Ahh. The art of the remix. Love it.
Christian Bale movies cut together to explain the darker side of Batman’s psyche.
Category: Culture
Tintin’s further adventures
So there’s a Tintin movie coming out. Are you, you, you, so excited? You should be.
What you may not know is that the movie that is coming out is just the tip of the iceberg. The Tin Tin franchise is looking to merge with existing movie franchises to make a much bigger splash in the cinematic world.
Ok, so that’s a lie. But the posters are cool, no? They’re from Mr Hipp.
Mad Skillz: How to, in an appropriate context, choke somebody unconscious in 8 seconds
Let me open with an arbitrary disclaimer. Only try this at home if your home is being invaded and you can take the criminal by surprise. Even then, you might be better off kicking them in the groin.
Not the hold suggested below.
I don’t know when you’ll need to use this, and I hope you never will, but Craig Schwarze is a seriously tough guy. He doesn’t just watch UFC like the rest of us. He does martial arts stuff. He knows how to do stuff you’ve only seen Chuck Norris do. He blogs about Genesis 1. You don’t get much tougher. You should, by the way, check out his blog. I’ve been reading it pretty much since I started blogging, and his post rate a few years back inspired me to up the ante here.
Here is his guide to taking down said opponent.
1. Position yourself behind the subject
2. Take your right arm, hook it around the subjects neck, and then place your right hand on your left shoulder. At this stage, the subjects neck should be sitting comfortably in the crook of your elbow
3. Take your left hand and slide it behind the subjects head, with the palm facing toward you. Use it to grip your right shoulder. There should still be no pressure on the subjects neck
4. Gently begin to squeeze your elbows toward each other. Don’t press too hard or quickly, or you will “gas” your arms. Just steady pressure together
5. Your forearms would put great pressure on the arteries on either side of the subjects neck. There should be no pressure across the throat. If applied correctly, subject will lose consciousness within a few seconds
6. Check out a quick demonstration (sadly embedding is disabled on this video)
Thanks Craig.
Feel free to submit your own mad skillz via my email address, found in various locations around this page (try the header).
The Beatboxing Cellist
Something for my Cello playing friends to aim for – the beatboxing kicks in at 1:08.
Maybe he should get together with the beatboxing flautist for a bit of a duet.
This guy’s name is Kevin Olusola. Here’s his official website.
Talking the plank: an armchair guide to planking
Planking is taking the world by storm. And I’ve got to admit I’m a latecomer to the planking party. I’m yet to plank. But here’s what planking is, from the Facebook Page. Planking is going mainstream. You can tell, because somebody planked on Channel Ten news last night, and NineMSN and the SMH both have stories about the craze that is taking the world by storm.
Rules of Planking
When performing a Plank:
1/ You must always lay face down, ensuring your face remains expressionless for the duration of the Plank.
2/ Your legs must remain straight, and together with toes pointed.
3/ Your arms must be placed by your side, held straight and fingers pointed.
4/ You must make it known that you are Planking. Saying ‘I am Planking’ usually get this across. Sternly announcing it will ensure a good result.
5/ Your safety should always be considered. Properly thought through Planking procedures should always go to plan. Never put your self at undue risk, unless you are a seasoned Planker.
6/ First Aid should never be far away. Ice, Bandaids, Cast Plaster, needle and thread, emotional support and a quick escape route need to be on hand.
7/ Every Plank that is captured must be named.
Here’s a sample “plank”
Build your own Facebook conversations
This would have been fantastic for our Easter service at Scots, or for anybody who wanted to make a social media version of the Easter story, but alas, it comes a month too late.
However – I present to you “The Wall Machine“, it lets you produce your own multi-partied Facebook conversations.
It has a nice interface. I whipped that one above up in about 30 seconds.
Via ChurchCrunch.
Before I die: I’d like to make some cool interactive art like this
Take one abandoned building. Paint it with blackboard paint. Provide chalk. And a prompter for discussing a serious issue. Record the responses. And you have modern art.
If people are answering truthfully – and there’s really no reason to lie in a forum like this – then it’s an interesting insight into what people care about.
I wonder if responses change based on the socio-economic demographic of the location. I assume so.
I’m not sure why there’s a pirate here. Or what he’s writing. “Tried for pi…”
Another day, another awesome timelapse
This one is from a mountain and has nice stars.
The Mountain from TSO Photography on Vimeo.
In other news, watch this spider…
This sort of animal video is probably why the Internet (and in a more derivative sense, video sharing) was invented.
Spider attack from Ahmet Ozkan on Vimeo.
Love it.
Tumblrweed: Dads are the original hipsters
Hipsters. Love them, hate them, they’re here to stay. At least until something cooler comes along. But lets face it. Moustaches and tight clothes epitomise cool. I’d be a hipster if I could grow a mo. And if I didn’t want to mock them relentlessly. But I digress. Dads are the Original Hipsters demonstrates, photographically, that there is nothing original about our current generation of hipsters. They are just copying our dads.
The only difference is the lack of deliberate irony for most of these dads.
Che Obama: A meta shirt
From what I can gather this shirt doesn’t exist yet. But doubtless, by the power of the interwebs, it soon will. Here it is part of a “Rebranding America” design challenge.
A timely view of the city
This is beautiful. I love a good timelapse.
Timelapse – The City Limits from Dominic on Vimeo.
Handling 15 minutes of Internet fame
I’ve not yet become famous on the Internet. Most people become famous on the internet for either being in the right place at the right time (the Chk-Chk Boom girl, the guy who tweeted Osama’s demise), for something that is an honest mistake that grows its own legs (Jessica Dovey, the Martin Luther King quote creator), or for doing something incredibly stupid in the presence of a camera that later comes back to bite them (the Nu-Thang guy, Star Wars boy etc). Occasionally you become famous for doing something genuinely creative – and you keep that fame by continuing whatever it was you did until it starts to make you money (David Thorne (the spider drawing guy), the Autotune the News people, Justin Bieber).
Internet fame is a fickle thing. It doesn’t last long – it’s probably accelerated beyond Andy Warhol’s 15 minutes. Lets call it 15 seconds of fame. Those in the throes of such fame are behoven to make as much of the opportunity as they can – whatever category they fall into from the list above. It probably won’t ever happen again. The internet is vast. There has been an interesting, and vaguely consistent, realisation that this is the case in a few interviews I’ve read with people experiencing such fame (or infamy)…
Here’s what the Nu-Thang guy had to say about his newfound fame:
“All the Twitter followers, Facebook friend requests and YouTube friend requests have really exploded. You really have to guard your personal information and make sure that people can’t get a hold of it. I’m a little extra cautious being an attorney and all, but besides being safe, just enjoy the ride. I’m right in the middle of it and I’m excited to see where it goes!”
People are following him on Twitter. How long will that last? I’d say not long. If he’s not ridiculously entertaining.
Jessica Dovey, who launced the fake MLK quote, told the Atlantic all about the experience.
“I was on my way to meet a friend for dinner and I couldn’t even really talk about it. I couldn’t even say, “Something I said went viral on the Internet today.” You can’t really just talk about it. Then I was in a hostel in Tokyo and I heard people talking about it behind me. I couldn’t just turn around and say, “Hey guys, that’s me.” … It just doesn’t matter that it was me. I didn’t expect or invite this. I don’t mind it, I guess. It’s positive and good and if I had to have 15 minutes of fame by some means, then I couldn’t have picked anything better.”
There’s something nice, and a little non-mercenary about these guys and the way they’ve humbly dealt with the fame. Sohaib Athar is the man who tweeted the raid on Bin Laden’s compound, without realising it… He also seems a little circumspect about his fame.
“Athar downplayed his role in the event: “I am JUST a tweeter, awake at the time of the crash,” he wrote. “Not many twitter users in Abbottabad, these guys are more into facebook. That’s all.” Just another case of being in the right place at the right time — or the wrong place at the wrong time.”
There’s something refreshing about this when you draw a contrast between these guys and ever contestant on every “look-at-me” reality TV show in the world, being unprepared for, or not looking for, internet notoriety seems to be the key to getting through it unscathed or with your reputation enhanced.
Can you think of any famous internet people whose fame has lasted beyond 15 seconds? Judging by how much I sing the “Friday” song these days, Rebecca Black has left some sort of scar/impact on the international psyche.
Real Life Farmville: 30 Pounds to have a share in running a real farm…
Sounds fun. Just like the real Farmville. It’s called “MyFarm” – partly because instead of sticking a 2.0 after your name these days you remove the space and capitalise both words. Then you are WebSavvy.
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“MyFarm is a big online experiment in farming and food production, giving 10,000 members of the public a say in the running of a real working farm. The farm is on Wimpole Estate, near Royston in Cambridgeshire.
The MyFarm Farmers will join forces on this website to discuss and make decisions on every aspect of the farm: the crops we grow, the breeds of animal we stock, the new facilities we invest in and the machinery we use.
The aim of the farm is to be profitable, and to maintain the highest standards of sustainability and welfare.”
Seriously though. Pay me $25 and I’ll ring my father-in-law with whatever suggestion you have for crops for him to grow in the Darling Downs, Queensland… you’ll probably end up with no more clout than you would going through this program, plus it’ll cost you less money.
Sleeveface: Get your album cover on…
This is great. Get an album cover. Match up your outfit. Hold the album in front of your face with the edges lined up.
And you have a Sleeveface.
There’s a collection of such Sleevefaces here.
Via ChurchCreate.