Ploafmaster General

Photoshop Express, that clever (and FREE!) web app from Adobe with some pretty powerful and easy to use editing tools, can now hook into your Flickr account. Now I'm not sure I'll make much use of this (or Flickr's picnik for that matter) since I have iPhoto and Photoshop CS3 on my Mac, but I may still try to compare the two, since I never know when I'll want to upload and modify a photo from another computer. I can tell you now that PSE seems to be a bit of a system pig, but we'll see.

On a related note, Photoshop Express DOES have a feature which is pretty nice. You can quickly create embeddable slide shows of pictures for use on pretty much any site. It's kinda clunky right now, and seems as slow as the app itself, but it's still young and has room for improvement. Here's an example:

https://static.photoshop.com/express/embed/pxplayer.swf

This is a feature I wish Flickr had built in because I already store my photos online there, and don't feel like having to transfer them to a 2GB-limited web app just to make an easy slide show.

Call this one of my "late to the party" film reviews, but I finally got a chance to see Juno tonight, and it was worth the wait.

I'm a bit tired and therefore less coherent, so I'll hit a few salient points:

1. The acting was wonderful. I wish Michael Cera was at least nominated for Best Supporting Actor - his Paulie was such a sympathetic character that I couldn't help rooting for him and cheering inside when Juno confessed her love for him. And Ellen Page! She deserved every bit of her Oscar nomination. I honestly think she's poised to become quite the great actress if she plays her career right.
2. The script was mostly solid. I agree with several reviewers who were almost fed up in the first fifteen minutes by the almost-too-clever-rapid-fire dialogue, but at least it was fairly intelligent. Honestly, the sarcasm gave way to the right balance of humor and a contemplative look at the protagonist's situation.
3. Finally, I felt like Juno maintained just the right level of sweetness; not to saccharine to the point of gagging on plastic emotionality, but not so casual about its subject matter to miss the gravity.

I came in to this movie a little skeptical. The last time a Fox Searchlight film was lauded this widely (in my memory, at least) was Little Miss Sunshine, and I didn't digest that one so welld. This, though, for the reasons listed above, ended up as Five of Five. I think this is my likely my next DVD purchase.

For your viewing pleasure, Zach Galifianakis interviewing Moby:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sjdvyh2UJWQ&hl=en&w=580&h=485]

Related: New York Magazine has their own YouTube channel with a few more gems as well.

So I'm going to stop using Twitter Tools to hit up Twitter every time I write a blog post. I've given this some thought over the last several days ever since Blankenship tweeted about it. I agree with his sentiment vis-a-vis "pimping" my blog - at least on Twitter. I'll certainly keep my blog listed on RVABlogs.com - if only because I do frequently write about Richmond-related topics (my short little write-up of deLux is more popular than I thought it would be) - but Blankenship's essential premise makes sense. If you like my blog, you'll read it. Pimping may bring visitors, but it won't retain readers.

It's just that for posts after this one, you'll actually have to come here (or check your feed reader) to see if I've posted something new.

Val and I just returned from dining at deLux, located on the corner of Main and Addison. This restaurant replaced Southern Culture which, unfortunately, closed permanently after a fire several years ago.

Thankfully, deLux is a fantastic replacement. The moment we walked in the door we were struck by the slick contemporary decor. The stair case leading to our table on the second floor had glass side panels, dark wood floors on floating steps framed by black-painted steel. Upstairs was a second bar and lounge area with cement tiles fashioned (very well) to look like thin grey bricks. The seating was a mixture of leather-clad dining chairs and high-backed comfortable arm chairs. Valerie made the astute observation that these arm chairs should appeal to folks of our generation who are more used to eating on their sofas in front of the television.

Service was prompt and appropriately spaced throughout the meal, and our waitress provided just the right level of useful information about the menu and specials - especially that the soft shell crab dinner would be served over rice instead of fried plantains (deal breaker!). Valerie ate a crab cake sandwich cleverly seated on an English muffin - not too much bread, and sturdy enough to hold up through every bite. My entree was the lobster macaroni and cheese - elbow macaroni in a Vermont white cheddar sauce topped with a generous portion of freshly cooked bacon and lobster meat on top. And the lobster! It wasn't simply the typical shredded meat. There were chunks of leg and claw (my favorite parts) as well as tail meat. We finished the meal by sharing an deLux's unique dessert: pancake fritters. This consisted of lightly sweet pancake batter dropped into hot oil, with the result (resembling darker hush puppies on the outside) plated with ice cream and a citrus sauce. ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS.

The bartender (at least upstairs) was aces, too. I had the deLux martini, consisting of an expert mix of Ketel One Citron, Grand Marnier, sour mix, and pomegranate juice. Val had the Strawberry Street - Stoli Strawberry, Cointreau, and a splash of Sprite. With dinner, Val put down another cocktail - the raspberry mojito - which tasted JUST LIKE a red Swedish Fish. No joke. It was quite tasty.

deLux is a classy restaurant and lounge with a menu that's both extensive and coherent. It may be easy for a first timer to feel overwhelmed at the selection, but a little time to peruse is sure to provide any diner with something to his or her taste. I was also impressed by the fairly wide price range. You could eat a standard Fan restaurant burger for $8, or splurge on crab-stuffed filet mignon for $27.

I certainly plan on returning to explore the menu further, hopefully with friends in tow.

Here's just the right touch of insanity to carry you into the weekend:

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/1022431 w=580&h=437]
For Trey from Phil Barbato on Vimeo.

Having just returned from tonight's show, I'm blown away both by the musicianship I witnessed and the venue in which it took place. This was my first show at The National Theater as well as my first Leo Kottke concert, and now I wish I'd seen both sooner.

Now I've heard plenty of Kottke's music before - both from friends/relatives, and on Radioparadise - but witnessing his handwork (both on the fretboard and picking) was a sight to behold. The stage was set nearly blank with a leather chair and his bare essential equipment. When he came on stage, he fumbled awkwardly with the microphone before starting, and moved right into his incredible music. The performance was peppered throughout with anecdotes ranging from snowbanks to early girlfriends and even ants with oddly-placed eyes. I found Kottke equally funny as he was musically brilliant, and his stories carried the audience from one beautiful song to the next.

The National Theater itself is a wonderful concert hall with a nice clear sound system and spot-on lighting. It was large enough to accommodate a crowd while still retaining a moderately intimate feeling (at least at ground level where my seat was located). I'd sum up the decor as a more subdued version of the Byrd Theater(yes, that's really the official site...) - more muted colors, but equally ornate and beautiful.

I think it's about time I finally purchase some of Kottke's albums, and with Weird Al coming in July, it's possible I may return to The National soon, too.

I visited Reuters' website because I was trying to find more info on a New York Times article with a broken link.

I was arrested by the image which greeted me on the front page, which I'll not link to or display here.

At the time of this writing, the most visible item on the home page is the foot of a dead Chinese student sticking out from beneath the rubble. I was horrified when I saw this...but I'm not sure exactly why. I also don't know that I'm offended - it seems like relevant journalism to me. I think it's just the shock of seeing part of a dead child displayed in such a way.

Any thoughts?

Jet-powered hang glider. Video. Need I say more?

WARNING: This video will simultaneously make you laugh really hard and want to claw your eyes out.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vasc8ghyu1g&hl=en&w=580&h=485]

I think the song's lyrics are freaking amazing as well.
(via Autoblog)

So reading through USA Today's website, I found out about some other online mixtape service called "Mixwit."

This thing stinks of venture funding and dreams of monetizing.

Sure, Mixwit beat Muxtape to the punch by several weeks, at least based on each app's blog. But Muxtape has developed into a clean, easy to use system of musical discovery and serendipity, while Mixwit, with it's TOS clearly written by an expensive lawyer, is full of shine, gradients, and more Flash than you can shake a stick at.

You see, Muxtape was created as a project by a photographer and seems to have grown organically as it was picked up by the Internet cognoscenti and lauded for its clean minimalism and ease of use. Mixwit, on the other hand, has some seed funding through Y Combinator and hopes, eventually, to be a complete online media hub. Add to that all the shine and tired (also sometimes cluttered) visual design and you may start to see why I'm not as readily warming to this web app.

I think there's another fundamental difference between Mixwit and Muxtape, though, which casts the latter in a more favorable light for me. Mixwit uses music you search for online, and Muxtape uses music that you (in theory) own. This means that Mixwit doesn't have to be representative of your actual music collection - it can be just your flavor of the moment at the time. Muxtape, on the other hand, adds to the feeling of nostalgia by forcing me to peruse my personal collection and and assemble that perfect mix of songs to represent my mood, personality, or something I'm trying to tell someone.

Regardless of my lack of support for the major parties, Slate's John Dickerson nailed it when he said:

We can disdain moderators who ask questions designed to trap candidates, but we're no different if we screech every time they put a foot wrong.

I've just assembled a new Muxtape painting a picture of my jazz collection with broad strokes.

Ladies and gentlemen, Jazztastic:

The Bad Plus - Big Eater
Astrud Gilberto - It Might As Well Be Spring
Dave Brubeck Quartet - Strange Meadow Lark
Miles Davis - Blue in Green
Taylor Barnett - What Do You Think Of Me?
David "Fuze" Fiuczynski & Rufus Cappadocia - Roxy Migraine
Mark Boling Trio - Therapetic
Vince Guaraldi & Bola Sete - Ginza
Dzihan & Kamien - Stiff Jazz
Chet Baker - You Go To My Head
Al Hibbler - This Love Of Mine
Louis Armstrong - Little Girl Blue

And for all you regulars out there, stay tuned. Interesting stuff tomorrow, I think.

This Thursday I'm going to see Leo-freaking-Kottke perform at The National. Valerie is joining me, and I'm looking forward to having my face melted, acoustic style.

Anybody that reads my site ever been to The National yet? Is it any good as a venue?

Sweet mercy this is hilarious. Perfect blend of cheapness factor and cheap humor.

http://flash.revver.com/player/1.0/player.swf?mediaId=874984
(via Engadget)

...was awful.

Heavy-handed and preachy. Plenty of over-acting. Glaring holes in logic. Valerie fell asleep in a hurry, and this was HER Netflix choice.

2/5

This is perhaps one of the coolest music videos I've seen in a long time. The jury's still out on the song (it's not horrible, but not amazing, either)...

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kxDxLAjkO8&rel=0&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00&hl=en&w=580&h=485]
(via 37signals)

While Richmond's music scene appears to be heating up, it's kinda sad for me to see a city institution grow tepid. Maybe it's just me, but this year's lineup for Friday Cheers looks a little weak-sauce. Sure, you have perennial favorites Carbon Leaf, but the rest? Largely no-thanks. If you enjoy swilling overpriced beer and primping Fratsters® past and present, you're welcome to it. I think I'd rather use my beer money for tickets and cover charges to see more worthwhile acts.

I've complained about the network goons at my company restricting access to harmless websites before. I've lost access to Twitter, kottke.org, Zeldman.com, and a number of other sites which seem to have no worse impact on my productivity than checking the news.

Well today they crossed the freaking line, without warning as usual. Now they've blocked Gmail. Yahoo! Mail is also blocked, incidentally, though I rarely use it. They'd already blocked the chat functionality, which was understandable, but blocking web-based mail in general? This is ridiculous.

Oh yeah, YouTube is still freely accessible, which continues to make little sense and boggle my mind.

Stinkin' paranoid network goons.

UPDATE:
I have my access again. I don't know whether it's the email I sent to the Help Desk (likely not - I received no reply) or somebody many levels above myself complaining about the same problem. I'm just glad to have it back.

I caught a story on NPR's Morning Edition on the way to work about France expanding its Champagne region (and thus potential production acreage) to about 40 more villages in the area. This is, apparently, the first time in around 100 years that more territory has been brought into the appellation.

I can't imagine how an eleven per cent increase in production will meet the soaring demand for genuine Champagne wines, but at least its a start. I'd be interested to find/read opinions from people and producers within the classic boundary.

On Monday night I attended the CD release show for my friend Taylor Barnett's new album, For Someone.

The show was fantastic and included many of the songs from the album, several new pieces, and at least one cover (a Charles Mingus tune I can't remember). This was the second time I've seen Taylor's own ensemble play - the first was his composition recital - but I dare say The Camel on W. Broad St. was a far more comfortable setting for some Jazz than the concert hall at VCU.

I purchased For Someone near the end of the show, and I've been listening to it throughout the week. I'm already a fan of jazz ranging from Duke Ellington to Miles Davis to The Bad Plus (one of my favorites), so while I was supporting my friend on one hand, I was more than happy to get both hands on a recording of his original work. As objectively as I can put this, Taylor's album is awesome.

A stand-out track for me is "What Do You Think Of Me?" which induces a mood of introspective melancholy and showcases some delicious guitar playing from the incredibly talented Trey Pollard. I'm also a huge fan of "Esther's Dance" - a raucous and fun piece that seems fit for dancing indeed. The title track, "For Someone," seems to build perpetually to a resolution that we only experience at the song's close, pulling the listener through to its gentle conclusion. I'm finding the rest of the album to be worth repeated listens as well, with fantastic work on "Bartók Blues", "Cloak and Dagger" and the rest.

Check it out samples of For Someone on DigStation where it's available for purchase as a download (including the cover art from my friend Haley Hollenbach).

Now here's a really clever idea:



These are cutting boards with file-folder-style index tabs and color coding by food type. This is a novel idea that looks both well designed and well thought out. But I have a short wish list...

1. I'd prefer they separate fruits and vegetables into two sizes. Have you ever cut fruit on a cutting board even a day after chopping onions/shallots/garlic?
2. I wish they had a bread board in there, too.
3. How about making these available in A3 size, eh? :-)

(via Uncrate)

Okay, just a warning...this is about an obscure corner case technical problem (at least it seems that way to me) and its solution. Well, my solution at least.

I use Microsoft Excel at work fairly often. I frequently create formulas which generate INSERT or UPDATE statements for an Oracle database. Well today I just got fed up with an annoying quirk concerning the way Excel handles dates. Here's the situation:

One of the columns on my spreadsheet is formatted as a date like this: 1-May-2008

I have a formula to generate an INSERT statement which uses the date in the WHERE clause.

I want to paste the result of the formula into a database tool so I can execute the query.

When I copy and paste a value directly from the date column, I see the date as I expect it. When I paste the result of the formula, the date shows up in stupid Excel date-time code.

I puzzled at this for a while, and flailed about on Google looking for an answer, until a co-worker asked a question which provided the solution: "Is the data a date or a string?" That fired off a thought-process which led to my solution:

1. Copy and past all the values in the column to a text editor.
2. Change the format of the column in Excel to "Text" instead of "Date."
3. Paste the values back into the column in Excel.

Now when I paste the result of the formula into my database tool or text editor or whatever, I see the date as expected. What a pain in the arse for something seemingly so simple.

Tamara Jenkins' The Savages was one of the most beautifully filmed movies I've watched in a couple of years. The cinematography by W. Mott Hupfel III was gorgeous - sometimes saturated, sometimes like a still-frame from a photographic camera. All of this was, of course, complemented by spectacular acting from Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman. The story was a little slow (and a little long), but I would recommend watching this to anybody with both an appreciation for dark humor and sympathy towards broken family relationships.

4/5

In a move that's sure to reinforce the notion that TV stars transition poorly to the big screen as leads, The Office's Rainn Wilson is starring in The Rocker this summer.

It's disappointing to see an actor who plays such an intense and well-done character as Dwight Schrute reduced to a low-brow slapstick comedy role. Ooooooh...a washed up hair band drummer. Playing in a high school prom. And making a come-back.

I can't imagine this film will be any good, so I'll stick to watching Dwight behave like the weirdest paper salesmen imaginable.