April Fools’ Day, self-publishing, World Expo 2010
Today is not a very good day to try to read the news, because there’s always doubt. Is it real or is it an Internet annoyance? April Fools’ Day Google did its usual array of hoaxes for 2009, this time featuring a panda named CADIE (the world’s first Cognitive Auto-Heuristic Distributed-Intelligence Entity) who showed up […]
Alice in Wonderland, Spike Jonze, DOOM, Kafka
I’m very curious about Tim Burton’s plans for his live-action 3D version of Alice in Wonderland, especially how much animation/CGI he’ll use. The cast includes Johnny Depp and Crispin Glover, plus Anne Hathaway and Helena Bonham Carter as the queens. Read more: “Tim Burton Talks Alice In Wonderland.” The film isn’t scheduled to be released […]
Free SXSW music, NIN|JA EP and garden yeti
Missed out on SXSW ’09? Do not despair. Over 1,000 free MP3s by SXSW artists have been reviewed and can be downloaded here: “Six-Word Reviews of 1,302 SXSW Mp3s.” Also, here is a live performance MP3 by The Decemberists (and many others) from this year’s SXSW. I’ve been listening to the free NIN|JA EP (made […]
Typefaces, geeks, Syfy and March Madness
As a graphic designer, I love this: Periodic Table of Typefaces. Design firm Squidspot created it. This is another amusing chart, illustrating a range of geekiness that includes published science fiction/fantasy authors, Renaissance fair folk, Trekkies and even erotic furries: The Geek Hierarchy. So, what’s the difference between a geek and a nerd? Ah: Geeks […]
Stanley Donwood, microscopic Alice, SXSW, Twitter
I enjoy the insights and random tidbits found in artist Stanley Donwood’s Slowly Downward Taglibro. See last week’s issue, Taglibro 14, and subscribe to Donwood’s irregular ‘news’paper. (For the uninitiated: Stanley Donwood is perhaps most famous for producing a lot of Radiohead’s album and promotional art over the years. I love the guy. I received […]
Narwhal, Leeroy Jenkins and music videos
I’m going to start today’s post with some animals and Muppets, then move on to cartoons and video game characters and ultimately end up with singing, dancing, basketball-playing human beings. Go! Narwhal Narwhal are interesting, with their helical tusks. Compare and contrast Weebl’s Stuff’s silly looping Narwhals animation to this report about the real-life sea […]
Satellites and space debris (plus Achievement Unlocked)
Before I get into music and entertainment links, I will start with a depressing space-related science article chain. Satellites Uh-oh (Feb. 11): “Debris Spews Into Space After Satellites Collide.” Did this collision between a U.S. communications satellite and a defunct Russian satellite just create a new atmospheric minefield for future space launches? Very cool (Feb. […]
Back from Arizona, with links
Here is some stuff I have read and watched recently, mostly while in Arizona last week. Google PowerMeter Google recently released prototype software that allows users to receive real-time home energy usage data from compatible “smart meters” and use that information to optimize their energy use. Read the article: “Google PowerMeter: For A Planet In […]
Super Bowl, CrackBerry, network neutrality, resveratrol
On the edge of a weekend that includes the Super Bowl, the finals of the Australian Open and the men’s basketball Civil War (starring Oregon State head coach Craig Robinson, who is Barack Obama’s brother-in-law), I have a bunch of random things to share. It’s interesting how Obama ultimately got to keep his CrackBerry, I […]
Havidol, Dr. Horrible, funny cats and GigaPan
A friend sent this article to me: “Art Tackles Big Pharma.” I think it’s more than a year old, but I don’t remember seeing it before. It’s a fake ad campaign for Havidol, a drug treating Dysphoric Social Attention Consumption Deficit Anxiety Disorder. DSACDAD is an illness characterized by a sense of lingering unhappiness. Funny. […]