Apartment Composting 101
Barb Finnin is part of the amazing Freshtopia team. She’s a certified master composter- her specialty is Vermicomposting with worms. We were super excited to learn that we could compost in our city apartment with a homemade worm bin even though we don’t have a yard. Throwing food scraps away in the garbage is not something either of us enjoys, so having a green alternative has been more than satisfying for our sustainability goals. After 4 weeks, our worms are happy and thriving.
Just fascinating stuff (at least for someone like me).
iPhone New York
Alternative ads to the ones released by Apple.
TED - Photosynth demo
Even if you are not even a little bit geeky, this demo will rock your world. It is a glimpse into the wonderful future of the web.
Using photos of oft-snapped subjects (like Notre Dame) scraped from around the Web, Photosynth creates breathtaking multidimensional spaces with zoom and navigation features that outstrip all expectation. Its architect, Blaise Aguera y Arcas, shows it off in this standing-ovation demo. Curious about that speck in corner? Dive into a freefall and watch as the speck becomes a gargoyle. With an unpleasant grimace. And an ant-sized chip in its lower left molar. “Perhaps the most amazing demo I’ve seen this year,” wrote Ethan Zuckerman, after TED2007. Indeed, Photosynth might utterly transform the way we manipulate and experience digital images.
Simply breathtaking.
Watch it - via HD for Indies
iPhone Ads - Hello Mr. Hand
Apple posted new ads for its iPhone (ads 1, 2 & 3) scheduled to be released on June 29th. The ads are very different from their Mac ads and certainly their iPod ads. Reactions:
- I miss my dancing silhouette iPod people. It really sucks that Apple dumped these “Black” people for a white hand. Stinks of racism, I tell ya.
- Where is the PC phone guy or BlackBerry guy? We Apple people need to laugh at the clueless others. This is part of the Apple experience and Apple is selling us short.
- Those are some pretty hands. If I were a girl, I’d ask for your number. Oh what the hell! Mr. Hand, can I…
- Mr. Voice, your guitar playing is stuck in my head. Your voice is not deep enough to be a Father figure but it is deep enough for the Uncle figure.
- We Apple people are also not happy with the ad because it shows how the telephone works instead of cool graphics. We have seen the Keynote, now give us our graphics.
- Also by showing how the telephone works, people are more likely to believe the touchscreen can work and are thus more willing to buy it. Which sucks for me because I’d like to be the first on the block to own one. Apple! stop being so nice.
- We Apple people are also unhappy that this ad doesn’t make pull out our credit cards. These ads stink of intrigue. We are tired of intrigue, we have been intrigued for three years now when the Mac web started talking gossiping about the iPhone.
- Who is the cute kid? and is that a Mohawk?
- Zoolander!!?? You are proud to have that on your iPod! are you kidding me?
- The vegans are up in arms for wanting Calamari. San Francisco is now officially BlackBerry country.
- Finally, I like to tell Apple to stop trying to make money at the expense of looking cool. You are all we’ve got.
The Inner Life of the Cell - Full Version
The music video version of this spread like wildfire over the internet, including being featured here. Well, the animation was created for education and this full version is all about that. A wonderful way to learn.
Luft - From Chariots to Space Shuttles
Wonderful commercial about how the ancient past continues to play a part in the present. Fascinating stuff mixed in with some cool graphics.
Watch it - via Tropist and Motiongrapher
100 Movies, 100 Quotes, 100 Numbers
A parody of all the “100″ list specials that the American Film Institute keeps putting out.
No reference to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, but very entertaining indeed.
Watch it. (Flash Video)
And here’s the movie list.
The Fine Art of Motion Capture
The opening intro at last week’s CalArts Producers’ Show, got more laughs than just about anything else shown that evening.
Watch it. (Flash Video)
Brando’s Youtube moments
In “Brando,†the documentary that starts tonight on Turner Classic Movies, there’s an amazing home video made by Brando and Montgomery Clift.
I couldn’t find it on the Interweb. So I asked TCM if they’d put it on their site … and they did!
The Cookie Monster vs Coffee Break Machine
Thi short was made by Jim Henson and Frank Oz in 1967 as an IBM corporate and/or training video. At the time, the Cookie Monster was named Arnold the Munching Monster.
This should be the first appearence of the character, so I can barely imagine what the IBM employees may have tought when presented with such funny stuff!
Watch it. (Flash Video)
How Canon Lenses are made
I love stuff like this.
Watch it - via Growabrain
Croquis - Performative Art for The People!
Not to get confused with populism, real popularity seems to be unattainable within the context of contemporary art. By re-injecting the obsolete artistic expression of figure drawing in a performative (institutional) context, we provoke misunderstanding from both ‘conservative and ‘progressive art publics.Conservative versus Progressive?
CROQUIS contains two levels of production that blend into each other. On a conservative level, we are using a traditional way of learning and producing art (croquis drawing) as an encouraging strategy to operate on a progressive level a performative and participative context of art production.
I found the outtake video from this high-brow art experiment quite whimsical.
Watch it - more information on the project
Pixelator
Pixelator is an unauthorized on-going video art performance whch turns those ugly, blinding video billboard ads into, uhm, art.
Watch it. (Quicktime)
Children of Men - long takes
One of the DVD extras talks about the much talked about long takes. I wish they had revealed more secrets or shown one long take from the shooting.
Watch it - via Kottke
Squigglebooth - Fishtank Ferrari
Short doc on a man who installed a fishtank in his expensive Ferrari.
