So you want a hipster, inspirational poster?

… there you have it.

-yuk

Really, Netflix?

… that’s just clown shoes right there Netflix. Baby-town frolicks. Carl Sagan’s The Cosmos better have a small child vomiting on a priest in it.

-yuk

Con-grad-ulations!1!!

I was engaged in a… debate last week. The subject of which is not important at this time. Suffice it to say that there was some discussion of “science”. I use quotes around the more commonly known science to illustrate a point. What point that is, even I am not sure, though we can all agree there is one.

The discussion I mention was inherently stupid, but stupider still was one of the participants (surprisingly, not me). This individual claimed that their sibling had a “Masters of Science”, which made both of them qualified to discuss the science behind such things as climate change, evolution, etc.

It was at this time I realized that the point of contention was absolutely un-winnable by yours truly. I was arguing with people that didn’t understand that a “Masters of Science” was not a Masters IN Science.

… so I gave up arguing and imagined what a Masters in Science would look like:

-yuk

Social Discovery

Compared to a lot of tech users, I am not an “early adopter”. I refuse to buy v1 Apple products, bugs are irritating, lack of design polish is stupid, and having nothing to do on a site is boooooooooring. All this means, of course, is that I AM an early adopter when compared to non-tech people. Or, you know, the majority of people. I am, however, generally aware of the stuff and/or things I am “missing out” on, as (like a good little nerd) I aggressively and obsessively read The Internet.

Imagine my surprise then, when my sister (a lovely, smart, totally un-technical human being) turned me on to the site Pinterest. It’s amazing, actually. The site is slick, well designed, buggy as shit, and amazingly popular. Especially with women. Non-technical ones.

Another site is GetGlue, which has been on my radar for a while, but only because my cousin has the occasional post exclaiming that he’s watching something. It’s a neat little site where you “check in” to what you’re reading/watching/playing and rewards you with badges. Regardless of whether this sounds like your cup of tea or not, it’s telling that I only heard about it from non-technical people.

I have a theory as to why these two amusing sites slipped through my normal tech circles. With regard to Pinterst, the tech isn’t interesting, and what they do have is buggy. On the other hand, for people who don’t work in tech, the entire internet seems buggy, but it’s also generally less pretty. Don’t think so? Just wait till the next phone call from your grandmother trying to figure out what “liking” something does on Facebook. She can’t tell a feature from a bug, and vice-versa.

GetGlue, on the other hand, is gamification pure and simple. As a rule, those of us in the tech field are pretty bored by gamification. But Farmville users aren’t. And it turns out they watch movies.

My big takeaway from this is that existing techie start-ups and social sites are operating backwards. They have a high tolerance for poor design (both graphic and UI/UX), and low tolerance for buggy tech. GetGlue turns every activity into Zynga game (in a good way, surprisngly). Pinterest, on the other hand, has gorgeous visuals, a great UI, and maddeningly buggy tech. But to the “average user” (you know, those mythical people you talk about in meetings whilst pretending they will be able to learn your latest tech offering without any help…) everything on the internet is already maddening.

-yuk

muppetmuppetmuppetmuppetmuppetmuppet

Seriously. Go see the Muppet Movie. Go see the Muppet Movie right fucking now. I’ll wait (it won’t even take that long).

I’d promise not to make any spoilers about the film, but what’s there to spoil. There are muppets. They do some zany shit. Muppet style. I guess the one spoiler is that Disney managed not to use my childhood to torture me; it’s a great film.

That said don’t bother reading this box office story:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-mendelson/weekend-box-office-112711_b_1115671.html

.. it’s not that the Muppets didn’t do well. It’s that Twilight did better.

-yuk

Teachable Moments

I don’t often write about… serious things, and I even more rarely talk about them in a serious way. I prefer to talk about design, or rant about the world. Recent events, however brook no attempts at humor.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a “leftist” (or rather, I would, if you could define it for me). I might be a progressive, and I’m certainly liberal, which appears to be what brings much of Occupy Wall Street together, and for that reason, I’m OK with people not supporting OWS. It’s cool, we disagree.

… but if you’re okay with how those protests are being responded to by the powers that be, you either have brain damage, are an asshole, or have so little empathy you barely qualify as a human being.

Read this blog post:

http://eldan.co.uk/2011/11/abandoning-the-pretence-of-liberty/

… that should scare you, and if it doesn’t, I’d love to hear why.

Oh, and I promise I’ll go back to my normal subject matter, but this feels important

-yuk

Some Album Reviews

(These links go to Rdio. Seriously people, just get a free Rdio account)

Rachael Yamagata – Chesapeke: The well-adjusted Fiona Apple I never wanted. The music’s great, but lose the prozac.

Evanescence – Evanescence: The quintessential “starter-wife” of Goth. Like a real marriage, you’ll probably want to upgrade to something scarier or blonder, depending on how you swing.

M83 – Hurry Up We’re Dreaming: Do you like M83? Good, this is more of that. Oh… you’ve never heard of them? Huh… Oh hey! They’ve got a song about Steve McQueen!

MuteMath – Odd Soul: I got nothing; this album is just great.

Feist – Metals: A lovely return from everyone’s favorite not-quite-adjective. This album doesn’t feature any spectacular singles, but the entire thing is lovely.

Bjork – Biophilia: Bjork is back with her best album since Vespert… wait a second… WHO LEFT THEIR GODDAMN DUB STEP IN HERE.

The greatest product name of all time

… is claimed by a male-enhancement “drug” called Rezerect (note: their website has a TOS… wtf?!)

The full genius of this product name is not apparent until you view their, ahem, packaging:

First, note the totally sweet reflection (I’ve submitted it to PSDisasters). NOW think about the genius of this name:

1. You could read it as Resurrect
2. You could see it as RE ERECT
3. You can even see EZE (easy) ‘rect

That’s the ingenuity of the American Spirit.

-yuk

It’s about time

Some amazing human being crated a type-meme-face:

So of course I had to try me some Lorememe Ipsum… or some such.

That will be all.

-yuk

Free to play games: the great socialist victory

Free to play games, or “fremium”, if you will, is all the rage in the game universe. If you want a free videogame to play, you have a lot of options, if nothing else, log onto Facebook. I’m sure you’ve been barraged with hundreds of messages asking for your helping poking chickens or planting settlers.

The thing is, people spend money in these free games. They spend a lot of money. Like, fuck tons (metric, not imperial). I think developers make more money by making their game free, and then charging money for, say, a hat. Or a weapon. Or the ability to log in. They must be making more money, the games aren’t free due to altruism.

Here’s the tricky part. Not everyone pays the same amount of money back into these games. Look at this chart (from joystiq):

This is beautiful. People at the height of their earnings potential pay way more than those with lower incomes. The 35-54 crowd (ostensibly those making the most money) pay in twice as much as they play. The 25-34 crowd is hot on their heels (or heals, if they play a stupid class) paying in 5/3 over their playing ratio. Simply put, wealth is being redistributed from those with more of it to those with less of it. It’s not even necessarily a response to having less time to play; 18-24 year olds have jobs, go to school, and possibly even do both. They simply have less money to spend.

This is great data to have. Perhaps we could fix our healthcare system by making it free to play. Just imagine, anyone can go to the hospital… but if you want a gown, it’s for “premium” members only.

-yuk