Friday, August 19, 2005

In 3-D!

Mena Trott and the Movable Type posse put together a nifty custom ViewMaster and reel set for a recent conference. (I honestly had no idea they still made ViewMasters. With the return of real wooden Lincoln Logs, my long-past childhood lives again!)

Behold: If Bloggers Had Been Around Throughout History.

(And yes, you can order your own—spendy!—custom ViewMaster reels and viewers.)

Beautiful transit

I've linked to other parts of this site before, but a lot of weblogs are discussing this page about beautiful subway stations around the world.

My overall favorite of the many cities I've visited remains the DC Metro. My pal Drew takes some fantastic pictures of it.

Death by Dew

Proposed epitaph: "He died the way he lived: alert but twitchy." It would take 192.34 cans of Mountain Dew to put me down.

How much of your favorite caffeinated drink would it take to kill you?

Thursday, August 11, 2005

Pitfalls

The Intermission Escape Artist
Or, How One Lifelong Theater Devotee Learned to Stop Worrying and Hate the Form.

Theater has openly flirted with suckiness since Thespis sassed back from the chorus line. The possibility of disaster is inherent in the form: Every great theatrical event requires harmonious excellence from an array of people, from playwright and director to the various designers; with actors and technicians, the requisite proficiency must also be simultaneous, and produced anew night after night after night. But the risk amps the reward: Yes, nothing sucks like bad theater, but nothing thrills like good theater, and the threat of the former only compounds the joy of the latter.

But beyond the suck potential brought by the high-wire aspect of the form, live theater faces other deadly risks�threats far more insidious than a dumbstruck actor, or a director whose vision consists of transposing The Two Gentlemen of Verona to the antebellum American South. The worst of these threats can abort even the possibility of real theater in utero, and the name of this most heinous threat is romance�specifically, the romanticization of the theatrical form.

Peeved

An open letter to software developers:

You know what I hate? I hate when you go to a company's website, buy a license for a piece of software then discover you have to wait "24-48 hours" for them to e-mail you a license code to unlock the application. Why is that even necessary in this day and age?

If I've reached the point of punching in my credit card number on your site, it means one of two things: Either your marketing pitch worked so well that you had me at "Hello" and I can't wait to use your product or, more likely, I've been using your crippled demo for enough time to know I like and need it and want to use it right now.

Which I can't. Because I'm still inexplicably waiting for you to e-mail me a license code.

Please, do two things:

1. Tell me before you've got my money that I'll have to wait.
2. But don't make me wait.

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Step 1: Do not undertake this project downstairs.

How to build a Dalek. [via This is Pop!]

Stationery Orbit

Classic Star Trek business cards (Photo by Kevin Trotman).

Monday, August 8, 2005

Keeping it together

To-do lists have been very much on my mind recently and, in my continual quest to tweak and refine my own personal organization system, I've been on a quest to find the perfect task management system for me.

Notice I said "for me", for this sort of thing is a very personal endeavor. No one tool or system works for everyone and, as in my case, often no single tool completely does the job for anyone.

For a long time, I was very happy with Now Up-to-Date for the combination of calendaring and task management, but somewhere along the way to building a version that would run under OS X, they critically crippled some of the very features upon which I had relied. Still, it'd remain a pivotal part of my worklife if not for one damning flaw: For some reason, "alerts" just don't. I can't get the computer to make a sound, pop up a window, anything, no matter how forcefully I click the mouse when setting the alarm in the first place. I've re-installed, deleted preferences, checked my audio settings seven ways from Sunday...nothing, and no joy from the support department either. They're just as baffled as I.

Meanwhile, I've migrated to Apple's iCal for my calendaring. It's another flawed (but free!) program and has the added benefit of .Mac synchronization, which manages to keep the files on my home and work desktops, my iBook and my Palm singing from the same page.

For to-dos, though, iCal just doesn't have to oomph. There are a lot of things I like about Microsoft Entourage, but it's too much application, really. I don't need it for e-mail or contacts, and the real deal-breaker is that there's no simple way to synchronize across computers.

I'm test-driving three web-based applications, all by the same company: Tadalist, Backpack, and Basecamp. The last is a project management application, aimed at whole companies and departments; the former two are more personally aimed, Tadalist just does lists, while Backpack puts lists, notes and some modest file management, along with e-mail reminders into the bargain.

Each has its strengths and drawbacks, some of which I can already see after just a few days with them. And it's a bit frustrating that identical tasks (making and maintaining a to-do list, for example) are accomplished in three subtly different ways among the three applications. I'd expect more consistency from apps that came from the same place. (That said, they're also all three fairly young applications, so perhaps their feature sets and implementations will grow together.)

None of them will serve me perfectly, nor will I expect it to. Right now, I'm just looking for something to add to the mix, serve the need that's going unserved. But I'm slowly developing my idea of what the Grand Unified Personal Information Management Software for Brad is and when I have some extra time (ha!), I'll promulgate it and challenge someone to build it.

Nomenschclature

Confidential to He-Whose-He-Must-Be-Renamed: Why does he need a new nickname? What's wrong with that one? If he's such a good Catch—and so far we all think so—you'll still be calling him that while you hold hands in your rockers and that'll be just darling.

Besides, when I read "Lovebear", I think I threw up a little in my mouth.

Sunday, August 7, 2005

I feel a bit like Penfold, I do…

I had a chance this week to fiddle a bit with the new Apple Mighty Mouse and came away impressed enough to get one for each of my Macs. It feels good in the hand, although the side button is a bit awkward to work but I don't imagine I'd have much use for it anyway.

Still, I might have waited to make my purchase if I'd known this would be available so soon afterward. Crumbs!

Ah, well. I shall simply have to content myself with ordering this DVD collection instead.

Saturday, August 6, 2005

I also considered “The Fabulous Barrett Boys”…

Cameron and Damien Barrett—the Blogger Twins—are making a bid to be contestants on the next season of The Amazing Race.

Thursday, August 4, 2005

Swamped

Rehearsals start Tuesday for the season, a front-loaded whirlwind that includes seven openings in 12 weeks starting next month. (Get a glimpse of the madness: the mini-site for our new series—a site, incidentally, built in one manic day by yours truly and before anyone says a word, the splash page was not my idea—or see the whole shooting match on our mothership site.)

I just did my daily review of my to-do list for the next two weeks, and my calendar through December. There is not one free day, weekends included, until well into November. Fortunately, I'm too tired to cry.

And I've never had so much fun in my life.

Wednesday, August 3, 2005

Pair.com dedicated hosting

As I have noted on several occasions, this site and about a dozen others I maintain is hosted by the marvelous folks at Pair Networks and I simply couldn't be more pleased with their whole operation—uptime, service, price, the works.

Sometime in the next year or so, I'm going be managing a project that requires a dedicated box and my first inclination is to stick with Pair. I'm aware many other companies and have heard testimonials on their behalves, but I'm interested to know specifically if any BradLands devotees have experience with Pair's dedicated hosting.

Please share your experiences in the comments or, if you prefer, by mail. Thanks ever so.

That word again!

Rebecca asked about the citation I mentioned in this entry, and whether Peter was, in fact, credited with the coinage. I went to look again and realized that, in fact, my reference to Peter's comment appears to pre-date the comment itself. That may be because his quip was in an undated sidebar on his site. Anyway, here we are, sic transit gloria mundi, caveat lector, etcetera etcetera...



Note also that this appears to be a draft entry which, I take it, means it hasn't moved into the printed edition of the Oxford English Dictionary just yet.

The OED entry for "weblog", incidentally, cites Jorn Barger—rightly, I think—as being the first to use it in this sense in 1997 on his Robot Wisdom weblog. (Back then, of course, we knew it as http://www.mcs.net/~jorn/html/weblog.html.)

It is defined as "A frequently updated web site consisting of personal observations, excerpts from other sources, etc., typically run by a single person, and usually with hyperlinks to other sites; an online journal or diary."

That's the second definition, of course. The first definition for "weblog" is "A file storing a detailed record of requests handled (and sometimes also errors generated) by a web server." I remember back in the late 20th century when there was some concern people would hear the word "weblog" and not understand which sense was meant.

Thank heavens Peter Merholz came along and gave us a convenient shorthand, eh?

Assorted bookmarks and braindumps

• Battlestar Galactica icons from Iconfactory. Bring on the Cylonicons! (Of course, I guess they'd just look like regular icons now anyway.)


• Leapin' kitties! (Can a Toyota deal be far behind?)


• First look at an impressive QuarkXPress 7. I have a little trouble associating the words "impressive" and "Quark" these days.


• As such things go, the blog set up to build buzz for the movie Rent is pretty well-done.


• Movable Type wonkery: Random page banners, yearly archives, RSS customizations and custom static pages.

Good Morning Wood

What a way to wake up! No wonder Good Morning America is doing so well in the ratings. Today's edition featured not just one but two of my most ardent crushes: Hunky, self-effacing anchor Bill Weir interviewing hunky, self-effacing Seann William Scott about the latter's involvement in the upcoming Dukes of Hazzard movie.


It was, without question, the yum-yum-yummiest breakfast I've had all week.

Tuesday, August 2, 2005

Monday, August 1, 2005

Present at the birth

A couple of months ago, I got an e-mail from Bill Johnston, a professor of history at Wesleyan University, that left me momentarily gob-smacked:

You might have received millions of messages to this effect, but did you know you are cited as the first to use the word "blog" in the OED (1999)? Very cool. Not many people have an honor like that; I'm delighted to see that your site is still going strong.

As it happens, his was the first and, so far, only message about the matter I've received, but I went and looked in the online OED—one of the perks of the occasional academic life is free access thereto—and, sure enough, this little ol' website is the first citation for the word. (I haven't had an opportunity to examine a printed version of the dictionary, so I don't know if it's included there as well.)

Now before anyone gets their knickers in a twist, let's be clear: I am not claiming to have coined the word "blog". I've been dragged along that sort of road before and don't care to repeat the experience. As far as I know, my pal Peter Merholz has to take the blame for it, having waggishly proclaimed six years ago that he was henceforth pronouncing "weblog" as "wee-blog". I made a note of his jape hereabouts and it is to that weblog entry—currently languishing in The Lost Archives but hopefully soon to be republished—that the OED citation refers.

(And I must apologize to Mr. Johnston because, although I transcribed his e-mail here for just this moment, I seem to have misplaced the original and, therefore, his address. I have the distinct impression that I never got around to replying and thanking him for his kind note. Bill, if you're reading this, do be in touch.)

Anyway, I bring this dreary subject up for two reasons.

First, I have been enjoying the Lady Rebecca Blood's interviews with some of the early practitioners of the weblog form, including Matt Haughey (in which piece this site is again name-checked) and Jessamyn West. They are two of the folks I have been privileged to have as part of my life this past few years, thanks primarily to our shared interest in personal publishing, and each has an unique perspective on where the web has been and where it may be going.

Second, despite my rather contrary insistence on referring to this site and others like it as a "weblog" (sans truncation), it has recently come to pass that I will soon be writing and editing a site that is not only called a "blog", it has that word in its name.

Somewhere at this very moment, I feel certain Peter Merholz is either smirking or cringing.

Possibly both.

‘n’ Judy

Some folks took the time to figure out how many punch cards it would take to encode an MP3 file. That's the sort of unrepentant geekery I can get behind.

I have a soft spot in my heart for the humble punch card. A couple of my first jobs required me to use them; somewhere in the basement, I still have a couple of boxes full that I liberated when they were finally retired and used as scratch paper while I was a struggling freelancer who couldn't afford note pads. They were an extremely low-density storage medium but there was something about holding code in your hand, running your fingers over the holes...in the pre-Internet age, it was a way I felt connected to information.

And, of course, they are still in use in many surprising and not-so- places and their cousins, like the piano roll, continue to survive into the digital age.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Bugle boys and bugle beads

With one or two exceptions, I must admit I don't much care for the particular brand of musical comedy cornpone peddled by Jerry Herman. The exceptions are Mack and Mabel and Mame. Now, just admitting that probably puts me out of favor with a few folks who'll contend that La Cage aux Folles is an inviolable historic masterpiece and that if for nothing but the sheer audicity and longevity of its most famous star, Hello, Dolly is to the musical theatre canon as Hamlet is to the drama.

Yeah. Whatevs.

Anyway, for a variety of very good reasons, hardly anyone produces Mack and Mabel these days. Mame, on the other hand, is everywhere, God love her, although some Mrs. Dennis-Burnsides are better than others. I still love the show and, thanks to my uncanny abilities of selective perception, I can even watch most of the movie version while editing out the execrable performance by Lucille Ball on the fly.

With great anticipation, then, I braved the oppressive heat last night to see Dee Hoty assay the role at The Muny. I adore Dee (she's an alum of our stage and a bright talent) and couldn't wait to see her coax the blues right out of the horn.

Well: the direction was not very good, the scenic design was a bit of pretty mess, the costumes were hit or miss and there were a couple of very, very dubious casting decisions—look, I love, love, love Georgia Engel (another Rep alum, by the way), but putting her in the role of Agnes Gooch who (and I don't think I'm spoiling any suspense here) gets pregnant in Act II is a pretty wide chasm across which to ask the audience to stretch its suspension of disbelief.

But you know what? None of that really matters, because Dee Hoty was an utterly fabulous Mame and I may even sweat through another three hours to see her sing the role again, she's that good. (I'm not quite at the "Angela who?" point yet, but I could be soon.) There are a few fleeting moments where her emotional pitch seemed just a tad off, but I can't fathom she won't find the right note on that count by tonight or Wednesday. She's a sexy, indefatigable, jubilant Jazz baby and, once the wonderful Jeff McCarthy shows up as Beauregard, they make a thoroughly winsome stage pair.

In fact, the cast around Hoty is almost uniformly swell: McCarthy as Beau, Beth Leavel as Vera, Christian Probst (yep, a Rep rat) and Colin Donnell as the Patricks. Even as the apparently-biologically-miraculous Gooch, Engel is a gem.

See it and, if you can't in its Muny run through Sunday, watch the papers for any possibility that Dee Hoty will be taking up residence at a #3 Beekman Place in your neck of the woods. She's my new best girl, at least as far as this show is concerned.

Sunday, July 24, 2005

A toast to the toasters

I came a bit late to the new Battlestar Galactica series on the Sci-Fi Channel, only really catching up with the show when the network ran a marathon of the entire first season a few weeks ago, and then receiving the initial miniseries from NetFlix to fill in the blanks. But it's quickly become a favorite (and a TiVo season pass), in many ways more than assuaging the melancholy that set in when Star Trek: Enterprise left the air, leaving me without any more adventures of the United Federation of Planets crews to look forward to.

So I was interested to read a little more about the genesis of the series, and it's transformation from its kitschy 80s roots in the New York Times last week: Ron Moore's Deep Space Journey.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the new series mythology (literally) is its under- and overtones of religious dogma, which raise all sorts of ethical and moral questions. A couple of articles from Beliefnet give BSG a faith-based consideration:

Born-Again Battlestar: "Unbeknownst to most viewers, 'Battlestar Galactica' has been steeped in religion since its very inception. First pitched by uber-producer Glen A. Larson as a series of Bible stories set in space called 'Adam�s Ark,' the reworked 'Battlestar Galactica' was also influenced by another religious book: the Book of Mormon. A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Larson borrowed plot points from his faith's sacred texts."

The Souls of Cylons: "The parallels between the Cylon beliefs and fundamentalist Christian beliefs, yeah, there are certain aspects of it there, but there�s also the roots of the drama, also contains things such as Al Qaeda�s use of its religious practice to justify what it does. That�s part of who the Cylons are too, they aren�t just really stalking horses for fundamentalist Christianity."

Everybody knows its name

A brief look at the man and the moment that created the concept of "Must See TV", There at the creation: Fred Silverman.

It was a May day in 1981 when Fred Silverman left his office in New York's Rockefeller Center. He would not return, not that day or ever again. Silverman had been president and CEO of NBC for three years. He left that day very much a failure, and he would have been hard-pressed to find many who disagreed.

NBC was in the tank, the No. 3 network behind ABC and CBS, and the board of RCA, which then owned the network, was scouting for his replacement. Silverman, the man Time magazine just three years earlier had touted on its cover as "TV's Master Showman," was jumping before he got pushed.

But what Silverman left behind was one of modern television's great legacies, what would become known as Must See TV, the programming dynasty that was NBC's Thursday night.

[thanks to TV Squad]

I fold

It's funny the odd little skills and bits of information you pick up on your journey through life. I haven't held that many different jobs, but my career path has had a couple of sharp bends in it and so my brain is littered with not entirely useless but certainly trivial additions to my skill set.

The latest reminder of this fact is this site about how to fold napkins into fancy presentation shapes that Tom pointed out. I picked up a few of these (notably the cardinal's hat (which I always called Sister Bertrille) during my stints as a dinner theatre dancer and sometimes cater-waiter.

(If only I had known about these 20-some years ago, I might have garnered even more county fair 4-H blue ribbons in the table setting competitions. Oh yes, even then, I was a champion designer of theme tables. Surprised? I thought not.)

Taking a chance on love

I'm awfully fond of Movable Type, the weblogging software that powers parts of this site, so against my ordinarily cautious nature in these matters, I just upgraded to the latest beta release. It's niiiiiice—it looks gorgeous and feels zippier all around.

The upgrade process was, as promised, simpler than ever: just download the tarball, uncompress and upload the new files. Rather than having to run an upgrade script, the necessary upgrades happen automagically the first time I ran the software. It's the closest thing to a desktop-level "double-click to install" process I've seen yet for a web app.

One minor glitch: After the upgrade, I found I wasn't able to access my MT-Blacklist (a utility for dealing with comment spam) settings in the Plug-In control panel. It turns out to be an easily remedied problem, even for my meager skills:

For those running any version of MT-Blacklist 2.x, you can also do a search and replace within Blacklist.pl instead of uploading that file. Look for this line of code:

return 1 unless $MT::VERSION =~ m(^3.1);

And replace it with this:

return 1 unless MT->version_number >= 3.1;

It's also necessary to move the files mt-blacklist-styles.css and mt-blacklist.js from the root MT directory into the new mt-static directory so the MT-blacklist pages render correctly.

Wow. I think this is one of the geekiest things I've written in recent memory, and I even understood most of it.

Monday, July 18, 2005

Um, ew.

Thank you, Yahoo! Movies. I did not need to know that.