Monkinetic Weblog

This post is a reminder/bookmark for myself and anyone else on how to customize a StyleCatcher theme in Movable Type without losing the ability to use the original theme in the future.

I can finally (with sincere apologies to Zeldman and crew) talk about new developments in my personal and professional life, and I'm stoked to do so!

After a fun trip skydiving with my father and two brothers this past week, I wrote up a guest post on Dustin's new blog on 4 Tips For A Successful Man-venture.

It's been a while since I've posted about what's going on in the DiSo community, and I had started to prepare a list of recent developments to share, but on the way I felt that there was a theme I wanted to address first.

Ok, these may be really really stupid or really really practical ideas -- so no comments starting with "Steve you're an idiot!" -- but I was thinking today about ways to generate power around the house.

Over on the DiSo Project blog, I've posted about some movement in the XRDS-Simple space over the last week. Next steps: We need to identify generators, parsers, and service definitions, and start working on interop.

I have no idea how to categorize this post from longnow.org about Richard Feynman, a fascinting and personal look at one of the giants of modern physics. Find yourself 20 minutes of pressure-free time and read it, then read it again.

DiSo is built on the idea of implementing social networking concepts on existing standards where possible. One of those standards is XRDS Simple, a service description and discovery format that is a part of several recent and upcoming standards including OpenID and OAuth. This weekend I decided to build a generalized service for Movable Type that implements XRDS.

Phusion, via Akita on rails:

These are the slides from a presentation I gave to about 80 developers at work at a recent day-long training event.

Yesterday the news came out that Chris Messina, my DiSo co-conspirator, and Will Norris, author of the WP-OpenID plugin, are joining Vidoop to work on DiSo full time. This is excellent news, for Chris and Will obviously, but also for the ideas and ideals that DiSo represents.

A few of you might be interested in my (frustratingly slow) progress on a Friends/Blogroll plugin for MT. You can watch it take shape in my Flickr set: MT plugin 101.

Apparently some readers have been having problems logging in with OpenID on the site (apparently related to this bug). I think I've fixed the problem - if you've been trying to login, please give it another shot and let me know if it works.

A list of upcoming movies I want to see this summer:

accelerate---track-by-track tags: "" tp_commentcount: "0" tp_favoritecount: "0" tp_urlid: 6a010534988cd3970b0120a55ce9a5970b

R.E.M. is sounding like a band again, instead of Whiny Michael and the Stipes.

I bought R.E.M.'s new album last week, and I've been listening to it on and off since then, and I'm starting to develop some thoughts. For better or for worse, I tend to examine each new R.E.M. album in the light of how does this album build on / relate to what has gone before, and how does it explore new territory? I'm happy to say that for me, Accelerate does both with vigor.

Living Well Is the Best Revenge (3:12)

Out of the door loud, fast. Sets the tone for the album. Companion tune to New Test Leper from New Adventures In HiFi, barking back at a media that, in the end, doesn't really matter. Bonus points for the return of Mike Mills to background vocals (or at elast to appropriate volumes), and for Mike and Peter for a return to Document-quality rock-n-roll. R.E.M. is sounding like a band again, instead of Whiny Michael and the Stipes. - 4 Stars

Man-Sized Wreath (2:32)

I can't quite get a grip on Man-Sized Wreath. Not sure if it's the lyrics or the tune, but while I can already sing along to most of the lyrics (it's catchy!) I can't tell you why. Yet. - 2 Stars

Supernatural Superserious (3:24)

First single, very hooky. Really fun to listen to. Companion tune to Nightswimming from Automatic For The People. Michael sings to the lamenting youth from Nightswimming, assuring that it doesn't last. - 4 Stars

Hollow Man (2:39)

I love Hollow Man. Following tender mostly-acoustic verses, the chorus winds up and rings out like a 70's sitcom theme (in a good way) then comes to a satisfyingly noisy spinout at the end. Some excellent Murmurs-era guitar work from Peter Buck (still looking for the specific song I'm thinking of). - 4 Stars

Houston (2:05)

Lovely, dirty organ that sounds like it was resurrected from a swamp, or from a flooded church (a true New Orleans Instrumental?). Also, includes an echo of the acoustic riff from Try Not To Breathe. - 3 Stars

Accelerate (3:34)

Michael's invoking cartoons ("where's the cartoon escape hatch for me"), which had me thinking of the Dr. Seuss references in The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight, but it comes amid a fast, full-of-fuzz song that conveys the fear, urgency, and tension in the lyric. - 3 Stars

Until the Day Is Done (4:09)

This is another one that's growing on me. Followup to Ignoreland from Automatic For The People and would fit nicely on that album right after it. Another politically-flavored song, but is lamenting after the angry protest of Ignoreland. - 3 Stars

Mr. Richards (3:46)

Mr. Richards is a slow, loping, admonishment (beat-down? ) of the title character (who at one point I thought was referring to Michael Richards, of Sienfeld fame, but now I'm not so sure). - 3 Stars

Sing for the Submarine (4:51)

A weird song that is really growing on me, and (IMO) references several 3 R.E.M. songs from the past:

• Electron Blue, from Around The Sun by name

• In a stretch, a reference to the Machine from Green's World Leader Pretend

• Fables of the Reconstruction's Feeling Gravity's Pull

• High Speed Train from Around The Sun

• 3 Stars

Horse to Water (2:18)

You're only as big as your battles

• 2 Stars

I'm Gonna DJ (2:08)

Somehow reminds me of 1995's [Revolution](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_Movie_(video) but without the cool "La La La"s. I suspect it might take the place of The End Of The World As We Know It as a show-closer, but I hope not. - 3 Stars

accelerate