Hey, What Happened to the Color?

Via Kottke via Waxy via AICN (is all this attribution really frickin' necessary?), here are two animated storyboards from the upcoming Simpsons Movie.

Chad Vader, Day Shift Manager

I went onto YouTube this morning looking for Tommy Emmanuel clips and found this on the front page. I was skeptical, but once I saw it was a Channel 101 production, I decided to give it a shot. You should too. It's hysterical, and well-produced.



If you can't get to YouTube, it's also available on the Channel 101 website.

YouTube Rights spat

Apparently I've stumbled across a spat of YouTube community members going back and forth about free speech and the like, it goes on back and forth with people actually responding via video monologue. An interesting way to debate since one of the problems with debating in forums is that it is a text only medium there is no opportunity for voice inflection and body language. ZenArcher tells everyone to read the Terms of Use since you agree to them before being a community membmer.

One member actually thought that someone wouldn't be able to read the TOU due to blindness, he provides the service by reading it aloud to everyone. I thought it was boring to read, it is even more boring to listen to.
One member put together a bit more interesting and homorous approach to YouTube rights. The only oddity is that I have not been able to find the root, the origin, the first video that ZenArcher is referring to.

Personally, I much prefer to read the arguments than listen to or watch, because I find myself distracted or prejudiced by the voice or appearance of the speaker. I guess, we'll have more people ever so confuzzled because a talking head told me so, it must be true.

Ninja Chipmunk vs.Cat

Incredible Ninja Action!!!

How AOL Attempts To Retain

This is creepy, chilling, dirty and awesome all at the same time.

AOL Retention Manual Revealed (Consumerist)

Build Your Own iPod Hi-Fi

Australian Simon Clement built his own iPod Hi-Fi from a pair of old classic Mac cases and ceiling speakers. The result looks remarkable.

He's posted instructions for building your own on Flickr. He writes:

"Didn’t look like anyone was going to buy me an iPod Hi-Fi. Set to work on a couple of MacPlus cases and so the iPod Hi-Fi mini was born."

Just seems like such irony the diminutive size of both items when years ago they would both be quite large. Maybe one day people will take the lifesaver iMacs and put in flashing LEDs like cellphones to dance with the music. Or use flat speakers in the lamp style iMacs to create thin walls of sound.

House Math

From the HouseMath website...

owww... my head is starting to hurt...(in order to make your own head hurt read the HouseMath Analysis Audit page.)

I am not a "real estate professional." I am a 38-year old retired software geek who now invests for a living and is going through the ordeals of buying an apartment in New York City. Not just a computer nerd, I have an MBA from U.C. Berkeley and have gained some practical finance experience getting two of my companies funded back in Silicon Valley. I have, in the past, purchased two homes -- one in San Francisco and one in Seattle. I want to outline the mathematics I used in detail so that any errors in logic may be uncovered by a meticulous reader.

Please see these numbers come to life on HouseMath the site.

Z does this make any sense to you???

Amy Sedaris, Paul Dinello & Stephen Colbert Tumbling

This video was too freaking awesome not to share.

Billy Joel & His Record Label

From a great Times Online article, "Billy's 88 Ways to Woo a Goddess:"

Once in a while he takes to the road and bashes out a set of his most well-loved songs. But, save for a live CD, entitled 12 Gardens, and another compilation (this time entitled Piano Man) there’s nothing new to promote.

Joel is visibly amused by the quandary in which this leaves his record company. When he first served notice of his withdrawal from the recording process, Columbia’s response was disbelief. “Actually, they thought I was just negotiating — and this was the start-off point.”

Since then, Joel’s profile has been kept high by a procession of compilations. “It’s ridiculous,” he says, “If it’s not The Ultimate Billy Joel, it’s The Essential Billy Joel or Really and Truly the Very Best of Billy Joel." The lion’s share of his disdain though, is reserved for My Lives, the 2005 box set that gathered together four CDs of outtakes spanning his entire career. “The idea as it was presented to me was: ‘OK, we’re going to take everything you left on the cutting room floor, we’re going to put it in a box and charge people 50 bucks.’

“It’s not like I had a choice — they own it all. I read in the liner notes that I personally ‘curated’ all this stuff, which is a crock of s***. I didn’t curate a single thing.”

The Animated Gif Ghosbusters (Gifbusters?)

Kottke has this link up on his blog, and he claims that it's the entire movie. I don't remember all of Ghostbusters well enough to verify. Z, I'm counting on you.

The Entire Ghostbusters Movie As An Animated Gif (found here)