Danica Patrick Wins

IndyCar is picking up some steam these days! Some early momentum was built last season, with a closely contested 2007 championship, Dario’s flips, and tempers flaring at Watkins Glen, but then the whole thing seemed to fizzle a bit with two former champions (Hornish and Franchitti) leaving for NASCAR. Well, look at where we are after just three races in 2008: Champ Car and the IRL have reunited to form one league, drivers from both sides of the old fence have already won races (19 year old Graham Rahal became the youngest driver ever to score a victory in St Petersburg), and now – finally – Danica Patrick has become the first woman to win a major automotive competition in the United States! I don’t really have a strong preference when it comes to racing – Victoria and I pay attention to both NASCAR and the IRL equally these days. But it’s great to see OWR slowly return to its former glory. Congrats Scott Dixon, congrats Graham Rahal, congrats Danica Patrick! Looking forward to the rest of the season, especially the stop at Infineon Raceway this August. And of course I’ll be there to document it all, up close and personal

Digital Juno

Gotta give a shoutout to the Fox DVD department: getting a free digital copy of the movie when you buy Juno on Blu-Ray is pretty damn cool! And useful. Sure, it’s DRM’ed, but the license acquisition is as painless as any other iTunes purchase. And even though we’ll watch the movie on the big TV, it’s great to have the movie on the iPhone for unexpected waits at the doctor etc. It’s good to see big studios embrace the digital frontier and deliver a purchase in multiple formats. I paid for it, I can watch it wherever I am! Perfect.

Free Lair Downloads

The free Lair Dragons and Control Pack is now available on the Playstation 3 store. Two new playable dragons, analog control option, and a whole bunch of fixes for free!

R.I.P. Ollie Johnston

Not much more to say than this, the last of the Nine Old Men has passed away. I remember how excited I was when I finally snagged a copy of The Illusion of Life, which was incredible hard to find for the longest time. For good reason, it’s the standard work on animation principles, no matter if 2D or 3D. And just now I’m reading Neal Gabler’s excellent Walt Disney biography, which obviously has quite a few references to and quotes from Johnston.

R.I.P. Ollie Johnston.

Now I Can Post More Again!

Finishing stuff is fun. Especially if the “stuff” took over a month of assembling and editing and rediting. What kind of stuff, you ask? Wait a few more days and you’ll probably see it on Infineonraceway.com and on my Youtube page
Also fun: watching Victoria finish writing the last paper she’ll ever write for her masters degree!

700 Calories

That’s the energy just from the solid chocolate Easter bunny that I opened yesterday (and will finish today). Not a good time to hold on to my diet. But that feels alright. Holidays had pretty much lost their meaning when I lived alone in Virginia, far away from family and without a “domestic partner”. It’s nice to regain some days where indulences are allowed and feel meaningful.