I must have been a little vague about future plans in my last post because I’ve had a couple of emails asking about whether I’ll still be blogging. Yes! Definitely, I will still be blogging.
If I’ve been a little quiet lately, it’s only because I’ve been really busy (you know, finding new health insurance and stuff). I’ll try to pick up again in the next little bit and thanks to those of you who asked. It’s always nice to be reminded that someone is listening!
As far as future plans go, I’ll still be working with WPF and Silverlight but doing freelance work now. Nerdplusart will always be home to my blog, labs, speaking notes, and anything else that I do with the community (which I hope is a lot). The freelance hub is pixellab.cc. I’ve hesitated to point anyone that way because I haven’t had a chance to put much on the site yet, but I’ll keep you posted as I do!
All that has made a hard decision even harder for me, but I’ve decided to leave IdentityMine and embark down my own path.
I know. What am I doing? IdentityMine has been amazing. It’s a great company where I’ve learned a lot and made life long fiends. I’ll really miss it.
On the other hand, venturing out on my own has been a life long ambition. So right now, I’m mostly just excited about a big challenge and a bet I’ve always wanted to make. Even though it’s not an easy decision, hopefully I’ve made a good one.
In the meantime, all my best to everyone at IdentityMine. Any good I do on my own is, in no small way, a reflection of all of you.
I rediscovered a classic this weekend. My brother was in town and we watched (a TV version) of The Royal Tenenbaums (it’s a classic, but not the classic I was referring to). Well, it reminded me of this incredible album (that one is the classic).
If you saw The Life Aquatic (a different Wes Anderson film, also a classic), then maybe you remember the guy singing David Bowie songs in Portuguese. Turns out he has a whole album. To call this album unlikely is an understatement: David Bowie classics, reinterpreted and sung in Portuguese by Seu Jorge to the accompaniment of his (awesome) nylon string guitar. It’s the best.
I think anybody could fall in love with this album. It’s quirky and beautiful (much like The Life Aquatic, the movie that launched the album). I dare say, however, that I love it more than you. Sorry, but I think its true.
Here’s why: 1) I speak Portuguese. If you don’t speak Portuguese too, well, I think I just won any potential battle we might have over who loves this album more. Sorry. If you do, we should conversar a little (I’d love a reason to go to Brazil!). These songs seem way too personal to just call them translations. Not sure if its a bias of the different language or if there really is a different meaning to the lyrics, but these songs (at least to me) are about Brazil, and 2) I used to live in Brazil.
Also, I happen to know that Seu Jorge had a tough life, but one that was typical in Brazil (at least when I was there in the late nineties). Read a fascinating interview with him here, and check out a translation of his version of Life on Mars here.
Oh, and not to judge an album by its cover, but…come on, with an album cover like that you know this is going to be good. Yeah, this is one worth owning.
I’ve been experimenting with particle generation a little bit over the weekend. I guess that if I were a gamer, particle effects may seem kind of ordinary. They’re first draft fodder for game guys. For me, though, there is still a lot of allure and new here.
The result: I’ve got myself a new effect crush. I still have a ways to go toward ideal implementation though. The basics seem to be there, it does emit particles after all. Most of the issues that I’ve been running into are related to performance. There really isn’t a “lightweight” way to generate all those particles, so I end up just creating hundreds of ellipses and moving them around the screen. Given what I’m doing, I think that Silverlight’s doing a pretty outstanding job keeping up…but I wish there were a lighter-weight way to handle these kinds of drawing operations. In WPF, I would override OnRender for the control and then just issue drawing commands.
Well, in the meantime, you can check out a full screen version of the demo or download the source. This isn’t final, though, so stay tuned for some updates. Planned changes may include: gravity, directional momentum, some simulated 3D, support for multiple colors and some more perf tweaking. You can, of course, always get the most current version from the labs page.
Finally, as always, if you do end up doing something with this I would really love to know about it. Please send email to hello@nerdplusart.com. Knowing that people use it is the fun part of putting stuff out there.
USA Today, eat your heart out! This is an incredibly beautiful animated short that depicts a 1969 interview between John Lennon and a young man who had snuck into his hotel room during John’s “bed-in” for peace phase. The animation has a unique stream of consciousness approach to illustrating the dialogue that puts it somewhere between cartoon and infographic. Notice the very sparse use of color (pink, brown) and incredible aesthetic throughout the whole piece. Also, note the very thoughtful graphics and how they cleverly enhance the meaning of the dialog.
Let’s face it readers, you and I are not jocks. I try to run two or three times a week. You like racquetball. Other than that, we’re not really sports people. Not sports people, that is, except when we catch some serious Olympics fever. And frankly, moments like this make Olympics fever unavoidable.
After you’ve made time for that (brought to you by Silverlight…yes!), take time to reflect on 84 years of Olympics logos. My undisputed favorite is Mexico 1968. I think that if you look long enough, it might be an optical illusion of some sort. Yup, there it is. I just got a flash of the word “Mexico.”
Beck is usually a little more hit than miss for me. This one is a hit. Even with the misses, I always respect his willing to explore new concepts and start from scratch. He’s a chameleon of sorts, he’s constantly reinventing his craft (both musically and as a performer). That can be dangerous ground as a musician. Inevitably you’re going to alienate someone and ,if undirected, exploration just comes off as fake or precious.
I choose to think that Beck is genuine in his curiosity, though, and I really admire it. It’s tough to jump grooves, but he seems to constantly pushing.
Well, either way, he has a new album and it might be his most accessible since O’delay. I’m a big fan. I think the critical reviews have been lukewarm to full on warm (but probably not hot), but it’s a great listen and if you’re looking for a way to cut your teeth on post-O’delay Beck then this is your chance because it’s all hooks. Also, that cover is great.
In my mind, there is an undeniable relationship between UI design and graphic design. They share a similar communication goal and are both concerned with things like layout, color, balance and type. Whenever I mention that, though, Nate is quick to remind me that, while interaction design may be the adoptive step child of graphic design, its flesh and blood is industrial design. In the spirit of that relationship, Dan Saffer has started cataloguing interaction inspirations from the real world. Feeling stumped about an interaction in the software you design? Find some inspiration at No Ideas But In Things.
…and why I just canceled cable. Well, that decision actually came before I saw this but it solidified my committment. Plus, I’ll always have youtube.
So I may be the last guy to this party, but if you haven’t heard Mr. Shirky speak then you’ve been missing out (like me). You can also see a fascinating discussion of his book about online group behavior and collaboration (Here Comes Everybody) here.
