NYC waterfall by olafur eliasson

Pretty neat writeup about a waterfall that Olafur Eliasson created.

blindness

Been awhile since i posted. I was cruising the theatre recently and saw the poster for the movie adaptation of Blindness by Jose Saramago (see: one of the greatest writers of our time).

I've been a big fan of Saramago for a long time now. The movie has notable actors such as Gael Garcia Bernal, Mark Ruffalo, Julianne Moore, and Mark Ruffalo. The director is Fernando Meirelles whose body of work speaks for itself. Despite initial critical responses, I am eagerly waiting to see this movie.

Playing Hurt

(click to enlarge)

Despite my begrudged respect for the defensive prowess and overall championship-worthiness of this year's Boston Celtics, I've been reading about how torn up Tiger's knee was during the U.S. Open, and I had Photoshop running already, so I decided that the above photomontage was not going to make itself.

I do think Pierce deserved his Finals MVP, though; not only for the way he continually attacked the Lakers on defense and hit big momentum-shifting shots on offense, but for the way he carried his team through two crucial Game Sevens earlier in the playoffs. Plus, he's an L.A. guy at heart, even though he plays for the bad guys now.

Just, please — fewer theatrics next time.

Meet the Sniper

Big Ideas (Radiohead remix)

This is awesome!


Big Ideas (Don't get any) from 1030 on Vimeo.

Hack a DS to Make a Digital Sketchbook

A brief How To article can be found here to boot digital art pad software on your Nintendo DS.

This site displays many images created using the "Colors!" digital sketchpad software for the Nintendo DS.

Why I Don't Participate in Bike Races

USA Today: Car plows into bike race in Mexico, 1 dead

(Photo: AP)

The Hydra offers its condolences to the family of the man killed. Given the photo, it's a small miracle that he was the only one. As you might guess, the driver of the car was drunk.

Kobe is a Wild Boy

I don't know if these are real, but entertaining nonetheless.

This stunt caught their attention:



This one was with the "professionals":



Even pros need a reason to get on youtube. Looks like Kobe's got a backup career.

Where's all the Wii Fit?

I need to start attending talk shows, especially female hosted ones, they give out the best loot. Kotaku article on the show.

The Japanese Office

Ricky Gervais: "It's funny ... 'cause it's racist."

Ars Technica gets acquired

Talk about breaking news.

Dating Advice

McSweeney's lists good dating advice, taken from a GameFAQ for GTA: San Andreas. Some advice from the FAQ that's funny when taken out of context:

Just because she says she likes something doesn't mean that it's true. You are usually better off doing the opposite of what she says.

Perhaps if she's related to George Costanza ...

If you were going out with the girl and you killed her on a date, then you're in a situation similar to if you were dumped.

Um, "similar" is one word for it ...

It might be that some kind of event triggers phone calls, as you can often stand outside a girl's house for weeks without getting one.

The number she's calling at that point is probably only three digits long ...

The best haircuts for sex appeal are the cornrow, blonde cornrow, groove cut, and detail cut. Haircuts that give no boost to sex appeal include pretty much any that involve coloring (other than blonde) and the Elvis hair. Afros, mohawks, and goatees tend to give pretty low boosts as well.

Elvis hair, no sex appeal? You sure about that?

Gaining fat is easy. Just go to the fast food restaurant of your choice, and order up to 11 of the biggest meal they have. Don't have more than 11 meals in a 6-hour period though, or you'll vomit and gain nothing.

Profound.

The third basic type of date outcome is an abandon date. [...] The easiest way to do this is to get into a car, and then quickly drive away before your girlfriend can get in. [...] This is just like a failed date, but faster.

I can't tell you how much time I've saved over the years doing that ...

Yes, you can date all of the girls at the same time, and I recommend that you do.

Easy for you to say!

Clearly you both enjoy coffee a lot.

So Long, Sweet Mazdas

Mazda is destroying thousands of unused cars worth about $100 million:

It all started about two years ago, when a ship carrying 4,703 shiny new Mazdas nearly sank in the Pacific. The freighter, the Cougar Ace, spent weeks bobbing on the high seas, listing at a severe 60-degree angle, before finally being righted.

Nobody knows exactly what parts the salty ocean air corroded, or what other issues arose from having the vehicles tilted for so long. Despite having many willing takers for the cars anyway, the company is afraid of the implications of the cars getting into the hands of scammers and their unsuspecting victims.

Wrecking that many cars presents particular challenges. Hazardous fluids must be disposed of properly, potentially salvageable parts must be irreparably broken, and then there's the matter of the airbags:

For instance, most of the cars have six airbags, and discharging them individually (forcing them to inflate so they can't be resold) takes about five minutes apiece -- or a total of a half-hour per car. So engineers back at Mazda's headquarters, in Hiroshima, fashioned a device that can discharge all six at once. Multiplied by 4,703 cars, that trick alone saved months of work.

Don't worry, environmentalists, the scrap will be recycled.

The Journal article simply mentions that the Cougar Ace was "righted"; detail on that operation is in a dramatic Wired feature, which illuminates the lucrative, but high-stakes, profession of salvage work:

"Shut up!" Habib shouts. He explains that the Cougar Ace has become a labyrinth. Since it's heeled onto one side, they'll have to learn how to walk on walls and scale the sloping, perilous decks. Unfortunately, they'll have to learn to do it in the middle of the ocean. This will be their only chance to practice before they board the ship. Hopefully, no one else will die.

Don't worry, entertainmentalists, the story will be adapted into a movie.

Coffee table NES controller

Either it's a huge controller turned coffee table or a coffee table turned controller. More on this work of art here.

How to Prototype a Game in Under Seven Days

A brief article on a team of five prototyping 50 games in one semester here.

Colbert vs Rain

The feud escalated, and Colbert threw down a challenge to his nemesis, Rain:



It looked as though the challenge was unanswered, but in the wee hours of the night, the challenge was answered:

The real get realer

Force Dynamics is the company who made the racing simulator previously posted. The sim in the previous video was their 301 model. The current 401 model is featured below. The newer model adds rotation to the sim.

Real racing simulator

Who needs GT5 with a Logitech G25 and racing seat? This is the real simulator with the best game! Turtle throwing sim to come.

Video Gamer-lite

I've accepted the fact over the past few years, that I'm not quite the gamer I used to be. I thought once I got a job, I'd have all the systems and a nice setup, but truthfully other things are more important. This top 11 shows that I'm part of this category. I think I fell into more than half of this list.

Day of the Golden Eagle

This post has been translated into English from its original form, a series of bleats and baas called out into the wilderness.

To our faithful goat audience — do not let this scare you away! It is only a vision [no equivalent for "movie" in goat parlance —ed.] ... Turn the young ones' eyes away, but teach them the story. The mighty death bird [Golden Eagle] is to be feared! See this vision of its air walk ending the life of your babes in a most horrifying way:



[via Waxy]