http://www.robbieplayer.com Personal blog for Robbie Player, hailing from Concord, NC. http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/1010/top-10-albums-of-2009/

1. He is Legend - It Hates You
2. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
3. The Horrors - Primary Colours
4. Micachu & the Shapes - Jewellery
5. Mos Def - The Ecstatic
6. St. Vincent - Actor
7. The Life and Times - Tragic Boogie
8. Converge - Axe To Fall
9. Manchester Orchestra - Mean Everything To Nothing
10. Mastodon - Crack The Skye

Honorable Mentions (in no particular order): Thrice, Rx Bandits, The Love Language, The Prodigy, Cursive, Andrew Bird, Fever Ray, mewithoutYou, Clark, Poison The Well, Mew, Arctic Monkeys, Muse, The Avett Brothers, Dead Man's Bones, Islands, Basement Jaxx, Them Crooked Vultures, Squarepusher, Oceansize, Baroness]]> Mon, 28 Dec 2009 11:37:29 -0500 http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/1010/top-10-albums-of-2009/#comment http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/1009/links-took-a-nap-now-awake-again/ discontinued the project. Yeah, it still technically works, but it won't forever. Accordingly, you may (or may not) have noticed my links feed stop. If so, that's the reason.

Nevertheless, I worked up a quick personal bookmarklet to skip the middle man and add them directly to this blog. As you'll probably notice the massive link dump below, I've been stockpiling them for a few weeks. I've also started adding descriptions to some that either need explanation or I want to make a comment about.

Grab the RSS feed, if that's your thing.]]> Sat, 11 Jul 2009 18:12:41 -0400 http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/1009/links-took-a-nap-now-awake-again/#comment http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/1008/lastfm-returns/ Thu, 11 Jun 2009 22:37:18 -0400 http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/1008/lastfm-returns/#comment http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/1007/im-30/
Fun fact: Lincoln and Darwin would've been 200 today, while my favorite director, Darren Aronofsky, is now 40. Powers of ten! ]]> Thu, 12 Feb 2009 18:23:48 -0500 http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/1007/im-30/#comment http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/1006/top-10-albums-of-2008/ Silent Uproar, but it's 2009 already and time has run out:

1. Foals - Antidotes
2. Department of Eagles - In Ear Park
3. Portishead - Third
4. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
5. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
6. The Walkmen - You & Me
7. Ebu Gogo - Worlds
8. Thrice - The Alchemy Index, Vol. 3 & 4: Air and Earth
9. One Day As A Lion - One Day As A Lion EP
10. The Stills - Oceans Will Rise

Honorable mentions includes Squarepusher, Jamie Lidell, Conor Oberst, The Night Marchers, The Bronx, Wolf Parade, Islands, M83, Nine Inch Nails and TV On The Radio.]]> Thu, 01 Jan 2009 22:37:57 -0500 http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/1006/top-10-albums-of-2008/#comment http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/1005/aronofsky-films/ aronofskyfilms.com to setup a site dedicated to covering Darren Aronofsky films and related projects. While I was doing some migration between servers today, I pointed said domain at Tumblr and got the ball rolling. I've been looking for an excuse to use Tumblr and this site was the best candidate. It only took about 10 minutes of browsing and, before I knew it, I posted five items. Tumblr is awesome.

The hype is building for Aronofsky's forthcoming film, The Wrestler, and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to follow the journey. If you're an Aronofsky fan, bookmark it, follow it on Tumblr or grab the RSS. Needless to say, a new Tumblr theme is in the works.]]> Tue, 09 Sep 2008 14:17:12 -0400 http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/1005/aronofsky-films/#comment http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/1004/design-e2/
I recently finished watching the first season of design: e2 on Hulu. Issues covered in the episodes reveal the larger environmental problems facing sustainable building design in the modernized world—particularly in terms of present day China's potential impact on the rest of the globe (re: China: From Red to Green?). Yet, the underlying message of the six episodes demonstrates “green” initiatives as having more to do with efficiency than some idealistic notion. And, Brad Pitt narrates.

Look to PBS and the e2 Series website for episode guides and scheduling information. However, the first season of design: e2 is streaming on Hulu, which is the easiest place to start.]]> Sun, 03 Aug 2008 14:53:06 -0400 http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/1004/design-e2/#comment http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/1003/holden-beach/
Update: Home again, home again. As expected, the beach was exactly the diversion I needed. Amy uploaded a bunch of photos to Flickr.]]> Sat, 05 Jul 2008 08:27:04 -0400 http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/1003/holden-beach/#comment http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/1002/robbie-amy/ robbieandamy.com. It's just a starter page, for now. I'm basically shooting for something like this site that will aggregate a selection of Amy's and my content, but built in Flash. We took those photos a while back, so it's probably time to do some more jumping for the camera. We'll wait until it cools down outside a bit.

On a related note, I'm back to the just do something strategy for my personal projects. Basically, I just try to accomplish something each week on the myriad projects on my to-do list, no matter how small. Putting up the aforementioned page is a testament to its effectiveness with my brand of procrastination. Onward and upward!]]> Mon, 09 Jun 2008 19:07:06 -0400 http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/1002/robbie-amy/#comment http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/1000/notebook-feed/ the feed for the Google Notebook (i.e., the green arrows) to which I add said links. Plop it into your reader of choice and follow away. No excuses, now.

Update: I forgot the Google Notebook links took you to the public notebook page, instead of the actual bookmarked link. I've fixed the feed, so grab the new one to skip the extra step.]]> Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:31:15 -0400 http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/1000/notebook-feed/#comment http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/999/6-days-of-greatness/ still only procuring lawn tickets, it's time.

On Saturday, Amy and I will fly to the Bahamas for a belated anniversary trip. Amy's been ready to go for at least a week now, but it'll finally hit me Saturday morning on the way to the airport. I plan on leaving all thoughts of work, Concord and Charlotte behind.

Perhaps when I return I will have a renewed sense of work ethic and start churning out the umpteen odd projects I've been planning, talking about and coding up these past few months.]]> Fri, 09 May 2008 00:21:10 -0400 http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/999/6-days-of-greatness/#comment http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/998/more-of-the-same/
On the life side of the coin, Amy and I are trying to find a place in the Caribbean to go for our 1-year anniversary. We've been looking in St. Lucia and Turks & Caicos, but we're open to suggestions. If you have any, leave them in the comments.]]> Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:50:11 -0400 http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/998/more-of-the-same/#comment http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/997/happy-birthday-scott/
]]> Sun, 09 Mar 2008 13:22:07 -0400 http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/997/happy-birthday-scott/#comment http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/993/return/
Since I haven't designed anything in a long while and have been almost entirely developing at work and home, it's no surprise how minimal this iteration turned out. I attempted to make it solely about the content, while utilizing a grid for the sparse layout. Successful or not, it feels like what I was envisioning. That's at least a personal success and maybe a little insecurity about the state of my visual design skills. As with most things, I've no doubt the design and content will be in a regular state of flux.

Last but not least, I felt I should link to all the sites that provided any inspiration at all. They are as follows: friendswithmanagers.com, jakenickell.com, joshuablankenship.com, jtylerhelms.com, kottke.org, nzrn.com, project.ioni.st, simplebits.com, substraction.com, thebignoob.com, tumblr.com, virb.com and yewknee.com

For those who've noticed, the projects and status pages are in the works. I hope to post them this weekend.]]> Wed, 27 Feb 2008 20:05:26 -0500 http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/993/return/#comment http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/992/seadragon/ TED talk with Blaise Aguera y Arcas. His Seadragon demo is amazing. The technology seems way more advanced in comparison to the videos on the Photosynth site last year.]]> Sun, 24 Jun 2007 11:14:10 -0400 http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/992/seadragon/#comment http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/991/best-hoodie-ever/ these hoodies and then drop the price $400. Bape is too expensive.]]> Wed, 20 Jun 2007 02:45:42 -0400 http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/991/best-hoodie-ever/#comment http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/990/fight-pacifism/ FWIS has a great idea going with Fight Pacifism. The mark is nice. Then again, that type of design is right up my alley.]]> Tue, 19 Jun 2007 12:33:15 -0400 http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/990/fight-pacifism/#comment http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/989/transparency/ Tue, 19 Jun 2007 11:24:15 -0400 http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/989/transparency/#comment http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/988/google-gears/ Offline web applications. Watch out!]]> Tue, 19 Jun 2007 01:23:22 -0400 http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/988/google-gears/#comment http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/987/a-final-thought/ Tue, 19 Jun 2007 01:17:39 -0400 http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/987/a-final-thought/#comment http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/986/the-windish-agency/ Someoddpilot's redesign of The Windish Agency site is nicely done. I don't feel like all the pages carry the strength of the home page, but it's all well organized. The massive artist list navigation is very appropriate for a booking agent. Lots of great music represented there.]]> Tue, 19 Jun 2007 01:01:06 -0400 http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/986/the-windish-agency/#comment http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/985/thanks-nigel/ Dead Air Space assembled from the bits leftover after editing the new Radiohead material. Unfortunately, that Quicktime stream won't play all the way through for me. Good thing Golden Fiddle came through with a YouTube clip.]]> Sun, 17 Jun 2007 03:10:56 -0400 http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/985/thanks-nigel/#comment http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/984/there-will-be-blood/ The trailer for There Will Be Blood finally hit online, posted by PTA and his management. It gave me chills. I'll hope to see that again on apple.com soon. Coincidentally, the Coen's No Country For Old Men trailer is up now, too. Same chills, different trailer.]]> Sun, 17 Jun 2007 02:39:26 -0400 http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/984/there-will-be-blood/#comment http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/983/fantastic-art-in-fiction/ The Fantastic In Art & Fiction gallery by Cornell has some great illustration in it. Bookmarked for later inspiration.]]> Sun, 17 Jun 2007 02:33:50 -0400 http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/983/fantastic-art-in-fiction/#comment http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/982/pmarca-productivity-guide/ "The Pmarca Guide to Personal Productivity" had a few nice entries:

Work on whatever is most important or most interesting; Structured Procrastination; Do email exactly twice a day; Don't answer the phone; Hide in headphones; Only agree to new commitments when both your head and your heart say yes

Like most of these lists, the above ideas are fairly simple and obvious. However, as with most of said lists, they're just suggestions that you can adapt to your own life. These are just the ones that resonated strongest with me. The last one, especially, given the past week or so.]]> Sun, 17 Jun 2007 01:58:06 -0400 http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/982/pmarca-productivity-guide/#comment http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/981/sagmeister-at-ted/ a talk, Yes, design can make you happy, by Stefan Sagmeister from 2004. His work is completely driven by ideas, which is what should drive all creative work.

It's great to see what inspires him. If you've never seen the Hillman Curtis film on Sagmeister, watch it after the TED talk.]]> Sun, 17 Jun 2007 01:48:09 -0400 http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/981/sagmeister-at-ted/#comment http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/980/mash/ long-awaited MASH premiere mentioned a couple places and it definitely looks like a entertaining film. I can only imagine the bike culture that exists in San Francisco, where I'd think you have to be fairly hardcore to brave those hills. If I didn't have a 23.7 mile drive to work, I'd think about biking in to town. Though, considering I'd have to keep away from the interstate, it'd probably be more like 30-35 miles in the end. 10 miles is probably my limit.]]> Thu, 14 Jun 2007 12:48:53 -0400 http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/980/mash/#comment http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/979/mister-elegant/ reading Mister Elegant, Chuck Palahniuk's short story in Vice from late last year. It's definitely Chuck and worth the read if that appeals to you. Obviously, just watch out for all the NSFW banner ads and images on the Vice website.

Relatedly, I'm more than halfway through Rant and I must say it's a bit surprising, in a good way. I'll have to see how he wraps it up before I settle on a opinion, but it's a refreshing update to his very idiosyncratic style. After which, I have a big stack of books to read this summer, including three more of Chuck's books.]]> Thu, 14 Jun 2007 12:31:13 -0400 http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/979/mister-elegant/#comment http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/978/snoop/ Silent Uproar back to Google Analytics, Reinvigorate goes and adds an access manager and creates a local, real-time stats monitor in Snoop. While I'm still not switching SU back again, at least I have new toys for this site's stats.]]> Tue, 12 Jun 2007 11:49:24 -0400 http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/978/snoop/#comment http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/977/home-again/ can't do the beach? Now we just need to travel off the North American continent.

I'm in the process of uploading photos, but Amy has already posted several. Amy's folks also got us a Sony Handycam DCR-HC96 for a wedding present, so I'll be editing those videos together this week and probably posting them to Vimeo.

Update: Just got through uploading my photos. The grandness, color and feeling don't come through in the photos very well. It will at least give you the gist of what we experienced.]]> Mon, 11 Jun 2007 12:56:12 -0400 http://www.robbieplayer.com/blog/977/home-again/#comment