RasterWeb!

I know, you’ve been hearing all this stuff about how OPML is good, or OPML is bad, or OPML is a mystery, wrapped in a riddle, inside an enigma. Well, come on now folks, OPML r001z! It just needs a few uh, improvements here and there…

Is there an OPML Validator? Yes, though it’s hard to find, not properly named, or documented very well, and there appears to be no source available… What we need is something as well put together as the Feed Validator, including source code under an open-source license.

Is there an OPML Spec? Yes, though it’s not been revised in over 5 years, and perhaps it should be, as it things have changed and we’ve learned much since then, what with the utf-8 and the &persands and what not…

Is there a DTD? Yes, well, for OPML 1.0. Of course the validator also supports OPML 1.1, of course the Spec is for OPML 1.0, so, um, yeah…

OPML seems to be “sort of” “kind of” there, but not quite. Clean up everything, look at RSS, Atom, OML and any other XML formats you can think of, figure out what OPML might be lacking, add it in there, provide a good, easy-to-use & easy-to-find validator, and we can all stop stepping on puppies when we use OPML.

I know, you the reader are left wondering why I don’t do all of the things I mentioned above? Well dear reader, I don’t do such things. What I do though, is deal with the formats that people create years after they become popular, I mean, you’ve heard the phrase "XML that isn’t really XML" right? Well, I’d just like to make sure I don’t hear "XML that isn’t really XML" any more before I’m told to start writing code that has to produce and consume OPML…

But what do I know? I’m not a user or a developer, I’m just a hacker…

I sometimes feel like an artist that can’t draw, paint, or sculpt…

…but tries to do all three anyway…

We saw Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride at the Rosebud Cinema Drafthouse this weekend. It was very cool. Still hard to believe it was all stop-motion. Well done, Mr. Burton.

As for the theater, that too was quite good. Heck, it was excellent! The Rosebud Cinema Drafthouse is not some huge multiplex with 500 teens and 50 movies showing, it’s an old fashioned theater that shows one movie, and provides couches, tables, chairs, food & drink (including pizza, beer, and other beverages) and a real nice atmosphere. This is the place you want to see movies.

Since it’s a small theater, the wait in line was pretty much non-existant, and since there is only one movie showing, if you happen to have to go to the restrooms, you’ll still hear the movie, as the sound is piped in there as well. Nice! Oh, take a look at their FAQ for some amusing answers and email addresses.

I guess they show football games on the big screen for free during the season, which is a cool idea, and I’m sure the make out great on food & beer sales. Hmmm, maybe they should start showing videoblogs… ;)

Oh, I should also mention Bombay Sweets a little Indian restaurant on 13th Street on Milwaukee’s South Side (right across the street from Lincoln Music.) As for this place, the atmosphere is decidedly lacking, but the food is amazing, and incredibly cheap as well.

Ok, that sums up my weekend…