March 2009 Archives

Book Review: A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, by David Foster Wallace

March 31, 2009

I first came across David Foster Wallace when I was working in the Processing department at the Monroe County Public Library, circa 1995. At the time, I was an undergrad and working part time putting barcodes on new library books, and checking them in to the library's computerized card catalog.... (read more)

World Builder: Stunning UI Video by Bruce Branit

March 30, 2009

World Builder is a fantastic video by Bruce Branit, featuring some pretty slick effect work. For anyone who's spent any time there, you may notice a lot of cues taken from the building tools available in Second Life. [via MetaFilter] // Edit: Wow, just checked out his show reel, and... (read more)

Butterflies for the Wedding

March 29, 2009

It's a big wedding weekend, apparently. Liz has been working on some decorations for the actual wedding ceremony site. She's got a ton of butterflies, each hanging from an individual strand of ribbon. Group shot. Detail shot of an individual butterfly. Related (somewhat): Butterflies @ The Peggy Notebaert Nature... (read more)

Earth Hour: An Hour Without Lights

March 28, 2009

Liz and I participated in Earth Hour tonight, and spent our time hanging out in the sunroom, drinking some wine and talking/planning about the wedding. As part of Earth Hour, we turned off all the lights in the apartment and lit up a bunch of candles. We enjoyed the... (read more)

Tapas with Stu @ Cafe Ba Ba Reeba

March 27, 2009

All this week Stu's been in town on a photoshoot for work. Today was his last day (after a pretty grueling, all-day session the day prior) and a bunch of us met up for dinner at Café Ba Ba Reeba. L to R it's Stu and Ben. Allison and... (read more)

Post-Work Poker: Texas Holdem and the Lord and Master Stein

It's been a long, long time since our last post-work poker game. Technically, Phil pointed out that this was our first game so far this year. Crazy. These are images from last night's get-together, after the work day. Joining for the first time were a few new faces. L... (read more)

Windshield Spam

March 26, 2009

On heading out to work this AM, Liz found a note attached to the windshield of my car. Looking up and down our street, all the other cars also had a similar note - a piece of paper, folded twice to resemble a square, tucked underneath each car's wiper... (read more)

NeoCube and BuckyBalls: Tiny Magnets, Huge Fun

March 25, 2009

For my birthday, Justin gave me an odd little thing called Neocube. Essentially, it's just an assortment of a bunch of tiny, powerful magnets. No fancy mechanical inner workings, no batteries - just a bunch of magnets. They're fantastic. There are a ton of different combinations you can make... (read more)

Twouble with Twitters

March 24, 2009

I've seen this link floating around for a while now, but never bothered to pursue it. I always figured it was some lame Twitter parody thing. Clicked on the link today, and while it is a send-up of Twitter... it's actually incredibly funny (and incredibly well done). Thanks, Chris! Extra... (read more)

The Horribly Slow Murderer with the Extremely Inefficient Weapon

I can't believe there's enough footage in this guy to last a full 10 minutes. There are maybe two kinda gross points (5:40 or so and 6:30)... but the rest of it is just fantastically silly. I tip my hat spoon to you, Richard Gale. [via MetaFilter]... (read more)

Brian Dettmer, Book Artist: Upcoming Show at Packer Schopf Gallery

March 23, 2009

I happened to see that BoingBoing mentioned Brian Dettmer recently, an artist who does a lot of great stuff with books/paper. The post also mentions that he's going to have some work displayed, right here in Chicago at the Packer Schopf Gallery next month (April 3 - May 9).... (read more)

Live Stage Version of Star Trek Episode: Spock's Brain

March 22, 2009

Using some sketches and a whole hell of a lot of persistence, Mike Carano convinced all the necessary Paramount studio execs (as well as Nimoy and Shatner) to let him stage a live version of the Star Trek episode Spock's Brain. The result? A whole lot of live action awesomeness.... (read more)

Liz Makes Macarons (Which Are NOT the Same as Macaroons)

Macarons (not to be confused with the Macaroon) are a French pastry made from egg whites, almond powder, icing and sugar. They are also incredibly, incredibly delicious. Liz has been wanting to make these for a while now, and has a plan to make them for the wedding. This weekend,... (read more)

Brunch at Justin's Apartment

March 21, 2009

The Galts were in town this weekend, visiting Chicago once again. And in looking things up, they were here exactly one month ago to the day! Last time, they were here for a coffee convention; this time around, it was for the International Home and Housewares show. They were planning... (read more)

Wedding Ceremony Recon: DePaul Student Center, Rooftop

March 20, 2009

Over lunch yesterday, Liz and I checked out a potential spot for our wedding ceremony. It was literally right across the street from where I work: the DePaul Student Center, located at State and Jackson. While we've scouted out a few places previously for the ceremony, most of them so... (read more)

Rabbits in Logan Square

March 19, 2009

Liz and I went out to eat at Lula's a few days ago, where we happened to serendiptiously run into Chris and Leslie. I think the run of warm weather has everyone out and about a little more. True with bunnies as it is with humans. On the walk home,... (read more)

A Photograph of Poop. And Poetry.

March 18, 2009

Yesterday I mentioned the Free Verse Photo Competition, a pretty great project that was started to help celebrate the upcoming National Poetry Month. I decided to join in the fun, and took a picture of poop. The line is from Maxine Kumin's The Excrement Poem - and definitely one... (read more)

A Man and His Tiger: Jackson Blue Line Stop, Chicago

Several times a week, at the Jackson Blue Line stop downtown, there are performers singing or playing instruments, entertaining the crowds to and from their way to work. I've seen Morris (found out his name today) many times, and even mentioned him here once before. While I have heard... (read more)

Free Verse Photo Competition - National Poetry Month, 2009

March 17, 2009

This photo by Flickr member ebrisson is one of the many submitted to the Free Verse Project, sponsored by the Academy of American Poets. April is National Poetry Month - and to play off of the new 2009 National Poetry Month Poster design, the Free Verse Project encourages people... (read more)

Stunning Images of Holi, The Festival of Colors

March 16, 2009

Holi (also known as the Festival of Colors) is an annual, Hindu spring festival. Participants in the festival throw colored water and powder on one another, and make for some incredibly rich images. Check out these amazing images of the event. I first heard of this festival from Justin,... (read more)

Flaming Lips: Cover of Madonna's "Borderline"

March 15, 2009

Ever since I first saw it mentioned on Coudal, I've been a little mesmerized with this Flaming Lips cover of Madonna's Borderline. Wish I could embed the video directly, and no luck tracking it down on YouTube. Related: Listening to the Flaming Lips' album "Zaireeka" Zaireeka, Revisited Jim's Birthday +... (read more)

Robert Sapolksy: Stanford Lecture on Primate Sexuality

March 14, 2009

Several years back, I posted an enry about Robert Sapolksy and raved about his lectures on stress. Before I get to his lecture on primate sexuality, I want to re-emphasize how wowed I was at his stress lectures, and how they drastically changed the way I look at my... (read more)

Death vs. Monsters: Flash Game with Kickin' Sound Track

March 13, 2009

Death vs. Monsters is a fast-paced, addictive little Flash game. This morning, I kept thinking I'd just play a little while... but eventually sank in a good amount of time, progressing through the "To-Do List." The controls are intuitive (although I have to confess I just dove in and... (read more)

Happy (Almost) Pi Day

While it's not quite Pi Day yet (3/14), I figured a reminder is still in order. Since this year's Pi Day falls on a Saturday, my guess is most people will be passing around links and such today (Friday). For those who may not have seen it, or for... (read more)

A Bicycle Built for 2,000: Global Voices Create Rendition of Daisy Bell Song

March 12, 2009

Bicycle Built for 2,000 is a great project by Aaron Koblin and Daniel Massey and the voice recordings of 2,088 strangers. Using Amazon's Mechanical Turk (a fascinating service that deserves its own blog entry), they were able to get people to record themselves singing bits of the song Daisy Bell... (read more)

Friends for Eight Years, Meeting for the First Time

March 11, 2009

I've known my friend Jay for many years now. We first met each other maybe 8 years or so ago, back in the days of an old (now-defunct) Flash forum called We're Here. This was WAY back in the day, circa 2001 or so, when there were really only a... (read more)

Balloons on BoingBoing!

March 10, 2009

Woohoo! On a whim, I sent in a link to the birthday balloon surprise, and got it picked up at BoingBoing. My day was already awesome as is. And seeing the link on the home page of BB was icing on the proverbial cake. With the upcoming Pi Day... (read more)

Awesome Birthday Surprise: My Office, Filled with Balloons

March 9, 2009

Today is my birthday. I turned 35. At work, we have a great policy where you can take a "birthday day" off, and it doesn't count against your vacation days. I was figuring on taking Friday off, as Mondays are usually busy with meetings and whatnot. This morning, on the... (read more)

Tow Truck Humor, and the Drive Back to Chicago

March 8, 2009

On the drive back from Indianapolis, we spotted this tow truck. It reminded me of the "Reapers Towing" business card I received, back when Liz's car was stolen... and then found again. Towing guys, it appears, have a bit more of a funnybone than I originally imagined. There were... (read more)

Celebrating My Mom's Birthday, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Indianapolis

March 7, 2009

Liz and I travelled back to Indy this weekend, to celebrate my mom's birthday. We all met up at Ruth's Chris Steak House for a pretty lengthy (and quite indulgent) meal together. Technically it was for my mom, but the timing worked out so that it was sort of... (read more)

"Imagine" Garden, Visible from the Blue Line at Western

March 6, 2009

This was spotted on the Blue Line, southbound, heading in to the city. I've seen it for a few months now, and the winter covered it in snow for a few weeks. But now that things are warm again, the "imagine" garden is now visible from the train. It's... (read more)

The Cult of Done Manifesto

March 5, 2009

There are three states of being. Not knowing, action and completion. Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done. There is no editing stage. Pretending you know what you're doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you... (read more)

Bizkit the Sleepwalking Dog

I think everyone's likely seen this by now, but I happened across this a day or two ago. It still cracks me up everytime I watch it...... (read more)

Thru-You: Fantastic Collection of YouTube Music Video Mashups by Kutiman

March 4, 2009

ThruYou is a site full of video mashups by Kutiman, an Isaeli funk musician and producer. At first, when I was reading about it on MetaFilter, I thought to myself "ok, sure, another mashup thingy." But after listening to his first video, The Mother of All Funk Chords, I... (read more)

James C. Kamin: Certified Public Accountant, Chicago

March 3, 2009

I was successfully ahead of the tax deadline this year, and met up with my accountant James Kamin tonight to get my taxes in order. I say accountant, but it's not like I've got tons of assets to manage - James is someone I see once a year to... (read more)

Making Homemade Vanilla Extract (with Vodka and Real Vanilla Beans)

March 2, 2009

Of the many things that we're doing currently for the wedding, this particular project probably smells the best. Liz is working on the "gifts" that we'll be giving each person, and came up with the idea of making our own vanilla extract. Over the weekend, the vanilla beans she ordered... (read more)

GE's Smart Grid: Fun with Webcams and Augmented Reality

March 1, 2009

This little effect dropped my jaw and blew me away. To experience this for yourself (and I highly recommend it), you'll need a few things: a web camera, a printer, and Flash Player 10. Visit GE's Plug Into the Smart Grid, and navigate to the digital hologram area. Then,... (read more)