Fun Family Video

My daughter Skylar and friends decided to take her 10th birthday party on the road to Bainbridge Island. Beach fun, touring the shops and eating the food. I attended as chauffeur and videographer. Above are the results.

The 100 Most Iconic Internet Videos

If there is one thing the internets are good for, it is stupid video clips. URLesque.com has recently posted the 100 Most Iconic Internet Videos list. You may agree or disagree with their choices, but you will certainly waste a great deal of time examining their rankings.

Notable videos on the list include: The Landlord, Lonelygirl15, Guys Backflip Into Jeans, Miss Teen South Carolina, Dramatic Chipmunk, Exploding Whale, Don't Tase Me Bro, The Evolution of Dance, Diet Coke and Mentos Eruption, Charlie Bit My Finger, OK Go Treadmill Video, Lazy Sunday, Where the Hell Is Matt?, David After Dentist, Leave Britney Alone, Christian The Lion, and of course, The Star Wars Kid.

My Deep Zoom Comic and a Busted Narrative Structure

How is Narrative Structure Influenced by Presentation Format?

I just drew a comic about something that happened to me in the dot com days. I've posted it online in three different formats, partially because I wanted to see how different forms of presentation might change the overall feel of the story. I like the Silverlight Deep Zoom version the best by far. It allows the reader to scroll left and right and up and down. Plus it allows the reader to zoom deep into the image, seeing all the detail and even finding images within images. This "resolution independence" has allowed authors and creators to create unique new modes of storytelling.

Does it destroy the integrity of the story line and plot? You tell me. Perhaps our scattered, divergent, web-era minds crave stories where multiple plot paths intersect and overlap. It's often how we read the web, leaping from story to link to picture and back. Are these narrative asides just bad habits of an internet-infected mind? I actually think that, done well, these techniques can free creators to tell a multi-dimensional story like never before.

Above is the Microsoft Silverlight Deep Zoom version. This allowed me to tell the story the way I really wanted to. It allows for the best resolution and easiest user controls. Hover over the image and you'll see the controls to zoom in and out. You should also be able to use your scroll wheel. Go Full Screen!

Don't miss the hidden images. Some are easy to find, but some are much harder. The whole "resolution independence" of Deep Zoom allowed me to overlay images. If the reader zooms into a tiny spec on a photo, that spec may reveal a full-resolution photo that itself can be zoomed into. Theoretically infinite.

Find the following hidden images:

1. A Thai food menu.
2. Three pictures of Hawaii.
3. Another entire comic.
4. A pixel farmer farming pixels.
5. A spreadsheet.
6. Tripod.com home page.
7. A picture of me during the dot com days yelling at a phone.

You'll need the Silverlight plug-in which is a very quick install.

Sorry, I can't get it to work on the Mac yet. Silverlight is totally cross-browser and cross-platform, but the Deep Zoom composer tool is still a young product and the output is not fully optimized (which means a lot of tweaking of the XAML which I'm not an expert with.)

This is the Flash version. I bet with a little extra work I could simulate the Deep Zoom effect, but I'm just not a Flash guru. I want to spend time making stories and not doing multimedia development. This version works pretty good, but it forces the reader into one linear path.



This is the HTML version. This is so old school! Just some big-ass JPEGs stuck in a table (about 4.5 meg). I like this because it is simple and it works cross-browser, but ultimately it's kind of a pain in the butt to scroll around using the browser controls...too much effort.


All this makes me think about traditional narrative structure and the "The Freytag Pyramid." Gustav Freytag was the German writer who described a system for dramatic structure back in 1863. It's a mighty nice structure and I use it often. But, I also strive to bust that sucker up.



Check out the recent Wired magazine article by Scott Brown called "Why Hollywood Needs a New Model for Storytelling" to learn about Freytag deviants.

If you like this stuff, then check this out:

Video Below: Scott McCloud, graphic novel guru, talks about infinite canvases and digital comics at the TED conference.


This is an ancient interactive story I made back in the mid-90s. I was experimenting with the choose-your-own-ending storybook concept.



Download Microsoft Deep Zoom composer and make your own infinite canvases.

Learn how Deep Zoom works here and here.

View more of my dot com comics.

Viral Entertainment Shows How To Squeeze Creative Juices

This is quality online entertainment. Ever wonder where creative juices come from? Just squeeze a skinny designer. Watch this hilarious video "The Harvest" (above) created for The South West Regional Development Agency, a group promoting South West England.

The video was made by Bristol-based viral video gurus Rubber Republic. In addition to making the video, they sent 2000 bottles of "creative juices" (you'll understand once you watch the video) to London creative agencies.

Check out the Creative Juices microsite.

Microsoft Surface Test Drive

Today I got to test drive a Microsoft Surface machine while visiting their Issaquah campus. It is kinda like my iPhone, but you can't put it in your pocket. Believe me, I tried.

The sensitivity and immediate feedback was really amazing. The physics of moving virtual items around the table was fascinating...it really responded well. Ok. Who's gonna buy me one?

East Coast Trip 2008 part 1

Our family summer travels brought us to Connecticut and Maine during July. Below is our home video compilation from the first leg of the journey, Connecticut.


This video contains the following weirdness: Peabody Museum in New Haven, Pepe's famous tomato pies, swimming, parrots, mules, bears, Mystic Seaport, fourth of July parade, fireworks and live music.

Merlin Mann. Worst Website Ever. SXSW 2008

Merlin Mann is one of the big brains behind 43 Folders. He gave a great presentation at this year's SXSW (South by Southwest Interactive Conference in Austin). He's a writer, speaker and broadcaster and this performance pokes the whole internet industry in the eyeballs. This is a really funny look at the web from a guy who's seen it all from the inside.

Digital Media Project Surprises

Usually it ain't a good idea to surprise a client. However, an occasional good surprise is ok.

It is best to set initial project expectations and then stick to delivering on those. But as is often said, "under-promise and over-deliver". When you surprise a client with something other than their expectations, use this handy chart to determine if you are offering a good surprise or a bad one.

Good Surprise	Bad Surprise
The project is finishing on time.	We are so totally late, it's ridiculous.
We're under budget.	Yea, let's talk about some budget issues.
We pursued some new design avenues and came up with a stunning interface that plays very well with the focus groups.	We accidentally turned everything purple.
We finished a few extra deliverables.	We haven't really, technically "finished" anything yet.
We found an unexpected revenue stream.	To keep this project alive, we need $10,000 a week.

Pie Charts, Graphs and Humor

Stand-up comedian Demetri Martin gives a great performance aided only by a flip chart and a pointer. And his humor. Those of us who want to improve our public speaking skills could learn a thing or two from this guy.

How to Name Your Server

If you've ever worked on a team that shares a file server, you know the importance of naming computers. Especially on local area networks where multiple servers are available. You need to have a way to tell them apart. Otherwise we'd be referring to the computers as "that box".

Server naming tends to be either functional (like PHOTOSTORE1 or Backup3) or whimsical (Ophelia and Hamlet). Production servers seem to take on a personality after a while, either because of the type of files on the box or because of the server's behavior. Does a temperamental computer called Tempest take on the personality associated with the name? I worked on a team where the servers were named after inventors and the Edison and Tesla machines were constantly battling each other just like their namesakes.

I have seen numerous approaches to server naming over my 18 years in the Internet business. Some have been named after Shakespeare characters; Jachimo, Othello and Roderigo. Other times it became all too clear that I was working with geeks when the servers were either named after Star Trek (Kirk, Sulu, Picard) or Monty Python (Throatwobbler, Gilliam, DeadParrot).

Are people who name their servers after Disney fairies just too cute to work with? Are people who name their servers after gangsters ultimately corrupt? When you meet a new team, you can tell a lot about them by how they name their boxes.

I sometimes wish I had 100 servers to name. Or better yet, maybe I could develop a special area of consulting. Yea, I could be a professional server namer. Can I get paid for that? I could come up with a million naming themes. Servers named after action movies. Nine servers named after planets. Seven small server named after dwarves. Call me and I'll solve all your server naming problems.

The Restless Phantom Jimmy Leg Syndrome

I was glad to hear that I was not the only one. Recently experts have confirmed the existence of "Phantom Vibration Syndrome." This is when you think your cell phone is vibrating, but in fact it is your imagination.

You pat the pocket that holds the phone and...nada.

It has also been called “vibranxiety."

The good news is that we are not crazy or dying, probably. In fact we are simply oversensitive to that particular sensation. The pleasurable act of receiving a call is punctuated by a stimulus that we learn to anticipate. This is a learned habit. We have re-wired our brains. Scientists call this neuroplasticity. We've hacked ourselves and now we are malfunctioning.

This is not to be confused with Restless Leg Syndrome, Phantom Limb Syndrome or The Jimmy Leg.

Do Not Erase: My Lust for Whiteboards

I have always been pro-whiteboard. I do not miss the days of the chalkboard. I welcome the glossy white surface! I once created a small conference room where all the walls were covered with whiteboard material. We could brainstorm or write notes or just sit there and stare at the wide open expanse of board.

The other day I was driving over the Fremont Bridge in Seattle and saw a billboard for Google. They've been advertising in Seattle a lot lately, doing a bunch of hiring for their Fremont and Kirkland offices. I love the want-ad they created. It's a giant whiteboard with "Do Not Erase" scrawled across it. Sorry for the blurry photo, I was driving by and I snapped the above picture with the iPhone during traffic.

If you too feel the whiteboard lust, then perhaps you should contact Wall Talkers. These high-end, custom dry-erase gurus will create all manner of whiteboard mayhem. They make curved whiteboard walls or they'll paint all surfaces with special dry-erase paint so that literally everything is write-onable!

If you don't have a whiteboard that prints out onto paper, then you'll need to take photos before erasing. Thousands of people have drawn all manner of things on their dry erase boards and posted the photos to a group on Flickr.

Many have been inspired by the mighty whiteboard, including artists and animators who create fun hand-drawn animations like this.