Andreas Larsson's Chicago Home

From Loft Life, photographer Andreas Larsson shows us that there's nothing wrong with monochrome. His loft is a fine example of this stark minimalistic lifestyle.

Ninja Weekend, Introducing Shuriken Magnets

I'm going to be pretty booked this weekend, so less time for blogging and more time stowing in the shadows while I study for these GREs. I'll be back Monday for more illtasticness. Oh, and grab the shurikens pictured above for $19.

Attention Spans, Gaming and Interactivity

For the gaming industry, there goes a popular saying, "A game has 15 minutes to hook a player in before they'll decide whether this is worth their time or not." While I personally invest about an hour, I believe this saying to be true.

Everything we interact with automatically receives a relevancy and judgmental check the moment we begin interacting with it. For instance, searching for a program that did a specific function on Google - if the result fails to provide the correct answer within 3-4 results, then either the user becomes frustrated and gives up, or the program doesn't exist. This mainly translates into the user giving up, finding a better alternative, and moving on.

This is exactly where trend hunters, interactivity experts, and marketing fall in. People need a sense of direction. Sometimes that direction can be taught. Sometimes it's innate. Combine both aspects of logic and culture and you create hype. Whether or not hype kills the product will fall onto the hands of the creator - which is the hard part - to create something new and innovative while simultaneous pleasing the market to which you are catering to.

Kozyndan... Shoes?

Sure, why the hell not. I just wish they weren't only sold in Japan. And the fact that they run a pricey $135 a pair. Talk about ouchies for art lovers!

Black Floors and Birdcages with Robyn Glaser

Photos courtesy of Ngoc Minh Ngo. More of the interior stylist Robyn Glaser's work can be found here.

Spinach Nuggets In Your Face Recipe

Nuggets in yo' face! Better yet, spinach in yo' face! Have a go at this recipe if you're bored and want a healthy replacement for McDonald's chicken nuggets. This makes about about 2 dozen.

• 1 package (10-ounce size) of frozen chopped spinach
• 1 tablespoon dried minced onion
• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 1 c. breadcrumbs
• 1/4 tsp. celery salt
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. basil or parsley
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 egg, beaten

Cook spinach according to package directions (microwave covered for 7 minute) then drain. Add the dried onion. Add the butter, breadcrumbs, herbs, cheese and eggs. Shape into 1-inch nuggets. (They can be frozen at this point if you wish to save some for later).

Place spinach nuggets on a greased baking sheet layered with parchment paper. Bake at 375 degrees about 7-10 minutes. OR you could bread them (flour-egg-breadcrumb trio) and fry for extra flavor.

Note: To make handling less messy, drop small amounts on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, then freeze for a few minutes before shaping.

Poketo! Wallets Give You Instant Cool

It's a good thing I don't have money. Else I'd buy their entire line of wallets. Then have more wallets than money I have to fill them with. Buy it for $20.

HIT + RUN Reinvent The T-Shirt, Hip-Hop, Mashups

It's good to see these guys tearing up the scene where art has kind of stagnated. From throwing silkscreen parties from NY to LA, to their upcoming line at Digital Gravel next month, they're really making a name for themselves and have nowhere to go but up. Can't wait to get my hands on one of these badboys. More info at their H+R site.

So I've Gone To Vista x64 SP1 Ultimate

It was a hard decision, but I went ahead with it since I had 4GB of RAM and Windows XP kept giving me obnoxious random BSOD's every so often. My initial impressions? It works, surprisingly much smoother than I had initially expected. Sure, emulating more than half of my applications in 32-bit mode is a bit of a downer and searching for drivers is like a treasure hunt and I had to buy a new wireless PCI card, but overall? I think it's a keeper - sorry to disappoint all you Vista haters out there.

My favorite is (another big surprise) the sidebar. I found it especially useful - though most of the downloadable applications are on Live.com are outright trash - the standouts seems to be a few hidden gems in that heaping pile of poop. My personal pick is the WP-Corp E-Mail checker. It runs through IMAP and opens up to Windows Mail, where you can also sync via IMAP and voila! You're up and running better than you could ever imagine. More impressions after a month or so of usage.

Dexter, Season 2 Review

The second season of one of the hottest shows I've seen is a bit of a tossup. Not in a bad way, of course, but it did start out a bit slow in the beginning, eventually leading to one of the best finales of the show. Throw in a gorgeous distraction, further development of characters (along with the original cast), and a superb script - the result? One hell of a thrilling show that manages to make a name for itself, dodging those boring crime drama clichés, and giving me more hours of entertainment than you can imagine. 8.4/10.

How To Diagnose Your PC with a Clean Boot

A clean boot in Vista is performed in very nearly the same way as in XP. You start by entering “msconfig” into the Start Search Bar in the Start menu, which will launch the System Configuration Utility. In the System Configuration Utility, click the “Selective Startup” radial button and uncheck the “Load Startup Items” option.
Go to the Services tab, select “Hide All Microsoft Services” and press the “Disable All” button. Click OK. Reboot as requested and see if the problem goes away. If it does, you know the services are probably the issue.
You probably disabled a whole fistful of services, and most of those are likely doing something worthwhile, so now we’ll need to narrow it down to just one culprit. First, we’ll divide the field by manually re-enabling half the services in the System Configuration Utility and rebooting.
See if the problem goes away. If the problem still occurs, then one of the programs you just enabled is the perpetrator. Otherwise, it’s one of the other half of the programs. Either way, you’ve eliminated fifty percent of the services as potential trouble makers. Now, change the list so that only half of the suspect services are enabled and repeat the process.
After a couple iterations of this halving process, you should be able to pinpoint the program that’s causing your problem. You’ll have to decide how you want to resolve the issue. If the interfering service is something you know you can live without, you can go ahead and disable it from the System Configuration Utility’s “Services” or “Startup” tabs, depending on the program.

If it’s something you want to keep, you’ll need to figure out some way to resolve the conflict. This can be easier said than done, but a good place to start is with a Google search for the interaction, or by visiting the conflicting programs’ forums, if they have them, or contacting their support departments. Good luck!

Nintendo DSi Review

I was hoping I'd be a little more stoked since I got my grimy hands on an imported Nintendo DSi. However, after playing with it for about an hour, I believe the upgraded options are pretty much useless for a person who uses a flash cart already. The browser still sucks and is slower than my GRE score processing time. Sure, the extra $30 you'll be paying may seem worth it for the two webcams, larger screens, and improved anti-crack hinge design, but those who already own one should see no need whatsoever to upgrade. That said - it's still a DS Lite underneath it all, so of course you should grab get one if you don't have one already. Just grab the cheaper model if you're looking to save some money. 8.5/10.