favorite (huh?) albums

I love music. I love just slightly obscure music. Here are some of my favorites. What are yours? Favorite albums that no one’s heard of?

Propellerheads – Decksanddrumsandrockandroll
Massive Attack – Mezzanine
BT – This Binary Universe
DJ Shadow – Endtroducing
Goldfrapp – Supernature
Portishead – Dummy
RJD2 – Since We Last Spoke
Sigur Rós – Takk
Digitalism – Idealism
The Flaming Lips – At War With the Mystics

Super Mario without buttons

Simply amazing, this level of Super Mario is designed to only be won by not pushing a single button. It is absolutely amazing. (via anthonyayers.com)

View it here (sorry, it was too large to embed).

Studiobenben

File this under “blogs Ken loves to follow.” Meet Ben, of Studiobenben. He frequently posts wonderful hand drawings (which are also for sale on Etsy), Mac icon sets, and other creatively produced media. Love it. Love his style.

Thanks, Ben, for making beautiful art.

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Charter talk

How is it that my cable company can increase my rate by $30/month, battle with me for 30 minutes on the phone, hang up on me during the call, and in the end only commit to a $1 increase (guaranteed for a paltry 6 months)…

and I feel like I somehow won this deal? I look forward to a time when there’s actual competition in this arena and the cable company actually acts like they want my business.

Verizon opening up?

If you’ve heard me rant about cell phones, it’s probably this… why are the networks so locked down. I love the idea of wireless web and the innovation that’s available. I really, really hate the proprietary and tightly locked down networks that stifle all of that. But it appears there may be hope. Verizon Wireless announces it will be opening up its networks soon. (WSJ.com article here).

This could be really fun. Can someone recommend a good cell phone handset that allows all sorts of tweaking? I’d like to fashion a universal remote from mine. I’m convinced (probably by marketing) that Nokia is the one for me. We’ll see how that holds up.

Blockbuster commercial

New holiday commercial from Blockbuster. Very clever.

I love coffee

I know I’ve the reputation for at least part of this year of being the guy who’s passed on coffee for the sake of tea (and health). Now coffee and I have found each other again…and our relationship is finally healthy. We’re living in “moderation is good,” and also “fancy cappuccino drinks are OK if you make them yourself.” And I probably should celebrate my coffee-ness with this shirt from Threadless.

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Who’s this Sandy?

I Want Sandy, the new digital assistant service, intrigues me. There’s something to this whole digital reminder service that’s starting to creep up. Soon, I’ll have a voice activated calendar system that I can call to set up what would normally be set up in Outlook and emailed out. It’s coming, and I’m pretty sure it’s a precursor to the Matrix.

But seriously, this is worth a look into. I’m on it right now.

Notcot holiday guide

Notcot releases its 2007 holiday guide, for the discerning design-savvy snob (like me) on your list.

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Skull poster

Love this large skull poster.

Thanksgiving at the farm.

Today we ventured down to the Wilson farm in Abbeville for the day. It was great fun, and between my kids, Jason’s boy Branson, and my cousin’s four, there was a lot of life at the farm. We spent time together, ate, and ended up going on a long tractor-induced hayride. The best part, Gardner got to drive (Rainey got a shot at it, too, but I think it was all for show):

eleven3

Ran across the eleven3 blog today and I must say, I’m loving the look of this design. Very slick.

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Crayon physics

Wow, this is really slick. Crayon physics game. Fascinating. More info on it here.

I’m done

Toys R Us?

Originally uploaded by avclub.

I’m done with early AM Black Friday Christmas shopping. It would be fun, all festive and what not except that the checkout line for every store was an hour plus wait. This is a picture of the line AT THE BACK OF TOYS-R-US. Not worth it, even for a $5.49 set of Kinex or a $6.99 Elmo.

You can’t buy time.

Thank(filled)

Today is Thanksgiving, and while we should be in a continual state of thankfulness, it’s nice to have a day to focus that attention. Go enjoy your turkey (or toferky… a definite no this year), and I’ll spend just a brief minute reflecting on some things I’m glad to have in my life. Some serious, some whimsical, but somehow I’ve noticed that all of these things sort of define me (some more than others).

[Note, the first several entries are in order of utmost highest importance... after that it's a totally mixed and unweighted bag]

My salvation, my wife, the calling God has so clearly placed on my life, Gardner, Rainey, my church, my gifts, my immediate family (and that they live so close), Macintosh computers, a phenomenal boss (Shane Duffey, I want to be like you when I grow up), home gyms, DIY culture, the SD1000, Radiohead, WordPress, my cats (don’t laugh), 1995 Jeep Cherokees that still run, modified Xbox, eggnog lattes, straight shots of espresso, green tea, the fact that my son can entertain himself for over an hour simply by sitting in my Jeep, having an old stereo with large speakers in my garage, the fact that it has an iPod connection, tactile design, my team I get to work with (DJ, Judith, Will, Ben), Behance Dot Grid books, a good trash can, After Effects CS3, God’s grace, passion, when my son cheers me on when I lift weights in the garage, my pastor, Massive Attack, Heroes, Chuck (again, don’t laugh), The Office, watching my wife’s childhood videos, drinking coffee with Dad, love, Old Navy jeans, Rainbow sandals, Wired Magazine, Threadless, my own home, Timbuk2 bags, OpenDNS, hanging out with the incredible volunteers at NewSpring on any given Sunday, John Deere L100, Led Zeppelin, love, romance, vegetarian food, the fact my life is never boring, the fact that my kids are young and impressionable and God’s allowed me the chance to mold them, being a part of NewSpring’s original core group (Meg and I are 2 of 15), my blog, Twitter, waking up with Meg every single day, my office, turkey pepperoni, the hipster PDA, are you still reading this?, heat and air conditioning, carpet

That list is not complete because I have so much to be thankful for. I’m a man truly blessed. Thank you, God, for being at the center of it all.

What are you thankful for this season?

Black Friday tips

If you’re gearing up to go Black Friday / post Thanksgiving shopping, you may want to read these tips first. I plan to be at Best Buy at 5:00am if anyone cares to join me (bring coffee, please).

DJ and I went last year, and the line wrapped around the building (2 sides) and trailed off into a parking lot. The line INSIDE Target went down three sides of the store. I have a brief 6 second clip I shot on my phone to demonstrate. This year, I plan to bring along a better camera to fully document the experience (and my Twitter will be active, too).

Pretty photos

I’ve been enjoying getting to know my Canon SD1000, learning about the manual modes. Here’s a few shots taken over the past few days… and some concepts for our upcoming Stripped series.

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Meme

My wife tagged me with this, so here we go.

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car),
Charlie Cherokee

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie),
Vanilla Gingersnap

3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name),
K-Wil

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal),
Grey Alpaca

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born),
Gaines Shelby

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first),
Wil-Ke

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink),
The Grey Java

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers),
William Henry

9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy),
Holister Jellybelly

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ),
Ellen Gaines

11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter),
Edwards Eagle Lake

12. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower).
Fall Gardenia

13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”)
Banana Shoey

14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree),
Waffle Birch

15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”),
The Weightlifting Thunder Tour

For this one, I’m tagging Tony, DJ Wilson, and Will.

Yes and No.

For a pre-Thanksgiving Tuesday, here’s a YES… and a NO.

Now, I agree the NO is creative, but it’s also geekified to the of (1) making your wife roll her eyes if you are married or (2) sealing the fact that you’ll never get a date, should you be single… (3) and it looks like Windows.

Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium

Nice retro-ish title sequence for Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium. (more pics ot Justin Claus Harder’s site)

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