itesser links

Cabinet of Wonders: The Anti-Pragmatic Manifesto

2007-09-27T22:52:00.000-07:00

Cabinet of Wonders: The Anti-Pragmatic Manifesto

This is one of the best things to happen to me this week. An I've had a pretty good week. Words cannot describe.

PET bottle armor ::: Pink Tentacle

2007-09-27T09:46:00.000-07:00

PET bottle armor ::: Pink Tentacle: "At the request of the world’s largest cola cartel, Kosuke Tsumura made this suit of PET bottle armor by slicing up bottles and sewing the pieces together with transparent nylon thread. "

2007-09-19T21:30:00.001-07:00

Sheeep.

2007-09-04T05:51:00.000-07:00

My screensaver is Electric Sheep. Part fractals, part art, part distributed computing, part open source community project. I've been running it for so long I'd forgotten some of the details about it, especially that there's a "vote for your favorite sheep" aspect. Strangely enough, the two I was going to mention are the top two on the site. this and this.

They're atypical for Electric Sheep, more representational and asymmetrical than most, which is why they stuck out at me.

xkcd - A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language - By Randall Munroe

2007-08-29T21:32:00.000-07:00

xkcd - A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language - By Randall Munroe

This is possibly my favorite new webcomic.

That's an old comic, but still good enough that I've stopped reading the archive so I can leave it open and bask in its light longer.

Video: Three bioluminescent sea creatures ::: Pink Tentacle

2007-08-29T15:35:00.000-07:00

Video: Three bioluminescent sea creatures ::: Pink Tentacle: "This video clip from Japanese TV program “Best House 123″ shows the top three glow-in-the-dark sea creatures selected by Hokkaido University professor Yoshihiro Omiya, a specialist in the study of bioluminescent organisms."

Link includes descriptions of the creatures

Curry-flavored mock terror drill ::: Pink Tentacle

2007-08-26T15:29:00.000-07:00

Curry-flavored mock terror drill ::: Pink Tentacle: "In these video stills from a Japanese TV news report, law enforcement officers engage in hand-to-hand combat with a mock terrorist armed with a curry-rice banner — the kind commonly placed on sidewalks in front of restaurants."

Next: A news report about police training to tackle the threat that is terrorists armed with sandwich boards.

Multitasking

2007-08-25T07:16:00.000-07:00

Underwater scenes from 20,000 Leagues. While I was in the groove on an all-night binge of drawing and being amused, I felt my confidence growing in the areas of being able to draw characters consistently. Of course, it helps to have photographs of a single person to be drawing so consistently, but I've not felt, previously, that it was in my current abilities to hold on to a character. Until now. Ask me to draw a Ned Land without a reference. I can do it! And a couple other characters, too. :)

While I might have frittered some of my day, the bulk of it was spent listening to the Areas of My Expertise audio book and drawing in the aforementioned groove. Also known as a flow.

I almost managed to play Zoo Tycoon 2 while drawing, but it too often took too much attention. :(

Week end shill

2007-08-24T16:26:00.000-07:00

If you have a spare $20 and an audio listening device, buy this for yourself, and you'll never be lonely again.

For at least seven hours, John Hodgman will speak directly too you and tell you things.

John Hodgman does not give me money, but I think you should give some to him, unless you can get it for free. Pirate.

This thing which I am shilling is the audio book of his textually written book, Areas of My Expertise, with which I have no experience. I've never even seen it in a bookstore. Although I've never looked.

It's possible I'm going to abandon all other listening projects to hear this out, and I'm only about 20 minutes into it. :D His dry wit is so soothing.

Ten Tokyo time-lapse trips ::: Pink Tentacle

2007-08-24T14:08:00.000-07:00

I've fallen down on posting links lately, but this is just toooo fantastic to pass up.

Ten Tokyo time-lapse trips ::: Pink Tentacle

One of the 10:

YouTube Roundup!

2007-08-14T18:44:00.000-07:00

Mostly dancing, for to close tabs.

amazing pair!

Acrobatic Tap Dancing Jean O'Neil, 1936 I really like what she's wearing and would like to make something similar for myself.

"Acrobatic 'SWAN LAKE'"

Underwater Cirque Du Soleil

And possibly my favorite...

One legged salsa dancer.

Ne-o videos set in Tokyo ::: Pink Tentacle

2007-07-08T06:35:00.000-07:00

Ne-o videos set in Tokyo ::: Pink Tentacle:

File this under "simply amazing". Below is the text of the post, but click through to watch the videos and click the links in the Pink Tentacle shares with you.

"These videos by Ne-o feature unique spatial-temporal visual tricks spiced with dark humor and slices of mundane-but-fantastic Tokyo scenery.

Futureshock — “Late at Night”: Music video with some great night scenery, featuring an unlikely cast of nocturnal characters doing a crazy body-popping dance.

Humanity: Man merges with machine in this Toyota CM for an automobile with a very human touch. This film won the 2006 Cannes Silver Lion.

Salaryman 6: A salaryman trapped in a routine, day-to-day existence loses his memory. The film is shot in ultra-widescreen format to capture the drama of the futuristic Tokyo cityscape, and while some of the cinematic beauty may shine through on your paltry YouTube window, this was clearly meant for the big screen.

B3: A weird trip through a deserted underground parking garage, created from still photos using 3D composting and morphing techniques."

Cephalopodian playscapes ::: Pink Tentacle

2007-07-05T07:42:00.000-07:00

Photos of cephalopodian playscapes ::: Pink Tentacle

Today on the (temporarily) very appropriately named Pink Tentacle....

Is it wrong to want a small scale one of those for my desk? I think it'd make an excellent paperweight... or even better, aquarium fixture.

NPR : Massive Particle Accelerator Revving Up

2007-07-04T17:42:00.000-07:00

NPR : Massive Particle Accelerator Revving Up

This is the COOLEST thing I've heard today. It's so cool I nearly weep with happiness. I got it in a podcast nearly three months ago, but now I'm listening to it. I'm listening to it twice.

"This fall, physicists plan to throw the switch on what is arguably the largest and most complex science experiment ever conducted. An underground ring of superconducting magnets, reaching from Switzerland into France, will smash together subatomic particles at incredible force."

Boomshine

2007-07-04T15:45:00.000-07:00

Boomshine:

"Boomshine is a casual but highly-addictive Flash game. Click the screen to start a chain reaction and try to burst as many dots as needed to pass a level. The game contains 12 levels ranging from the easy to the hard (it takes the average player 25 tries to finish level 12!). Since the game was released in March 2007, 20,000,000 levels have been played by hundreds of thousands of players."

Somewhat fun chain reaction game. I played once through and was lightly compelled to play again, but didn't finish a second time. The music is hypnotic, and the gameplay is interesting, but is a little too luck/patience based for me.

The Amateur Gourmet: My Dinner at Chez Panisse

2007-05-02T16:06:00.000-07:00

The Amateur Gourmet: My Dinner at Chez Panisse: "This dish, this meaty amalgamation on a plate, tells us what it is to be human: for humans hunt and cook with fire. We season the meat with herbs and spices; we roll it so it crisps on the outside and stays moist in the middle. We dress it with leaves and fruits and other devices to enhance the experience. Why do we do this? Why aren't we like other animals--why don't we just devour our foods unadorned? The fact that this meal made me ask this question tells you why Chez Panisse is important."

more saved for the quote than the link.

Leapfrog: 1908 | Shorpy

2007-05-02T11:31:00.000-07:00

Leapfrog: 1908 | Shorpy

unusually awesome shorpy photo. Good enough to share, good enough to eat

I want one!

2007-05-02T11:08:00.000-07:00

Panasonic puts the “pet” in hot carpet ::: Pink Tentacle: "The carpet’s luxurious coat of faux fur (available in white, brown, or skunk-like black and white) houses a set of smart heating elements that deliver warmth only to the areas you touch when you cuddle it. Squishy, flesh-like control switches modeled after the paw pads of your favorite furry friend enhance the carpet’s overall zoomorphic feel"

Bill Maher: New Rules: April 20, 2007

2007-05-02T11:04:00.000-07:00

HBO: Real Time with Bill Maher: New Rules: April 20, 2007: "New Rule: From now on, Earth Day really must be a year-round thing. And...and in honor of this Earth Day, starting Monday, supermarket clerks must stop putting the big bottle of detergent with the handle on it, in a plastic bag. I don't mean to tell you how to do your job, but you see that handle you just lifted the detergent with? I could use that same handle to carry the detergent to my car.
"

After reading this, and a half-dozen other "New Rule" features, I have a newfound resect for Bill Maher. Not that I didn't respect him before, I just didn't know. I don't agree with everything he says, but I do agree with a large percentage of it, and laugh at a similarly sized percentage

the vegetable orchestra

2007-04-30T18:49:00.000-07:00

the vegetable orchestra: "The Vegetable Orchestra performs music solely on instruments made of vegetables. Using carrot flutes, pumpkin basses, leek violins, leek-zucchini-vibrators, cucumberophones and celery bongos, the orchestra creates its own extraordinary and vegetabile sound universe. The ensemble overcomes preserved and marinated sound conceptions or tirelessly re-stewed listening habits, putting its focus on expanding the variety of vegetable instruments, developing novel musical ideas and exploring fresh vegetable sound gardens."

Color me flabbergasted. They have a number of musical clips on their site from the two (!) albums they've released... But for a bit of even better, youtubage below.

The Bug: Steampunk Computer Mouse � Jake of All Trades

2007-04-27T16:31:00.000-07:00

The Bug: Steampunk Computer Mouse � Jake of All Trades: "The Telecalculograph finally has a suitable mouse!"

need annie say more? Oh, the photo goes to imageshack. for the site, click above

Celery Cola: 1908 | Shorpy

2007-04-27T16:26:00.000-07:00

Celery Cola: 1908 | Shorpy: "This is as close to a Hine self-portrait as we've seen."

and it's a f'in good photo anyway

Bridge of Sighs | Shorpy

2007-04-27T16:16:00.000-07:00

Bridge of Sighs | Shorpy

less the actual photograph, or anything on that page, more the line that popped into my head: "The Bridge Sighs of Entropy" I want to do something with that.

GMP | Dark, unsettling powerful portraits

2007-04-27T16:14:00.000-07:00

Graeme Mitchell Photography | Blog | Dark, unsettling, powerful portaits.

This page reminds me of the big collection of mugshots from the 20s that I had a brush with a couple years ago. It was on ebay, too.

Graeme writes about it well.

IT LIVES

2007-04-27T16:11:00.000-07:00

Both me and the blog this bookmarklet are back in action!

Ekphrastic Poetry Page

This is a page that describes something I do, but did not know there was a name for.

I wonder if ekphrastic poems can be sprung from other poetry?

I've had an idea for a long time to have a group of artists in a chain of inspiration. You see the previous piece, respond to it, then your bit becomes the "previous piece" for someone else. I'm sticking a pin in that for later.