Junk Drawer

fuckyeahmarvel: A reblog of PURE AWESOME.

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 23:58:18 -0600

A reblog of PURE AWESOME.

jakelodwick: Here is a beautiful cover of Kanye West’s Can’t...

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:24:00 -0600

Here is a beautiful cover of Kanye West’s Can’t Tell Me Nothing, performed by Francis and the Lights.

You can download all of Francis’s music in one big zip file for the next 14 days.

Another great Kanye cover.

Get $3 in MP3s at the Amazon MP3 store for free

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:19:18 -0600

Get $3 in MP3s at the Amazon MP3 store for free:

danhacker:

Just follow the easy instructions to get a $3 credit at the Amazon MP3 store.

Easy Peasy, Lemon Squeezy!

Objectified on PBS

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:12:32 -0600

Objectified on PBS:

Objectified will be airing on IndpendentLens on PBS starting tonight November 24, 2009.

via kottke.org

klag: Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely: All-Star...

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:46:32 -0600

klag:

Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely: All-Star Superman

“Many of the best superhero comics of the ’00s spent time exploring what made us fall in love with superheroes in the first place. After the grimy, gritty, highly muscled ’90s, writers like Mark Waid, Geoff Johns, and others put a modern spin on the story-driven ’50s and ’60s Silver Age. Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s All-Star Supermantakes the notion to an extreme, dropping the emotionally fragile Superman from the early-’60s stories of Jerry Siegel and Otto Binder into the body of a friendly god. Given a year to live in the first issue, Superman spends the rest of the series’ 12-issue run trying to set his life in order. In the process, Morrison puts a fresh spin on old Superman ideas—Bizarro, Jimmy Olsen’s monstrous transformations—and introduces some of his own, including a story in which Superman is secretly responsible for the world you’re living in right now. It’s enough to send even the most jaded comics fan outside to look up in the sky.”

This series was great and caused me to forgive Morrison & Quitely for New X-Men.

comicbooks: Sarah Palin as Blunder Woman in MAD Magazine with...

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:33:59 -0600

comicbooks:

Sarah Palin as Blunder Woman in MAD Magazine with art by J. Scott Campbell

Palin = a very sad Batman facepalm:

Like something's trying to get out

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:41:49 -0600

I used to draw okay. But I think a piece of my soul got crushed in Drawing 101 with my fellow cohort, who was supposed to be one of the best classes to come through my uni. My teacher used to cut me some slack, because I was the computer science major with the sloppy, rough renderings. Maybe he thought I was usually precise, and just experimenting. I don’t draw so much now, and I hate diagramming for technical writing because it never comes out right.

Sometimes I have this urge to draw, but when I pick a pen or pencil or open a sketch app I make marks and I don’t know where to go next. I see forms, lines, curves and compositions in my head, but my hand isn’t cooperating. My brain doesn’t know how to tell it what to do.

You ever feel the urgency to create something, but can’t muster the patience or focus to pull it out of you?

A Holistic Approach to Teaching

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:16:26 -0600

misterjt:

BASICS are the beginning.

REPEAT yourself often.

AVOID creating desperation.

INSPIRE with examples.

NEVER forget to repeat yourself.

—John Maeda, The Laws of Simplicity.

and I’d add that this is a good approach to business communication, overall. — misterjt

danhacker: New “Siege” Teaser Marvel has released another new...

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:21:08 -0600

danhacker:

New “Siege” Teaser

Marvel has released another new Spiderman-centric teaser image for their upcoming “Siege” event. Considering all of the crap Peter Parker has been put through by Norman Osborn, maybe he’ll finally do what he should have done years ago and put Norman down once and for all.

I know Spiderman isn’t a killer, but how many friends, family and girlfriends has Peter lost to Norman. He should kill him, or at least have it seem like he did, and have to deal with what comes with that. It’s only logical at this point in the Spiderman mythos.

Yeah, but it was also logical to let Aunt May die and not do a deal with the devil. I can’t say I rooting for Pete to off Norman, actually I’m against it; but they’re gonna do what they want to do. Whether the fans like or not, and whether it’s in-character or not.

"I think that we are necessarily moving toward a geek culture. The health of our society is going to..."

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:58:20 -0600

“

I think that we are necessarily moving toward a geek culture. The health of our society is going to rely on information technology. It’s going to rely on a familiarity with math and science and technology. Geekery in general is founded on questioning and proof via analysis of the actual world and not the world as we wish it to be. By contrast, jockdom — not sports — jock culture proceeds from a certainty you create in your mind: ‘My town is the best because the incredibly wealthy owners decided to keep the team for now.’ Or, ‘My political team is the best because it was my dad’s and they best stoke my primitive fears,’ as opposed to ‘They have the best policies for me and my family.’

Jockdom is very noble. It’s not deliberative. It’s certainly the best way to win wars. It’s the best way to motivate teams of people to fulfill a goal — not just war, but getting things done. The most important way to motivate a factory floor. But as you know, we’re not as much of a manufacturing society as we were before. China and other big industrial nations are rewarding their nerds and technicians rather than creating a culture that makes fun of them — it would be wise for us to embrace the book-smart as much as our culture has traditionally embraced the street-smart, the jock-smart. I’m not saying nerds must have their revenge; I’m just saying the time for wedgies is at an end.

”

- john hodgman (via nomcakes) (via thisboyisexhausted) (via nattles) (via superamit) (via rafer) (via fred-wilson)

danhacker: New “Siege” teaser Looks like Wolverine will...

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:34:18 -0600

danhacker:

New “Siege” teaser

Looks like Wolverine will finally unmask his annoying brat of a son and let the world know that he’s the “real” Wolverine.

Oh snap! Logan watch out for that Murasma claw.

Freshballs: Is this real?

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:54:00 -0600

Freshballs: Is this real?:

If it is, they should get some kinda Nobel prize.

via reddit

robotonic: Wolverine vs. Hulk - Motion Comics not crazy about...

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:58:35 -0600

robotonic:

Wolverine vs. Hulk - Motion Comics

not crazy about motion comics, but this is probably the best I’ve seen, probably because it more animated. Motion comics just feel like a horseless carriage; either it’s a comic or it’s animation.

Typography on Twitter

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:24:38 -0600

Typography on Twitter:

matthewb:

Jon Phillips of Spyre Studios has compiled a list of more than 80 Twitter accounts related to typography in its many forms. My thanks to him for including my Nice Type account! Here’s the ready-to-follow version using Twitter’s new Lists feature.

"Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination...."

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:18:54 -0600

“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photos, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery—celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: ‘It’s not where you take things from—it’s where you take them to.”

- Jim Jarmusch on Creativity. via Max Kiesler - Designer (via roomthily)

Finding and Losing Purpose

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:54:12 -0500

I often wake up with some sense of purpose and drive. At the least, I feel like I have to come up with something to try to redeem all the time I pissed away on yesterday. And I usually come up with something that if accomplished would count for a productive day. But by the time I make it to the office, I’m like, “Now what did I get up to do today?” I’m thinking this while sifting through my infinite inboxes (email, RSS feeds, Tumblr dashboards, favorite websites) like I’m gonna find the rewarding feeling of accomplishment and relief that all the stuff I really want to get done is done.

You’d think it would be a simple as writing it down, but sometimes the clarity of purpose feels lost as soon as I pick up a pen. And I just want to get on with the day, get some notches on my belt. So I don’t take the time to clear out the mental cruft and be definite. And so I usually meander the whole day.

But no more. I can’t do all the huge, nebulous projects before me right now, but I can take one step to complete one step right now. I can’t break all my bad habits all at once, but I can restrain for one day or for one hour or for one minute. I choose to believe that I can continue moving in the direction of the real me, the me I want to be, one step at a time.

D’angelo & Erykah - Your Precious Love

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:20:58 -0500

D’angelo & Erykah - Your Precious Love

comicbooks: Marvel Comics are now on the iPhone AND iPod Touch...

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:09:00 -0500

comicbooks:

Marvel Comics are now on the iPhone AND iPod Touch via comiXology.com

$2 an issue is way too steep, especially for back issues.

My Dissertation 100 Hours at a Time

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:51:04 -0500

A while back I wrote about several 100 hour projects I would to do at some point to basically be a happier person. I just wondered how I could start given the black hole of time and effort I’ve believed my dissertation to be. I’ve been psyching myself out with self- talk like: “I hafta finish my phd” “I don’t have time to do anything but this dissertation.” “I won’t have much time for eating well, adequate sleep or quality time with family.” But none of that is true. I wish I’d realized that years ago. I might have been finished and a much better person. And while life has been good these last few years I would’ve have had the good sense to cherish it and be in the here and now instead of regretting the past and dreading or daydreaming of the future.

But life is about learning and growing and this time is helping me to identify things to improve my character. I have new perspectives on life that I could not imagine gaining had I not gone about my graduate studies that way I have.

I’m almost finished listening to “The Now Habit” on Audible. My main takeaway so far is that I can a live a fuller life right now and still make time to do this very hard thing. There will be more to come on this, but this is a good start I hope. And that’s what counts, that you keep starting until it’s good enough.

Revealing Mac OS X's Hidden Single-Application Mode

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:49:28 -0500

Revealing Mac OS X's Hidden Single-Application Mode:

minorjive:

(via hiten)

Cool, trying it now. This should help with singletasking.