From Russia, With Blocks

So google finally announced their browser. You really gotta check this out; I’m sure it’ll be revolutionary in some aspect (open source, memory management, other architecture, etc.).

But what’s really of interest— to the artist in me at least—the geek in me is afk, shitting himself over the wonderful possibilities as well as the horrible implications for internet monopoly—is Scott McCloud’s beautiful & super informative comicbook describing what Chrome is & how it functions. McCloud captures the images of various coders and designers, and use them to explain Chrome’s features to users and dispense tech-talk to the developers. And man… If you’ve read McCloud’s other books, you know that McCloud has a wonderful grasp on the medium of comics, and can explain just about anything through a few, lines & a word bubble.

The part below perfectly illustrated what I perceive to be one of the most frequented and most frustrating part of a browser: the URL bar.

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAA indeed!

In the new version of firefox, the “awesome bar” tries to give suggestions when you type into the box. But a lot of the times, these results just end up cluttering the short box and makes things even more difficult. In fact, while creating this post, I typed “hagure” into the URL bar and instead of taking me to hagure-metaru.net, I got a link for http://hagure-metaru.net/wordpress/wp-admin/press-this.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fblogoscoped.com%2Fgoogle-chrome%2F&t=Google%20on%20Google%20Chrome%20-%20comic%20book&s=&v=2

That is not helpful at all. I look at the first part of the URL, then my eyes glaze over at the trailing gobbledygook, and I feel like the programmer in the last panel. Here’s hopin’ Google comes through.

*sigh*

Here’s to the Google Monopoly… a reluctant cheer. May you guard my (and the rest of the world’s) data/life with wisdom, courage and justice.

"I would blow $1,000 on a status symbol from Apple, but I wouldn't buy that application for it."

I couldn’t have put it any better.

[via:The Onion]

Note: I wrote this back in January right after my life-changing roommates from hell got their 30 days. These songs helped me get through the next month and allowed me to heal, and forgive (but never forget of course). At the end is a little statement I hope they see someday.

I feel calmer now.

The house meeting with Sally just ended. To my friends, and the people who care about me: It went well. An eviction notice was handed down.

the pillows - I Think I Can

[youtube width="425" height="355"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScWZs8sKCfA[/youtube]

Its a great two part song. Inspirational anthem in the beginning, and emotional ballad at the end give it a great one-two punch of anime-inspired j-rock by the pillows. If you want your heart strings tugged at like Weezer’s “My Name is Jonas
” then hit up some FLCL and listen for the tunes from a rock band that has found a place in many anime-lover’s hearts, alongside Yoko Kanno, Tsuneo Imahori and The Seatbelts.

Who knows why the J-genres: J-pop, J-rock & J-indies are so endearing and approachable. “I Think I Can” is not the only anime tune that appeals to me so . It kinda reminds me of Joe Hisaishi’s themes for the Studio Ghibuli films, such as Mononoke Hime (Main Theme), Laputa (空から降ってきた少女 [The Girl Who Fell from the Sky] ),.
Listening to the Totoro theme - 風の通り道 ) [Kaze no tourimichi], I am still brought to tears by its beauty.


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtQM3H59TgI[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f288vB6ACd4[/youtube]
Its no coincidence that this song is about the wind, whose fleeting nature is perhaps the epitome of the Japanese concept of あわれ (a-wa-re). The song is also connected with memories of my Aunt passing away as a child, and is a sad, yet inspiring and hopeful reminder of nature’s—and life’s—transience.

PS: I don’t plan on starving, or burning in hell

Yeah I tried Mental Case out and um… low blow but I think you’d have to be a “Mental Case” to seriously consider it for a storage medium. Despite what the newest Mac GTD wunderkind might say, its a little too clumsy for my tastes. It sure looks real pretty, but the entry interface is a little clunky for a simple flashcard setup. While the screen capture function is a nice touch, using it instead of copy/paste loses out on the semantic value of plain text. Sure its good for remembering a few facts or random people names, but I don’t think that the software is flexible enough for a student to use in place of flashcard memorization.

Some people in the comments suggested Studycard Studio and Mindburn. I’m skeptical, but I might give them a chance some day. Right now, I’m trying to avoid tinkering with too much mac software, and focus more on PSAI: Photoshop and (Adobe) Illustrator.

But just look at the chesire grin on the #990000 suitcase. As José would say: “It’s kind ovva kooky, kind ovva creepy!”.