silentflute

Author: Amo

  • R Kelly’s Trapped in the Closet

    R Kelly

    One of the most ridiculous things I’ve watched on Youtube is “R Kelly’s Trapped in the Closet“. A hip-hop rap opera that is so silly and ridiculous it’s been parodied so many times by the likes of MadTV, Weird Al, and more.

    What makes it funnier is that R Kelly is *totally serious* about the whole thing, you can’t help but just laugh at him (note, not with him).

    Additionally the whole “trapped in the closet” is in itself a joke, considering R Kelly’s well known indiscretions, once being caught with a minor.

    Take for example this classic scene where some cop finds his partner is cheating on him, this scene is just … well I don’t even think there is a superlative that describes exactly what this thing is.

    Anyway, if you have the stamina, or the courage – or are just bored and want to waste a lazy Sunday, you can’t go wrong with this silly black hip-hop opera series.Links and resources;

  • New John Rambo Poster

    Rambo

    Here is the latest John Rambo Poster, courtesy of IGN.com

    Links;

  • jQuery – A quick intro

    Of all the AJAX frameworks out there currently, one that I’m really liking is jQuery.  It does pretty much what every other AJAX type framework out there does, but what I find really good about jQuery is that it tries to seperate JavaScript from your actual HTML.

    I did try DOJO (which I think is backed by IBM), but found it too hard to understand. MooTools is very popular, and has a small footprint but I find their documentation lacks any real examples, or code that you can copy-paste or hack apart. MochiKit has a lot of buzz, but I find it does a very similar job to jQuery.

    I find jQuery has a lot of examples, and there are already 2 books out there on this framework.

    Although I’ve only been able to do small-scale examples of jQuery, I’m hoping to learn how to integrate jQuery with PHP/MySQL and deliver some of those really nice effects that you’ve seen everywhere else.

    Links;

  • Web 2.0 Summit coverage

    Currently underway in San Francisco, California is the fourth edition of Web 2.0 Summit covering various topics, issues and ideas.

    Links:

  • Adding Crossfit to your gym workout

    One of the problems or issues with regular gym work is that it can get incredibly boring incredibly easily – even with a programme, you may find yourself limited to the machines, and free weights that are in the gym.

    Naturally there are classes you can join too, such as hydrofit, energy cycling, boxerfit, or circuit training.

    All of these are great, but what if you find yourself wanting more, but can’t get it from a gym; where do you go?

    For many, the answer is “Crossfit”.

    Although I’ve not done it myself (due to sports injuries), crossfit is all about random, strength based exercises performed at high intensity.

    Although I’m not into high intensity exercises as I much prefer soft intensity such as swimming, cycling as these do not impact on your overall skeleton, I’m finding myself increasingly wanting to vary exercises with different ideas to prevent myself from getting bored and to ensure that muscle groups are being worked on.

    But, lets say for the sake of argument you are into high intensity, and don’t have any sports injuries — is Crossfit for you?

    Well it could be. Crossfit is very high intensity and reminds me of that training promo for the movie “300”. It incorporates a lot of pakour, martial arts and military style training with an urban element that includes Kettleballs, big tyres, and other random elements.

    The random element of Crossfit, in addition to the viral effect of Youtube, has seen the popularity of Crossfit grown from an” underground” concept to a fully-fledged business.

    More info:

  • Back online

    I’ve got my site back online, however there may still be some teething problems with various parts of my site.

    Hopefully everything will be up, running and looking right within the next few days.

  • Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe

    Charlie Brooker

    Currently in its fourth season, BBC 4’s “Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe” is a hilarious and sometimes cynical look at the week’s TV with Brooker’s own form of social commentary TV industries more ludicrous trends.

    Of course if you’re already a fan of Charlie Brooker, you don’t need me to tell you about him — but lets say you haven’t watched the show, or you “don’t do youtube”… what is the show all about?

    Its sort of like “Harry Hill’s TV Burp“, but with more swearing, and it can be more cerebral. And of course there’s a heavy wift of cynicism at the state of TV which always seems to be fresh and funny, regardless of how frustrated Brooker seems to be with TV.

    Of course this isn’t the first time Brooker has been involved in such ventures. He was heavily involved with TVGoHome (now defunct), and writes in the Guardian every now and again and he was involved with “Nathan Barley“, which I never saw — but kinda wish I did.

    Screenwipe has also lots of social commentary pieces. My favourite of these has to be “Aspirational TV” as it accurately wraps up the aspirational nature of modern TV shows.

    The show has developed its own cult following on Youtube (and other video sites), which is ironic, because I believe the show could easily have been produced by a Youtube fan — assuming of course they could get clearance for that copyrighted stuff (oh wait, this is the Internet, I forgot!)

    Anyhow if you’re inclined or just curious then you can catch Screenwipe on Youtube, or if you can stay up late its on BBC4 at a really late timeslot.

    Links;

  • Tracking popular virals

    I don’t know about you, but I’ve always admired Virals, they’re is a lot of creativity involved with making virals, in addition – it throws the marketing over to your customer. But I guess most importantly, they’re usually very funny.

    Anyway, I found a site that “tracks” the most popular flash games, video virals, etc.

    Although it isn’t tracking, for whatever reason, what I consider to be the viral with the most buzz, that of course being the fabled “return” of former WWE wrestler Chris Jericho (Y2J).

    Anyway…

    Links;

  • Top 100 design agencies

    Let’s say you’ve just graduated, or you’re in the cross-roads of your career, or like me — just want something unique, different but fun and challenging?

    Where do you go to find agencies to work for?

    Well, the answer in the past was to look in Web design magazines, via online galleries – or the Yellow pages.

    But fortuently there’s now a list of the top 100 agencies in the UK (although you probably already knew of its existance), so – have fun, do your research and with hope, join an agency that does the things you want to do.

    Good luck,

    http://www.nmatop100.co.uk/

  • The problem with blogs

    The biggest problem with “blogging” is that, unless you have a topic you can really talk about, you end up:

    1. ranting,
    2. talking about everything
    3. writing posts saying how sorry you are you haven’t been posting
    4. writing about nothing.

    But the number one question I get is, “Can you really make money out of blogs?” The answer is yes, providing you’ve got good content, that is regularly updated and have lots of traffic to your site.

    Of course this doesn’t mean you’ll make a lot of money from blogging, its likely when you start you’ll make a pittance, perhaps $1, $2 — naturally it depends on the type of marketing structure you have, how much traffic you have, etc; ultimately like with anything — you only get out of “blogging” what you put into it.

    Some topics could be:

    1. Movies
    2. The upcoming London mayoral election (Political blogs are very popular in America, and I read once that DailyKos makes a few million from their site)
    3. The upcoming general election
    4. Your casual observations of the world (assuming you’re wanting to be a stand-up comic).
    5. Some kind of viral marketing gimmick which leads to another viral marketing gimmick that leads to a product/service (remember all that buzz about the hoverboard which turned out to be a Segway?)
    6. Blogging about blogging
    7. Blogging about virals

    I’m sure you can come up with better topics, even if I can’t