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My friend Daniel Schwartzbaum now has a blog over at Dan Schwartzblog - an incredibly appropriate and entertaining blog title if I ever heard one. He's got a mix up to start things off - a good sign of things to come. The Sticky Screen is a simple virtual Post-It Note to set as your homepage. Simple concepts often work the best.

Behance Outfitter

Madrid just clued me in to the Behance product line Creative Outfitter - well designed paper items that help you task out your day. I'm a big fan of the To Do list (both virtual and physically) so this is quite the find.

Some Apps

While it's not an official 37 Signals product it does appear that Outpost will let you manage your Basecamp projects via the iPhone. This would be great news if all the reviews didn't point out that it's still a bit buggy and having a hard time keeping sync. Regardless, it's one to keep an eye on. Thus far all my "game" purchases for the iPhone have consisted of Solitaire and a little addictive diddy called PapiJump. However, Rolando changed that and I think I'll be playing it for awhile, as it is one of the better games I've encountered for any system as of late.

How I Became the Bomb - Volume II: Foremost Sentinel

As I have mentioned before (and will continue to mention) local artists How I Became the Bomb are releasing digital EP's (let's call them DEP's) every few months instead of relying on the traditional CD/LP manufacturing and release type scheme.

Volume II in this format, Foremost Sentinel, has been released on the web and I'd venture to say it's even better than the first volume. There's a video on the way as well; to be released on January 27th.

Jamie and I managed to cobble the cover art together in a day's time along with the help of Blake McClure. It was an intense amount of shuffling most of my belongings from around the house into one central spot but it turned out well.

• Download Foremost Sentinel
• Dissecting the Cover Art - a breakdown of pretty much everything seen on the cover
• Making the Sentinel - a time lapse video using Gawker that shows us setting up the whole thing. In hindsight we should have had it capture every 30 seconds instead of every 60 but that's not something you can go back and correct.

Allan Peters: A Portfolio

I spent a good deal of time browsing the portfolio of Allan Peters; particularly the print work. The "Proximity Posters" have a great vintage feel to them; despite being for more contemporary tech jobs. Also be sure to check the works for the MN Roller Girls - some nice poster work going on there.

Art By Friends

I am quite pleased to know a rather large variety of talented people. Please consider the following as evidence:

• Unseen Artic Battles - among many other things it turns out that Luke Worley is a helluva illustrator. Be sure to check out some other examples.
• Favorite Ten - Brandon Cripps, aka Pip, takes the Top Ten list idea and makes it insanely more interesting by giving it a visual journal aspect to it. Absolutely worth keeping up with.

Big Screen Little Screen

One of my favorite movie / tv / entertainment sites has moved into the world of .com - Big Screen Little Screen now has a new domain, a new contributor and a new backend to power the site (Tumblr). I love the content found there and welcome an even easier way to read through the content.

Welcome to 2009: Pizza vs Hamburger

Welcome to the New Year. First and foremost it should be noted that Shaboi and C Mikesell have decided to take each other to task by giving twitter a real purpose; Pizza and Hamburger jokes (respectively).

Supposedly, they will be posting one new joke a day - all ranging in the horrible pun to groaningly clever category. It's a great start to a new year.

Friday Videos - Jan. 2nd, 2009

Welcome to 2009, watch the entire playlist here or individually below.

• Wii Christmas Freakout - it's the updated version of the Nintendo 64 freakout; though not quite as intense.
• Elephants Love Snow - not often do you see Elephants in the snow but apparently they enjoy it.
• We Like Sportz - typically I am not down with creating a sequel that doesn't need a sequel (in this case, Just 2 Guyz) but Lonely Island manages not to run the joke completely into the ground.. still entertaining.
• Soccer Fashion - this is just bizarre. TV like this could never exist today and certainly not in the US.
• Happy New Year - this is the sort of thing that happens when you get time off work and have lots of spare time.

Welcome to 2009! Enjoy the videos and regular posting will resume on Monday.

Holiday Viewings

As the holiday draws to a close I recommend the following as possible last minute distractions to fill your time.

Milk
The story of Harvey Milk is not only incredibly pertinent given the current political climate but it's a compelling film as well. It's always bizarre to me to see a film with an extremely high profile actor and still be able to forget that they are playing a part - you just believe Sean Penn is Harvey Milk. This one deserves some awards. Slumdog Millionaire
After watching the trailer I was fairly convinced that Slumdog Millionaire was going to be quite a bit hokey. Turns out I was surprisingly wrong. The "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" angle actually tells the story in a fresh new way; which isn't always easy when you're telling an unrequited love bit. Regardless, Danny Boyle did a great job and Wes Anderson should take note - that's how you make a film in India. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
I had high hopes for this one and have read nothing but incredibly favorable reviews; so my expectations were super high before viewing - not a good recipe for being impressed. Turns out, it is a great epic Forrest-Gump-style tale but the most impressive part, to me, was the flawless special effects on the reverse aging Benjamin Button... indescribably good. Worth viewing just for that - and the story's not half bad either.

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Summer Heights High
After the final episode of Summer Heights High aired I immediately put creator / actor Chris Lilley up in the ranks of Ricky Gervais style quality. He's able to create characters that are mostly un-sympathetic but still have oddly redeeming moments throughout (much like David Brent/Michael Scott). It should be On Demand if you've got access to such service.. I suggest giving it a watch. No Heroics I'm not too far into this one yet but No Heroics appeals to that nerd side of me that enjoys pondering the realities of what would happen if people with super powers actually existed. The Nathan Barley fueled cast is a nice touch as well. Granted, it had to be torrented but it was worth it. Alright, that's all I got for now. Just a few more days off and regular posting will resume. 2009 should have some very interesting projects unveiled.. assuming I can keep pace with my own ideas!