Though Obama clearly electrified the American public back in his 2008 election run, since taking office the press have often portrayed him as a more enigmatic figure. It’s become something of a journalistic clich? to portray the “real” Obama as a cool, cerebral and inward focused president. That’s precisely why Peter Baker’s New York Times Magazine profile of Obama is especially fascinating; Baker reveals a lot of nuggets on Obama’s steps ahead (“Obama 2.0”) and little insights of Obama’s day to day (basketball trash talking, bewilderment at today’s polarized cable TV climate.) Required reading for almost anyone with even a vague interest in U.S. politics.
Danish film can be a hard starter for many; mainstream moviegoers harp on the usual “downsides” applicable to foreign film: subtitles, unorthodox plotting, and no recognizable stars. Even art house veterans can find it hard to dissociate Denmark’s output from the well known (infamous?) director Lars von Trier, who’s films run cold, experimental and arguably misanthropic.
There’s more out there. What follows are three very different Danish films in three varied genres, all personal favorites of mine and a starting point for learning more about what Danish (or for some, just plain foreign) cinema has to offer.
There’s something paradoxical about the current state of the iPad that I find both thrilling and disturbing. On one hand, the iPad is clearly a commercial success: Sales are very high and the device has been almost universally praised by the tech press for its hardware. Yet what about the software? While the iPad app market has increased exponentially, I find the often conservative design and nature of what’s out there a bit disheartening.
Too many purchases are simply an upscaled version of an existing iPhone app with the surface area quadrupled, an “HD” slapped on the title and a doubling (or more) of the price. The UI can often be slower, more cumbersome and at times flat out boring compared to a similar iPhone counterpart.
Whether in a work or play setting, we all run into scenarios where an extended writing session on the computer becomes necessary. An extended E-mail to the boss, An outline for a presentation, and getting down thoughts from a brainstorming session down are a few common examples.
Unfortunately, I’m convinced that many write in a way that’s too unorganized, too cluttered and too prone to distraction. For many there’s better, faster, minimalist approach that keeps focus on the task at hand using full screen, lightweight text editors like WriteRoom.
This is part two of a two part series on my favorite New York coffee shops. Let’s start with a quick recap of my ten through six choices part one before introducing five through one.
If there’s anything that New York has in spades, it’s great coffee. As a admitted coffee geek, in the past few years I’ve tried countless coffee shops all over the city, from a stand up espresso bar in the East Village to machiatos on a bench in deep southern Brooklyn. The ten below, presented from lowest to highest overall, are my favorites, the ones I return to again and again.
As more and more people watch film in ways different from the “traditional” formats of the theaters and DVDs, the progress bar, a indicator that shows exactly how far into a film the viewer is, has become commonplace. While instinctively it’s a great device to help navigate back and forth through a movie, I’ve got serious problems with the device, as it can completely kill the enveloping effect of a movie.
Color can be one of the most important creative decisions made in any web design. Whether it’s in the setting of a more sedate and controlled corporate branding, or wild and vibrant smaller sites, a shrewd and unique color palette can set apart great sites from the merely good. In this article, I examine how the masterworks of fine art can give us the inspiration behind a killer color combination.
Grid based design has been taking the web design world by storm. As evidenced from the sheer amount of resources and conferences with big name designers extolling its benefits in the past year, it may be reaching its zenith of influence. I’ve become a firm believer in a grid based approach to web design, and it’s my hope that with the opinions and resources I’ve compiled below, you will be too.
Welcome to a much more refined version of nickschaden.com. What originally was little more than a simplified web based resume I’ve decided to grow into something significantly larger. Continue reading…
