Poster of the movie Timerider from 1982. Incredible.
Job is the new porn.
The statement comes from empirical observation of my spam folder. It is either because I got reprofiled by some algorithm coordinating The World of Spam, or we collectively moved one level higher on the Maslow pyramid from mindless fucking to securing our lives with employment.
About DuckDuckGo, a great (new) web search service
It seems like an impossible mission to beat Google's search service due to a whole lot of reasons. But the most vital one is its ecosystem that most of us take as a basic part of our lives: the Google account, the services it incorporates and the free nature of them all. (Let's not open up a thread on what we call free, and why we consider giving away our personal data like nothing given from our sides.)
The reason I came to the above conclusion is a search service called DuckDuckGo, which is a real eye opener when talking about how a search engine could be any better. I bookmarked it a while ago and today I set it up as the default search engine in Chrome. (You can do that under Settings - Basics - Search - Manage Search Engines.) It is minimalistic, aesthetically pleasing and works like charm.
Some features of it that I love:
- It shows a summary of the thing that you search for if it can meaningfully identify it. E.g. search for Neil Gaiman and you get a topmost item with a photo, a one-sentence summary, official website and Wikipedia links, and a list of some relevant topics.
- The topic subpages are thematic indices of keywords, i.e. lists of links that help you dive deeper into certain topics. It provides pretty much the same experience that Wikipedia listing articles have. E.g. under Neil Gaiman you can choose Cthulhu Mythos writers, and get a list of relevant authors.
- With each keyword search you get search suggestions on how to extend your search term (and so filter or revise the results). E.g. in case of Neil Gaiman you get + comics, + books, + interview, etc. You can add these with a single click and thus move on quickly.
- The results' list has continuous scrolling, so you don't need to turn pages just scroll and it will always load more results.
The areas where Google still wins:
- The extreme speed how it shows results especially with instant on. DuckDuckGo is not that fast (but it is still okay).
- I got used to trusting Google so much that sometimes when I have doubts about the result of a search I just cannot help doing a second control search on Google. (I could call this trustworthiness but I intentionally won't. This is just being conditioned to something, and you are always better wearing such things off.)
- Correcting misspellings. DuckDuckGo does that too, but it is not as good at being a spell-checker as Google is.
Still, you should give it a try. It is worth it.
Why do the new Blizzard game experiences kick ass?
Becuase they are exactly what you remember from your childhood.
It is as simple as that. Everyone who ever got involved at a certain level with any of Blizzard's classic games (i.e. Warcraft, Diablo and StarCraft) is sure to have some strong strings attached to the nostalgia of gaming weekends with no sleep, XXL sized pizza, coke... and some pain in the ass with configuring LAN on Windows '98, but even that seems like something delightful looking back from now.
Peak-end rule: according to the peak-end rule, we judge our experiences almost entirely on how they were at their peak (pleasant or unpleasant) and how they ended. Other information is not lost, but it is not used. (via Wikipedia)
So, what can a video game manufacturer do, which is loved by so many people for so many awesome memories? Renew the graphics, pimp up the effects, and apart from that? Nothing. There is no need to reinvent the game, add unlimited branches of customization, introduce some overcomplicated character creation method, or anything like that. The only thing this company needs to do is deliver the highest peaks of our childhood's gaming experiences. And do they deliver that? Yes, sir. You bet they do.
I am not into WoW (although I spent a serious amount of time with Warcraft 1 and 2), but a true lover of the StarCraft universe and a die-hard Diablo fan. And I can confirm that the above mentioned statement applies to StarCraft 2 and Diablo 3, too. Playing these new installments are like my best oldschool game memories on steroids, with the unbeatable social context of Battle.net.
One could mention the drawback that now everything is online, so you don't need that sit-together with your friends to play, but the truth is: 1) yes, you do, and 2) with MacBook Pros and solid wi-fi around you can do that just anywhere, anytime.
#539
2012-04-18 13:00
In a Microsoft-based corporate environment I am sitting with my MacBook with an external display and the default Snow Leopard background image showing on an HD monitor's scale, when someone comes up to me and asks to send over my "cool background". A clash of cultures.
One simple album cover that I spotted today and like a lot coming from Machinae Supremacy, a Swedish metal band. Suprisingly enough this popped up when listening to the 8-bit tag radio.
I had a dream last night about a journey to a very distant place. I was accompanied by a child boy whom I had to look after or escort, but he may also have been a part of me somehow. One particular moment that I remember clearly about our trip is passing on a foggy marshland where people were frozen into the swamp, and everyone trying to help them stick with them and started drifting into the mud as well. It was a bit eerie but also very picturesque like a scene from a Tarsem Singh movie.
When me and the boy arrived to our destination it was extremely cold there with harsh winds, heavy snow and a few meters' eyeshot. We were admitted into a home, which was rather a hut from the outside but much more sealed like an igloo from the inside. It was warm and cozy in there, and there were some strong people living inside acting more like a tribe than a family, although they were a family. They were strong not in a muscular sense but in a way like war dwarfs or fabled vikings are strong: short, wide, bearded, with deep voice and a protective aura. A woman who resembled my mother helped me take off my coat, which then I realized was a rather heavy one indeed. I understood that what I had been wearing was a worldcoat that could protect me from any kind of harm like an ultimate shelter.
Then I am not sure if I was told or I just realized by myself that the child who was travelling with me was Baal, and my quest was to take him to the end of the world.
And then I woke up.
I just cannot get enough of the inspiration, energy and musical wonderland that I get from last.fm radio lately. Wisp is another find that should be hell lot more than obvious to know already, I guess, I just missed it somehow so far. When listening to his music I keep thinking of Will-o'-the-wisp, on the one hand as depicted in the Small World Underground board game that we occasionally play, and also in a way that I would add to my Sometimes They Tell Stories blog.
Sometimes I wonder why I am attached to the concept of ghosts and ghost stories... And I usually come to the conclusion that I don't like that the majority of ghost stories center around some fearsome agressiveness towards ghosts, when peacefully talking and listening to them could be so much more of an entertainment. Ghost stories should not be the concept of stories about frightening ghosts, but stories told by ghosts. They must have so much to tell, and there are so few to listen. It is sad, actually. Something similar to what's going on around people loosing their connection towards nature, heritage and souls in a wider manner.
How could I live so far without listening to a reasonable amount of Killing Joke?
Update: same applies to Stabbing Westward. Naturally, I heard a lot about these bands, I guess I checked some tracks, but did not dive deep. Now, I just cannot let go.
Leiratkoztam a Popbitchről. Ez is egy korszak vége.
Ez a Brooklyn Beta is egy olyan dolog, hogy "mik vannak".
Ezt meg már a múltkor le akartam írni (vagyis kábé ezt):
Repetitive rhythms, repetitive rhythms, repetitive rhythms, beautiful beat. Form, function, try, fail, do, strive, keep going. Mantra, mantra, rhythm, beat, pulsing with energy.
Silence. Listen to the silence. Take your time.
And start over, go.
Hovering a large carpet is like zen. It takes a hell lot of time, you never really get it right, but you always learn something on the way.
I think its kinda fascinating that I get a whole bunch of interesting ideas while doing absolutely dull everyday things like brushing teeth, showering, or hovering the carpet for that matter. I guess it is somehow covered by what Csikszentmihalyi says about flow: my mind is in a setting when no brain activity is needed so challenges itself by wandering (and wondering) around. But from a simpler, more "tribal" point of view, it feels like my brush was some kind of catalyst of thoughts, like an artifact of muse.
I have a magic wand in my bathroom and I brush my teeth with it.
Az utóbbi kábé fél év során arra jöttem rá, hogy a szakmai blogokban és médiacsatornákban sok jó tudásbázis szerepel, de a legjobb inspirációk inkább egyes jó gondolkodók személyes csatornáiban találhatók. Először Sean Sperte Geek & Mild blogja volt az, amit megnyitva hagytam a böngészőben. Aztán egyszer linkelte Noah Stokes Es Buenoját. Most meg márciusban került elő egy hivatkozás Bryan Rees blogjára. Tekintve, hogy nincs aktuális rendszeresen használt (és normálisan kigyomlált) feed readerem, így inkább nyitva hagyom ezeket az oldalakat egy ablakban, hogy időnként rájuk nézzek, és felfedezzek egy-egy új postot.
Érdekes rendezőelv egyébként, hogy mindnek (de főleg Stokes és Rees blogjának) van egy olyan vizuális esztétikája, ami nem feltétlen a legújabb webdesign trendek szerinti, mégis mocskosul egyedi és kívánnivaló. Utóbbit úgy értem, hogy nézem ezt a vintage fotó hangulatú nagy képes designt, és egyből én is akarnék magamnak egy ilyet. Mindenesetre egyelőre megvagyok a magam fehér verziójával.
Mindebből a takeaway pedig az, hogy a nap végén néhány jó gondolkodó ér ugyanannyit mint egy egész rakás szakkönyv. (Hatásosabb lenne azt írni, hogy "többet ér", de az igazából nem lenne igaz. A könyvek kellenek. Nekik is.)
A Carmen Queasy igazából a világ egyik legjobb száma. Csinálni fogok egyszer egy Top 50 legjobb szám a világon valaha listát a kedvenceimből. És benne lesz az első tízben.