I’ve seen this sort of thing in person and have always marvelled how sign language, when set to music, becomes visually musical itself.
Jan 132011
T. Keith Edmunds
Jan 132011
There are all sorts of horror stories out there about the nightmarish existence some people have had working at a Disney theme park. Here’s a story that’s not nightmarish, but somehow serves to make me hungry:
(via Gawker)
Jan 072011
In this week’s installment, you are asked to become complicit in the movie itself.
Your secret from Jean-Sebastien Monzani on Vimeo.
Enjoy. (I know your secret.)
Jan 062011
As we all know, we are counting down to the end of the world, now less than two years away on December 21, 2012. (Don’t believe me? There’s a list of almost 40 non-fiction books at Amazon that beg to differ. Have you written a book? No? Then what makes you such an expert?)
Was it reasonable for us to expect that the end of the world would just happen without any warning signs? I don’t think so. Obviously there is going to be a dramatic lead-up. Do you not watch movies? There is always a dramatic lead in to the disaster.
In the past week, we have seen the beginning of the end: Animals dropping dead in large numbers. As discussed at Gizmodo:
Just before midnight on New Year’s Eve, anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000 red-winged blackbirds and starlings fell from the sky within a one-mile area over the town of Beebe, Arkansas. The last few days have also seen a mass fish kill, in which an estimated 100,000 drum fish washed up on a twenty-mile stretch near the town of Ozark, Arkansas, which is about 125 miles away from Beebe.And then, around 500 red-winged blackbirds, starlings, and grackles fell to their deaths over a quarter-mile stretch of highway near Labarre, Louisiana, which is 360 miles from Beebe and 450 from Ozark. And then last night, hundreds of what were most likely jackdaws fell to the ground all over Falköping, Sweden.
Crazy, right? Sure, the article goes on to say that ”there are perfectly rational explanations for all of this,” then proceeds to give explanations that may be possible, but are certainly not rational.
No, I don’t really believe that these are portents of the end of the world. What I do believe is that some things occur in this world that we do not yet have knowledge of or explanations for.
One of my favorite books is a brick of a hardcover called “The Complete Books of Charles Fort.” Fort, about a hundred years ago, spent almost every day for 30 years in the library combing through newspapers, pulling out stories of unexplained phenomena. Among these are accounts very similar to what has been experienced recently in Arkansas and Sweden, so these strange occurences are nothing new. Yet, we are no closer to having good, viable explanations for them.
Is it the end of the world? Probably not. Is it worth investigation? Absolutely.
I reserve the right to change my mind, though, if rivers suddenly turn to blood.
Dec 232010
Jon Gnarr, the man who will make parliament drug-free by 2020.
What? You haven’t heard of Absurd Intellectual’s 2010 Politician of the Year, Jon Gnarr? What’s the matter with you? Don’t you follow international politics?
Jon Gnarr is the mayor of Reykjavik, Iceland, elected to that position in June of this year. What qualifies him as this year’s politician of the year is not the fact that he has been a punk rocker, writer, actor, comedian and a creative at an advertising agency. The best part about Mr. Gnarr is that he ran for mayor as a prank. And won.
In Reykjavik, municipal politics has political parties. Gnarr founded the Best Party to lampoon the political process. His political campaign included: Free towels in all swimming pools, getting a polar bear for the Reykjavík Zoo, “all kinds of things for weaklings”, a drug-free parliament by 2020, and (my new favorite buzz-word combination) Sustainable Transparency. On election day, the Best Party won 6 of the 15 available seats and took almost 35% of the vote.
As mayor, he continues with the central premise of his party: making fun of politics. In one of his first mayoral addresses to the city, he spoke like a true politician (ie. complete nonsense):
The odds of you being in Reykjavik are not great. The greatest part of mankind is elsewhere. It is scientifically proven. When I was little, I would often ask myself why I had been born in Reykjavik. Is it a coincidence where one is born? Is it subject to some universal law? Did I exist in any form before I was born? Did I have anything to do with where I was born? Why did Eva Braun and Adolf Hitler not bear any children? Did they not try to? Can it be that no child wanted them as parents? I don’t know, but I do not believe in coincidence. I do not believe that God plays dice, especially not when human lives are concerned. These thoughts inevitably lead one to consider Schrodinger’s cat. He is probably one of the most famous cats in the world (maybe after Ninja Cat). Still no one knows what it was called? What was Schrodinger’s cat called? Abracadabra? I don’t remember. Let’s call it Phoenix. That is a common name for cats. Phoenix was of the nature that it both existed and not. Therefore, it always existed, and even if Schrodinger killed his cat in a rather tasteless manner, it is still alive at Schrodinger’s house, while Schrodinger himself has been dead for a long time.
Does this mean that I always existed, or that I never existed and do therefore not exist now? That can’t be! It would mean that all our existence was unreal and only existed in our own imagination. If I do not exist, then neither do you. I have a hard time believing that. The facts speak for themselves. If I am not real, then how could I fly to Finland, send myself a post card with a picture of Tarja Halonen, the President of Finland, fly back home and welcome the mailman that brought me the card? I don’t know. I am one of many Icelanders that believe in elves and trolls. I mainly believe in Moomin elves. It is more of a certainty than a belief. I have seen them and touched them. I know they exist. I have been to Moominworld in Naantali, Finland. I have evidence; photographs, video recordings and witnesses. I had a good talk with Moomin Papa. He told me that life in Moominvalley was much better after Finland joined the EU. He encouraged us Icelanders to join the EU. He also said that the Moomins had always existed, long before Tove Jansson “invented” them. The Moomins are eternal, at least in books.
I hope these thoughts shed some light on the history of Reykjavik and its culture. I hope you enjoy your time in Reykjavik, that you go swimming a lot and tell all your friends how fun Reykjavik is, and how everyone is always happy there and that you will never forget your hotel, and the eternally young cat Phoenix.
Iceland is in a bad way, financially. It seems to me that any city in a country which found itself for sale on Ebay not so long ago that can elect a comedian for mayor is a city worth visiting.
And perhaps inspiration for the next generation of politicians.
Dec 222010
Worried about the Zombie Apocalypse ruining your Christmas? Don’t be! Here is an instructional video to make sure things go smoothly.
(courtesy a zombie-entranced Facebooking friend)
Dec 222010
The Antikythera mechanism is one of those historical marvels (perhaps “mysteries” is a better word) that never fails to grab my attention and imagination whenever I come across an article about it.
Discovered in an ancient shipwreck in 1901, the Antikythera mechanism is an ancient clockwork computer from about 100 BCE. It was of a complexity that was not seen again for almost 2000 years. For whatever reason, the skill used to make the device was lost. In fact, it wasn’t until a high-resolution X-ray study was done in 2006 that the real purpose of the device became clear: it was a calculator used, among other things, to predict the movements of heavenly bodies and the timing of eclipses.
The level of knowledge about the movement of celestial bodies required for such a mechanism is boggling, but the degree of engineering needed to make the device is doubly so. How this knowledge was gained and lost is the fodder for a great debate, and the main source of my interest in the topic.
Recently, an engineer recreated the Antikythera mechanism. Out of Lego!
Seeing exactly how the thing works makes me marvel at those ancient nerds all that much more.
(via PCWorld)
Dec 222010
Puns may be the lowest form of humor, but they still make me laugh. (Sometimes.)
This was one of those times.
Dec 172010
As (loosely) promised, a bonus Christmas-themed Short Film Friday post!
I thought about posting any one of a billion schmaltzy, feel-good, crappy, cookie-cutter Christmas short films. Seriously. Go to YouTube and search. They’re everywhere, if that’s the kind of thing that blows up your holiday-themed skirt. But that’s not how I roll…
Instead, I offer to you the first episode of Infinite Santa 8000 — a sci-fi horror animated series starring Santa Claus. If mutants and murder and cybernetic implants and cannibalism don’t scream “Christmas,” I don’t know what does.
If you dig it, check out the Infinite Santa website, where you can see the rest of the episodes (currently at 11 and counting…)
Dec 172010
In what appears to be an ongoing theme, here’s another Short Film Friday entry involving an old woman and death.
Maybe I should find something with a holiday flavour. Who knows? Maybe you’ll get two Short Film Friday posts today!
Dec 152010
What happens when you edit together 270 movies from 2010? I would’ve guessed “an incredibly unwatchable mess.”
Not so. It’s fascinating, enthralling and remarkably cohesive.
Now I have to track down every last one of those films I haven’t seen and watch them.
(via BoingBoing)
Dec 122010
With less than two weeks before Christmas, I guess I can begin to uncouple myself from the deeply ingrained grinchiness and provide you with some Holiday cheer.
North Point Community Church has an iBand — that is, a band that plays music using “i” tools. And it’s pretty cool, too.
Check it out:
Dec 102010
Dec 092010
Could someone explain this to me?
It’s like a poem in a language I don’t quite understand. It seems like it must be beautiful and meaningful, but I just can’t entirely grasp what it’s all about.
And I can’t stop watching it…
Dec 022010
Yes, I am a bit of a Scrooge. Christmas is fine and dandy, but I don’t need a month and a half of it — two weeks is even pushing it.
Yet, it’s that time of year when Christmas specials start to take over and there is nothing we can do about it. Or is there?
Yes. I can take that kind of Charlie Brown Christmas.
Until maybe December 23rd, then give me the real deal. As long as you have it cleaned up and put away by the New Year.