Sarah, my girlfriend, produces motion graphics. When I started dating her, I didn’t know what that meant, either. Basically, “motion graphics” is a fancy way of saying “computer animation,” in the same way that “graphic novel” is a fancy way of saying “comic book.” If you say you work in computer animation, people think you make movies about animals who wear sunglasses. Sarah does not produce movies about animals who wear sunglasses. Motion graphics are much more than just cartoons. If a graphic element is moving, it is a motion graphic, and motion graphics, I have learned to recognize, are everywhere.

Anyhoo, her friend Alex recently started a company called either “network” or “this is network;” I can’t really tell by the website. The idea is that it is a collaborative shop between producers and designers, where they can work together on both corporate and artistic projects. Apparently it is a new model that may very well change the way we work. I don’t really understand it. But any company that hosts a video of people giving one another the ol’ purple nerple is ok by me.

Michael Moore just sent out this post-election promise to the Republicans. He claims to be taking the high road, but being Michael Moore, it is, of course, filled with thinly-veiled swipes. He’s so deliciously bitchy! Mrrreeeoooow!

A Liberal’s Pledge to Disheartened Conservatives

November 14th, 2006

To My Conservative Brothers and Sisters,

I know you are dismayed and disheartened at the results of last week’s election. You’re worried that the country is heading toward a very bad place you don’t want it to go. Your 12-year Republican Revolution has ended with so much yet to do, so many promises left unfulfilled. You are in a funk, and I understand.

Well, cheer up, my friends! Do not despair. I have good news for you. I, and the millions of others who are now in charge with our Democratic Congress, have a pledge we would like to make to you, a list of promises that we offer you because we value you as our fellow Americans. You deserve to know what we plan to do with our newfound power — and, to be specific, what we will do to you and for you. (more…)

As I get older, I am slowly retreating back into my 15 year-old dork zone of comfortability. I am spending more time playing and thinking about video games. I recently purchased a yo-yo because, really, is there a better age to brush up on your yo-yo tricks than 31? I am obsessed with Battlestar Galactica. (Although, that one doesn’t really count, because my essentially non-dorky girlfriend is obsessed with it too, as is pretty much everyone who has seen it and has taste.)

And then there’s this:

Scott Pilgrim. I loooooove Scott Pilgrim. I have not bought a comic since I was probably 13, but I have recently become totally obsessed with this series. There are three volumes out right now and I have been biting my nails waiting for the fourth. It’s all about this 23 year-old guy in Toronto who plays bass in a band called Sex Bob-omb. He meets a girl named Ramona Flowers who has discovered an interstellar passageway through his brain. If he wants to get with Ramona, he must battle her seven ex-boyfriends. The story weaves in elements from kung fu movies, manga comics, video games, and pop art, but it never feels tongue-in-cheek. I think the thing that amazes me the most about it is how completely engaging and believable the characters are. As a person who appreciates the artistry of comics but does not really know them very well, I am astounded by how much a simple expression or body position can convey about a character. I’m not going to go into a full review right now, but if you’re interested, drop $10 and let me know what you think. Actually, drop $20 bucks and pick up I, An Actress while you’re at it.

A girl. A pig. Is there an end to the hilarity? I think there is not.

This is awesome creepy awesomeness.

(Thanks, Endless Parade of Excellence!)

One of the biggest misconceptions in politics, to me, is the idea that Karl Rove is some kind of genius. He’s no more a genius than The Gooch. Just because America is filled with people who want to be friends with the bully doesn’t make the bully a genius. For whatever reason, it seems the media has recently gotten tired of reinforcing this misconception. And now the newspapers and magazines and pundits are allowed to question whether or not he was ever a genius in the first place, after reinforcing it time and again as fact for the last six years. So, now we’ll be in this reality for awhile. Hooray!

(Thanks, A Welsh View!)

Wow.

This is some kind of art or something.

All right, Com$tock, you bitch. You want me to write more posts about video games? How about this: the Wii-lust has begun.

Ever so often, I’ll become obsessed with a product, and I cannot eat or sleep until that product becomes mine. The last time this happened was with the Nintendo DS, the latest version of the Gameboy. This dude Norbert who I used to work with (yes, that’s his review of War Games, and incidentally, he’s written and recorded some pretty amazing hip-hop tracks) had the DS with this game Pac Pix. In Pac Pix, you use a pencil-like thingy to draw Pac-mans on the screen of the DS. The Pac-mans then do what Pac-mans have done for time eternal - eat ghosts. It was totally new and unusual and I had to have it. The only trouble is, I get really nervous dropping a lot of cash at once, particularly on things like video game systems that I know will not enhance my productivity. I spent weeks and weeks thinking about nothing but the DS, stopping at the video game store after work, until finally I bought one on eBay off of some 10 year old kid who “was bored with it.”

Now, the Nintendo Wii is coming out, and I find myself stopping by Nintendo.com a few times a day to gaze longingly at it. I don’t know if I can wait for eBay on this one. Sarah, if you’re reading this, please know that we may not be able to afford groceries for a few weeks in the near future.