Doodle Flix

I suggest you take some time and enjoy Doodle Flix, a site dedicated to the drawing and sketching on Netflix envelopes. Makes me a little sad that I went to streaming-only. Maybe I can start taking screen shots of my Roku and using Skitch to style it up.

Nice.

I can appreciate the creativity behind this.

Columbia campus, August 20

This past Saturday night Perry decided to preach one live service at our Columbia campus on a Saturday night to help free up seats for the following Sunday. The response to the Gospel was awesome (more than 50 accepted Jesus) and the attendance was 900+, what an amazing evening.

Context sensitive to-do list

More in the life of a productive creative. Consider the idea of the context-sensitive to-do list.

I’ve been a obsessive fan of to-do lists for quite some time. They’ve taken on various forms from a giant whiteboard to a small pack of note cards to umpteen different digital variations. At the moment I use a combination of Remember the Milk Wunderlist (primarily because of its well tailored iPhone app and its price of free) and Evernote (via the Egretlist iPhone).

The form you use really doesn’t matter as long as it enables to you capture the to-do when it’s presented to you and divvy it out when appropriate.

Enter the context-sensitive to-do list. The idea is that you create any number of to-do lists to match up with the environment you’ll be in when you need to execute the task. For example, creating a list for  WORK and HOME allows you to shuffle off ideas to the appropriate spot to be reminded when you’re in a place where you can actually do something about them.

Take that a step further. Create lists specific to the weekly meetings you sit in. For example if you lead people create a TEAM list to bring into that meeting. In that list include things you intend to share with your entire team, and include individual member conversations as well. Example “Don’t forget we’re off next Monday” or “Bob – status on your project” Train yourself to put everything, even small items, on this list to create an airtight system of passing around information.

Personally, I have 3-4 of these master lists that directly relate to a meeting I’m in. I use these various lists for my team, my boss, and other groups I’ll be around and it’s a great way to connect the dots of information.

Beyond that, you can fine tooth comb it as much as needed. I have a list of restaurants that have been recommended for my wife and I to try out. It’s noted by the city (in case we find ourselves in a nearby town). It eliminates the “oooh, I know someone said something about some place… what was that?” Tailor your context-sensitive lists to your needs. Assess where it is that you need to empty information and create a list for that environment. You could go overboard, of course, so try to limit it to the most important spots first.

Makeup and Vanity Set | Never Let Go

Makeup and Vanity set, one of my favorite homemade electronic bands covered in NES-esque blips and VHS saturation, have a new EP out on Bandcamp. You need to get in on this if anything from the afore mentioned sentence piques your interest.

Makeup and Vanity Set | Never Let Go on Bandcamp

Revelation; series promo

I’m a sucker for movie trailers and here’s one we built to promo our upcoming series; Revelation.

Charleston 2011

I love vacation / family trip time with Meg and the kids. This year we went to Charleston, SC and had some time in the ocean, downtown in the Market, and on the USS Yorktown. So much fun.

USS Yorktown

Spent the week with our family down in Charleston, SC and Meg and I were psyched to take the kids to visit the USS Yorktown. Having been there as Kids ourselves we were really looking forward to their reactions. And being an avid amateur iPhone photographer I looked forward to snapping pictures of assorted mechanical looking things.

Current visual inspiration

These are the visual images that are inspiring me thus far in the month of July.  Thanks to Evernote’s note sharing you can see it as I update it.  For July, I appear to be into bold color.

I would camp…

I would camp if I could bring along one of these. And a pound from here or here.

Currently inspired by…

It’s been a somewhat active summer with bits of stuff going on here and there. I’ve had some time off, spent judicious amounts of it with my family, and have spent much less of it online. But I have come across a few assorted things that have inspired me, and possibly may inspire you.

• A nice collaborative album of music created by the monome community (via Create Digital Music)
• Yamaha finally releases the TNR-i (Tenori-on emulator) app.
• G (and I, by association) have joined the Lego Master Builder Academy.
• Using the power of Evernote’s Note Links you can now take a look at my inspiration notes as I update them. Here’s INSPIRATION NOTE #21.
• In one weekend I saw both Cars 2 and Transformers 3. And the biggest shocker is this revelation from @mediamarty.
• Wunderlist (To-do app with awesome iOS, Mac, Windows, and Android versions)
• G and I found this in the attic. It still works.
• Bagcheck. Neat little lists of stuff.

Musically, the things that are moving me right now;

• The Glitch Mob’s Fistful of Silence
• RJD2′s Live at the Rave
• “Shot you down” by Audio Bullys
• Sixtoo’s Jackals and Vipers in Envy of Man

wall-e Mecha

G and I created this little “evil wall-e” in a continual quest to raise up a Lego robot army. Unfortunately, he doesn’t move under his own power, but I’m pretty partial to the blue details on the eyes and the rounds of ammo around his chest.

In case you missed the last creation, check him out here.

Tzu Chi Ye’s brilliant painings

I saw these paintings from Tzu Chi Ye on Public School and had to share. They’re mesmerizing and brilliant. First, they look incredibly photo-real and the color tone/grade is so warm.

Tenori-on becomes TNR-i

Want to know what I’m excited about? Yamaha is releasing a Tenori-on emulator app called TNR-i for the iPad.  The bummer right now is that it appears to be a UK-only release at the moment. Hopefully it will arrive soon in the US app store.  What is the Tenori-on, and why am I excited about it.  Well first off it’s a musical grid gadget priced well above affordability for most ($1000+).  So an app version will be a nice way to experience the sounds without the high price tag.

Take a look at this.

Jamie Beck: Cinemagraphs

Saw these over at ISO50 and just had to share. How subtle, beautiful. Seems like something we could design to use in a nice iPhone app.

Transition FX, you always need more

You always need more booms, whooshes, etc. Here’s a nice free collection I came across the other day.

Transition FX Demo by Bronto Scorpio

Thursday Monome time

Spent some time with the monome tonight. What’s cool is that G’s been playing with Reason and composed the main beat! Is that normal for six-year-old?

Amon Tobin’s live rig

What a great setup for a live performance.

Current Mac apps

I use a lot of technology. I’m frequently on a computer, phone, etc., and frequently explore various applications, changing routinely. It’s just what I do. Occasionally an application will win my loyalty and I stick with it. Here are the services I’ve sticking with, at least for the time being.

Evernote – for all types of note taking, information housing, everything
Chrome – currently my browser of choice. I’m sure that will change in the next 30 days
Rdio – streaming music to browser, iOS
Twitter desktop app – formerly Tweetie, I like most of the things they added to the new Twitter
MagicPrefs – as a Magic Mouse fanatic, this allows me to fully geek out the multitouch wonder to the point where it becomes nearly unusable
Logmein – I’ve tried other remote access services, but with Logmein Ignition on iOS every computer I touch or support (we’re talking family and friends here) is a few clicks away… time saver!
Xmarks – technically a browser extension, it syncs bookmarks across all computers, all web browsers. Good when I decide to toggle between Firefox and Chrome routinely
Windows Live Sync – to sync files between my desktop and laptop. Sure, dropbox is a great alternative, but Windows Live Sync doesn’t limit the file size (though it does have a 20,000 file limit… discovered this when syncing picture folders)

Florence Kick off promo

My first real foray into Cinema 4D for a full promo… this was a quick 1 day build. It’s one of those I really wish I’d had more time to focus on, but in the end I’m sure we’ll end up using the idea again and fleshing out a little more completely.