Richard Morton has recreated Roy Lichtenstein's "Girl in Mirror" entirely in Lego. His explanation of the process, including several disasters, is quite entertaining. I love Lego and I like Lichtenstein's work, so how can I not like this. Link via Jim Coudal.
I just got back to the hotel after the Noise Pop concert at the Great American Music Hall tonight. Wow, that's certainly quite the venue. Old theatre with two floors and a classic stage. The opening act was an all-instrumental group called The Advantage that played rocking guitar interpretations of such gaming classics as Megaman and Contra. Totally incredible and their burned album was moving for only five bucks. It will be the soundtrack for our drive down the coast to Monterey tomorrow.
Pedro the Lion headlined the show and their performance was fantastic. I was a little disapointed that they didn't play "Magazine" but what can you do. David Bazan's political encore solo about the current American political situation made a powerful and perfect end to the night. If you haven't heard Pedro the Lion yet, check out the first session of Acts of Volition Radio and then go out and buy an album.
I just arrived in San Fransisco last night for the Mozilla Developers Day with my two cohorts Steven and Stephen. The Mozilla headquarters are hilariously cliché dot-com. Within view there is a set of oversize chess pieces, a huge Golden Gate Bridge made of soda cans, a Gollum statuette, and several huge lizard banners. More updates to come as events warrant...
Paul Middlewick has discovered numerous animals, including the pig below, in the map for the London underground. Apparently he discovered an elephant while staring at the tube map during his daily journey to work fifteen years ago and has since found several more. I've been hunting in there for an animal to claim as my own, but I'm still coming up short. Via Jason Kottke.
Not only is Wilco a great band, they also gave some of the inspiration for the name of this site with their album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. For those interested in the band, there has been a ton of Wilco news lately. Lead singer, Jeff Tweedy has released a book of his poetry called Adult Head, which I just ordered at Amazon. I'm very much looking forward to it even if there is a cat on the cover. I also noticed on the band's site that their new album A Ghost is Born is due to be released at the beginning of the summer. And, if you haven't had a chance to see the documentary I am Trying to Break Your Heart about the making of their last album, it is now available to rent. All very exciting...
from the poster for I am Trying to Break Your Heart
Some kiwi friends of mine have made a hilarious video (6.5mb mpeg) of themselves hanging up a poster for a dance festival on a public sculpture and almost getting arrested in the process. Apparently the competition was just to make a poster for Destination and display it somewhere. There are 20 double passes up for grabs. Good luck guys!
Over the past twenty years or so there has been a marked move in the tourism industry to refer to tourists as visitors. I can still vaguely recall the days when local information centers were called tourist information and advertisements in magazines invited tourists to come and visit. Then, there was a subtle shift toward calling people visitors. Although there are still some spots (like the local Cavendish Tourist Mart) that have clearly missed the trend, the shift is so ubiquitous that these places really stand out in a negative way. I guess the purpose of this move is obvious: nobody likes being referred to as a tourist.
As a general rule, nobody likes being labeled with a broad brush, particularly when the label carries negative connotations. Whether you're referred to as a tourist, a consumer, or, heaven forbid, a unit of labour, it grates on you. The same applies to referring to people who visit a website or work on a computer as users. Certainly the word user applies to people browsing the web or using a computer program, but that doesn't mean it's the best word for the job. Yet almost everyone writing about usability, site design, or programming refers to their potential audience as users.
Some people might find this distinction trivial, but calling people users is unfortunate particularly when more positive and human words such as people, visitor, or audience are available to you. For the past few years I've tried to be especially conscious of writing people as much as possible as a rule of thumb. In design documents, usability analyses, and proposals you can almost always talk about how people or visitors will be affected by your decisions as opposed to users.
It may sound cheesy, but the simple act of writing in this way actually changes the way you'll design systems. Referring to users as people actually helps you to think about your final audience as real people. It plays an important role in humanizing your work and makes you more sympathetic to everyone's feedback and concerns. Even when you're writing content that will never be seen by a user, this positive outlook can help you out in the long run.
Sure there are times when only the word user will apply but ninety percent of the time you can do without it. So, come on, let's follow the tourism industry and bring people back into the process.
Last night Haligonian musician Matt Mays won the East Coast Music Award for best "Best New Artist." I had the good fortune of seeing Matt open for Billy Bragg this past summer at the Marquee Club in Halifax and then again opening for Sam Roberts just last month. The first time he was singing solo and the second time with his band El Torpedo. He's a great performer and very deserving of the award. I highly recommend his album (despite that cover art) and look forward to his next recording.
A number of us silveroranges are heading down to San Francisco for the Mozilla Developers Day at the end of the month. Steven, Stephen, Dan, and I will be in the city from Thursday, February 26th until the following Tuesday. San Francisco is yet another city I haven't had the pleasure of visiting until now and I'm really looking forward to it.
Aside from the developers sessions, my only established plans are to generally tour the city and to visit the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. So, give me your suggestions. If you had a weekend in the city, what would you get up to? Dining suggestions would be especially welcome. Also, if you're in San Francisco and would like to join any of us for lunch, let me know. Thanks.