openFrameworks are doing a sort of closing workshop that I’m hoping to get involved with. Interesting email correspondence this week with them…

In the meantime, enjoy this amazing video by Robert Hodgin (aka Flight404), one of the many interactive artists being featured.

In that moment, I feel like I should just pack up my toys and give up… That I’ll never achieve the lofty heights of whatever is in front of me. It’s not as depressing as it sounds, I often take a great deal of inspiration from these discoveries…  so I thought I would share some with you all.

Here is an amazing project by subcycle labs:

steeplechase – subcycle labs from christian bannister.

Subcycle (a.k.a. Christian Bannister from Portland, Oregan) has come up with an incredible new way of interacting with audio setups, using Processing to generate visuals based on the music, and a multi-point touch system with many different modes. Here he is, demonstrating some breakbeat functionality:

multi-touch rhythm navigation (subcycle labs) from christian bannister.

I’ve assembled them all into a video playlist for your viewing pleasure here:

Also:

1. Massive Attack – Paradise Circus
   
   Warning: mature content… in every sense of the word…

2. David O’Reilly’s Black Lake
   
3. Ken Korda on Joss Stone
   

After much hyping of myself, I’ve ended up full-time employed. With not much time for cool and interesting things…

I’m going to fit in what I can. Hopefully the output will be far more concentrated… focused… Watch this space…

1. Attended Bug 16 presented by Adam Buxton. More info here. All the videos from the evening are here.
2. I met Chairman Kato from Work:Ethic. Lots of interesting ideas… more to follow soon…
3. Inspired by Orsii’s 90’s Guilty Pleasures podcast, I set up a Spotify playlist of memorable tunes from my youth (the decade spanning 1991-2000). Listen to it here.
4. Completed 2D Motion Graphics for the Oxford Brookes University Film Studies department’s series of video podcasts: “An Evening with Nick Goldsmith“
5. Re-designed the splash page for the upcoming NERD site and starting work on the full site.
6. Still plugging away at the “Lenon Lives” documentary… slowly but surely…

How was your week?

Regular readers (all 3 of you…) may remember the last time I went to bug – I was inspired by Garth Jennings to make three videos (more on that next… year…). This bug was no less inspiring, but also a little frustrating – to the point where I’m about to raid my savings and buy myself a new camera (to replace my burgled one…).

In a moment of Celebrity wowdem, I found myself sitting almost directly behind Edgar Wright. So I sent him a little tweet with this picture attached:

He has not yet responded.

Click here for a YouTube playlist of all the videos featured at Bug 16.

And here are my highlights from the evening (apart from the heckling drunk woman, who has not yet been featured in a music video):

You should check it out.

1. Use GMail as an App

I’ve been using GMail for a number of years now. I prefer the web interface to any mail application I’ve ever used. But often found myself losing GMail in a bunch of Firefox tabs. Recently I started using Fluid.app so I always have GMail in my dock and can cmd+tab to it rather than lose it amongst four billion Firefox tabs.

There’s also Mozilla’s Prism, which has cross-platform support.

2. Use Keyboard Shortcuts

Pushing the ? symbol on your keyboard in GMail will show a list of keyboard shortcuts. These can be extremely useful in navigating through your messages and contacts. My most frequently used are:

3. Use Labels and Filters

Labels are GMail’s equivalent of folders. I often like to label all my gig tickets, purchases, etc. so I have them to hand as I need them.

You can have GMail automatically assign labels to certain incoming or outgoing mail by using a filter. So if you wanted all email from Amazon to go into a “purchases” folder, for example you could set this up.

Go to Settings->Filters and choose “Create a New Filter”.

4. Let GMail handle all of your Accounts

GMail has an excellent and often-overlooked setting panel called “Accounts”. You may have an old Hotmail account, or an email for your own domain (hello@robmac.net, for example).

GMail will let you send mail from other addresses, import mail from other webmail accounts and check mail regularly on a POP3 server. All for free. Now when I hit “compose” I’m able to choose which account I want to send from – and very cleverly, GMail will automatically reply from the address to which the mail was sent.

5. Sync your devices

I use the iPhone to sync my mail, and my calendar. Google Sync is excellent at keeping these updated. Google Sync is able to push mail and calendar data to my phone instantly. Very handy. Find out more about syncing all sorts of devices.

This message was not paid for by anyone. Although you’re more than welcome to send me some cash…

Why do film production/distribution companies bother to advertise at all?

It makes absolutely no sense. I’m not a fan of the films of the Acme Film Co. In this space, content is absolutely the king. When I go and see a film, I go on the strength of the director, the premise or occasionally the leading actors.

If a film is poor, branding Acme all over the front surely damages the brand. On the other hand, if a film is great – I don’t find myself thinking “ah, that Acme have another fantastic hit on their hands!” No. I think “Tarantino, you old dog, you’ve done it again…”

Is it time for monolithic money-spinners to realise that they should stick to the background, where the belong?

Care to comment?