Janis Joplin’s, Kozmic Blues, is hauntingly beautiful. The vocals are raw (as one would expect), and the instrumentals are superb. The way that the song slowly builds is wonderfully well-done, and the soaring finally is perfect.

Enjoy.

Get the album:

Amazon (CD) (MP3)

However I’ve also been researching the hell out of my escape from New Brunswick. Hopefully I have good news on that front in the next day or so. I’ve also lined up some incredible new projects and partnerships on the professional side of life. I’m not ready to publicly announce anything at the moment, but it’s been a very big week, with very little sleep.

Speaking of sleep, I’m going to try to get a little before starting another crazy day.

A Whole Lot of Nostalgia

It pains me to admit that I’ve been waiting well over a decade for Blizzard to release their successor to Diablo II, or as I like to refer to it, the game that I gave two years of my life. I spent most of my time playing, and thinking about playing Diablo II for two years between the ages of 14 and 16 (right up until I got my license/ meatspace life).

As I’m writing the feelings of bitterness, and angry I’ve harbored at my teenage self for spending so much time playing Diablo II have completely subsided (A minute ago this was going to be a different post). The countless hours I spent playing Diablo II with Jason Lisnak built an incredible friendship that ultimately served as the foundation for both of our careers. We’ve both done reasonably well for ourselves, and I can’t think of a more loyal friend… I believe I own a lot of that friendship to the time we spent in-game. So here’s to you Diablo II. You changed my life you addicting son of a bitch.

Diablo III

I don’t have the time or will to play video games 10 to 12 hours a day anymore. Hell, I have a stack of games that I’d love to play, and haven’t touched… It just keeps growing. So I can safely say that I won’t be playing like I used to, but, 3AM draws near, and I’ve stayed up to greet the successor to the game that changed my life.

I’m going with the wizard class. Send me a message if you’d like to meet up on Battlenet, and dungeon crawl with me. I hear that dungeon-crawling is a good way to make friends. See you in Hell.

Try:

• Updating your mom’s operating system
• Updating her browser
• Updating and running a virus scan

Those few things are almost effortless, and can go a long way towards protecting your mother’s machine from all manner of badness.

Practice safe computing by lending a helping hand!

Listen to him live, here.

We’ve seen it before with intrusive DRM, and now DVD buyers are getting another dose.

The US Government is mandating that two unskippable anti-piracy warnings appear at the start of movies. These warnings will stay on-screen for 10 seconds each.

Why’s This A So Dumb You Ask?

Because if someone is ripping the movie, they can edit these stupid warnings out! Never-mind if the warning makes sense… The people who are supposed to receive the message won’t (and if they did, they still wouldn’t care). While those of us who do buy DVDs will now be subject to a 20 second threat that doesn’t pertain to us.

I feel like I’m back in elementary school, and the teacher is scolding the whole class for something that a few of my classmates did.

To hell with Hollywood. It’s bad business to make it hard for people to buy your product, and it’s pathetic to punish, chastise, and threaten your paying customers.

(Via Ars Technica)

You know those movies that show all of the best scenes and funniest lines in the trailer? The Avengers is nothing like that.

The Avengers is a funny, action-packed, cohesive love letter to the super hero genre. It also manages to convey a serious sense of danger and urgency, without becoming overwhelmingly dark.

The Basics

Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Iron Man, and Thor must overcome their vast differences and team up to stop Loki and his invading army from conquering the world.

With five years of teasing from Marvel Studios; a huge cast of A-list talent; a collection of characters who shouldn’t be in the same room; and a story too big to tell in a movie, the opportunities for this film to suck were numerous. Fortunately, Joss Whedon & co were up to the challenge.

The Good

Badass Moments All Around!

Every single character has many moments to shine. With a cast this big, it would be easy to push many characters into the scenery. That didn’t happen. I’m hard-pressed to pick a favorite moment because there were so many great moments.

Bringing the Funny

In typical Whedon fashion, this movie is just as humorous as it is intense. In that way it reminds me of my True Lies (one of my all-time favorite action flicks).

Fun with Clichés

One of Whedon’s talents that runs throughout everything he’s ever done is his manipulation of clichés. He is a master of taking what the viewer expects, and then suddenly turning it on its side. Where lesser writers will fallback on “classic” story elements, Whedon works like a magician and always keeps you guessing. That’s one of the things that made Cabin in the Woods (2012) so exceptional.

Nothing is Wasted & Everything is Earned

This story is tight! There’s no fat on it. Every line either establishes a character, or pushes the story forward. Even the post-credit scene is a call-back joke to an earlier line that seemed like an irrelevant throwaway line.

3D

I strongly dislike 3D, but I didn’t mind the 3D in The Avengers. For the most part it added depth like a diorama, instead of flying at the audience like a pop-up book. With the exception of one brief moment, I was cool with the 3D.

Sam Jackson

Mr. Jackson is not known for subtlety. In The Avengers his performance in remarkably understated, and I thought it was exceptional. I’m not sure who made that decision, but whomever made that call deserves a cookie. If I’m remembering correctly, his most badass moment is devoid of dialog (or pretty close to it).

Suspension of Disbelief

The best praise I can give any super hero story (comic, or movie), is that my suspension of disbelief went unbroken throughout. Will that be the case after multiple viewing? I’m not sure. But while I was watching The Avengers, I was completely invested in the story, and it never made me question the narrative.

The Not-So-Good

As much as I loved The Avengers, I do have some minor gripes.

One Big Cliché

I don’t want to give anything away, but there is one big alien movie cliché that Whedon used to wrap up the film, and I found it slightly disappointing… But I also understood why it needed to be that way. I still wish it wasn’t.

3D Serpent Thingie

There was one moment in the third act where the 3D disrupted my viewing experience. That giant metal flying serpent thingie from the trailer flies into the screen (kind of over the camera), and my eyes/ brain were not ok with that at all.

Further Exploring the Idea of Freedom

Early in the film, Loki talks a bit about humans and freedom. It’s a concept that Whedon plays with a lot. In The Avengers, he starts to dig into this idea, but never really does anything with it, other than expand on Loki’s motivation. I think it was a missed opportunity to add extra meaning to the overall story.

The Ugly

Nothing serious to report here…

I Want More!

The DVD is going to have something like 30 minutes of extra footage, and I can’t wait for it.

The Bottom-Line

If you haven’t seen it yet, just go. This is what mainstream comic heroics look like at their very best.

There are two credits scenes.

The mid-credits scene sets up the next film (if you’re interested in who that character is, click here). You have to stay to see this as it explains something that happens in the beginning of the movie.

The post-credits scene isn’t necessary to see, but it is both very funny, and delightfully Whedonesque.

Lastly, if you liked the humor and storytelling in The Avengers, you really ought to watch some of Whedon’s early work. Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Dr. Horrible & Dollhouse are exceptional shows that are smart, moving, funny, and very entertaining.

I’m taking a victory lap here because this movie went exactly as I predicted over a year ago: Exceptionally well (and for the same reasons I stated).

(Image via Wikipedia)

As a user of many (but not all) Google Apps, I have a very important request.

Please give us users some control over the apps that are listed in the Google bar (I’m not sure what you’ve named it).

I’m an avid user of Google Reader; I consumer virtually all web content with it. With that in mind, I was pretty peeved when Reader was removed from the top bar. I get that many people don’t use it, but I do. A lot.

Here are some solutions that would make me very happy, and I’m betting would further endear you to many of your users.

Two Options to Fix The Problem

User Control

Give users control of all or some of the links in that bar.

It’s a simple thing to do, and that level of personalization would absolutely improve the Google user-experience.

Dynamic Generation

Google, I know that you know what Google Apps I’m using. You know that I know that.

Why not adjust that bar based on usage?

Either solution would make me a very happy geek.

Cheers,

The Geek Whisperer

My neighborhood has officially gone to shit. After five years without any problems (spare one very humorously stereotypical proposition from a hooker), this place has become a total madhouse.

I have a neighbor who has been stealing from me. I don’t buy a lot of things, but when I do, I usually order online because I loath shopping. This week I ordered a few inexpensive items (mostly because I had Amazon credit burning a whole in my pocket). One arrived, and was sitting at my door with the box torn open (nothing missing). The other two disappeared.

Ironically enough, one of the missing items is a book that Adriana Lukas recommended I read; The Sociopath Next Door. Seriously… I couldn’t make this shit up if I tried.

I was all fired-up to build an elaborate hidden camera system, and set a trap to catch this bastard… But then things got worse.

On Friday, someone shot-up one of my neighbors homes and killed the poor man. What scares me most about this is that it is believed that the shooter hit the wrong home.

This is all in addition to a steady stream of insane behavior that goes on outside my door between 11pm and 3am nearly every single night.

New Brunswick has never been the safest of towns, but I’ve hit a breaking point. I’ve fucking had it. It’s time to move.

Bunch of savages in this town.

I’m betting those people are having a rough week right about now.

The Avengers was eff-ing awesome. A detailed review is coming later.

I’m so excited for this… It better not disappoint. No. It won’t disappoint. In Joss we trust.

The lights are going down.

I’ll be back with colorful commentary later-ish.

My pilgrimage to SXSW gave me a greater clarity on life than I’ve ever had before. My focus is razor sharp, and I’m doing the best thinking and work of my life. Mostly, I’m enjoying everything along the way.

Part of what got me here was sitting down and actually writing down what I need to do on a daily basis to be happy. I literally wrote these words on a post-it that I keep by my bed, and read every morning as a reminder. They’ve evolved a bit, and will change in the future, however I want to share them.

Life is short, and can end without notice

• Don’t do it tomorrow – Execution is everything

• Be better than you were yesterday

• Leave the world slightly better than you found it everyday

• Play more guitar

• Exercise – You hate it but it makes you feel good

• Be around people who inspire you every single day

  • Tell them how you feel

Enjoy the process & live without regrets

Some of them I struggle with, but this stuff isn’t supposed to be easy.

Go on down to your local comic shop. They’ll have tons of free stuff, and great sales.

Personally, I’m going to pick up my copies of the Star Wars/ Serenity and Buffy/ The Guild (Don’t judge if you’ve never seen Buffy. That show is magnificent).

Check out a full listing of the free books.

I immediately knew I was going to commission something from him, but I had no idea what I wanted. I was paralyzed by options. After a couple very geeky conversations we settled on something inspired by Duck Hunt. What Adam made exceeded my expectations.

It’s equal parts geeky, funny, and crass, and this pleases me.

It’s hanging in my hall near my front door. Every time I see it, I smile.

Check out all of Adam’s paintings

Who is Thanos, AKA, the man with the purple grin?

Thanos was created by comic writer/ artists Jim Starlin in Iron Man 55.

Those who studied psychology might recognize his name’s connection to the thanatos complex, or death drive. While students of mythology will know that Thanatos (Thanatus in Latin) is the embodiment of death. At this point you might be noticing a pattern.

Thanos is a character obsessed with death. Literally. He spent his villainous career courting Death (a purple cloaked skeletal god of death in the Marvel Universe). His obsession has led him to kill a lot of people in hopes of winning her affection.

Kate Moss could totally play her!

In terms of strength, durability, and energy projection he’s on the of the most powerful characters in the Marvel Universe. However his intellect is his most potent weapon. Thanos stories always involve grandiose schemes that play-out over many issues (a trait common of many Starlin characters and comics). What sets Thanos apart from most other villains is that his plans generally work perfectly. When he is defeated it’s usually because he doesn’t feel he is worthy of Death’s love, and allows his opponents to win in some way (my over-simplification makes it sound less interesting that it is).

The Bottom-line

Thanos is a total badass of a character, and has been one of my favorite characters for many years.

His stories are deeply psychological, and very twisted. He’s the kind of character that Joss Whedon could have a lot of fun with if he were to perhaps stick around for an Avengers sequel.

If Thanos interests you, you should checkout Infinity Gauntlet. This is the definitive Thanos story, and one of the most fun superhero tales ever told.

(Images via Wikipedia & IGN)

I recently clicked this arrow in Gmail, and discovered an incredible feature that I don’t think they informed users of (could be wrong).

As it turns out, that’s where they hid the advanced search options. Spoiler Alert – They’re great!

When was this added? I have no idea. It could have been there since the New Gmail Beta, and I missed it.

They do seem to add and change functionality on the fly. I’m cool with it, but I’d like to know that these features exist.

Perhaps Google can put a “something new” call-out on the page, or just draw attention to some of the more obscure features.

Do you know any of Google’s hidden features?

They almost did. I had this clever idea to have a 5 star scale and have the rating system be glasses. Each pair of glasses would equal a star, and a monocle would equal half a star. However I sacked the idea.

It would have looked better than this.

Why did I change my mind?

Joe Woelfel.

Joe was one of my undergraduate professors, and learning from him was one of those rare life-changing teacher experiences. But I digress.

Why 1 – 5 Scales Suck

His classes were unconventional in a lot of ways, but the most significant example was his strong opposition to generic scale rating systems. This didn’t make him popular in the social sciences because 1 – 5 rating systems are pretty much the standard means for measuring any human experience in psychology, sociology, political science, and communication.

He illustrated this very simply in what turned out to be the most memorable five minutes I had in two decades of school.

Joe began a class by instructing us to take out a piece of paper, and create four 1 – 5 scales on it. Then he asked the following four questions and had us answer on those scales:

• How big is the Moon?
• How big is the Sun?
• How big is a penny?
• How big is a dime?

The answers were pretty much along these lines:

• How big is the Moon? – 5
• How big is the Sun? – 5
• How big is a penny? – 1
• How big is a dime? – 1

The problem was immediately apparent to everyone with a pulse. According to this research, students perceptions are that the Moon and Sun are the same size, while pennies and dimes are the same size. The kicker being that the Moon and the Sun are five times larger than pennies and dimes.

His point was that these methods of measurement are meaningless because the ratings have no context, and there’s no opportunity for logical mathematical comparison. So he (and a few others) created a system of measure that was based on comparison. It’s complex, and I’m not going to get into it here.

Why 1 – 100 Scales Suck

So you might be asking yourself, why not use a 1 – 100 scale?

It still has no comparison value, but mostly I don’t know the difference between an 83 and an 84 in terms of quality. Whenever I see ratings like 93, I find myself completely baffled by how someone came up with that number. Sometimes I reach the bottom of a review and see some strange number and I actually laugh as I imagine my eighth grade algebra teacher yelling, “Show your damn work!”

The bottom-line

I don’t know how to boil my complex thoughts about something into an arbitrary number. Plus, if I write a number it devalues all of the rest of the thought and nuance that went into the review.

Read a review, don’t read a review. Numerical rating systems distort reality. I won’t be using them.

The bill will annihilate our 4th Amendment rights on the Internet by creating a loophole whereby the authorities can pretty much establish cause to search any files you’re sharing with another web service – Email, Google Docs, Dropbox, Facebook, Twitter, banking, medical databases, websites, Google Search, you name it, if it isn’t hosted on your own server, you’re screwed.

Previously, CISPA allowed the government to use information for “cybersecurity” or “national security” purposes. Those purposes have not been limited or removed. Instead, three more valid uses have been added: investigation and prosecution of cybersecurity crime, protection of individuals, and protection of children. Cybersecurity crime is defined as any crime involving network disruption or hacking, plus any violation of the CFAA.

Basically this means CISPA can no longer be called a cybersecurity bill at all. The government would be able to search information it collects under CISPA for the purposes of investigating American citizens with complete immunity from all privacy protections as long as they can claim someone committed a “cybersecurity crime”. Basically it says the 4th Amendment does not apply online, at all. Moreover, the government could do whatever it wants with the data as long as it can claim that someone was in danger of bodily harm, or that children were somehow threatened—again, notwithstanding absolutely any other law that would normally limit the government’s power.

CISPA is now a completely unsupportable bill that rewrites (and effectively eliminates) all privacy laws for any situation that involves a computer. Far from the defense against malevolent foreign entities that the bill was described as by its authors, it is now an explicit attack on the freedoms of every American.

I’m choosing to believe that 248 of our Representatives are just incredibly stupid, because otherwise they are evil. This is one of the most oppressive bills I’ve ever heard of. Bunch of savages.

Hopefully Obama comes through with a Veto, and it holds up.

(Via Techdirt)

I’ve updated a few things in the “Privacy” section, and added new “The Geek Whisperer Shop,” “Attribution For Photos & Sources” & “Lawyers” sections.

Enjoy.

A number of people I’ve spoken to are quick to mock these as another bluetooth headset. While I agree that walking around with a bluetooth headset hanging on your ear and no one on the phone is a generally stupid idea, I think that computerized glasses are something much bigger and far more important.

Humans Conforming to Machines

The typewriter was invented in 1868, and we have been conforming to its shape ever since. Our technology does incredible thing, but it still breaks our bodies. Our devices inflict all manner of pain on our backs’, necks’ and wrists’. Tablets and mobiles aren’t an improvement in this regard. They still make us crane our necks’, and strain our wrists’. This is because we must contort our bodies to work with the shape of our technology. It’s a massive design flaw and the only people who benefit are orthopedists, physical therapists, and ergonomics professionals (who make a staggering amount of money for assembling chairs and installing wrist wrests for large corporations).

Computers as Glasses

If Google Glasses are light enough, they will represent the first powerful consumer computer that conforms to human physiology, and this excites me as both a technologist and as a vertebrate.

The combination of a camera, microphone, accelerometer, GPS and small heads up display in an always-on computer could do unbelievable things (which may one day be another post).

Making These Things Magical

The trick will be giving users a ton of control over what notifications will be sent to the user’s glasses. If your eyes are pinging every time you receive an email, tweet, Facebook update, or text message you might go insane. Limiting the active functionality is how you make computerized glasses empower users instead of distracting them. Having geographically activated modes could be cool. What I mean is that the device automatically shifts it’s configuration based on where you are, and possibly who is around you.

They work differently if you’re:

• At work
• At home (and alone)
• At home (with people around)
• Walking in a place you’ve been before
• Walking in a place you’ve never been
• At a museum
• In a store

The opportunities are endless, especially if the devies can recognize who you’re with.

Prescription Glasses

On a personal note, I will be quite peeved if Google neglects us prescription glasses-wearers.

These can’t come fast enough for me. Bring on the future!

(Via Droid-Life 1 & 2)