>> 

• Free Up HD Space On Mac OS X - Metrobilly
  Tips and tricks for cleaning up unnecessary crap on your Mac. Come to think of it, I probably could delete my Azerbaijani localization, couldn't I.
  (tags: mac osx organization software)
• BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Giant squid grabs London audience
  If you live in London, I am so jealous of you right now.
  (tags: london squid intriguingsealife museums awesome)

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• Beacon Journal | 02/24/2006 | Plan would bar Ohio adoptions by GOP
  Ohio lawmaker proposes comedy legislation in response to bigoted anti-gay adoption bill. AWESOME.
  (tags: politics ohio gay civilrights)
• KA-BLAM: Print On Demand
  Specifically for independent comics producers. Very interesting; I'm surprised a service like this can survive, but I can see how it would be very useful...
  (tags: comics publishing printing)
• The Washington Monthly - Gladwell Admits He Was Wrong
  Further to that Gladwell / Gopnik health-care piece I linked a few days back -- with six years' hindsight, Gladwell has decided he was very wrong. That's some very welcomed intellectual honesty -- huzzah!
  (tags: healthcare politics health government medicine)

>> I just got my first spam message at Gmail that actually made it past the filters and in to my inbox. Damn it. How do I even get spam at my Gmail address? I've only ever given it out to humans -- never to any kind of form or web service! Grrrr. The end is near. E-mail is so broken.

Woof, what a weekend. I did end up getting into the Comic-Con today, after being turned away yesterday afternoon, but I didn't spend too much time there -- just checked in at the DC booth to say hello to some co-workers, then poked around the ever-so-crowded floor a bit until I got tired of weaving in and out of the crush of humanity. Which didn't take long. I don't have the budget right now to do any kind of serious shopping, nor do I have the storage space in this apartment to start collecting back issues, so I only bought one thing -- the Street Angel trade, which is pretty friggin' great (I'm halfway through it now). Despite the obviously insane underestimates for crowd capacity this year, I'm still looking forward to next year -- the idea of a NY con was obviously embraced very enthusiastically by the community, so more space and some wider aisles next year could make for a pretty awesome show.

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• A word for "neither solid nor liquid?" | Ask MetaFilter
  Thixotropic, colloid, emulsion...
  (tags: vocabulary askmefi)
• blik INVADER: blik
  Arty Space Invaders wall decals. I really kinda need these for my bedroom.
  (tags: art design videogames decor home)
• British Gaming Blog » Blog Archive » Tetris DS: Ultimate Screenshot Collection
  Finally, I'm going to have more than one DS game to play.
  (tags: tetris videogames nintendo ds)

>> I'd love to spend some time working on the site this weekend (both in an architectural and a content-producing sense), but I'm afraid it's gonna be a busy time -- I'm going out tonight, helping a friend move tomorrow, and then hitting up the New York Comic-Con on Sunday. If you're going too, then get in touch! As it stands, I'll definitely be there Sunday, and hopefully if the move goes smoothly I'll swing by late on Saturday too, though that's less likely. But I'd certainly love to meet-and-greet with any of my nerdier readers, so hopefully we can get together at the con.

But in response to some of the comments earlier: Yes, I am trying to quit Coke. This is mainly predicated on the fact that my teeth are a goddamn disaster area. I haven't been to the dentist in years (didn't have insurance until I started working, and am also totally creeped out by everything related to dentistry), but I have an appointment on Monday morning, which I'm quite sure is going to be the beginning of a long and unpleasant odyssey of emergency dental correction. In light of this fact, I decided that maybe it was time to quit drinking quite so much of a substance that basically exists purely to dissolve teeth. And hey, saving a couple of bucks a day is never a bad idea; this way, I can buy more comics! (I've been reading too many comics, by the way. More on that later.) I do have a lot of sympathy for cigarette smokers now, though... yesterday afternoon I got a craving so bad it made me twitchy. I didn't cave, though! That said, I've yet to quit it entirely -- I think I had a Coke a few days ago, and I'm sure I'll end up drinking some this weekend, too, but the intake's been cut waaaay down and has actually continued to shrink over the last few weeks. So eventually it may peter out entirely... until my teeth are fixed. Then God only knows what I'll do. I've never liked fruit juices, and milk outside of cereal just kind of creeps me out now, so pretty much all I drink is water (and a lot of it). I'm going to have to find some kind of replacement...

Oh, and: Goldfrapp's excellent "Ooh La La" is the Free Single of The Week on iTunes. Go download it now, you won't regret it.

>> 

• Live Thumbnails: Watch 'em Grow
  Fancy-schmancy Javascript image-resizing trick.
  (tags: webdesign javascript photos)
• Long-necked dinosaurs didn’t munch on tall trees
  Study published in SCIENCE claims the vertebrae would've locked up if a long-necked dinosaur like Apatosaurus tried to lift its head above the height of its back -- they must've been grazers.
  (tags: dinosaurs fossils paleontology science)

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• Silvercup Studios Sets $1 Billion Complex - New York Times
  WHOA. Huge mixed-use development planned for Silvercup Studios in L.I.C., including the largest film studio on the East Coast and 1,000 high-rise apartments.
  (tags: nyc architecture queens longislandcity nyt)

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• Pitchfork: Daily Music News - Franz, Cat Power Pay Homage To Serge Gainsbourg
  This actually sounds like a really interesting tribute album. Other participants include Michael Stipe, Marianne Faithfull, Jarvis Cocker, Portishead, Tricky, and original Gainsbourg singer Jane Birkin...
  (tags: music sergegainsbourg france tributes)
• Sugar-cane Coca Cola in NYC? | Ask MetaFilter
  I'd never heard of sugar-cane flavored Coke. So of course I'd hear about how good it is while I'm in the middle of quitting Coke entirely...
  (tags: coke groceries drinking soda askmefi nyc shopping)
• Introverts of the World, Unite! - Atlantic Monthly
  I tried to resist tagging this, but it actually is a good interview (when read with the original piece). It's true, I am an introvert, and a fairly big one (though not as much as some people I know).
  (tags: psychology introversion personality)
• "Health Care Forum" by Adam Gopnik and Malcolm Gladwell
  Deeply fascinating "debate" about social health-care systems in the US and Canada. I say "debate" because Gladwell comes off like a complete idiot, which is interesting, since he seems like a smart guy. But virtually none of his arguments here hold water.
  (tags: health healthcare government politics medicine)

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• THE ASTOR PLACE RIOT
  Interesting page about the 1849 Astor Place riot, which was rooted in a professional feud between two actors -- and ended with 20 people dead. Craziness.
  (tags: nyc history theatre riots)

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• BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | T. rex 'had razor-sharp senses'
  But may have also suffered from a chronically stiff neck.
  (tags: dinosaurs science paleontology tyrannosaurus bbc)
• Balboa Observer-Picayune: An Arrested Development Fan Site
  Fantastic AD fansite. I especially recommend the quotes database, which left me weeping with laughter after extended browsing. I'll miss this show so much.
  (tags: tv arresteddevelopment humor fansite)

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• Student With a Past - New York Times
  Rivers Cuomo's life back at Harvard. God, what a profoundly weird guy he is. Shame about that last record... still, I'll look forward to more Weezer if it's ever forthcoming.
  (tags: music weezer harvard school college nyt)
• Anagrammed London Tube Map
  OK, so everybody's already linked it, but I just finally bothered clicking on it and it's pretty brilliant. When I was in London, I lived at Astrologer Cued and went to school at A Retard Cottonmouth.
  (tags: maps london underground subway humor)
• Picking Perfect Steaks - Washington Post
  Just what it says in the title.
  (tags: food beef meat steak groceries cooking)
• YouTube - Tom Cruise on Oprah - As It Should've Been
  HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA (i.e. a mashup of Tom Cruise and James Frey's Oprah appearances, as created for VH1's Best Week Ever)
  (tags: tv video oprah celebrities actors lies)

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• MyBlogLog
  Dunno how I hadn't seen this yet, actually.
  (tags: software statistics webdesign blogging)

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• MAX Media Player for DS
  Media-player attachment for the Nintendo DS. I kinda want one, but it'll be pricey, and might not work with Macs...
  (tags: video audio videogames nintendo ds)
• How to fold a fitted sheet
  I'm tagging this, even though I'm pretty sure I won't be able to actually follow these instructions, as they're sort of vague and everything to do with fitted sheets always perplexes me. I can't even find the shorter end half the time...
  (tags: organization home decor)

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• BBC NEWS | Entertainment | US to emulate Eurovision contest
  I always wondered why this hadn't happened yet... of course, it's gonna be terrible, but I'll probably watch.
  (tags: music tv eurovision)

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• Wired News: Nano Coatings Paint Green Future
  This is the kind of common-sense awesome technology that I always assumed the future (i.e. this decade) would bring. Roll it out ASAP!
  (tags: science technology nanotech wired manufacturing)
• A List Apart: Articles: In Search of the Holy Grail
  Three columns, two fixed-width, center column fluid. Redesign possibility.
  (tags: webdesign css)

>> Movies seen recently:

• The Constant Gardener: Really, it's just a thriller, with socially-conscious overtones lacquered on top. The plot itself is really quite unsatisfying, with cartoonish amounts of evil attributed to the villains and an ending that is, in part, a little bit too satisfying (one of those triumphant "We got you!" victory moments). But there's another dimension to the ending (which I won't spoil) that is both surprising and moving -- and I actually wound up enjoying the movie a lot more than I thought I would, primarily through the efforts of Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz (who actually might merit the Supporting Actress Oscar for this performance, which made something really special out of a character who could have been horribly one-note), and the director, Fernando Meirelles -- I never did see City Of God, but Meirelles does transcend this material on many occasions, making the African scenes and material feel genuine -- rather than creating a Hollywood version of Africa, he sent Hollywood characters and plot elements into a distinctly real-feeling Africa and let us appreciate the contrast. God, this sounds pretentious. Point being, I liked it more than I expected to. B+
  
  
• Crash: "Hyperlink movie" really is an excellent term for movies like this, though this is definitely not the finest example of the genre -- the script has concrete fists, and a few of the plotlines could've been excised with no damage to the whole. I almost feel it would've been a more interesting film if pared down solely to the storylines of Terrence Howard & Thandie Newton, Matt Dillon, and Ludacris & Larenz Tate -- which is not to say that all the other storylines were bad, I simply would've preferred a movie with a lot more focus and a little more to say. It's held up by the generally strong acting, but there are many better, similar movies out there. Watch them instead. B-
  
  
• Mysterious Skin: Another one that caught me off-guard with how strongly it affected me. It is very distinctly not for everyone -- it's not a "gay movie" per se, but it is "about" gay men in a lot of ways, and as such might require some familiarity with said culture in order to have its full impact -- though God knows there's plenty in this that'll hit you like a sledgehammer no matter who you are. If I could do anything to it, I'd snip thirty seconds off of the opening and the closing -- both are overconsidered, overwritten bits of "artiness" that don't suit the material. But the movie in between is stunning and deeply troubling; I don't like using the word "devastating," as it's become such a cliche, but really, it suits. A-
  
  
• Tristram Shandy: A Cock & Bull Story: This is one funny fucking movie. Meta-movies are getting old, but it's movies like this that set a good/bad example for the form: A select few can pull off a movie this good every so often, which makes all the mediocre artists think that they can do it too. Trust me, you can't; I know I'd be hard-pressed to structure anything this involved in a collaborative medium, and find the kinds of people who could really bring it alive. Go see it, it's great, and you'll laugh like a donkey. (And no, I've never read the book.) A

I probably could've done more justice to all of these, but I wanted to get some thoughts out of my head before the impulse to jot 'em down died entirely. Feel free to start a fight in the comments if you disagree (or agree), I'm in the mood to get chatty today...

>> 

• Best of Bootie 2005 CD
  By the time I get home today, this site'll probably be borked, but in case I remember... the best mash-ups of 2005 in one Bittorrent collection.
  (tags: 2005 mp3 music bittorrent audio mashups)
• pingswept » Blog Archive » Installing Roundcube on Dreamhost
  I bookmarked Roundcube a little while ago, but now there are instructions for installing it on Dreamhost servers, which I think I would like to do. (Thanks, Lia!)
  (tags: email software)
• blog.myspace.com/twilightsingers
  POWDER BURNS, the new Twilight Singers album, is released May 16th. Tour to follow. This is obviously good news.
  (tags: music twilightsingers)
• BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Oldest T. rex relative unveiled
  "Guanlong wucaii", found in China, lived 160 million years ago and had a small head crest absent from later descendents...
  (tags: dinosaurs science paleontology bbc fossils)

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• DC Comics' Man Upstairs Readjusts His Writer's Cap - New York Times
  Our company president is writing an arc on JSA, starting this week -- he hasn't written those characters since 1979!
  (tags: comics dccomics superheroes nyt)
• The New Yorker: Fact - Malcolm Gladwell on "power-law" problems
  "Power-law problems leave us with an unpleasant choice. We can be true to our principles or we can fix the problem. We cannot do both."
  (tags: ethics politics homelessness corruption police newyorker statistics)
• Is this all Robert Altman's fault? | Ask MetaFilter
  My AskMeFi thread today, inspired by watching CRASH last night -- what's with the Random People's Lives Intersecting genre?
  (tags: movies film askmefi awards genre)
• Apple - iTunes - Billion Songs Countdown
  I wouldn't mind winning this. But check out the awesome scrolling banner of music people are buying... I could watch it all day!
  (tags: music audio itunes apple ipod)

>> Well, two people have tagged me with the Four Things meme (which has been running for months now and just won't die), so I suppose I should go ahead and answer it.

Four jobs you've had in your life: Publix cashier; Old Navy cashier; summer camp counselor; DC Comics helper monkey. This is, in fact, my entire employment history, if you don't count the two internships (for a music management firm and a record company), which were unpaid.

Four movies you could watch over and over: South Park - Bigger, Longer, and Uncut; Zoolander; Rushmore; Jurassic Park. (How very highbrow I am!)

Four places you've lived: Sarasota, FL; New York, NY; London, England; Brooklyn, NY. I have to cheat and subdivide Manhattan and Brooklyn or else I don't get four (or I have to start naming specific addresses / neighborhoods).

Four TV shows you love to watch: Arrested Development; Lost; The Daily Show; Law & Order (preferably regular-type or Special Victims Unit, which is the grodiest and most exploitative but has the best cast.)

Four places you've been on vacation: Paris; Alaska; The Bahamas; Alberta.

Four websites you visit daily: Gmail, Newsarama, Ask Metafilter and del.icio.us.

Four of your favorite foods: Checkers' Double Champburger; sausage & pepperoni pizza; Popeye's fried chicken (with biscuits!); and just about anything Mexican. I need to have my cholesterol checked.

Four places you'd rather be: The Bahamas; Sarasota, FL; the comic book store; in bed.

Four albums you can't live without: U2 - ACHTUNG BABY; Twilight Singers - TWILIGHT AS PLAYED BY THE TWILIGHT SINGERS; R.E.M. - NEW ADVENTURES IN HI-FI; Morrissey - THE BEST OF MORRISSEY. (Even if it doesn't have "The Loop," "Jack The Ripper," or "My Love Life" on it.)

Since nearly everyone I know with a blog has already been tagged for this, I'm going to avoid passing it on to four people. I know, I know, a helicopter is going to fall out of the sky and land on me now... if you haven't done it yet, though, feel free to consider yourself tagged.

>> 

• Falling Sand Game - hosted by Chirag Mehta @ chir.ag
  This. Is. The. Greatest. Thing. Ever.
  (tags: art awesome games play sand fun)

>> My betta fish died today. R.I.P., Risque. We should've taken better care of you.

(No, you don't need to leave condolence messages -- he was, after all, just a fish, and he lived about ten months longer than we were expecting. But still, it's sad. I liked the little guy.)

Unfortunately, that's pretty much all I've got to report. I did try bringing a new friend into my home yesterday (precognitively replacing Risque?), a Mini Roboraptor, but he kind of sucks at life. Ah, whatever, he's cute and his name is Bitey (in honor of my niece. Long story).

>> 

• The Disney Blog: Disney to Close Pirates of the Caribbean for Movie Makeover
  Adding Capt. Jack Sparrow, Barbossa, and Davy Jones, plus new special effects. Hmmmmm. Glad I got in one last ride on the original PIRATES the other weekend, then...
  (tags: disney pirates)
• Baldwin author speculates about ‘In Cold Blood’ era in graphic novel | LJWorld.com
  Ande Parks, inker of NIGHTWING and other DC material, wrote a graphic novel called CAPOTE IN KANSAS that overlaps the period dramatized in the film CAPOTE. I'm going to have to hunt this down.
  (tags: comics graphicnovels literature trumancapote kansas)
• smb_super_synth.swf (application/x-shockwave-flash Object)
  Super Mario Brothers soundboard, in Flash
  (tags: flash audio videogames games mario nintendo)

>> 

• Galatoire's Sweet Potato Cheesecake
  Mmmmm.
  (tags: food cheese cheesecake desserts recipe)

>> 

• Wired 14.02: I Spy
  Amateur satellite trackers and their hunt for "Misty," a government satellite that eludes observation. Deeply interesting stuff...
  (tags: science technology space satellites government privacy astronomy wired)
• L'ART ET LA MANIERE DE PLIER UN TEE - ALL TRIBES HOT STUFFS
  How to make a t-shirt folding machine out of four pieces of cardboard. Astonishingly ingenious.
  (tags: fashion clothing organization video awesome)

>> I had one of the weirder dreams of my life last night, in which one of the editors at DC hired Warren Ellis and Alison Goldfrapp to do a comic together, but Alison was having trouble getting inspired on the art chores, so she went to live in a lemur enclosure at the zoo, and I had to go down and check on her, but the lemurs all reared up on their hind legs and deployed knives out of their fingers, and then Alison and I were caught by the zookeepers, and they wanted to know who I was but I'd left my ID at the office, so my mom and my grandparents went to go get it.

It wasn't as nightmarish as it sounds; it was actually kind of fun.

I've got a lot to do in the next few weeks, so who knows how much blogging I'll get up to, though there are a few things I'd like to write about. We shall see, in any event.

Also, if anybody has any cute gay friends they want to hook me up with, send an e-mail, won't you? Being single was cute and fun for a while but now, eh, not so much.