Joshua Blankenship | Blog

Real Life Guitar Hero… On a Bicycle

Joshua — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:45:03 +0000

Take unequal parts Guitar Hero, The Living End’s Prisoner of Society track, a bicycle and absolutely INSANE hours of preproduction/planning and you might get this video from agency Droga5, which might in fact blow your mind with its sprawling simplicity. (via Mr. Eric Dodds)

On Criticizing Others

Joshua — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 04:49:47 +0000

Individuals who are realized in their own lives almost never criticize others. If they speak at all, it is to offer encouragement.
— Steven Pressfield, The War of Art

Mr. T and World of Warcraft

Joshua — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 04:42:22 +0000

Quote, “Maybe Mr. T is pretty handy with computers. Had that occurred to you, Mr. Condescending Director?”

WorkSmarterNotHarder

Joshua — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:49:34 +0000

While stopping to get a healthy sausage biscuit at a local fast food place on the way to work yesterday, I noticed some construction guys working on the roof of (yet another) new fast food place next door. These guys were obviously students of the WorkSmarterNotHarder school of thought, passing metal roof panels from the ground to the 2nd story roof using a pair of vice grips tied to a rope. No ladder, no scaffold, no up and down, no huge crew. Just two guys using simple tools in straight-forward, creative ways.

At NewSpring, we’re working on a couple of large-ish web projects right now; one of them is specifically stretching our team into areas of experimentation and non-knowledge. For a particular aspect of the live streaming video components, we’ve been told everything from “$80k to set-up the infrastructure” to “that’ll be ballpark $1.2mil.” Ouch. But as we’ve been gathering info from various (really, really) nice people, it turns out we can do most of what we want to do with open source and relatively-inexpensive hardware/software.

By doing this we save money and time, which makes us more nimble and able to change directions quickly. We opt for straight-forward accessible tools, not out-of-reach technology. We use a small team to pull off big ideas by leveraging existing knowledge, technology and friends. Sometimes I feel like our whole web strategy is built with vice grips and square knots, but I’m ok with that.

Javascript Drum Machine

Joshua — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 20:02:27 +0000

This Javascript drum machine will entertain you for at least 45 seconds.

Capucine Tells a Story on Vimeo

Joshua — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 03:14:21 +0000

I submit to you that there is nothing on the internet with more cute-per-second than this video.

Louis CK on Modern Conveniences/Technology

Joshua — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 15:15:15 +0000

Who would have thought that some of the most insightful social commentary on the technology age, entitlement and good old fashioned awe would come from comedian Louis CK on an episode of Late Night with Conan O’Brien? (via twitter.com/sh)

Seth Godin’s Tribes Q&A

Joshua — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 13:36:57 +0000

Seth Godin’s newest book Tribes now has a volunteer-assembled Q&A [PDF download] with further insights into the book. Seth calls it “the best designed PDF I’ve ever seen.” I think Seth should probably get out more if this is true, but nonetheless, it’s a great resource if you’re a fan of his writing.

Quantum of Solace Title Sequence from MK12

Joshua — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 03:09:46 +0000

The MK12 (with some help from Simon Chaudoir) main title sequence for the new James Bond flick Quantum of Solace is atmospherically gorgeous. Worth my ticket.

Newness on Flickr

Joshua — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 21:33:20 +0000

I’ve been having lots of fun lately taking photos again. I think there’s something about Autumn that makes it so.

Dot Com Downtime

Joshua — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 21:24:00 +0000

Hi, internet. I apologize for being non-existent since Wednesday afternoon. The good news is, I’ve moved to a shiny new server and all should be smooth sailing from here on out (as far as the internets go.)

To Ad, or Not to Ad?

Joshua — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:19:40 +0000

So, I’ve been doing this blog thing for close to five years. Some of you have been with me that whole span of time, some of you popped in last week. I like all of you and I’m super thankful that we get to have some interesting conversations from time to time.

Blog advertising has always been one of those things I look at a bit skeptically, essentially thinking it brings another voice into that conversation, one that is rarely contextual. How do you feel about these new-ish targeted ad networks (like The Deck or the recently-launched Fusion Ads)? Less noise? Same thing?

WordPress 2.7 Sneak Peek

Joshua — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 20:26:23 +0000

Happy to see the Wordpress crew finally paying attention to the Dashboard. It’s always been a bit useless to me. Yay for usability and customization.

Ocarina - The First iPhone Musical Instrument

Joshua — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:50:16 +0000

Smule’s Ocarina iPhone app/instrument is just plain fun. I like fun software. Update: an original tune from yours truly.