Peer pressure

So we finally caved in and joined the Netflix club. The local libraries were running a little dry and we needed something new to watch. Anyone else who is a part of this magnificent service, click on the Netflix logo and add me as a friend so I know what to rent.

Unstoppable

Quake Live

The other day some great news came to my attention. Now, I have fond memories of the days Brev toiled away at Xmission, just so us leaches had the opportunity for us leaches to spend embarrassingly long hours playing Quake over a fast network. Imagine then my joy to find id Software is launching a version of Quake Arena for play in browser. And the best part, IT'S TOTALLY FREE!

"Created by id Software as an all-new way to deliver the excitement and energy of first-person multiplayer action to a broader audience than ever before, QUAKE LIVE offers game players of all skill levels a totally free and easily accessible multiplayer game and community through a single website at quakelive.com. Every element of the experience, including friends lists and communication, sponsored events and tournaments, matchmaking, stats tracking, and even the game itself is accessed and delivered free of charge through the web browser." (Full press release here.)

I don't know exactly when the launch date is, but it will be sometime this summer. Therefore, to those who are excited by reading this, I am assuming we will be having many hours, cracking pate until until the wee hours of the morning.

Hope for Change

I was quite surprisedand pleased to see some outstanding campaign posters from Shepard Fairey in support of Barak Obama over at Obey Giant. This post isn't to try and persuade anyone to support Sen. Obama, though some family members have heard where I fall on this matter (sorry Rach), but just to take a stand and support something. This election cycle is so important it devastates me when people are apathetic and ignorant about the issues facing our country. Take a stand.

(edit: If you look to the left column, I created a link to all the major issues facing the nation with all the candidates positions. Just click on Barak's poster.)

Dr. Quantum

Mind = Blown!

Beasts!

I know, I know. Two posts in two days is getting a little crazy, but I've been feeling bad about myself for neglecting my therapy I finally got my copy of Beasts! in the mail yesterday and just had to share my joy. Since I'm quite sure no one knows about this treasure, let me explain. Beasts! is an art/coffee table book focusing on cryptozoology. The wonderful part is that it's not just straight forward text. Actually, text takes a back seat to the amazing artistic interpretation of the various animals being studied. The artist are mostly a collection of comic artists, contemporary illustrators, and
cartoonists. The book itself is top quality. Heavy paper, exquisitely designed toc & index, gold edging on all the pages. One of the nicest books in my modest collection, and a steal at $30.00. It's tough to find, you'll have to go directly to the publisher. Vol. 2 is set to come out late this year, so if you have ANY interest in contemporary illustration, or strange creatures, get this as soon as you can.

Photoshop Express

So much for making regular updates to this thing. I suppose I will just throw up a little something to satisfy all my clamoring readers... Adobe (the Corleone family of design program companies) has just released an online version of Photoshop. Now don't get too excited, it's not a full version, but for anyone wanting to make quick changes to photos for use in blogs, it seems to be great. I haven't used it too much (since I have the full version at home and work) but from what I have used it's not a bad little application. Much better, and better designed than any other online photo-editing program. It's still in beta, so it's what you would call painfully slow, but worth checking out. Once all the bugs work out I don't think it will be beat.PLUS! you get 2GB of free online storage space! Woohoo!

Brother Joseph?

This may be old news to most of you from Utah, but I just heard about it the other day. Maybe some of you have received an email about it but this is a quote about the image:

"A purported image of Joseph Smith is circulating widely on the Internet. Some persons have mistakenly claimed that this image belongs to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and that Church officials have verified or are verifying its authenticity. These claims are not true.
"This image, taken from a daguerreotype (edit: an early form of photography), belongs to the Community of Christ. On the basis of available evidence it is not possible to confirm that the image is in fact, of Joseph Smith. The Church does not have or own this photograph or any image of Joseph Smith other than several early artists’ portrayals of him and some early photographs of those artists’ portrayals. The Church does have the death mask of Joseph Smith."

From what I've read, there are experts who claim this to be the Prophet, while others are sure it's not. The picture is certainly different than any representation I've seen of Joseph Smith. Whether or not it really is him isn't too important in the long run, but it would be pretty cool if it was, right?