linkage

I really miss Antipixel. It hasn’t been updated for over a year, but I still go back every couple of months, hoping that it will be updated.

I was worried that something untoward had happened, but Jeremy is suddenly updating his flickr stream again, so I guess he’s doing all right. Hope springs eternal!

Thanks to Sternest Meanings, I now know my name is an anagram of “Zoom irks on backlash.”

By the time you read this, BeerMediaTech 001 should be up and available for your listening pleasure. Still getting some kinks out of the format (and we rambled quite a lot), but it was at least fun to record!

Click here to get the full show notes: , or listen right here:

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I’ve been wondering lately— whever happened to Jeremy Hedley’s AntiPixel? It’s been a full year now since his last post, without so much as a how-do-you-do. I hope he’s okay.

I’m at C4 in Chicago this weekend. Follow me on Twitter if you want to keep up.

Things that I’m looking forward to, or checking out right now:

• Fictionplane: Band fronted by Joe Summer, Sting’s son. Saw them last night, opening for The Police. Quite possibly the best opening band I’ve ever seen.
• The Simpsons Movie
• Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man (he’s become one of my favorite actors after 2005’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang)
• The new Harry Potters
• The Dark is Rising, movie based on the first book I read from the sequence when I was a kid. Made such an impression that all of my computers are named after the elements in the title poem.
• The Golden Compass, from the first book in the His Dark Materials trilogy. Haven’t read it yet myself, but hear very good things from other folks.
• Damages on FX, sounds like a great show, but I probably won’t get to see it until it’s on DVD, as I’ve given up cable TV.
• 1-18-08, aka “Cloverfield”, J.J. Abrams’ (Alias, Lost) new monster movie. I’m definitely intrigued.
• A few more movies that have piqued my interest: The Host, Sunshine, King of Kong, Rocket Science, Dynamite Warrior, 10,000 BC (kinda looks like Stargate, without the time travel), The Invasion (aka YAIOTBS, but looks promising), The Bourne Ultimatum, Shoot ‘em Up, and Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soapbox— I love the soap, but that dude is seriously nuts.

I’ve been thinking a lot about money lately. How to get out of debt. How to get us into a house. All that rubbish. Since I found a few really excellent resources, I thought I’d share:

• Get Rich Slowly (the blog post)— has a great summary of the major points of the best money management and wealth-growing books.
• Pear Budget— a really great Excel worksheet that helps you put together a budget in a half hour, and stick to it in 10 minutes a week.
• How to Spend Less: Lessons from Why We Buy— nice article from the ever-interesting Get Rich Slowly (the website).
• Your Money or Your Life— a book I got a while back. Has a somewhat extreme view of tackling your finances, but if you’re pretty far gone, maybe being extreme for a while isn’t such a bad idea.
• Money, Money, Money— from ABBA Gold

I realize that I’ve become a collector, which I never really wanted to be. It shocked me, a few years ago, seeing the result of both my Grandpa’s and his brother’s pack-rat tendencies throughout their lives, and my parents taking months to clear out their basements full of crap, maybe 2-3% of which was worthwhile family memorobilia— I need to remember that, and press myself toward a life that won’t end with making work for my kids to have to clean out my useless crap, much less spending good money on said useless crap.

As we move to everything being digital, I’m also realizing maybe I don’t need to own everything I want to experience. Netflix gets me movies I want to watch faster than I can watch them. I don’t need to own every movie I’ve ever liked— ditto books and CDs. Unless I’m going to be using it a lot (e.g. something I need for reference, or just something I really love enough to listen/watch over and over again), it really doesn’t need to be in the house on a permanent basis. Being able to rent it or borrow it from the library (it’s free!) really should be enough. One less thing to spend money on, and just clutter up the house with down the road.