Dead Wood of Colorado

Colorado was such a beautiful place.

MacBook Pro Unboxing

Apple is shipping their new MacBook Pros in white boxes this time around.

Gone are the Styrofoam packing plates of yesterday, now upon opening the box, we are greeted with a pretty new laptop.

It's always important to note that the product is designed in California, even though it's most likely built in Southeast Asia from parts manufactured worldwide.

Pulling up on the "Designed in California" tab reveals the extras in the box.

Inside is our charger, and a rectangular package.

What a surprise! We have Everything Mac, and Everything Else.

Apparently "Everything Else" contains our Software Restore CDs, some warranty information, and two more Apple Stickers (at this point I could probably cover the back window of my Prius left to right with these things and be the ultimate white person cliche.)

No turning back at this point. We've already removed her from the packaging, now it's time to break her seal. Goodbye virgin laptop.

The entire computer is wrapped in a thin layer of plastic. Time to peel it away and open this beast up.

Here she is in all her glory! All the ports are on the left side of the body now, and the SuperDrive is no longer front-loading, but has been relocated to the right side. Notice the nice thick black border around the display.

The black keyboard is a nice touch, wouldn't you say? I like the letter 'Z'.

And just for fun, the first Apple screen.

The $2000 Bottle of $10 Wine

So I spilled some wine into my MacBook Pro and fried it...badly. Fortunately, Apple released their new MacBook Pro's the next day, priced only a few hundred dollars over the repair bill for an older model. Voila.

I think my new friend and I are going to get along just fine.

As you can see, the new MacBook Pro design takes cues from the wildly successful iPhone. Covering the display in glass, and framing it with a black border, rather than a metal frame really seems to open up the frame more. The glass trackpad barely feels like glass, and the multitouch interface (though not a new feature, only a newly marketed feature) certainly has potential, though its uses are currently limited (which is exactly what I wrote about when I got my Early-2008 MacBook Pro.

Is Apple going to alienate the elite by giving the entry-level MacBook the same design as the über-powerful MacBook Pro? I don't care, really.

A Momentary Setback

So last night I spilled a glass of wine into my MacBook Pro. Apple, being the terribly evil corporation that it is, has told me that regardless of the amount of damage done, it will cost me a cool $1240 to fix. Even though they are likely going to be releasing new MacBook Pros today, and will need to eliminate their backstock anyways.

This marks the first time I haven't been 'creative' in my attempts at getting Apple to service my computers, and was instead completely straightforward in saying "I screwed up, please fix it."

In this case, I'm not so sure honesty is the best policy.

Sons & Daughters of Quiet Minds

While searching for the teaser for the Stars of the Lid movie, I came across some fanmade original shorts to SOTL's music. This is is called Sons & Daughters of Quiet Minds.

Stars of the Lid Film Teaser 1

Stars of the Lid . teaser 1 from ZF-Films on Vimeo.


So apparently Austin-based Stars of the Lid are going to be releasing a feature length film. I don't know what else to show you besides this teaser, but I'm sure my mind will be blown when it arrives.

I'd Like to Swallow the Sun Again

If there was one thing about Dallas I had to HATE, it would be the lack of interesting geography. More than anything, I'd like a place to go hiking, to disappear into the trees for a few hours at a time. But I haven't found anyplace like that yet, and I certainly haven't seen any mountains, either.


Side rant: Any artist bio that stars with "Since a young age..." has already lost my attention at that point.

That Was The Night That We Launched The Dream Weapon

One of my earliest stabs at photomanipulation. Circa 2004? I'm not terribly fond of it, but it's one of the few surviving pieces. Gotta love hard drive failure!

Difficulty Mounting

This photo was shot using a Nikon 50mm f/1.8 on a Canon EOS 40D.

The camera didn't even think there was a lens attached. The mounts don't fit together.

But I still managed to get a decent shot by holding the lens up to the camera, manually focusing the lens, and choosing a shutter speed to match the low aperture of the wide open detached lens.

You Can't Spell "Nano-Nucleonic Cyborg Summoning" without "Gay Bro"

Intertextuality

Keep your intertextuality out of my bed please.

The Social Music Revolution

last.fm

Where do I even begin? This is one of the most incredibly useful sites in the history of the internet. At least it is for music geeks such as myself. It's like social networking with a purpose, a theme, a reason.

Last.fm invites you to install any of a variety of official or third-party software to your computer or iPhone, which will then track the music you've been listening to in the player of your choice (iTunes, Windows Media, etc.). The method it uses to track what you've been listening to and submit it to its database is called "Scrobbling".

Now, scrobbling may sound like some Big Brother crap, but I assure you, it's not. Last.fm makes the user his or her very own hit parade, learns what you like and what you don't like, and makes recommendations of other artists you might like, based on that.

To top it all off, they even give you your very own personalized radio station, tailored to what you already like, what it thinks you might like, and what people with similar taste to you like.

I am a complete last.fm junkie. This site gets way more attention from me than facebook, or anything of the sort.

Want to see what I've been listening to? Tune In.

Bloom

Brian Eno needs no introduction. The guy coined the term 'ambient music'. He is the embodiment of artful calmness. Just listen to Music for Airports and you'll understand what I mean.

So I was getting pretty sick of this overhyped, underperforming, incredibly well marketed device known as the iPhone. You may have heard of it. Then out of nowhere, discover this gem...

Bloom.

An application designed by Brian Eno, Bloom is "generative music software". The idea of Bloom begins with one of 9 moods (which are really just scales). An ambient drone plays in the background, and as the user touches the screen of their iPhone (or iTouch), a note in the (randomly) selected scale is played. The note is then repeated at a fixed interval (which is user-adjustable), accompanied by any other notes that the user decides to play.

Each note is accompanied by a bubble that forms around your fingertip upon playing it. The bubbles fade out, as does each note.

To put it simply, Bloom does nothing more than create an undefined 2 dimensional matrix in which the user can play notes, loop/decay each note in the selected scale, and provide a simple visualizer to go with the sound.

And it is damn good.

Seldon Hunt

What a master of his trade Seldon Hunt is. Popularized by the album covers he's designed for the likes of Neurosis, Darkthrone and Nadja, Seldon has made a decent name for himself. His über-intricate illustrator work takes symmetry to another level.

When Seldon is commissioned for new artwork, album art, posters, t-shirts... a buzz soon follows.

The guy is a master of color & mood...and he has an excellent eye for capturing the innate beauty of tree branches.

Talk about a dream job.

18 In One

Meet Dr. Bronner. He is the genius behind Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps All-One!

What a perfect madman.

If you've ever seen a bottle of his liquid soap, you'll know what I'm taking about.

The bottle is covered with his philosophies, theories of oneness, and reference to deities here an there.

The actual ingredients are something like peppermint, hemp seed oil, and something else I will just assume is made through black magic of some sort.

The best part? His soap has 18 uses:

facial cleanser
liquid hand soap
bodywash
bubble bath
shampoo
shaving cream
toothpaste
mouthwash
denture cleaner
mint deodorant
massage oil
baby oil
sun tan oil
toilet cleaner
car cleaner
laundry soap
dishwashing liquid
pet cleaning



What do you use your soap for?

The Familar Glow of

Cooking Creativity. I like to eat at Buzz Brews. Sometimes the manager throws a bunch of crap together randomly and calls it a "Special". Sometimes it's good. Look at those nice lights Buzz Brews has to offer.

Say Hello to Diana

Lightweight, fair skinned, and plastic.

This is Diana. She's a toy camera. Even with all the splendor of Canon, Nikon, DSLRs and 35mm cameras, I'm still drawn to this plastic toy 120mm camera. Dianas (along with another popular toy camera, the Holga) are popular for their light leaks, soft focus, plastic lenses, and "dreamlike qualities". This is what Lomography's marketing team would have you think, but the truth of it is, it's a pretty crappy toy camera that comes up with some very interesting results. I just bought mine today and I've had trouble finding 120mm film this afternoon, so I have no samples up yet. But here's a few shots of the camera itself.