 20050731
On Tuesday morning, I woke up extra early to be first in line at the DMV to register my bike and take a test to get my motorcycle learner's permit. (I was frantic, btw, studying for this test. I spent long hours, late at night, memorizing safety books. Indiana tests were a cinch -- but New York? Motorcycles? [*Sounds of grinding gears and large objects crashing to the floor*] )
Got there at 8:30, left at Noon: Long, unnecessary lines caused by the DMV's disregard for intelligent system design (e.g. I finished my test in 10 minutes, but had to wait for the batch of 30 others in my group to finish before my test was graded. Also, the test administrator had to find the corresponding answer-key for each different test, and then check them by hand. The process lasted more than 2 hours). Although, the situation assured me that if I weren't a web developer, there would be plenty of other opportunites to help systems become better. I realized that I am most interested by problems involving logistics and inefficiency. This, subsequently, spurred fantasies of working as an urban planner in Chile at age 35. Anyway. The test itself turned out to be a farce (12 questions on Alcohol, 2 on road signs, 1 on school buses, 1 on train tracks, and only 4 questions about motorcycle safety!!!). All that time studying ... completely wasted. I could have been drinking with my brahs down at the bar. (*sigh*) I passed the test; No problemo, but... now I have to take a picture for my new license? Uh, ok. What!? -- I can't wave to you in the photo? Dumb. Oh, now I can't smile with my mouth open, either? ARE YOU KIDDING!? That's the only way I know how to smile! Well, throw me a bone! Give me a mirror or something -- I need to figure this out. Fine. Let's just take the photograph.She takes the photo, but won't show it to me. She says I will receive my new license in 7-10 days. AND THEN, she says, "I need your Indiana license, please." Naturally, I flip out: You need WHAT!? No. You can't have that. I am an Indiana citizen and always will be ... "Sir, please give it to me. You can't have both." Fine, fine! But, only because this bike is so cool. I don't need that license anyway ... we're seceding, you know ... Indiana is going to be its own country and I will get a new license there. "Whatever, sir." She staples my Indiana ID to my application, puts it on a stack, and presses a button indicating she is ready to help the next customer. Ha. Just wait. She'll see. One day, Indiana will have highways of gold and everyone will be able to drive on them ... EXCEPT HER! Ha ha. Sucker. Right? Google Tried To Patent RSS Ads!?
Weird. I expect a maneuver like that from Gates or Bezos -- but Larry and Sergei? Come on. Our cinderella is losing her innocense! Quick blurb here. They mention Kottke.
Christopher Lynn's Movable Walls is quickly becoming one of my favorite blogs -- mostly for his music posts. Today he turned me on to Harry and the Potters, a band created with the premise that “The Harry Potter from Year 7 and the Harry Potter from Year 4 started a rock band. And now, no one can stop the wizard rock.”
20050726
You can download their songs on MySpace.
I am using 4by6 to print business cards.
Agora
Tickets are on sale for the Agora shows, which run from September 13-24th.In celebration of the historic McCarren Park pool site, a 50,000 square foot empty pool in Williamsburg, Noémie Lafrance is creating a site-specific dance performance that invites the community to re-experience a moment in movement of this monumental public space. Agora is a site-specific dance performance inspired by the McCarren pool site and performed by 30 dancers to a multi-channel score with theatrical lighting transforming the 50, 000 square foot pool into a vast staging area. Performed inside the large pool, the overlapping narratives of Agora will produce the illusion of travel through the different layers of visceral urban experiences and explore the phenomenon of agoraphobia as a social and physical reaction to urban architecture.via Meg. Controversy Alert!
Our very popular Busted Tee, New Mexico: Cleaner Than Regular Mexico, is causing a huge stir for Urban Outfitters, the retail giant who buys the shirt from us wholesale.Basically, the Anti-Defamation League and several other organizations representing Latinos and/or Civil Rights are asking the retailer to stop selling shirt. Also, several petitions have popped up online encouraging people to boycott Urban Outiftters. Albuquerque's ABC affiliate, KOAT, even took the shirt to the streets to get New Mexicans' reactions. Our name, unfortunately, has never been mentioned.
Jakob is learning how to make music. He recorded and mixed his first song with his brother Eric. It is online and ready to be downloaded.
Photo Collection: New York Nightlife in the 70s (Nudity). via Ricky.
Make Your Own Stamps
Zazzle allows you to make personalized stamps with your own photos.Stamps.com offered a similar product last year– but the service was abruptly taken offline after the USPS revoked their license. Apparently, too many users were making obnoxious stamps with photos of Hitler, Pol Pot's killing fields, etc. Right Hand Bands
 My friends Bill and Patrick, who are interning with us this Summer, are two of the most hyper-entrepreneurial people I know. Last Winter, if you recall, they launched Stuffed Robot, a venture that assembles and sells handmade stuffed robots. They have since become a cottage industry and rely on sewers who work from home to make their robots by the dozens. Over the past few weeks, for pleasure, they illustrated, silk-screened, and sewed together a bunch of wristbands (15 different designs in all) and crafted a nice site in Flash to sell them online. They call them Right Hand Bands, and can be seen here. Ramen Noodles is my favorite, although their 'personality test' found that I best match with Dueling Revolvers. My Web 2.0
I am playing with Yahoo's My Web 2.0 BETA, which was released today. After a few minutes, you realize it is just the superpower portal's imitation of the cinderella darling del.icio.us. BUT, they do a few things I like, that Delicious doesn't. You can:* save a copy of a page, including its content Hooray Alert!
Youngna and I shared a celebratory hug upon the news that a variation of our Candy Cane Project was accepted as an installation at Boston's Glowlab.
The opening is October 14th.
I particularly like this shirt we released today on Defunker.
(Illustrated by Simon, photographed by Youngna, modeled by Bill and Jessica.)
Currently thinking about this Gregory Crewdson photo ...
20050718
News Corp to buy Intermix (owner of the popular MySpace.com social networking site) for $580 million. via Jeff.
My roommates and I hosted a sleepover party on Friday night. We asked people to come clad in pajamas, and to bring a sleeping bag, of course. Well over 100 people showed up to gorge in the junk food and make-your-own-sundae supplies. Matt also came with his DJ kit to make music for all of us crazies.
20050714
No one really ever slept ... we stayed up until sunrise, and then struggled to figure what to do next -- so we just went to Kitchenette and ordered pancakes. Youngna and Jake took pics. Movie Deal
 It's official: Today we announced a partnership with Paramount Pictures to make a movie together! The feature will be developed with Sean Daniel, who oversaw Animal House and produced The Mummy. Variety has more details. Really, Ricky wasn't joking. We only considered this because we covet an IMDb listing. Yuki's Joy
Nick sent me the music video Joy by Japanese popstar Yuki. Not only am I infatuated with her, but now the rest of the Development Office is too. Each day, we crowd around one computer, play the video, and struggle to learn her choreography.
Forgot to post a few weeks back: Chris, me, and Intern Bill at the No Pants Party.
20050701
Looking at the photo now, I realize the picture only shows guys in their underwear. But, I SWEAR there were loads of girls in their panties too -- like my cute friend KT. (Photos by the sensational Youngna). The One Year Mark
I just realized that I moved to NY one year ago.Gosh, I am happy to be here. Coming up for air.
I have been really busy. Kunal and I are wrapping up Killweek 2.0, which has simply been a long stretch of all-day/all-night working as we prepare to launch a new company project.Before this popped up, we were in a mess moving to our new offices (which occupy the 9th floor of the same building I live in). The other development guys and I moved up first, while remodeling construction was still being completed on the front half of the floor. Now, except for lighting (just dangling bulbs right now) and lots of bare wall space, the office is finished and the 13 of us (up from just 4 at the beginning of the year) are working side by side. All of this swept me up the moment I returned from Nicaragua. So, regrettably, I haven't had the chance to write out the stories I brought home. And I curse myself, because I already feel some of the details dissipating from my recollection. This weekend I am heading out of town to relax in Rhode Island, and I hope to pen the anecdotes there because I am overdue in sharing them. Noteworthy itself, this weekend is the result of a neat circumstance. Jim Nellis, whom I've never met, but reads my blog, sent me an email a few weeks ago during Killweek 1.0 to offer me a week in his Narragansett rental house. In exchange, he asked whether he could swing by for an hour or so each day to 'pick my brain' on topics of his choosing. "Sure," I said. So, me and a bunch of my pals are taking the train over for a few days on the shore. I am excited because I always expected my life to be filled with intimate, interesting transactions like these. What a strange frontier though, where the mention of money would only makes things seem commercial and bland, and instead we trade conversations like pelts for weekend retreats. I just hope he asks more questions about the Internet, and less about professional sports because I don't know too much about them. Anyway, can't wait. Happy holiday. |
 |
 Hi, I'm Zach. I grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana and graduated from Wake Forest. After college, I moved to Manhattan to get serious about a company I ran with friends. We sold it to Barry Diller's InterActiveCorp in 2006. I just wrapped up with a project I co-founded called Vimeo and left CV to focus on being a twenty-five year old. I have another blog called Copy and Taste, where I post about learning to cook. I live in Brooklyn now.  Del.icio.us My Flickr Me on Flickr Last.fm Linked in MySpace Netflix History Vimeo  Amir Blumenfeld Chris Bodenner Mareen Fischinger Fort Wayne Observed Nick Gray Hype Machine Jake and Amir Jakob Lodwick Oh My Rockness Jonathan Marcus Youngna Park Megan Scheminske Eliot Shepard Shorpy Signal vs. Noise Alex Soth Stereogum Ricky Van Veen Khoi Vinh Eugene Wyatt  June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007  Postal Skype SMS (via AIM) |
