I wanted to follow and respond to friends and family photos on Flickr thru a feed reader without having to comb thru the combined photostream of my contacts. I didn’t want to add individual feeds to my reader since this would be hard to maintain and I didn’t want to “unfriend” my contacts since that would be rude.

This required some light kung-fu on the Flickr API. Using the following feed url finally did the trick:

http://api.flickr.com/services/feeds/photos_friends.gne
?user_id=<insert user id here>&display_all=1&friends=1
Remember to <insert user id here> and use your super-obscure Flickr uid (not the friendly login you’re accustomed to) found by logging in and visiting this Flickr Services page.

Wow, that should have been easier, but hopefully someone else can benefit from this.

Update: Turns out this was much easier to do, but a least I learned something about the Flickr API.

• So excited about Google’s announcement of OpenSocial and the possibilities of social network portability, but worried about the huge privacy implications. Also, it looks like Facebook might consider OpenSocial as an opportunity. Smart move, folks. Jeremiah Owyang has a nice summary for the business minded folks, Tantek breaks it down for developers.
• After getting plugged by Oprah and former president Clinton, microloan site Kiva ran out of loans. Now they’re back up. If you give to anti-poverty causes, consider giving a few bucks to an entrepreneur in the developing world.

• Guillermo Del Toro wants Neil Gaiman to direct the Death film. Thank god for oscar-nominated, brilliant, fanboy director/producers.
• Totally making these next Halloween. Eek!

Best Buy is evil. As if you needed even more evidence.
• Who’s the Superest? The Superest, that’s who. If pressed, I’d have to say the Pro Swimmer or the Deep Friar can join my Justice League anyday. (thanks Dan Cedarholm!)
• 5 Scientific Reasons a Zombie Apocalypse Could Actually Happen. This one goes out to Otaku Chick, who says that zombie movies don’t scare her. Apparently they should.

Am I the last person to hear that Stephen Fry is filming a BBC series where he travels the U.S. and devotes each episode to a different state? If so, forgive me for a having a mini nerdgasm.

Michael Wesch, creator of The Machine is Us/ing Us and Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University just posted another of his beautiful videos to YouTube.

Information R/evolution takes on information management and the semantic web in the same simple, expressive style of the first video.

My god these things are amazing and make the more expansive possibilities of the web accessible to noobs and netizens in equal measure.

(via BoingBoing)

Kitsune Noir is one of my favorite art and design blogs of late and this evening pointed me to the amazing work of Daniel Krall.

There’s a common thread here with other recent recent art crushes like Paul Pope and Gabriel Bá, but I can’t put my finger on it. Great work nonetheless.

In other Gabriel Bá funnybook news, I hope I’m not too late to get my hands on the first issue of The Umbrella Academy. The fact that it’s written by Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance is a little strange, but who am I to judge?

If it’s seemed quiet around here recently, it’s because I’ve been obsessed with both Twitter and Pownce. Both are nicely designed social networking sites with nice interfaces and the satisfaction of a captive audience ready and willing to be your “friend.” However, the big drawback is how these networks are closed pipes with impermeable barriers and a general lack of openness and portability. So, I want to spend some more time on PopAstronaut to retake ownership of my online self and plan to explore the idea of social network portability.

I’m not sure how to approach the issue exactly. Lifestreaming? Create an open social network application?

At some point, the fact that I’ll always have the same weird insecurities became comforting rather than infuriating. Like a soft blanket filled with bumblebees. I’ve become reaquainted with my manic, messy, oversharing alter-ego and I wonder where he’s been hiding and why he chose to come back right now. Don’t get me wrong, he’s by turns funny, weird and embarassing; not always welcome, but more interesting than the guy that passes for me nowadays.

Does that sound crazy? :P

It’s a good thing Joe Hill chose a pseudonym to avoid comparisons to his famous father, otherwise I might not have picked up his amazing first novel Heart-Shaped Box. The book is really scary and, like all good ghost stories, firmly rooted in the emotional lives and painful pasts of it’s characters. By the end, the novel it most reminded me of was Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones, but that’s not to say it doesn’t stand on it’s own original, creepy merits. Highly recommended.

Finally, something to get excited about out of Lucasfilm:

• StarWars.com launches a site for the cgi Clone Wars tv series and it looks pretty good, but then again so did all 3 prequels. Why does Count Dooku look like a Rankin Bass puppet from Santa Claus is Coming to Town?
• The relaunched IndianaJones.com has some fun Comicon video and a clue on the splash page. I know I’ve seen that crate somewhere.

I know this is not new news, but have I mentioned how much I love Flight of the Conchords? Bowie’s In Space just makes the relationship that much deeper.

Until the letdown of The Life Aquatic, Wes Anderson solidly occupied the bulleted list in my brain reserved for my favorite directors. Aquatic only had half of the style + sweetness combo that makes his films so amazing and, while I would give my right arm to have him art direct my life, I started to wonder if I should continue pinning my hopes on the sad and sweet characterization that made Bottle Rocket, Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums such touching filmgoing experiences.

Now, I’m all wound up about The Darjeeling Limited and really don’t want to be disappointed again. The sad thing is that high expectations are pretty good recipe for disappointment. Maybe I should learn to set my hopes on something more reliable than moviemaking, like poker or horse racing.

(via Pop Candy)

• Say what you will about the iPhone, one sure thing is that we’ll all have better phones in the long run, rather than the ridiculous pieces of junk the cell companies extort us into buying. This Linux phone, for example. (via Everybody)
• This knitted Ewok is so cute, I might have to pass it on to S
  …naaah. I’ll never forgive those stupid muppets. Yub, yub my ass. (via Wonderland)

• I’m adding Hanlon’s razor to my list of life mottos. So much for my “practice humility” resolution. (via 43 Folders)
• Camera Obscura’s cover of Super Trouper makes me very happy. Did I mention I was an ABBA kid?
• Speaking of ABBA kids. This time literally. Are you sure he’s not Neil Diamond’s kid?
• I really want to read Soon I Will Be Invincible. That’s not too surprising.