For the past seven and a half years Media-Hive has been my second home. But the time has come to leave the.. um… Hive. Today is my last day as a Red Bank regular and I have to say it’s pretty surreal. Everyone here, former and current members of the Hive, are like family and I couldn’t imagine not being in constant contact in the years ahead.
My time at Media-Hive has been the most rewarding of my career, but it’s time to start something new. I’ll be striking out on my own into this crazy world of web design. Hoping to work on a diverse range of projects with a diverse range of people. I’ll be looking to flex my current skill set and perhaps develop some new ones. My adventure starts with a financial firm in the big city (cue the Muppets Take Manhattan trailer). I’m also hoping to devote a bit more time to some of my personal projects.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous about this, but I’m also very excited. I’m very lucky to have the full support of my family, and without that this probably wouldn’t be happening.
You can keep up with me here and on the various social networks that reside on the world wide web. But if you were looking for one to rule them all, my Twitter account is the one to follow. There I’ll be spewing 140 character bites of professional triumphs and awkward city experiences.
PLUG: And of course if you’re looking for some design or front-end development help with your latest project, you can contact me at jim.barraud@gmail.com.
This past Saturday I had pleasure of attending the NIN/JA (Nine Inch Nails/Jane’s Addiction) show at the PNC Bank Arts Center (Garden State Arts Center to those of use who know better) in Holmdel, NJ. It was a big day for me as I had been looking forward to this day ever since I purchased the tickets a couple of months ago. This tour has also been billed as the final Nine Inch Nails tour.
Some background… Midway through the tour Trent Reznor posted a special VIP opportunity on the NIN website. He began seeking donations for Eric De La Cruz. Someone in desperate need of a heart transplant but stuck in the red tape of the healthcare system. In return for your donation, Trent offered VIP opportunities to his fans. For a $300 donation, you and guest would be able to meet the band, get autographs, pics, handshakes, hugs, etc, and be able to attend the bands soundcheck. For $1000 you and a quest received all of the above, plus backstage access where you could have dinner with the band and even watch the show from the side of the stage. Seeing this as a once in a lifetime opportunity for me (and at the insistence of my wife) I donated $300. I got to try and help someone in dire need and gained an opportunity to meet one of my idols. This on top of the already great seats I purchased for the show via the NIN presale. I was excited that my wife was finally going to be attending a NIN show with me (she’s a Jane’s fan) plus be with me when I got to meet Trent and attend the soundcheck. We joked this would be our official 9th wedding anniversary outing. She was excited. I was excited. Then tragedy struck.
Two days before the concert my wife broke her ankle. Since she had yet to see a specialist (thanks healthcare system!) and was in a lot of pain, she would be unable to attend the show. Which of course made us both upset as we’d been looking forward to this for months. She insisted that I still go, but not wanting the ticket to go to waste, I dialed up my future brother in-law who I knew would enjoy the show and the VIP opportunity. He jumped at the offer and we were off to the show.
I knew it was going to be a long day since we needed to be at the venue by 2:15 for the meet and greet. The outpouring of donations for the VIP opportunity far exceeded the bands expectations, so due to the large volume of donors they blocked out 2 hours of time for the meet and greet to accommodate everyone. There were about 130-150 donors at this show, but others have had between 200-400.
When it came time to meet the band, donors were broken up into groups of 20 and were escorted to the meet and greet area. The band were sat behind a table and you had the opportunity for handshakes, a quick chat and to get one item signed. I brought my copy of The Slip since it was the latest album, limited edition and had most of the band members who were going to be signing it on the disc. I had a handshake and brief chit-chat with each of the band members as they signed my CD, but of course I was the most nervous meeting Trent. I splurged the usual “honor to meet you, been a fan for years” banter, then explained that my wife was supposed to be hear with me but that she had broken her ankle two days previously and was unable to come. I also mentioned that this was something she was extremely upset about. He mentioned it was a pleasure to be doing this and that he appreciated the help with the donation. He also mentioned it was too bad about my wife with a “that really sucks” kind of smirk. It was all very surreal and went very fast, but was at the same time awesome. After everyone had their opportunity with the band, our group gathered around for a group picture with the band.
After the meet and greet it was time for the soundcheck. We were treated to 4 songs the band wouldn’t be playing that night. It was like our own private concert for the donors and I was in the third row. A truly awesome experience. The songs played were Home, I’m Afraid of Americans, Lights in the Sky, and In This Twilight. As Trent said in the soundcheck “We’ll get the quiet pussy shit out of the way now and rock out tonight”. And indeed they did.
The performances started off with Street Sweeper Social Club, Tom Morello’s new band. I had heard a couple tracks before the show and thought they were good, but their performance far exceeded my expectations. Their energy was infectious and performance was top notch. I’ll definitely be picking up their album when it comes out on June 16th and I highly recommend checking it out.
Next up, as the sun was setting, was Nine Inch Nails. I wasn’t sure what to expect as far as setlist goes since the setlists for this tour have been so varied from venue to venue. I had a good idea of what could be played, but I stayed away from checking the setlists of the previous couple shows to keep some sense of surprise. The show kicked off with Pinion, Wish and than Last. From there I knew we were in for something special. I honestly couldn’t have hoped for a better set. Were there other songs I was hoping to hear besides what was played? Sure. But the cohesiveness of the set and unrelenting energy of the band really made this a special night. Highlights for me were Wish, Last, Reptile, Meet Your Master, Non-Entity, Mr. Self Destruct and 1,000,000. Also, thanks to their relaxed camera policy I was able to capture some nice video and photos.
To close the show was Jane’s Addiction. Fan bias aside, I wasn’t sure how anything could follow the performance NIN just gave. And I think I was right. While I like Jane’s Addiction and thought they put on a great performance I had a hard time getting into it. While both performances were loud volume wise, I felt the NIN sound mix was better as it was easier to make out lyrics and individual instruments while Jane’s was more of a wall of sound that made it hard to make out certain songs. For example I didn’t realize one song was Been Caught Stealing until about a quarter of the way into it. But overall they were entertaining.
It’s four days later and I’m still on a high from the show. From the meet & greet to the soundcheck to the phenomenal performance, it’s a day I will never forget. Thanks Trent and Company.
NIN Setlist
Soundcheck:
Home
I’m Afraid of Americans
Lights in the Sky
In This Twilight
Show:
Pinion
Wish
Last
Discipline
March of the Pigs
Reptile
Meet Your Master
Gave Up
La Mer
Non-Entity
The Way Out Is Through
Mr. Self Destruct
1,000,000
Echoplex
Survivalism
The Good Soldier
The Hand That Feeds
Head Like A Hole
Hurt
I’ve been trying to articulate what the election of Barack Obama means to me. At least beyond the knee jerk reaction of “Thank God!”. Surprisingly it’s been the response from some of the McCain supporters I know that have helped me focus on how I feel about this.
This was a historic election. Yes, he’ll be the first black president of the United States of America. But for me, that’s only half of the “historic” part. I grew up with the story of John F Kennedy. All my life I would here from history lessons, tv shows, baby boomers and pretty much anyone older than me about how great JFK was. How it was such a loss when he was assassinated and all the potential he had. He inspired an entire generation. That generation knew that if this country was to move forward, they would have to do their part and not just rely on the government to do it for them. His election was historic not only because he was the first Roman Catholic president, but also because of his ability to inspire a nation.
I’ve always admired that generation’s fondness of Kennedy. I’ve never really felt that for a president. Ever since I turned eighteen and was able to vote, I usually placed my vote with the feeling of “At least he’s not as bad as the other guy” and went on my way. Sure, I felt stronger for certain candidates than others. But there was never that sense of this is the guy I want to lead this country. It was more “I really don’t want that other guy to lead this country”.
Flash forward to the 2004 Democratic Convention. A little known State Senator from Illinois gave a speech that’s still talked about today. I still remember after watching him give that speech and telling my wife “He’ll be president someday.” But it wasn’t just his speech, it was how he delivered it. The conviction in his voice. You could tell he really meant and believed what he was saying. It was free of the bullshit tone I heard from all politicians up till then. It gave me hope.
There’s a lot a criticism centered around the concept of “It takes more than being able to give a great speech to lead this country”. Of course it does. But it also takes more than coming up with policies and signing some bills into law. It’s the ability to inspire a generation of people to come together for the greater good. These are qualities contained within the inauguration speech of John F Kennedy and the “I Have Dream” speech of Martin Luther King. Iconic speeches that inspired generations to deliver change.
If there’s one thing that the majority of Americans can agree upon, it’s that our current sitting President lacks all of the above. His economic policies have placed us in the worst economic situation since the great depression. His foreign policies have damaged our reputation with the rest of the world. And his inability to speak eloquently or conduct himself properly in the presence of other foreign leaders has been embarrassing for our nation.
We had two choices in this election. To continue on the course we’re currently on, with the same foreign and economic policies that have brought us to where we are today. Or change course. Elect a president that not only talks of the need for change, but that can also inspire a generation of Americans to make it happen. A president who’s election will send a message to the foreign community that we as Americans, have had enough. And for the first time in my life, elect a president not only because he’s not the other guy, but because I want him to lead this nation.
I don’t expect Barack Obama to solve all our problems. And I don’t expect to agree with him on everything he does. But what I do expect from him is to make decisions based on sound judgement. To try and unite an already divided country. To be straight with the American people about the issues we face in this country. To heal our currently bruised relationship with the global community. That’s the change I’m hoping for and voted for.
I was never one to follow politics. My usual mindset was “my one vote doesn’t mean much” and “everything will be OK no matter what happens”. But all that changed once I was married, became a homeowner, then a father. With each milestone, my awareness of the political landscape and how it affected me and my family grew. With the most recent presidential election I’ve become a bit of a news junkie. Keeping an ear out for who said what and how the candidates are reacting to current affairs.
Everyone is aware that this presidential election is an important one. With issues ranging from the Iraq war to our tanking economy, the next president will be inheriting what could rightly be called a cluster fuck of affairs. And with that in mind, the nation appears to be equally divided on the best person for the job. With all that’s at stake and the closeness of the current election, your vote counts more than ever. That is, as long as you’re registered to vote.
Here it is, yet another redesign. Although I think this one will last a while since I’m getting a little burnt out on doing them. I’m going super simple this time. A single column layout with a clean aesthetic design.
I’m going to try and focus and posting more of my own content and less of the video embeds and random links that I’ve been posting lately. Which was a bit of an experiment on my part.
Anyway, here it is. I’ll be making tweaks here and there as I grow into the design and start adding content. Oh, and that photoblog I was all hyped up about a week ago? Yea, that’ll probably be taken down and supplemented with this new design. I’m not liking the feel of my content being spread on several sites so I’m bringing it back under one roof. Well, as of this week I am.
I’ve just launched my new photoblog called Nothing But Flowers. The subject matter itself has nothing to do with flowers, it’s just my old domain from my previous tumblelog. But the metaphor still fits. Nothing but the good stuff.
I wanted a more formal location to display some of the photos I’ve been taking. Flickr is great, but I wanted to be more in control of the presentation and more selective about the pictures I’m posting up.
iPods and cell phones don’t take kindly to being submerged unexpectedly in a pool. Even if the submersion is with the best intentions of saving a life.
Even though a funnel cloud isn’t officially a “Tornado” unless it touches the ground, if you see one form in your rearview mirror, it’s a fucking Tornado.
Knowing how much gas is currently contained within your automobiles gas tank is apparently a privilege, not a right. At least according to Hyundai.
It’s legal to purchase fireworks in Florida, yet illegal to actually use them.
Alligator tastes like a combination of fish and chicken.
Location based social networking isn’t exactly a new thing. One of the earliest and more popular services in this area was Dodgeball. Dodgeball was eventually bought by Google, but nothing has been done with the service since it’s purchase in 2005. But location based services seem to be on the rise again and Brightkite is one of the newer players on the location based social networking scene.
I was blessed with a Brightkite invite by Mr. Jon Sykes. While Jon has been singing it’s praises, I’ve been more on the fence. Being a big fan of Twitter, I wasn’t sure I needed another Twitter-like service to keep tabs on and update. Plus there’s the selling point of the service, it’s all bout location, location, location. Whenever you’re at a new location, you can check-in via your phone, computer or other mobile device. With your location set, you can then post notes and photos about that location. Notes and photos are essentially twitter-like messages with the ability to post photos. While I can see the value in this for those who work/live in large cities or those who are big into the social scene, it was hard to see the value for someone who’s location may not change that often or who doesn’t have the flexibility to spontaneously meet-up with friends.
Over the past couple weeks I’ve used the service on and off. And honestly, it’s been fun seeing what friends are up to and the photos they’re posting. The challenge for me has been finding where Brightkite fits in my “digital lifestyle”. I already use Twitter for posting short messages and Flickr for posting photos. But lately I’ve been more selective about the photos I post on Flickr and the messages I post on Twitter. I’m not posting as many “going to the store” type of posts to Twitter and I’ve refrained from posting lower quality photos (such as cameraphone) to flickr. But now I’m finding this is the space where Brightkite fits in nicely.
With Brightkite you have various privacy settings available to you. At the high level, it’s public or private. Public is no holds barred. All info about your checkin location will be posted. Private on the other hand has a subset of privacy settings for how to handle your photos, notes and location while you’re in private mode. You could choose to display your exact location to only your friends while the non-friends will only see the city from which you posted. These settings are applied on a per-post basis. So while you’re home you can set your privacy level to private and all posts while in private mode will be marked as such. Then while your out and about getting lunch, set your privacy level to public while you’re at that location. All posts marked private previously will remain private. My only pet-peeve with this is that if you mistakenly post a photo or note as public, you can’t change it to private. You’ll need to delete that post if you’re concerned about the info being public. What I would like to see when it comes to the privacy settings is the ability to set privacy by location. For example, being able say “When I checkin at home, automatically set my privacy level to private”.
I’m now using Brightkite to post the short location based posts I would normally restrain myself from posting on Twitter. Because that post is now within the context of the location it was posted from. And I can set the privacy of that post so only my trusted friends will be able to see it, making Brightkite more personal than something like Twitter. While you can make your Twitter stream private, it’s an all or nothing option, you don’t get the level of privacy controls you get with Brightkite. I’m also using it to post location based photos that I normally wouldn’t be posting on Flickr. In addition to the personal aspects I’m using it for, I can see it being a great tool while traveling or attending conferences.
While I gave Brightkite a hard time at first, I’m beginning to see where it could fit in the current social networking ecosystem. Will I stick with it? Who knows. Ask anyone I know, I’m the most fickle person when it comes to… well, anything. Currently Brightkite is in private beta and is invitation only. I currently have 5 invitations left, so if you’re interested in checking out Brightkite and you want an invite, drop a comment on this post.
I’ve been pretty lax in posts around here lately due to wrapping up end of year projects at work, the holidays, and an end of the year vacation. But now the new year is upon us and it’s time to get the train a movin’ again.
Christmas vacation was a blast for several reasons. The first being it was vacation time for me and family. I pretty much disconnected myself from the outside (internet) world. I got several house projects done that the wife and I have been talking about doing over the past year. And it was pretty much a “Nintendo” christmas since Santa left a Wii for the family under the tree. And the wife and I bestowed the kids each with their own Nintendo DS for Christmas (now Daddy has someone to play with :)
But the biggest surprise for me was the gift from the wife. She blessed me with a new Canon Digital Rebel XTi. Which was a surprise indeed. Apparently it was between that and new sneakers. She choose wisely. The new XTi will serve as the replacement for my current Gen1 Digital Rebel. But it’s also sparking and a renewed interest in sharpening my photography skills. So if I had to make a personal resolution for the new year, that would be it. Sharpening my photography skills. That in addition to the standard resolutions of save money, loose weight, backup my data, etc.
So be prepared for more photographic goodness in the coming year.
The wife and I took one of our regular Bucks County day trips this past holiday weekend and visited the Mercer Museum. Choice quote of the museum visit was “So, this is basically a museum of really old stuff”. To which the wife replied “Yes dear, this is a museum of really old stuff”.
What I meant to say was, “So, this is a museum of pre-industrial tools and artifacts collected by Henry Chapmen Mercer.” Really. It’s what I meant to say.
Being a parent comes with it’s fair share of lifestyle changes. Most you come to expect in the beginning of your child’s life. Sleepless nights, dirty diapers, screaming, etc. But no one seems to prepare you for the later years. And by later years, I mean 3-6 years old. These are the years your child will set forth into the world of Preschool, Kindergarten and extracurricular activities. Along will all social training you and your child will need to endure learn, there’s one other issue I’d like to highlight. Paper.
Your child will begin to bring home massive amounts of paper in various forms. From sign-up forms, approval forms, book-order forms, class projects, everyday schoolwork and calendars. This massive influx of paper can wreak havoc on a person who’s attempting to wage a war on clutter. But what I would like to talk about are the calendars.
All of the paper goods your child will be bringing into the home will fall into three categories. Trash material: pointless notices (not as much as you hope). Fridge material: recent class projects to show off and reference material always needed on hand (like calendars). Archive Material: Older school projects and long term reference papers like school policies, etc.
My fridge has no less then 4 calendars plastered on it at any one time. You have items like; Normal school calendar (days off, special events, etc), Lunch calendar (what’s for lunch… if it should be “one of those mornings”), karate schedule (the boy), and the dance schedule (the girl). I say no less then 4 because with my wife being a teacher, there’s usually more calendars involved.
Then there’s the regular family calendars. These are thankfully entered nicely into the computer and are shared between the wife and I. These calendars can all be nicely cross-referenced for conflicts and availability. Works a treat in this modern age. What doesn’t work in this modern age is various paper calendars plastered all over my fridge. The solution? Online calendars.
There are various free online calendars that organizations and users can utilize for posting their respective schedules. Google Calendar is my personal online calendar of choice. These calendars can be shared and then subscribed to by the modern technological parents of the world. Thus freeing them (us) from the fury that is paper calendars. (For bonus points, use a calendar that publishes to an “iCal” format. This is a standard format that most modern desktop calendar programs can subscribe to.) One could argo that we could enter in these events into our own personal electronic calendar. Which is something I’ve done with our garbage schedule. But there’s two main issues with this.
The first issue is time. Modern parents can barely make the time to run their family as it is, much less sit down for a couple hours and enter in your child’s Lunch schedule every month. The second issue is accuracy. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a change in any one of your child’s schedules that you were just notified through your electronic calendar?
I know there are organizations and schools out there that already do this. And I applaud you. But unfortunately none of mine do. So please, embrace the online calendar. It will save you time and resources (think of the trees!) and save us, the modern parents of today’s world, the little sanity we have left.
I turned the ripe old age of 31 last week, and in a moment a reflection I thought it would be fun to create a playlist. A playlist of songs and artists that have made me who I am over these past 31 years. I applied a couple rules when creating this list.
One song per year.
One song per artist.
The songs are listed in rough chronological order. The order being the time in my life that either the song or artist played a significant role. Song placement in the list does not correspond to the year of my life. I couldn’t tell you what I was rocking out to at the age of two (Although I do recall rocking out to Disney’s “Mousercise” on my little Fisher-Price turntable around the age of 5 or 6. That and countless kids audiobook-type 45’s). It wasn’t easy narrowing down the plethora of song options down to 31, so song choice came down to three basic criteria, in the following order:
The song marks a significant milestone or period in my life.
The Artist has been of significant listening enjoyment throughout my life. Selection of a song to represent this artist could either be the song that got me interested in said artist or picked entirely at random.
I dig the song so much that the previous two rules need not apply.
As to which songs fit which criteria, we’ll leave that part a mystery.
My original intention was to create an iTunes iMix out of this playlist, but it turns out the whole iMix feature kinda sucks. I can understand a song not being included if it’s not available for sale in the iTunes store, but songs I actually purchased on the iTunes store weren’t being included either. So I linked up whatever songs I could to Amazon’s rocking new MP3 downloads store.
If you’re interested in what I’m listening to nowadays, I suggest you check out my Last.fm profile. So without further ado…
I’m stoked about being linked up in Coudal’s fresh signals (and their latest email newsletter). But even more so than usual since my link comes right before a mention of Daniel Lanois’ new documentary movie. Totally awesome on both counts.
A little over a year ago I did a refresh of the Media-Hive company site. Based on the original design direction by Greg O’Keeffe, I set out to tie together loose ends of the previous site and simplify some of the information architecture.
Over the past few months I’ve been obsessed with a little app called Instagram. It’s an app for the iPhone that lets you take square format photos, apply a filter, then post to multiple services such as Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and others.
This past Saturday I had pleasure of attending the NIN/JA (Nine Inch Nails/Jane’s Addiction) show at the PNC Bank Arts Center (Garden State Arts Center to those of use who know better) in Holmdel, NJ. It was a big day for me as I had been looking forward to this day ever since I purchased the tickets a couple of months ago.
It’s been two months since I released my first Wordpress theme, Manifest. And in those two months the response has far exceeded my expectations. Which honestly wasn’t that hard since I didn’t really have any. Since it’s release, Manifest has been listed on various Wordpress theme blogs and used on countless personal blogs. It’s also enjoyed over 1100 downloads. Which still boggles my mind.
One of the key features of my recently released Wordpress theme, Manifest, is that IE6 is unsupported. This hasn’t been an issue with the vast majority of people using the theme, but there have been a couple of comments and emails asking about IE6 support. I figured I’d clear the air on the subject.
