Gaywad...

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Yeah, baby... this is just dipped in 24-carat awesomness... Enjoy!

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We're going to the MOON, baby!!!

Exciting news! NASA just reported that, due to their recent bombing of the Moon, they think they've discovered an area of "hydrogen-rich deposits covered by dessicated regolith" at the south pole!

That means "water" to you and me. At least... probably. Hopefully.

That also means that one of the biggest hurdles to establishing a permanent manned moon base (i.e. access to water) may be solved. I don't know about you, but I'd like to retire in a condo facing the east slope of the Apeninne Mountain range, just off the Sea of Serenity. Low gravity, awesome night skies and a daily "Earthrise"... Count me in!

For Scott - "OG" Star Wars

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My friend Scott is a huge Star Wars fan and a master-class costumer. I ran across this the other day and thought he'd like it.

I gotta admit: I found something strangely appealing about a rapping Obi-Wan wearing Flavor Flav's big honking clock medallion. And hey... Lea in the gold bikini... 'nuff said.

In the end, however, this ended up feeling like a Luke Ski filk piece (i.e. it shoulda ended about 2 minutes before it actually did). Still funny though. Enjoy!

ALL NEW! Star Wars Gangsta Rap: Chronicles

Atom.com: Funny Videos | Atom Originals | Star Wars Gangsta Rap

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Galaxy Wars!

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Sorry to do this to you, but kiss your day goodbye.

(Hat tip: Random Good Stuff)
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iPhone as sketchbook?

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I've been reading quite a bit lately about the Brushes iPhone app. Apparantly, George Columbo, one of the New Yorker cover artists often uses the app to make paintings of NYC on his iPhone, paintings of sufficiently high quality to grace the covers of that august publication. Check it out:



More amazing images can be found in the Brushes artists' gallery HERE, but some others I really liked are copied below. Guess I'll have to check it out - the idea of having such a highly-powered art app always in my pocket is, in a word, intoxicating.


Goro Fujita:





































David Tessier:



























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Genesis of the iMac

Just read an interesting article on the creation of the 'iMac" name and the "Think Different" ad campaign over on the CultofMac website. The interview is with Ken Segall, an advertising exec working with Steve Jobs in the 90's when the whole "iMac revolution" was brewing.

While I admit to having... personal problems... with the way Apple does things (limitation of customization, chafing under an operating system that often feels like it sacrifices completeness and flexibility for some ill-defined notion of "simpleness" that makes everyone work the same), I have to admit that phrases like this are very interesting to me:

Segall was still consulting for Apple until a couple of years ago when he started working for Dell.

“Dell and Apple: It’s night and day,” Segall says. “It’s a transactional world Dell lives in. It’s all about numbers. Everything they say about Apple making products for themselves is true. Apple — it’s about changing the world. For everyone else, it’s about the money.”

In case you don't know it, during my days I work as a Product Manager, and it really is intriguing to me that a company as large as Apple still retains this sort of reverence for individual vision over the simple worship of the bottom line.

The real question, as it always is with Apple, is: what will happen when Jobs, for whatever reason, is forced to step down?

You can read te entire interview over at CultofMac HERE.

Blood Magic on the web!

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Web alert:

The Blood Magic series was just mentioned by guest blogger Jason Sanford over on Jeff Vandermeer's blog, Ecstatic Days. Full disclosure: Jason Sanford is a member of Writeshop, the Columbus-based writer's group which critiques all my work.

Click HERE to see the full write-up.

Money quote:

I’m optimistic Matt will find a new publisher for the third book. The reprint rights are also available. So if any publishers are looking for a hot new writer to bring under their wing, two words: Matt Cook!

I should also admit a purely selfish reason for blogging about this: I WANT TO READ THIS FINAL NOVEL! I refuse to fall in love with these characters and their story and not discover how everything turns out.

I'm hopeful as well, and continue to work hard on the series. Now that the publication rights have reverted back to me from Juno, my goal is to try and tempt another published to pick up the entire collection. It's a dream of mine to see all 3 books in a set, perhaps as a trade paperback set (with matching covers) or even, dare I say, a hardcover set. With a slipcase! ((Swoon!))

Of course, I gotta finish that pesky third book, first... Never fear though - it's coming along. Perhaps not as quickly as the other books (particularly Book 2, which was written in about 8 months total), but it will be done!

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