Squanto...

We wrapped the latest installment in the Weekly Reader story series, "The Story of Squanto," just in time for Thanksgiving.

We were originally planning this third module for 2009 but they were so pleased with Appleseed and Columbus they decided to jump back in.

Like the previous installments, Squanto includes an animated video, original audio and music, read-along text, and both an online and printable quiz.

Check out the entire series here.

Australia Update

Australia may be somewhat insulated from the downward economic spiral the rest of us are swimming in, but it is also a land where you can wake up to find a monster like this living in your garage.

Thanks, Lis...

Dan Cray Website Launch...

We're happy to announce the launch of our latest musician website, dancray.com.

Dan's site has similar functionality to that of other musicians we've worked with over the past few years, and as is usually the case, Dan's custom requests have enabled us to continue building on what has become a bona fide web platform that caters specifically to musicians.

So what's new with this one? The online store now supports PayPal in addition to most other popular payment gateways, and in an interesting twist on the typical cd/mp3 buying options, visitors can also buy Dan's albums on USB thumb drives. We also integrated a wordpress blog and skinned it to match the rest of the site, including the Flash navigation. And last but not least, Steve cooked up some custom mailing list sorting so Dan can easily target his audience by geographical region– obviously handy when tour time rolls around.

Dan will be playing the Chicago area throughout November, so check out the site for dates - and don't blink or you might miss the piano-playing crawdad in the loader:

dancray.com

Shocked and Gutted

I had two thoughts on my way to work this morning:

1. It's a beautiful, crisp fall morning - the autumn colors are really glowing in this perfect golden morning light.
2. Arsenal stinks

That's not really fair, Arsenal doesn't stink but they are most definitely suffering from a serious case of "we can't string a couple of wins together for the life of us" syndrome.

I've been following Arsenal for about six years strong now, and I don't believe I've ever lacked belief this early in the season.

To put it plainly, this team doesn't have what it takes to win the Premiership.

The league is simply too tough and unforgiving.

I've been purposely quiet on the matter of Arsenal, silently watching as they've blown teams off the field in Champion's League play and struggled in the Premiership.

Me and Jim were watching the London derby yesterday on the internet and a stuttering webcast is no good way to watch a match, but the shocking result was loud and clear.

After leading 4-2 with less than five minutes to play, the hated Spurs struck back twice in two minutes to tie the game and that's how it ended.

Unbelievable.

We both made the mistake of commenting on how rock steady Alumnia has been in goal - and then he had his worst game of the season.

We laughed at Van Persie's chicken dance when he finally scored - vaulting Arsenal to a 4-2 lead and surely, without a doubt, putting the match out of reach.

Surely.

Not with this Arsenal team.

More than ever before, there is a sense of frailty about this squad.

Call it a lack of spine, call it youth, call it naive, call it what you want but it stinks and it just isn't good enough.

Arsenal is broken and the fix requires more than Wenger's formula of tweaking and tinkering.

I haven't been one to jump on the "break the bank" bandwagon, but we've got to get back to a belief in winning and we need steel in defense - now, for next season.

That's right - I want to see us building now for next year because our chances of going all the way with this team and mentality are slim to none.

Signed,

Shocked and Gutted

Slumdog in Pleasantville...

Caught a special screening of Danny Boyle's new film, "Slumdog Millionaire," right down the block at the Jacob Burns Film Center on Friday night.

Special treat - Danny Boyle and the 18 year-old star of the film, Dev Patel, were there to answer questions after the screening.

I've admired Boyle from his early days when he cranked out two of my favorites: Shallow Grave and Trainspotting, but I feel like I lost touch after the disappointing combo of A Life Less Ordinary and The Beach (not sure how he screwed that up).

The advance buzz on Slumdog has been pretty hot and I'm happy to say, this is a great thrill of a film.

The movie takes place in India, and Boyle treats the senses to a frantic wash of color, pumping sound and flat-out electricity, telling the story of Jamal, a kid from the slums who ends up on the Indian version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire."

But the best part is the way he tells the story.

Each correct answer on the show relates directly to a moment in Jamal's fantastic life, leading to his moment in the spotlight.

The time jumping is so perfectly blended, the result is remarkably fluid.

No spoilers here, just go see it.

Columbus...

Here's another module in the Weekly Reader series for Reader's Digest.

Check out "The Story of Christopher Columbus" here.

Working on Squanto now to deliver in time for Thanksgiving dinner...

Look Out!

I was looking for an image this morning to illustrate the permeating global fear that the sky is falling when Jim sent this.

Perfect.

Let's just list the reasons to stay indoors today:

1. The world is screwed (except, of course those lucky enough to live in Australia)
2. Arsenal is completely Schizophrenic

AAPL - 91.84
(pretty bad, considering we just got $700 billion for bail)