The Auteur
Earlier this month John Gruber announced he’d be giving a talk at Macworld Expo. Now Macworld has made the talk available online and I must say that it is quite excellent.
The lack of a clear auteur on projects is something I’m already familiar with even though I’ve only been in the work force for a couple years. I envy the self-employed and people who work somewhere where the final cut belongs to someone with a good, clear vision.
Coraline
Coraline
The movie Coraline based on the book of the same name by Neil Gaiman drops on February 6th. It will be the first stereoscopic stop-motion feature and is directed by master of stop-motion Henry Selick.
I’m pretty exited personally and will most likely be seeing it opening day. I enjoyed the book and it’s the sort of story that has the potential to be even better on the screen. Here’s a trailer:
Also worth checking out is the TMBG song that was written for the movie. You can view it by going to Mr. Jones’ Study at the Coraline website and clicking on the record player.
Gynandromorph
A cardinal that is both male and female — split directly down the middle — has been spotted in Rock Island, Illinois. Who knew such a thing could even exist? Found via BirdChick.
The Remnants
The Remnants
Last year during the Writers’ Strike (remember that?) screenwriter John August took a break from the picket line for the production of a web show pilot he wrote.
He kept everything well under wraps at the time but now that it appears it’s not going anywhere any time soon he’s released the pilot online. It’s too bad that we probably won’t see any more, but at least you can watch the pilot:
Genealogy Update
I just finished some updates to the Genealogy site that I maintain for Carrie, my wife. I don’t assume that our genealogy has much general appeal but the site has been getting a number of visits from Google searches so I’m trying to make it a bit more informative and easy to navigate.
Ringing in the New Year
Ringing in the New Year
I’ll be honest. I tried to think of a witty first post, something that would let you know exactly what to expect from this website. Something that would entertain you and make you want to come back for more.
But I couldn’t come up with anything because the fact is that I don’t know exactly what this will be yet. Somewhere to put thoughts too big for Twitter? A site to unify all my online identities? A place to put links to things that will amuse you?
I looked at the humble beginnings of sites I visit regularly to try and figure out how to start. My natural inclination is to make promises. This site is the go to place for the latest about interactive art. Or the latest about the intersection between art and science. Or it will be the completely awesome story of my life.
When John Gruber started Daring Fireball he gave a promise. This is a site with Macintosh news. And starting there in the first post he kept to that promise and talked about the latest new release from Apple.
While Jason Kottke on the other hand made no promises about content. All he said was that he was going to write; he needed to write and this is how he was going to do it.
I can’t even make that promise. There is no guarantee that I can keep this up. It may be that I don’t find my voice. Or perhaps that I just don’t have anything to say.
But there was something that I realized John Gruber and Jason Kottke and a host of others had in common when they began. They were honest. They are even honest enough to leave their messy beginnings out in the open where you can still read them.
And this is something I can promise, too. I will be honest. I may not post very often. I may not have anything interesting to say or to link to (although I’ll certainly try). Since I don’t know what this site is or what it will become I will start humbly and suppress my urge to try and define it. This is what it is and no more.