As subtle as a flying brick.

Archive for 2009

I’ve got to admit it’s getting better.

Brad Pitt is no spring chicken, but it still took some work to put an 85-year-old version of his face on a child’s body in his newest movie. The first step: a new markerless, wireless, uncanny-valley-clearing motion capture process, termed “volumetric cinematography” by the effects studio.

And that’s only the beginning of the magic routine a single movie can go through: a story spaning ninety years might pull out CGI, old-fashioned matte painting, “youthening”, and more.


Glass Cat


History of War and Peace Collection

Peace and War in the 20th Century
is an ambitious, in progress, massive assemblage of posters,
photographs, propaganda, ephemera, letters, diaries, paintings,
sketches, stories, letters, music and related items, from McMaster
University in Hamilton, Ontario. The collection is international in
scope. Some of the nodes lack content, and the navigation is a little
confusing, so the jump I list some of my favorite case studies from
their site.

Note: Many of the images are reasonable resolution if you right
click and open in a new tab rather than only view in the pop-forward
window. Also scroll down for thumbnails of additional material. The advanced search option is very useful as it includes a detailed site map.

Representing War: Posters, Art and Music. Many of the posters are unusual and new to me, such as ‘Save Waste Bones – They Make Glue for Aircraft‘, ‘Boys, Come Along, You’re Wanted‘, and this beautiful poster of the Earth and Doves.
Concentration Camp correspondence
Sir Norman Angell: a lifelong proponent of peace (many images of his pamphlets and posters)
The Spanish Civil War: Foreign Intervention, American Reaction. Includes evocative pamphlets, leaflets, and posters.
Waging War
London prepares for World War II: a great selection of instructional and civil defence materials such as posters and memos.
Britain prepares for World War I: some diary pages of Adrian Duff.
William Frank Kenwood, Canadian Pilot and Prisoner of War
, including newspaper clippings, a letter from the Red Cross, telegrams, etc.
Vera Brittain’s diaries and pamphlets
Canadian Women’s Roles in World War I: anything new in war work?
Mapping and Photographing World War I: interesting instructional materials, etc.
The Nuclear Disarmament Movement, which includes a great collection of very striking posters and leaflets.
Evolving Technology in World War I, which includes numerous artistic visions of machine guns, tanks, etc.
War Resisters, including pamphlets.
World War 1 in the Middle East
I like this typed report of a raid.
I also like this leaflet against War Toys.

As I noted, there is a huge amount of great stuff at this site,
interspersed with some dead ends as one would expect from a work in
progress.


The Press: Making Bloggers Look Good Since Before Blogging Was Invented

Of all the offshoots of the “Stuff White People Like“, my favorite is Stuff Journalists Like. From Free Food to Press Passes to Exclusives, this blog is covering everything in the ink-stained-wretch’s lifestyle, including some things they really just barely tolerate.
For a more serious look at the Journalistic Profession during this time
of Transition/Crisis/Insanity, there’s always Jay Rosen, whose PressThink blog has been previously seen here and is getting more attention than ever via (shudder) Twitter. Or, for something more in-between… 10,000 Words uses a bright, shiny bunch of tag clouds, maps and other visual aids (plus fun with typography) to tell the journos how it should be done while doing it.


due to export regulations cycles greater than 1024 should not be used

A small collection of special programs for system administration, written at a level suitable for senior admins.

Useful standouts include but are not limited to maybe, bottom, lsss, ged, pam happy hour, and jecho.


The 11th Doctor

The Eleventh Doctor Who was been announced. Matt who?


Robot 6 has you covered

The 25 best comics covers of 2008 – from Robot 6, the new home of the old blog@Newsarama team.


Brown Dyed Hotel

Brown Dyed Hotel is one of those no-instructions-given-figure-it-out-for-yourself games.


Short film featuring tilt shift filtering and timed shots


The PMRC “Filthy Fifteen”

Some videos: In 1985, Tipper Gore’s PMRC
released a list they called the “Filthy Fifteen,” detailing what they
believed to be the fifteen most objectionable songs of the time, and
the reason they felt each song should be censored…
1. Prince, “Darling Nikki” (sex)
[first link: concert footage from 1985; second link: the “backward” part at the end of the song, played forward]

2. Sheena Easton, “Sugar Walls” (sex)
[music video]

3. Judas Priest, “Eat Me Alive” (sex)
[album version]

4. Vanity, “Strap On Robbie Baby” (sex)
[lyrics]

5. Mötley Crüe, “Bastard” (violence)
[concert footage from 1983]

6. AC/DC, “Let Me Put My Love into You” (sex)
[music video]

7. Twisted Sister, “We’re Not Gonna Take It” (violence)
[concert footage from 2008]

8. Madonna, “Dress You Up” (sex)
[concert footage from 1985]

9. W.A.S.P., “Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)” (sex/language)
[concert footage from 1984]

10. Def Leppard, “High ‘n’ Dry (Saturday Night)” (drug and alcohol use)
[music video]

11. Mercyful Fate, “Into the Coven” (satanism)
[parody video]

12. Black Sabbath, “Trashed” (drug and alcohol use)
[music video]

13. The Mary Jane Girls, “In My House” (sex)
[music video]

14. Venom, “Possessed” (satanism)
[album version]

15. Cindy Lauper, “She Bop” (masturbation)
[music video]


Love thy neighbour

Love Thy Neighbor: Why Have We Become So Suspicious Of Kindness?

Most
people, as they grow up now, secretly believe that kindness is a virtue
of losers. But agreeing to talk about winners and losers is part and
parcel of the phobic avoidance, the contemporary terror, of kindness.
Because one of the things the enemies of kindness never ask themselves
– and this is now an enemy within all of us – is why we feel it at all.
Why are we ever, in any way, moved to be kind to other people, not to
mention to ourselves? Why does kindness matter to us?


Worlds Biggest Liger

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It’s pretty much my favorite animal. It’s like a lion and a tiger mixed… bred for its skills in magic.

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Am I wrong in thinking she’s hot …and prob freaky enough to hurt me?

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Hercules