shit.” – Lars Ulrich

I don’t know how he can honestly mean that when they guy who mastered it is embarrassed to be associated with the album. Make sure to also check out the Wikipedia entry on this topic.

Fez

Ohhh! This looks fun…

LEBRON!

Lebron James may end up having the greatest basketball season in the history of the NBA this season. And the funny thing is, he’s still got flaws in his game: His post-up game; Spotty outside shot; Stands still and dribbles too much. I’m betting that he’s going to end up being the best player to ever play in the NBA. Case in point:

I guess Jimmy Kimmel is pretty good at it too…

Takeshi’s Challenge: The Meanest Video Game of All TIme

Back in 1986, actor/director Beat Takeshi, a man who doesn’t like video games, wanted to show people how foolish they were for liking video games by making the most annoying video game of all time for the Nintendo. For example: A level where you must sit in front of the TV and hold the select button for 60 minutes. Apparently it’s coming to the Japanese Virtual Console on the 31st of March.

In a similar vein, Penn & Teller created a video game for the SegaCD in which you must drive across the Nevada desert in real-time for 8 hours in order to get “1 point”. There’s a torrent available for the brave.

Concept for Energy Consumption Visualization on the iPhone

Dear Future, please make this for me. I just had a $600 energy bill and need your help.

Old Growth Media and the Future of News

After Clay Shirky’s great write-up on the death of the newspaper, Steven Berlin Johnson of outside.in wrote a nice peice on a posibility for the future of news. If only someone could figure out this investigative reporting and war correspondence problem…

Well thank all that is super for writer’s like this. This is one of the most concise and well said essays on class and poverty. It’s the type of thing that I wanna’ link to here so that I can just point people to that story instead of just being smart myself — the American way™.

I got stuck in the same way the other day when I was having a chatty-chat with someone regarding Kerry Vs. Bush Vs. Kucinich. She asked me what I had against Kerry; and even though I’ve read plenty about his voting record that I don’t think is perfect, I drew a blank. But I knew that I was a Kucinich fan (he’s vegan!).

She said, “Well, how about this metaphor: Your car (the economy) breaks down outside of town. Another dude (Kerry) in a car pulls up offering to fix your automobile, but you tell them no because you’re holding out for a guy (like Kucinich) to give you a fix AND a wax.” (Ed. note: She didn’t say “dude”. That was creative license at work. Also, she didn’t say anything in the previous parentheses, but man, they really make that metaphor clear.)

That got me thinking until someone else mentioned that the person who offered to fix the car would be using bubble-gum and toothpicks that wouldn’t last me the trip back to town. And that got me thinking about how I don’t want to get stuck again, ’cause I’d get hungry and probably try to eat the gum. And I hate gum.

But none of that matters, because by most accounts, Washington State is not a swing state. And it looks like it won’t be come November (What is the threshold for a swing state, anyways?). So I can vote for Kucinich and know that Bush will not carry Washington State. If I lived in Florida or Oregon, I’d have to re-evaluate my thoughts. But luckily I can vote outside of the shitty two-candidate system. I really hate the attitude that people are specifically voting for the lesser of two evils instead of voting for who they think is the right candidate.

Points on Kerry and Kucinich:

• Between 2001 and 2003, the Arab American Institute rating for Kerry went from a 75% rating to a 33% rating, while Kucinich has maintained a 100% rating.
• Kerry has a 63% rating from Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants while they gave Kucinich an 80% rating.
• Jews for Peace in Palestine and Israel gave Kerry a score of -1 while Kucinich grabbed a +3
• Kerry voted yes on the Patriot Act while Kucinich didn’t
• And the biggest point, Kerry voted for the Iraq War Resolution and Kucinich didn’t.
• One knock on Kucinich that I can’t ignore: Kucinich voted with National Abortion Reproductive Rights Action League 0% of the time through 2000-2002. In 2003, he does a 100% turnaround. Kerry voted with them 100% of the time.

Any glaring points I’m missing? Add ‘em in the comments…