SheldonShirts.com is a great site that tracks the t-shirts Sheldon (Jim Parsons) wears on Big Bang Theory. I bought a couple of those and also bought some others that are influenced by the show. Here’s the fall line:

Couple these great tees with some comfy long sleeve t-shirts (in assorted colors of course) from Kohls and my fall/winter wardrobe will be mostly complete. Don’t expect any further fashion tips on mike.mylenbusch.org until next year.

Oh and BTW, if you are chomping at the bit for the new season of Big Bang Theory to finally start, this Jim Parsons skit on Funny or Die might help.

What’s most interesting about this podcast is that we’re releasing it in video and audio forms. I’ll save the details about the show production for a later post, but the video portion is being hosted on blip.tv and the audio portion is hosted on our own server at buzzwordbingo.tv. Both versions are accessible through iTunes as well.

So, check it out, If you like it, please leave comments so that we can make it better.

The Mother of all Mash-ups

Kutiman took seemingly unrelated Youtube videos of people playing musical instruments and mixed them together to form songs. He didn’t just use the audio, though. That would have been kewl on its own, but not necessarily revolutionary. He also used the video.

If you are familiar with audio sampling techniques, you can apply to same logic to the process. But Kutiman added the synchronized video to the sample. In some cases the samples are very short, like a single note or tap. He used these samples to develop melodies and rhythms that weren’t in the original videos. In other cases, he used long clips of singing, rapping, talking, etc as primary vocal tracks.

The result is a menagerie of sensory disbelief, where amazing songs flow with skips of video from normal people doing normal things together making extraordinary music.

Legal Eagle

I hope he has a good lawyer, though. Like many before him, he is pushing the limits of copyright “fair use”. That might be why his album is free and there isn’t even one ad on his web site. Big media is desperately trying to force consumers into the traditional models of media consumption in order to preserve their dwindling revenue streams. This strong-arm tactic is necessary because they have yet to figure out a business model for this generation of content distribution.

Enjoy it While it Lasts

So, before the cease and desist notices start flying, Go out and enjoy the best example of art and technology that we’ve seen so far this century. Even better, fire up your favorite video editor and do something amazing yourself.

“Remember, the only person who can sit on your ass, is you.” –merlin mann

When I launch Boxee, my Mac Mini transforms into a remote-friendly media center with access to all of my movies, pictures and music without the need for a keyboard or mouse. The content available isn’t limited to just my own digital media. Boxee’s slick interface alows you to play movies and music from many of the popoular online companies like Hulu, CBS, MTV and even….drum role please…Netflix. Yes, if you are a Netflix subscriber (and why aren’t you at a measly $9.95 per month) you can stream any of their 12,000+ titles through Boxee on your TV.

“Look Ma, no computer!”

Before the purists chime in, yes, I know that there are other devices that stream Netflix to your TV without a computer. But Boxee does so much more. Think of Boxee as modern-day “rabbit ears” that are capable of tuning into lots of TV “stations” on the Internet for free! (note: if you are younger than 25, you probably don’t know what rabbit ears are anyway, I apologize for the inconvenience).

But wait, there’s more! In addition to Boxee’s media features, it adds social networking to it’s already impressive line up. Now you can easily share and recommend what you are watching to your friends without leaving the comfort of your couch. Your viewing and listening habits are only shared with those that you have “friended” through the boxee.tv web interface. This of course, is an optional feature that can be disabled in the Boxee settings.

Consumers are quickly embracing on-demand programming on the Internet. Boxee not only makes that easier, but it converges social networking and TV which is the future of consumer entertainment. Enjoy!

My first installment in this series is an iPhone game called Rolando (App Store link). This was a highly anticipated title that was announced around the time that the iPhone SDK was announced last March. It was finally released last month and it certainly lives up to the hype.

I’m not planning to provide a full review of items in these posts, but the gameplay is simple and uses the iPhone accelerometer effectively. If you are new to iPhone gaming, this title is a great example of the “input via movement” that the iPhone accelerometer provides.

The story isn’t complex, yet fun and you can play this game in short spurts, which is a must these days for me. I don’t have time to immerse myself in a 75-hour game. There are people who like those titles, but I’m not one of them. I want to get into a game, get out when I’m interrupted and resume when I’m ready.

The price is $9.99 which is on the high side for iPhone applications, but it’s a relative steal when you compare that to the price of games on other mobile consoles like the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP. Plus, this game is every bit as good (if not better).