Banned Books Week is still months away, but the people who try to ban books never sleep, so neither do I (I know that sounds a bit creepy, but an author and book lover has to be vigilant). That's why I loved this mug the minute I saw it on Miss Cellania.
Along the lines of the "monkeys and typewriters" theory, this project involved monkeys (and some others) being given synthesizers to see if they could make music.
I haven't really blogged about forced perspective (I may have mentioned it during some visuals of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, since there are so many forced perspective shots taken there), but forced perspective images seem to be everywhere. So, I apologize if you've seen some or all of these. Just scroll past if you have. Otherwise, enjoy!
I've seen videos of vending machines that make cotton candy, ones that supply users with clothing, ice cream, sandwiches, fresh baguettes, fishing bait and even live crabs (okay, I didn't care to watch that one), but this one from 3 years ago is interesting. I wonder how they clean this pizza vending machine (or if they do).
I ran across this site by accident, so I had absolutely no idea what it is, who made it or why. (I still don't know who made it or why). In fact, when I first got there I had no idea what to do. It looked like an entirely blank screen and I kept clicking trying to see if it would take me somewhere, but all I saw was something that looked like little dark dots falling from my cursor. Eventually I glanced down to see that the dark dots (sand) were falling to the bottom in mounds. This was the result. Kind of ho hum all in black and white.
Eventually I looked around a bit and discovered that This is Sand has been around for several years (maybe you've already seen it) and yes, you can change the colors. There's a tiny little box in the upper left hand corner, and if you click on it, it will tell you that pressing C allows you to change colors and pressing M mutes the sound of the falling sand. Other directions explain how to erase, switch between selected colors and get a gradient. I stuck to simply changing colors, and this was my second effort.
Here's a gallery of designs made by other players. Click on any of them to enlarge the image.
This video of spray paint art as it's being made was fun. I've seen something like this by street artists but it never gets old. The effect of seeing the planets when he pulls off the paint shields is always a treat (and yes, he does need a different type of mask, as someone noted in the comments. Spray paint can be dangerous stuff, especially if you work with it often).
Brendan Chilcutt wants to make sure that we don't lose (or forget) any sounds as the world moves along and new technologies replace old ones. To that effect, he has created The Museum of Endangered Sounds, an ongoing project.
I love David Attenborough. He's got the greatest voice and has been part of such wonderful documentaries. Here, however, he's on The Graham Norton Show where he was asked to do a bit of unusual narration. (I apologize in advance if anyone feels that this is offensive. It's pretty tame, but I know that some people might not feel that way).
National Geographic visited shopping centers all over the world and introduced people to augmented reality. I love the way some people just wave at the video of themselves, but some really get into it and try to make it look realistic.
Update: It has come to my attention that some people outside the U.S. do not have access to the video above. Here's a very similar video by Appshaker (who also made the video above). It covers the same shopping center tour.
And here is the info from the press release:
BBC Frozen Planet Augmented Reality, NJ, IL, CA - USA by Appshaker
BBC Home Entertainment partnered with Appshaker Ltd for its first Augmented Reality Tour in the US, in support of the Blu-ray/DVD Frozen Planet that became available on April 17, 2012. With 4 distinctive broadcast quality 3D scenes, delighted crowds had the opportunity to place themselves right inside the content, where they were able to interact with the animals of the Polar Region. This event acted as an organic cross between an art installation and advertising. With live streaming from each event, family and friends were able to share their experience around the world. The three market tour ran from April 19 – April 22 in New Jersey, Illinois and California and was inspired by the television series Frozen Planet, co produced by BBC/Discovery Channel, which made its US television debut March 18th on Discovery reaching over 25 million viewers. Locations: - Short Hills Mall, (New York audience), 1200 Morris Turnpike Short Hills, NJ - Woodfield Mall, (Chicago audience), 5 Woodfield Mall Schaumburg, IL - Sunvalley Mall, (San Francisco audience). 1 Sun Valley Mall #228 Concord, CA For more information on Appshaker, please head to appshaker.co.uk or visit us on Facebook at facebook.com/appshakerUK About Appshaker: Over the past two years, UK based Appshaker has created augmented reality systems on a variety of platforms for multinational brands such as Ford, General Electric, Guinness World Records, National Geographic and many more. Appshaker is a digital creative agency devoted to building the finest online experiences for brands across the world. Appshaker specialises in bleeding edge augmented reality systems, mobile and social media based applications to generate awareness, enhance brand experience, increase sales and entertain simultaneously. Credits: Creative Direction: Alex Poulson / Kevin Jackson Art Direction: Barnabas Nanay Production Direction: Szabolcs Turanyi-Vadnay Technical Direction: Adam Trost 3D Design: Vertigo Digital
I've blogged about yarn bombing before, but there are always new things that pop up. While looking for images of knitting as art, here are some of the ones that impressed me. (And yes, some of these include crochet).
I usually shy away from videos of children, but these two little girls mixing it up at their first dance recital were just too good, despite the jumpy camera action. It reminded me of an old fashioned comedy routine.
Look up contact juggling on YouTube and you'll find lots of videos, but one name keeps coming up again and again: Okotanpe. Here's a video explaining more about contact juggling and demonstrating some of Okotanpe's skills. (My apologies if you've seen this. It's from 2 years ago).
And if you'd like to see some of Okotanpe's own videos, here's his channel.
Being a romance writer and having blogged about weddings and marriage for an entire year back when my fellow writers and I were writing The Wedding Planners series, I've seen a lot of marriage proposal videos. This is one of the very best. Here's the setup from the YouTube page (in the groom's words):
On Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012, I told my girlfriend to meet me at my parent's house for dinner. When she arrived I had stationed my brother to sit her in the back of an open Honda CRV and give her some headphones. He "wanted to play her a song"...
What she got instead was the world's first Live Lip-Dub Proposal.
There's a hardware store near me that has a player piano. On the weekends, they hire professionals to entertain the shoppers by playing the piano, but the rest of the week, those magical keys do it all by themselves (okay, I know it's not magic, but it looks so odd to see the keys moving as if a ghost is performing). I have a soft spot for player pianos.
Six months of research and work by Getty Images copywriter Sophie Schoenburg and art direct Marcus Kolthar resulted in this compilation of 873 images in just over a minute to tell a story. Sort of.
Etsy is a fun place, but I don't get over there too frequently for fear I'll spend too much money. That said, now and then it's fun to pick a topic and just look around...or shop. Today's topic was "writer." Here are some of the 5,519 items that appeared when I put that into the search box. (The Source links will take you to the place on Etsy where you can buy each item).
My mind sees what it wants to see when we view sculpture that appears to be half buried. Even though I know that what I see is all there is, a part of me wants to dig below the earth to find what's buried underground. Here's an entire groups of such sinking sculptures.
The Staples Center (in Los Angeles) had 6 playoff games taking place in 4 days, May 17th-May 20th. Here's a time-lapse of all the changes the workers had to make to accommodate those different games and teams.
This is a time lapse of a belt being carved in the Sheridan Style (actually, I don't know what the Sheridan style is, but I liked watching the detail on this video. At times, it appears that nothing is happening, but then more detail appears. I can't imagine how long this actually took to make).
Still, for World Turtle Day, I'm going to stretch the meaning a bit with this clip of the singing group The Turtles (yes, we're going way back in time).
This is advertising from a company that does...well...advertising, but I liked Clayman, so here it is. (Sometimes we all have days like the one he's having, don't we)?
If you've never accessed Walk Score, it's a useful little tool to see how walkable a neighborhood is (great if you're looking for a new home/apartment and don't want to drive everywhere or if you're simply trying to be more green).
Walk Score is worldwide, and now they're adding Bike Score. At the moment, only ten US cities are included, but they've asked visitors to request that their cities be included, so...ask away.
The Suntracking Shelter (which is pretty cool. The cover slides along the poles. $399.95).
A Bicycle Rearview Camera (very useful $179.95)
An Inflatable Dog Shower ($119.95)
A Luminescent 4D map puzzle of Washington D.C. (on sale for $29.95) (spanning more than 200 years, this historical puzzle won The United Kingdom gift of the year award)
An Authentic New York Hot Dog Vendor Cart ($5,500)
And (my personal favorite) an Acoustic Immersion Pod (which I would totally buy if I had $3,000 to spare)
I'm not sure why I found this video so fascinating, but I got caught up in it. Maybe you will, too. It's a 1940's movie from the British Council Collection.
Eliza Doolittle being the character from the book and movie, that is. The day was founded by Helen Chase who wanted to honor a woman (character) who demonstrated the importance of speaking the language properly. I'm not nearly as fussy about the language, but I love the concept of this story. Here's the trailer from the movie.
And here's an old Heineken commercial that spoofs Eliza Doolittle. A woman can't seem to curb her tendency to speak the language properly until she gets a taste of a Heineken.
The person who filmed this (in Bombay) was looking out their hotel window and saw these two men working on a scaffolding with no safety gear. Watch until the end when you can see just how high up they are.
I'm a bit of a pen fanatic. I buy pens all the time. And I lose them. And buy some more. But my pens aren't expensive, even though I'm rather fussy about which ones I use. My absolute favorites are Pilot's The Better Ball Point Pen, which are simple stick pens or Pilot EasyTouch retractables. I buy them in every color they make and I would buy them in more colors if they made them. Usually I have to order them by the box because I can't find them in stores, and recently I hunted down some green ones that are very hard to find. I like these pens because they really are better, in my opinion. The ink flows out smoothly. They feel right in my hand.
They're not gel pens, either. A family member loves gel pens, but I never have. They skip and I also get ink all over my hand, probably through no fault of the pens, but just because I'm a lefty. So, loathing gel pens as I do, you'd think I would have no interest in fountain pens, but you'd be wrong. I really, really want to try a fountain pen. There's something old fashioned and romantic about them. But the real reason is because you can use any color ink you want to. There are no limitations. And that makes them so tempting.
This one is a Lamy safari.
I'm not even sure what conversation sent me off on this quest the other day, but I do know that I spent several hours cruising fountain pen sites. And forums (yes, there are sites totally devoted to discussing fountain pens, ink and there are forums where people discuss such things as nibs and what angle a lefty like me should hold her pen to keep from smearing the ink). Here is a link to Glenn's Pens, which was a very helpful site, and here's one to The Fountain Pen Network (and yes, I did join even though I haven't participated in any discussions yet). And then there are videos. I loved this one about some sort of conference with people who are fountain pen aficionados. (Check out the old pens and the prices)!
And this one on how fountain pens are made was particularly interesting, too.
So, how about you? Are you a pen nut, too or are pens just conveniences? And how about those fountain pens? Not for you? Totally for you?
Me, I'm of the opinion that one can never have too many pens. In fact, don't be surprised if I post again one day soon about pens. I covet a Waterman, and while they're out of my price range (by a lot), I'm interested in their history. Stay tuned.
Every writer (and probably every musician, filmmaker, photographer...) has nightmares about losing work that has taken months and lots of sweat and tears to produce. Here's the story of the Toy Story 2 filmmaker's worst nightmare almost coming true.
I've been seeing a lot of rabbits hopping around my lawn lately. They're so cute. Still, (sigh), I have a feeling that my flowers are about to be nibbled on.
Pizza is such a versatile food. You can top it with almost anything (work in those food groups all in one dish). So here's to National Pizza Party Day.
And of course we need a pizza recipe. I like this one because it's relatively short and easy to understand (plus, he cooks the pizza, unlike some videos that only cover making the dough).
Give people a set of wheels, any kind of wheels, and some people will just naturally want to put their own stamp on it. Here then are some of the results of their efforts.
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