onfocus

“I didn't know that Cheshire cats always grinned; in fact, I didn't know that cats COULD grin.” - Alice

Alfred E. Newman, Branded. [via Tom Tomorrow] (click 'Go directly to story' if you get a giant Flash ad.)

Found poetry.

To Be Remo ved

Where the message body contains 'to be removed' or 'to be unsubcribed' or 'to unsubscribe' or 'To remove' or 'unsubscribe at' or 'To be taken off' or 'Removal Instructions' or 'Removes email here' or '"REMOVE" in the subject line' or 'the word REMOVE' or 'To stop future mailings' or 'If you wish to be taken of our list' or 'To be deleted from our mailing list' or 'Opt-out' or 'To be remo ved' or 'delete from list' or 'List Removal' or 'OPT-OUT' or 'to be excluded' or 'To be taken out of our database' or 'stop sending you email' or 'to get removed' or 'REMOVE in the subject line' or 'to receive no further advertisements' or 'no longer wish to receive'
Delete it
    and Mark it as read

Adcritic.com was purchased by Advertising Age. [via Ev] I think it's fine that the site will be back, but will it really be critical now that it's owned by the advertising industry? Marketingspeak drips from that release (my emphasis):

AdCritic.com was founded in 1999 and led the advertising industry into the online world of downloadable video, building up a library of thousands of digitized ads and garnering favorable publicity among advertising fans worldwide.

Is there really such a thing as advertising fans? Are there people who just flip around TV watching the ads? Damn, it's all programs, where are the ads? I think much of what people enjoyed about the site was the critical side that its name implies. If this press release is any indication, the future of the newly marginalized Adcritic.com does not look bright.

On a related obvious note, we have to quickly find a way for independent sites to cover bandwidth costs, make some money, and stay independent.

With the sun in full force and a high of 71, it's going to be tough being inside staring at a monitor all day. Last night I went out to Armstrong Woods for a good hike and tried to remind my legs they exist. They weren't pleased.

It's worth repeating: The CBDTPA bill is bad news for you if you're not one of the six corporations that own and control most media. Dan Gillmore lays it out. He sums it up well, “Do you care if a few giant companies control virtually all entertainment and information?” Between this and the existing DMCA, our individual freedom of expression (and freedom to innovate) in America is being taken away piece by piece in exchange for securing future profits for large corporations. Copyright does not supercede freedom of speech in the constitution, though some paid-for Senators and Judges seem to think it does. Where is our freedom-of-speech champion on Capitol Hill?

EFF Action: Submit Comments Opposing Technology Mandates

Aaron captures the scene when Rob Zombie and VH1 descend on a record store in Lincoln, Nebraska. Rob Zombie and VH1? This is not your parents' VH1.

If you've been following weblog news, you know that google bombing is a hot topic. I didn't realize how hot until I saw the story Google Bombing Gives Weblogs New Influence in my local paper; written by a local writer. (Who also happens to be the editorial director of O'Reilly Network.)

Just watched the Academy awards and all I can say is Lord of the Rings: FOTR was robbed. But I was glad to see my picks for short films win.

blowback is real. [via MeFi]

This is the last picture from my Honda Civic Interface Macro Study that I'll post. It's back to cats after this.

Recipe for the ultimate MP3 mix. Ingredients: PJ Harvey - To Bring You My Love, Talking Heads - More Songs About Buildings and Food, Liz Phair - Whip-Smart, and Pixies - Come On Pilgrim. Preheat Winamp. Add albums. Randomize tracks. Enjoy. Loud.

Another 91 days have gone by and we're at the Vernal Equinox. Everything is in balance. I'm neither happy nor sad about it. (Now summer solstice on the other hand...that's the party event.) When I was a kid I used to try the equinox trick of balancing an egg on its end.

I stayed up way past my bedtime last night putting up this new design. It looks fine in IE 6 and Opera 6 but I haven't checked it out in any version of Netscape yet. I also haven't seen it on a Mac. But there isn't anything too tricky going on, so I imagine it's at least readable. If not, let me know. I still have some tweaking to do. And some pages still need to be moved over to the new look.

A nice side effect of chatting with people at sxsw is finding out about new music they're listening to. I'm now enjoying The Sunshine Fix (a new elephant six affiliate) and Prefuse 73. I know there are more artists I heard about that I want to check out and I'm racking my brain trying to remember them.

"Each of us is interested in himself whether he wishes it or not, whether he thinks himself important or not, and for the simple reason that each of us is both the subject and the protagonist of his own nontransferable life." - Jos

skp and I went out to Bodega Bay today (Saturday) and tried to stay warm in the chilly weather. I took a bunch of pictures, of course.

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This gallery has sound! Whenever you see that audio icon next to the gallery title there is a .wav file that I recorded when I took the picture. Click the icon to hear it. Four images in the gallery have sound. You've never heard running water, bells, and wind noise like this.

I really wasn't looking forward to flying. (It had been over a year since I'd flown last.) But it worked out well. The security was much more present, but not a hassle. All of my flights were on time (some early) and the skies were mostly clear. I might even do it again sometime. That said, there is something about it that just isn't natural. I shouldn't be able to see the shadows that clouds cast.

Here are 22 pictures I took in Austin during South by Southwest:

I'm at the Austin airport waiting for my flight to board. (Yep, more 802.11b. It's becoming pervasive.) I had a great time at sxsw, even though I didn't get to say hi (or bye) to everyone I wanted to. It's sometimes a tough event for an introvert like me, but it was fun. And it was great to talk shop with very smart people concerned about the same things I am. Also great to have a beer with them and not talk about web stuff. Web people are great people all around. I have lots of new ideas to digest.

A great image from the conference over at sxswblog. I'll try to get pictures I've taken up when I get home.

I'm posting from a panel at sxsw because I can. 802.11b is the best.

Got to hang out with my friend Erik the other day. Here's a pic with his son, Jack.

Did I get things wrapped up? Yes. As much as things are ever wrapped up.

Tomorrow morning I'm off to Austin. See ya tomorrow night, Erik! Oh, and there's something called South by Southwest going on. I'll see you there. (If you take notes at the conference, think about sharing them.)

Just found out on Erik's weblog that they shut down Waterloo Brewing Company. boo!

I know I'm stressing out about getting things wrapped up before my trip to Austin because it's affecting my dreams. Last night I had a dream that I was in Texas, flipping through a conference related magazine. I stopped at a glossy advertisement that was a bluish-gray iconic photo of a footprint on the moon. The ad copy said, "The next technology breakthrough will be like blogging on the moon." I have no idea what that means, but I like the sound of blogging on the moon.

[image from NASA]

I'm not a big fan of putting pictures of myself up here, but I figure what the hell. It didn't really fit into the design, but I put a picture on my about page. You may have seen me at another site from time to time too.

Last night skp and I saw all of the Academy Award nominated short films, both animated and live action. Somehow the independent theatre in Santa Rosa got a copy of them for a week. (They accompanied ads for the shorts with, "You have no idea how special you are!") The place was completely full, and the owner of the theatre came out and spoke before the show. He said this was the smallest town to get the print and it will be sent to LA after it shows here. It was so good. Much better than last year's nominated shorts that we saw after the Oscars. My choice for best live action is The Accountant, a 35 minute dark comedy about the state of agriculture culture in our country. And a 3 1/2 minute cartoon from Pixar, For the Birds, made me laugh until I cried.

It makes me wish theatres would play shorts before the main feature. There are some great things being done under 90 minutes.

If you haven't visited the page for the snapGallery script lately, quite a few people are using the script to post pictures. There are about 35 galleries in the news section; vacation photos, family photos, party photos, weird experiment photos, artistic photos, professional photos...well, you get the idea. photos.

I also put up a new snapGallery of photos from a walk yesterday.

This picture cracks me up. It looks like the bird on the left is going to say something to the bird on the right.