This article on Mozilla’s Ubiquity has been making the rounds, but holy crap why aren’t people thinking this way when designing mobile devices? Make everything more natural.

I just discovered Pasquale D’Silva, a talented illustrator and animator. You can read his musings and see tutorials on his own site, and he also has a great drawing tutorial on rhythm lines at Vectortuts.

Every week Typesites showcases a site with, you guessed it, great typography. I hope he’ll get some sites on here that haven’t been around the design showcase block a million times, but great idea.

The essence of this video:
Watch what’s happening and how it happens, don’t make assumptions about what people are actually doing. Ask questions, you won’t see everything. Then enhance the experience naturally.
This is how every UX project should be approached. Help people do what they want them to do, don’t force them down the path […]

Future Media Standards & Guidelines from the BBC. I particularly appreciated this point:

1.1.2. If a user does not have the correct plug-in to access the enhanced content, or cannot easily access the content because they are using assistive technologies (such as screen readers) or Betsie to view the site, this should not detract […]

Canadian designer Matt Brett just launched an awesome redesign of his site. Great use of icons! One thing I’ve always really liked about his sites is how he incorporates current games and music. I wonder if he’s hand rolling that part?

I saw this on Stereogum today and had to repost. The first time I saw this band (I think with the Gossip?) my initial thoughts were “Yeah I liked Kill Rock Stars in 1994 too” but I got a few of their records and they’re a solid, fun band.

One of the best things working from home has afforded me is getting to make myself real lunch food in my own kitchen. This sandwich is my lunchtime staple, and I’ve made it a variety of ways just using what was on hand in my house so feel free to make substitutions.

Lay two slices of […]

Rachel made this for my birthday. It’s a shark attack cake, because I love shark week. Happy blood day.

When I moved to Cleveland Heights I had the good fortune to move three blocks from the Cedar Lee, the local independent film theater. Monday is $5 movie night, and I’ve been trying to take advantage of it’s close proximity.
Since moving I have seen:

Savage Grace
American Teen
OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies
The Wackness
The Last Mistress

A while back I wrote about my love for Bang Olufsen and the Beogram. I regularly check eBay for them, but they’re always missing the stylus or the hinges are broken. Buying something I can’t test made me a little apprehensive as well. I recently came across someone on Craigslist selling a mint condition Beogram […]

This mix is best served on a lazy Saturday afternoon. Rain for the first half is desirable but not essential.
Also appropriate for: driving to get dinner, Friday at 7pm, a trip to the book store, walking your dogs at dusk, dawdling and napping on the couch.

The Skygreen Leopards - Places West of Shawnapee
Bowerbirds […]

Enjoy this mix in one of the following conditions: sunny + hot + humid, rainy + hot + humid, or rainy + windy + cold.
It also goes well with: long drives across town at dusk, trying to find parking in the evening, rainy Saturday afternoon naps, beers at a quiet table, the bookstore, reminiscing, […]

Life hasn’t afforded me the time for a blog post in a while. Here’s what’s going on:

I’ve been very immersed in my new job, I am working on some awesome things I can’t talk about now because of trade secrets etc, but billing and payments in online insurance are about to get much much better. […]

Long overdue, here is my mix for May. On June 2nd. I’m a little behind, give me a break I’m moving and completely drained.
Listen to this while lying on your couch with minimal lighting. Bonus points for incense and headphones.
There is also some album art.

French Kicks - Abandon
Annuals - Sore
Ladytron - The […]

Pros:

Naked Juice in the cafeteria
Netflix
Contemplating getting a scooter
A friend’s successful recovery
This article on blogging and personal privacy. Will resonate with anyone who’s ever had a LiveJournal.
Five cent HDMI cable
New upscaling DVD player
Desperate Housewives season finale
Ellen and John McCain
New issue of Martha Stewart Living has a bee cake on the cover
Scharffen Berger

Cons:

Auto Kerning
Packing
Gas prices
That Scarlett Johansson […]

Last night I finally stopped by the Tremont Tap House, billed as Cleveland’s first gastropub. From Wikipedia:
A gastropub is a British term for a public house (”pub”) which specializes in high-quality food a step above the more basic “pub grub.” The name is a combination of pub and gastronomy and was coined in 1991 when […]

The complete works of Charles Darwin are online, including PDF downloads of Voyage of the Beagle and Origin of Species. Listen to an interview about the site from today’s Morning Edition.

MSNBC recently picked Tina Fey as their funniest person. Though I would hardly call MSNBC the barometer of hilarity, it’s nice to see a woman in entertainment get respect for something other than her boobs. The best part of the article:
…women (along with other women in comedy) still battle periodic declarations by male performers and […]

Combat junk mail by using postage paid envelopes to send bricks to analog spammers.

The history of Ski Free, complete with download.

Charleton Heston has kicked the bucket. I wonder if anyone pried the gun out of his cold, dead hands.

Pitchfork has posted a guide to upcoming spring releases.
In no particular order I’m excited for:

Acid Mothers Temple
Boredoms
The Breeders
Clinic
Envy (DVD)
Microphones (reissue & new)
Shout Out Louds
The Gossip (live)
Make Believe
Bellafea
The Black Angels
Free Kitten
Joan of Arc
The VSS (reissue)
Ellen Allien
Ladytron
Shearwater
Silver Jews
Tilly and the Wall
Liz Phair (reissue)

I’m probably most excited for the new Ladytron album.

I came across an article via Lifehacker about historical figures and productivity. I wasn’t surprised to see number one on the list is don’t work long hours.
Too often in the corporate world long hours are used as an indicator of productivity, which is totally artificial. Someone could sit here for twelve hours and do nothing, […]

Just so you know, geeks are buff now.

Juliana Hatfield writes about her experience working on My So-Called Life, and the song-writing process. My favorite part is her thoughts on how constraint fosters creativity:
Having rules or limitations can be very liberating just as having total freedom to do whatever you want, however you want, can be sort of paralyzing. It’s hard to know […]

Kottke posted a link yesterday to photos of people just before and just after they died. It reminded me of a documentary I watched the other night from PBS’ P.O.V. series called A Family Undertaking, about the growing home funeral movement.
After the civil war, American funerals moved out of the home and largely into […]

Since I’ve been absent for so long I thought I’d post a nice surprise for those of you who still subscribe; an April mix.
Blah blah yes I know about Muxtaping, but you can only make one 12 song mix.
Album artwork is included in the download, enjoy.

Shout Out Louds - South America
Au Revoir Simone […]

Due to last week’s blizzard the CWSA’s first purely social event had to be postponed and is rescheduled for today. A note to all you foodies, Bier Markt/Bar Cento chef Jonathan Sawyer will be appearing on Iron Chef America tomorrow night on Michael Symon’s team. If you’d like to have the best burger in town, […]

After watching Alien Saturday afternoon Alana and I decided 80s and early 90s action classics are sorely missing from our DVD library. We decided to brave The Exchange last night (and I do mean brave, the last few times we were there employees had to oust rowdy/violent clientele) and see what we could find.
We […]