kevin barnett

The Baby Name Wizard is one of the coolest things on the internet I’ve come across lately. I am without a doubt, late to the party which looks like it launched in 2004. Even though I’m definitely NOT having a child anytime soon, I can’t help but play with the interface for hours on end.

I’m a little suprised to see that “Kevin” is on such a steep decline - however, I’m not suprised in the least that “Kevin” was the 13th most popular first name during the 1970’s. If I had a dime for every Kevin I knew growing up…

I was just listening to Cassettes Won’t Listen - Take This Outside

Not that I am a part of the web design/standards clique (yet) but I’ve noticed this little spam-cheese-tradition called the “Four Things Meme” circulating on some of my favorite blogs. In lieu of doing something productive, here’s mine:

Four jobs I’ve had:

1. Golf Caddy
2. Dishwasher/prep cook
3. iPod Genius
4. Web Designer

Four movies I can watch over and over:

1. The Godfather
2. The Godfather II
3. any James Bond/007 film (assuming Never Say Never Again is not a “real” James Bond film)
4. Old School

Four places I’ve lived:

1. Englewood, CO
2. Jones Creek, TX
3. Austin, TX
4. Chicago, IL

Four TV shows I love:

1. Lost
2. The Sopranos
3. Saturday Night Live
4. Daily Show w/ Jon Stewart

Four places I’ve vacationed:

1. California
2. Ontario
3. Hawaii
4. NYC

Four of my favorite dishes:

1. Enchiladas Crema Chipotle at El Sol y La Luna
2. Pad See Eiw at Thai Pastry
3. The Family Style BBQ Spread at The Salt Lick
4. A slice of Chicken Parmesean pizza from Tony’s House of Pizza

Four sites I visit daily:

1. Ain’t It Cool News
2. StyleGala
3. c h r o m a s i a
4. Gaper’s Block

Four places I would rather be right now:

1. Photo Safari in Botswana
2. Walking around Tokyo
3. New Zealand
4. A tourist-free beach in Hawaii

Four bloggers I am tagging:

1. Mike Cravey
2. Cliff Ray
3. Ward Seward
4. ok, I came up short.

I was just listening to Grand National - Drink To Moving On

Tonight, I had a vegan burger with bacon. I thought that was witty and delicious.

I was just listening to Christian Kleine - Bitter Things

I have just recently discovered the cinema aficionado website and I wanted to give it some official critique.

First off, the design is impecable. I love sites which are designed with web standards in mind as opposed to a web site not designed but merely built with web standards. More than that, the presentation of their special features employs a fantastic eye and mind for minimalism - something I love to enjoy but find it difficult to execute (i.e. this website).

My favorite features have to be The Genealogy of James Bond and Titles Designed by Paul Bass.

The writing/content of the website is at a pretty high (brow) discussion about film. I’ve been there and can do that but it’s not something I like to marinade in. Admittedly, I prefer to be high brow about music and design but keep a more “civilian-level” discriminating taste for cinema.

It’s probably my disgust for Robert Altman, Woody Allen and the French that will keep me out league with the likes of the editors of Not Coming…not to mention my soft spot for comic book adaptations, most science fiction + horror films and the Police Academy series. I think 99% of period films are boring and British humor doesn’t always get a rise out of me. I think Roger Ebert is the best film critic of all time and I read Ain’t It Cool News like it is going out of style.

However, I can seperate the idea of entertaining (to me) movies and brilliant films - like Spielberg says, he is both a moviemaker and filmmaker. I tend to appreciate both albeit in a different way.

Unfortunately, I have a harder time making that distinction between brilliance and entertainment in music. Or do I? I guess I’m just a fella with particular tastes.

I was just listening to Death Cab For Cutie - Soul Meets Body

…well, you know how the rest of that goes if you’re a T-sip. Congrats to the University of Texas Longhorns for winning the National Championship against USC last night. The game was incredible and proves why NCAA football will always be more exciting than NFL…at least in my book.

Fig 1. A rare display of a University of Texas Longhorn logo on a Texas A&M former student’s website

I was just listening to U2 - So Cruel

I can’t speak for Devin but 2005 marked my first successful Christmas card campaign. As an addendum to the personalized greeting card, I tried writing a traditional year-in-review synopsis. Dev and I have always enjoyed receiving brief catch-me-up’s in our Christmas cards. As soon as I started writing, I realized how difficult it is to write these letters without sounding too…hokey. Hats off to those who can write autobiographicals and do it with style.

As a plan B and perhaps even more appropriate, I designed a timeline with a some Top X lists. Even though I was crunched for time, I had a lot of fun putting it together. One thing I want to note about writing the timeline was that it was much, much easier to do with a blog (or two) to reference. I think this will provide even more incentive to be good about blogging - and blogging more relative events rather than the tradition ho-hum, check-this-out banter.

So far, I have received some really positive feedback from the timeline which makes it even sweeter. I’m sure Dev and I will continue with that tradition so I’m already looking forward to designing for the 2006 review.

Until then, here is our 2005 Year In Review.

Happy New Year - here’s to making 2006 better than the last.

I was just listening to Stars - Your Ex-Lover Is Dead