Entries from July 2001

Good Grips: Disability & Branding A double-whammy from usability expert AskTog extolling the virtues of good usability before branding.

"MBAs tend to be monomaniacal. They pick up one buzzword, then run with it for the next several years. Not long ago, it was 'due diligence.' They couldn't buy a pack of chewing gum without first performing due diligence. Now, it's branding, and they are running amok."

A interesting read.

Get Crawled!: Search Engine Optimization’s role in the wooly, bully Web site world is kind of like the bass player’s role in a band - it sits in the back overlooked and appears less sexy and alluring than the front players, but if you have no bassist, your band probably sucks and no one will come and see you. (Unless you’re one of these bands.) Plus, bassists gets all of the chicks. This well-written article helps to decipher the arcane wizardry that is SEO.

Linked!: Shout-outs to City stories maven Derek Powazek for the link-up. His innovative, beautiful work with {fray} and City Stories was a direct inspiration for the genesis of the Moving Stories Project.

Need some inspiration yourself? Check out Derek's excellent "my new neighborhood", which is a moving story if I ever saw one...

On a related note, today is the day I fly back to Winnipeg for two years after four in Toronto. I've hugged all deserving of hugs, hoisted drinks with friends, and said my good-byes but I still feel like I'm forgetting something. I feel incredibly strange - partly sad and empty, and yet hopeful, eager, even mature - and the thought that my girlfriend and I have taken the first steps toward the dream of a life in Europe fills me with an uneasy but calming peace. As I've said so many times this week, "See you soon."

h i p n o t i k a: There's only one thing as good as travelling, and that's hearing about someone else's journey. Much like Geoffrey Hiller's astoundingly great travel journal / photolog "Burma: Grace Under Pressure" is Montrealer Mickey Bhuiyan's hipnotika. The writing is poetic, the music lovely, and the photos? Mindblowing.

Renée and I have talked about going to Africa. This cinches it.

[note]: Not for the bandwidth or processor impaired.

Neil et Renée en Europe: Updated the Pictures section with the first installment (of many, probably) of our trip to Europe. Enjoy!

Walked down the path to the bus that I walked every day when I lived at my parents. Went by the thankfully closed "all-you-can-inhale" buffet restaurant I regrettably wasted 10 months at when I was 20. Swung on the swings I used to play with my dear, missing friend Marianne. Saw the place where my heart was squished by Melanie Fetterly after watching her kiss my then best friend Andy. Basked in the good, truly warm friendliness of a Prairie city and remembered that people can still care.

Walked by old hangouts with the sounds of past laughter and good times still in my head. Ate a soul-revitalizing "Sun Burger" from one of my favorite restaurants. Passed by the place my mom used to buy me shoes when I was a wee tyke, and remembered the old man there that used to frighten me so much I used to bawl my eyes when it came to shoe-buying time. Looking around for faces I remember...

I'm getting used to being here, but it's still so... unusual. I've come home, but it's nothing like I expected it would be. History reverberates loudly from every corner, and everything looks so familiar - and yet it somehow seems so, well, new.

The Shape of Song: This is truly amazing. Choose a song (or add your own) and see the “deep structure” of the composition reflected as graphically beautiful, translucent arches. It sounds weirder than it is to try…

Linked! (Better late than never..): Found in this site's referrer logs: Consolation Champs have linked to the Moving Stories Project. Here's hoping that we get to see a regroove of James's "My Waterloo". Right back'atcha, friend.

Bonne Fête de la Fédération!

I believe strongly in karmic retribution (both good and bad). Today I did my bit to help someone else out who didn’t seem to be doing too well. It wasn’t a big thing, only something small. For all I know, their story could have been complete lies. I probably will never know. But, if I made someone feel better, then I’ve succeeded.

spoke and axle: We’re already doing our part to keep beautiful things alive with our mirroring of the Nosepilot project (Ed.note: no longer available. Sorry), but Kelly Abbott is taking this to a whole new level. Got something beautiful or edifying that you want to share with the world? Apply.

scary sock puppet: Speaking of art and beautiful, this collection of personal “dorwings”, twisted, semi-autobiographical picture books and poems is just that: lovingly put together, with more than a hint of unsettling twistedness. It’s (dare I say) reminiscent of Lemony Snicket, but with much more… bitterness. Kudos: Coudal.

Barbara. My thoughts are with you, Barb…

ArtKrush: As the name says. Yummy, yummy art. Eat it up. (Why the trademark, though?)

Goodness gracious!

http://www.neil.com/: Damn squatters.

http://www.lee.com/: I had a couple pairs of these as a kid.

http://www.neill.com/: "Insurance consulting". Very blue.

http://www.neille.com/: Nil by Mouth: Personal site for an US-expatriate (she apparently loves this word) now living in Paris.

http://www.neile.com/: The Neile Agency. Apparently they like their fonts "medium". I think this one belongs in Design Crimes : but then, what do I know?

http://www.nlee.com/: More goddamn squatters!

http://www.nblee.com/: Hopes visitors will "leave behind footprints of themselves and leave traces of all good, kindness and fond wishes behind!!"

Weltschmerz: n.

1.: mental depression or apathy caused by comparison of the actual state of the world with an ideal state.

Man, German is the best goddamn language. Kudos to Kottke.org for the word of the day.

Amelia Earhart Plane Possibly Spotted By Satellite: “She sails away to a place where clouds can’t get her / I know she’s safe, because she’s an excellent navigator” - Amelia Earheart by the Inbreds.

Jesus Dress Up!: Christian types just hate this kind of stuff - so much so that they’ve deluged this rather amusing site’s creator with oodles and oodles of hate mail. I personally think the the Dr. Seuss hat is rather becoming…