August 31, 2007
Playlist - August 2007
This month's playlist is a bit subdued and sleepy because... well, I guess I've been feeling subdued and sleepy. The most recent tune is five years old and almost every selection is from a major label (only two are available on eMusic, which I don't think has ever happened before). I'm not sure why it worked out that way...
| The Beatles - While My Guitar Gently Weeps >> from The Beatles (The White Album) |
| Paul McCartney - Vanilla Sky >> from Vanilla Sky Soundtrack |
| Bob Dylan - Diamond Joe >> from Good As I Been To You |
| Doc Watson - Matty Groves >> from Home Again! |
| Billy Bragg & Wilco - One By One >> from Mermaid Avenue |
| Beck - Little One >> from Sea Change |
| The Traveling Wilburys - Congratulations >> from Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 1 |
| The Velvet Underground - Pale Blue Eyes >> from The The Velvet Underground |
| Nick Drake - From The Morning >> from Pink Moon |
| Moby - Everloving >> from Play |
| U2 - Promenade >> from The Unforgettable Fire |
| Talking Heads - Heaven >> from Fear of Music |
| R.E.M. - Welcome To The Occupation >> from Document |
| Pixies - Monkey Gone To Heaven >> from Doolittle |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers - Scar Tissue >> from Californication |
| David Byrne - Amnesia >> from Feelings |
31 Aug 23:29 | Link | Category: Music
August 18, 2007
Redesign complete
The "quick redesign" is mostly finished (but, as always, it wasn't as quick as I had expected). I still need to finish adding some content and tweaking the design, and I haven't fully tested it with a full battery of different browsers/platforms. Let me know if you run into anything weird.
The design is a bit of a departure; I hope it doesn't offend your sensibilities. It's very simple, partly because of time constraints, and partly as a reaction against... well, the "Web 2.0 look" (also seen to some degree in OS X and Vista, especially the widgets). I wanted to keep it very simple and readable (yet still recognizable) without including any of the following: gradients (and gradients and gradients), rounded corners, dropshadows, glossy/glassy elements, reflections, 3D elements, and lots of bright happy highly-saturated colors.
I had to relent a bit by including one (um, completely saturated) color because the totally grayscale design was pretty bland. But aside from that, I kept all those design elements out. Hopefully you can still bear to visit, look, and read.
[ I should clarify: My gripe isn't necessarily with the "Web 2.0 look" itself, or even with many of the sites that use it. I'm quite fond of the look (or once was) and my first instinct was to design something with many of the elements I listed. The look can work really well and some of my favorite sites use it. I guess my gripe is just that it has become terribly overused - by corporations, designers, bloggers... (especially now that everyone and his mother and her cousin and his cat has an inane blog that uses a template full of gradients and rounded corners.) This design is my curmudgeonly "hmmpphh". ]
18 Aug 23:37 | Link | Category: Site/Life News
August 16, 2007
Pardon the dust...
I've decided to make a concerted effort to resume posting on a regular basis. My bookmarks list is now up to 759 items, so I should be able to find at least a few interesting ones to share. Check back soon.
The semester doesn't start for a few more days, so I hope I can find at least one or two evenings to throw together a quick redesign. I might upgrade my Movable Type installation while I'm at it, so please excuse any technical difficulties during the next few days. (It's not as if anyone visits this place regularly since, oh, last year, but...)
16 Aug 0:06 | Link | Category: Site/Life News