Dean and You

New Site

2010-03-05T10:23:00.001-07:00

I'm going to officially switch to a new site.

I'll leave this one up for a while in case you want to check out some of the old stuff, but all future posts will be happening at:

deancheesman.com

New Provo Acoustic Sessions

2010-01-23T16:34:00.002-07:00

So after a bit of a break and a bit of a shift in our crew we have started releasing new Provo Acoustic Session videos. Check them out at provoacoustic.com!

First 3d Test in Blender

2010-01-21T11:58:00.004-07:00

I started messing around with Blender last night. After having so much fun with Processing over the last year I thought I'd test out what some of the other open source development environments have to offer. I read through a couple of the tutorials last night and here was the little thing I ended up making. I sort of like it.

2009 Wrap-up: My List of RSS Feeds

2009-12-26T18:43:00.002-07:00

So I went a bit overboard with my RSS feeds this year and have somehow collected 238 feeds. I'm planning a cut back for the new year, but here's the full list in alphabetical order.

...just dying for a subject change...

.: chromewaves v7.5

.antelope brigade

[ FreshCreation.nl ]

[daily dose of imagery]

21st & Ivy

A GThing Science Project

About.com Men's Fashion / Grooming

Abstruse Goose

Accelerating Future

all manner of distractions

Blogging the Singularity

C.A.L.M. Community After Leaving Mormonism

Campaign For Liberty Blog

Clark Howard's Show Notes

CNN.com - Travel

Cognitive Daily

Combustion Injun!

CONCIERGE.COM: LATEST TRAVEL FEATURES

Create Digital Motion

Daily Herald - Our Towns

DailyLit: Many Thoughts of Many Minds (Quotations)

Discovery Space: Twisted Physics

DIY:happy

Duck Duck Revolution

Dweebist

Dwell Blog - dwell.com

Dwell Tech Blog

Essential Reads

Etsy Shop for markweaver

EvolutionBlog

FAIL Blog - Fail Pictures at Failblog.ORG

Famous Quotes - Famous Sayings

Frommers.com Deals & News

Fuel Your Photography

Futility Closet

Future Salon : Neil Gershenfeld on C-Span: Internet Zero

FuturePundit

Gel Videos

Generator.x: Generative strategies in art & design

gladwell.com

Go Wave!

Google Wave Developer Blog

GraphJam: Pop culture for people in cubicles. (AKA Song Chart Meme)

Green Building : Jetson Green

information aesthetics

Information Is Beautiful

Kevin & Debra Rollins Center for eBusiness

Kevin Rose

Kristicity

KurzweilAI.net Accelerating Intelligence News

Lace's Space

Larry and Carol Cheesman Family Blog

Last.fm free recommended downloads for dcheesman's

Latest Movie Trailers

lavender limes and oranges

Lessons of a Lifetime

Life Quotes - Quotes About Life

Lifehacker

MacAttack

MacRumors : Mac News and Rumors

MAKE: Blog

Mashable!

Matthew Ericson - ericson.net

Matt's shared items

mental_floss Blog

Minimal Mac

Mint | Refreshing Money Management

mnmlist.com

mode boutique

Modern House Designs | Trendir

Motivational Quotes of the Day

Music Matters

My Old Kentucky Blog

My Religious Blog

MyLifeIsAverage | MyLifeIsAverage

Neatorama

Netflix - New choices to watch instantly

Netflix Community Blog

Netflix Recommendations

Netflix Top 25 in Documentary

Netflix Top 25 in Independent

NeuroLogica Blog

News

News dugg by kevinrose

nicolasrapp.com

NYT > Travel

Official BYU News Releases

Official Google Blog

Open the Future

Optimnem Blog: The Blog of Daniel Tammet

O'Reilly Conferences

Organized Complexity / Complexidade Organizada

passive-aggressive (and just plain aggressive) notes

Pat Dryburgh

Photonics.com: News and Features

PicoCool

Pitchfork: Best New Tracks

Popular Bargains - JungleCrazy.com

PostSecret

provo acoustic - Twitter Search

Provo Metro News

Provo Music

ProvoPulse.com - The Students Voice for the Provo and Orem, Utah areas

Responsible Nanotechnology

Rhombus Magazine

RichardDawkins.net : The Latest Updates

Rughster Design

Rules of Thumb

S U B S T A N C E

Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers

Said the Gramophone

Salt City Skeptics

Sams YouTube Favorites

sing your way home at the close of the day

Spark Restaurant Lounge

stamen design - big ideas worth pursuing—in blog form

Strange Maps

sub-studio design blog

Supertouch

Swan Fungus

Tales of Mere Existence

The Blogs at HowStuffWorks » Stuff You Should Know

The Christian Crew

The Downtown Provo Blog

The Frank Family

The Go MediaZine - Exclusive insights for art, design, marketing and more.

the impossible cool.

The Long Tail

The Music Scientist's Blog

the new wave of the future

The Ornery American

The Personal MBA

The Pop!Tech Blog

the selby - photos in your space

The Situationist

The Speculist

The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

The Work of Michael Shermer

The World Forgot

The World in Polaroid

ThinkGeek :: Stuff for Smart Masses

TidyChaos

Tim Ferriss's 4-Hour Workweek and Lifestyle Design Blog

Today Was Awesome

Today's Top 10 Viral Videos

Upgrade: Travel Better

Utah Real Estate

Utah Stories

Vintage Fox Chronicles

visualcomplexity.com

VVORK

WallStats.com The Art of Information

WebUrbanist

Well-formed data

Wired News: Top Stories

Wisdom Quotes

Wise Bread

Wooster Collective

woxy.com > Boards - News Comments

xkcd.com

YesButNoButYes

You Aint No Picasso

you can't dance and stay uptight

YOU COULD BARELY TELL

Zen Habits | Simple Productivity

2009 Wrap-up: Top Albums I listened to in '09

2009-12-25T16:53:00.003-07:00

The following list comes from my Last.fm profile. I use GimmeSomeTune to link my iTunes and iPhone to it.

2009 Wrap-up: Top Movies I watched in '09

2009-12-24T23:07:00.002-07:00

This is the first installation in a series of year end wrap-ups for 2009.

Here are some of the greatest movies and shows that I have seen all year:

Did I miss any? Your feedback is encouraged. If you need any further endorsement of any of these let me know.

Chill Music Mix

2009-12-03T21:23:00.004-07:00

A little collection of songs that I like to listen to when trying to relax. It might be tough to make it through this without falling asleep. Good songs though... just good chill songs.

Download the mix here

Diamond Illusion Backgrounds

2009-11-25T15:02:00.006-07:00

Saw this video today on google reader. It inspired me to make these backgrounds. Each grey diamond is exactly the same. Works best in full-screen mode.

320x480 (iPhone)

1280x1024

1440x852

1680x1050

October Music Playlist

2009-10-20T22:26:00.004-06:00

I have made another playlist of music I like. That is all.

Download it here

Kaleidoscope Animation

2009-09-16T18:31:00.003-06:00

Here is the animated Kaleidoscope. Really happy with how it turned out. I added the fade-in/fade-out along with the audio in iMovie. Be sure that you watch this on in HD.

Music is "Empty Us" by Boots to the Moon

Kaleidescope Generator

2009-09-16T00:40:00.005-06:00

I wanted to try making a program that grabbed random images from a folder and used them in an image. I had a bunch of black and white clip art from this book so I used them. These images were all made procedurally with random colors and radius distances from the middle. I have made some video animations from this too which are promising, but they are small. I hope to create some large HD videos before I share that with the world. I'm considering creating some really large images with this to make prints of and put up on the wall at my house.

Click on each image for the full sized goodness.

My try at some retro-modern art

2009-09-11T13:43:00.005-06:00

I'm not sure if retro-modern is what you'd call it, but it's inspired by this dude. I created the design procedurally in Processing and did some post-production in Preview.

4 Steps to discovering new music using Firefox, iTunes, and Last.FM

2009-09-01T18:14:00.004-06:00

I can't stand the thought of trolling through hundreds of myspace pages or iTunes directories to sample music from everyone possible to discover something new. I want to have music brought to me that has already been tailored to my taste. None of this live streaming from the internet crap, I want something that can look at what I actually listen to and give me actual music files to download.

Over the past couple years I have developed a simple method to do this which combines online services, browser plugins, and iTunes.

Step 1.

Find music blogs that cater to your taste and add them to an online feed reader.

Use services like hype machine or google blog search to find blogs that have covered your favorite bands. I would suggest searching with bands you like who you feel are lesser known. This helps avoid blogs that cover wide ranges of music types. Another important note is to find blogs that post .mp3 files directly on their blog posts.

Add these blog feeds to a browser-based feed reader. I have been using Google Reader for quite a while and love it. (If you don't know what a feed reader is check out this tour or Google Reader)

Step 2.

Sign up for a Last.fm account and download GimmeSomeTune or similar app.

An app like GimmeSomeTune will upload your listening data from your iTunes library to Last.fm's database.

Not only does last.fm store your listening data, but it will also suggest music for you to listen to. I don't particularly enjoy listening to music through my browser so I don't use much of this. Instead there is also a section that has recommended songs that are free to download. Instead of going to check this all the time I add the RSS feed for this page to my Google Reader as well.

Step 3.

Use the Downloadthemall plugin for Firefox to get all songs from the blogs/feeds.

Since the Last.FM free .mp3 feed and most music bloggers' articles will link directly to .mp3 files I can use the DownloadThemAll plugin in Firefox to download every music file linked on a page. This works great when using google reader. I open up my music section and scroll through a couple weeks of time to load all the info into the browser and then run DownLoadThem all to grab all the music from the page.

Step 4.

Import files to Itunes and use Smart Playlists to filter out the best downloads

After importing all of the music into iTunes I refine the music using Genius playlist. For more on how I do this read my previous article on making a Genius Discovery Playlist.

End of Summer 09 Playlist

2009-08-18T10:10:00.003-06:00

I wore a hoodie yesterday. That signals the end of summer for me. It inspired me to create a playlist of music that reflects this change in season. Please download and enjoy.

End of Summer '09

Fire Fly with Beat Detection

2009-07-28T18:24:00.001-06:00

I figured out how to render the sound visualizations so that they sync with the audio. I threw it on to this fire fly program I did previously and here's the result.

Song is "We are your friends" from Justice.

Geometry Vizualization

2009-07-20T21:47:00.004-06:00

I went to the Tool concert last night and was thoroughly impressed by the video and light show that accompanied it. I noticed that a lot of the video used was built on complex geometric shapes. I saw this and took it as a challenge. After I got home I dabbled around with it a bit and came up with this:

Then today I thought of a couple other tweaks to make and it turned into this.

Once I come up with a satisfying final product I'll run it in HD and upload it.

Provo Acoustic Session with Drew Danburry

2009-07-06T12:08:00.001-06:00

Just in case you guys didn't know. We did another acoustic session. This time with Drew Danburry. He was lots of fun and has some great new songs.

Firefly Screen Shots

2009-06-27T20:43:00.002-06:00

Here are some more detailed screen shots of the Firefly swarm program that I wrote. Click to see the full sized image.

Swarm of Fireflies

2009-06-27T20:30:00.001-06:00

I was trying to figure out how to use buffers to create more optimized animation and this was what the end result of my tests were.

The red dot randomly moves around the screen as the swarm follows.

Michael Shermer on Being Skeptical

2009-06-25T12:37:00.001-06:00

If we all lived by these rules then the world would be a much better place. Please take the time to watch this video. If you don't agree with what is said I would love to discuss it with you.

Particle/Smoke Effect in processing

2009-05-21T16:09:00.001-06:00

This is from my latest test on processing. Best to watch the high quality version. My first swing at creating video from the animation.

New Processing Projects

2009-05-15T00:46:00.002-06:00

I've been learning how to do some fun Processing stuff lately. Here's a sample of something I threw together tonight. It's inspired by this guy's stuff

Why Utah isn't so bad right now

2009-04-28T15:41:00.003-06:00

When our current unemployment rate in Utah is as bad as the best unemployment rate of the national average it makes me feel a little better about this silly place.

via: google public data

What I Do: Satellite Dealer Software - Agemni CMS

2009-04-23T15:28:00.004-06:00

I've had a couple people ask what I do for my day job so I'd like to clarify. I work for a great software company called Agemni. We make crm software for satellite dealers, home security retailers, home theater installers, call centers, and pretty much anybody who needs to track their customers through a sale to install process. The software was previously called Dishstar, but when we started integrating more business models outside the satellite industry we changed the name.

I started at the company as one of the software engineers working mostly on migrating customers existing data from other software into our system. After working a couple years for the company and leaving for a couple years to finish school and things I came back to do sales for Agemni. It's definitely one of the best sales jobs I've heard of. Practically all of my leads come from referrals from current clients or from people signing up for one of our 15 day free trials. I spend my day showing potential clients the different ways that the software could save them money. It really sells itself.

Feel free to check out our site at www.agemni.com. You can see my first and only real attempt at non-procedural Flash animation.

Open-mindedness

2009-04-05T10:24:00.001-06:00

This is a perfect followup to my previous article on Evolution and a great supplement to a discussion I had with some friends and family this last week. It explains my stance on belief completely. Thanks Stephe for the share.

Iraqi Jumping Jacks

2009-03-18T16:03:00.001-06:00

I was asked a little while ago what the funniest viral video online was... I think that this is my selection. Kills me.

Coca-Cola : Encounter

2009-03-11T13:16:00.001-06:00

This was too good not to share.

The Music So Far

2009-03-10T11:28:00.004-06:00

Here's a graph of the music that I have been listening to so far this year. This is made using last.fm and LastGraph. To see my favorites from last year click here. (click on the graph for more detail)

From Dean and You

In defense of something that shouldn't need it

2009-03-03T11:51:00.002-07:00

I have been somewhat inspired lately to write this article. The following items are a couple things that I didn't really understand until recent years. If any of you reading this don't share my view on this subject I ask you to read with an open mind, but also not to take my word for it. Go find out about it on your own as well.

First of all... a couple points about science:

1. When someone talks a bout a scientific theory they are not talking about a theory in the same way that Sherlock Holmes does when he has a hunch about something. In order for something to be considered a theory in the scientific community it is tested in multiple ways and have multiple laws describing it. It must be able to make accurate predictions concerning scientific experiments or observations. more info here.

2. Science doesn't claim absolute truth. When someone makes a claim in science it is based on the evidence at hand. As technology improves and more evidence is found scientific ideas are changed, updated, and sometimes completely disproved. This doesn't mean that science is worthless though. Even disproved theories hold some truths and some worth. Isaac Newton found ways to explain the universe that weren't completely correct, but still used until Einstein came along and disproved some of Newton's ideas.

3. "Scientists" are not some giant collective of back patters who conspire together to debate one side of an issue. Scientists are everywhere in the world doing their work in many different fields. Scientists, in general, are not motivated to keep the status quo. They don't set out to rediscover what's already been discovered. A scientist's dream is to overturn a previously accepted theory. There's no great advantage for science as a whole to stay the same.

Now to what I wish everyone would understand:

When someone talks about Evolution as a scientific theory they aren't saying that it's something that people have a hunch or guess that it's right. It means that this is something that people have rigorously tested and people have used to predict and invent great new things. If you discredit Evolution because it's just a theory you are also discrediting Germ Theory, Gravity, and any other established scientific belief.

Evolution occurs everywhere. From the way societies react, to how humans came from single celled organisms, to how the universe developed. I don't claim that all principles of the Theory of Evolution are perfect, but the evidence points towards it being correct.

If you are someone who doesn't believe in evolution I ask that you take the time to read about it. It is a beautiful concept that is so simple yet so universal. Also, if any of you would like to discuss this I would love to do that as well.

Provo Acoustic and Life Update

2009-02-10T15:02:00.003-07:00

Hi everyone.

Its been a while.

I don't have much new to say.

I've been trying out a lot of different ideas lately.

If I get any of those things done I'll post them here.

So for now you should watch the newest podcast for the Provo Acoustic Sessions.

This is number 12 of the podcasts. That's more than the Provo Pulse podcast that I did back in 2005 and 2006.

It's been lots of fun.

Provo Acoustic Sessions Podcast

2009-01-08T13:24:00.003-07:00

The podcast has been approved on iTunes. If you haven't already you should subscribe.

link: Provo Acoustic Sessions Podcast

Provo Acoustic Sessions Video

2008-12-27T15:35:00.004-07:00

This is something I've been working on for the last two months with a couple buddies. We've got the videos on Facebook, Vimeo, blip.tv, and have a pocast feed which doesn't show up in the podcast directory yet (it will soon), but you can go ahead and subscribe in iTunes by going to the 'Advanced' menu in iTunes and selecting 'Subscribe to Podcast' then use this link: http://provoacoustic.blip.tv/rss/itunes . Otherwise you can just always come back to this article and check out the videos.

Dean's Favorite Tracks of 2008

2008-12-26T21:22:00.003-07:00

2008 has been such an interesting and wonderful year for me. Much to my surprise this year turned out to be an amazing year. As a gift to you all and for future reference I have decided to share with you all my favorite songs of 2008. Even though a couple of these songs were released previous to 2008 they didn't make it to my library until this year. Enjoy.

Download the songs here

D.A.N.C.E - Justice - These Frenchies know how to rock a dance track.

Goliath - The Mars Volta - I'm convinced that these guys are the modern Beathoven. So complex. You should get this whole album and try to digest it. It takes a couple listens for it to really stick, but once you really listen to them you'll see how genius these guys are.

You'll Remember - The Speakers - I don't even know where I got this song. It must have been on some music blog, but this song is so intimate I love it.

Don't Let Me Die - Band of Annuals - The most country-like stuff that i'll listen to. These guys are from Salt Lake and write terribly catchy folk rock. Plus the lead singer looks like a gun slinger straight out of the wild west. If you're local to Utah, check these guys' show out (and make sure you listen to this song so you know when to sing along).

Tesselate - Tokyo Police Club - Saw these guys up in Salt Lake for free and couldn't stop listening to them for about two months straight. It's sort of cotton candy music (Mars Volta being a steak). Pretty simple but fun to listen to.

Creature Fear - Bon Iver - The Band I listened to the most this year. This guy went out to some cabin for a couple weeks and wrote this album and you can totally imagine it as you listen to the album. GET THIS ALBUM. It's especially great winter music

Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Pt. 2 - My Morning Jacket - I think my musical taste tends towards singers who sing extremely too high. My Morning Jacket is a great example of this. I'm not sure what exactly it was that made me like this song so much, but this video probably helped (seriously... shrugging off a cape and whipping out your guitar mid-song is awesome).

Multiply - Jamie Lidell - I love Stevie Wonder and I think this guy is pretty close to a modern Stevie Wonder. Plus he's a nerdy looking white dude from London.

If This is It - Throw Me the Statue - Although this song wasn't on their album, Moonbeams, that they released this year it's probably my favorite song of theirs.

I Woke Up Near the Sea - Lydia - These guys appeal to my late 90's early 2000's sensibilities. Steve introduced me to them and i've enjoyed their whole album.

Marry Song - Band of Horses - This song reminds me of being on the beach. Good times. Good song.

Muscle'n Flo - Menonema - Not much to say here. Just enjoy it.

I Told Ya So - TaughtMe - My favorite local band. These guys are so original sounding it kills me. I try to imagine how they write these songs and it blows my mind.

Hair Don't Grow - Annuals - Not to be confused with Band of Annuals. These guys had my favorite album of 2007 with Be He Me and I was worried about their followup, but their new album, Such Fun, has some great tracks like this one.

If you're interested in everything else I've listened to this year you can visit my Last.fm page.

Tokyo Flash

2008-12-22T10:02:00.002-07:00

Check out the awesome watch that my Girlfriend got me for Christmas from this store. Isn't she rad?

New Podcast Videos

2008-12-19T15:17:00.001-07:00

This was a podcast that Sam and I did back in January of last year. I figure I should post it somewhere so that it's at least viewable before Velour's third anniversary.

Natalie's Birthday Present

2008-10-25T19:59:00.005-06:00

For Natalie's birthday I decided instead of spending an hour to go out any buy something I would make her presents. We saw something similar at an art festival and Natalie liked it so much that I decided I'd make it for her. The first three pics are the finished product. Below that are some of the making-of pics.

Creating a great discovery playlist in Itunes 8 using Genius playlists

2008-09-09T16:23:00.005-06:00

I was excited to see what the new iTunes 8 had to offer when it was announced today. Once I downloaded it I started to check out the new "Genius" options which create custom playlists based on a song you choose. It's not bad. According to Apple it will continue to improve as more people come in to the program. The problem I saw at first was that although it does create good themed playlists, it doesn't ignore songs that have been played or skipped a lot. These are usually songs that I'm not as interested to listen to because they're either worn out or they were never that good to me in the first place. So here is what I've done....

First I created a folder to hold all of my Genius playlists based on songs I really like.Then its just a matter of creating a smart playlist that looks at that folder and filters out songs that have been played or skipped more than once and also leaves out songs that have been played in the last little while. This should leave you with a fresh playlists of songs that you have not yet discovered in your iTunes library. Enjoy! and let me know if you have any other suggestions of good ways to use Genius playlists.

Better than TWSS Jokes

2008-09-09T02:04:00.001-06:00

Ok ok ok.... I know these might offend some of my more sensitive viewers..... but my goodness.... try not to laugh at this stuff. I mean.... they really aren't saying anything bad.... so its not bad right?..... anyways..... enjoy.

Something's Not Right

2008-08-18T11:36:00.003-06:00

I was in California a week ago and was surprised to see that gas near the beach in LA was about the same as the gas prices in Provo. Then today I saw this graph.... WTF?

ram jam - black betty

2008-08-15T21:59:00.001-06:00

Nothin to say.. just watch, listen, and enjoy. :)

New Wider Layout and New Wish-list

2008-08-11T14:46:00.003-06:00

I've adjusted the blog to be wider and a little easier to read. Also, I've added my Amazon wish-list to the sidebar so that anyone who wants to buy me cool stuff for holidays (or just because) then you'll have an idea of things which I don't have yet but could really enjoy having around. I've had the wish-list for a while, but it just recently became much more desirable to use with the new Universal Wish List bookmarklet. No longer limited to just wishing for Amazon stuff....

The Ultimate Guide to Itunes Smart Playlists

2008-07-30T23:45:00.011-06:00

*Update - For the new Genius playlists in iTunes I have created an article about creating a great smart playlist which uses Genius to help discover new music in your library. link

I've seen a couple posts lately about smart playlists in iTunes and I must say... I wasn't too impressed. For the last two years I have worked on perfecting my set of Itunes smart playlists. I continually tweak them to make it as easy as possible to play what I want to hear. I have decided that I am ready to share them with you. I hope that you will find use in this guide.

A couple things to note:

For my star rating system I use 1 stars to tag songs that I want to delete from my library. I find this very useful and suggest you do the same. You will see this referenced throughout different playlists.
For a song to receive a "skip count" you must press the "Next" button on a song while its playing between the 2nd and 20th second of the song. If you hit next before or after this it will not count as being skipped. This means that sometimes if you want a song to receive a skip count you will have to start it over and wait for it to pass two seconds to skip it.
For a song to receive a "play count" the end of the song must be played. This means even if you "scrub" a song all the way to the end it will get a play count, but if you play a song, but hit the "Next" button before its over it wont get one.

One of the most basic and yet one of the most important playlists is my "Music Only" playlist. This weeds out all of the audiobooks, podcasts, comedy, video, and music that i don't regularly listen to (German and classcal). It also excludes songs that are really short or really long because those are usually filler songs and stuff on albums. This playlist will be referenced in most of the following playlists so make sure you get it perfected.

Music Only

The next couple playlists are explained pretty well by their titles alone

Latest 180

Top 70 Played

Newest Songs

Never Skipped

Ok... now lets get a little more complex. My "Newest Hits" playlists brings up songs that appear to be songs that I have just begun to like. Notice that it excludes a song if it was one of the last 180 songs that I have played so that songs aren't repeated too often.

Newest Hits

"Popular Songs" brings up more established songs in my library, but avoids over-played and over-skipped songs. It keeps the music selection fresh by not playing one of the last 180 songs played or a song played in the last two weeks (whichever is longer) and also avoids the top 70 most played songs (because they are likely to be over-played). It doesn't exclude songs until they've been skipped 3 times, but wont play a song that has been skipped in the last 6 weeks. I keep this playlist limited to 6 hours just in case I forget to turn off my ipod or something. This limits the damage to my playlist caused by unintentional play counts.

Popular Songs

The next couple playlists I named with a "*" in front of them so that they show up first on my lists of playlists. This was mostly because I bought an "iPod ready" stereo for my car, but it took an eternity to scroll through playlists. This made these playlists more easily accessible.

"*Popular Mix" is by far the playlist I use the most. It combines the previous two playlists together to create a combination of popular established songs and new songs that I've begun to like. There is a high probability that songs on this playlist are songs I want to hear. Notice that this playlist matches "any" of the rules

*Popular Mix

"*Discover Mix" plays songs that I haven't really listened to in my library. As you can tell by the title I use it to discover new songs.

*Discover Mix

*Good Mix is one of my newer playlists. Its not a very original name... i know. After using smart playlists for a long time and after using the skip count to help your playlists "learn" what you want to hear some songs get pushed off into places where no playlist includes them. This playlist finds those types of songs that I might still like. These songs tend to be more established songs in my library. Great for when I'm feeling a little nostalgic.

*Good Mix

I love my podcasts, but iTunes didn't have the greatest options for finding and playing podcasts that haven't been played yet. The little blue dots used in the "Podcast" section only indicate podcasts that haven't been played at all. I wanted something that would show the podcasts that had not been played all the way through. I created the four following playlists to help me with this. I also split them between Audio and Video podcasts and split those between long and short.

Podcast(Short)

Podcast(Long)

Video(Short)

Video(Long)

Lastly I use my rating system to help me create smart playlists on the go. The rating system is the only thing you can adjust in your library while using an iPod. I use the following system:
You can obviously change these around to your needs. For a while I used the 4 star rating for songs that were NSFW, but have since gone away from that.

Between all of these playlist I can always find a way to make iTunes or my iPod play what I'm in the mood to hear with as little searching as possible. If you see anything I can do to improve on this or if you have any other feedback I'd love to hear it. Otherwise, enjoy your new playlists!

Runnning

2008-07-24T15:10:00.004-06:00

I've started running and in the tradition of tracking my life statistics I've charted my progress. I don't always run the same route, but I use this one to see how i've improved. The charts will stay up to date so if you want to see my progress you can always come back to this post.

A little white one on the way...

2008-07-14T15:31:00.003-06:00

I haven't bought a new cell phone in more than two and a half years so yeah.... im excited. Just have to wait a week or so to get it.

Jamie Lidell

2008-07-04T12:43:00.003-06:00

Have you met Jamie Lidell yet? He's my new friend.

Stats

2008-07-02T14:34:00.006-06:00

I love tracking my personal statistics. I feel obliged to share a couple with you. Please let me know if i'm missing any numbers that you may be interested in.

Age: 25

Weight: 200 lbs

Shoe Size: 11 1/2

Waist: 32

Height: 6' 4"

Google Reader:

Subscriptions: 172

Items read over the past 30 days: 11,445

Starred Items: 2

Shared Items: 149

Emailed Items: 3

Music:

Songs in Itunes Library: 4671 (13 days, 23.88 GB)

Total Play Count: 25,631

Total Artists: 826

Albums: 1,163

Average Bit Rate: 176 kbps

See more here and here

Movies and TV Shows:

Movies and TV Shows rated on Netflix: 745

TV Shows subscribed to using TV Shows: 13

Cell Phone:

Model: Treo 650 (until I get my new iPhone)

Minutes used since June 4th: 240

Text messages since June 4th: 780

Data used since June 4th: 7424 kilobytes

Work:

Work emails received in June: 576

Work emails sent in June: 277

Notes written on client accounts: 288

Programming projects completed in June: 1 (first one)

Other:

Friends on Facebook: 295

Amount spent on gas in June: 135

Dollar Movies watched in June: 4

Maximum degrees of rotation while scurfing: 180

Black Cab Session

2008-06-07T13:56:00.004-06:00

I posted previously about La Blogotheque and their amazing assortement of one-take music performances from some of the greatest up-and-coming bands and now I'm here to tell you about a similar site named The Black Cab Sessions. It currently has about half the artists as La Blogotheque and only one song each, but their taste in music is right on. If you're looking for some suggestions I'd say to watch Bon Iver, My Morning Jacket, and Spoon. I haven't even come close to watching them all yet, so if you see one you like let me know so I can check it out too.

My Favorite Movies

2008-05-27T10:53:00.005-06:00

I have been using Netflix now for a while and have tried my best to rate as many movies as possible to help Netflix make suggestions for movies I will want to watch. After being asked last night by my friends Steve and McCall I was inspired to post a list here of my favorite movies. Lucky for you it is in RSS form so if you want to be updated any time I rate a movie with 5 stars (out of 5) on Netflix it will show up.

Dean's Favorite Movies (and TV Shows)

TechCrunch's Demo of Microsoft TouchWall

2008-05-14T15:56:00.001-06:00

This makes my nerd bone tingle.

In case you were wonding... my feeds

2008-05-08T12:56:00.005-06:00

I'm up to 159 feed subscriptions now and I thought I'd share what they were. Enjoy.

.antelope brigade
A GThing Science Project
an inquiry of me
AREALLYGOODNAME
bobthecow's blog
coal umbrella
Dean and You
Dean Cheesman's Friends' Facebook Status Updates
Duck Duck Revolution
Forsyth Fam
GThing All Links
gthing's StumbleUpon Blog
Hampered Humanity
Happy 8 Day
Items shared by Matt
Lace's Space
Larry and Carol Cheesman Family Blog
lavender limes and oranges
Love You Long Time - MySpace Blog
MacAttack
Relative Objection
Rughster Design
SCC Photography
Shepizzle
sing your way home at the close of the day
Skivinator
Tessalation
The Christian Crew
The Frank Family
The Sweet Holiday
The Zimmerman Family
THIS DIVIDED STATE - Official Blog of the Filmmakers
Today Was Awesome
Uh Apple
Victim Effect - MySpace Blog
Walk America 2008
you can't dance and stay uptight
YOU COULD BARELY TELL
analog scene
Chromewaves
indiemuse.com
Music Matters
My Old Kentucky Blog
Robin Hood of Indie Music
Robin Hood of Indie Music 2
Said the Gramophone
stereogum
woxy.com > Boards - News Comments
You Aint No Picasso
Accelerating Future
Future Salon : Neil Gershenfeld on C-Span: Internet Zero
Official Google Blog
Open the Future
O'Reilly Conferences
RepRap
Responsible Nanotechnology
Slashdot
Techmeme
Technology Review Feed - Tech Review Top Stories
The Long Tail
Wired News: Top Stories
Healthbolt
Material Interest on Men.style.com
NewsTarget.com
The Art of Manliness
Deans's Google News Feed
Futility Closet
Neatorama
News dugg by diggnation
News dugg by formergthing
News dugg by kevinrose
Netflix Recommendations
Netflix Top 25 in Independent
all manner of distractions
As-Found
Basic Instructions
Best Online Documentaries
BibliOdyssey
BLDGBLOG
Cectic - The Comic
Cool Hunting
[daily dose of imagery]
Design Milk
dezeen
FECAL NEWS, YO!
Generator.x: Generative strategies in art & design
JoshSpear.com
Jot
PicoCool
Shorpy - The 100-Year-Old Photo Blog
sub-studio design blog
Supertouch
The Go MediaZine - Exclusive insights for art, design, marketing and more.
The Perry Bible Fellowship
Uncrate
VVORK
Wooster Collective
xkcd.com
CreateSk8
DIY:happy
[ FreshCreation.nl ]
Wrongorama
Cognitive Daily
Cosmic Variance
Digg / Science
EvolutionBlog
Improbable Research
The Speculist
Uncertain Principles
FlowingData
information aesthetics
Interactive Architecture dot Org
Junk Charts
stamen design - big ideas worth pursuing—in blog form
Strange Maps
visualcomplexity.com
DailyLit: Many Thoughts of Many Minds (Quotations)
Famous Quotes - Famous Sayings
Life Quotes - Quotes About Life
Motivational Quotes of the Day
Rules of Thumb
The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)
Think Secret
Skeptico
The Work of Michael Shermer
BYU NewsNet : Home
Daily Herald - Our Towns
Official BYU News Releases
Provo Metro News
ProvoPulse.com - The Students Voice for the Provo and Orem, Utah areas
this is the boring blog of the provopodcast.com
Cool Site of the Day
YesButNoButYes
craigslist provo | for sale / wanted search for "camcorder"
craigslist provo | for sale / wanted search for "love sac"
craigslist provo | for sale / wanted search for "queen mattress"
craigslist provo | for sale / wanted search for "sac"
craigslist | free stuff in provo / orem
Popular Bargains - JungleCrazy.com
ThinkGeek :: Stuff for Smart Masses
Atheist Media Blog
Clark Howard's Show Notes
gladwell.com
kevinhasablogg
kevinpereira.com
KurzweilAI.net Accelerating Intelligence News
Optimnem Blog: The Blog of Daniel Tammet
RichardDawkins.net : The Latest Updates
Secular Skeptic
tartraz
TED Blog
The Ornery American
A Miracle A Day
Change your thoughts
Lifehacker
Mint | Refreshing Money Management
Tim Ferriss's 4-Hour Workweek and Lifestyle Design Blog
Wise Bread

Important Message from Dean!

2008-05-06T13:08:00.002-06:00

For all of you who subscribe/follow my Google Reader Starred Items please pay attention. I will be transitioning from "Starred" items to "Shared" items. This is because of a new feature that Google Reader has added which allows me to write comments on the stories I share. That way I can share why I'm interested in the stories I highlight. You can see these stories listed on the right side or by following this link.

Tide

2008-04-26T01:50:00.001-06:00

I know these people. Which makes it that much better to me.

What Dwight Schrute thinks of people who don't watch BSG

2008-04-24T00:51:00.001-06:00

Where Dwight and I see Eye to Eye

Because bad old movies are awesome

2008-04-23T12:41:00.002-06:00

Bon Iver - Skinny Love - Live in S.F.

2008-04-13T01:11:00.001-06:00

Favorite new artist...

Whateva, I do watta want!

2008-04-11T15:35:00.001-06:00

The Latest Art Project

2008-03-11T15:30:00.008-06:00

So my roommate Sam and I have been in our new place since December and things have really been coming together. One of the biggest challenges has been to find sufficiently awesome art for the large blank walls in the house.

This project is what we decided to do for the wall between the living room and the kitchen. It's done with black masking tape. Between the both of us we put in about 12-14 hours of work. The art (sadly) was not our own original work. It's from Andrew Rae. Enjoy.

These are some time-lapse videos of a couple hours I spent on the wall.

The Finished Product

You Should Probably Come

2008-02-20T14:11:00.002-07:00

La Blogotheque's Take-Away Shows

2008-02-03T17:54:00.001-07:00

I think I heard about these videos from reading Wired Magazine, but I don't remember. I subscribed to them and have enjoyed nearly all of them so far. When you view the videos you understand the concept very quickly. Take a band out into a city somewhere (usually in France) and have them play their songs as they walk around. Its beautiful on many levels. I believe I will steal this concept for my own uses... More to follow.

February Challenge

2008-01-30T23:40:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I like to consider myself a musician. I have been playing some sort of instrument since I was 8. I've done piano, saxophone, guitar, toy accordion, a little bit of drums, and even done a little bit of electronic music. The problem is... I've never really been good at writing songs. Other than a couple funny songs and Christmas presents for my sister, I've hardly even made a valid attempt at writing music.

I have decided to change this.

There were a couple factors involved in making this decision. First of all I have been inspired by the RPM Challenge which challenges musicians to write and record 10 songs or 35 minutes of music during the 29 days of February. Second of all I have been thinking more about why I suck at writing music and I've decided that its because my first draft almost undoubtedly sucks. After I hear what I've written I get disgusted with myself for making something so crappy. I don't do this with anything else I do creatively, but for some reason writing a song is different. So what I have decided to do is give myself permission to write crappy music. By the end of February I will write at least 10 songs. I make no promises to share what I make, but I will make it... crappy or not.

Final goal in this vein of my life is to play a concert with this kind of energy:

This just blew my mind

2008-01-20T17:16:00.001-07:00

I guess this is as good a post as any to start with on the new blog. I saw this on current.com (one of my favorite online media sites), and I really could not believe it. Why would dolphins do this? Were they taught to? How the heck does that ring of air stay like that? My mind is going to explode.

Dolphin Play Bubble Rings - video powered by Metacafe

The New Blog

2008-01-13T14:01:00.000-07:00

Due to recent events I have changed my blog. I will now be posting things here from now on. I know I get lazy at posting, but if you want to know what I'm in to you should subscribe to my starred Google Reader items. You can see them listed on the right side of my blog or just click on the link below.

Dean's Starred Items