A Year in Forty Seconds

As the year comes to a close, I thought this was a fitting and pretty sweet video showing the passage of one year in 40 seconds. Time is, after all, relative.



Check it out in HD too! (You'll have to head over to vimeo.com)
[gizmodo.com]

Small Weird Rant

A while ago, some friend of mine tried to persuade me to believe that the armed forces budget for the US was small in comparison to social services...I ignored him, because I thought it was obvious that he was wrong, but I was reminded of this when I came across this cool little doo-dad (I'm sure I've posted it before...but I was reminded of how cool it is). It's interesting regardless of the point I would be trying to make...

A little Santa lineage...

This is funny.

Some Photo Tips

David Pogue, NYTimes tech writer, has written a short piece with good tips, or reminders, for photographers, beginners and pros alike!
Check it out!
And here's another fun Photoshop tutorial!

Must...Update...Before...Going...to...Bed!!!

So, you know how some things will just drive you crazy enough that you can't go to bed until you just do them? This is a post like that. You see, finals week has been upon me, and I'm finally done with all of my finals (well...I'll come back to that). Now I find that I have a TON of things I want to share with everyone. So...prepare yourselves!
We'll start with design:
First off, it's kinda odd, but seriously appealing to me: fantastic illustrations of 30 ways to die from electrocution. Disclaimer: these are illustrations, and while they sound like incredibly dark humor, I think when you see them you'll see how light they are. And funny. Seriously, take this for example:

Moving on. Here's an ironic picture, completely (okay, not completely) exemplifying the American dream:

If you haven't search for tilt-shift images, do so NOW! You can even make them with your iPhone quite easily with this app!
Lastly for design stuff, check out the incredible ASCII art from the 40s!
If you have children, I recommend not buying them these dolls for Christmas. In fact, you're better off sticking with a Wii. I personally would buy anything from these vintage Apple ads, or maybe a Roomba...just not one from 1959. Maybe a nice carbon fiber table gets you going. And for the space geeks, they've finally updated the, ahem, not-so-holy bible. I do want to get me a nice bike...but it needs to be special...something like this (which is actually just really cool tech!)
As the year closes down, I've seen some AMAZING year in review photo galleries. Really, any awesome photos (of the space shuttle riding a 777) deserve their time in hyperspace. Boston.com has probably the most fantastic 2008 in review set. I completely recommend it. Macro photography always makes me happy as well, and here are some awesome macro shots (although the website is admittedly not the easiest to navigate, I have full faith you'll be able to do so.) I particularly liked the photos of ice.
And finally, have some great holidays with a fantastic retro-pic and cover of a beloved Christmas classic!

The Dumbest Generation? I beg to differ...

A while ago, I was perusing Barnes&Noble and came across a book entitled: "The Dumbest Generation." Intrigued, and possibly annoyed, I opened it, sat down and read the first chapter. I honestly felt like my grandma was scolding me or something, but I was laughing inside. The first chapter brought arguments to the table such as 'look at Jay Leno's popular Jay Walking.' What a ridiculous notion! Our generation being labeled stupid because of Jay Walking?? Seriously!?
Anyways, a few days ago, I noticed kottke.org had this, and I wanted to share it with everyone now that I've had time to read it:

Millions more people are going to museums, literary festivals and operas; millions more watch demanding television programmes or download serious-minded podcasts. Not all these activities count as mind-stretching, of course. Some are downright fluffy. But, says Donna Renney, the chief executive of the Cheltenham Festivals, audiences increasingly want "the buzz you get from working that little bit harder". This is a dramatic yet often unrecognised development. "When people talk and write about culture," says Ira Glass, the creator of the riveting public-radio show "This American Life", "it's apocalyptic. We tell ourselves that everything is in bad shape. But the opposite is true. There's an abundance of really interesting things going on all around us."
Full read.

[kottke.org]

I (wish i had) Met the Walrus

So, last Sundance Film Festival, an animated short premiered called, "I Met The Walrus." I really wanted to see it, but for those unfamiliar with the way Sundance works, shorts are grouped together in groups of 8 to 10 shorts and screened in a normal viewing time slot. I wasn't able to make one, and to be honest, it kind of faded from memory until I finally saw the short. It went on to be Academy Award-nominated, and it's definitely worth a watch (embedded here in youtube high quality for your viewing please). Don't you love shorts???

Here's Sundance's summary:
"In 1969, a 14-year-old Beatle fanatic named Jerry Levitan, armed with a reel-to-reel tape deck, snuck into John Lennon's hotel room in Toronto and convinced John to do an interview about peace. Using the original interview as the soundtrack, this narrative tenderly romances Lennon's every word in a cascading flood of multi-pronged animation."

Tuesday Update...on Wednesday?

So, I have this thing for busy-ness. For some reason, I find that I strive to be as busy as possible, and then some. Yesterday was definitely one of those days that I found myself having more plans than time.
So let me update y'all: yesterday I told the third girl this year that I wasn't interested in her. By far she's had the worst reaction and told me she didn't want to see me again...ever. We didn't even have anything between us (i.e. there was never an 'us'), we were friends.
Anyway, I've noticed Mr. Dow Jones has been fighting to make some gains again. But as most financially minded people know, the Standard & Poors 500 is a much better index when looking at the economy and market as a whole. Well, so you know, S&P500 is comparable only to the year of 1931 at -50%. Interestingly enough, if you plot # of years vs gains, you'll find a nice bell curve as evidenced here. And I think I'm heading to Washington to ask for a bailout for my economic situation. I figure if billions are being handed out, a chill million wouldn't be too much to ask. Plus it would create jobs instead of eliminating them. Sure.
I've been interested as of late to genetic programming. It's a very interesting style of machine programming that "evolves" and grows smarter. Check out the evolution of the Mona Lisa, for example. Or you can watch a beta car-building flash applet. Neat-o.
Technology is great. But I'm beginning to find the anonymity of the internet to be a bittersweet. One thing is for certain, I'm quite convinced that it has shown how fake humans can be. Things that would never be said in real life are found in surplus in the comment section of respectable news organizations and other sites. Anyway...my small little rant that I won't continue.
But technology really is great. Check out this new version of bendable display! Can't you wait until you can have this tech in your home? In your pocket?
Finals are next week. Hallelujah. My film has been edited, I'm just waiting to finish the score. I wasn't going to have a music track, but I decided it would greatly enhance the experience, and I'm very picky, so I'm writing it myself. Problem is always time. Recall paragraph one. Right. It'll be done soon for all those waiting on the edge of their seats.
As we near the end of this year, another interesting read is the top 10 stories you missed this year.Interesting, quite.
Anyway, enjoy!

While My...Ukulele Gently Weeps?

I'm a huge Beatles fan. Huge. If you appreciate musical talent AND can sympathize as a similar fan of what is arguably the most talented musical group of modern history, you'll really enjoy this cover of Georgie's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"...on the ukulele. You don't even have to watch it to appreciate his musical ability. This guy, Jake Shimabukuro, is really good. He was featured on NPR a bit ago too.

Invisible Art and Zoetropes

So, at least one zoetrope is garnering a lot of attention recently, but Adobe's research project is pretty tight too.
Anyway, I ran across this form of art today: the art of becoming invisible. Check it out, it's quite cool.

And don't forget to tune in to President-Elect Obama's weekly message: he brings up the fact that America is ranked 15th in Broadband adoption, and that it needs to change! Woot! (Although he does state that America invented the internet...I'm sure CERN folks have something to say about that...)

Andyler

Okay...I'm completely perplexed. As I was walking out of my film class today, a classmate and I were talking about the topics of the papers we handed in. Out of the blue, he asks, "has anyone ever told you you look like Andy Dick?"
Um...no.
I mean, I get the Matthew McConaughey all the time. But never Andy Dick. He actually clarified his question afterward by saying, "The old Andy Dick. When he was normal and wasn't so sick."
Anyway, I don't really know what this means. But I had some random moment to spare and decided to ask you all what you think.

I don't know...my manlier beard pretty much sets us apart at this point...

Endangered Species

Why some people continue to doubt human influence on our environment, one of the most telling signs of the effect of our existence on earth is the strain we've caused on other species. Here's an interesting look at 20 strange and exotic endangered species. Here's 20 more. Worth a look and pondering.