Reading... "Justice" by Jim Krueger, Alex Ross and Doug Braithwaite

I have a soft spot for the Justice League of America... and was grateful to @myopicaardvark for a loan of the three volume "Justice" series.

I am working my way through them. I am a slow reader but not as slow with graphic novels as I am with the written word.

I was particularly taken with Jim Krueger's prologue at the start of the first volume... where he talks about heroes and villains:

"...Gone are the days of the overwaxed mustache and maniacal laugh and human-sized logger's buzzsaw. No more does a villain raise his head from his sleep in the morning to consider what 'evil' he might do that day. No. Even if no one else sees it, the villain, in his mind, is the hero. That is where true evil resides - in the belief that his personal good is capable of navigating and speaking to the universal good.../

...Perhaps this is the difference between a hero and a villain: A villain will seek to defeat a hero for the villain's sake; a hero will seek to defeat a villain for the villain's sake. It's a fight to save the enemy at the same time that it is a fight to defeat him.../"

There is real depth in this prologue and, in fact, the novel itself... which makes it all the more enjoyable to read... along with some truly fantastic art.

Tx

I like the look of this too... Incoboto for iPad

Another game @myopicaardvark recommended was Incoboto for the iPad... it looks awesome and sounds tremendous too.

In fact, the soundtrack is on Bandcamp and is by Dene Carter. I've embedded it below for you to have a wee listen to. I really like it.

Enjoy.

Tx

I like the look of this... Waking Mars for iOS

WAKING MARS - Official Trailer from Tiger Style on Vimeo.

When @myopicaardvark raves about a new iOS game... I tend to listen... and boy was he raving about Waking Mars this morning.

I'm going to check it out... and I thought I'd share it with you... in case you were up for some Red Planet action.

Tx

iOS app 90º features music from The Echelon Effect

The iOS puzzler 90º features the brilliant post-rock soundscapes of the Echelon Effect as its soundtrack... I can't stress how much this enhances an already great wee game... it adds an immersive quality that is simply brilliant.

The crazy thing is... it isn't even mentioned in the developer Widebeam Digital's promo blurb. For me its a unique selling point... and got me thinking... imagine if indie developers used the music of indie musicians... it would be a great revenue for both parties... I for one would buy a game if it featured one of my fave musicians... I mean, I did with 90º.



The game itself is fab... a real treat for puzzle fans... something different and very imaginative... centred around innovative gameplay and a beautiful design, as you can see from the screenshots.

Recommended... especially considering it is a universal app.

69p

Top 30 Artists on my Last FM

From February 2006 to present... these are my overall top 30 artists as recorded by Last.FM. I think it makes for interesting reading.

Tx

adidas Originals - Star Wars™ Cantina 2010

I have to say... I'm not sure about this one. It is very well done... and got my Dayna giggling at Greedo's demise... but I'm not sure. Is it too much? Have we gone too far in our commoditisation of the past? Does it cross the line into "blasphemy"?

I celebrate Adidas' attempts to celebrate the originality of Star Wars... but I think this may be a step too far.

Thoughts?

Tx

This is way cool :: "the escape"

Star Wars Uncut "The Escape" from Casey Pugh on Vimeo.

Brilliant... Tx

U*P*D*A*T*E
My thanks to @myopicaardvark for the tip. My bad for not namechecking you at the time.

gravity.com

I recently joined gravity.com and have found it an engaging experience. According to their "about"...

"Gravity connects people with shared interests and helps them engage in meaningful and fun conversations. While social networks are great for connecting you with people you already know, Gravity connects you with people you should know and should be talking to because they share your passions."

It works as follows...

"Gravity makes it easy to nurture your interests by enabling group conversations around topics. Gravity is made up of thousands of Worlds, which are user-created topic pages for group discussion and sharing. Users can easily discover new Worlds and keep track of them, as well as any people or conversations that interest them, by clicking the Orbit button. Gravity gives every user a voice and makes it easy for anyone to share relevant thoughts, opinions and experiences."

Basically... it takes discussion forums to the next level... and I like that. I even like their "error" page - dinosaurs are the new whales.

It is currently in beta... but I have 10 invites (you get them when you join) if you want to give it a go. Please leave a comment with your email... and I'll hook you up.

Tx

This is cool :: nerd merit badges

This will makes sense to some of you (if you are obsessed with foursquare for example... and will appear complete nonsense to others. Regardless... you have to love these nerd merit badges. I so want the "local" badge for my Manhattan Portage DJ bag.

Tx

flavours.me

I'm on flavors.me... Tx

Have you seen this? Adidas x Star Wars

Awesome! Celebrate originality indeed!

Tx

PS Hanon up in Aberdeen have a drop at 0000hrs tomorrow... ie in 3 hours!

I thought this was funny :: kalleanka71's Star Wars mashups

Fab!

This is way cool :: Adidas x Star Wars

I have to admit... I haven't been this excited about sneakers in a loooong time... but the Adidas x Star Wars collaboration is way cool. Personally faves include the Skywalker (above) and...

ZX8000 "Darth Vader"...

Samba "X-Wing"...

Stan Smith "Millenium Falcon"... and

ZX700 Boat "Yoda".

Some awesomesauce coming from Adidas. I think I'll use the force when I seek out my next pair of sneaks.

Tx

Chrome

141209_ 01_ Chrome, originally uploaded by Headphonaught.

There is a billboard on Motherwell Station (Platform 1) for Google's web browser called Chrome.

I don't want to cast aspersions on the good people of Motherwell... but I'm not sure bleeding edge web browsers are a mainstream concern here.

Nevertheless... I did think it was cool.

Oh and Chrome is now available for Mac... and is pretty good, in my humble opinion.

Tx

This is cool :: Nude London Tech Calendar for 2010

Nude London Tech Calendar from Leapanywhere.com on Vimeo.

For an empowering cause... Nice! For more go here

(via notcot #26,733 with thanks)

This is cool :: Dabe Alan's Work In Progress (pt. 1)

I saw this video and thought *WOW*... pretty awesome if you ask me.

I'm desperate to get ink ... and I'm a wee bit of a camera obsessive ... hmm?!?

(via notcot #25,722 with thanks)

This looks way cool :: the GLO bible

I saw this on psfk.com and actually thought wow.

I thought wow for three reasons...

1. There's a Christian "thing" on psfk.
2. Its a Christian "thing" that gets digital & interactive... and appears to get it right... hence why its on psfk (imho) as well as The Telegraph
3. It has so much potential - whilst it is only for Windows at the moment... ports to the Mac & the iPhone are in the offing... and, as such, make it exciting.

It appears to get it right because it looks normal, if that makes any sense? Apart from the Evangelical assertions in the promo (above) regarding the perfectness of God's word... it doesn't appear to have the latent "cheesiness" of products produced within and exclusively for the "Christian bubble world".

Looking at the specs makes it all the more impressive:

• Over 7500 encyclopedia articles
• 463 virtual tours with 360 degree views detailing how certain historical cities looked in the past and present
• 2,382 high res photos
• 3.5 hrs of video
• 147 zoomable maps
• 689 works of art

All this takes up 18 gigs of hard-drive space... which isn't that much on laptops these days, I suppose.

As for potential... I read this in their "socialise" section

More social components coming soon through free web updates, including interactive Bible studies, sharing notes, accountability tools and methods to encourage and keep up with friends.

I hope this includes existing tools like Twitter... instead of creating their own proprietary version. I think they should look to youversion for inspiration on how to do this right.

I honestly never thought I'd say this but I am impressed. Well done Glo!

Now... to wait for the Mac version. For more... go here.

this is way cool :: insanely twisted shadow planet

I saw this on offworld.com and was very impressed. It is a trailer for the upcoming game Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet and is visually stunning. It grabbed my attention almost instantly.

I recommend reading up on the project via Michel Gagne's blog... his posts provide an insight into the creation of the game.

Can't wait for the game to drop... albeit... its on formats that I don't have - PC & XBOX.

When do you tweet?

“People mistakenly think that tapping is not as distracting as talking,” she said. “In fact, it can be every bit as much if not more distracting. And it’s pretty insulting to the speaker.”

Mind Your BlackBerry or Mind Your Manners :: NYTimes (via psfk with thanks)

Read this article in the NYTimes this evening and its made me think about my iPhone usage socially... at work... in meetings... and in the church gatherings I attend.

I have a low attention span and checking tweets is a welcome distraction. This isn't necessarily a bad thing... sometimes a change is as good as a rest... and the distraction provides the needed energy burst of inspiration to carry on.

It is, however, pretty rude to check tweets when in someone's company. This is something I am bad at... and take this opportunity to apologise if I have been distracted in this way while in your company.

I have to switch off "DestroyTwitter" when I am recording the podcast... or I would sound way more distracted and rambly than I normally do.

I do tweet in our church gatherings. This is more about my attention span than a lack of engagement. I have thoroughly enjoyed the recent run of sermons that our Officers have brought to us... and my tweeting shouldn't be seen as detrimental to them.

So here's the question... when do you tweet? Specifically... do you tweet when you are on your own, when you are in company, or both? Do you consider it to be rude... or is there a new etiquette evolving where we give each other permission to remain connected with the twitterverse when interacting socially?

Let me hear your thoughts... Tx

My 10,000th Tweet... in case you missed it