You supply the caption

I love this game. You supply the caption.

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Yes and no.

Morning, folks. If you’re wondering how I have time to post on a Sunday morning, I don’t. The tiny robot gnomes that operate the inner workings of the AV Club are Post Timestamp editing today and so you get a nifty something to read on your way to church (if you have a phone that does stuff like that).

Post Unleash 2008, there may be some new faces out there reading along. Let me explain. This is a “Yes and No” post where I post one thing that’s awesome (a “Yes”) and one thing that’s the epitome of sucky (a “No”). Click; you’ll understand. Mostly, these are for my friend Rick who compliments my choice just about every Sunday. (hey, Rick).

Yes and No.

Legos with G

Lego

Originally uploaded by avclub

Today, Gardner and I played with some of the Legos from my childhood collection. We went over to my parent’s house and borrowed about a 1/2 ton of them (or so). We’re going to start getting some for him, but we wanted to see how he’d react with them first. So far, so good. OK, I actually built the boat (pictured), but he did have a good time playing with it.

And more importantly, Rainey didn’t swallow any of them.

Memories

Saw this the other day at Target and it really, really brought back some memories. Smart move packaging them the same way… I nearly bought it. Nearly, I said. I did exercise some restraint (and I still have the original in my attic).

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(if you want to get technical, he’s not actually a part of Cobra. He’s a vagabond, though still evil).

Unleash breakout handout

I just remembered Ben had emailed me the Unleash breakout gear list. Thank goodness for gmail’s 20MB attachment size, because this bad boy hasn’t been compressed. It weighs in at about 19MB, but I’m sure that won’t bother most of you. Don’t get too excited, it’s just one page.

Thanks to all who came yesterday, I really think I had more fun that the rest of you. I hope this helps, and sparks some fun discussion here.

Get it here.

kitchen poetry

Meg found our magnetic kitchen words last week and promptly reinstalled them on the fridge so we (and our friends) can begin creating once again. Now, this is the kitchen collection, so the poems flow as such, which makes it all the more fun and cohesive. Some of my favorites:

“drizzle down a fresh cup of coffee steam”
“surrounded by lingering romantic aroma”
“I hunger for crisp zucchini. Fry it”
“I could devour dinner with red hate”
“tremendous mushroom sauce swallows chicken and nibbles spiced beef”

(and my personal favorite)
“some were filled with hate, and only a coffee cup could stir the love”

Unleash 2008 open

With Unleash 2008 just past (and Unleash 2009 somewhere in the works, I feel sure), here’s the opener for your viewing pleasure. I made good use of the new Twitch plugin from those fellas at Video Copilot. (Psst, Mr. Kramer, if you’d like to give me some plugins to review, I’d be happy to plug you from the AV Club).

Unleash 2008 open (Quicktime, 1.9MB)

live twitter

We’re still going strong at Unleash… it’s been an amazing day. I love seeing familiar faces, meeting new people, and finally putting faces to your Twitter icon image. Fun stuff, especially for my geeky iPhone friends.

Our video / motion graphics breakout was a blast. Hate you missed it? Well, you can follow the action on the official Twitter feed (www.twitter.com/avclubbreakout). What’s the purpose? While my team and I sat on stage and talked through the things we’ve learned these past few years, we mapped the Twitter site to the main auditorium screens.

Chip, one of our awesome volunteers, sat in the control room and summarized what I said into 140 character bites for internet consumption. I figured it’d be novelty at best, and chaotic to say the least. But it was fun, and it leaves a digital imprint of the day for all to read. (also, it’s hard to get long-winded in 140 characters).

I didn’t expect that Will, John, and Ben would end up answering questions via Twitter on screen as I talked live. Fun!

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We’re ready for you

We’re ready for you

Originally uploaded by avclub

Unleash 2008, 16 hours and counting. The tents are pitched, videos loading, breakouts Twitterified (at least mine is). There’s not much left to do but but the finishing touches on the opener, gloss and “pretty up” the breakout session, and get some sleep.

See you early in the morning.

Yes and No.

Yes and No.

Embrace the cliche

I don’t care what you say, I still love grungy design. Of course, it must be done well, which is very much displayed in this Smashing Magazine article. One of my 2008 goals is to rebrand and revamp the AVCLUB.US site, and ideas like these get me inspired. I think it’s good to note “grunge” is not necessarily “dirty.” It shouldn’t be a cop-out. And downloading grunge fonts is not always the right way to go. It must be done with taste, class, and always, support the message.

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Twitter and Star Wars

It’s a pretty busy season, what with Easter and Unleash but I promise to keep up the regular interesting posting. If, however, you feel you’re not getting enough AV Club, might I suggest following me on Twitter. If I find myself unable to compose fully legible thoughts here in the next few days, I’ll surely keep the Twitters interesting.

Of course, I may get so cliche and start Twittering about Twitter.
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In the meantime, I think Gardner has to catch up to this this three-year-old. Her daddy should be proud.

Overcorrection

This morning most of you are reeling from the effects of DST. Me, too. But somehow I doubly messed myself up. I primarily use my phone as my alarm. Think about it, it’s always near you, it’s plenty loud enough, and it won’t go out with the power.

The one downside, twice a year it’s daylight savings time and I’m never sure if the cell phone towers will remember to set things correctly. In the Fall, it will only err in giving me an extra hour of awakeness (not a real word). In the spring, it means I’m late for church. So to be fully prepared, I set everything as if to get myself up an hour earlier. Now as I’m already missing an hour, this seems tortuous and crazy…

and it is.

Last night, I found a cool feature on my iPhone… manual time set. You can disable the effects of the cell tower and manually set your time. So that’s what I did. Set time, still set my alarms early, but only set them 30 minutes early. I figure if I’m a little late due to miscalculation it won’t be a big deal. Too, I’m one of the first of my crew there and am usually really early to begin with.

Somewhere in there the clock set itself back… some sort of over correction.

This is a long way to say when I went downstairs, thinking I was slightly late, I’m standing in my kitchen this morning at 5:45am. Fully dressed, showered, and ready to go. With no destination.

I fully enjoyed watching an uninterrupted 30 minutes of VH1 for the first time in years. And I made a nice breakfast.

Zombie Attack

Meg found this the other day… what are your chances of surviving a zombie apocalypse?

40%

Rainbow

Rainbow

Originally uploaded by avclub

Did anyone else catch the awesome rainbow last Tuesday night? I neglected to post it last week due to a hectic schedule, but here it is. This is seen from my front porch.

Unleash is coming

I asked this a few weeks back and got a little input, but I’m putting it out there again. This week I’m compiling the hit list / brainstorm / piles of assorted tidbits into a breakout for Unleash 2008 on Video and Motion Graphics. The topic set, the content is still malleable.

If you’re coming to Unleash (and even if you’re not), what info would you like to see covered? I’ll of course compile the gear list / program list / etc. in gratuitous detail… and I’ll probably just set a page up here at the AV Club to distribute it. But beyond that, what would you like?

I do have the privilege of having been at NewSpring since day one (actually, pre-day one). So I hope to shed some light on not only how we do things now, but how we used to do things in the past. If you’re nice, I’ll even dig up some… ahem… early samples from the old days. Oh yes, I have a random unlabeled box of CD-Roms and DVDs in my loft that you’ll probably appreciate.

Also, do you think I should have one of my buddies “guest Twitter” the event from my account?

So, comment away (or email me if that’s easier). You can also call, meet me in person this weekend, or send a carrier pigeon, but (1) I have cats so they may not make it here and (2) depending upon if it’s an African or European carrier pigeon, that may make a difference on its arrival time and cause confusion, even if it were bearing a coconut.

Contacts Data API – Google Code

So I came across this, Contacts Data API – Google Code. Now, will some smart person out there PLEASE write an extension for Thunderbird AND for my iPhone? Please!!!

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Corbis ReadyCam

I’d just go ahead and call this a “yes,” but I want to draw more attention to it. Check out the Corbis ReadyCam. You know I love small cute things made from paper, right? Well, I went through a pinhole photography fascination a few years back but never got around to jumping full force into it (Will, wanna help?).

But this is just organic and interesting enough to make me want to get in on it.

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Circular Halftone Patterns

I’m sure to find a use for these lovely Circular Halftone Patterns from Vecteezy.

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Yes and No.

Yes and No.