Matthew Buchanan

Job transition

Wed, 22 Sep 2010 10:10:00 +1200

Mike Hudack:

The self-awareness that leads someone to say that “technical management needs have evolved to require types of experience that I don’t have” is massive, and it should be admired. This is the essence of what it is to be a professional.

Yes, there’s that too. Marco’s just a special guy. Tremendous talent combined with the refusal to be anything but honest, opinionated, and straight-forward with himself and others. Whether we’re talking about tech, coffee, politics, or proper ordering techniques at our local Chicken Deli.

And he’s also just a great guy who I’ve been lucky to work closely with these past few years. Can’t wait to see what the bright future holds for our pal Marco.

"It has been an invaluable experience to develop a product from just two users to one of the top 50..."

Wed, 22 Sep 2010 10:02:00 +1200

“It has been an invaluable experience to develop a product from just two users to one of the top 50 sites in the U.S., and I’m looking forward to staying close to this incredible team.”

- Woah, Tumblr’s lead developer Marco Arment is leaving a full-time role at the company to pursue his independent career (he’s also the creator of the Instapaper empire). He’ll continue to fulfill an “active consulting” role as the engineering team grows. I’m more than excited for what he’ll create next, but can’t help feeling a bit fearful for this platform given what he’s been instrumental in building at Tumblr. Best wishes!

SpriteMe

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:01:00 +1200

SpriteMe:

A very clever bookmarklet by Steve Souders that examines the background images on a page and automatically generates CSS sprites (and recomputes all background positions!) based on how the images are used in the page, and grouping by size. The interface displays a running tally of the number of HTTP requests saved as well as the reduction in filesize. My only (very minor) complaint is the manual work required to fold the changes back into the source CSS files, but this is genius. (via Tim Dawson)

SuperPreview Beta Download

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 07:55:00 +1300

SuperPreview Beta Download:

Announced at MIX09, SuperPreview is a standalone Windows application that allows previewing of websites simultaneously in IE6 and whichever of IE7 or IE8 you have installed. Ars Technica and Web Designer Depot have more.

An Unexpected Party

Fri, 23 May 2008 23:35:07 +1200

An Unexpected Party:

Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro are hosting an online chat on Sunday at 8am (NZST). Register to participate using the above link.

Almost 18 months ago LA Times writer Jay Fernandez suggested,...

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 23:59:00 +1300

Almost 18 months ago LA Times writer Jay Fernandez suggested, after reading the script for Charlie Kaufman’s new film Synecdoche, New York, that it is “questionable whether cinema is even capable of handling the thematic, tonal and narrative weight of a story this ambitious”.

The film ostensibly tells the mid-life story of a theatre director who, for his latest project, constructs a facsimile of New York inside a warehouse. It’s also a relationship parable and is bound to be steeped in logic puzzles wrapped up inside brain teasers. The official publicity is wonderfully vivid:

By seamlessly blending together subjective points-of-view with traditional narrative structures, writer/director Charlie Kaufman has created a world of superbly unsteady footing. His richly developed cast of characters flutter between moments of warm intimacy and frightful insecurity, creating a script that brings to life all the complex and beautiful nuances of shared life and artistic creation.

Kaufman, the reclusive, twisted mind behind Being John Malkovich, Adaptation and the brilliant Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, will direct for the first time in his career, with #5 Reason to Love New York Philip Seymour Hoffman in the lead role. Michelle Williams, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Emily Watson, Hope Davis, Samantha Morton, Dianne Wiest and Catherine Keener (with whom Hoffman worked on Capote) round out the core cast.