Month: June 2009

Hover Craft

Wow. You know how the lava lamp was a category breaker when it came to home/cubicle lighting… well perhaps you didn’t… but now you do. This stands to have the same effect on home/cubicle decorating. Levitating stuff. Your stuff. Hovering.

As long as your object weighs less than four ounces (100 grams) it’ll float on this platform – complete with spotlight.

Now that’s awesome. And it’s hard to believe it could get better. But it does. How about this floating record player… (it’s conceptual, the other one will be retailing by the end of the year).

The 100+ word description:

The record player uses a carrier and dock outfitted with a magnetic and auto-calibrating control system which carries the LP into thin air as it is playing music. a self-running record player shaped in the form of a red sphere, contains a needle, amplifier and speaker, spins around the record, bringing the music to life. the sphere that plays the vinyl was technically influenced by the ‘vinyl killer’, currently the world’s smallest LP player that has a built-in motor, amplifier and speaker.

Simple colors and shapes express a kind of astronomical movement between the object and space.

The levitation is managed electronically. once turning the player on, you can manage the elevation levels through the touch sensors on the front side of the base unit.”

The one word description: Awesome.

June 24, 2009

Critic critique

Some of my friends are movie buffs. The annoying and condescendingly superior type. I like them. But they are movie snobs. I imagine I come across the same way when I’m talking about coffee or bagging out U2.

Critics are never happy. Well not until everything is 100% correct. This annoys me in every aspect of life except coffee (and when I’m bagging out U2). I find it particularly annoying when it comes to movies and reading movie reviews. Movies, in my mind (and this touches on the recent Wonderland discussion) are about entertainment and appreciation of execution. Both don’t have to be perfect for me to walk out of a movie feeling like I got my moneys worth. When both are perfect – ala the Godfather 1 – it’s a more satisfying experience obviously… but here are two examples of the problem…

An SMH review of Transformers 2…
“Michael Bay thinks that movies are a sandbox and, to some extent, they are. The trick is to create something meaningful from the tools in the sandbox. The first film did that; the second is a sandy imitation.”

Here’s the problem with this review – Transformers is a movie based on a series of action figures. It’s made primarily for an audience of males who like having stuff blown up. By all accounts Transformers 2 has bigger, better explosions with bigger and better fights between the alien robots. Reviews that take plot and stuff like that into account are missing the point. Nobody cares. It’s going to make bucket loads of money.

Point Two is just a continuation of my conversation with Ben… he said that Tim Burton should relinquish some control of his movies in order to produce compelling visual spectacles with nice Burtonesque aesthetics.

I like to think of Tim Burton’s movies as a vehicle for his aesthetics – and I’m happy to enjoy them even if the plot makes no sense. Like in Mars Attacks.

June 24, 2009

Image etiquette

This link appeared in my shared items a while ago. It was in the grey area between funny enough to post and too obscure for everybody to care. But I feel like posting it now – after reading this thread on Ben’s blog.

Using other people’s images on your site is a grey area. Images are bandwidth hogs – and bandwidth is expensive. I tend to only use other people’s images (hotlinked) if I’m promoting their product or service with my post.

But this series of emails is just too funny not to be brought up at this point in the debate.


June 24, 2009

Things that brighten my day #1

Arguments about trivial things with a worthy opponent.

June 24, 2009

A bunch of links – June 23, 2009

June 23, 2009

Blocktastic

I’ve written about Pacman, I’ve written about Rubiks Cubes, I’ve written about Super Mario Bros, and I’ve written about art. That’s a lot of topics to converge in a single post. But I’ve done it. Well, more correctly, somebody else has – I’m just here to show you the fruits of their labour. Art made from Rubiks Cubes… not just art… geek art. I would have thought a Tetris inspired design would be appropriate – but perhaps too easy…

June 23, 2009

YouTube Tuesday: Come Play

Kudos to Tim for posting this today. If World Cup bids were judged by production of the bid video then we’d be in with a shot.

June 23, 2009

Salad LOLs

I subscribed to PETA’s media releases recently just for the laughs. It hasn’t disappointed. They’re about to protest the Southern Baptists. They want to convert them to vegetarianism.

“PETA members — including one dressed as Jesus carrying a sign reading, “For Christ’s Sake, Go Vegetarian,” and another dressed as a chicken with a sign that says, “Jesus Loves Me Too”– will bring a pro-vegetarian message based on biblical teachings of compassion to people attending the Southern Baptist Convention in Louisville on Tuesday. Other members will hold signs reading, “Thou Shalt Not Kill. Go Vegetarian” and “Blessed Are the Merciful. Go Vegetarian.” They will also hand out leaflets that relate vegetarian living to Christian teachings.”

Seems they’re a little bit confused about the difference between chickens and people. That sentence could be made much clearer with a comma – either after the “compassion” or after the “people”… the easily misinterpreted (if you don’t put too much effort in) sentence pretty much somes up most of my problems with PETA – then there’s the fact that the Bible makes eating meat perfectly acceptable. The fact that meat tastes so good means that God meant us to be carnivores. Surely.

June 23, 2009

Wonderland

If ever there was a perfect piece of casting and the perfect choice of director it’s this…

Johnny Depp has been cast as the Mad Hatter for Tim Burton’s remake of Lewis Carroll’s hallucinogenic Alice in Wonderland.

June 23, 2009

Missed opportunity

After my last post Stuss wanted to know if I planned to enter the Miss Universe Australia pageant in order to secure publicity for Townsville. I checked out the terms and conditions of entry – and unfortunately I don’t qualify.

Whilst they don’t specify a gender requirement I’ve been ruled out on two of the seven conditions.

1. Be an Australian citizen or Permanent Resident.
2. Be aged no less than 18 and not more than 27 on 30/02/2009.
3. Have been residing in Australia for at least six months prior to April 2009.
4. Have a valid passport.
5. Never have been married.
6. Never have given birth to a child.
7. Not have committed any crime or been involved in any inappropriate behaviour, photographs or films, which may cause embarrassment to both parties if disclosed at a later date.

June 23, 2009

How to get media attention for your location

I’ve spent the last 3 and a half years trying to get Townsville positive news coverage around the globe. It’s a great place. It’s worth publicising. But, this morning I had an epiphany. Here’s an easy 3 step process to get your home town/city/village some positive media coverage.

1. Win Miss Universe Australia
2. Visit your home town
3. Turn up at your old job at McDonalds with cameras in tow

It’s that simple.

June 23, 2009

A bunch of links – June 22, 2009

June 22, 2009

Reader Poll

Does anybody actually care about Utegate?

K-Rudd isn’t going to resign. Swan isn’t going to resign. Turnbull isn’t going to resign. The guy from the public service is going to get fired jailed. It seems he’ll be the only one remembering this whole saga a year from now.

What I think would be awesome would be if the alchopops thing is the trigger for a double dissolution. Imagine being the Prime Minister booted out for trying to make grog more expensive. That’ll play in headlines all over the world.

I also hate the way we add “gate” to the end of every political scandal. It didn’t happen in the Watergate building so it’s not analogous.

I hope K-Rudd is learning his lesson about how it pays to be nice to your public servants and not make them work at break neck speed. They’ve claimed his Defense Minister and now they’re after him.

June 22, 2009

Top Gear: Formulaic drama


I’m not really a regular viewer of Top Gear – though I watch it on occasion. But I think Michael Schumacher is awesome – and the fact that he’s the Stig explains why he hasn’t felt the itch to get back out on the Formula One track.

June 22, 2009

On Worship

The iMonk bemoans the evolution of worship.

“Worship has now become a musical term. Praise and worship means music. Let’s worship means the band will play. We need to give more time to worship doesn’t mean silent prayer or public scripture reading or any kind of participatory liturgy. It means music.”

Sadly, the Bible’s definition of worship (Romans 12) suggests that doesn’t even come close to capturing the essence of worship… (but the cartoon does).

Romans 12:1
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.”

This question came up in my candidacy interview last week. The Presbyterian (Westminster Confession of Faith) use of the word worship falls between these two ideas in a sort of semantic compromise.

This issue creates more tension than it should because I think you can hold both ideas at once (the Biblical and the Presbyterian) and still be correct. Am I missing something here?

June 21, 2009