Announcing the release of Manifest v1.1 for you downloading pleasure. Here’s what’s new:
New Features
Updates
I know it’s been a while, so here’s a brief update on the state of Manifest. I had planned on releasing a substantial update to the theme about a month ago (think Manifest 2), but work and life as usual kept getting in the way. So I’ve decided to forgo the big update for small incremental updates. This way everyone can benefit from the added features as I finish them and not have to wait for substantial releases.
You can expect the first update in the coming weeks. After some tiding up of the code, this update will include features such as threaded comments and support for Wordpresses native photo galleries; along with other minor improvements.
I’d also like to thank everyone who has downloaded Manifest, sent encouraging comments and donated. Since it’s release a little over a year ago, Manifest has been downloaded over 15,600 times. Far exceeding any expectation for a theme I released just so it wouldn’t wither away in my hard drive.
To keep update with the latest on Manifest, be sure to follow @manifest_theme on Twitter.
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
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. 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.
I’d like to say Thank You to everyone who’s commented, downloaded and enjoyed Manifest. I really do appreciate the support.
That being said, I’m considering making some updates to Manifest based on how I’ve seen it being used in the wild. While I have my own list, I’d like to hear from you as to what you would like to see (if anything) in an updated version.
New Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse album that has an interesting backstory to it. Basically he's in a dispute with the record EMI and if the album is released there's legal implications. So it's being sold it as a blank CD-R with a book of photos by David Lynch. Leaving it to you to acquire and burn the music through other avenues. It's good, search around and you'll find it.
Lot's of new front-end goodness coming in Firefox 3.5 (formerly numbered 3.1)
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.
I wanted the process of making my first publicly available theme to be fun. I also wanted to use it as opportunity to use some of the CSS3 (and even CSS2) features that I don’t normally get to use. IE6 was a roadblock to both objectives. There’s been some chatter recently in the web design community about when and how IE6 support should be phased out. Some elect for a more progressive approach, while others elect to drop support entirely. For Manifest, I went with the latter.
If you view a Manifest based site in IE6, you’ll be presented with an unstyled (but completely functional) site with polite message at the top informing your users that they should upgrade their browsers to something more current.
Here’s some common questions/comments when it comes IE6 support.
It’s not that IE6 support can’t be added. A good percentage of my day is spent getting complex web applications and ecommerce sites working in IE6. But it’s not a very fulfilling portion of my day. I’m not going to go into detail as to why IE6 is the bane of every web developer, there are plenty of other resources available that go into that. Here are a few:
The story of Little Red Riding Hood re-interpreted as an isometric infographic video. (via swissmiss)
Great talk from Gruber and Merlin at SxSW about blogging. Essentially, blog about what you love and don't be a douche.
Essentially a digg-esq site for command line commands. This goes beyond my level of geekdom, but it's quite fascinating and a terrific resource. I've already found a couple gems.
David Byrne and Brian Eno: Everything that Happens Will Happen Today
Brian Eno provides the music. David Byrne provides the lyrics. Enough said.
Fleet Foxes: Fleet Foxes
I’m a little late to the party on this one, but it’s a tremendous album.
Nine Inch Nails: The Slip
The latest NIN album which provides a more band-like sound than previous outings. My go to driving album. Oh, and it’s completely free :)
Pronto: All is Golden
Side project of Wilco keyboardist Mikael Jorgensen.
Radiohead: In Rainbows
Even though it’s been out for quite a while now. It’s one album that I never seem to tire of.
Bioshock
This is a great hybrid of shooter and RPG. Beautiful and immersive. Already one of my all time favorites.
Burnout Paradise
Perfect get up and go racing game. Fast, destructive and uncomplicated.
Call of Duty: World at War
Good single player game. Excellent multiplayer game. Plus there’s Nazi Zombies… can’t go wrong with that.
Guitar Hero World Tour
Tremendous amount of family fun. We are the Partridge Family of rhythm games.
