Starbuck and Starbuck at Starbucks →
Portal 2 Authoring Tools →
"The Portal 2 Authoring Tools include versions of the same tools we used to make Portal 2. They'll allow you to create your own singleplayer and co-op maps, new character skins, 3D models, sound effects, and music."
PC-only right now. But still: oh wow.
# Wednesday May 11, 2011Everything Tracy Jordan said in Season 5 of 30 Rock →
Can we cut everything but Tracy Jordan from 30 Rock? Even without context, he's hilarious. The rest of the show? Not so much.
# Tuesday May 10, 2011What's That in Danzigs? →
Fuck imperial. I'm measuring everything in Danzigs from now on.
# Friday May 6, 2011Life Imitating Art Imitating Life →
Is it just me, or are modern ads starting to resemble the kind of ads we see coming out of Sterling-Cooper-Draper-Pryce on Mad Men? Pretty soon, the only way you're going to tell an ad is current is the presence of a URL.
I can't decide if this is a bad thing. I love these hand-drawn technicolor illustrations, but I don't know if they work for everything. It's a bit of a double-edged sword. For a beer, it works because the ad is aspirational, it makes me want to be a part of that scene. For a sports equipment company, it just makes me wonder if your company is still in business.
Erik Wolpaw on Portal 2
Great interview, but lots of spoilers for Portal 2. Favourite line of the whole thing: "I'd really like to make a really credible comedy game. People seem to be skipping straight to the pure art, and yet nobody's made the Caddyshack in games yet, right? So I'm like, woah woah woah, let's put on the brakes – let's make Caddyshack, and then we can make Anna Karenina or whatever."
# 1 minute read · Monday May 2, 2011Interview with Val Kilmer →
I watched two Val Kilmer movies this weekend while I was sick - Top Secret and MacGruber - and I honestly had no idea he was this insane-slash-amazing. E.g.
# Monday May 2, 2011Time itself is a concept. It's just because we're lame, because we can't see that fast, because we can't imagine that fast-we think that fast, but it's hard for us to articulate it. That doesn't mean you misapprehend it. It just means that you can't diagnose it with the same language. The human language is lame. It's lame, I say! That's as deep as I can get without dinner.
Make Believe →
This looks like a great documentary. I went to school with a guy who was big into his magic. His nickname was "Presto". 18 years old and he would be doing magic tricks for people in the halls before class. Thinking back, he took an awful lot of shit for this thing he was deeply passionate about.
The last time I saw him, it was when Uri Gellar played in Dublin back in 2007 or so. He'd gotten all into Nu-Metal, he'd been arrested a few times and I'm fairly sure he was off his face on meth at the time.
Still - this looks like a great documentary.
# Saturday Apr 30, 2011Amazing gallery of 1950s pin-ups with their source picture →
They're all either giant toothy grins or saucy 'ooh!' faces. Still, fascinating.
# Wednesday Apr 20, 2011
Quora - What are the best travel hacks? →
Tons of great tips in here. I particularly like this one from Josh Sprague: 'learning to say "How much," "That's too high," "This one" and "That one" is way more useful to the short-term traveler than "Hello, how are you?"'. And also 'Eat it before asking what it is.' (via Justin Mason)
# Wednesday Apr 6, 2011Brandon Boyer's GDC Microtalk →
My GDC Microtalk, 2011. from brandonnn on Vimeo.
Brandon Boyer sums up everything I love and hate about videogames - I wish I could frame his talk and hang it in my house.
# Monday Mar 28, 2011Interview with the designer of the "Ultimate Pirate Ship Bedroom" →
We need more parents wilfully ignoring health and safety in favour of giving their kids a more amazing childhood.
# Thursday Mar 10, 2011Endnotes: David Foster Wallace →
Episode of the BBC radio show, Endnotes, focusing on David Foster Wallace. Features a load of interviews with DFW himself, a bunch of other authors and his editor, his agent and his sister. I've yanked the audio from the Vimeo so I can listen to it on my iPod. Download it here.
# Wednesday Feb 23, 2011Dead Island Trailer →
Looks amazing, right? Well, here comes the buzzkill, David Jaffe, who says:
If the GAME makes me feel like the trailer, hail to the new kings! How amazing!# Thursday Feb 17, 2011If the GAME, great as it may be, is nothing like the trailer then here we freaking go again. And I'll say it again:
If our medium isn't capable of generating compelling enough content that trailers have to sell something totally different than the actual product they are advertising, then we have a very serious problem.
We're a small island in a big ocean →
"We engage in unnecessary, often criminal behaviour and justify it by calling it 'the craic'."
# Tuesday Feb 15, 2011Fat, Ugly or Slutty →
A collection of the abuse recorded by girls playing videogames. If you've ever spent any time on Xbox Live, you know how ridiculous it can be, but you've never seen anything like the stuff these girls put up with. E.g. "im going to stick an egg in ur vaginal canal and punch it-"
# Tuesday Feb 15, 2011R.I.P. Kenneth Mars →
You have no idea what a big deal The Producers was in my house growing up. I didn't get half the jokes, and I had no clue what the hell a Nazi was, but goddammit, I knew that Kenneth Mars guy was funny.
# Tuesday Feb 15, 2011Baba Yetu →
If you didn't think Civilization IV had an embarrassment of riches, last night, Christopher Tin's 'Baba Yetu' -- the theme song for Civ IV -- became the first ever piece of music written for a videogame to ever win a grammy.
# Monday Feb 14, 2011Playing the Rape Card: ‘Media Psychiatrist’ Ratchets Up Anti-Videogame Rhetoric →
"Games like Bulletstorm cause violent behavior and, since rape is a violent crime ... ergo, there is no question that [violent videogames] cause an increase in rape." - all this without a single report that links violent videogames to criminal violence of any kind.
By the same logic: "I'm eating an apple. Apples are fruit. Bananas are also fruit. Ergo, I am eating a banana. Q.E.D. PEACE OUT, BITCHES."
# Saturday Feb 12, 2011Real-Life Mario Kart →
Remi Gaillard recreates Mario Kart on hte streets of France. Better than I'm making it sound, I promise you.
# Saturday Feb 12, 2011Everything is a Remix →
The second part of Kirby Ferguson's incredible Everything is a Remix series. Two things: 1. 'Sorry about colonialism' is a great name for Avatar's genre. 2. I know Kill Bill is like the film version of a nerd's scrapbook, but I personally find Death Proof almost completely unwatchable.
# Wednesday Feb 2, 2011Jersey Shore, in Italy →
Jersey Shore is coming to Italy
# Tuesday Jan 25, 2011Sources connected to the show tell us they will be scouting locations in Italy -- similar to the way they did it in Miami -- to find the right locale.
One source connected with the show says they've already lined up some of Vinny's Italian relatives to host the "Jersey" crew for an authentic Guadagnino dinner.
Mysterious piece of wood on an iceberg →
# Monday Jan 24, 2011The real question “isn’t how did it get there?” but “what are the penguins building?”
Mysterious piece of wood on an iceberg →
'The real question "isn't how did it get there?" but "what are the penguins building?"'
# Monday Jan 24, 2011Penis →
Community is so good, even its throwaway jokes are gold.
# Sunday Jan 23, 2011Videogames in the wild →
Illustrator Aled Lewis has put together a series of images of videogame characters put into real-world settings, and some of them are terrific.
Check out his full Flickr stream for more.
# Friday Jan 21, 2011The Beauty of Pixar →
What does it say about a studio whose worst movie is merely great? It says that you can put together a fantastic 7-minute montage of great Pixar moments and still only have scratched the surface.
# Tuesday Jan 4, 2011Life Calendar - How was your day? →
What a great idea - a calendar that you draw a face on each day to represent your mood.
# Sunday Jan 2, 2011Never said about restaurant websites →
Yet another amazing Tumblr. “‘I love downloading PDFs. Even if the menu is totally out of date, it’s worth the thrill.’ — Absolutely no one.”
# Friday Dec 31, 2010Never said about restaurant websites →
Yet another amazing Tumblr. "'I love downloading PDFs. Even if the menu is totally out of date, it’s worth the thrill.' -- Absolutely no one."
# Friday Dec 31, 2010What a Face →
Great tumblr: “A tribute to character actors with ‘distinctive’ looks”. Any site that starts with the mighty Rondo Hatton is alright in my book.
# Thursday Dec 30, 2010What a Face →
Great tumblr: "A tribute to character actors with 'distinctive' looks". Any site that starts with the mighty Rondo Hatton is alright in my book.
# Thursday Dec 30, 2010Dublin Mean Time →
Come Here to Me, easily the best Irish blog right now, talks about the history of Dublin Mean Time, when Dublin was 25 minutes ahead of Britain. "Incredibly, prior to October 1916, there had been some hostility to the idea of synchronizing our watches with Britain. In August 1916, a letter appeared in the Irish Independent arguing against it on nationalist grounds! The writer noted that “the question is whether we should give up this mark of our national identity to suit the convenience of shipping companies and a few travellers”."
Whoa.
# Saturday Dec 18, 2010The D&D alignment chart of Mad Men characters →
I'd probably join Harry Crane as "Chaotic Neutral". I have no idea where my wife would be. Also, could there be a whole new alignment, just for Pete? "Really Evil, like a Cold, Dead-Eyed Sociopath-in-Waiting" has a certain ring to it.
# Tuesday Dec 7, 2010Return of “Get Your War On” →
Still as funny as ever
# Tuesday Dec 7, 2010Return of 'Get Your War On' →
Still as funny as ever
# Monday Dec 6, 2010Shared Items – December 5, 2010 →
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Oh shit. This is like the time when I read Cryptonomicon and developed an irrational fear of my CRT exploding in my face.
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Oh shit. This is like the time when I read Cryptonomicon and developed an irrational fear of my CRT exploding in my face.
The Big Picture: Let it Snow! →
I try to avoid linking to The Big Picture because pretty much everything they post is link-worthy. But seriously, this photo is just breathtaking.
# Saturday Dec 4, 2010Dan Gillmor’s questions about the Wikileaks release →
The most balanced take on the whole thing I’ve read – great questions for all the players in this game.
# Saturday Dec 4, 2010The Big Picture: Let it Snow! →
I try to avoid linking to The Big Picture because pretty much everything they post is link-worthy. But seriously, this photo is just breathtaking.
# Saturday Dec 4, 2010Dan Gillmor's questions about the Wikileaks release →
The most balanced take on the whole thing I've read - great questions for all the players in this game.
# Saturday Dec 4, 2010The Sound and Music of “The Social Network” Panel →
I am scarily obsessed with this soundtrack.
# Wednesday Dec 1, 2010Beyond PB&J: 15 Sandwiches From Around the World →
All great, except for the francesinha which, as sandwiches go, is total bullshit.
# Wednesday Dec 1, 2010Beyond PB&J: 15 Sandwiches From Around the World →
All great, except for the francesinha which, as sandwiches go, is total bullshit.
# Wednesday Dec 1, 2010Bunga Bunga, Presidente →
I love when porn gets topical (see also: Who's Nailin' Palin?), but seriously, did the makers of this Berlusconi-themed porn really think about what they were associating themselves with? Nothing is guaranteed to kill a boner quite like the image of a creepy, demented 74-year old midget throwing a fuck into a bored-looking prostitute.
If nothing else, think of his balls. Ugh. That's my next 10 boners completely ruined.
(via the awl)
# Saturday Nov 20, 2010Bunga Bunga, Presidente →
I love when porn gets topical (see also: Who's Nailin' Palin?), but seriously, did the makers of this Berlusconi-themed porn really think about what they were associating themselves with? Nothing is guaranteed to kill a boner quite like the image of a creepy, demented 74-year old midget throwing a fuck into a bored-looking prostitute.
If nothing else, think of his balls. Ugh. That's my next 10 boners completely ruined.
(via the awl)
# Saturday Nov 20, 2010Kentucky Fried Chicken's Corporate Rap →
Gloriousnoise has come across a copy of Kentucky Fried Chicken's amazing Corporate Rap from 1987. It's great, but it's no KPMG Corporate Anthem.
Also, as an aside: I realise this is entirely a Pavlovian thing, but does the slab font Kentucky Fried Chicken used in the 1980s feel nice and comforting to anyone else? No? Just me? I guess that explains a lot.
Man, I'm hungry now.
# Thursday Nov 18, 2010Fade Street →
Jesus, the country is fucked.
It's a far cry from Glenroe, I'll tell you that much.
# Friday Nov 12, 2010Making of the Field Notes notebooks →
Cute video, but it always weirds me out the way that internet nerds romanticise/fetishise manual labour. My first job was in a printing company, and the monotony of it almost drove me insane. For example, that girl sending the bundles of notebooks through the plastic wrapper is a nice shot, but for weeks on end, she probably goes into work and does nothing but that one action. Keep that in mind when you're watching the video.
# Thursday Nov 4, 2010Ghostwatch →
Whatever you’re doing, stop it and watch this now. Ghostwatch was the scariest TV special I’ve ever seen and it still scares the fuck out of me today.
# Monday Nov 1, 2010