May 2002 Archives

I'm taking a mini-hiatus from this site...basically, I'm not going to be updating daily (it's not like I have been anyways...) I've got finals coming up, with the subsequent jump in workload, so I'm going to reduce my time online to maximize study time.


But that's only part of my motivation. In truth, I'm kinda of creatively drained. You may have noticed that my last couple entries have been nothing more than link dumps...I can't seem to find anything to write about, and I don't really have the time to do anything graphically. I'm actually bursting with ideas, but for most of them, I lack either the time or the talent to carry them through. To me, execution is as important a part of creativity as innovation. So I think I'm going to take time off to spend drawing, taking photographs, writing...just getting those creative juices flowing. I have started hybrid, but I'm not sure about where to take it at this point.


In the meantime, check out jannie's site.

ryan put up the new temp layout I made for him. yay! I kinda bugged him about it a lot though...sorry, dude. The site illustrates some of the ways my style has changed recently: although still simple, I'm not as averse to using graphics as I once was. It also shows my commitment to web standards: the site is valid HTML 4.01 Transitional. So is the stylesheet (a first for me). Enjoy it while it's up...ryan's working on a new design, and it'll blow mine out of the water.


I moved brian's site over to my "Daily Visits" drop down...realm3 just has this way of growing on you. *grin*


pixelfreak: nifty site. his pixel house is incredibly complex.


dj designs: randomly found this site, and it turns out this is the guy who designed the winamp skin I use. cool. His graphic design work is stunning.


clearbolt redesigned, adding support to my prediction several months ago that simple, minimalistic design would replace the slew of abstract 3d shapes we saw in 2001. I think I can start pointing out another trend: the growing use of neutral colors and lighter hues.


Random thought: Miles Davis is cool.

the d/votional project is down. Wonder why. Still, it WAS kinda nice to see the site listed on the MSN Search page. Took a little work to get it listed there, but it sure was worth it.


Even though I never met him, and we missed crossing paths by about 3 years, I feel a special connection to Dan Eldon, a young Reuters photographer murdered by an angry Somali mob in 1993. We both attended the same school, the International School of Kenya, and we both shared a love for the beauty of Kenya. The school and the country had a huge influence on both of our lives. His journals are now available online, revealing a talented photographer and artist.


imagery explosive: wow. ken: master of vector art, general graphic design wiz. This guy's stuff is amazing.


Hmm...looks like the d/votional project is back up.

School's keeping me busy, busy, busy, so updates will be scarce.


I'm starting to get into jazz, especially when driving. I'm developing a soft spot for Dave Brubeck and Miles Davis, but in general, I have a very poor education in this particular musical genre. If you can recommend some good CDs, please leave me some comments!


Amara's the first Canadian to sign my guestmap! yay!


Poor Sony. Apparently, their "copy-proof" CDs aren't very, well, copy-proof.


Stephen Jay Gould has died. Gould was probably the best known proponent of evolution, as well as a vocal opponent of the Biblical account of creation.


Dave Mill nearly died attempting to be the first man to reach the North Pole solo. His site features a diary he kept chronicling his adventure. The entry for May 18, 2002 is quite compelling, as he faced the possibility of being permanently trapped on an ice floe. The way he guided his rescue party is even more compelling.


Jennifer Gergen is an extremely talented 20-year old designer with a gorgeous site. What's most impressive about her is that her talent clearly extends beyond web design.


Pixel Ranger. Awesome Flash work. Inspirational site.


Hmmm...wish I had more to talk about than simply links.

Gonna be doing a whole lotta homework this weekend...school ends in a month, and I can definitely feel the pressure mounting. Gonna start killing time spent online. Honest, I will.


elysium73 and halovision have both updated. nice stuff.


ingen is really weird.


Designed a new temporary layout for ryan. Should be up in within in the week. It seems like I'm easing up a wee bit in my minimalistic design philosophy...though still simple, the new design for Ryan's site has more graphics than I typically use.

I'm not the sort of person to give "this is what happened today" kinda entries, but I just saw the very first screening of Star Wars...the midnight opening day one.


Wow. Wow wow wow wow wow.


Got in line around 9:50pm...there was already a queue, but the movie was showing on 3 screens so I somehow scored good seats. A lot fewer dressed up people than I anticipated, but a lot more alcohol, too. *hmph*


They opened the theater around 10:15pm, and everyone basically chilled for 2 hours...kinda boring. Then the lights dimmed, and the audience started cheering. They cheered for each preview (even "Like Mike"). There were also a handful of smart comments throughout the movie...these are Star Wars fans after all. Still, none were too bad and people took them in good cheer.


Without revealing too much for all of you who haven't seen it...


Hayden Christensen does an admirable job. Not flawless, mind you, but he was the only actor in the whole film who could silence our rather raucous audience. I personally believe that the kid who played Anakin, coupled with horrid dialogue, is what sank the Phantom Menace...I could even tolerate Jar Jar. Lucas bounced back with an excellent actor and much improved dialogue.


The script is better than Phantom Menace. It wouldn't be Star Wars without corny lines, but overall it's much better. Some of the jokes are hilarious. Pay attention to the dialogue. Watch the plot, too...the full complexity doesn't sink in right away.


The cinematography breaks slightly from tradition. I'm worried about giving away too much, but rest assured that some sequences don't "feel" like Star Wars. *goes to look up director* Lucas did? I'm impressed.


Although 'Nsync apparently made the final cut, I didn't see them (then again, I forgot to look after a while...).


This movie has a lot of good lines, but Samuel L. Jackson has by far the best. Of course I'm not gonna say what it is.


And one teeny-weeny spoiler (highlight to read): One word: Yoda. End spoiler.


Alright. It's my bed time. Overall evaluation: this film is classic. The improvements over Phantom Menace are twofold. On one hand, it is more entertaining: better dialogue, better action sequences, better jokes. On the other hand, it is more mature: brooding, complex, suggestive. Anakin's grown up; it looks like Star Wars has, too.

I don't know. Maybe this particular issue isn't as clear as I seem to think it is. Maybe I am being unreasonable. Perhaps I should break it down into understandable language.


The item circled in red below is called a turn signal stalk.





It is located to the left and behind the steering wheel in most American automobiles. Consult your car's Owner's Manual to correctly identify where your turn signal stalk is located.


When manipulated, the turn signal stalk causes the turn signals (items circled in image below) to blink. Generally, pressing down causes the left turn signals to blink; pushing up causes the right turn signals to blink. Again, consult your car's Owner's Manual for specific details.





Typically, one would want one's turn signals to blink before


a) making a turn at an intersection, or


b) changing lanes.


Doing so alerts other drivers on the road (especially anyone behind you), that you will soon change speed and/or direction, allowing them to respond accordingly and in a timely fashion. Not only is this a safety issue, it is a common courtesy.


There are no exceptions to this requirement. Perhaps I should repeat that.

There are NO EXCEPTIONS to this requirement.

reb's blog entry for Mother's Day is something special. Go read it and remember to appreciate your mother.


Something I've been meaning to get around to...a few weeks ago, I decided not to delete any spam I get in my Hotmail account for a 24-hour period. When time was up, I had 36 unsolicited messages totaling 189 KB of unwanted mail. This isn't including some junk that I HAVE signed up for (even though I usually delete it on the spot). Furthermore, it was enough mail to take me over Hotmail's 2MB account size limit, so there may have been more spam that bounced back.


Now, let's do a little math...


Assuming I get, say, twice the average amount of spam for a typical Hotmail user (which doesn't sound unreasonable), that would be approximately 85Kb per person per day. Multiply that by 40 million Hotmail users, and we get 3.6 Terrabytes (~3600 Gigabytes) worth of spam daily. Assuming that bandwidth costs, oh, $10 per Gigabyte, this means Hotmail alone loses around $1.3 million annually ($36,000 daily) from spam. One can only imagine what the total cost is if we do the math for all e-mail users.

In my right hand, I cradle my mouse, my finger poised on the button. If I click, I'll start downloading a bootleg copy of Episode II.


In my left hand, I hold a ticket to the 12:01 AM showing of Star Wars on May 16th. Opening Day.


Decisions...


Actually, no decision really. Grainy, dark picture quality, in a tiny little window with sound through my computer's speakers versus widescreen with digital surround sound and hundreds of way-too-eager fans? Is this even a choice?



Which Colossal Death Robot Are You?


It's Champ! Vermont's own Loch Ness monster! I grew up on that lake...always freaked out about the stories. I learned how to swim in Lake Champlain, and my imagination would feel something slip by my leg. I always stayed close to shore and made sure I could touch bottom with my feet if I needed to.

Oops.


I Am Always Hungry. Are you? Hehe...personally, I think this is the best-looking site to come out of the May 1st Reboot.

For some reason, I forgot to add Brian's site, realm3, to my links. You can find him under Linkathon (though his site is creeping toward "daily" status...). Also along the lines of site maintenance, I've updated the current song to "Banditos" by The Refreshments.


Crystal updated her site. Go check it out!


Ray of Light, one of the sites that first got me interested in web design, has had its first major update in 3 or 4 years. It's only a beta, but it's definitely gorgeous.


Figure I should say something about the web designer lunch last Friday...a bunch of UCD web peeps (Liz, Jennie, Ryan, Crystal, and Angela) got together at Hoa Viet for lunch. It was...awkward. Everyone seemed to want to talk, but no one really knew what to say. O_o So we all stared in silence at the leafy stuff that comes with pho. Oh well. It was fun when we were talking, and the food was good.


I kinda scared Angela, too...sometimes when I'm not paying attention, I refer to my students at work as my "kids." So when I mentioned that I needed to "check on my kid," she gave me a funny look before I explained what I meant. hehe...


weee...got this in the mail today! I'm kinda reluctant to break the plastic wrap seal...

Did a little long-overdue site maintenance today, updating the link drop-downs:


New Daily Visits


isarah


this if...


stereotypography


zeldman


New Weekly Visits


jerry lin


New in the Linkathon


revelationrebirth


2advanced


Other link-ups: debbie's site is gorgeous. Left Corner Designs is the best-looking XHTML Strict site I've ever seen. It's nice to see some variation in standards-compliant design. Sarah signed my guestmap. Thanks!


Hmmm...Sarah signs my guestmap and I plug her site. Maybe if you sign my guestmap... ;)


Addendum: Along the lines of that last line, I didn't originally link solid when he signed my guestbook becuase, frankly, I wasn't too impressed with his site. Just a little chat box thingy...probably took a lot of work, but nothing too special. But, after checking back, I realized that that "chat box thingy" was actually a unique navigation system...you type in what you want to see, it shows you. Really cool concept, really cool site.

Thanks for all the nice comments on Coming of Age. How about leaving comments, or signing my guestmap? A ton of people have visited my site since I relaunched Wednesday, and I'm sure it's just not the same 3 or 4 people. Because if it is, that's really kinda scary. O_o


Just spent some time checking out Jerry Lin's site at a more in-depth level, and...wow. This guy is amazing. If you didn't check it out last time I linked him up, go now.


So, if anyone didn't know, MTV, that colossal icon of pop culture, is filming their latest Reality TV show, Sorority Life, here in quiet, unassuming (college students translate: boring) Davis, California. That's right. A sorority at my beloved University of California, Davis will be featured in a "reality" TV series a la The Real World. They're filming now, and will tentatively air the series this summer.


Reality? You've gotta be kidding me. When 20,000 people know MTV is on campus, they're more than a little self-conscious. The sorority, which was small and having trouble getting people to rush, had 20 pledges once news got out that MTV would be filming the pledging process. Apparently, cover charges at local clubs (both of them...hehe) are going up since people are packing them in hopes of being in the background for some random shot. There's a rumor going around that MTV bought a house specifically for the pledges, with different rooms painted different colors, and all furnished by IKEA.


I saw some of the film crews going around during Picnic Day. They look exactly like what you'd think MTV employees would look like: young, good-looking, and wearing trendy clothes. They looked like runway models with cameras and boom mikes. It was also kind of surreal when my friend's hiphop troupe performed on the mainstage, and then had to sign releases with MTV so their performance could be aired. I saw another film crew Wednesday night after Grace Alive!...they were following a trio of girls through the parking lot at Safeway. It was kind of funny actually...this blonde girl (probably a pledge) was the center of attention, and you could just tell she was loving it, with this MTV camera person scurrying after her, camera in one hand and light in the other, trying not to draw attention to herself. They hopped into what looked like a brand-spanking new silver Volkswagen Jetta (reality...?), and the blonde girl's two friends knew instinctively that she got to drive and camera person gets shotgun. I wonder if I got in that shot...

So I was sitting on my computer slightly past midnight, finishing up some homework, when I realized "Today is May 1st. I'm supposed to be back!" Doh.


So I guess I am. Which is good, because I've been sitting on a bunch of links to share for a while now.


As promised, no redesign. I hope no one was expecting one.


Jerry Lin: Fellow Aggie. Found his site randomly through Google. He's an excellent writer, and his site has enough interesting content to keep you busy for a while.


meeow: Not much to say about Zoe's site, other than the fact that it's cute and pink. I usually don't like cute and pink sites, but Zoe's graphic design skills caught my eye. Unfortunately, her blog was down when I linked the site, so I can't say much about content. Still, it sure looks nice.


Ian Cheng: Wow...this guy is a Flash master, and he's only 17. His site showcases some expert use of Actionscript, not to mention a keen sense of aesthetics. I'm impressed.


Work from "Home": One man's quest to figure out what all those ugly signs plastered on telephone poles are all about. Quite a fascinating investigation.


"Kung fu spirit runs deep in Madagascar": BBC article about my home country. Made me laugh.


Reflektions v.6 - La Traviata Fascinating site based on backwards navigation—you proceed by clicking the Back button on your browser. Even without that nifty feature, the site has an interactive opera theme that by itself merits attention.


www.We Made Out in a Tree and This Old Guy Sat and Watched Us.com: Long name for a hilarious site. The creators of the site collect "odd quotes, strange statements, bad writing and other oddities of the English language."


ascensiongrafxx: Found this guy as a referrer to the d/votional project via Google. He also linked up TheThousand.net and dvotional.com over at Intervarsity Christian Fellowship at Frostburg State. His graphic design skills are really amazing, and his purpose and resolve even more admirable: "I believe it to be my calling to use my gifts to help others use there gifts." To this end, he helps churches and various ministries by making websites for free, while giving all the glory to God. Praise God!


Last, but definitely not least, Liz, Jennie, Reb, and Susan all pulled off redesigns while I was away. Cool!