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Geek It Happened to Me

Developer Junior: Making Your Own Movies with Live Movie Maker / Appearing on “Webnation”

Here’s episode 2 of Developer Junior, the show where “Junior” the puppet (played by Brian Hogg of Hoggworks Studios) and I show kids how to make the most out of their technology. In this episode, Junior and I go Hollywood and make a quick little movie using Live Movie Maker, which runs on Windows and you can download for free.

In case you missed the previous Developer Junior episode, in which Junior and I build a video game using Kodu, you can watch it here.

Webnation: Amber Mac, Joey deVilla and "Junior"

Junior and I are headed to CP24’s studios tonight to do an interview with Amber Mac and Maurice Cacho on their show, Webnation, where we’ll be talking about Developer Junior, technology, kids and how they all fit together. If you’re in the Toronto area, tune in tonight to CP24 at 7:10 p.m. to catch our interview live; if you’re, you can see the interview online when they post it to the Webnation site.

This article also appears in Canadian Developer Connection.

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It Happened to Me Play

Scenes from Last Night’s Bombay Sapphire Rooftop Party

A little life hint: if someone invites you to a rooftop party where a celebrity chef is cooking and they’re serving gin, always RSVP with “yes”.

joey devilla accordion shaker 1

The party was a Bombay Sapphire promotional event featuring Food Network Canada chef Rob Rainford, who cooked some delicious dishes using gin as an ingredient. Co-presenting with him was Merlin Griffiths, Bombay Sapphire’s “Global Brand Ambassador”.

When this computer fad blows over, I think I’ll become a brand ambassador for a liquor company – it looks like fun!

joey devilla accordion shaker 2

These photos feature Yours Truly shaking up a “Southside”, which is essentially a mojito made with gin instead of rum, and it’s pretty nice.

There are more photos, including Rob Rainford cooking delicious dishes on my Flickr set of the event.

joey devilla accordion shaker 3

If you want to try out the recipes we were shown, they’re posted here.

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Life

The Best TV Ad Ever?

How’d I miss this gem — a TV ad for Cullman Liquidation, who sell mobile housing?

This line from the ad is pure bad-ass:

A bouncer in Birmingham hit me in the face with a crescent wrench five times and my wife’s boyfriend broke my jaw with a fence post. So if you don’t buy a trailer from me, it ain’t gonna hurt my feelings. So come on down to Cullman Liquidation and get yourself a home. Or don’t. I don’t care.

Celebrated film director Errol Morris calls this – and apparently without irony — “the best commercial ever made” and says “I should be so lucky as to achieve this level of excellence.”

The ad became a big YouTube hit, requiring Cullman’s saleswoman to make this video:

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Life

Bacon Pancakes!

This looks like a pretty nice way to start the day…

Pancakes made by pouring batter onto frying bacon

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Play

Kate Beaton’s Take on “Macbeth”

Earlier, I pointed you to comic artist Kate Beaton’s take on The Great Gatsby. Here’s her latest comic, which does the same wonderful job on Macbeth:

Kate Beaton's comic, "The Scottish Play"

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Play

Basic Catching Positions

1970s guys in a very 1970s outfit demostrating the "thumbs-down catch" and the "thumbs-up catch"

My question is: “Catching positions for what?” Volleyball? Things thrown from an upstairs window? Stage-diving characters from a production of Godspell or Jesus Christ Superstar?

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Life

Cream of Wheat and Ice Cream. They’re Both Creams, So They Go Together, Right?

1956 advertisement for Cream of Wheat hot cereal suggesting that you serve it with a scoop of ice cream.Click the photo to see it at full size.