People wonder how I know every line from some movies. It’s because I’ve watched them over and over and over again.

To me, a great movie is the same as a great music album.

My question is, why would you not want to watch a great movie again?

via parislemon

Seth Godin brings our attention to the Weber-Fechner law:

The more stimulus you’re getting (light, sound, pressure, delight, sadness) the less easily you can notice a small change. That seems obvious, but it’s worth saying.

If you’re entering a market filled with loudness, it’s harder to be noticed, even if the incremental benefit you offer seems large to you. If you’re trying to delight existing customers, the more delighted they already are, the more new delight you need to offer to turn heads.

This brings to mind the Blue Ocean Strategy.

Joshua Irish practices the same philosophy of iPhone cases as I do—he goes naked.

At my desk next to me sits a 1.5-year-old iPhone 4. I have not had a case since I bought it. It’s been dropped a bunch of times, it has some scratches, but it still works and looks great.

I wrote about this back in 2008 and used a car analogy (big surprise):

As useful as a bra is to protect a car’s front end from oncoming debris, it also does something inversely damaging – It masks the beautiful craft and design of the car.

The same goes for all this crap people use to protect their iPhones.

Take it off people! Unless you’re going rock climbing, your iPhone doesn’t need all that protection. It’s not the delicate flower you think it is. It can handle everyday use. I know mine can.

Or as Jerry Seinfeld says, “Why don’t you walk around with a helmet on too?”

I’ve wondered if Windows 8 and the Microsoft Surface are half-baked.

Now I’m wondering if they’ve even been put in the oven.

People are seduced by Apple’s products, partly because they can touch them. I’m not sure Microsoft knows seduction.

via thisisnthappiness via Coudal

Back in March 2007 I shut down my MySpace account. It was the end of a social media era for me and a lot of other people too. A year earlier I had joined Facebook and it was clear Facebook had a much better understanding and social media than MySpace did.

As everyone has seen, MySpace is back and they posted a beautiful demo video of it. And as far as I know, it is just that, a demo. Justin Timberlake owns a controlling share of the company (hence his strong presence in the demo video) and he seems intent on bringing it back to glory.

It brings to mind the current state of Windows 8. Despite it’s fresh Human Experience in mobile computing and non-skeuomorphized GUI, Microsoft is having a bitch of a time getting traction in the market. At the end of the day, Windows 8 isn’t ‘changing the game’. At the end of the day, they have a fullscreen, multi-touch display smartphone with cellular functions, video/music playback, mapping and texting. Just like everyone else.

Will a fresh, new interface be enough to convince people to go (back) over to MySpace? Are they changing the game?

I wouldn’t be doing my job as a multimedia designer if I didn’t at least test drive it.

Influencer: Swiss Railway Clock, designed by Hans Hilfiker, 1944

Influenced: Apple World Clock (iPad), introduced with iOS6, September 19, 2012

From Grammarist:

A Macintosh (now usually just Mac) is one of a series of computers made by the Apple company. A mackintosh is a style of waterproof raincoat invented in the 1820s by Charles Macintosh (the k was added to the raincoat name almost immediately). A McIntosh is a type of red apple grown primarily in eastern Canada and the northeastern U.S.

Macintosh and McIntosh are proper nouns, meaning the first letter (along with the I in McIntosh) is capitalized. Mackintosh is a common noun, so it is not capitalized. The plurals are Macintoshes, mackintoshes, and McIntoshes.

Now you know.

via FBU

Last year filmmaker Nirvan Mullick made a film about a 9-year-old boy, Caine, who had made a cardboard arcade in his dad’s auto body shop in LA. The film was called, Caine’s Arcade.

The film’s goal was to raise $25,000 for Caine’s college fund. He ended up getting well over 4 times that amount.

The non-profit Imagination Foundation was spawned from the film:

The Imagination Foundation is launching the first ever Global Cardboard Challenge, inviting the world to play while raising funds to foster creativity and entrepreneurship in kids.

September will be the month to organize and build, then on October 6th (the one-year anniversary of the flashmob that came out to make Caine’s day) friends, family, co-workers and community members can come out to play at local events, celebrating the creativity and imagination of kids around the world.

Pretty awesome.

On a related note, my wife and I moved to LA in April and I’m embarrassed to say I still have not been to Caine’s Arcade.