DeckMonster.com - On The Web

Simon's Cat

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:16:10 -0700

Simon's Cat is a series of short animated cartoons produced by Tandem Films exploring the unique relationship between a cat and it's owner/servant.

The most recent episode in the series just came out this week, but I'm going to start with the first because it's my favorite so far...

Simon's Cat - Cat Man Do

Reminds me of someone, but I can't quite place it...

Continue reading for more adventures of Simon's Cat...
Continue reading "Simon's Cat"

Apple Mac Music Video

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Sun, 11 May 2008 00:16:18 -0700

Very cool video, produced entirely on an Apple Mac...

The catchy though repetitive song is "Again & Again" by The Bird & the Bee.

The Wall

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 21:34:33 -0700

Visit the free Interactive Vietnam Veterans Memorial and leave a tribute, story, or photograph about any of the 58,256 veterans killed or missing in the Vietnam War...

Humbling.

Sunday Sites - Netvibes.com

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 01:16:00 -0700

Netvibes has earned a place on the list of tabs auto-loaded every time I open my browser. With Netvibes, I can satisfy my craving for daily info by organizing the sites I read regularly (currently a few more than fifty) into tabbed pages of RSS subscription feeds.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a standard way for Websites to publish frequently updated content such as blog entries, news headlines, or podcasts. An RSS reader like the one in Netvibes can display the content published on any number of sites without having to actually browse to each and every site. Even if I get ~~lazy~~, uh busy and manage to fall a few days behind, RSS makes it easy to wade through what would otherwise be information overload.

If you're not already reading this blog entry in Netvibes, I recommend you try it and see for yourself.

50 Reasons Lord of the Rings Sucks

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 14:38:23 -0700

Cracked.com has a hilarious list of the 50 Reasons Lord of the Rings Sucks (referring to the movies).

A few selected favorites...

Speaking of Orcs... The Orcs were obviously stolen from PC game maker Blizzard and its Warcraft series. Too bad Blizzard is apparently too scared to sue New Line over it.
Homage or theft? The "happy village of little people" idea was stolen from Willow.
Homage or theft II? The wise old wizard character was stolen from Harry Potter.
What's that smell? As bad as the Lucasfilm internet leaks were with the last Star Wars trilogy, the filmmakers of Lord of the Rings allowed the paperback novelizations onto shelves years in advance. As if we needed any less of a reason to go see it.

However funny the list itself is, that's not really the point of this post. What's really interesting is the number of people who were moved to leave a comment ripping the article as if it were a serious criticism of the movies.

Now I'm sure that more than a few of the comments are from trolls just trying to stir things up, but I'm also sure that some ~~moron~~ well intentioned (but sarcastically challenged) individual somewhere feels that they struck a blow against the evil forces of sloppy journalism.

Things like this make me question whether there's any intelligent life on this planet.

Sunday Sites - Lifehacker.com

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 20:29:54 -0700

Lifehacker.com has been on my list of (almost) daily blog reading for quite a while now.

It satisfies my technology jones, but also manages to spill over into other areas of life, the universe, and everything. From their About page...

What does the word "lifehacker" mean?

Here a "hack" is a clever shortcut or a lesser-known, faster way to get something done. A hacker believes that information-sharing is a powerful positive good, and that it is a hacker's duty to share her expertiseso we will. The "life" part comes in because while the hacks you'll find here will focus mostly on technologylike how to automatically back up your hard drive, they'll also extend to things like how to re-purpose a shoe-holder to organize your gadgets or build an air conditioner for under 30 bucks.

Lots of interesting stuff to be found here.

In fact sometimes the sheer amount of information published each day can be overwhelming, so Lifehacker even provides a detailed explanation of how to subscribe only to the topic(s) that interest you. If you're like me, that might include Windows downloads and tips, but not Apple or Linux so much.

Check it out.

Puppy Love

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 08:00:00 -0700

This is quite possibly the most adorable photo I have ever seen...

Happy Valentine's Day.

(via Cute Overload | Flickr)

Sunday Sites - dooce.com

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 23:27:25 -0700

I neglected to post a Sunday site last week and considered listing two today, but I decided not to so that I wouldn't detract from a terrific site...

dooce.com is a glimpse into the life of blogger and stay-at-home-mom Heather B. Armstrong. A very honest glimpse. In her words...

This website chronicles my life from a time when I was single and making a lot of money as a web designer in Los Angeles, to when I was dating the man who would become my husband, to when I lost my job and lived life as an unemployed drunk, to when I married my husband and moved to Utah, to when I became pregnant, to when I threw up and became unbearably swollen during the pregnancy, to the birth, to the aftermath, to the postpartum depression that landed me in a mental hospital. Im better now.

See what I mean?

In addition to her exceptional writing, Heather is also one of the best amateur photographers on the Web. In fact, dooce.com is currently nominated for no less than five Weblog Awards ("bloggies"), including Best American Weblog and Best Photography of a Weblog.

I highly recommend you put dooce.com on your list of daily visits.

Free Firefly Novel

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 12:10:49 -0700

Author Steven Brust has written a free e-novel named "My Own Kind of Freedom" based in Joss Whedon's Firefly universe (prior to Serenity). For Browncoats (like me) looking to get their Firefly fix, the further adventures of Captain Mal Reynolds and crew can be downloaded here.

(via io9)

Sunday Sites - Fontifier.com

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 09:00:00 -0700

RIP: Netscape Navigator (1994-2008)

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 23:14:00 -0700

I suppose it was inevitable, but it makes me a little sad anyway... Netscape has announced the end of ongoing development and support of the Netscape Navigator browser as of February 1, 2008. (On the other hand, it's a little surprising this didn't happen a while ago.)

Although Navigator has been irrelevant for many years now, I still have a soft place in my heart for the browser that took me down many of the early twists and turns on the "Information Superhighway".

Rest in peace, Mozilla.

I Never Metaplace I Didn't Like

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 18:37:05 -0700

Raph Koster is a game designer known for his work as the lead designer of Ultima Online and the creative director behind Star Wars Galaxies.

A little more than a year ago, Raph started a new company named Areae, which has been feverishly working on a super-secret MMO-related project. Today was finally the official unveiling of Raph's project, called Metaplace.

Metaplace allows anyone to build their own virtual spaces and treat them just like any other Web site. You can build chat rooms, store-fronts, online apartments, and all kinds of homebrewed games and attach them easily to your blog or MySpace page. Areae is even building their own full-blown MMO using the Metaplace tools.

From the FAQ...

Can I make my own world?

That's sort of the whole point. You should be able to stage up a massively multiplayer world with basic chat and a map you can build on in less than five minutes. It's that easy. Inherit a stylesheet -- puzzle game, or shooter, or chat world -- and off you go! Building maps and places is as easy as pasting in links from the Web, and dragging and dropping the pictures into your world.

Of course, as with any Web 2.0-ish social experiment where users generate most or all of the content, 90% of the resulting product will be complete crap.

<cough>MySpace<cough> <cough>YouTube<cough>

Uh, sorry about that. Of course, that also means that 10% is pretty good stuff. If Metaplace really is as easy as they make it sound, it should be extremely interesting to see what kind of cool stuff we end up with...

An Archive of Siskel and Ebert (and the other guy)

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 20:01:54 -0700

Ever wonder what Siskel and Ebert (or Ebert and Roeper) thought about Independence Day (2 thumbs down), That Thing You Do (2 thumbs up), or Serenity (2 thumbs up)?

Gene and I knew those old shows would be worth saving, but for a long time nobody agreed with us. In the years before home video, it seemed like a waste of expensive video tape to preserve hundreds of episodes of "Opening Soon at a Theater Near You," "Sneak Previews" or "At the Movies."

Fortunately, someone finally agreed with Ebert and started saving the old shows. Now, the past twenty-ish years of movie reviews are indexed and available for our (re)viewing pleasure at the Balcony Archive.

Looking For Group...

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 00:18:11 -0700

I found a terrific Webcomic called Looking For Group a few weeks ago...

The comic, set in an alternate World of Warcraft-ish universe, follows the adventures of an elven archer named Cale'Anon who is out to save the world.

Along the way, Cale gains traveling companions who have a slightly, uh, different set of priorities. In particular is Richard, an undead warlock who provides comic relief, strangely enough, in his absolute delight causing as much death and destruction as inhumanly possible.

If you're into gaming, fantasy, and humor, LFG is highly recommended!

Work of Art #2: Canon Rock

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 18:40:22 -0700

Canon Rock is a rock arrangement of Johann Pachelbel's Canon in D major by the Taiwanese musician and composer Jerry Chang (JerryC). The song became popular on the internet after a video of JerryC's playing the song was posted online...

The rendition has since been featured on newspapers, magazines, and television shows.

Awesome!