In-movie graphics and video from Children of Men.
In-movie graphics and video from Children of Men.
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Entries for February 2007
Chart of the geek hierarchy. For example,
Chart of the geek hierarchy. For example, Trekkies who get married in Klingon garb are geekier than Trekkies who speak Klingon who are in turn geekier than normal Trekkies.
A list of the ugliest buildings in
A list of the ugliest buildings in NYC as determined by a bunch of architects and the like.
Quick update on MIT professor Seymour Papert,
Quick update on MIT professor Seymour Papert, who was struck by a motorbike in Hanoi in Dec 2006. “Prof Papert’s family said that he had been discharged from the hospital in Boston in the US. He is now still undergoing treatment at home. Luckily enough, he will not have any after-effects after the head trauma and now he can speak.”
Update: Here’s a more accurate update on Dr. Papert’s progress, courtesy of his family: “Seymour continues to make steady progress. He is regaining strength, is becoming more physically active, and is regaining speech. On Friday, January 5, he was able to leave Massachusetts General Hospital for a rehabilitation center in Bangor, Maine, closer to his home. His doctors are expecting a long period of gradual improvement, which could take many months.” (thx, artemis)
Three computer scientists from Israel have developed
Three computer scientists from Israel have developed a software program called Beauty Function. The program scans a human face and then produces an image of “a slightly more beautiful you”. Here are some of the program’s results. (via mr)
Maps drawn from memory
The first time I saw a world map drawn from memory was at Christopher Fahey’s apartment. I forget how long it took him to draw, but it was remarkably accurate and fairly large (a few feet across). Ever since then, I’ve kept an eye out for other hand-drawn maps (you know what they say: if you can’t do, collect). Via waxy this morning comes the From Memory Flickr group. My favorites from the group are this map of the male human body and a fanciful drawing of the solar system, both by Ellis Nadler:
Mapping.com has links to several maps from memory drawn by grade- and middle-school children; this world map by a 7th grade class is not too shabby. I’m struck by how much some of these world maps from memory resemble world maps drawn in the 16th and 17th centuries, like this Dutch map from 1689. All the parts are (mostly) there…it’s just that everything is a little wrong-sized and slightly skewed.
Lori Napoleon collects “personal maps” from various people. This tactical guide for nourishing yukio includes directions to the owner’s house, outlines of the two different keys (outside door, inside door), and what to feed the cat and when.
Also slightly related is the Fool’s World Map, a deliberately addled world map prompted by a question asked of the map-maker by a Texan: “How many hours does it take to go to Japan by car?”
Update: Despite having featured his work on kottke.org late last year, I completely forgot about Stephen Wiltshire’s super-realistic drawings from memory. Here’s video of Stephen drawing Tokyo from memory and Rome from memory. (thx, matt)
Update: Christopher Fahey uploaded a photo of his world map drawn from memory.
This is an old one, but this
This is an old one, but this cartoon of the various views of a design/software project is pretty good.
Over 1,000 photos and carte de visites of
Over 1,000 photos and carte de visites of the Civil War. (What’s a carte de visite?)
Not a joke: James Cameron claims to
Not a joke: James Cameron claims to have discovered the burial cave of Jesus and his family. Includes the obligatory Da Vinci Code reference. “The [burial] boxes bear the names: Yeshua [Jesus] bar Yosef [son of Joseph]; Maria [the Latin version of Miriam, which is the English Mary]; Matia [the Hebrew equivalent of Matthew, a name common in the lineage of both Mary and Joseph]; Yose [the Gospel of Mark refers to Yose as a brother of Jesus]; Yehuda bar Yeshua, or Judah, son of Jesus; and in Greek, Mariamne e mara, meaning ‘Mariamne, known as the master.’ According to Harvard professor Francois Bovon, interviewed in the film, Mariamne was Mary Magdalene’s real name.”
The only known copy of the Honus
The only known copy of the Honus Wagner T206 baseball card in near mint condition was sold recently for $2.35 million. “The T206 Honus Wagner card has long been recognized as the most iconic, highly coveted and valuable object in the field of sports memorabilia.”
The seminal photography collective Magnum has a new blog.
The seminal photography collective Magnum has a new blog.
Here’s one for your SXSW calendar: Buzzfeed
Here’s one for your SXSW calendar: Buzzfeed and Ze Frank are hosting a party on Saturday, March 10 at 10pm with music by Juiceboxxx. Disclosure: I’m an advisor to Buzzfeed and as such, I advise you to check out this party.
Update: If you’re planning on attending, make your mark at Upcoming.
“Stewart Brand has become a heretic to
“Stewart Brand has become a heretic to environmentalism, a movement he helped found, but he doesn’t plan to be isolated for long. He expects that environmentalists will soon share his affection for nuclear power. They’ll lose their fear of population growth and start appreciating sprawling megacities. They’ll stop worrying about “frankenfoods” and embrace genetic engineering.”
The graphic design of the futuristic world
The graphic design of the futuristic world depicted in Mike Judge’s Idiocracy. I love the signage that doesn’t fit on the hospital. (via do)
A bunch of really uncomfortable women’s shoes.
A bunch of really uncomfortable women’s shoes. These are almost architecture, not fashion. (via ahhhhhh!!!!)
The top 11 underground transit systems in the
The top 11 underground transit systems in the world. The London Tube is #1, NYC is #7, Hong Kong is #10. (via rob)
Regarding Susan Orlean’s piece on Robert Lang
Regarding Susan Orlean’s piece on Robert Lang and origami from a couple of weeks ago, the New Yorker has posted a 5-minute audio slideshow of Orlean talking about the piece.
David Denby talks about films with “disordered
David Denby talks about films with “disordered narratives”, with a special focus on the films of Guillermo Arriaga and Alejandro González Iñárritu: Amores Perros, 21 Grams, and Babel. Many of the films he mentioned are what Alissa Quart, Mark Bernstein, and Roger Ebert refer to as “hyperlink cinema” or “hypertext films”…too bad Denby didn’t use that term in his piece.
List of sampled songs used by Daft
List of sampled songs used by Daft Punk. Here’s a video of some of them.
This video has so much goodness in
This video has so much goodness in it: a short Bollywood-esque production featuring Daleks and the Tardis and then Kevin Smith arriving at an event flanked by a bunch of Stormtroopers, Boba Fett, and Anakin Skywalker. “Stormtroopers, keep it tight, we gotta move.” I wonder if he always travels that way and if so, does he fly business class while the Stormtroopers are stuck in coach? (I assume Boba Fett has miles and can upgrade most of the time.)
Update: I really like the idea that the Stormtroopers, after the fall of the Empire in Return of the Jedi, are this giant unemployed workforce who occasionally find work chauffeuring Kevin Smith about.
Interviewer: Ok, tell me about your past work experience.
Stormtrooper: Most recently, I flanked Kevin Smith.
Good. What else?
Um, I was in the room when Lord Vader choked an Admiral.
Wow! Right next to Vader?
Well, no. He choked him over the video screen and I was in the room with the Admiral. But it was still pretty cool.
Oh.
The Taste3 conference has put some videos
The Taste3 conference has put some videos from their 2006 conference up on YouTube. All three talks they posted are worth a look: Dan Barber of Blue Hill, global warming and wine, and Bryant Simon on Starbucks.
Things I Desperately Wish Women Would Say
Things I Desperately Wish Women Would Say to Me on First Dates. “Is that an XXL Magic: The Gathering shirt? Plus five to Gryffindor!” (via fimoculous)
Clovis theory in doubt
Some recent rigorous radiocarbon dating has thrown into doubt the theory that the Americas were first settled 11,000 years ago by the so-called Clovis peoples.
David Remnick speculates on Al Gore, candidate
David Remnick speculates on Al Gore, candidate for the 2008 Presidential election. “Gore, more than any other major Democratic Party figure, including the many candidates assembled for next year’s Presidential nomination, has demonstrated in opposition precisely the quality of judgment that Bush has lacked in office.”
Quantitatively, the greatest women artists in the 20
Quantitatively, the greatest women artists in the 20th century were, in order, Cindy Sherman, Georgia O’Keeffe, Louise Bourgeois, Eva Hesse, and Frida Kahlo. (via mr)
Photos of baskets and truffles at the
Photos of baskets and truffles at the Lalbenque truffle market in France.
NASA’s plan for dealing with a psychotic
NASA’s plan for dealing with a psychotic or suicidal astronaut in space: duct tape and tranquilizers.
A commercial for the iPhone aired during
A commercial for the iPhone aired during the Oscars last night. Rick Silva noticed that it was a lot like artist Christian Marclay’s 1995 piece Telephones (the relevant clip starts at 3:40) and, to a lesser extent, Matthias Mueller’s film, Home Stories. Nice detective work!
Update: Here’s a list of all the actors in the iPhone commercial (except one).
Update: The missing “French Woman” is Audrey Tautou from Amelie. (thx to several folks who wrote in)
Sorry this is late, but clip and
Sorry this is late, but clip and save for next year: how to win your Oscar pool. Short answer: follow the wisdom of the crowds.
How to crap properly. (No, really! It’s
How to crap properly. (No, really! It’s safe for work and everything.)
Video montage of classic movie photos taken by Magnum photographers.
Video montage of classic movie photos taken by Magnum photographers.
Technological interruptions make you stupid: frequent email
Technological interruptions make you stupid: frequent email and phone users’ IQs fell more than twice as much as marijuana smokers’.
The Nintendo Wii, and the bowling game
The Nintendo Wii, and the bowling game in particular, is a big hit at an Illinois retirement community (average age: 77). “‘I’ve never been into video games,’ said 72-year-old Flora Dierbach last week as her husband took a twirl with the Nintendo Wii’s bowling game. ‘But this is addictive.’”
Photographs from Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, after
Photographs from Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, after the atomic bombs were dropped. Some of these are pretty intense, so go easy if you’re bothered by that sort of thing.
Update: More photos here.
Why the backlash for Little Miss Sunshine? “
Why the backlash for Little Miss Sunshine? “The critics have a point, which they sometimes make with noticeable bitterness, that many independent films are stale and mannered. But for some of these films, this critical dismissal is a strange fate: to be faulted for pretense, preciosity, and stylistic calculation when their real achievement is to reintroduce an enjoyable sort of broad humor into American cinema.”
Do Japanese pitchers, including Daisuke Matsuzaka, a
Do Japanese pitchers, including Daisuke Matsuzaka, a new member of the Boston Red Sox, have an extra pitch called the gyroball? “The pitch started on the same course as a changeup, but it barely dipped. It looked like a slider, but it did not break. The gyroball, despite its zany name, is supposed to stay perfectly straight.” Nice accompanying infographics as well.
LibraryThing has a feature called UnSuggester…just
LibraryThing has a feature called UnSuggester…just put in a book you dislike and it’ll return suggestions of stuff you might be interested in instead. Here’s what to read if you’re not a fan of Atlas Shrugged…#3 on the list is Advanced Perl Programming. (via fakeisthenewreal)
Almost a year after starting The Show,
Almost a year after starting The Show, Ze Frank is still firing on all cylinders. Yesterday’s show was particularly good. Only a handful of episodes to go…Ze is stopping The Show on March 17.
Google Apps
On Thursday, Google, the Internet search giant, will unveil a package of communications and productivity software aimed at businesses, which overwhelmingly rely on Microsoft products for those functions.
The package, called Google Apps, combines two sets of previously available software bundles. One included programs for e-mail, instant messaging, calendars and Web page creation; the other, called Docs and Spreadsheets, included programs to read and edit documents created with Microsoft Word and Excel, the mainstays of Microsoft Office, an $11 billion annual franchise.
Google isn’t worried about Yahoo! or Microsoft’s search efforts…although the media’s focus on that is probably to their advantage. Their real target is Windows. Who needs Windows when anyone can have free unlimited access to the world’s fastest computer running the smartest operating system? Mobile devices don’t need big, bloated OSes…they’ll be perfect platforms for accessing the GooOS. Using Gnome and Linux as a starting point, Google should design an OS for desktop computers that’s modified to use the GooOS and sell it right alongside Windows ($200) at CompUSA for $10/apiece (available free online of course). Google Office (Goffice?) will be built in, with all your data stored locally, backed up remotely, and available to whomever it needs to be (SubEthaEdit-style collaboration on Word/Excel/PowerPoint-esque documents is only the beginning). Email, shopping, games, music, news, personal publishing, etc.; all the stuff that people use their computers for, it’s all there.
When you swing a hammer in the vicinity of so many nails, you’re bound to hit one on the head every once in awhile. Well, I got it in the general area of the nail, anyway.
Beatboxing flautist + Super Mario theme song = YouTube gold.
Beatboxing flautist + Super Mario theme song = YouTube gold.
For the first time, Wimbledon will pay
For the first time, Wimbledon will pay this year’s female contestants the same amount of prize money as the male contestants. “The WTA Tour lobbied for years to get Wimbledon to drop its ‘Victorian-era view’ and pay the women the same as the men.”
The WSJ reports on economist J.C.
The WSJ reports on economist J.C. Bradbury’s new book The Baseball Economist, which sounds Moneyball-ariffic. Contrary to popular belief in “protection”, Bradbury found that “a weak on-deck hitter makes a batter more likely to get an extra-base hit”. Bradbury is also the author of the Sabernomics blog. (via biourbanist)
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