Third Planet

"The universe is shaped exactly like the earth, if you go straight long enough you'll end up where you were" -Isaac Brock (of Modest Mouse fame)

This classic quote from Third Planet, by Modest Mouse, seems relevant for today's final posting. As one could see from scrolling through my posts, I have obviously exhausted what amount of creative writing skill I ever possessed, and I am now rambling on about random websites that I have been to. What was originally a place to find out about interesting blogs has now become a barren wasteland of entries stretching from a wind map to Google Docs.

I figured the only feasible way to end this blog-de-cool-blogs is just how I started it. Hipster Dads. Dads Are The Original Hipsters  is still the greatest place on the internet, and will stay that way... forever. 

Your dad played in a band nobody had heard of before you did and they were so indie that even you don’t know who they are. Have you ever heard of the genre house-clash slam-punk fist-rock? Probably not, and your dad’s band invented it. They sounded like an amplified boxing match inside of a stampede. He was the ring leader of noise that gave sonic bitch slaps to eardrums and brought the ruckus so hard buildings were condemned when they left. 

So hipsters, next time you’re finger-raping the guitar neck in an attempt to sound like the Portland backwoods while dreaming of never making it big so that you never have to explain why you sold out, remember this… 

Your dad could actually play an instrument, and maybe if you gave him a call, he could teach you a chord or two that might get you laid by something other than your hand. 

Thanks for having me in your class and have a great summer! P.S. I'm not sure how the font and background color got so screwed up, but after unsuccessfully attempting to fix it, I am left with this red and white font. I blame the new Blogger interface.

Hella Clips

Like most people that are into action sports, it comes naturally for me to appreciate the other disciplines besides the one I participate in (BMX). Growing up, I was always riding at the skatepark with a lot of my friends that skateboard. I have a ton of respect for skateboarding, and enjoy keeping up on what is happening in their corner of the action sports realm. The creativity and constant progression of skating, along with other "extreme" sports keeps me coming back for more. HellaClips is a blog-ish website where one can go to find internet edits of some of the premiere skaters. Everyday, plenty of clips are uploaded to keep anyone satisfied (today, there has been 30 edits linked to already, and here is one of them).

WIND MAP

Winds are crazy and so is this real-time map. The site that it is on, Hint.fm is a collaboration between Fernanda Viegas and Martin Wattenberg, who lead Google's "Big Picture" visualization research group. The oddly paired mathmetician- designer duo combines art and design with data representation, and comes up with some very unique outcomes. Another piece they came up with is called "Web Seer." The site, which is down right now unfortunately, allows the user to enter a phrase, and see what is most commonly searched using that same phrase on Google. I did a terrible job of explaining that even after giving it a few go's, so these pictures should fill you in a lot better. (In these diagrams, the arrow thicknesses show the number of web pages for each question.)

Graham's Weblog

I'm not sure how its been this long before i mentioned the greatest, most entertaining, sleekest blog of them all: Graham's Weblog! Deviating from the normal use of the oh-so-exciting Desire2Learn, Graham adds a bit of excitement to our lives with the use of a blog.

Visually/ Aesthetically Compelling D2L Interface

Instead of clicking on the "content" tab and scrolling down a list of 12-point font titles until I find what I am looking for, I am able to receive entertaining, yet still relevant, updates about the class. The blog provides not only required information regarding the class, but also links to pages that we, as marketers, might find to be interesting. Graham also keeps relevant with internet culture references, classic ads and colorful and humorous pictures. In addition, it shows a level of interest and involvement from a professor that usually doesn't come across with most classes. Most professors wouldn't go out of their way to post a relevant link, or to warn students of a sick day (before they trudge to class through a foot of snow), but Graham does. Thanks Graham!

Baby Sick Day