I am LOVING Pearl Jam's remixed Ten release. It's a fresh perspective on one of the best albums of all time. It's dry and crispy and punchy and the bass is oh so present. You'll hear chord articulations that were just a wash of effects in the original release, surprising harmonies, and a more barebones Eddie Vedder. Some parts don't work as well as the original, but I'd say that most parts do, and it just rocks all over again. Go re-experience Ten for the first time!

On a lesser note, Röykopp's Junior is the same as their last album. Which means it's not as good as their first album. Which doesn't mean it's bad. It just means the first album is a super rare masterpiece of nostalgic goodness.

If you want to hear something both awesome and hilarious, here's David Lee Roth's solo vocal track from "Runnin' with the Devil." If you can handle it, keep listening. It gets better and better. Thanks for the link Tim!

Last weekend a bunch of us at Nucleus (Nuclei?) went on a mini gallery-hop to Bergamot Station and Lebasse to check out a few shows and catch up with Edwin. Cuban food at Versailles in Culver City hit the spot, though I wasn't prepared for the infamous Kogi Korean Taco truck to be waiting outside the gallery. I had to make room for at least one taco because of all the hype. I was a skeptic, and now I am not. Delicious!

I also got to check out the Dreamworks premier of Monsters vs. Aliens thanks to some friends who work there and it was a joyous good time. The best parts were the free cotton candy, popcorn, and fun friends. The best parts did not include the movie itself. I think it relies too much on gags to carry a weak story, but it was visually impressive and fun. I'm also not sure about this Real-D 3D stuff. I don't think it's the next "Big Thing" as Mr. Katzenberg does. After the first 5 minutes it loses its effect, and to be honest, the entire film is just a tad bit more blurry. In a future era of HD goodness, I think that's a step backwards.

Maru is the best cat in the world. If you love cats, watch this video.

Canon has announced the 500D, and I'm super excited about it. I can say almost without a doubt I'll be replacing my current SLR with this camera. The almost is because the HD framerate is 20fps, which is... weird. I mean, it's not 24 or 29 or 30... it's 20. The camera does shoot at 30fps in DVD-res, so that's a plus. Maybe Canon is able to bump up the framerate for HD capture via a firmware update?

I've been working on a cable knit scarf, full of cross-weaving pattern goodness. I got some Addi Turbos and they rock, as much as knitting needles are able to rock.

I've made some serious progress on my iPhone game in the last 2 weeks, but I can't show anything yet. Pretty soon I'll be emailing everyone I know who has an iPhone to see if they'd like to be an earlier tester before the game is released so I can get some last minute feedback. Apple allows for up to 100 registered testers, so if you're reading this and have an iPhone and would like to check it out, let me know!

I cooked this up today to see how easy it was to manipulate a bunch of UIViews. I wonder what the performance on the actual phone is like compared to the simulator... I guess I'll find out soon.

My last knitting project involved the methods mentioned in the title. A few hours of frustration turned into more hours of knitting joy. Seriously, the magic loop is pretty damn magical. The inventors of these techniques should be building bridges or architectural and structural masterpieces. A crazy mesh of yarn and loops and cable comes out to make a perfect, closed pocket. So I finished up a couple of DS cases, both for gifts. I found the pattern for the case here.

This has definitely happened to me. The greatest part is realizing it's a dream. I love xkcd:

Watchmen is pretty boring. I also didn't really understand the motivations of the characters... maybe it's more clear in the graphic novel. I don't really believe that Dr. Manhattan would be convinced of the power of human couples knowing all that he knows about the Universe.

Want something that's not boring? How about some awesome science articles?

• A paraplegic man walks again after being bitten by a Brown Recluse.
• Scientists develop a mobile battery that can charge in 10 seconds - and get weaker.

Went to SB to visit some friends, eat some of my favorite food, and play some frisbee golf. 'Twas a nice day.

It seems that a movie is being made starring the characters in the Professor Layton universe. Is this good news? Yes, yes it is. No word on whether or not Ghibli is involved, but they are helping Level 5 create animations for their next games, so it's not far-fetched. Can't wait!

I think the preview of Pearl Jam's Ten Reissue is sounding pretty damn awesome. I was wary at first, but I really do like the new dry mixes. The original timbre of that album will always have a special place in my heart, but I'd rather listen to the raw, crispy, effects-shy mix at the moment. I also dig Jeff Ament's treatment of the packaging - nostalgic and new.

You know I love robots and Boston.com's The Big Picture series, so a marriage between the two was a festive occasion for clicking and scrolling. If you like robots and big pictures, check it out. Some incredible stuff.

Here's a neat web comic that I've been enjoying lately: Cat and Girl.

Home Slice by Scott C is currently on display at Nucleus. He's one of my favorite artists that show with us - come see the work in person while it's still up. There are tons of details that you can't see online, and it'll make you laugh out loud. Some amazing puppets helped make opening night extra-memorable.

A google engineer has documented their process in recreating customizable buttons for use in their apps (most notably, Gmail and Google Reader). You might use these little buttons all the time without realizing the work going into creating them, and it's a nice read. Actually, it's probably an extremely boring read unless you do this for a living. Otherwise, it's a nice read.

I've just about wrapped up Beginning iPhone Development: Exploring the iPhone SDK - an excellent overview of development on the platform. I'm a good coder, but inexperienced with Objective-C, so it was a nice balance of learning a new language while exploring the SDK methods. Now I'm poised to make a sweet iPhone game, so watch out world. I have a few ideas kicking around in my head but they still need a little nurturing and growth.

P.S. - If you have an iPhone and are reading this, let me know if you'd like to be a beta tester for the game. It'll be a while before it's near that stage, but I'm making a list now.

Capcom's done an amazing job with SF4. I've been playing it a lot lately, and while I don't really fight with Ken, he's fun to doodle.

How incredible is this? The potential for stem cell applications staggers me (in the voice of Ian Malcolm).

Some very exciting news: Röyksopp's about to release their next album Junior. Check out their video for "Happy up Here." This song has that hint of nostalgia that I think was missing a bit from their last album. I love it!