1. Drink Beer & Carry On - Probably the best revival yet. Maybe I’m biased, though.
2. How to soften butter quickly - 75% of the time I forget to soften butter when baking. The Wife™ maintains a steady 100% fail rate. Now I know how to rectify the problem correctly.
3. P.O.S. - I stumbled across P.O.S. a while back, but this video made me a fan. I was an admirer of the Rhymesayers label a few years back but blinked and now this kid is their heavyweight. Previously from the punk band Build Better Bombs, he has to be one of the most talented MCs out there. His style switches from Ras Kass to Twista to Eminem to his own blend. He plays his own instruments, sings his hooks and makes most of his own beats. And this week MTV released his commissioned cover of Pearl Jam’s “Why Go?”. Tell me that’s not talent.
4. Skype - Yes, I’m probably the last person on earth to give Skype a shot. Hell my father had an account before I did. But this past week I got set up so that my parents could see Liam during our weekly calls. It’s so simplistic, but having a good call quality with reasonably good video makes me feel like George Jetson or Marty McFly (in the future, of course). Too bad Liam doesn’t understand that his grandparents aren’t actually in the computer. Hopefully he gets it soon because I’m tired of cleaning his hand prints off the monitor.
5. Still Tasty - Ever wonder how long stuff stays good frozen or in your fridge? Sure, it’s not precise but this site is great for rough estimates. Good to know that that bottle of robust molasses I’ve been chipping away at is still good. Time to make more baked beans I guess.
6. Homemade rootbeer floats - Okay, it’s a bonus item this week because it’s too damned good not to mention. I brewed five gallons of root beer, kegged it and then whipped up a batch of vanilla bean ice cream. Now I realize the floats I’ve had in the past weren’t even close to fresh…something I never would have thought I’d notice in a dessert like that.

Embarrassing that I haven’t written anything in a week. Apologies. We’ve been tracking down the source of a head-to-toe rash on the kid.

1. Trailer for Away We Go - John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph, Jeff Daniels, Maggie Gyllenhaal and a screenplay by David Eggers. Sold.
2. Ben Folds goes a cappella - Ben uses college a cappella groups to record some of this songs. Sounds like it would suck, but it’s actually rather engaging.
3. Get Excited And Make Things - A take on the “Keep Calm & Carry On” propaganda poster from World War II era Britain. Now if only I could get an EPS of it. It would look smashing on my office wall at home, against the charcoal gray paint.
4. The end of organic farming? - Great, just as my books on this topic arrive at the library I find this. Boo to Monsanto! I pray this doesn’t get passed.
5. Diaper Dude Messenger Bag - Laptop bag + diaper bag. Stylish and handy. Dudes, take a stand for yourself and say NO to the Vera Bradley.

1. Google Voice- Google takes aim at the telephony industry. After acquiring a startup almost two years ago, within a few weeks they’ll announce a service that (among other things) merges multiple phone numbers into one and sends your voicemail to your Gmail account in text. Drooling to give this a shot.
2. Beautiful USB key design - LaCie takes the term “key” literally and creates a 4gb/8gb design that looks flat out fantastic.
3. Thru You - A guy mashes up videos from YouTube, dissecting instrumentals and reassembling them into multiple songs to create a full album. If DJ Shadow had picked up Final Cut instead of a pair of Technics 1200s…
4. Illinoize (Tor / Sufjan Stevens) - Sure, mashups are soooo 2005, but this one caught my fancy. Short and sweet, this is one of the few executions of the style that I think works well. A DJ mixes Sufjan Stevens’ instrumentals from the Illinois album with classic hiphop vocals from the likes of Outkast, Pete Rock, etc. My favs are the Aesop Rock track and the Brother Ali track.
5. Samsung Solid State RAID video - Solid state drives are gaining popularity. Here’s a video if you take 24 of them (256gb each) and strap ‘em in a RAID format. Time it takes to open every program in the Start Bar? Less than it takes my slow-ass XP laptop to open Notepad.

1. University iPhone apps - Sure, I think it’s bad that the only way you get to use these are if you pony up for an iPhone. But if you have one, the Stanford web people have you set. ePay, the campus maps, the directory, course schedules…all as a suite of iPhone apps. Awesome idea if not limited in audience.
2. College Humor Prank War [video] - I’ve never been a fan of CH but this video is awesome. Hands-down one of the best/most cruel pranks I’ve ever seen. Worth the watch.
3. Magnetic self assembly in slow motion [video] - 90 small magnets in a 9x10 matrix with a larger magnet dropped on top. You wouldn’t think the result would be beautiful, but it’s surprisingly so.
4. In-floor bathtubs - Kinda awkward as they look as if they can’t decide if they’re large bathtubs or tiny swimming pools, but beautiful ideas nonetheless. Guess I know what I’ll be doing this weekend around the house sleeping on the couch for attempting!
5. Emergency MC Hammer - Entirely goofy, yet the only thing that made me laugh loudly and honestly this week.

I’ve never in my life been compelled to do a review for a product or service. I’ve been close before (iPhone) but thought it too fanboyish and eventually misguided. But I feel compelled to at least write a little something about Mpix.com, if not because I’ve been asked by a few people recently about who I use to print photos.

For color printing I’ve been very happy with how Flickr has handled things. Sure the seamless integration with my hosting account provides a handy two-click purchase process. But the color matching and ability to order matte (not glossy!) prints sold me. I’ve ordered quite a few photos from Flickr, ranging in sizes up to 8x10, and have been impressed. But even their black and white left me wanting.

Two years ago I began searching for online service bureaus that looked to be somewhat specialized in delivering better-than-average black and white photos. What I’ve had printed at places like Target or Costco have, as would be expected, failed to impress me. Poor color reproduction, terrible contrast and a general lack of matching the color profile of my monitor/desktop were persistent.

So recently when I went to frame an 11x14 black and white photo, I tried Mpix and was blown away. The pricing was fair. I had the ability to select true black and white paper. And the packaging and delivery were fantastic. The print arrived in only a day or two (regular shipping selected, if I recall) and had multiple layers of protective cardboard and film.

I can’t speak highly enough about what I received. I definitely have no reason to look elsewhere for black and white or oversized prints. Now if only I could find where I planted that money tree so I could plaster our walls with more photos.