37 Signals has a great little bit about the need to be ruthless killer of the unnecessary in creative project development.

All web apps are trying to suck. They are trying to be bloated. They are trying to be unstructured. They are trying to be confusing.

You are the stopgap. You are the one who stands between order and chaos. You are the sniper who must pick off every distraction, unneeded feature, and extra word that doesn’t absolutely have to be there.

You must be a killer. You must say no. You must anger those who disagree with you. That is the only way to make something great.

It also includes a nice video piece from Ira Glass of This American Life.

Posted by Ryan Torma at 04:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In preparation for the fourth and likely final season of Battlestar Galactica, several new videos have been posted to a splash page on the show's web site. The videos have a lot of great information about the show, including a funny 'the story so far update.' (However, be aware, they will address all three seasons so you will get spoilers if you are not up to date.) BSG has been a goldmine of media and religion issues and it continues this week as the background image for the page holding the videos is this last supper image. A nice touch for holy week don't you think...

Notice the intense similarities to DaVinci's last supper.

It's interesting that we have Baltar's immaginary / angelic #6 sitting in the Jesus place at the table; I wonder where this is leading us. Also you've got chief holding the knife, similar to the knife in the DaVinc held by someone in the group on the viewers left of Jesus. (It's really hard to see in this image, but search for it and you can find clearer images.) I don't know much art history, does anyone know if this is symbolism for Peter who draws his sword in the garden later, or for something else?

All together it has been fascinating to see how religion has been such a major force in the series and how intelligently the shows writers have dealt with it. As a fan, I am excited to see what happens this season.

Posted by Ryan Torma at 04:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Magnum in Motion has a harrowing and poignant series on wars in Vietnam, The Balkans, & Iraq. Four photographers share their thoughts and experiences over slides of their work. The images are powerful anti-war documents, but be aware the images are graphic.

Posted by Ryan Torma at 04:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)