Part of it was probably the depression over Penn State’s loss to Iowa – I’m still a bit in shock that they allowed their national championship hopes to be dashed like that. It was Minnesota (2001?) all over again. Part of it was probably sheer exhaustion from the endless work I’ve been doing it. Part of it was that my body needed to stop.

I did get out to bird last weekend for a short while, although the birding was less than exciting – the wind and wetness really kept the birds away, for the most part. But I did get a chance to see this young snapping turtle crossing the road at FDR Park (go ahead, make the joke):

I worked around the house some this weekend, too, trying to straighten up with Shari being at a shoot on Sunday (see some of her pix here, here and here), and a photography seminar with Cliff Mautner all week (that is, Cliff Mautner – voted one of the top 10 wedding photographers in the world. Not a bad teacher, I must say). With her away, it gave me a chance to catch up on some reading and movies that she wouldn’t sit through.

Watchin’

I watched “Stargate: Continuum” on Sunday, which wasn’t half-bad. It wasn’t great and there wasn’t nearly the action in it that I would have expected but it was a heck of a site better than the really boring and trite “Stargate: Ark of Truth”, which was really an insult to most fans. I also watched M. Night Shamalyan’s “Signs” again, as I had only seen it once. I still like it, despite most people putting it down, although I can definitely see some of the shortcomings of it compared to his opus, “The Sixth Sense”.

Readin’

I started reading “The Kite Runner” after a long traipse in the shallow end with a trio of Star Wars books: the first two books of the Coruscant Nights trilogy (“Jedi Twilight” and “Street of Shadows”), and the new “Millenium Falcon”. Michael Reeves, author of the trilogy, really irks me with his writing style – he tries too hard to prove how smart he is by a) making 1,001 references back to the movies and his other books, and b) creating parallels cliches, metaphors and sayings to our own. Example, “You know what they say, ‘Don’t count the bantha cubs before they’re born’.”. C’mon, really? The stories themselves aren’t that great, either – trapped between being for an adolescent reader and an adult, they fail at the latter level.

“Millenium Falcon”, by James Luceno, was better. The story idea is pretty cool – two owners of the famous ship, one from the past and Han Solo, are tracking the history to find the secret to a lost treasure. Jadak, a former owner is following the trail of who had the ship after he ‘died’ nearly 70 years ago. Han, on the other hand, is investigating the trail backward before he got the ship from Lando Calrissian. Getting the back-story of the ship was very interesting, but the rest of the surrounding story was a bit weaker. The payoff for the ‘treasure’ was really weak and actually brought the whole book down, making it feel like little more than a filler novel that will lead into the upcoming “Fate of the Jedi” series in 2009.

Linkin’

And now, because I’m tired, are some simple links.

• Functioning Form – Web Form Design: Goodreads Review – hey, that’s my review!
• Early Star Wars Storyboards Flickr set – there are some real treasures in here.
• Facebox - a Facebook-style lightbox script
• Haboob Sandstorm – someone took this video with their cellphone.

Rules

1. Pick up the nearest book.*
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.

“At the core of all screen (and print, of course) visual design is layout: where and how the features, controls, and content are placed. Layout provides the structure that these elements reside within. Layout provides hierarchy, letting users know what is important and what is less so – a control that is visible at all times is perceived as more important than one that is buried in a drop-down menu.”

Questions:

1. Do you know what book my quote comes from?
2. Do you want to play ?

Daily Links

• Batman: Dead End – Still one of the coolest fan films out there, there is now a sequel.
• I never thought I would agree with Glenn Beck.
• Barnacle Goose one step closer to being added to the NJ Species List after removal ‘Origin Uncertain’ designation.

* note: I actually had to pick up 3 books: the first didn’t have 5 sentences on page 123, and the second had an image on that page.

Although his travels evoked a wanderlust in me, thinking of the majesty of his “On The Road”-like journey (despite the surrounding tragedy). It also had a bit of a personal familiarly with the behavior spoken about in the book with my friend Chris, who was also known for his tendency to go off on adventures with precious little preparation.*

With the movie – directed by Sean Penn – opening on September 21st, I wanted to read it again, to refresh my memory of the ‘real’ tale of Chris McCandless aka ‘Alex Supertramp’. It’s still a great story, and one that I highly recommend to everyone. But – maybe because I’m a little older and wiser – I can’t help but look at his travels as less whimsical and engaging and more tragic and sad. The ideas he had and the things that he did are admirable in the fact that he had the guts to challenge himself outside of the normal ways – riding the rivers from Colorado all the way to Mexico, living in the floodplains of the deserts of the American west, climbing mountains all along the way. Hubris, or perhaps just plain naivety, cause him to underestimate the requirements of an Alaskan adventure, the miscalculations of which result in his untimely death.

If you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend picking up a copy. Krakauer is a great writer, taking subjects that mix high natural drama and the risk that extreme environments pose for the adventurers who seek to go beyond the norm, whether living off the land in Alaska or trying to summit Everest. He gained his fame mostly from a series of articles in Outside magazine, including what became “Into the Wild” and the Everest-based “Into Thin Air”, but his talent is evident in the way that he not only reports on the known facts but weaves them into a viable story, even when there is little to go on. And this book, despite its tragic end, is still a compelling story to read.

*Ironically, this is the same guy who has since become a Navy SEAL.

So, I joined a gym near where I work. Today was my first workout, although it was an abbreviated one considering my lack of cardio training all summer. I also discovered that while the Bally’s King of Prussia is a beautiful facility, they don’t supply towels. They might have mentioned that when I signed up. I used my clean t-shirt to dry off instead. Other than that, I like it … if first day impressions count for much. It’s got everything under the sun in terms of equipment, a pool, a track, aerobic and spinning classes, 2 racquetball courts – pretty nice. I think I’ll actually be motivated to haul my butt out of bed before work because it saves me time in my commute. And if I sleep better, so much the better.

In other news, we’re still waiting to hear about the damage down south due to Hurricane-Tropical Storm-Hurricane-ad infinitum Ophelia. My parent’s beachhouse is in N. Topsail Beach, which took a nearly direct hit. I’ve heard some scattered stuff but nothing concrete. Hopefully the house weathered it okay.

The Devil’s Teeth by Susan Casey
Deception Point by Dan Brown
Unusually Stupid Americans by Kathryn and Ross Petras

What’s he trying to do? Well, he’s trying to prove that one doesn’t have to be a syndicated cartoonist to be successful, vis-a-vis a web cartoon CAN be successful and a worthwhile thing to have. The web can create a word of mouth a lot quicker than most papers, but the biggest part of it is that web cartoons don’t have to listen to editors (well, their own, maybe, but not some lackey at a syndicate). So, add it up – exposure + creative reign = success.

So, Kurtz went out there and offered his comic for FREE to any newspaper that wants it, provided that they fulfill two conditions – no editing the strips and they include the link to his online version. He figures that the newspapers gain a popular comic at no cost, and he gets increased exposure. Win-win, right?

Well, Wiley seems to think that this snot-nosed kid just doesn’t get it, and that his little ploy will hurt everybody. What does he really have to fear? Non Sequitor is one of the top comics out there – does he really think that PVP will cut into his income or audience. In the end, he ends up coming off very petty – but don’t take my word for it. Read a couple of articles that really tackle the issue.

• Checkerboard Nightmare
• Websnark

Links o’ the Day »

• South Park Character Creator – speaking of cartoons…

My own list (so far):

• Design of Sites by Doug van Duyne
• Defensive Design for the Web by the 37 Signals crew
• CSS: The Definitive Guide by Eric Meyer

I’ve learned a lot, but there is so much more to learn – Greg’s list shows me that much. Oh well, onto the Amazon wish list they go… Feel free to add to my list of books I need to pick up to really get a hang of this CSS, PHP, XML design thing…