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Best movies of all time (bmoat) list
- Napoleon Dynamite
- Apocalypto
- Alien
- Lilo and Stitch
- Blue Velvet
- The Matrix
[more to come]
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Crystal Beach 7-28-23 — 7-30-23
What a weekend. It’s an idyllic Eden here. Days were spent laughing on the deck and the beach. Nights were filled with music and magic. So many beautiful people.
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Kerning animation concept
A machine that pours water down a chute with a word at the bottom.
A measuring cup directly underneath each gap between the pairs of letters.
Each cup has the same amount of water in it after all the water has poured down and through the gaps.
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Branching out from WordPress
I want to start learning another framework. I don’t want to keep relying so heavily on WordPress as the default option when starting a new site.
It’s easy to assume that WP, being the most universal CMS, makes sense. But FSE, Gutenberg and block themes are placing enormous demands on its contributor base, theme builders and plugin developers to build a solid and user-friendly admin. Case in point: 6.2.1 auto updates broke countless sites that were using the shortcode block.
Building from scratch, something I’ve done forever, just isn’t fun anymore. There’s too much javascripting and build processes; I feel like I’m making an app (which is what modern websites are becoming, I suppose.)
While I will never touch page builders like Elementor or Divi, I’m considering GeneratePress or something closer to the core for my next WP theme. I’m also looking into WebFlow and/or Framer for my next project.
Is anyone else in this boat? How is your workflow changing, and what advice do you have?
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GrammarFixer.com
Here’s a huge opportunity. Reply to spammers, global manufacturers, etc. with an offer to rewrite the broken English in their communications. 24¢ per fix. You’d be a millionaire in no time.
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Stop using px as a measurement
The size of a pixel is relative to its output device, aka screen resolution.
Some screens are 72 dpi. Some are 300 dpi. So if you specify your font size to be 12px, it should rightly appear legible on the 72 dpi screen, and tiny on the 300 dpi screen.
Instead, use point, or pt. A point is 1/72 of an inch. 12pt will appear legible on any screen, regardless of its dpi.
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The University of WordPress
I bought uofwp.com a long time ago and in a spark of inspiration decided to launch the site. There’s not much there for now.
Check it out:
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Staff meeting doodles
My MFA professor, the great Harvey Breverman, used to doodle his colleagues during meetings and it rubbed off on me. Here’s my latest from yesterday, done on my iPad in Procreate.
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Chess thoughts
If you know me, you probably know I’m a big chess fan. I’ve been playing it almost all my life, having learned it from my friend Chucky’s grampa and being fascinated by every aspect of it ever since.
I definitely play too much–the internet makes it so easy to grab a quick game on a whim, and I have racked up thousands of 1, 2, and 3 minute games this way.
On the one hand, I could argue that it keeps me sharp; playing chess forces me to exercise my brain power, analytical thoughts, and concentration.
Regarding that last point: concentration, I heard an interesting comment by renowned chessmaster and Twitch.tv streamer Eric Rosen recently. He was asked by someone in the chat box: “Does playing chess help you concentrate?” His answer was something like: “Getting lots of sleep, eating well, and exercise helps you concentrate. Chess depletes your concentration.”
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Chess Set v1
Over the past COVID afflicted year, I’ve spent countless hours learning 3D design and printing. I find that the best way to both teach and learn new skills is to take on a project with a tangible outcome––in an area the student is passionate about. For me, this was the perfect chess set.
I wanted a set that could be beautiful but also utilitarian. I wanted one that could be used in a competitive setting, heavy and hard to knock over, with pieces that were distinctive and easily identifiable. I wanted the pieces to stay upright during chaotic, tumultuous speed chess matches.
I’ve also had time to survey my house. There are pennies everywhere. Under any and all pieces of furniture, tucked inside every crevice of laundry rooms and cars, and abandoned in pockets of rarely-worn jackets and jeans are these useless copper disks that cost more to store than they’re worth. I could amass thousands to be used as wights for the pieces.
I’ve pondereed discarded things that could be used as boards. Sidewalked leather couches, old wooden panels, large swathes of fabric. Anything I could silkscreen print checkerboards on would be fair game.
And there you would have everything you need to play chess, especially in these times. A good, weighted, tactile set, that won’t tip over in a lightning game.
So here it is, all 32 pieces printed, polished to an ebony/ivory finish, weighted with pennies, felted with leather, on a hand-silkscreened board.
I’m making more and giving them to friends and family, but also thinking about a kickstarter campaign to help me build a distribution model, where I could sell this and other designs Jeanne and I are working on. Stay tuned for that.
