Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

"Our nation's soul is stained because we went to war for the oil companies and their profits. There must be accountability not only with this Administration for its secret meetings and its open illegal warfare but also for the oil company executives who were willing participants in a criminal enterprise of illegal war, the deaths of our soldiers and innocent Iraqis and the extortion of the national resources of Iraq," he said.

"We have found the weapon of mass destruction in Iraq. It is oil."

"As long as the oil companies control our government Americans will continue to pay and pay, with our lives, our fortunes our sacred honor."

Rep. Dennis Kucinich

And five robots before I sleep, five robots before I sleep.

"And fear of aging is natural. It's universal, isn't it? We all have that. No one wants to get old. No one wants to die. But we do. So we con ourselves. I started conning myself when I got in my forties. I'd look in the mirror and say, "Well...I guess I'm getting ...older." Older sounds a little better than old, doesn't it? Sounds like it might even last a little longer. I'm getting old. And it's okay. Because thanks to our fear of death in this country I won't have to die. I'll pass away. Or I'll expire, like a magazine subscription. If it happens in the hospital they'll call it a terminal episode. The insurance company will refer to it as negative patient care outcome. And if it's the result of malpractice they'll say it was a therapeutic misadventure.

I'm telling ya, some of this language makes me want to vomit. Well, maybe not vomit ...makes me want to engage in an involuntary personal protein spill."


RIVSA George Carlin

"We're not really taught how to recreate constructively. We need to do more than find diversions; we need to restore and expand ourselves. Our idea of relaxing is all too often to plop down in front of the television set and let its pandering idiocy liquefy our brains. Shutting off the thought process is not rejuvenating; the mind is like a car battery-it recharges by running.

You may be surprised to find how quickly daily routine and the demands of "just getting by: absorb your waking hours. You may be surprised to find how quickly you start to see your politics and religion become matters of habit rather than thought and inquiry. You may be surprised to find how quickly you start to see your life in terms of other people's expectations rather than issues."


-Bill Watterson

These took about an hour each to create in Lineform, a killer OS X vector drawing program I recently picked up. Drawing in vector apps has always been frustrating for me, but Lineform makes it quick and painless..kind of like doing paper cut-outs but with total control over the shapes, fills and gradients at any stage in the process. Everything you draw exists on its own layer, so rotating, resizing, or sliding elements around is a breeze.

And of course, since everything's scalable, the images you create in Lineform look great at any size. Perfect for game backgrounds and characters, and also as an intermediate visualization tool for building 3d models.

Rad.

Big Buck Bunny from Blender Foundation on Vimeo.

...what I'm doing in Azeroth.

That's Jrbobdobbs, on his ram (60% speed bonus!), in front of the gates of Gadgetstan, newly level 50. He is a Dwarf Shadow Priest, which means he's a pretty good healer, and can also deal massive damage. His skills are skinning and leatherworking, and he earns a tidy paycheck from selling armor kits on the Ravencrest Alliance auction house.

I've played a lot in the last couple weeks, after a six-month hiatus. (Blizzard lets you keep your characters, even when unsubscribed from their $15 a month service.) There's a new level of richness to the game now, with the Auctioneer add-on, and I've spent as much time playing the markets as I have killing beasties.

And as cool as all the quests are, and as fun as it is to go up against some fifty foot tall Yeti, and as cutthroat as the dealings in the WoW virtual economy can get, sometimes I just like to go into the back of some random in-game tavern, and marvel at the mugs and the wallpaper.

As near as I can tell, it's the world's largest and most financially successful work of art, and this is never more evident than when I'm drinking in all the minor details. Every surface has been hand-modeled, and hand painted. Every inch of a two-continent are imagined, drawn, built, and rendered lusciously by a team of massively talented people, and available to anyone with a few bucks to explore at their infinite leisure.

Staggering, and beautiful.

And even though I'll be slowing down my playing again soon, there's no doubt in my mind that I'll find some time to enjoy a little sunset cliff-diving in Stranglethorn Vale, dodging invisible panthers and flirting with the Night Elves.

lol

"Kick ass! If somebody tries to stop the march to democracy, we will seek them out and kill them! We must be tougher than hell! This Vietnam stuff, this is not even close. It is a mind-set. We can't send that message. It's an excuse to prepare us for withdrawal."

"There is a series of moments and this is one of them. Our will is being tested, but we are resolute. We have a better way. Stay strong! Stay the course! Kill them! Be confident! Prevail! We are going to wipe them out! We are not blinking!"

(Go ahead and guess who said this.)