Justin Ward 2.0

Hi blog. With a new year comes a new approach to blogging for me, so expect some more updates as I start to feel comfortable sharing a bit more about my life with the rest of the internet again. I kinda stopped for a while as I needed to just take a break from being online all the time. And lately, I’m spending all of my time on Facebook and Twitter and not really doing anything worthwhile or meaningful online. And that was a nice little break, but it’s time I return to the world that I’ve neglected for a little bit.

So hello there.

So I’m watching CNN last night before opting to just stay home and reflect mostly silently in the joy that the rest of the world was experiencing around me. Shortly before the election seemed final and before the political sites started calling a winner, CNN’s Anderson Cooper began an interview with artist Will.i.am to discuss his efforts in supporting Barack Obama for President. Via hologram. Yes, that’s correct. HOLOGRAM.

CNN Will I Am Hologram, First time on TV [YouTube]

“I’m being beamed at you like in Star Trek and stuff.”

I remember seeing a Twitter update that should have clued me in sooner. What a crazy night, man. And what a fantastic new use of technology in television media. This is seriously one of the pieces of technology that people seem to be waiting for in real life, and in an odd way CNN seemed to deliver the experience through the wonders of live television. That’s good enough, right?

It’ll be interesting to see how this technology gets adopted by all the other networks and/or television news programs. I’d like to see The Daily Show and The Colbert Report spoof this a bit, too.

Umphrey’s McGee @ The Warfield, SF 10/31/08

I was pretty pleased with the way my Umphrey’s McGee photos turned out from Friday night. Check it.

See the above gadget? It’s going to be reporting the up-to-the-minute election results starting tomorrow when the polls start closing nationwide. Very cool.

I’ve yet to vote but definitely plan on showing up in person and earning my keep. What sucks is, it may rain here in San Fran which could make standing in line unpleasant. But I’m going prepared. This race is too important to stay at home. This race is too important for anything that’s going on in your life that day, really.

(via Rick)

In the ever-changing landscape that is the music industry, artists are getting increasingly smart when it comes to self-promotion and marketing their art. I got an email from a band the other day and the emailed was titled “Review Haiku.” This was inside:

amplification
drums guitar keys with your help
will starve no longer

Totally clever; it got my attention enough to check the band out, which is not something I can say for every email we get in our tips inbox. They’re called Revision, they’re from upstate New York, and they’re not half bad.

‘Garfield Minus Garfield’: What’s A Cat Comic Without A Cat? [NPR]

I loved reading some insight into garfield minus garfield, a link I’ve been enjoying quite a bit (when my buddy reminds me that I should be reading this by sending me links). I worry that I’m kinda Jon Arbuckle-ish. That’s not good.

Early in 2008, Irishman Dan Walsh started posting online copies online of Garfield — with Garfield removed. The goofy, 30-year-old comic strip featuring the lasagna-loving tabby and Jon Arbuckle, his girlfriend-less owner, has been adored since the early ’80s. Without the cat, a dark humor emerged that resonated through the growing world of webcomics. Within a few months, www.garfieldminusgarfield.net was receiving 500,000 hits a day.

The view from my new apartment

I finally put up some photos of my new apartment on Flickr, the place I spent most of last weekend getting into all by myself. I moved an entire queen bed set down four flights of stairs and up into a Uhaul truck and up two flights of stairs into my new place. When I was done with the whole thing, I seriously felt like I had climbed Mt. Everest. It was awesome.

All I can say is it’s been a long fucking year. This apartment seems like a proper summation to it all, a final resting spot in a year of stress and hardship that will not be forgotten soon. I’m breathing a bit easier these days and I think the stress is starting to let up a bit. Hopefully that means more happy blogging from me and less posts about my own lack of self confidence. I can’t promise anything, though.

Flight of the Conchords will begin a new season on HBO in January 2009.

Bret and Jemaine are circling back around for another great season in 2009, so it’s time to familiarize yourself with the band’s early stuff.

This makes me extremely happy. That is all.

I’m about to go pick up my moving truck, a nice little 10 footer, because today is moving day for me! I’ve decided to move out from my place with my roommate to get my own one bedroom apartment as something I can grow into for a little while. I literally have zero furniture except for a large HD TV, two computers, a bed and a nightstand. No desk. No silverware. No plates. No couch. So that’ll be fun to pick some of that stuff out over the next week and go into debt for a little while. It’s the American Dream, right?!?!?

I’ll take some photos of the place and post them here later. In the meantime, send me cosmic power vibes to keep my muscles moving later after trying to move my bed myself. I’m expecting an epic fail there. I’ll report back when I can confirm.

How is this post still the first Google result for this search?

That’s incredible.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsed Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., for president on Sunday, criticizing his own Republican Party for what he called its narrow focus on irrelevant personal attacks over a serious approach to challenges he called unprecedented. [MSNBC]

I’m taking a break from packing and watching the latest episode of The Daily Show. Man I really missed this show. It’s really good so far…

He’s already done more interviews than Sarah Palin.

–John Stewart on “Joe the Plumber”

If you’ve talked to me in person over the last week it’s likely that I’ve whipped out my iPhone and started jamming on an application called Bloom, my favorite little distraction for my iPhone and the best $3.99 I’ve spent in a long time. What’s it all about? Continue reading “Bloom: My Favorite iPhone App” →

The Chicago Tribune has endorsed Barack Obama for President.

I’m not totally surprised to see headlines on this given the fact that I know many media outlets are going to stand behind Obama now that he’s got a (mostly) commanding lead. But really it’s likely due to the fact I don’t necessarily follow the politics of Chicago newspapers (at least not in my spare time). But this, I do know, is pretty significant.

In recent weeks it has been easy to lose sight of this history in the making. Americans are focused on the greatest threat to the world economic system in 80 years. They feel a personal vulnerability the likes of which they haven’t experienced since Sept. 11, 2001. It’s a different kind of vulnerability. Unlike Sept. 11, the economic threat hasn’t forged a common bond in this nation. It has fed anger, fear and mistrust.

On Nov. 4 we’re going to elect a president to lead us through a perilous time and restore in us a common sense of national purpose.

The strongest candidate to do that is Sen. Barack Obama. The Tribune is proud to endorse him today for president of the United States.

The Trib has never endorses a Democratic candidate for the President.

Were you one of the fans that got shut out of the mail order lottery and the Ticketmaster barrage today to get tickets for Phish’s return in March? Maybe you should sign the petition to try and get the band to host a simulcast of the concert in theaters across the country. They’ve done it before; I see no reason why they wouldn’t want to do the same for their massive event the weekend of March 6-8, 2009. It’s going to be insane.

Last night I was grabbing a slice of pizza at my favorite place in the neighborhood, Escape from New York Pizza, which is my favorite place because you can sit outside and people watch while you eat some ‘za. It was around 10pm or so and all of a sudden I noticed something slightly peculiar across the street. A man was walking his dog, which was a black lab type of dog of medium size. And standing on top of the dog’s back was the man’s cat, which may have been leashed to the dog’s collar. The man and the dog and cat were walking fast across the intersection at Broadway and Polk and a few people stopped dead in their tracks to turn to look at the man and animals walking by.

It was at that moment that I decided that I will one day have a cat that can stand on my dog. Not like this — that would be laying. I’m talking standing. That guy must be a master trainer.

I haven’t heard much about the new HBO show called The Life & Times of Tim, but I just watched the sneak preview on YouTube and I totally thought it was hilarious.

Everybody makes mistakes, but for Tim - a self-conscious young guy living in New York - just getting out of bed in the morning could be the worst decision he makes all day. No matter the situation, life’s little challenges always manage to demand the most offensive solutions, which wouldn’t be such a problem if he weren’t continually caught red-handed. From the mind of Steve Dildarian - the Clio-winning ad man behind Budweiser’s famous ‘Lizards’ campaign - ‘The Life and Times of Tim’ follows this everyday working guy from one scandalous crisis to the next.

Has anyone watched this show yet? I have a feeling that it may be my favorite new TV show, but I can’t really confirm that right now as I don’t have cable.

Andrew Huff just launched a website called It’s not Its, a simple premise and dead-on for common sense:

It’s a single page, very simply and straightforwardly explaining the difference between it’s and its, and when to use each.

Bravo. What a great idea.

Mr. Miner’s Phish Thoughts is the best new music blog out there entirely devoted to one band: Phish. It’s written so deeply and it’s clear that there’s going to be a steady stream of quality posts to keep coming in the near future. One of my favorite posts recently was called The Fun In Phish:

Throughout the majestic and incredibly accomplished musical career of the band, the members of Phish kept it real. Whether Mike was talking to fans in the parking lot, or Trey was telling jokes and making himself laugh on stage, Phish was always synonymous with fun. Whether Page was serenading us about smelling colors and Fishman was imitating Prince or Syd Barrett, or the band performed a Rotation or Big Ball Jam, no show went by without some laughs. Reflecting who the guys are as people and what their goals were when they got into this, the world they created was more fun than Mr. Wonka’s- it was candy for the mind. Phish’s ability to reflect all aspects of the human experience within there hours was always astounding, and regardless of how deep the band dove on any given night, even when they brought you down the darkest alley, there was a Meatstick or a Mockingbird right around the corner.

Pitchfork has announced that they’re releasing their first-ever music guide on November 11.

It’s called The Pitchfork 500.

Pitchfork is making the leap from pixels to the page: On November 11, Simon & Schuster imprint Fireside Books will publish The Pitchfork 500: Our Guide to the Greatest Songs from Punk to the Present. This handy paperback chronologically explores Pitchfork’s 500 favorite songs from 1977-2006, constructing an alternate history of the past three decades of popular music– one that extends beyond the typical Baby Boomer-approved canon of the Clash, Prince, Public Enemy, Nirvana, Radiohead, and Outkast.