NJS[BLOG]

Another sick day means a bit of web browsing. I found two particularly great posts without venturing any farther than Gizmodo today. The first is an unbearably adorable comic, originally from xkcd. Too cute for words. The second is a compelling collection of floppy disk-based paintings from artist Nick Gentry. Check out the images below or head over to either of the articles.

It seems that – at least according to Gizmodo’s Mark Wilson – my Apple tablet mouth-frothing might come to an end when my pre-ordered copy of Mass Effect 2 arrives tonight.

We shall see. Right after a trip out for birthday drinks with Karishka…

Installment #12:

What is it? antique Japanese vase

What’s its deal? inherited from my great grandmother when she died at just over 100

Where does it live? small bookcase between the living and dining rooms

Any notable facts? this vase is stamped “Nipon – 1906″ and originally lived in my great, great grandmother’s home on Mt. Washington, though no one ever knew for sure how it got there

Watch this intriguing interface evolution from 10/GUI:

10/GUI from C. Miller on Vimeo.

Please, please, please let this concept be a use of Apple’s iSlate/iPad/Tablet device next week, oh gods of technology.

I started out this evening by literally stopping what I was doing to look up more about Dan Black after seeing his video for “Symphonies” on NewNowNext Music. It’s below. You’ll see what I mean after you watch it:

Dan Black “Symphonies” from chic & artistic on Vimeo.

All the fantastic, stylized glamour of movie credits. Clever placement of lyrics within the on screen text. ¡Esplendido!

And then I found “Alone” while getting the embed code from Vimeo:

Dan Black Alone from chic & artistic on Vimeo.

A bit like Beck meets Fischerspooner as translated through a younger generation with a smaller budget and less serious intentions.

Which leads us to “Yours.” Watch now:

Yours – DAN BLACK from The Hours Entertainment on Vimeo.

Students: there is no reason you couldn’t be doing things like this. Please, do things like this. If you need someone that looks like Dan Brown to stand around in hipster clothes in your video, I’m game.

(The two “i” name is intentional.)

I have just recently been reminded (again) of the existence of Retro Thing. This time via Engadget’s posting of a vintage 1983 Sony CD stereo review. Not just a collection of funny old verbiage about dead and dying gizmos, there are also some really artsy and thought-provoking artifacts. Take this video of San Francisco from the 1958:

San Francisco 1958 from Jeff Altman on Vimeo.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that they are leading with an article with the Lego Architect Fallingwater set – which I may or may not have received for Xmas.

Kate today recommended to me a brand new webcomic by the name of Not So Distant. She had seen it on Aaron Diaz’s Dresden Codak, a not-often updated but sublime comic itself.

Here’s the first panel:

It’s a story about a young alien archaeologist studying the remains of a dead Earth. Or is he? I’m about halfway in right now, so there’s still some mysteries that I need to unravel. But it’s riveting and whimsical at the same time, so I’m hooked.

Luckily, we are only about 75 panels in, so it’s still possible to get caught up! I absolutely hate feeling like I’ll never be able to read the new installments because of an insurmountable backlog, so that certainly made getting into Not So Distant a lot more palatable to me.

Pop quiz: You are at a three way stop. There are no cars coming from the road on your right and one car waiting at the stop sign in front of you. From the opposite direction, you can see a car stopped at the opposing stop sign and a car behind it. The car in front of you goes. The car opposite it goes. You approach the stop sign. The car opposite you approaches the stop sign, left signal on. You begin to cross the intersection, going straight.

And so does the car signaling left.

What do you do?

Everywhere else in the world, you’d expect the other driver to stop and apologize for their faux-pas with a wave and a sheepish smile. In Chestertown, you get scowled at by a WASP-y old bitch in a black Mercedes who clearly thinks you should have given her the right of way.

This happens at least once a week.