ultrarandom
Please visit the active Ultrasparky blog to browse the for the content that has accumulated since this all began in 1996.
The Great Molasses Flood of Boston
Since I talk about this disaster rather a lot, I suppose I ought to just record a few basic details so I can refer to them without exaggerating: On January 15, 1919, a tank of molasses exploded in Boston’s North...
Multimedia punctuation
Here's an incredible assortment of animated GIFs that may come in handy in many instances of online communication, such as it is. You may wish to refer to the full explanations at Jezebel....
Head. Desk.
Filed away for future use after all those moments when things get to be a bit much. Thank you, Peggy Olson, for making this visual punctuation mark possbile....
The Ideal Design Brief
"Do what ever you want...and please write back saying how much money you want." (From Letters of Note via Kottke.) I wonder if that’s the kind of direction these guys got for this record design?...
Random wonderful things
I’ve been bedridden for days, so my already active trawling of the web has really gone off the charts. Here are a few gems that I feel compelled to share: The "I Can Read Movies" Series: these imaginary paperback novelizations...
The Middle of Nowhere
As long as I’m fantasizing about secret lairs, I guess I should also consider a remote island. While there's certainly something about the aptly named Inaccessible Island that appeals to the comic-book fan in me, I’m more tempted to keep...
My Aim Is True
So it wasn't my imagination. When I was stopping to take a quick leak on my way through Schiphol Airport yesterday morning, I spotted this little thing that looked like a fly in the urinal, except it clearly wasn't...
Urges
I love it when my iPod — always in shuffle mode — randomly throws together a perfect mini-theme. Just now I got Song Against Sex by Neutral Milk Hotel, followed by Sexcrime (1984) by the Eurythmics. Even better, they were...
It's funny 'cuz it's true
Caution: The following video clip may cause graphic designers, art directors, and other creative functionaries to laugh and weep, perhaps simultaneously....
You! Now! Dance!
Happy birthday to Bobby Sherman, about whom I have very few recollections other than that when I was young I thought he was cute in this one episode of The Partridge Family....
A Great Belly Warmer
Why should I make an effort when the best jokes just write themselves? (Oh, here's a helpful explanation.)...
Words to Live By
We have to make books cool again. You know? If you go home with somebody and they don't have books, don't fuck 'em. And DVDs don't count, either. — John Waters, This Filthy World...
Copiers
Like many others, it seems, I’m not wild about the new logo that Interbrand has trotted out for Xerox. I think the typography is pretty nice, but hate hate hate the clunky, overdone, and seemingly pointless and trendy (in the...
Winter in Southern England
(Originally uploaded by pauldhunt. I was just talking to my mom, who was reminding me to pack warm clothes when I head home next week. I hadn't yet forgotten what winter in upstate New York would be like, but...
It's England Land!
Sure it's touristy, but how do you NOT take that shot when it's right there in front of you?...
Where Are Those Cameras?
I was a little creeped out when I checked out the new "Street View" feature on Google Maps and instantly found exactly the view from my old Brooklyn apartment's window that I looked at every day. I mean, it was...
Passport Control
I was happy when I renewed my passport last year and knew that I could go for a decade or so with a chip-free passport, kicking it all old-skool without worrying about how easily my primary form of ID...
On Location
I had a hunch that the setting for Shortbus was based on an actual party space somewhere in DUMBO, but I was never sure until now. In fact, the space itself was used to film a lot of the scenes...
Daring Though Skies Be Dark
Newsflash: Regis guys are nerds. Sometimes they're the kind of nerds that do things that you think might be interesting but discard when you really think through the details, but nerds nevertheless. See what I mean? The funny part is...
Bang! Bang! You're Loved!
Somewhere on West Broadway. It charmed my cynical heart for a moment. Plus, great layering of stuff....
I’m So 2-Dimensional
Make yourself a Simpson! (Thanks for the tip-off, Max.) Feel free to link to you own Simpson in the comments......
The Designer's Life
Wow, so even if you don't want to bother with that online MFA program I mentioned a while back, it seems like oyu can still make a $100,000 or more a year as a desktop graphic designer — part-time! (I...
Thank YOU, Internet!
Whenever I try to explain why I have such fond memories of the short-lived sketch-comedy show The State, I invariably end up trying to paraphrase the "muppet meat" sketch. Now, thanks to your friends at the Internet, you can just...
Model World
For days I have been trying to remember where I saw something about Olivo Barbieri's photos, which look like incredibly detailed scale models, but are actually aerial photos shot with a funky lens. They're not pictures of toys, honest injun!...
Googlismo
Because sometimes I feel obligated to post, whether I have anything worth mentioning or not. Googlisms!: sparky is in the house sparky is the only machine on the market that you can head and heel sparky is more than a...
And I Look Good in Blue
You're the United Nations! Most people think you're ineffective, but you are trying to completely save the world from itself, so there's always going to be a long way to go. You're always the one trying to get friends...
Junk Drawer
I’ve been menaing to write more about the many exciting or at least mildly amusing things going on lately, but it's been hard to gather the will to sit and concentrate on the blogging thing. Here are a bunch of...
Wig in a Box
This article about a non-profit funeral home and its relation to larger commercial funeral businesses is a must-read for anyone else who's gotten sucked into Six Feet Under and the ongoing business problems of poor little Fisher & Sons....
Linky Love
Other things for you to read: A Lego robot that can solve a Rubik's cube in less than 40 moves. The Pentagon is working on surveillance technology that can use radar and biometric analysis to identify people by the way...
News Flashes
Just a couple of relevant news items I’ve come across today: Just one mg at a time more perspectives about antidepressant withdrawl Woman Charged in Shooting Death of Daughter, 7 and a news tidbit about a recent tragedy in the...
Solid Gold
So you doubt my commitment to Sparkle Motion?...
You're Egg's
Speaking of good grammar, there is a brief hit list of common grammer pitfalls that are worth reading in this week's Stranger. Its you're duty to pay attention, kids....
Brrrrrrrrr
Oh, please don't make me go to work today. This would be an excellent reason to stay indoors all day. Even thoug the Giant Noisy Jet-Engine Heater isn't especially efficient at keeping the place toasty, it does just enough to...
Eyewitness
A former co-worker of mine from my old job was on a flight leaving JFK yesterday morning and watched Flight 587 crash. I can't imagine what it would have been like to sit still for a few hours after that...
Bird's Eye View
Whoa. 'Nuff said. (Click to see the huge version.)...
The Blustery Day
It's incredibly windy here today, and the gusts whipping around the outside of my 20th-floor office are making it sound like I’m inside a haunted house or something. The wind is strong enough to make the windows creak, which is...
Leaving on a Jet Plane
Just so no one panics or anything, I'll let you know now that I’m taking off to Denver fo a couple of days to do some work stuff, and then I'll be doing my usual it's-the-weekend-and-I’m-too-lazy-to-post routine, so don't think...
Bacon on the Brain
At the risk of offending all my vegetarian fans out there, I have to say that I often wonder how a person could give up meat when there's such a miraculous, tasty, and versatile thing as bacon out there in...
Apathy
Screw it, I’m just too busy to sit down and write anything long and funny or deep or whatever. I'll get around to it. But I'll show y'all a whole stack of mini-Polaroids once I’m back up and running....
Excuses, Excuses
Yeah, yeah — I know — I haven't been updating the journal much during the last week. so sue me. I’ve been awfully busy with my two freelance projects consuming most of my free time. (Granted, I found time to...
Customer Service
Fucking Blogger once again has freaked out and lost a whole post I had just written. No, I’m not going to try and recreate it, but it had some fun links, so here are the highlights: Ginger is Groc's fun...
Little Bits
In her own inimitable style, Dori writes in her journal about running into Ethan Hawke on an elevator, and noticing that he's nothing special in real life. Well, DUH! He's not one of those guys I would expect much from...
Tids and Bits
Good advice from Dori, who dropped me a note after she noticed me in her referral logs: "if you're lurking, speak the f*ck up!" Word to that. My fragile soul could use a little positive reinforcement right now. I was...
Freakin' February
Welcome to glorious February! Yeah, right? It's all downhill after Groundhog Day. But at least the millenial buzz is wearing off....
Groveling at the Feet of Our Leader
Oh, for Pete's sake! Public apology to Jonno: I’m sorry I referred to you as "stocky." I really meant "cute" to be the operative word, although "handsome" would have been more appropriate. Let's face facts, a flabby, scrawny pipsqueak like...
Dragging My Heels
I’ve been in a bit of a fog this week. Dragging my heels, yawning at work, and sitting slack-jawed around the playhouse just watching movies (Singing in the Rain, Poison, Muppets from Space) or goofing around on the website. As...