Sawyer Paul's Blog, page 76
March 28, 2013
Ears plugged
This is the kind of shot I'm getting out of the Lumia 920. Unbelievable.
iPod Shuffle Art
I recently sold my 3rd-gen shuffle. Hopefully it finds use with its new owner. If you recall, I bemoaned its death, and barely liked its successor. I thought it would be a nice tribute to make a few pieces out of photos I had of the device. Live long, old buddy.
Thao plays lots of guitars
Photos from Lee's Palace, March 27. Thao with the Get Down Stay Down.
March 27, 2013
Big Quote
I can’t stress this enough: Do what you love…in between work commitments, and family commitments, and commitments that tend to pop up and take immediate precedence over doing the thing you love. Because the bottom line is that life is short, and you owe it to yourself to spend the majority of it giving yourself wholly and completely to something you absolutely hate, and 20 minutes here and there doing what you feel you were put on this earth to do.
Well. Fuck.
March 25, 2013
Diane Young CD insert
For my pre-press class I had to make a CD insert out of a template. I went with the new single by Vampire Weekend. It's one of my favourite songs right now. Here's the insert, with the video for the song below. I think I got the font right from the video.
March 24, 2013
March 21, 2013
How to migrate from Feedburner to URI, use your own RSS link, and never worry about this problem again
This looks like a great service. I'll be doing this with almost all my feeds as soon as I get a few free hours.
A Record Year for Rainfall: Beta Release
I began writing this book in 2008, sitting in a park cafe in Amsterdam. I thought it was a pretty good spot to start a book about Las Vegas. Five years later, I’m still not done. This isn’t uncommon with writers who don’t make a living at the craft, and not even that rare for people who do. However, I’ve reached the point with the book where I need to ship. I’m not finished, and I’m not satisfied with how the book flows, but when I began, I set an absolute ship date. It was my 30th birthday. I’m 30 now, and need to move on.
Download A Record Year For Rainfall Beta ReleaseA few months before releasing this version, it became clear to me the book wouldn’t be done in time, but more than anything my own definition of ‘finished’ became muddled. When is a book done? When is an author ever completely happy with a manuscript? I’m not sure any book ever really is, even if that process is happening only in the writers’ head. While this book exists as an incomplete product, it’s as good as I can make it with my available time and energy, and for the time being, I need to let it go.
I’ve spoken to other writers about this, and they think I’m nuts. But artists in other fields do this all the time, especially programmers, who often release apps before they’re completely satisfied. They ship and iterate. That’s my plan here. This is A Record Year for Rainfall Beta Release 1. There’s going to be another, then another, and another, until I’m finished. In line with most programmers, this release is free, and the eventual finished product will cost money.
The next release won’t come for a while. The whole reason I’m releasing this now is to get the book out of my head so I can do some other things. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ve found it too difficult to work on two books at a time. I want to open up new documents and fill them with new ideas, and these ideas need to rest for a bit.
Until that time, I hope you enjoy this release. I hope you’re understanding of the various issues inside (I tried to get most of the typos, but I’m more talking about structure and foreshadowing that may or may not totally pay off). A Record Year for Rainfall is a pretty short book, but I tried to make it messy in a fun way. I hope you like it.
March 14, 2013
This is Sports Entertainment 2013 cover
From 2009-2010 I kept a blog under the guise of Fake Vince McMahon. It was a lot of fun, and at the end I compiled the blog and made a more focused book out of the best entries. I've never been particularly happy with the cover for it, until today. Here's the new one. It'll take a few days for me to go around and update the cover everywhere, but you can check it out here now.
March 13, 2013
My Gear: Spring 2013
It's March, 2013. Here's what I use to get stuff done.
Computer: Acer S7
Since November 2012
I purchased the S7 last November, switching to Windows 8 after 7 straight years of Mac use. I was ready to try something new, and the S7 is the perfect mix of lightweight portability, touch-friendliness, and horsepower. It never seems to choke on CS6, and it multitasks like a much bigger PC. It's also barely 2 pounds, with the thickness of a AA battery. Windows 8 took some getting used to and the trackpad is garbage, but the multitouch screen makes the OS fly. The incredibly thin keyboard is my favourite keyboard out of all the keyboards.
Phone: iPhone 5Since October 2012
Other phones do certain things better. Other phones may last longer, look nicer, and impress more. The iPhone is a functional phone in almost every way, and it's the only dependable phone I've ever owned (this includes previous iPhones). I can't help but take for granted some of its more rote features, but they are amazing. Much like other longtime smartphone owners, I probably use Apple's dedicated apps the least. I've carved out a homescreen of personalized and well-chosen apps that help me in immeasurable ways.
Mp3 Player: Zune HD
Since March 2010
Every now and then, I'll put the Zune HD in a drawer. I'll try to use the iPhone, or a shuffle or something else as my mp3 player. Within two weeks I'm charging it up again. I covered all the reasons I loved this little thing back in a review I wrote in 2011, and everything I said then is still true. Even though the Zune service shut off in autumn 2012, you can still download songs in the Zune marketplace with your Xbox Music Pass, so really, nothing has changed.
Pen: Caran d'Ache Pen x Monocle
Since Februrary 2013
I'm left handed and a poor penman. It's a chore and I always, always prefer typing. That is, until I picked up this pen from the Toronto Monocle store (I also picked up one of these calendars and truck it everywhere now). Now, I'm finding excuses to use it. This pen feels exactly like a no. 2 pencil, and it glides like silk.
Mouse: Microsoft Arc Touch
Since August 2012
My desk at home is made of glass. This mouse works on it. The little scroll pad is decent, and the buttons are fine. There's not much else here to write home about, other than how it can flatten down and look like a slug.
