I stupidly pretended to dislike Justin Bieber for longer than I’d like to admit. The truth is, I’ve been 100 percent onboard the Justin train since 2012’s Believe.
Changes definitely feels like a transformation for Justin. The overproduction saturating most pop is all but stripped away in most of this album. Changes talks to Justin being a new person, learning some life lessons, and acquiring perspective.
It’s a welcome evolution for him as a person and artist, and I for one am pretty excited about this new musical era for him.
Favorite tracks: Yummy (Summer Walker Remix), Available, Get Me (feat. Kehlani)
I published my channel update for the year today. Instead of doing this video at the beginning of the year and talk about the things I plan to do, I wanted to actually start doing them first.
I explain a little about what’s been going on in my life, the things I’ve been thinking about a lot, and the type of content I want to create. Thanks for watching and for your support!
It has quickly become my favorite mug. I’ve been looking for a mug that keeps my coffee hot for longer, is spill-proof, and easy to clean. So far, all the mugs I’ve tried could do two of those things well, but definitely not all three.
No longer! This 12 ounce YETI Rambler has double-wall vacuum insulation to keep your hot drinks hot, and your cold drinks cold. This new lid called the “Hot Shot” cap is easy to open, spill proof, and lets you drink from any side. Most importantly, it’s a breeze to clean. The top portion of the lid painlessly twists off for you to clean by hand or throw in the dishwasher. Which, oh yea, did I mention this mug is dishwasher safe?! Thank the maker!
Welcome to my weekly linked list! I enjoy sharing the interesting things I come across while exploring the far reaches of the internet. And 🎶 this is how I do iiiiit 🎶
Umm… so how did I not know that Daniel Caesar had a Tiny Desk Concert?! Shout out to the YouTube algorithm for finally showing me this magnificent performance. His voice is nothing short of superb.
The day Operator came out, I realized it was possible to have a crush on a typeface. I mean, look at it. It has the most beautiful italic forms of a monospaced typeface. The scripty feel was a bold choice and well executed. But ok, I’ve written four sentences about a font that was recently replaced by JetBrains Mono. It’s a good-looking font, and I’ve enjoyed using it for the past week.
Andy Bell is hilarious. There are some great jokes in here. If you’re a web developer, I’m sure more than a few will make you chuckle. Here’s my favorite, and boy is it true.
Holy smokes. I’m planning on dropping some serious money on some of these prints. Although, since most of them are $5 or $10, it won’t break the bank too much. I of course ordered Imperial, but I’ll most likely order All You Have, Your Move, Creep, and Stretchy Pants next. Also, Andrew’s accepting Apple Pay makes ordering these way too easy.
After Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and seven other people died suddenly in a helicopter crash, I’ve been watching everything about him I can find. I wanted to write something earlier this week, but it felt disrespectful to the people who actually knew him.
Watching him play was amazing though. Sure, his arrogance was irritating to me at times, but boy did I believe in him. If the Lakers were struggling, I had faith Kobe would close the game out. And goddamn, most times he did. Kobe Bryant felt like a basketball player with superhuman ability, who came through—what felt like every time—to will the Lakers to victory.
My thoughts are with Vanessa Bryant and the other families who are dealing with an unimaginable loss. It’s a horrific reminder that life is short, and that the time to tell people you love them is right now.
Craig Jenkins’ summary of The Grammys is pretty spot on:
The hip-hop and R&B awards are constantly being shuffled out of the broadcast, so if you skipped the preshow, you might have thought Lizzo, the evening’s most nominated act, had won only Best Pop Solo Performance (for “Truth Hurts”). The message, that hip-hop and R&B are only sporadically deserving of top honors, is hard to handle in the era of Beyoncé, Rihanna, Drake, and Kendrick Lamar, all of whom made era-defining records over the past decade only to be largely shut out of the top honors at what felt like the peak of their creative powers — and in favor of Adele, Ed Sheeran, Swift, and others whose music is geared for broader mainstream appeal.
I wonder if at some point, we’ll collectively deem all of these awards and their shows as irrelevant. White artists (and by no means do I intend to disparage their talent) continue to suspiciously win awards. Billie Eilish is wonderful. I love her music and her unique voice, but Lizzo and Lil Nas X had much more influential records. For Billie to win all of the awards she did, just doesn’t sit right with me.
This commercial is perfect. Because of Captain America’s stoic nature, I’d forgotten how funny Chris Evans is. It’s a comedic trio I’d never imagined, but it works incredibly well.
After finishing Fallen Order, I couldn’t help but want to talk about it. This might be the best video I’ve made so far. I did several passes on the edit, compiled some pretty good in-game footage, and I’ve got some new motion graphics I’m trying out too.
Spoiler alert: I loved every part of this game. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!
Welcome to the first ever “Linked List.” This list is an easy way for me to share interesting things I come across while exploring the far reaches of the internet.
After seeing Adam Driver in The Report, Marriage Story, and The Rise of Skywalker, I’m just in love with him. I don’t know how a person can be this likable and talented at the same time.
Also, the first comment made me laugh:
Adam carries that tree like he carried the sequel trilogy
Joey Kramer, the drummer for Aerosmith (turns out he also named the band) is suing his bandmates because they won’t let him perform at the Grammys. Joey was out recovering from an injury:
Aerosmith used a replacement drummer for its Las Vegas residence, but then wouldn’t let Kramer rejoin when he claimed to be ready to resume his duties in November. Kramer said in the legal papers that he “announced his desire to return and formally made himself available to rehearse with the band and to attend the shows,” but that the rest of the band insisted he had to demonstrate that he was “able to play at an appropriate level.”
“I am being deprived of the opportunity to be recognized along with my peers for our collective lifetime contributions to the music industry,” Kramer said in a statement. “Neither the MusiCares’ Person of the Year Award nor the Grammys’ Lifetime Achievement honors can ever be repeated.”
Disney+ has apparently hit the ground running, as a recent Wall Street analyst report said that the new streaming service had around 24 million U.S. subscribers by the end of November – and that the House of Mouse’s gains were Netflix’s losses.
The report, which came from Cowen & Co., estimated that about 1 million of Netflix’s U.S. subscribers had canceled their subscriptions in favor of signing up for Disney+ […]
Sure, Admiral Ackbar’s almost appearance in Rogue One is some interesting trivia, but Ben Pearson’s take on his death in The Last Jedi turns out to be much more profound than I expected from this article:
As for Admiral Ackbar’s death in The Last Jedi, I know there’s a huge contingent of people who feel like that character deserved more or that not concentrating on his death was disrespectful or something. I’ve always viewed Ackbar’s death as one of the more grounded aspects of any Star Wars film, because it embodies the idea that not all heroes die heroic deaths or have pivotal roles to play in every mission. Sometimes, war just takes those you love.
Mark me down as officially hyped for the new season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Is it just me, or does this trailer fully acknowledge that Ahsoka Tano and Darth Maul are the best part of this series? I’m interested to see the show cover in more depth Order 66 and how Ahsoka survived.
The final season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars will start streaming on February 21, 2020.
In what I’m calling a “weed-filled rage,” I ripped my old site apart and created a simple landing page instead.
See, I’ve been having a bit of a professional identity crisis (I guess a personal one too, but that’s not what this is about). I left frontend development and design in 2018 to go work for a podcast company. When I was unexpectedly let go, I didn’t know what I was. Designing and building for the web had changed so much in that year. Was I still a frontend developer? A designer? A podcast producer?
Turns out, it doesn’t matter. Those titles are nothing more than the job I had, not who I was or am. So this new landing page does a better job of saying that. I’m not my job title, but I am a geek, coffee snob, and a maker of stuff. And no one can take that away from me.
This past Sunday I spent some time listening to Mac Miller’s posthumous album, Circles. In it, Mac is raw, self-aware, and full of hope for the future.
I’ve been a fan of his since he was self-releasing mixtapes and it’s been amazing to see his evolution as a person and an artist. I can’t help but feel heartache and sadness as I listen to the art of a person that finally came to terms with who they were, but whose time ended too soon.
