New Project: Film review site Xi-online.nl

RecensieXi-online is a movie which was launched way back in 1994. Wow, 1994, That makes it the oldest movie site in the Netherlands, and probably one of the oldest movie websites anywhere.

The best part is that this site is entirely run by film students of the University of Amsterdam, and creates a great opportunity for many of them to publish their first film reviews (in Dutch: recensie), articles and interviews. It allows students to view press releases and gives them access to great film festivals, which they usually can’t afford. Great innitiative, and a great party to hook up with.

The next couple of months I’ll be working together with Xi to create a massive Dutch film community. With its academic background, it will be an open platform offering high level movie critique and theoretical discussion, next to the usual screaming excitement about new trailers and movie news of course. Due to some technical problems they’ve experienced the current website is a mere placeholder to keep things going online, but the new website will be launched by the end of the year.

How the MacBook DS will kill the shortcut key

Re-watching Steve Jobs introducing the (first) iPhone at MacWorld 2007, one particular passage grabbed my attention and just wouldn’t let go. In this part of his keynote Jobs is bashing his new competitors in the mobile phone industry by pointing out “the problem” with their user interface: — Read on

Super Mario

Super Mario World

This and many other great drawings by Mike Mitchell. Be sure to check out his buddies through his link section for more cool art.

The Big Picture: A Royal Farewell in Bali

Some magnificent images at The Big Picture of a royal Balinese funeral, at which Agung Suyasa, head of the royal family of Ubud, was cremated. This huge bull is used as the sarcophagus.

Firm believers in reincarnation, a funeral to the Balinese is not a time for mourning, but for celebrating the fact that the deceased soul is finally freed.

Free or not, that is one impressive bull.

Microkids Related Posts version 2.1 released

Version 2.1 of my Related Posts plugin fixes an issue with WordPress 2.6. With the introduction of the new revision system, the plugin would create relationships with all revisions of a post when editing.

If you have encountered this issue, update to 2.1 and just remove the bogus relationships manually.

Download version 2.1

Ugliest Mac Wallpapers Ever

Ugliest Mac Wallpapers EverApple has been a brand associated with class and design for a long time. For decades, luxurious Macs have been the weapon of choice for creatives, designers, musicians, visual artists – the hip, the fashionable, the famous. The slick designs of Mac computers are still winning award after award, and they are famous for their ingenious OS X, which is praised for its great user interface design and user friendliness.

In comes MacDesktops.com. Endless series of the ugliest wallpapers you have ever seen. Prepare to be confronted with the most disgusting “designs” ever, coming from a completely unexpected direction. Wallpapers so ugly, that it shakes the entire Mac brand. This is not just disturbing, it’s insulting. If you ever thought of Mac users as elitists, you were right, and this is why.

From a bright sight, revolting as it may be for some, this might just be one of the richest sources for post modern art and subjectivism you will ever encounter. Hooray for post modernism.

Related Posts version 2.0 released

Related PostsJust a short announcement: I have released the WordPress Related Posts plugin version 2.0. It has a lot of cool new features so make sure you update.

Nifty Design Solutions: Flash Headlines

Nifty Design Solutions: Flash HeadlinesWelcome to the first episode of the Nifty Design Solutions series. In each episode I will take on a certain (interaction) design problem, and try to gather a series of solutions. Some of them might be ingenious, some of them might be pure eye candy, but they will always be nifty.

Todays episode: Flash Headlines.

Lately this concept has been emerging as a solution for presenting headlines as an attractive rich media experience. It is mostly used by sites whose main focus is news or entertainment, although other branches are catching on quickly. Large visuals, semi-transparent sections, animation, video and audio are combined into an appealing impression of what the site has to offer, with the nice side effect of creating the feel of being a good quality content website. — Read on

Impressive 3D work by Khalid Al-Muharraqi

Muharraqi studios, founded by Bahrain based 3D artist Khalid Al-Muharraqi, have an amazing gallery. Khalid’s father Abdulla is one of the most famous artists in the Kingdom of Bahrain. His paintings are equally impressive.

Interesting how father and son, although using different tools and platforms, share a lot of themes in their work.

WordPress Related Posts plugin 2.0 release candidate

Related PostsAfter receiving overwhelming responses to the first release of the Related Posts plugin for WordPress, I have tried to implement a range of new features as requested by my loyal commenters. — Read on

About Microkid

Microkid is an Amsterdam based independent new media concept developer. This website is mainly about changes in technologies and culture, but also shares some hands on development tips.