This will most likely be my last post of 2008 and for the immediate future until I finish v3.0 of my site, which is under way at the moment. It could take longer than anticipated as I'm making the leap to Expression Engine. I'm hoping for a late January release. In the mean time, enjoy. As per usual the mix includes all tracks, an iTunes song list, as well as 150]]> Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:36:32 -0800 http://virb.com/bethdean/posts/text/1005373 http://virb.com/bethdean/posts/text/941320 I saw this op-ed today titled Let Detroit Go Bankrupt by Mitt Romney, and in spite of how much I think he's a crazy nutjob I actually agree with most of it. American car companies are failing, and a bailout won't do anything but give them more money to lose.

I recently bought a new car. I love it more than anything else I've ever bought, except for education. When I decided I was ready for a new car I had already secured a car loan, so I had few limitations. I try to buy local as much as possible, so it made sense to get an American car. I've only ever owned American; a Chevy Camaro, a Ford Taurus and a Ford Focus. I never had trouble with any of them, they all lasted a long time. The Focus was the only one I wasn't thrilled about in the snow. My brother-in-law works for GM and every other day I read about plant closings in the news.

I was pretty shocked by what I found. Not only were there not any American cars that looked particularly appealing, most of them weren't priced all that differently from their foreign counterparts, and in some cases were only a couple thousand dollars difference from a luxury brand.

The prices shown reflect similar options and trim levels. These cars were basically the same, except the Volkswagen beat most of them on mileage and horsepower. If money were no object I'd want a BMW 328i or an Audi A4. So which of the cars pictured above looks the most like those two? And which of them had the most standard features comparable to those two?

Ding ding ding. If you said the Volkswagen Jetta you answered correctly. Most of the other cars more closely resembled Buicks. Now did I really buy the car because it looked like an Audi? No, but I did pick the car I thought looked the most elegant and stylish out of the bunch and was the most bang for my buck.

I opted for the limited edition Wolfsburg which had similar standard features to the Audi and BMW; a turbo engine, premium sound system, heated seats, defrosting side mirrors, auto-adjusting windshield wipers etc. Additionally Volkswagen offers 30,000 miles of free maintenance, something else BMW, Audi and Lexus are doing.

American companies are serving up Kmart when customers want Banana Republic. Their cars aren't priced to compete. The design both exterior and interior are dull, and their brands are lackluster.* Mileage is a joke when GMC can call their Cadillac Escalde Hybrid "fuel efficient" at 18mpg. None of the American companies offer free maintenance. No wonder the industry is failing, it's not because they don't have enough money, it's because they're selling an inferior product. Maybe the car companies should hire Steve Jobs instead of begging the government for welfare.

*The possible interior exception would be cars including SYNC technology, which would be a whole lot more appealing were it not from Microsoft. I was a little sad how Volkswagen was lacking in the bluetooth and voice recognition department. Their navigation system was pretty archaic too.

Granted not all people needing to enlarge browser text are older users, but I've often wondered if someone like my grandma would know how to resize text, let alone be comfortably recall a keyboard shortcut.

Losing one of your parents makes you feel like half your childhood has been erased, so this is my last ditch effort to save it. I am posting them all to Flickr, after looking at this one I realized I have her smile, and this one is my favorite picture of her and my dad.

• Bears - Who Knows 73
• Bound Stems - The Family Afloat 123
• Neko Case - Blacklisted
• Patsy Cline - Country Greats 123
• Creedence Clearwater Revival - The Concert 123
• Dear Nora - Curt & Molly Split 73
• Dear Nora - Dreaming Out Loud 73
• Dear Nora - New Year 123 (Screened cover)
• Dear Nora - We'll Have a Time 123 (this is a double if anyone wants it)
• Deep Purple - Made in Japan 123
• Erase Errata - Tomlab Alphabet Singles Series 73
• Glove Puppet Zine 01 73
• Ladytron - Velocifero 2]]> Thu, 25 Sep 2008 06:25:31 -0700 http://virb.com/bethdean/posts/text/842389 http://virb.com/bethdean/posts/text/798401 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.
  
  ]]> Sat, 30 Aug 2008 03:47:17 -0700 http://virb.com/bethdean/posts/text/798401 http://virb.com/bethdean/posts/text/796618

  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 you want, or you think they want. Interview all stakeholders, not just the obvious users. It's all about observing and listening, we are just the user's humble servants.

  
  ]]> Fri, 29 Aug 2008 03:16:45 -0700 http://virb.com/bethdean/posts/text/796618 http://virb.com/bethdean/posts/text/796617 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.
  
  ]]> Fri, 29 Aug 2008 03:16:44 -0700 http://virb.com/bethdean/posts/text/796617 http://virb.com/bethdean/posts/text/796616 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.
  
  ]]> Fri, 29 Aug 2008 03:16:44 -0700 http://virb.com/bethdean/posts/text/796616 http://virb.com/bethdean/posts/text/794559

  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.

  1. Lay two slices of onion dill rye bread out on your foil-lined baking pan.
  2. Brush one side of each (the outward facing side) with olive oil. I use a garlic infused oil
  3. Layer a few generous slices of sun dried tomato turkey breast on one piece.
  4. Add two slices of prosciutto on top of the turkey.
  5. Grate 4-5 tablespoons of gruyere over top of the prosciutto, and season with pepper.
  6. Spread sweet hot mustard on the second piece of bread, and press it down on the gruyere (this makes everything stick together when it melts.)
  7. Grate about 3 more table spoons of gruyere on top of the sandwich, and season with more pepper.
  8. Bake on a foil lined pan at 375 degrees for 13 minutes.

  You could easily make this sandwich in a panini maker or with a grill press, I choose not to because the prosciutto gets crispy in the oven. I've also used chicken and multi-grain bread. But the gruyere and the mustard really help give the sandwich a nutty flavor, so I recommend sticking with the swiss family of cheeses if possible. I also substituted sopressata for the prosciutto once, and it doesn't really crisp up the way the prosciutto will. Enjoy!

  
  ]]> Thu, 28 Aug 2008 02:19:49 -0700 http://virb.com/bethdean/posts/text/794559 http://virb.com/bethdean/posts/text/794558 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.
  
  ]]> Thu, 28 Aug 2008 02:19:48 -0700 http://virb.com/bethdean/posts/text/794558 http://virb.com/bethdean/posts/text/794557 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?
  
  ]]> Thu, 28 Aug 2008 02:19:48 -0700 http://virb.com/bethdean/posts/text/794557 http://virb.com/bethdean/posts/text/794556 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 from the user accessing the core content of the website.

  
  ]]> Thu, 28 Aug 2008 02:19:47 -0700 http://virb.com/bethdean/posts/text/794556 http://virb.com/bethdean/posts/text/785472

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

  
  ]]> Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:32:17 -0700 http://virb.com/bethdean/posts/text/785472 http://virb.com/bethdean/posts/text/784662 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

  
  I really enjoyed Savage Grace, I always say Julianne Moore in 60s clothes is my favorite movie genre. She was amazing in this movie, but I didn't really know what I was getting myself into not already knowing the history of Barbara Baekeland. It's worth seeing if only for enjoying the clothing and interiors.

  American Teen was so so, cluttered with out of place animation sequences. Each of the teens followed a really typical path and I didn't feel like anything was revealed about them over the course of the movie.

  OSS 117 has been my favorite so far, a playful French spoof of 60s spy movies. There's already a sequel in the works. It stars a loveable but arrogant Maxwell Smart-eqsue jerk. This is another film worth watching for the clothes and sets alone. Everyone in this movie looks amazing. It also has a fabulous title sequence.

  The Wackness was a good but not great movie about a teen in the 90s selling pot. Ben Kingsley is his zany therapist and they have a bizarre Running With Scissors-esque relationship. Whenever I watch movies trying to be purposefully 90s I just wish I was watching Party Girl instead.

  The Last Mistress is a French film starring Asia Argento. It chronicles the 10 year affair of her character and a philanderer about to marry a young wealthy aristocrat. I enjoyed the movie, but the story itself seemed to be missing something. It's very dramatic but ultimately anticlimactic. Still worth seeing though, especially if you enjoy costume dramas.

  I'm hoping in the near future to catch the 3D horror series (Amityville Horror, Parasite, Friday the 13th part III) and:

  • Man on Wire
  • Priceless
  • One Bad Cat: The Reverend Albert Wagner Story
  • Tell No One
  • Transsiberian

  I also just finished rewatching Six Feet Under on DVD so now I can actually watch some movies at home again. Any recommendations?

  
  ]]> Fri, 22 Aug 2008 01:04:59 -0700 http://virb.com/bethdean/posts/text/784662 http://virb.com/bethdean/posts/text/782639 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 RX2 in Cleveland and couldn't pass up the opportunity. He'd recently had it rebalanced, rewired and the stylus cleaned. With the addition of a preamp, it sounds amazing even on my crappy stereo.

  

  The RX2 was the last of the Beogram record players. One of the best features is the automatic tracking, based on the weight of the record the player knows where to cue and at what speed to start. You can see my small Beogram Flickr set here.

  When I moved I had to abandon my large Expedit from Ikea which had been housing my records. FYI, the large Expedits will not fit in a 172 Penske moving truck. The records were residing in sterilite bins (perfect for moving vinyl, they are easy to carry and you can stack them without damaging your collection) which seemed like such a waste with the new turntable. So I painted a built in book case in my living room and got them all situated and out of bins. I had originally painted the whole thing white but I painted the back of the inside green to contrast with the yellow walls.

  

  I considered the turntable an early birthday present, so on my actual birthday I went out and bought the following to enjoy on the earlier present:

  • Stereloab - Chemical Cords
  • Stereolab - Aluminum Tunes (3xLP)
  • The Black Angels - (3xLP)
  • Heart - Dreamboat Annie
  • Stereolab - Three Women (73)
  • The Black Angels - Doves (73)
  
  ]]> Thu, 21 Aug 2008 02:48:13 -0700 http://virb.com/bethdean/posts/text/782639 http://virb.com/bethdean/posts/text/759172 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.

  1. The Skygreen Leopards - Places West of Shawnapee
  2. Bowerbirds - Hooves
  3. Grouper - Heavy Water / I'd Rather Be Sleeping
  4. Faunts - Memories of Places We've Never
  5. Pelican - City of Echoes
  6. Stereolab - Silver Sands
  7. Deerhunter - Never Stops
  8. Parts & Labor - Fractured Skies
  9. No Age - Sleeper Hold
  10. The Submarines - Swimming Pool
  11. Voxtrot - Long Haul

  Download July 2008 Mix (62.3mb)

  When I first uploaded this, the Faunts track was missing. It's now in the zip file, or you can download it individually.

  
  ]]> Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:43:07 -0700 http://virb.com/bethdean/posts/text/759172 http://virb.com/bethdean/posts/text/693524 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, and procrastinating.

  1. The Little Ones - Let Them Ring the Bells
  2. Fruit Bats - Canyon Girl
  3. Clinic - The Witch
  4. Vivian Girls - Tell the World
  5. The Submarines - Fern Beard
  6. Forest City Lovers - Sullen Seas
  7. My Latest Novel - The Hope Edition
  8. Our Lady of Bells - Adeline
  9. Sarah Harmer - I Am Aglow
  10. Frontier Folk Nebraska - Parker Browne
  11. Norfolk & Western - Terrified
  12. Seabear - Hands Remember

  Download June 2008 Mix (59mb)

  
  ]]> Mon, 30 Jun 2008 05:04:56 -0700 http://virb.com/bethdean/posts/text/693524 http://virb.com/bethdean/posts/text/680944 Life hasn't afforded me the time for a blog post in a while. Here's what's going on:
  1. 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.
  2. My long term, live in girlfriend of four years and I broke up. This stuff is always hard, but new beginnings are nice too.
  3. I moved from the West Side of Cleveland to Cleveland Heights (the East Side.) I miss the West Side but am loving exploring this part of town and being close to the Grog Shop and the Beachland. Incidentally I'm only 5 minutes from the Apple Store now. I'm also really excited to have a dedicated office space.
  4. I've been doing a lot of freelance. I finished teaching my class, but I'll be teaching another for Fall semester.
  5. I started seeing someone else who is amazing (and also a talented baker) and I'm sure I will gush about her to the point your RSS feed will make you puke and you'll unsubscribe.

  I've also been putting some serious time and (ugh) money into decorating the new place. I bought a new couch and loveseat, I'm still waiting for the couch to be delivered. I'm getting a new dining room table. I've done a ton of painting (with lots of help.) I am replacing all my bedding and towels. I am going to put up all new window treatments. Someone should bar me from Crate & Barrel. I've also been going crazy with the Martha Stewart collection at Macy's, and ended up with Martha Stewart paint. The dining room color is called Mint Gelato. The list goes on and on, so I've made two photo sets on Flickr, a before and an in progress. Here's a few highlights:
  
  
  

  I also want to mention Room Service, a fabulous shop where I bought my throw pillows on Detroit in the Gordon Square Arts District. They were pretty reasonable and have a lot of pieces by local designers and artists.

  
  ]]> Mon, 23 Jun 2008 07:45:43 -0700 http://virb.com/bethdean/posts/text/680944 http://virb.com/bethdean/posts/text/646056

  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.

  1. French Kicks - Abandon
  2. Annuals - Sore
  3. Ladytron - The Lovers
  4. The Sound - Heartland
  5. My Brightest Diamond - Inside a Boy
  6. Plants and Animals - Bye Bye Bye
  7. Brightblack Morning Light - Come Another Rain Down
  8. The Black Angels - Better Off Alone
  9. Mary Timony - Look a Ghost in the Eye
  10. Pete and the Pirates - Knots
  11. The Warlocks - Dreamless Days

  Download May 2008 Mix (60mb)

  
  ]]> Mon, 02 Jun 2008 06:47:21 -0700 http://virb.com/bethdean/posts/text/646056