the insignificant ramblings of a disturbed graphic designer
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Thursday Top 5
The sinister 4 a.m. conspiracy: Uncovered!
Google Chrome Comics artist Scott McCloud helps the Google team de-tech-ify the company’s open source browser project. www.google.com/googlebooks/chrome
FuturamaMath.com Dr. Sarah J. Greenwald teaches math at NC’s Appalachian State University, and gives the couch potatoes-cum-mathletes a few things to ponder. www.FuturamaMath.com
Get Crafty! Episode 6 Scrapblog gets creative in the videos they produce to show people how their site works. The results are way funnier than the normal how-to screencast. www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5LNHmwb1fw
Posted by espd at 8:52 AM |
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Thursday, August 21, 2008
Thursday Top 5
An Epic Conversation with Cory Doctorow and John Scalzi, Part 1 An conversation between Cory Doctorow, (technologist, author, and BoingBoing mainstay) and John Scalzi (sci-fi author and noted purveyor of Whatever). The video editing is a bit annoying. Actually, I like all of it except the incredibly annoying, loud intro music. They also use it between cuts. Laaaame. Oh, if you are interested, part two of the video is here.
“This I Believe” by Robert A. Heinlein This short piece makes my cry every time I read it. The Heinlein Foundation recently found a recording of the original radio broadcast for Edward R. Murrow’s radio show in 1952, and posted an MP3. www.heinleinprize.com/rah/thisibelieve.htm
Caduceus Cellars Tool’s Maynard James Keenan has a winery. www.caduceus.org
Waxing the winker A couple guys go to LA’s (apparently) famous waxing salon Pink Cheeks. Yeah, um, definitely NSFW. And btw, “anal bleaching?” Ew. www.current.com/items/89138614_waxing_the_winker
Orwell Diaries The Orwell Prize, a British award for political writing, is publishing George Orwell’s 1938–1942 diaries as a blog. orwelldiaries.wordpress.com
Free Rice Play a vocabulary game, and feed the world at the same time. www.freerice.com
I can see myself now in the old folks home, surrounded by med students. “Here’s an interesting case,” says the MD. “This fella can’t remember his own name and he drools on himself all day. But he has one memory that’s as clear as bell. So clear that he answers every question with it. Go ahead there intern, ask him something, anything.”
Posted by espd at 8:15 AM |
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Thursday, July 24, 2008
Thursday Top 5
Where the hell is Matt? 2008 Matt has simply the best job in the world. It's hard not to be overcome with a general love of the entire planet while watching this video. Yes, even an old curmudgeon like me. And wait for the scene from Gurgaon, India, at 2:33 — it's simply the best.
Christian the lion Two guys raised a lion cub but then had to release him into the wild when he got too big to keep. After a year they travel to Africa to have a little kitty visit. Er...big kitty visit. More about the interesting reunion is available on Snopes. www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVNTdWbVBgc
Posted by espd at 7:48 AM |
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Thursday, July 03, 2008
Thursday Top 5
Cool Radiohead video Made by Robert Hodgin using the open source tool Processing. You can read about how he made it on his blog.
Robert Silverberg At 73 years old, he has written nearly 300 novels and 600 works of short fiction, along with 100 nonfiction books. He has edited 100 anthologies and published in 100 magazines. And he’s only slowing down a little bit. www.sacbee.com
TrekPassions Oh, the shame.... Do we really need a personals and social networking community for complete and utter dorks? Here is an actual personal from the site: “Wanted: SciFi ‘partner in crime.’ Are you interested in Midnight performances of ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’? Prowling bookstores for the newest arrivals. Do you find yourself debating ‘Kirk vs Picard’ or ‘Star Wars vs Star Trek’. Are endlessly watching reruns of: Alien Nation, Babylon5, Stargate SG-1, Firefly or Farscape? If you answered ‘yes’ to any of the above the drop me a e-mail and lets get...” www.trekpassions.com
What penis size is preferred by women? In case you were wondering. And you know you were. www.buzzfeed.com
Uh oh: Actual distribution of male penis sizes Looks like men aren't living up to women’s expectations in this realm any more than we do in others. www.buzzfeed.com
Posted by espd at 8:22 AM |
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Friday, June 20, 2008
On luck, or technology, or life (don't talk to me about life)
“The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair.” – Douglas Adams
Posted by espd at 8:19 AM |
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Thursday, June 19, 2008
On dwarfs (dwarves?)
“All dwarfs are by nature dutiful, serious, literate, obedient and thoughtful people whose only minor failing is a tendency, after one drink, to rush at enemies screaming "Arrrrrrgh!" and axing their legs off at the knee.” – Terry Pratchett in Discworld
Posted by espd at 8:14 AM |
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Thursday Top 5
WineLibraryTV.com This Gary guy is nuts about wine. And just generally a little nuts. Check out his popular podcasts on WineLibraryTV.com. And here he is on Conan. WineLibraryTV.com is a pretty cool site, as is its sister site, Corkd.com.
Tag Galaxy An entertaining way to browse Flickr tags. www.taggalaxy.de
30 minutes of '80s cartoon openings Wow. The cartoons of the 1980s really were terrible (except Inspector Gadget, he was awesome). www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bto7l3cKhvk
Jyoti, the smallest girl in the world She stands just 1ft 11in tall and the average two-year-old would tower over her. But Jyoti Amge is 14 years old. www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/sunday/2008/04/06/
The Big Picture The Boston Globe's website, Boston.com, has started a new photoblog with amazing, large-size news photos from around the world. So much better than the tiny front-page photos you see on most news sites. www.boston.com/bigpicture
Bill Scott Former Yahoo Bill Scott (he's now with Netflix) gave this talk at CNET about a year ago, but I was glad to watch this video again for a refresh. If you're a web developer or user experience designer, it’s chock-full o’ really good things for for you to know. His personal website is very, very useful too, and if you're not already aware of and using the YUI Interface Library, it's a must-see. Video presentation: http://video.yahoo.com/watch/1285664
How to Enjoy Sushi Now that I've watched this awesome instructional video, I'll be prepared to visit Japan! www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C5SbdCPmck
StartCooking.com This site's great for people like me, who never really learned to cook. Plus it's attractively-designed, professionally presented, and features well-edited videos. www.startcooking.com
Lunch inside the 12 Galaxies You ever wonder about that guy who walks around San Francisco every day with a black protest sign that makes no sense? Meet Frank Chu. www.eightyfourfilms.com
Posted by espd at 9:08 PM |
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Thursday, May 15, 2008
Thursday Top 5
Pixar – A Human Story of Computer Animation A long (101 minutes!) but really interesting panel discussion at the Computer History Museum featuring the guys who invented texture mapping and alpha channels back in the early 1970s. They would later do early computer graphics for some films you may have heard of (like the original Star Wars) and go on to found a little animation studio you also may have heard of: Pixar.
Am I Not Pretty Enough? I usually detest this sort of talent show crap, but these guys deserve props indeed. www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzashX3FglM
Top 5 update: Donnie Hoyle unmasked Back in March I told you about the hilarious "You Suck at Photoshop" tutorials by Donnie Hoyle. Time magazine last week revealed the creators of the series as Troy Hitch and Matt Bledsoe. www.time.com
Posted by espd at 7:02 AM |
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Thursday, May 08, 2008
Thursday Top 5
Cirque du Soleil: Wheel of Death A few weeks ago I surprised Velma and my mom by taking them to see Cirque in San Jose. They had the Wheel of Death at this performance, although there was only one of the contraptions (with two wheels and two guys). Still, it made my skin crawl to watch it.
Know your rights as a photographer Good legal tips for the next time you're stalking Britney of taking a picture at the airport. I'll have to remember these the next time I'm in Boston and they give me a hard time again about taking pictures in the T. photojojo.com/content/tips/legal-rights-of-photographers
MP3.com Live: Queensrÿche Queensrÿche was one of my favorite bands when I was in high school, and they played a live acoustic set at my former workplace recently. Wish I could've been there to catch it, but these four videos are good. www.mp3.com/news/stories/10972.html
Google Me, the movie Jim Killeen Googled his name and found there were Jim Killeens all around the world. So he traveled to meet some of them and made a documentary.
Grabb.it A group music blog anyone can contribute to. grabb.it
I want to see that! Every Monday, Ben and Katie review all the new movies. Even if they haven't seen them yet. iwtst.com
1,000 True Fans Ever heard the term "the long tail" and wondered what the hell they were talking about? Here's an article that posits that a person (an artist, a musician or even a blogger, for example) can make a living if they can reach a point where they have 1,000 true fans. www.kk.org/thetechnium/
Posted by espd at 8:05 PM |
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Thursday, April 17, 2008
Thursday Top 5
The Pixar Story I hadn't heard about this documentary, and now I'm looking forward to it. Unfortunately, there's no trailer on the site yet (boo!), even though the film's been screening around the country for months. Meantime, I quenched my thirst by reading this column from a couple years ago, about Pixar's 10th birthday. www.thepixarstory.com
Posted by espd at 1:44 PM |
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Thursday, April 10, 2008
Thursday Top 5
Penguins Linux ad
Buy n Large From aerospace to food services, robotics to watermills. Now that's a global corporation. Ten points if you can figure out why this site is humorous. www.buynlarge.com
Five dangerous things you should let your kids do I guess I was lucky. I got to do all of these things as a kid. Although it wasn't spears, it was Jarts (later banned), and the I didn't do the driving bit until maybe 13 or 14. www.ted.com
"Lemme finish" In an interview with an Irish TV correspondent, Not-My-President Bush shows just how much of an idiot he is. "History will judge what I'm about." www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fze2J2Ve9is
English Russia A blog of Russian interestingness. Apparently written by actual Russians, since the English is a little broken here and there. www.englishrussia.com
We Can Solve the Climate Crisis Al Gore has launched a $300 million climate change initiative, one of the most ambitious and costly public advocacy campaigns in U.S. history, according to the Washington Post. When you play this video, notice the W in "we." How much do you want to bet it's going to flip over and become "me" if you go to the site and join in? www.wecansolveit.org
"Amateur" by Lasse Gjertsen I'm pretty sure I posted this a couple years ago, but it's such a classic I had to repost it. www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzqumbhfxRo
The fierce Humboldt squid When Jason sent me this description, at first he was playing an April Fool's joke on me. But the Humboldt squid is real. "A mysterious sea creature up to 7 feet long, with 10 arms, a sharp beak and a ravenous appetite, has invaded ocean waters off Northern California. Packs of fierce Humboldt Squid attack nearly everything they see, from fish to scuba divers." www.kqed.org/quest/television/view/774
Grolsch Gardens This is a really innovative branded game built with Flash. It's sort of a noir detective story; you have to collect clues and items and the story unfolds. You'll need a lot of time to play it, but it's really engrossing...or would that be engrolsching? www.grolschgardens.com
Posted by espd at 4:37 PM |
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Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Tales of Mere Existence
Lev Yilmaz uses a great low-budget animation technique: He films himself drawing his cartoons in realtime, but from underneath, through a glass pane. So he has to write all the dialog in backward letters. It's an effective technique, and it must speed up the animation process tenfold or more (no stop-frame necessary).
But it wouldn't be worth a lick if the narratives themselves weren't downright funny, and Lev's certainly are. You can see more of his work at Ingredient X, or all his videos on his YouTube page.
Note: Most of them are clean but a few contain "strong language." This one's clean:
Posted by espd at 1:13 AM |
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Thursday, March 27, 2008
Thursday Top 5+1
Symptoms: Increased heart rate, fits of laughter... What if two members of the crew of the TV show "Scrubs" fell in love?
Don't try this at home Filming a slap in the face, then slowing it down to 4,000 frames per second. www.collegehumor.com
"Guardians" by George R.R. Martin Jason enthusiastically told me about this story he read a decade or two ago, and he was finally able to track it down online. It's by the fantasy and sci-fi author George R.R. Martin, and it touches on, among other things, the science of ecology. I really liked this story; it would make a good one-hour TV episode. Maybe Sci Fi Channel is listening? cerclefantastique.free.fr
Do the Test How many passes does the team in white make? www.dothetest.co.uk
Warning – NSFW: What's Your Favorite Curse Word? Britain's Channel 4 asks loads of celebrities to share their favorite swear words.
Garfield Minus Garfield I used to love Garfield. But I hey, I was in 4th grade. I grew out of it shortly thereafter, though my mom insisted on buying me Garfield stuff for many years thereafter *sigh*. Today, the power of digital imaging allows us to make a giant leap forward! The results is a funnier strip. garfieldminusgarfield.tumblr.com
"Home From Africa: 13 Symptoms of Peace Corps Withdrawal" My friend Diane was posted to the African country of Benin [correction: she was in Niger, but met her future husband in Benin] in the Peace Corps after college. When she'd tell me stories about her time there, it struck me as a very difficult lifestyle for two years. Listening to this radio program from Transom reminded me of a lot of her stories. Photos and MP3: www.transom.org
Mini site I have to admit Jason's right about this site: "It's cool and there's little bits of humor in it too." And I really the new van-like model. www.miniusa.com
Ryan Shupe & the Rubberband: "Dream Big" I never heard of this band before, but I like this song. Almost-but-not-quite too country for me.
Postcrossing This site takes good old-fashioned penpals into the Internet age. Users from countries all over the world have exchanged nearly 1 million postcards (real ones, not e-cards) using this site. www.postcrossing.com Flickr stream of some of the postcards: www.flickr.com/groups/postcrossing
You Suck at Photoshop Tutorials can be boring, but Donnie Hoyle's seven (so far) Photoshop tutorials provide, um, maybe a little too much insight into Donnie's life. www.youtube.com
Metal Knight Rider Because the only thing that could make Knight Rider more badass is if the intro song was redone metal-style. www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDs3GItNPo8
I've been busy so I didn't have time to post a Top 5 last week. So here's a double dose of distractions for you.
What if humanity disappeared? This Sunday, the National Geographic Channel premieres "Aftermath: Population Zero," which imagines what it would be like if humans suddenly disappeared from Earth (coincidentally, they chose Velma's birthday for the date on which human history ends). Pets will starve, dams will break, electricity will shut down and nuclear plants will eventually melt down. And that's just in the first few months; they
