GlitchNYC.com

The GlitchCast

I've had several ideas for podcasts brewing for months, and I've finally gotten the first one together. The GlitchCast is a podcast that will feature new and independent music. I'll be playing the best stuff I can find on the podsafe music network and encouraging independent artists to put their stuff up there so everyone can play it.

It's already working! I've gotten the amazing Edie Carey to upload her songs and I'm working with Candid (who I interviewed in the second episode) to get their best stuff up there for people to play. I've also got some crazy ideas about getting comedians to upload their performances to the podsafe music network for podcasters to play, and I'm already working with quite a few here in New York towards that end.

If you're sick of radio and want to find some new, indpendent music, then this show is for you, especially if you're running your own podcast. Everyone I play and feature on this show will be podsafe!

Check it out at http://www.glitchnyc.com/GlitchCast or you can subscribe to the feed here. I recommend "iPodder Lemon" automatically downloading your podcasts.

6:40 pm | permalink | /technology/podcasting | 0 writebacks |

Firefox Hits 100 Million Downloads

Congratulations to the amazing team at SpreadFirefox.com and the developers of Firefox. They've hit 100,000,000 downloads, and 1.0 hasn't even been out for a year.

We ran our NYTimes ad back in December of last year, when we had around 10 million downloads and the uptake has continued to accelerate ever since. Yes there have been several revision to Firefox, and updates are counted as downloads, but this is still a staggering number of people using and downloading a program.

If you're not using Firefox yet, go get it now. It's better, it's more secure (sick of spyware yet?), and it will always be free.

3:16 pm | permalink | /technology/opensource | 0 writebacks |

Getting it Out There

I've been listening to C.C. Chapman's Accident Hash, a new indie music Podcast, for a few months now. He describes his show as "the best mix in podsafe music" and boy is he right. My musical tastes are fairly varied, but I certainly found myself liking his "mellow" themed shows a bit more than his normal all over the map mix.

So when C.C. launched U-Turn cafe, a podcast with nothing but chilled, mellow music, I was psyched. Listening to the first few shows, I heard his call for artists to sit down with a guitar and a mic and just record something raw and fresh, and well, I went and got myself inspired.

Saturday night, I fired up my iRiver 899 and sang + played my heart out. The result is undoubtedly the most professional recording I've ever managed. This is slightly ironic because it was done in 1 shot with a small mic and a little device, rather than the hundreds of dollars of recording equipment I have ready for the task, and the hours I usually spend futilely trying to get a good mix.

I've also gotten in touch with some of my favorite indie artists to encourage them to join the podsafe music network and get their music out there for anyone to play. Edie Carey has taken me up on my suggestion, and her amazing music is now available there. Anyone can go take a listen, and podcasters can download her tracks to play on their show!

I sent C.C. my song with a quick message attached, and pointed him to Edie's music, wasn't sure if I'd get a reply. After all, C.C. is a very busy guy. Was I ever ecstatic when I read his email:

Ok dude, there is WAY to much goodness in this one single e-mail.

Thank you for it all. Everything is perfect.

I checked out Edie's music last night. I was editing together all sorts of music segments that will be played on IT Conversations stream of the Pop!Tech conference so I made sure to get her in there so that she'd have her first play and thus start showing up in the Featured Artist rotation on the site. Damn is she talented.

Now I need to find some time to do another u-Turn. I'm getting such great music!

I LOVE what you did with your whole intro and then the song. I need more people to do that.

PERFECT! Thank you!

-C.C.

That email made my morning.

Now, I realize, I have to get things ready around here - I don't even have a proper music page to point people to!

3:51 pm | permalink | /life/music | 0 writebacks |

Cool Katamari Tee in Pre-Orders

After spending most of last weekend playing Katamari Damacy I had to preorder one of these t-shirts depicting the Prince and his rolling ball, with the caption, "This is how I roll."

Katamari Damacy is the most inventive and addicting game I've played for the PS2 and this amazingly designed shirt is, as Cory Doctorow calls it "A true nerd pride item", but they won't manufacture it unless they get enough pre-orders.

Link (via BoingBoing)

9:15 am | permalink | /technology/games | 0 writebacks |

"From here on in, I shoot without a script."

The Rock Opera "RENT" defined a portion of my life. It led me to an understanding of the world around me, and of myself, that may have taken me years longer to come to on my own. Silly and trite as it seems to feel this connected to a musical, the abstraction of themes and emotions through music allows you to imprint on a story in ways that you simply can't with words alone.

Everyone affected by RENT has their own stories, and feels their own personal connection to the words, the music, and the feelings that they evoke. It's as much a story about love and life, as it is about grief and loss. It's also a connection to who you were when you first really heard it, and first felt these things with the characters.

Not your average musical.

Over the years, I've drifted from the theatre, especially from the musical theatre, and RENT has become somewhat of a footnote in my past.

When I heard that the movie was being made, 9 years late, I was more than just miffed. I was virulently angry. They'd taken a young, twenty-something cast and let them become thirty somethings. They'd replaced the spit-fire Mimi and left everyone else in, trying to play "young." I'm still a big fan of Anthony Rapp and Taye Diggs, but Adam Pascal is the consumate tool now; a Broadway pretty boy.

So when I watched the trailer tonight, I was not expecting this. I was not expecting to be taken back 10 years.

I was not expecting to be moved.

They'd taken moments, tiny moments from the show, and expanded them into heart-wrenching images.

The loss is so tangible, so real, even in just these 2 minutes, that you can't help but feel for this little family.

Watching some of the videos on the rent blog I suddenly understood why so many of the original cast were returning. They simply couldn't let this story go. They had so much to say, so much to bring to it, that they had to see it through. For the first time in 9 years, they were finally able to finish the story that Jonathan Larson left unwritten when he passed.

The cast has been documenting the process on the blog the entire way through shooting, and hearing them talk about their characters and what they hoped to accomplish with this film has brought me full circle. I am now more excited about this than any other movie in the next year.

Add to that the fact that listening to RENT has been synonymous with Thanksgiving for my best friend and I since 1996 (and he is *not* a fan of musicals) and that the movie is coming out November 23rd. I will see this movie the day before thanksgiving, barring an act of god.

• Watch the "Seasons of Love" Trailer at the Rent Myspace page
• See the short "teaser trailer" at the official site
• Watch the full movie trailer at apple
• Watch lots of cast documentary and interview videos at the RentMovieBlog

11:00 am | permalink | /technology/film | 0 writebacks |

How Eric Got His Game Back

Okay. I'll admit it. I don't play video games.

There. I said it.

I'm a supergeek who hates halo. I'm the sole square-enix fan that has yet to finish Final Fantasy 7 let alone any of the games that followed. I'm the only dork more likely to win the Olympic gold in high-jumping* than to frag someone in quake deathmatch.

I just don't have the time.

I live to create, to be productive. If I'm sitting in front of a 70 hour RPG, I know exactly where those 70 hours are going, and the sound of the "Toilet of Lost Time" flushing haunts me every minute I play.

If I'm in front of my computer, at least then I'm trying to get something done, even if it doesn't always work out that way.

This isn't the way it's always been. I grew up loving every game I could get my hands on. It didn't matter if it was even fun, I played it for the sheer love of playing. I spent a great deal of my childhood in front of my 8-bit altar, and my first true geek "call-for-help" was to walk a friend through the second quest of the Legend of Zelda.

Sometimes I miss the hours spent in front of my games with no thoughts of what I could, or should be doing. Don't get me wrong, I still love a good game when there is company around, but then it's a social activity, something to do while hanging out.

No, if I was going to really enjoy solitary gaming again, I needed to find some time that was already wasted and idle. Time when I really had nothing better to do.

How much does it cost to get your childhood back?

Eighty Dollars.

I got a Game Boy Advance SP last Christmas, and I've played it every day on the subway since. I've got absolutely nowhere to be, except on that train. No one is waiting, there's noting better I could be doing. It's the perfect subway pastime.

The games I had were good, and they kept me occupied. I enjoyed the Mario RPG and grew to understand why the original Pokemon game was so addictive that it spawned a TV show and a multi-billion** dollar empire. I played through the new metroid and regained my uncanny knack for working the D-pad and the B and A buttons.

These were fun diversions, but they weren't quite what I missed.

And then Nintendo released "The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap"

This is how games are supposed to be. For the past month, I've poured myself into this game, struggling with puzzles, searching dungeons over and over until I found the one hidden corner I missed. I've spent days thinking about what I could try next to beat a mid-way boss and then found myself giddy when I figured it out. This wasn't just hacking up octorocks and tectites with my sword. This game actually required you to be smart and think of things in new ways. This game was enriching.

I have yet to finish the quest, and I don't mind telling you that I'm stuck again. This game is damn hard. But it's damn good too. Possibly the best single player game ever made for any console, and coming from an 8-bit connoisseur, that's not a statement I make lightly.

If any of you grew up loving Zelda, or simply spend your days waiting for your train to bring you home, seriously, drop the $80 and pick up a GBA SP and this game. Your train rides will never be the same.

*I should note that I have zero aptitude for high-jumping.

**I also have no idea how much Pokemon has made for Nintendo, between the game, the shows, the cards, and the toys. Billions doesn't seem impossible.

1:21 am | permalink | /technology/games | 0 writebacks |

Rochester Fun

We spent this past weekend in Rochester with Kate and Doug and it was amazing as always. We had a great time playing all manner of games, seeing Batman Begins at "the buck" movie theater, and eating some fantastic meals. The first morning we work up there, we were roused by the strangest music you could imagine. An eerily happy and jazzy voice sang "naaaaa na na na na" and was backed by a full orchestra, then followed by some crazy boppy j-pop (Japanese pop music).

After doing some of the morning ritual (my bag was still being "located" by the airline, so I basically just rolled out of bed and put on my pants), we joined Kate and Doug downstairs where they were already preparing us a great breakfast. The music, Kate explained, was the soundtrack from perhaps the greatest game to ever come out for the Playstation 2, Katamari Damacy. I finally got a chance to play the crazy game at the Museum of the Moving Image for a few minutes a month or so ago. The basic premise is that you start out with a little, sticky ball that can pick up things like paperclips and coins. As you roll them up, you get bigger, and move on to bigger objects (like tape dispensers, then toys, then you know, children, pandas, elephants, buildings, and mountains.)

We went out and bought the game later that day, and it's as addictive as it sounds. We beat the game over the course of the weekend, but the great thing is that they challenge you to do each level better, so there's still tons of playability left, and Sara is actually playing it right now.

Between rounds of Katamari Damacy, we played a little Halo 2, some Apples to Apples, a little Clone Wars Risk, Compatibility, and even snuck out to Vertex, the local Goth club for happy hour. It was great to see them, get to know their new dog, Benny, and say hello to their cats, Vega and Io (I have no idea how to spell this, it's pronounced Eye-oh, and he's the most affectionate cat in history. I was trying to write this post our last night there, and he was so intent on getting petted that he wouldn't stand for my hands being on the keyboard of the laptop).

• Katamari Damacy at Amazon
• Apples to Apples,is an easy pick up game that can go as long as you want. Each player gets seven cards with words or names on them. Each round, the "moderator" reads an adjective, and the other players throw in a card they think will match well with it. Whichever one the moderator picks gets a points. Very good for a quick friendly game, and tons of people can play at once
• Compatibilty a great team game where you pick what you think your partner will pick from a stack of cards, based on a different "topic" each turn. Great fun for up to 8 people in sets of two.
• Clone Wars Risk is a twist on the original Risk, with extra rules that would, in theory, make the game quite different. Not wanting to spend 30 minutes re-learning risk, we simply played with the original rules, and it was as fun as ever.
• View the photos - Ooh, it's album 100, neat.

8:58 pm | permalink | /life | 0 writebacks |

Disappearing Flash in Firefox? A quick Adblock fix remedies the problem!

As savvy web surfers begin to upgrade to Flash 8, they're in for a bit of a rude awakening. If you're using Firefox and Adblock (which you should be!) and upgrade to Flash 8, suddenly flash movies disappear. Instead of the expected movie, you get simply blank space.

What's happening is a conflict between Adblock and Flashplayer 8. There's no update yet from either Macromedia or the Adblock developers, but luckily, you don't have to uninstall either tool to fix the problem.

All you have to do is disable "obj-tabs", those little "Adblock" tabs that hang off the edge of flash movies. These tabs give you easy access to block annoying flash movies, since right clicking on a movie will activate Flash's own context menu, rather than the Firefox menu where your Adblock tools normally are for images.

In lieu of the obj-tabs, you can click tools->Adblock->"List all blockable elements" or hit ctrl-shift-a to bring up a list of everything on the page that Adblock can filter out.

Turning off Adblock's obj-tabs is easy. Just click Tools->Adblock->preferences->"Adblock Options" and then uncheck "show obj-tabs." Refresh your page and voila! Flash is back.

2:05 pm | permalink | /technology/web | 0 writebacks |

Wallace and Gromit Come to the Big Screen

I've been a Wallace and Gromit fan (and a fan of AArdman Animations) for quite a few years now, ever since catching the original trio of shorts on PBS.

Chicken Run, the first feature film offering from Aardman Animations was decent, but far from the whimsical, oddball fun that Wallace and Gromit always seem to find themselves in.

Finally, Wallace and Gromit have gotten their own feature film and I was so excited upon hearing that news a year ago that I forced myself to forget about the project so that time would pass more quickly. My theory was that my swiss cheese brain would drop that tidbit of information, and Wallace and Gromit would simply be out the next time I thought about it.

Amazingly the tactic worked, and the movie is now in theaters! You can bet we'll be going to see it soon, perhaps in Rochester on our trip this weekend.

In the meantime, you can read the outstanding and lovingly written New York Times review, play around at the official site watch the featurette at apple, and check out lots more great shorts by AArdman Animations at AArdman.com

1:47 am | permalink | /technology/film | 0 writebacks |

del.icio.us links

Selections from my del.icio.us bookmarks

Usually found by watching the feed of what's popular with other del.icio.us members, Oishii!

Patek style tenor banjo

Good site for an alternative tuning and style for the tenor banjo. This style should be more familiar to guitarists wanting to switch back and forth between instruments

GTD Introduction - PigPog Creativity Wiki

GTD - Getting Things Done - is a book by David Allen, giving a series of principles for managing the day to day tasks and projects we all have to do.

Directions for making Dried Apple Shrunken heads for Halloween

Peach Saves Mario's Ass - Kotaku

New mario game staring Princess Peach for the nintendo DS

Mario Unleashed - Google Video

Live Action Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach take on the marimba.

NYC2123

An excellent cc-by-nc-sa graphic novel, formatted for the PSP but also great for reading on the web

Tobby Pachi

Fun little flash game were you launch a little dog off a springboard to collect gems and rescue the girl. His ears flap in the wind as you launch him towards spikes and over obstacles. Cute.

Fluff Radio

The Fluff Radio Review - A live music, comedy, and talk radio podcast created by the same fine folks that brought you Fluff In Brooklyn - http://www.fluffinbrooklyn.com

Writerisms and other Sins

A Writer's Shortcut to Stronger Writing by C.J. Cherryh

Werewolf - A free, simple, party game

Werewolf is a simple game for a large group of people (seven or more.) It requires no equipment besides some bits of paper; you can play it just sitting in a circle. I'd call it a party game, except that it's a game of accusations, lying, bluffing, second

1:11 am | permalink | /technology/web | 0 writebacks |

Missed Invention Opportunities: HandEase

Years ago, while carrying home tons of groceries in the cheap, thin bags that Key Foods gives you, I was struck by an invention idea. The thin bag handles were cutting into the joints of my fingers and no matter how I shifted, it hurt like hell. All it would take to alleviate that pain would be some sort of stiff layer that distributed the weight from a fishing-line thin razor of pain to a more manageable handle.

Rubber tubing seemed ideal, and I envisioned cutting a garden hose into 6 inch sections and then slitting it down the side so that you could easily pop the bags in, grab them, and go.

Having spent the first few years of my employable life working front end at Price Chopper, I figured that front end staff (such as register workers and cashiers) could churn these things out from cheap garden hose and then sell them for a dollar a piece at checkout. All you'd need would be a good pair of shears to cut the hose and you've got brand new revenue stream built upon your existing stock and labor.

There's a hook in the sale too - you can sell these little hand protectors as reusable items and invite shoppers to bring them next time, but you know they'll forget. For a dollar a pop, how many people will just throw them in again with the order when they forget?

Yesterday, I realized that I'd been beaten to the punch. Whole Foods offers these same devices (but mass produced in cardboard) for free as you walk out of the store. They're called Hand-Ease, and there's only an email address (handease AT cox DOT net) and the store logo printed on them, but I was able to find the website through google.

Designed as a circle that folds easily into your hand with two creases running down the middle, and made of 100% post consumer cardboard, they're much more environmentally friendly than my idea, and stores can simply order big boxes of them as an added incentive for customers to shop there. Brilliant work.

5:58 pm | permalink | /technology/gadgets | 0 writebacks |