if your itunes library craps out you can just use the latest version from your backup in time machine. I decided not to do that so that I could start over because there were like 300 gigs of missing and deleted files that iTunes constantly wanted to “find.” Also, if you’re a fan of my playlists that’s why it’s been so long. I have a couple done I’m just suppppper busy right now.
Yesterday I went to a private screening of the first two episodes of Season 5 of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars. In case you are not a Star Wars nerd that would be the animated series from cartoon network that is about to enter it’s fifth season. Here is the trailer for seaon five. It is fucking awesome.
I’ve long had complaints with the show, primarily in the writing and how lots of it just doesn’t even make any sense. However, they have just brought on a writer from The Wire and it shows. The first episode from the fifth season might be the best yet. It was also kind of amazing to hear the show in a theatre designed by the people who invented THX sound. Actually, that part was facerockingly asskicktacular.
++ UPDATE ++
Someone in the comments wanted a bit more info about the episodes. Pablo Hildalgo asked us not to reveal any spoilers but I’ll say that the first episode is a continuation of last seasons final episode about Darth Maul. And here it’s worth noting that I thought the Maul season finale was horrible and cheesy. It was so bad that I wish Lucas would have just let Maul be dead. In particular, I found Mother Talzin just reconstructing his legs with magic to be extraordinarily ridiculous. ESPECIALLY given that she was just defeated by separatist droids. In every way that the season finale was a let down the season premier was amazing and triumphant. The writing made sense (mostly). The action was incredible (I was cheering wildly with everyone in the theatre at one point). And it was hilarious.
The second episode is the first part of what they were calling a feature length film. It was a four or maybe five episode arc that started out slow and deals with an insurrection on Dantooine. There is some, ahem, sexual tension in the episode. It’s alright but still substantially better than I think almost any of the episodes from season four. AND if you pay attention to details the editing is very, very good.
I will be in the following places starting tomorrow. I do not have a return ticket. if you know of something cool and want to hang out please get in touch.
All one Ark promo from Tim Clark on Vimeo.
This thing will be at our burning man camp. Swing by and hang out.
Sorry things went rogue for a few days, I had to do some server wrasslin. Pic related
I deleted Flight Control HD from my computer yesterday because I want to actually get things done. It’s stupidly addictive and I highly, highly recommend against purchasing one of the #1 selling apps for iphone/ipad/mac.
However, I did get a chance to finish listening to The Invisible Gorilla And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us while playing. The book is dry but fairly interesting in parts.
The relentless thrum of tech envy and job responsibilities finally forced me to replace my 1st gen iPhone today. Let me add here that it is in very good condition (except for a few dead pixels) and for some irrational reason I have the feeling that my ability to maintain and preserve a cell phone somehow makes me a better person.
I was just hired as the managing director for ************* and so far it’s involved being on the phone with awesome people pretty much all day long. The ear speaker on the first gen just wasn’t cutting it and I ran out and grabbed an iPhone 4. Let me say here that I didn’t even consider getting an android variant. I appreciate the openness of the platform but as someone who has worked in tech UI, android makes me want to cry blood. Ironically, I worked in user experience at google, the company that later developed android).
Personalized rambling aside, the whole reason I’m telling you this is that I’m very excited about the video feature on the iphone 4. I would very much like to start a blog called YouRunFunny.com which is just short clips of people who run funny.
A few nights ago I got absorbed in several fascinating conversations with @Corbett, Broxton and Anselm. Of course, I failed to realize that the nice safe place I parked my bike became a dark corner in one of the sketchiest parts of San Francisco after sunset. I had to pay The Crackhead Tax with my rear wheel.
n. The cost payed by being complacent about a society that accepts widespread homelessness and drug addiction.
Yesterday a friend asked me for advice about a dating situation. I was a late bloomer and it took me several years of trial and error to figure these things out so I’m hoping this is useful to someone somewhere. Maybe to my Moroccans!?!?
a. Don’t go on dates! Just chill with friends and meet new people.
b. Talk on the phone first
c. Always at a place close to your house
d. Hard stop
(a. Dating means all sorts of weird expectations and hang ups. Reframe the situation entirely: lets kick it as friends and see what happens. )
(b. Test for vibe via the telephone. 1. it can be spontaneous and requires less planning. 2. if there is no connection you don’t have to commute all over the place. 3. It’s very easy to exit a phone call in case of epic fail.)
(c. Know of an awesome cafe…near your house. Again, in the event of epic fail there is no reason to be traveling all over.)
(d. Establish a hard stop in the event of total awkwardness.)
1. Do not send me a text messages containing non-time sensitive information.
are you going to be in san francisco on the 14th of May? Great news! It’s a pain in the ass for me to add that to my calendar while I’m at dinner with people that I want to be talking to. I want to see you but stop wasting my time.
2. Do not send me text messages with requests for information that have a complex response.
Are you looking for a job? Do you want to rent an apartment? I might be able to help you but you cannot send resumes or relevant apartment information via text messages. If your query has a complex response and the need to answer it is immediate please call me. If I don’t answer text me with brief details and a request to talk on the phone. If your query has a complex response that does not require an immediate response SEE #1
I think everyone should have “safety gifts.” Something they like that is relatively publicly accessible and has a high quality and price range. Purchasing gifts for self-actualized adults can be a tricky process. It has to be cool, interesting and something that won’t just get thrown away. The answer is safety gifts.
For me, the safety gift is scotch. If you show up at my house with a bottle it will always make me happy. While I don’t personally drink a lot, I love entertaining guests. Since many guests like geeking out on scotch you can help me with something I love. Scotch is versatile gift in all the right ways. It’s available at a broad variety of easy locations. That means you can plan an epic shopping adventure or pick some up as a last minute thought. There are many different varieties. There are lots of different prices. Givers can go as mainstream or obscure as they’d like.
I also like technical hiking socks.
Me: Hi {Name X}, great to see you! How’s it going?
Them: *confused* ummmm….hi….have we….ummm….met before?
Me: Yes, my name is Dustin I (managed/performed/spoke/etc) at {event/party/conference Y}
Them: *still confused* uhhhhhh…….
Me: I used to have a lot of dreadlocks
Them: *still obviously have no recollection of talking to me* ohhhhh, i remember you. How’s it going?
—
So yeah, in cutting off my dreadlocks I also pretty much cut off the social capital that I spent the last nine years growing. Currently in the process of finding ways to be more distinct.
80% of my dreams last night were about medical malpractice lawsuits and software that could be used to stop/manage/prevent them. It was AWESOME. Really. I woke up in a great mood 
The night before that most of my dreams were about trying to clear my email inbox. I woke up harried and frustrated.
Biologically I don’t need as much sleep as most people (it runs in the family) and I also remember a lot more of my dreams. This is sometimes difficult because it’s a whole extra aspect of emotions and experience that I have to deal with. 2010 is all about having better dreams by being more aware and engaged in the waking life.
It just occurred to me that I have quite a few friends that have, at some point, organized all of their books by color.
Yesterday, I moseyed my mohowke down to San Mateo for a venture capital conference called The Future of Funding. For those Dear Readers that aren’t tech nerds, Venture Capitalists give software startups some initial money to operate in exchange for a chunk of the company.
:: EXAMPLE ::
–> VC Firm X buys 20% of tech startup Y for 2 million dollars (high fives all around!). X then prays Y gets bought by Google for 500 million so they can transform that 2mil initial investment into 100 millon dollars.
So yeah, venture capital is just gambling for ballers. Mostly what happens is that company Y epic fails so the trick is for for venture capital firm X to invest in Y, Z, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, and eventually one of them will go big. Without turning this into a giant blog post, I will just say that there are some fucking crazy incentive structures involved in this whole process that make it sort of sketchy and ridiculous. There are also a lot of lawyers, hedge funds and banks involved. I went because A. I think it would be interesting and fun to work for a venture capital firm and b. I got in for free (go me).
The number one tedious thing VC’s love self-aggrandizing about is how “venture capital is broken.” Here’s an actual conversation from yesterday (paraphased)
VC: The problem is that venture capitalists fund within a hard to enter social network. Innovative and brilliant ideas don’t get money because entrepreneurs can’t infiltrate the cliques of high level investors.
[2 minutes later during the same conversation]
Dustin: So how do you decide which companies to fund?
VC: Well, I only give money to my friends because all my friends are smart and they wouldn’t want to personally let me down.
Dustin’s Friend J: Wait, didn’t you say two minutes ago that the problem was VC’s only funding their friends? VC: Well, if I was an entrepreneur I would move to silicon valley.
So I pretty much woke up at 5:30 am so I could hang out with a bunch of people who had become entirely divorced from reality. Those who know me would be surprised by just how few arguments I started. The upshot was that I learned some cool things and met a bunch of interesting people. I also got to chill in posh hotel all day and eat lots of good food. Thursday for the win!
The conference was put on by this guy Adeo Ressi who runs a website called TheFunded.com. It’s a way for successfully financed entrepreneurs rate the douchebaggery of VCs who funded them. The website goes a long way in keeping venture capitalists honest so it’s unsurprising that there have been some lawsuits. Adeo is super nice and hilarious but most importantly doesn’t put up with bullshit.
For those unwilling to endure an entire room of VC’s, here are some take aways from The Future of Funding:
* Venture capitalists aren’t quite the ballers they used to be. 2/3rd’s of their operating funds have dried up (that’s the money they have to dole out before they blow it on pointless tech adventures).
* The heady days of the early oughts are behind us and companies just aren’t getting bought for nonsensical sums anymore.
* The market is maturing and companies are being sold at a much slower pace.
* Venture capitalists aren’t intelligent enough to justify their arrogance, as such a lot of vc firms are flailing hard.
** In short, Venture capitalists that still exist have way less money, they’re making less with what they have and it’s taking longer.
* Yet, Venture capitalists still love bloviating about smart they are, even when they are clearly just lucky. Scientists are baffled that I have the patience to tolerate this phenomenon.
* Luckily, my friend, Famous Journalist Anthony Ha was there to save me during “networking” breaks. We made snarky comments during panels. http://venturebeat.com/author/anthony-ha/
* The general trend will be towards more angel investors (random individuals with a lot of money) that give smaller chunks to more companies.
* That sucks because angels can be even bigger tools than VCs and they usually don’t hook up as many of the favors that actually grease the wheels of business.
* More angel investors means a dramatic rise in the number of incubators (communal offices where small startups can meet other startups).
* VCs and angels will make most of their money on private secondary asset markets where they sell early shares and bundled derivatives of early stage companies. That couldn’t possibly go awry. The people who run those markets are making money hand over dick.
* I continue to get horribly annoyed when people thrust their business cards into my hand for no reason. I only snapped on one person. Most people have really boring business cards.
* There were a few burners in disguise at the conference. We’re going to start start a club and have dinner together.