Reviews

Book bytes

In Reviews on 8 January 2009 tagged Art, books, comics, fantasy, fiction, graphic novels, reading, recommended, sci-fi

I had some time over the holidays to do a lot of reading, mostly short stories and graphic novels. Here’s a list of recommendations: Pretty Monsters: Stories – terrific contemporary fantasy and modern fairy tales, by Kelly Link The Best of Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet – collected shorts from the underground contemporary fantasy zine, edited [...]

Beep

In Reviews on 24 November 2008 tagged ambient, Audio, beverages, books, electronic, fantasy, fiction, graphic novel, literature, mastering, movies, Music, plugin, recommended, synth

Recent consumption: Listening: Monolake in the morning, Biosphere in the afternoon Watching: My Neighbor Totoro, Dark City (Director’s Cut), Thieves Like Us, Quiet City Reading: The Sandman Vol. 2: The Doll’s House, Coraline, Stardust by Neil Gaiman Drinking: Starbucks Serena Blend Organic Coffee, Xingu Black Beer, Red Stripe Lager Playing: Circle Synth, AAS Modeling Collection, [...]

Elseworlds

In Reviews on 12 November 2008 tagged books, comics, graphic novels, reading, storytelling, worlds

After a few false starts trying to get into some books on my to-read list, I switched strategies and have been rediscovering graphic novels. Besides some sparse interest in my youth and again in college, I never really got into reading comics. These days, I’ve been interested in the various ‘story worlds’ that exist in [...]

Quick look: Intua BeatMaker

In Reviews on 31 July 2008 tagged apps, Audio, ipod touch, mobile, Music, synth

I’ve been using Intua BeatMaker for about a week now on my iPod Touch. It works well as a mobile sketchpad for writing simple tracks of beats and patterns. The user interface took some getting used to, as features are split up between Home, Pads, Sequencer and FX screens. There’s a noticeable lag when switching [...]

MobileMine

In Reviews on 25 July 2008 tagged apple, apps, ipod touch, movies, Music, video, web

I’m lovin’ my recent birthday present from my wife: a shiny new iPod Touch. It’s quite a step-up from my 2nd gen iPod (which served me well for six years, despite its monochrome display, bulky form, dwindled battery life and lack of a dock connector). It’s handy to check email, news feeds or the weather [...]

Flight of the Mighty Conchords Go Boosh

In Reviews on 26 June 2008 tagged comedy, Music, recommended, TV

I’ve been catching up on comedy: Flight of the Conchords (amusing mumblecore with novelty songs, best appreciated in small doses) and the mindbending The Mighty Boosh (hilarious, surreal, bizarre, brilliant). It’s interesting they both exist as radio, stage and TV series.

Moove suh'in'

In Reviews on 26 June 2008 tagged dance, Music, recommended, video

This sly, provocative video for Jerk It led me to the buzzworthy group Thunderheist. Can’t stop listening. Work it.

In Reviews on 28 April 2008 tagged books, fiction, reading, recommended, short, stories

I finished The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials, Book 2) last week but am taking a break before starting the final book. It’s interesting, and reading that it’s a retelling of Milton’s Paradise Lost makes me want to dive into that epic poem (some day). For now, I’m reading some early pulp detective stories in [...]

Review: Dreaming in Code

In General, Reviews on 31 March 2008 tagged books, code, coding, computing, design, history, innovation, programming, project-management, software

I recently finished Dreaming in Code: Two Dozen Programmers, Three Years, 4,732 Bugs, and One Quest for Transcendent Software by Scott Rosenberg. It covers the development of Chandler, an open source, cross-platform personal information manager (PIM). A project of the Open Source Applications Foundation and led by Mitch Kapor, Chandler was meant to revolutionize desktop [...]

Recommended: Morvern Callar

In Reviews on 13 March 2008 tagged cinema, film, movies, Music, recommended

I recently discovered (through The Onion AV Club’s New Cult Canon series) Lynne Ramsay’s film Morvern Callar. Samantha Morton plays the title character, a young Scottish woman whose humdrum life is overturned by her boyfriend’s suicide. Following her initial paralysis and avoidance, Callar places her name on his unpublished manuscript and sends it off to [...]

Portishead: Third

In Reviews on 11 March 2008 tagged albums, chillout, lounge, Music, recommended, trip-hop

Third, Portishead’s first new music in more than ten years, is being released on April 28, 2008. If you’re industrious, you can preview an advance copy that’s floating around. Portishead cornucopia: Homepage, MySpace, Wikipedia, iTunes, Amazon MP3.