Magical books I read in October 2011
If I look back and think about the most memorable, inspiring pieces of literature I consumed last month, four books clearly come to mind. Each one explores parallel realities (or supernatural realms) and the magical creatures and animals that inhabit these universes. Naturally, three of the books were written for children. The first two are […]
Mascot Mashup 8-bit art project
Today marks the release of the 200th image I’ve created for my 8-bit art project Mascot Mashup. Every day I post a new famous character that I’ve translated into pixel art. No. 200 happens to be Johnny Cash (because he died on this day in 2003). Even though I attempt to tie my daily characters […]
Three 8tracks mixtapes
I used to create mixtapes and CD compilations all the time, but in this era of streaming music and MP3s I had gotten out of the habit. However, since sharing user-crafted mixes online keeps getting easier (and legal) with new service providers, I thought it would be fun to start making mixtapes again. (That reminds […]
Conan O’Brien and City Lights Records: A eulogy?
I’ve been tweeting about these things for a few days now, but I haven’t posted anything here for a month, so let me collect and plagiarize some of my recent thoughts. I’m feeling sadness for Haiti (text “HAITI” to 90999 to donate $10 to American Red Cross relief for Haiti) . . . and also […]
Batman logo evolution, art, brackets, narcissism
Art and design Check out this cool animation of how the iconic Batman logo has been refreshed or re-branded over time: Batman Logo Evolution. I enjoyed the variety of cool illustrations (and Mario wallpaper) by smashmethod on deviantART. Take a look at these awesome Ghost in the Machine cassette tape portraits from iri5 on Flickr. […]
Pink dolphin, asteroid flyby and Watchmen
See the world’s only pink bottlenose dolphin, found in Lake Calcasieu in Louisiana: “Pink dolphin appears in US lake.” They’ve dubbed this rare albino dolphin Pinky. A large asteroid just missed hitting the Earth last week. Watch video: Huge Meteor “Just Misses” Earth. We almost had another Tunguska. Littlewood’s law is fascinating. It states that […]
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 […]
WordPress 2.7.1 upgrade (and cool art)
Today I got around to upgrading spiral::notepad to WordPress 2.7.1, which is the first maintenance release for 2.7. It’s a bug-fix version that was two months in the making. Keeps getting better. Now, to help fill out this post, I will share some cool art and technology, with assistance from Gizmodo. With the Academy Awards […]
Benjamin Button, Watchmen, Jaydiohead, Mega64
I saw David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in the theater on Sunday. The film was fantastic, but the crass-commercialism bludgeoning by Carmike made me not want to see another movie in their theaters anytime soon. The special effects for the aging of Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, both forward and backward, were […]
8-Bit Jesus, recycling, burritos, Patton Oswalt
Get into the holiday spirit by downloading this free mp3 album of Christmas music from Doctor Octoroc: 8-Bit Jesus: New Christmas Chip-tune Album. Relive 1980s Nintendo nostalgia to the beats of your favorite holiday songs! So far there are nine different chip-tune versions of classic Christmas songs done in the style of different NES games. […]