James Surowiecki from the New Yorker wrote an excellent piece on how the overload of “Feature Presentation” makes a product less usable and how consumers are willing to pay extra for more options but ending up returning the product quickly. A good product should do what you need and nothing you do.
In order to get the Web site realign and ready for the Class of 2007 Commencement, I was assigned to work with my colleague Tim Brown, and it turned out to be a great collaborative effort. I worked with Tim before, but never on a one-on-one partnership like this.
Our challenge was to meet the tight deadline, which was a week. So we had to work together off the same site on the same server and at the same time without overwriting each other’s work. To do so, we not only had divided up the pages, but also alternated our tasks. So if he worked on CSS, I worked on HTML and we switched up like a tag team.
As a result, we were able to accomplish our goal within three days. The new site is now easier to use as well as cleaner in codes. The content is much more organized and the visual layout is a bit enhanced. I am so glad that our boss had paired us up for this project. The experience was so effective that I am looking forward for more collaboration in the near future. You’re the man, Tim!
It’s about time the jazz freak from Seattle is plugging Tuan Ngoc. You’ll probably love to hear that neither his rendition of “Ghen” nor “Amor” swings me. His delivery is passable, but Asia’s arrangement fails me on both tracks. Now if you want some decent swing, Duc Tuan’s version of “Ghen” is a much better choice. Swing on, dude!
Once in a while, a sweet lady in our department would bring in my favorite fruitcake her aunt made. The fruitcake is so heavily saturated with whiskey that I get a buzz eating it for breakfast. If that is not a perfect way to start off your working day, than I don’t know what is. Thanks Mary!
I was planning on taking Samantha and Eric to see Shrek the Third this Memorial weekend, but is this kind of animated film still made for kids? In a review of Shrek from the New Yorker, David Denby writes, “The ‘Shrek’ movies are funny, but the wised-up style of the comedy—the Hollywood put-ons and inside gags—has sour roots, and, after a while, the industry jokiness becomes a little nauseating.”
The last time I was home with the kids, I dropped my book while reading when I heard Samantha sang something. I asked her what she just sang, she repeated, “Let’s talk about egg, baby.” I thought I heard she was singing Salt N Peppa’s “Let’s Talk About Sex.” I asked her where she heard that song from and she said Happy Feet. They substituted the word that is pretty darn close for the kids to sing along. Now that is nauseating.
Samantha and Eric are back. If you don’t see them, refresh your browser.
Typographic design and illustration by Craig Ward.
The leftovers from Doctor’s Advocate produced by Dre:
“My Bitch“
“Beautiful Life“
“Murda“
“Still Me“
“Won’t Stop“
Snooks Eaglin throws some sleek, sizzling licks on “Kiss of Fire” with his electric guitar. The tune is taken from his savory Out of Nowhere.
