This weekend I returned to Oregon from my cross-country, family-visiting Thanksgiving journey. I had a great time catching up with family and old friends. It was also the first Thanksgiving since my senior year of high school (1996) that I was present for dinner with my mom and siblings. That was nice. I guess I’ll have to wait to break out the “Lazy man’s Thanksgiving dinner for two” until Christmastime this year.

In addition to the many links I have posted via Twitter lately, below are a few more items I’ve liked (or found interesting) since late October.

Alan Moore, art and design

• Alan Moore to write libretto for Gorillaz duo
• The first issue of Alan Moore’s Dodgem Logic zine is out
• Nice: All About Comic Sans – History, Examples and Best Practices
• Norism: Commercialism by Nori Sato
• Cool pencil art: Jennifer Maestre Sculpture
• The World’s Greatest TreeHouse

Creepy animals and science

• Beautiful and Terrifying Creatures From The Edge Of Light (also see: Bloodybelly Comb Jelly)
• BPA is in everything: Tests Find Wide Range of Bisphenol A in Canned Soups, Juice, and More

Bohemian Rhapsody

• The Muppets: Bohemian Rhapsody
• Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody Played by Old Computer Equipment

More music

• Crazy animated music video: “Mani Malaikat” by Arrington de Dionyso
• Ah, the memories: Epic moment in Music Festival history @ Sasquatch 2009. A couple started having sex on the hill during The Decemberists’ awesome set. This song is “The Wanting Comes in Waves / Repaid.” This was on Saturday, May 23 at The Gorge Amphitheatre, WA (also see my Sasquatch! 2009 review)
• A nice history: Know Your Meme: Auto-Tune. Worth mentioning: KRS-One’s anti-Auto-Tune anthem “Robot” is quite tasty
  

The Prisoner replica jacket

My friend Warren made a Prisoner jacket for himself for Halloween this year. He took a navy blue blazer and sewed some white piping (white bias) around the edges. Looked pretty good, but it’s still tempting to buy an Official Prisoner Replica Jacket, to be used for all future interviews, weddings and funerals.

Keanu Reeves is immortal

I found this amusing: Keanu Reeves is immortal.

DIY automated sentry gun

I would like to reiterate something I posted to Twitter a few weeks ago: I require a sentry gun to monitor the kitchen counters with a water pistol, accompanied by audio of Cartman yelling, “No Kitty! Bad Kitty!” This article was the inspiration for the idea: “This DIY Automated Sentry Gun Looks Terrifyingly Easy To Build.” That, plus living with housecats.

Web development

I will finish up here with some useful links to JavaScript/AJAX accordion scripts: 10 Javascript Accordion Scripts (various JavaScript libraries) and Rico Accordion Example (Prototype-based).

Bumbershoot was really fun this year, except for the rain.

You might want to check out the new “Hot Chicks in Black & White Flicks!” series from Secret Sauce. Remakes include 12 Angry Men and On The Waterfront. I like the Raging Bull one best, but I was mildly amused by all of them.

Also brought to you by Secret Sauce is this live-action trailer for My Little Pony: Reign of Buttercup Sprinkles. I, for one, welcome our new pony overlords. Total worldwide pony occupation in less than six hours!

Take a look at this Quentin Tarantino Movies topic at Cracked. Note: If you haven’t seen Inglourious Basterds, you can skip over that column to avoid spoilers. I loved the “Tarantino on Pop Culture” section. Hilarious. But you should also really watch Inglourious Basterds. It’s awesome.

These are two cool music videos at Vimeo:

• “Bathtub IV” by Keith Loutit (song is “Clementine” by Megan Washington)
• “White Swan” by Sil van der Woerd

Photographer Palla has created some amazing kaleidoscopic images of Japanese cityscapes.

Funny animals and science

This BuzzFeed article isn’t that great, as I’ve seen animals looking more disappointed than these guys, but it’s cute: Extremely Disappointed Animals.

Also from BuzzFeed: Mother Nature crying in a glacier in Norway.

Very funny: Cat Showers In Sink.

Ah, good ol’ Laser Cats. How could I forget about you? Ignore the article and just watch the embedded “SNL” videos if you haven’t seen them.

This is an interesting article: “Maori legend of man-eating bird is true.” In this same vein, I watched a “Mega Beasts” episode on Discovery Channel about the so-called Terror Bird (large carnivorous flightless birds that dominated during the Cenozoic).

Here’s a little more science: “Evolutionary mutation is caused by oxygen.” A quick quote: “DNA damage by oxidation is the primary cause of mutation.” I find this stuff fascinating.

I’ll end with this fontastic graphic detailing the exact stroke differences between Arial and Helvetica (via swissmiss). Neat.

Worms, insects and gardening

Here are three cool articles on worms and insects:

• “Journalist hunts for acid-spitting Mongolian death worm“
• “Zombie Ants Controlled by Fungus“
• “Pesticide potency can depend on bug’s clock” or “Biological Clocks Of Insects Could Lead To More Effective Pest Control“

In related gardening news, vegetable gardeners can plant in August and September for a tasty payoff this fall and winter: “Salad days of fall and winter.”

Science!

Cool: “Mysterious Origins: 8 Phenomena That Defy Explanation.”

Really? “Science ponders ‘zombie attack’.” I hope they were using federal grant money for this zombies study. In other news, “still no cure for cancer” (as people used to always post at Fark.com for seemingly frivolous or obvious research).

Music

I’ve heard of a lot of good stuff via Stereogum lately. Below are a few notable bits.

• Was recently made aware of this tasty remix: “MGMT – Electric Feel (Justice Remix).”
• Nice: “New Tiësto (Feat. Tegan & Sara) – “Feel It In My Bones” (Stereogum Premiere).”
• New Massive Attack song and EP: “Splitting The Atom.”
• Enjoyed this: “Old Folks Review Radiohead.”

I’ve been doing much listening to an mp3 playlist I made of artists I plan to see at Bumbershoot in a little less than two weeks. In Bumbershoot-related news, this video by Oren Lavie is really cool. I sent some new Metric stuff to a friend of mine and he recommended the Submarines (Apple haters beware) back to me.

Here are some other random bands I’ve been listening to lately: Rasputina (see “1816, TheYear Without a Summer“), Get Shakes (see “Sister Self Doubt“), Shy Child, The Boggs (see “Arm In Arm (Shy Child Remix)“) and so on.

There’s also this comedic greatness: “The 7 Best Literal Music Videos Of All Time.”

Movies and randomness

This is an awesome short film: Moments by Will Hoffman. Four minutes of life.

Are you interested in the modern history of cinematic nudity? IMDb posted the results of the poll. The full top-100 list is at Mr. Skin (NSFW).

Check out this cool time-lapse of LEGOS: 8-bit trip.

Watch this video: Little Kid Teaches You To Park. Kind of awesome. Wait for it.

The following is for my future reference when I need car repairs. How to keep mechanics honest: “Pricing Car Repairs, Before the Repairs.” See RepairPal for an estimate of how much a specific car repair should cost where you live. Nice.

What is greasy, downscale, industrialized and aggressively unhealthy? This article holds the answer: “Who Won the Recession? McDonald’s.” I just liked the “aggressively unhealthy” part. Aggressively anything, really.

Web technology

This was good for a chuckle: 56K Modem Emulator.

Interesting ideas to browse through: “50 Chrome Experiments and counting!”

Here’s a useful URL-unshortener tool: Long URL Please extension for Firefox.

Lastly, I am planning to install hacked firmware for my Canon camera at some point. This is one: CHDK for PowerShot A650 IS. Also, I may experiment with this fanciness someday: High-Speed Shutter & Flash-Sync. All in the pursuit of better quality photography and more interestingness, hopefully.

We spent most of Saturday afternoon in Darkside Cinema at the da Vinci Film Festival encore.

I loved the feature documentary In Pursuit of Panama by first-time filmmakers and lifelong friends Garrett Martin and Ryan Swan. The film is Kerouac-like, both genuine and inspiring. It’s a truly funny, coming-of-age story about a seven-country road trip that starts in Corvallis, Oregon. I definitely recommend it, if you can find it. (Personal sidebar: The experience of watching it approximated the feel I wanted to create with my first novel . . . that I never actually finished.) See the trailer at their website.

More movies

Last weekend I also watched Timecrimes, which was very good and reminded me of Primer. I love the exploration of time-travel paradoxes. See other films I’ve rated and reviewed at Filmometer.com.

Here is some interesting news: “Neuromancer movie in the works (no, really this time!).” The attached director is Joseph Kahn. You may know him as the director of Britney Spears’ “Toxic” and “Stronger” music videos. As well as Destiny’s Child’s “Say My Name” . . . and a Blink-182 music video . . . and a horrible feature with Ice Cube called Torque . . . and . . . I am afraid. I really want Neuromancer to be awesome.

On that note: “After Watchmen, What’s ‘Unfilmable’? These Legendary Texts.”

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus received a standing ovation at Cannes Film Festival this May but has not yet been picked up for U.S. distribution. Read more: “Terry Gilliam’s Final Cut for Heath Ledger and Imaginarium.”

The Orwellian satire Visioneers starring Zach Galifianakis looks very interesting as well.

It’s refreshing that Michael Bay has progressed to this current point in his career, where he’s willing to be a parody of himself. He’s really become the ultimate artist the postindustrial world has been waiting for. See: Verizon Commercial – Michael Bay EXTENDED. Groan.

Browsing the Web from 10,000 feet

This is very cool: Pixamix. It’s an experiment that reduces any site to its core color mood (i.e., giant pixels of color).

Resignation

Vanity Fair edits Palin’s bizarre, incoherent resignation speech into publishable shape: “Palin’s Resignation: The Edited Version.” Wow.

Ice cream

Will they succeed in making ice cream fall from the sky like snow? Check it out: “The Cloud Project Would Theoretically Make Ice Cream Fall Like Snow.”

I am reminded of a few weeks ago when I ate Cold Stone ice cream that melted into JELL-O pudding (mentioned here and here on Twitter). That was fun.

Cats and bats

I, for one, welcome our feline overlords: “Cats ‘exploit’ humans by purring” and “Cats Do Control Humans, Study Finds.”

So, I guess we should work harder to exploit cats for our amusement (catsploitation?), like the Moscow Cat Theater (and of course, Charlie Schmidt’s original Keyboard Cat).

Also, this is cool: “Moths Outwit Bats By Jamming Sonar.”

The Blob

This is a weird article: “Huge blob of Arctic goo floats past Slope communities.” My friend Warren prefers this article title: “Crazy-ass giant sentient amoeba floating down from the melting ice, consuming all in its path.”

Since I was so slow in posting the above article, now there’s an update: “Arctic Mystery: Identifying the Great Blob of Alaska.”

Social media, video and technology

TechCrunch published some fascinating insights into big-picture plans for Twitter: “Twitter’s Internal Strategy Laid Bare: To Be ‘The Pulse Of The Planet’.” This article is also notable with respect to publishing ethics and the correct way to handle “confidential” information like TechCrunch received about Twitter.

Facebook data is not only going public by default, but there’s also this: “Facebook sez, ‘Don’t mind us, we’re just whoring out your photos’.”

I also read about the latest Amazon Kindle controversy: “Big Brother: Amazon Remotely Deletes 1984 From Kindles” and “Some E-Books Are More Equal Than Others.”

Here are two more technology articles worth checking out:

• “Video Goes Open Source on Wikipedia: New Format, New Player, New Editing/Sharing Tools“
• “The Dirty Backstabbing Mess Called Betamax vs VHS“
  

Webcomics, music and art

The webcomic @Tavicat has definite similarities to my embryonic webcomic Aphid Life, which I created in 2004. All of my Aphid Life characters were sketched out, but the strips were never completed or publicly launched. Anyway, I always like finding new webcomics.

I really enjoy the Business Guys on Business Trips webcomic, especially the Revisions strip, which, as a designer, hits close to home.

The animated music videos for “Molten Light” and “Clinically Dead” by Chad VanGaalen are very cool.

I am eager to buy Issue 03 of Coilhouse Magazine (a love letter to alternative culture).

There is a lot of nice artwork at Crazy 4 Cult and the Crazy 4 Cult 3-D blog.

I like this Flickr photo set: Invading The Vintage. It’s “cute aliens invading grandpa’s postcards.”

This is cool: “30 Fascinating Pictures of Tilt-Shift Photography.” Real-life locations look like miniature-scale models.

More entertainment

I recently revisited some funny Fatal Farm and Chad Vader videos on YouTube. Still tasty.

Here are a couple of entertaining items: Brand Keyboard (as in, an alphabet of corporate logos) and Crash Bonsai.

This is an amazing-looking game: Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet.

Also, here’s another one of these blogs: STFU, Marrieds.

Ninjas, dinosaurs and zombie ponies

I was mildly amused by the Assessment Outcomes for Ninja University: The Pre-Ninja Program.

Here are a couple of Auto-Tune mentions: “Jay-Z Declares the ‘Death of Auto-Tune’” and the Auto-Tune the News series is four episodes strong (#2 and #4 are the best).

You should watch this video clip of Stephen Wiltshire, the Human Camera. Incredible drawings from memory.

Would also like to share this sci-fi cleverness from CollegeHumor: My Favorite Movie (Star Trek vs. Star Wars). Yep.

Maybe birds didn’t evolve from dinosaurs: “Discovery Raises New Doubts About Dinosaur-bird Links.” Oregon State University scientists are disputing this widely held belief.

Would you like a My Little Pony figurine for your office desk? No? How about some zombie ponies? Yes, please.

I love this video from The Onion so much: “Obama Drastically Scales Back Goals For America After Visiting Denny’s.” Masking depression with laughter.

Technology, social networks and design

I agree: “Be Bold With Broadband, Wired.com Readers Tell Feds.” Just because the FCC and Comcast/Qwest are snugglebunnies doesn’t mean we can’t do better. The United States “pitifully trails Europe, Japan and Korea in both speed and affordability” of broadband. Let’s hope some good decisions are made.

This was interesting: “Social Networks Around the World.” The latest data says: “Facebook has almost colonized Europe and it’s extending its domination with more than 200 millions users” and “MySpace lost its leadership everywhere (except in Guam).” I’d argue that MySpace’s only real niche in the U.S. is for musicians (and audio/video, at least more than Facebook, so far).

Check this out: “60+ Awesome Grunge Font That Every Designer Should Collect.”

Similar to the Google I/O Keynote I linked to in my previous post, here’s a video showing some HTML 5 goodness: Firefox 3.5 Treats Videos Like Web Pages. Still waiting for Internet Explorer 6/7 to die. Would be fine with IE 8 going away too, actually. Maybe someday IE will show evidence of supporting HTML 5 standards (and previous standards), like all modern, open source browsers? So we can keeping moving the Web forward faster. Standards, please.