AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 8/05/2006 08:17:00 PM ----- BODY: Your Patience is Appreciated as the old GoDaddy webhost server gets a Kicking and Thwapping from your truly before being tossed into the webhosting dumpster. We will return shortly with brand spanking new webhosting by Site5. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 8/04/2006 03:16:00 PM ----- BODY: The Boy Who Sees with Sound - friggin amazing Bat / Dolphin-like abilities. See also, and. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 8/04/2006 02:01:00 PM ----- BODY: Don't look if you don't like creepy crawlies -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 8/04/2006 11:09:00 AM ----- BODY:

Giant Gundam Figure for the otaku out there. At $3000, you have to be a serious Gundam nut to pick up this one. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 8/04/2006 10:59:00 AM ----- BODY:

To my dismay I missed out on my chance to design my own Puma shoes when they had their Mongolian Shoe BBQ last year. Well, they're at it again! And this time wannabe shoe designers will be able to build their dream shoe online. Thinking about it now, this is a great way for a company to both make money and figure out what people are looking for in the market right now. Now where's my wallet? -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 8/04/2006 10:49:00 AM ----- BODY:

Possibly one of the coolest childrens' bookstores out there is located in Beijing -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 8/04/2006 10:40:00 AM ----- BODY:

PingMag has a great article about Joe Nishizawa who does amazing photography of hidden underground spaces in Japan. Wonderful. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 8/04/2006 10:29:00 AM ----- BODY:

Haunted image gallery of Alaskan shipwrecks. I'd love to check these kind of things out in person. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 8/04/2006 10:18:00 AM ----- BODY:

This spine-chilling animation depicts in a fairly accurate way what would happen if a 500 mile diameter asteroid hit the earth. Learn some more about how accurate this is at Bad Astromony and then once you've watched the earth get obliterated, enjoy some humor from Guinness about how the human race would recover from the little impact. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 8/03/2006 05:29:00 PM ----- BODY:

Why is it that so many advertisements suck? So much money is spent on them, and for many companies they are critical to their brand recognition, and yet they still manage to make crap ads. I can't stand watching commercial breaks because of all the terrible ads. Well, here is a great ad that I would watch. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 8/03/2006 05:24:00 PM ----- BODY:

The website for Rob Bryanton's book, Imagining the Tenth Dimension has a great flash movie on how to wrap your head around living in a 10 dimenional existence. I won't pretent i get it, but it sure makes me interested in buying the book to learn more. There are many books around about string theory and all that sort of super-complex, abstract stuff - but this is one at least makes me feel like i might be able to understand it a little! -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 8/03/2006 04:39:00 PM ----- BODY:

A weed growing operation got busted and the lengths to which the growers had gone to to secure their facility was revealed. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 8/02/2006 12:01:00 PM ----- BODY:

If SteamPunk was a reality, I'm sure they would have developed SteamSynths. Check out the audio file for some sonic goodness. Chugga chugga! -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 8/02/2006 11:54:00 AM ----- BODY:

Salon Life has an excellent article called Watching Beirut die written by Anthony Bourdain, host of the Travel Channel's show "No Reservations". I really enjoy his laid-back style and witty, sarcastic comments and irreverent attitude - heck he even smokes on the show! I didn't know smoking on TV was still legal! Anyway, they were filming their show about Beirut, when the shit hit the fan between Israel and Lebanon. Great article, a bit longish, but much recommended. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 8/02/2006 11:50:00 AM ----- BODY:

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Sword Vs Bullet. This looks for real. Impressive. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/23/2006 11:39:00 PM ----- BODY:

Feuerwear makes bags and stuff out of old fire hoses. I should start a company that makes bags out of some reclaimed material and it would be instantly popular. Hmmm, bags made out of old moldy shower curtains anyone? -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/21/2006 02:24:00 PM ----- BODY:

Sanrio Puroland looks insane. I think that even the most hardcore Hello Kitty fan would spontaneously combust from cute oversaturation. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/20/2006 03:43:00 PM ----- BODY:

Daisuke Enomoto is set to be the world's next space tourist. Except this trip will be a little bit different - Enomoto wants to float around in space dressed as Char Aznable from the Gundam franchise. I guess when you're dishing out the bucks to go into space, you can do pretty much any zany stuff you want s'long as it's safe! Now this whole space cosplaying drama would be a whole lot more interesting if it was a woman in a cute cosplay outfit. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/19/2006 12:16:00 AM ----- BODY:

Being from Hawaii where there are a whole lot of Asians, and thus a lot of import car racing, I was quite surprised to see a tv news story here in the Bay Area about the "new racing phenomenon" of drifting (Story probably prompted by F&F:Tokyo Drift). Ok, drifting is so a billion years ago! Which lead me to thinking about what other things are different between US & Japanese racing culture. Then I came across the Japan GT Girls page. Asian Import Models. Cue up those Initial-D soundtrack tunes, buckle-in and hit that link! -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/19/2006 12:08:00 AM ----- BODY:

Science Facts that People Get Wrong. Really interesting how what we sometimes think of as such an easy answer is actually unfounded. What's more fascinating is how society has somehow managed to burn those answers into our brains! * Spacecraft heat up on re-entry because of the friction of the atmosphere * There are seven colours in the rainbow * Everest is the highest mountain in the world -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/18/2006 11:53:00 PM ----- BODY:

This video by artist Guillaume Reymond re-creates the game of Space Invaders using real peeps in an auditorium. Very cool. Check here if the youtube clip gets pulled (mmm, yummy copyright!) -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/18/2006 10:27:00 AM ----- BODY:

I like to watch anime, but I'm by no means a disciple of the genre. Which means that when I'm trying to figure out what is worth watching, I have to weave my way through a minefield of anime terminology that I don't understand. Which is where an Anime Glossary comes in handy! Now I know that just because some reviewers are raving about something being yaoi, I may want to steer clear :P More terms -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/18/2006 09:52:00 AM ----- BODY:

I've been seeing an ad for Chilis lately on the boob toob that looked like a ripoff of a White Stripes video I'd seen once. I recognized the style and had only seen the White Stripes video maybe twice. Was it produced by the same company? This is again the whole sticky issue of technique / style, and to what degree can does a style belongs to an artist. Lugz sued Apple for the style they used for an ad that was too similar to their own - but it seems to me that the style had already been part of the cultural landscape for quite some time. The Chilis ad however is using the same specific visual technique/trick, as well as the color palette and similar music to the "Seven Nation Army" track. To me, this clearly crosses the line into blatant ripoff-ery. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/17/2006 01:54:00 PM ----- BODY:

I recently bought new studio monitors for my rig. Made by KRK, the V6 features a cone made from kevlar. While it doesn't render the speakers bulletproof, the yellow sure looks nice (and the speakers sound great!) This reminded me of something I'd heard a long time ago about speakers cones made from banana fiber! A quick search on the web found this Treehugger article about cones made from bamboo, and in the comments is a link to the Fostex banana cone speakers. They're not yellow, but it's a cool idea! This page has some info on other materials used for cones, such as carbon fibre, paper, plastics and more! -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/17/2006 10:50:00 AM ----- BODY:

For any aspiring J-pop star (such as my better half who looks the rockstar part once she throws on the feline themed axe), your weapon of choice should be the Hello Kitty Fender Strat. Now I suppose I'll have to be the dork in the back with keyboards while SHE gets all the fame ;) Of course I expect many fine guitar loops to emit forth soon. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/17/2006 10:27:00 AM ----- BODY:

Duracell is a one-man-band that plays some insanely cool sets - his drum kit triggers audio/midi sequences, so that each time he bashes the drum the next note/sequence in the song will play. The frenetic drumming is used to play awesome retro game tunes like Space Harrier and Turrican. Check out this video and this one. Mentalcakes. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/17/2006 10:23:00 AM ----- BODY:

Instructables has a diy guide on how to make a 16 foot pan-and-tilt camera crane for $60. Build, then go forth and make awesomely bad movies to post on YouTube. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/17/2006 10:22:00 AM ----- BODY:

I'm in the process of configuring up my new studio setup since I moved away from the rock (The rock being Hawaii). Anyone that has put together their own studio has probably spend many a late night figuring out the best way to do it. There are so many decisions: amps, speakers, racks, modules, sound stage, keyboards, etc. One of the most important components of any system is often the most neglected : the cables. I'll admit that in my last setup I was woefully uneducated about the finer points of cables. For my new rig I'm determined to learn as much as I can, and spend a bit more money to get the cleanest signal path that I can - after all, the sound is the end product - why settle for a dirty track?. One of the key points I've picked up is to understand the difference between balanced and unbalanced cables. Read Tweakheadz' Everything you were Afraid to Ask about Cables and Setting Up Your Equipment from PeachPit -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/16/2006 03:07:00 PM ----- BODY:

Click Monkeys is exactly why the click-based ad revenue model is flawed. (I wonder if they'll host offshore web sites/services?) Click Monkeys!!™ is a Ukrainian company and the giant tanker ship click farm we have stationed just outside U.S. waters off the coast of San Francisco is registered at a Ukrainian berth so we're not subject to any U.S. laws!" Click Monkeys!!™ employs a state of the art line of site net access system. We own a light house near San Jose with the equivalent of five T-3 lines worth of bandwidth running to it. The light house is equipped with two dozen microwave transmitters that are pointed at the H.M.S. Click Monkey. The transmitters are kept on target using a GPS system that is centered exactly on the on board transmitter.Even if the Click Monkey were to drift by 3 miles from her stationary position in the roughest weather, our monkeys can still keep clicking on your site! -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/16/2006 02:59:00 PM ----- BODY:

CoverFlow is an neat-o Apple app for visually browsing through your digital albums (read: not intended for individual song listening). Once you've picked an album, the app controls iTunes as well. I don't think I'd ever really use the program, but it holds a certain nostalgia for when we used to actually own physical albums. Well, I guess that's only some of us... I still have records :) -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/16/2006 02:59:00 PM ----- BODY:

I'm a big fan of Michel Gondry's work. I have yet to see House Party, but I'm definately going to catch The Science of Sleep when it hits the theatres. Looks to be another Gondry classic. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/16/2006 02:49:00 PM ----- BODY:

Psst! Pass it on is a set of experimental motion graphics videos that are based on the idea of the Exquisite Corpse (or the childrens' game Telephone) in which multiple artists create a segement of a work, each continuing where the previous artist left off. It makes for some really interesting - and in some cases plain weird - compositions that cover many genres of filmmaking. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/14/2006 02:40:00 PM ----- BODY: The top 10 unintentionally worst company URLs. Some examples: 1. A site called ‘Who Represents‘ where you can find the name of the agent that represents a celebrity. Their domain name… wait for it… is www.whorepresents.com 2. Experts Exchange, a knowledge base where programmers can exchange advice and views at www.expertsexchange.com 3. Looking for a pen? Look no further than Pen Island at www.penisland.net -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/14/2006 02:34:00 PM ----- BODY:

I love time lapse stuff. So this footage of fruits and stuff captured on crisp 35mm is an instant winner. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/14/2006 11:44:00 AM ----- BODY:

David Hasselhoff's Jump In My Car video is possibly the best music video in the entire universe (if the universe was extremely small, cheesey, and only allowed to exist in Germany) -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/14/2006 11:41:00 AM ----- BODY:

The PictoOrphanage will take in orphaned 2D characters and help them through the process of becoming born as a full-fledged three-dee being. Quite odd. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/14/2006 11:39:11 AM ----- BODY: Flying Lawnmower

It's a Bird! It's a Plane! No! It's a Flying Lawnmower -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/14/2006 11:23:00 AM ----- BODY:

Joey Interactive blogged about photographer cedric delsaux, who has some really cool photos of Stars Wars characters set in a modern urban backdrop that works very well. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/13/2006 11:18:00 PM ----- BODY:

Boing Boing posted about the genius ukelele playing of Roy Smeck. It's a wonderful performance! As for contemporary musicians, Jake Shimabukuro is well known in Hawaii for his fast-paced ukelele playing. While I'm not particularly a fan of ukelele music, I was pretty blown away by the speed of his playing, getting faster and faster each time! His hand just becomes a youtubey blur he's playing so fast! (Doesn't quite have the same kooky classy factor as Smeck though) -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/13/2006 11:11:00 PM ----- BODY:

The Pig and the Box is a wonderful children's fable that takes an anti-DRM stance. Created in response to such cartoon mascots as Captain Copyright, it is the tale of a selfish Pig that won't let his neighbor's use his magical 'copying' box. LLLLOLIPOP JONES! -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/13/2006 09:53:00 AM ----- BODY:

PingMag has an article about Gex Fry: "In 2002 Gez Fry decided, that he wants to make a living out of Japanese style illustration - without being experienced in drawing. Locking himself up in his bedroom in London he studied big masters like Masamune Shirow and developed enough skill and an astonishing portfolio to jump into the big market - within only 2 years. Here are some of his comments about how he draws, develops characters and why the Japanese Manga market is so tough." -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/11/2006 10:34:00 AM ----- BODY:

I'm not sure how effective this Big Budget Anti-Suicide Bombing PSA for Iraq will be. I can only imagine it will have very little effect, or even perhaps a negative reaction. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/11/2006 10:25:00 AM ----- BODY:

Shell out $2,200 and a ticket to Japan and you too can own Plen the Skateboarding robot. "Plen the Skateboarding robot is up for grabs in Japan. With a height of approximately 23 cms or 0.75 feet Plen is powered by a 32 bit ARM7 CPU at 33MHz and has 18 movable joints. It connects to the PC via USB and can also be controlled by a cell phone via Bluetooth. It comes with a Lithium Ion battery pack, charger, USB cable and Roller Skates. Plen's battery provides 25 minutes of walking time." Video clip #1 Video of Skateboarding, Roller Skating and more! -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/11/2006 10:13:00 AM ----- BODY:

The JOBY tripod system is a really neat example of a design that challenges the very definition of 'tripod'. Great for stablizing your camera out in unusual circumstances. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/11/2006 09:53:00 AM ----- BODY:

Really *ahem* interesting Christian Dior Fall 2006 Collection. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/11/2006 09:44:00 AM ----- BODY:

SUV Limos deserve to get stranded like this. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/11/2006 09:43:00 AM ----- BODY:

This person has some mad Etch-a-Sketch skills. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/06/2006 10:51:00 AM ----- BODY:

Get yourself some USB foot warming slippers. I know I need a pair - my feet are always cold! Hrm, yes, and this IS a ridiculous way to utilize your usb juice. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/05/2006 10:45:00 PM ----- BODY:

The bumptop physical desktop is an excellent execution of an alternative method of interacting with files. While not very practical or usable, it's a beautiful mix of real physics and digital organization. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/05/2006 10:30:00 PM ----- BODY:

I own an espresso machine, and making a good espresso definately seems to be a fine art that is a balance of good beans, the right grind, a quality machine, and perhaps most importantly, knowing all the little tricks that help you get it right. I certainly wouldn't pretend to know how to make a truly great coffee (though it mainly has to do with how much I'm not willing to spend on speciality coffee gear!). Check out the Boing Boing story and links and you can see what I'm talking about. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/05/2006 10:10:00 PM ----- BODY:

I've started watching The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. I'm a few epsiodes in, and am enjoying it thoroughly - The ending song is really cute and has the characters from the show doing a cutesy dance number. The funniest thing is the SOS-Dan fansite that shows the dance steps so that you can learn the dance too! Then you can teach your socially awkward male friend. And once he's mastered the steps, teach it to his Gundam figures, and also to the random cosplayers from Finland. Go Fin anime fanatics, go! -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/05/2006 10:00:00 PM ----- BODY:

Imomus at Click opera has a piece called 'Empires and Dance' which provided a new perspective on what I am used to from living in the USA, offering Berlin as the location where a new model is being worked out. Imomus:

Berlin is in fact a laboratory for future ways of doing things. This city is not just post-industrial, but post-imperial. It's a divergence machine.

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The BasuGasuBakuhatsu Anime Blog has a tutorial on How to: Automate Anime Downloads with Azureus and RSS Feeds. This is a pretty nifty way to get your Daily Recommended Dose of Fresh Squeezed Anime without having to check on new torrents (though the true Anime nuts will check daily anyway!). I think it's quite interesting how the Japanese Anime industry has not caused a fuss about the whole p2p paradigm and the efforts of fans (perhaps as part of their marketing strategy?). Until anime series are officially released in the USA, the overseas studios seem OK with groups of fans translating the shows, fansubbing them, and releasing through p2p (Usually BitTorrent) Once the shows are released in the US, the fansub groups cease distribution of the titles - the subs themselves often include a statement to this effect also. Of course, this is all probably far from legal. There has been one US company that sent cease and desist letters to fansub groups. And anyway, torrents don't usually survive until a title is released - that specific p2p delivery depends greatly on the link have a heavy activity. I have watched some great series through seeing fansubbed versions, and then bought the box sets. Though i can understand misgivings by studio execs worried about loss of revenue ... It's a fascinating case that I think only serves to increase the popularity of anime, and must certainly drive up the revenue of the merchandises... An would totally love to read an in-depth piece done on this topic, with proper investigation and interviews with the heads of Japanese and US companies. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/03/2006 12:05:00 PM ----- BODY: Mike Ferner writes: Has This Country Gone Completely Insane?

This afternoon, drinking a cup of coffee while sitting in the Jesse Brown V.A. Medical Center on Chicago’s south side, a Veterans Administration cop walked up to me and said, "OK, you’ve had your 15 minutes, it’s time to go." "Huh?", I asked intelligently, not quite sure what he was talking about. "You can’t be in here protesting," officer Adkins said, pointing to my Veterans For Peace shirt. "Well, I’m not protesting, I’m having a cup of coffee," I returned, thinking that logic would convince Adkins to go back to his earlier duties of guarding against serious terrorists. Flipping his badge open, he said, "No, not with that shirt. You’re protesting and you have to go." Read on ...

-------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/03/2006 11:43:00 AM ----- BODY:

As always, I'm interested in the issue of perception and how subjective it is. The McCollough Effect is at first glance *no pun intended* a simple ghostly after-image optical illusion: Stare at two colored gridded squares for a few minutes, and then at some non-colored squares. The non-colored gridded squares will now be surrounded by hazes of those two colors. The crazy thing is that supposedly the effect of staring at these squares for a few minutes can last for hours, even through sleep! And according to the site, coffee and your level of extroversion can also amplify the effect! I say, wtf! Just goes to show how our perception of reality is so easily skewed. I'm going to leave those squares visible on my monitor all day and see how screwed up I can make myself. *grin* -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/03/2006 11:21:00 AM ----- BODY:

Nick Southall has an excellent (though quite long) article called Imperfect Sound Forever in Stylus Magazine which covers the trend of the music industry to over-compress music that is being released these days. What this technically means is that the tunes we listen to these days have much less dynamic range between the quiet bits and louds bits. One of the main factors for this is that these overly compressed, or 'hot' tracks stand out compared to other tracks that are less compressed. This sells records. This consistently loud (or 'hot') barrage of sound throughout the music we are exposed to makes us less likely to really listen carefully - almost as if the music were produced to overcome the background sounds that are almost assumed in our day and age - the drone of the car engine, the noises on the sidewalk, the hum of the office copier. The article covers the topic from a variety of angles - technological, societal, personal. A fascinating read - I even read the followup as well as a piece on the music oversaturation we encounter these days as downloading music gets so easy and our hard disks are filled with thousands of hours worth of music. What does that mean for that one excellent song? For the music I produce? -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/03/2006 12:29:00 AM ----- BODY:

I'm not sure what to make of the Jack dude from the Jack in the Box ad campaign having his own myspace page. Oh wait, I know. It means myspace is now so painfully obvious as a marketing strategy tool that even the big corporations have glommed onto it. *barf* -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/03/2006 12:21:00 AM ----- BODY:

This External Hard Drive from Western Digital has a pretty cool feature - it has a very nice looking gauge on the front that indicates the used/available capacity at a glance. This is a such a simple and useful thing that it's amazing it isn't a standard feature for drives. I've seen it done on a USB Flash drive, but not a HD. At 1/2 a terrabyte, this puppy sure packs alot of storage, but comes with a corresponding price tag.... -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/02/2006 11:13:00 AM ----- BODY:

This page features an interesting switch on the usual colorblindness tests - these tests are only correctly visible to people who are colorblind. It taps into the fact that colorblind people can detect subtle changes in intensity (contrast?) much better than us normies. Of course, they do sacrifice the ability to see certain hues. I'm not sure of the scientific integrity of this test - but the general theory seems sound. I guess you'd need to validate the test images by having lots of colorblind folks confirm they can see the 'hidden' images. Maybe I should make my own anti-colorblind test and it always works because there simply is no hidden image at all! *evil grin* -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/02/2006 10:53:00 AM ----- BODY:

Looks like the Mecha Musume figure series I blogged about previously is going to be turned into an anime series called Strike Witches. Using the same character design by Shimada Humikane, it looks like magical girl series will have a fairly weak plot, and feature mostly the characters from Mecha Musume that I wasn't so crazy about - the airplane legs ones (I bought the Sherman figure). Looks like it will probably appeal to a certain niche market of anime fana-tiques. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 7/02/2006 10:36:00 AM ----- BODY:

A few days ago I was lucky enough to check out The Pillows live in the USA! They are the Japanese band that did all the music to one of my fave Anime series - FLCL (Furi Kuri). The venue was packed and I was ready for a good show. LemonDropKick was playing when we finally got into the club - they're a Anime/J-Rock inspired LA-band that turned out to be pretty decent. We had actually seen the lead singer do Karaoke at Fanime Con. Small community I guess. Next up was SecretSecret - which turned out to be a secretsecret weapon of uber-cheesey goth music. Imagine a cheesey Marilyn Manson wannabe crooning lame-o lyrics like "Come to meeeeee, this is a my sanc-tu-aaaaary" and throwing flowers into the crowd every few minutes. Suffice to say we were glad when they were done (Though to be fair, the beats and melodies were pretty phat). Onto the headliners - The Pillows!!! And boy o boy did they kick ass. They played tons of their hits from FLCL as well as some tracks from their new album My Foot. High energy performance, no holds barred, awesome to see them live. If you want to check out their tunes, I'd recommend checking out the FLCL Soundtrack (OST) on Amazon (iTunes suxorz). -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/30/2006 02:44:00 PM ----- BODY:

The car loses. [View vid.] -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/30/2006 02:03:00 PM ----- BODY:

I've been trying to figure at what anime series would be good to watch, so I've been cruising around anime otaku blogs and checking out all the blogrolls. It's made me realize I'm still a totally normal person. I don't understand half of what they're talking about, I'm not ecchi or into loli, and I don't own much anime related crap. Here's a buncha links for your amusement and possibly your entry into the weird wacky world of Otaku: General Anime Info Sites Anime NFO Anime Recommendations Anime Blogs (discussing current series/stuff from Japan) : Anime Nano - blog directory & forum & irc Random Curiosity Yummy Sushi Pajamas Sea Slug Blog Chotto Matte basugasubakuhatsu Loli? Moe? None for me thanks. lolitron lolicontrol moetry Figures are another sub-subculture: figure reviews on Riuva alter-web goodsmile maxfactory kotobukiya R U hook'd? Need to have more J-stuff? Right Stuf Anime Gamers Wizzywig -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/30/2006 01:48:00 PM ----- BODY:

Vids of Utada Hikaru kicking ass at Tetris. Apparantly, she's doing some promotion with Nintendo where you can win the chance to play against her. funfun. Is it me, or does she look soooo different when she isn't in her pop glam get-up? Read more at her blog. (But only if you can read Japanese. Which I can't.) -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/30/2006 11:42:00 AM ----- BODY:

Bleep Labs has a wonderful video clip of their new 'thingamagoop' synth-toy-robot. It is so cute and funny and bleepy - it had me rofl-ing . -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/30/2006 11:24:00 AM ----- BODY:

C'était un rendez-vous is a 1978 cult short film by Claude Lelouch in which a 'Ferrari' races at high speed through the streets of Paris in the petit hours of the morning. While probably driven by a professional driver, this was not a closed course - but claims of of going over 100 mph are exaggerated, and the soundtrack with its gear changes and high pitch engine whine is also cleverly overdubbed. See the video. See the 'making of' video which features the much-less-glamorous-than-a-Ferrari Mercedes. Oh the wonderful illusion of filmmaking! -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/30/2006 11:21:00 AM ----- BODY: omg, i actually saw a documentary on the discovery channel! -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/30/2006 11:14:00 AM ----- BODY:

Homeless model writes 250 page book at the Manhattan Apple Store. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/30/2006 11:07:00 AM ----- BODY:

Want to see where the hell your package is? Using isnoop.net's universal package tracking or www.packagemapper.com (wasn't working when I tried it) you can see the route your precious box has taken with any of the major shipping companies (except UPS has thrown lawyers at some of these mapping sites before, so UPS visualtracking may not be around for long...) -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/29/2006 08:29:00 PM ----- BODY: opus is my sysadmin -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/28/2006 09:49:00 AM ----- BODY:

Nancy over at Cultured Girl blogged about a really fascinating article in New York Magazine called The Urban Etiquette Handbook. It details how one should act in certain modern circumstances where the rules of conduct might not yet have been cemented into the social guidelines of our society. Take with grain of salt. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/28/2006 09:47:00 AM ----- BODY:

-------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/28/2006 09:41:00 AM ----- BODY: Flash 9 is now available. I'm really curious to see how this (and other macromedia products) evolve after being acquired by Adobe. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/28/2006 09:32:00 AM ----- BODY: Are we heading towards an inevitable razor blade black hole that will suck in the entire universe and spit it out again, well shaven? -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/27/2006 05:23:00 PM ----- BODY: 5:16 dear opus please deliver my package from evil and bless my new clothes with a speedy delivery and give me the courage to forgive ups those a-holes and bless the tires on the ups truck and absolve the delivery man of his end-of-the-day-b.o. and guide him, opus, guide him to my door let your undeniable radiance shine upon him in the form of a map a holy map leading him to the salvation of the ultimate deliverance the deliverance of my package forever and ever amen -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/26/2006 10:27:00 AM ----- BODY:

"Sealand was founded as a sovereign Principality in 1967 in international waters, six miles off the eastern shores of Britain. The island fortress is conveniently situated from 65 to 100 miles from the coasts of France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. The official language of Sealand is English and the Sealand Dollar has a fixed exchange rate of one U.S. dollar." - so sayeth the Sealand website. Quite conveniently, the Sealand site lacks and photos of this glorious offshore data haven / pirate radio base- most likely because it looks like their precious 'principality' is just a tiny offshore platform! And now, it has been abandoned due to fire... Ha! -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/26/2006 10:03:00 AM ----- BODY:

Going to an Anime con is pretty surreal experience. Full-on no-holds-barred otaku frenzy. The weird thing is that by the time your days at the con are done, people traipsing around in Inuyasha & Naruto outfits *shudder* is nothing unusual. It's a strange tolerance expanding experience. Someone unfamiliar with the subculture might think anime con attendees are completely loopy. Here are a few other cons that are a bit on the fringe: Furcon: "Further Confusion, or Furcon is an annual fandom convention celebrating the anthropomorphics genre or furry fandom". Riiiight, you can call it anthropomorphics, I call it dressing up as furries. Penguicon: according to Wikipedia. "Penguicon is the only convention in the United States that brings together the often-overlapping communities of science fiction fandom and Linux User Groups." More geeky, less freaky. Star Trek conventions are not that uncommon, but are themselves quite unusual. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/26/2006 09:58:00 AM ----- BODY:

I first heard the term glomp when I was at Fanime Con a few months back. Wiki gives the definition: "Glomping is a form of greeting used by anime fans. A typical "glomp" involves bear hugging someone and latching on tightly, though not enough to intentionally hurt the recipient. Sometimes it includes a running start. It has since expanded into slang amongst otaku, primarily on IRC, chat rooms, and Internet forums as an extended form of greeting." This flickr photo really catches the spirit of a glomp - running up with gleeful exuberance to hug the hell outta someone. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/25/2006 07:07:00 PM ----- BODY: i may as well continue my rants with a "i hate godaddy" entry. Horrible site & navi, hosting that doesn't allow geeks to do geek stuff, and stupid-ass identity system. bleh. got anything to add? -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/25/2006 04:41:00 PM ----- BODY:

I bought a scale model kit of the Tachikoma from the Ghost in the Shell series. It's a sweet little kit, but since I haven't built any serious models, I'm quite nervous about screwing it up. So I'm thinking I may buy some simpler kits and start with those to practice on. Maybe one day I'll be able to make and customize kits at this level of skill. But by the time I've spent that much effort on building anime figures, I'll probably have turned into a *ahem* hardcore model fanatic. I will not go down that road. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/25/2006 02:07:00 PM ----- BODY: I can't buy music on iTunes Japan Music Store. It won't let http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifme use my US Apple Account, or accept non-Japanese credit cards to create a new Apple account. That sucks. Poop on you Apple. One solution seems to be to buy iTunes Japan Music Cards from some online retailer and redeem them on the iTunes JP store. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/25/2006 09:50:00 AM ----- BODY: Aside from my opinion that myspace is generally total crap, the user interface alone is bad enough to warrant not using the stupid service. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/24/2006 11:16:00 AM ----- BODY: I dont know what's going on with these internets. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/23/2006 10:20:00 AM ----- BODY:

Really disturbing but cool USB flash drive mod -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/22/2006 10:50:00 AM ----- BODY: J-Video Craziness

The Japanese are cruel and unusual. No war crimes... just TV. Skip to 5 min into the clip. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/22/2006 10:11:00 AM ----- BODY:

The Endless Forest is a fascinating new paradigm of MMORPG. Check out the interview after the link.

"The Endless Forest is a MMORPG where everyone plays a deer. And no, the aim is not to shoot other deers. There's no violence, no particular rule to follow, neither does the game feature any chat-functions. All communication happens through deer-body-language. You can roar, sniff other deers, eat mushrooms from the trees, pick up and carry flowers on your antler, etc. Players do not even get "proper" names, but pictograms that represent their characters. The setting is idyllic, the forest is peaceful, you can wander along the Pond or have a nap by the Old Oak Tree."

-------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/22/2006 10:09:00 AM ----- BODY:

While researching lately about how to make my own MIDI control box for my DJ setup, I stumbled across the midiGun. I promptly threw my hands in the air and said "I Surrender (all my gear)". This is a so ridiculous, I can only imagine that the peeps that made are jus trying to get some attention. I mean, seriously... -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/22/2006 10:04:00 AM ----- BODY:

I came across the Shiira Browser through PingMag, and had such a good initial reaction to their funny anime inspired browse logo face-off, that I downloaded and installed it. Initial reaction - pretty fast, some neat features, I'm tempted to switch. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/22/2006 09:50:00 AM ----- BODY:

This sweet C64 case based MIDI controller is definately an inspiration to make some cool MIDI box. I may have to call on all my engineering resources... (uhhhh, friends from MIT) who can help fab a sweet box. For the MIDI guts, would probably go with a Doepfer Pocket Electronics kit - fairly simple, minimal soldering, up 16 controllers. I'm ready to tweak those phat knobs (that sounds like some nasty gear porn) -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/20/2006 09:54:00 AM ----- BODY:

'Happy Morning is a really wacky but catchy Folgers (!) ad that has such awesome lyrics as "Get up, get out of bed, you can sleep when you are dead" and featured glowing gold singers. Perhaps my favorite part is the golden fellow playing some sort of funky vibraphone! Diggin' it! -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/19/2006 10:24:00 AM ----- BODY:

I visited Chinatown recently and amongst the fascinating range of weird things on sale were a variety of paper offerings. I'm familiar with paper offerings - they are typically paper money that is burned in furnaces at a temple in the belief that the offering will be received by the spirits of ancestors in the after-life. In one store I found some unusual paper offerings - a box containing a paper shirt & tie, paper Ferrero Rocher, paper cigarettes, even a paper model yacht. All the comforts of home in the after-life! We've not come far since the days of the Egyptians! -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/16/2006 10:55:00 AM ----- BODY:

Funny ad by Spike Jonze of a GAP store getting totally messed up. Good fun. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/16/2006 10:42:00 AM ----- BODY:

World of Warcraft Addiction = No Blogging WOW Addiction = Lack of Sleep WOW Addiction = Dreams about WOW WOW Addiction = Stupid WOW jokes WOW Addiction = Watching WOW videos World of Warcraft = Evil. Must.... be...strong! Epic Pizza Order. WOW Plague -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/16/2006 10:38:00 AM ----- BODY:

jesse stiles' tabla machine freaked out and began outputting crazy squarepusher-like drum rhythms. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/16/2006 10:25:00 AM ----- BODY:

'! (n@men!cht' has some great photosets on Flickr of Japanese toys, including shots of the Mecha Musume characters which I saw recently at Fanime Expo 2006 (Yes, I'm an anime nerd, no I didn't cosplay). The Mecha Musume figures are quite unusual, blending your typical over-sexy anime figurine with parts from military vehicles. Some of them look too weird, and some of them a a little too *ahem* revealing, but I like the M4A3 Sherman figure. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/16/2006 10:18:00 AM ----- BODY:

You have to check out this clip of David Attenborough doing a documentary about the Lyrebird. This bird likes to imitate the sounds of other birds, and even man-made sounds. Their elaborate songs are used to court females - this clip has the bird copying the sound of a camera shutter, forestry noises and a car alarm. Very trippy. Puts the noise-making-guy from Police Academy to shame. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/12/2006 02:15:00 PM ----- BODY:

chris jordan is a photographer that creates great images from the remnants of our consumer culture. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/12/2006 02:13:00 PM ----- BODY:

Not everyone would want a Yoda Plush Backpack - but I'm sure people MUST have one. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/12/2006 02:11:00 PM ----- BODY: This surveillance questionnaire about MMORPGs is pretty odd. I'd never even thought about being watched while tooling around in WOW... Though I suppose it's easy to stalk someone in a game. (Or repeatedly gank the same player all the time...) -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/12/2006 02:04:00 PM ----- BODY:

Disney Pixar has a new movie for release Summer '07, and it looks amazing. It's called 'Ratatouille', and it's about a rat in Paris that only wants to eat the finest French cuisine. No stupid fake French accent for the main character, and that's almost enough reason to see it (not to mention the splendid CG, promising storyline, and great humor!) Nice hi-res trailer here. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/09/2006 10:24:00 AM ----- BODY:

Learn how you can take a vintage Apple chunky one-button mouse and install 90% of the mighty mouse goodness inside it. Next? Retrofit your G5 Imac or Mac Mini into the boxy classic mac! -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/09/2006 10:09:00 AM ----- BODY: A pizza deliverator for Galactic Pizza chased after a man that snatched a lady's purse. The funny bit is that Galactic Pizza delivery people wear superhero outfits and drive electric cars. Check out the news segment to see the wonderful costumes and characters involved. Classic! -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/08/2006 09:13:00 AM ----- BODY:

The Museum of Techno has some hilarious videos by its 'Technical Department'. These 'tutorials' teach you how to make fat basslines and how to 'fix' your audio workstation. There is mention of waveforms that look like sheep and much drinking of sherry. Oh, and mind the mustache! -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/08/2006 07:39:00 AM ----- BODY: I am Criss's guide to the other side. When he disappears underneath a blanket, or a beautiful quilt made (possibly in a Criss Angel quilting bee) with love and pot and cigarette smoke, I offer him my hand and bring him over here with the lemon tart brigade. We finagle each other in the "fourth dim" as we like to call it. Teapot the Cat is here too, Spy Hunter. And he wants his true owner. You've always been the caretaker. -- Jaggleberry Finski -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/07/2006 04:58:00 PM ----- BODY:

Artist Francis Pimmel continues to makes amazing models of Hawaiian, Marquesan, Samoan and other Polynesian canoes. The build quality, attention to detail, and superb finish put his work in a class of their own. The models range in scale from 12" to a whopping 3 feet long. Many also feature sails made from super-thin wood which are a signature style of Pimmel. He recently added some new photos to his site of Marquesan, Samoan and Hawaiian model canoes. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/07/2006 04:56:00 PM ----- BODY:

Ship modellers go all out and battle each other on the high seas! Arrrrrr! Swashbuckling action! Okay, well... it's still cool! Bring on the fire weapons! -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/06/2006 09:56:00 AM ----- BODY:

Release a tube of Mentos into a full Diet Coke bottle and it'll shoot a stream of sugary goodness into the air (or your eye). There are tons of videos of people making single Mentos/Coke jets. Well, the guys at EepyBird.com have taken it to the next level - 200 liters of Diet Coke and 500 Mentos, to create a backyard homage to the Bellagio. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/06/2006 09:49:00 AM ----- BODY:

I posted once before about Juliana Intl Airport, with its crazy approach over a tourist beach and two lane road. Well, here's some great video of planes landing, and of some crazy people being pummeled by the jet blast of a take-off. Adding this place to my list of places to visit ;) -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/03/2006 12:19:00 PM ----- BODY: Unless you're a hardcore Michael Jackson fan, you probably don't know Liberian Girl, one of his lesser known tracks. The song is a cheesey ballad, the video is chock-a-block with famous peeps, and the ending pretty much sucks. If you can name all the celebs, mad props to ya! -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/03/2006 11:56:00 AM ----- BODY:

Live Action Super Mario -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/02/2006 10:32:00 PM ----- BODY:

my dock is out of control. time for a solution like dragthing. quiz: can you name all the apps on my dock? -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/02/2006 11:47:00 AM ----- BODY:

Gotta make myself a Lego Flash Drive. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/02/2006 11:36:00 AM ----- BODY:

If you have a dog, or other animal that likes to crap in public, you should get Poop-Freeze. No more picking up squishy, warm poo. Turn doodoo into a fun poopsicle and make pick-up easy! Yum! -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/02/2006 11:14:00 AM ----- BODY:

Forget Hello Kitty toast! (Yes, we have one) It's time to upgrade your kitschen to the Jesus Pan! (No, we don't have one) -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 6/02/2006 11:07:00 AM ----- BODY:

This video is quite fascinating. It shows how a different audio frequencies can create intricate patterns - in this case, from rice on a flat surface. It would seem to me that this would be affected by the arrangement of speakers below the panel, and the waveform being used to generate the sound. I wish the video had shown the experiment below and above the human range of hearing, because that would be a nice way to show that even non-audible 'sound' (vibrations) can affect us physiologically. In any case, it is still an amazing demonstration of interference patterns. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 5/25/2006 10:18:00 AM ----- BODY: Nevaeh is a hot new name for girls. Pronounced "Neh-VAY-ah", it is "heaven" spelt backwards, and has been adopted by a whole horde of families across America ever since Christian rock star, Sonny Sandoval of P.O.D. named his daughter the heavenly name. I like the NY Times' joke title "And if It's a Boy, Will It Be Lleh?" -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 5/25/2006 10:10:00 AM ----- BODY:

monochrom asked a bunch of austrian people to draw some brands' logos from memory - some were international, some were european. the resulting sketches are quite humorous. it's interesting to see old logos that are still in the public consciousness, as well as the strength of some logos over others. I wonder what the sketches for Nike would have looked like. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 5/25/2006 09:59:00 AM ----- BODY:

This is what happens when you can outsource your labor to web workers. The Sheep Market paid $.02 for 10,000 people to draw sheep online. The results were then posted online, along with the ability to see hoe each sheep was drawn. They were recruited through Amazon's Mechanical Turk. This seems to be a fascinating new way of farming out work. Hmmm, I wonder what I can pay 100 people $.01 to do? -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 5/25/2006 09:58:00 AM ----- BODY:

I wouldn't call myself a pyromaniac - but the accusation has been leveled that I enjoy playing with fire a little too much. And my love of all things LED / blinky / bright has been well documented. So the Infernoptix quite nicely fulfilled both of those interests. Take the idea of a LED scroller/display and use fire instead. The result is quite impressive - down to the mean sounds the machine makes when in operation. I'm not quite so sure about the dancing man raving to the god of fire - but it does add a humor variable. Make it bigger, make the 'refresh rate' faster and I'll take one! Check out the vids past the jump. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 5/24/2006 02:47:00 PM ----- BODY:

A stroke of genius: When yer havin trouble finding your balls, put on these ~~peril sensitive~~ glasses that let filter out most colors except white & yellow. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 5/24/2006 02:11:00 PM ----- BODY:

Do you know where your towel is? I do. Remember folks, Towel Day in remembrance of Douglas Adams, author of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, is May 25th. And if you saw the movie and were disappointed, I highly recommend reading the book(s) if you haven't already done so. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 5/24/2006 10:18:00 AM ----- BODY:

db clay makes these excellent gaffer tape wallets. I guess that trumps my duct tape wallet. In any case, they come in a variety of printed versions, as well as a plain grey edition that they encourage you to customize yourself. What is gaffer's tape? db clay says:

Gaffer's tape is a vinyl-impregnated cloth tape that is waterproof, abrasion resistant, industrial grade, and has a tensile strength nearing 48 lbs. per inch. Gaffer's tape is conventionally used by a Gaffer. This is an electrician who is responsible for the lighting & sound on a film or stage set. Every movie, every concert and every elementary school play are all held together by this material. The fundamentals of this material are also used in book binding, medical tape and other industrial applications.

-------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 5/24/2006 10:10:00 AM ----- BODY:

Before the dawn of radar, the military spent quite a large amount of time researching Acoustic Locators. This typically involved building odd pseudo-speaker-horn-like devices to hear enemy forces from a distance. I wonder if one day the stealth technology of today. or radar, or the use of satellites, or acoustic weapons etc etc will be looked at through the same historical lens of incredulity? -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 5/22/2006 11:36:00 AM ----- BODY: VWvortex Forums: A photo tour of the Transparent Factory in Dresden -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 5/22/2006 08:36:00 AM ----- BODY: Beutiful art made with kintting -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 5/14/2006 11:30:31 AM ----- BODY: I make no excuses. I promise nothing. The ebb and flow waver. Then collapse into fog. There is no cat named Teapot. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 5/11/2006 12:31:00 AM ----- BODY: Good tunes. I'm behind the curve - everyone else has already liked them and decided to hate them for becoming too popular. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 5/11/2006 12:13:00 AM ----- BODY:

Geology often seems like such a slow process, but then things happen very suddenly. Well, Mt. St. Helens has been doing something quite interesting - Shoving a huge rock slab out of itself at the rate of a meter a day. The quick time lapse is impressive. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 5/11/2006 12:00:00 AM ----- BODY:

-------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 5/10/2006 11:57:00 PM ----- BODY:

Tin foil birthday cube prank. Inspiration for all those dull cuboids out there! -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/23/2006 11:00:00 AM ----- BODY: I eat way too many. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/23/2006 10:28:00 AM ----- BODY: I'm sure you'll be seeing this come up in the media more and more - A study by Binghamton University says that every digital camera off the assemblyline has a unique noise fingerprint that can allow forensics experts to determine whether a set of photos were taken with the same photo. Similar to baallistics analysis, this is sure to create a whole new area of growth for the forensics industry. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/23/2006 10:21:00 AM ----- BODY:

Real Ninjas is an AMV (That's anime music video to you non-anime geeks) that uses Naruto clips to let us know how to be a super stealthy, inflatable, hot & smooth master of asassination. And just for the record, I'm not into Naruto. I do not own a Naruto headband. I am not a real ninja. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/23/2006 10:17:00 AM ----- BODY: If WWII was an MMORPG is hilarious. This is how they should teach history class. Much easier to connect with. benny-tow: haha america sux Stalin: hey hitler you dont fight me i dont fight u, cool? Hitler[AoE]: sure whatever Stalin: cool deGaulle: **** Hitler rushed some1 help Hitler[AoE]: lol byebye frenchy Roosevelt: i dont got crap to help, sry Churchill: wtf the luftwaffle is attacking me Roosevelt: get antiair guns Churchill: i cant afford them -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/22/2006 10:20:00 PM ----- BODY: Romeo is a neat piece of software that lets you remote control you Mac from your compatible phone. Probably useful for real specific applications. Interesting convergence of electronics. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/22/2006 10:12:00 PM ----- BODY: Blu-ray vs HD DVD article on Engadget that covers the differences between these two competing higher capacity DVD standards, from the technological specs to the corporations backing each type of next gen disc. Looks like both are going to be released to the market, which is guaranteed to confuse the hell out of everyone and make it a pain in the ass to decide what hardware to choose. Hopefully consumer pressures will force a merge of the two and force one or the other out of the market. Beta vs. VHS anyone? -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/22/2006 12:30:00 PM ----- BODY:

We got an Airport Express recently to help reduce the wire-load at our pad. Unfortunately, it only supports wireless AirTunes streaming from Apple's iTunes. So despite my dislike of iTunes, I'm forced even more frequently to open up the loathesome app. So I found a solution that lets me stream to the device from any app or even the system sound. It's called Airfoil from Rogue Amoeba software. This program also lets you output to multiple Express units if you have a giant mansion or something. Freedom from iTunes, and my amoeba didn't even have to use his AK. I gotta say it was a good day. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/22/2006 12:25:00 PM ----- BODY:

Psycho le Cemu is an extremely cheesey looking and sounding Japanese band. On the other hand, they are almost entertainly cheesey and bad, with their retarded dances and cosplaylike costumes. I just get a kick out of watching the fans all imitate the silly hand dances they do. It's like a hypnotic Japanese Macarena on acid. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/22/2006 12:13:00 PM ----- BODY: horrible site design. terrible user interface. awful invite buiding system. irritating lack of info in evite email. yet somehow they rule the e-invite world. evite must be destroyed. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/22/2006 12:11:00 PM ----- BODY:

diesel sweeties has some funny supernerdalicious pixelated robot romance comic action goin on. With catchy dialog like "i am a rocker. i rock out" it makes for a good chuckle or 2. Check out the shirts too - they're shweet. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/22/2006 10:48:00 AM ----- BODY:

Random good music discovery rules! Haruka and Yuka are HALCALI, a feelgood J-Pop band with some supersuper kawaii music vids. There is one video which features Nagi Noda's HanPandas which is totally cool (Looks like YouTube yanked the vid ... sad!) The good tunes on their first album 'Bacon' are produced by Rip Slyme, who does the really good opening song for the anime Gantz. Their second album that I can't pronounce 'ongaku no susume' is not quite as infectious, but it's still got it goin on. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/19/2006 11:14:00 AM ----- BODY:

A woman in Los Angeles came down with the Bubonic Plague. I had no idea that was still around. On a related 'weird disease' note, a man in Hawaii died from flesh eating bacteria after falling into the Ala Wai canal. Anyone who knows Hawaii is familiar with the brackish nasty canal, but this unlucky fellow fell in soon after heavy rainfall made a sewer burst and inundate Waikiki and the canal with raw sewage. Double gross. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/19/2006 10:45:00 AM ----- BODY:

Since I like making custom one-off shirt designs, I'm always looking for techniques for printing. This freezer paper method seems quite straightforward and foolproof. Even faster cultural meme transfer to wearable item. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/19/2006 10:42:00 AM ----- BODY: Someone told me about Craigslist's 'Missed Connections' category where people try to connect with someone the saw/met/stalked in real life and want to find again. Smacks of desperation to me, but it make for a good read. Some post are quite random, such as the one about the vomit breathing dragon -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/19/2006 10:09:00 AM ----- BODY:

I love sneakers. The oddly named Crunk by Ellesse is no exception. Fresh look, sweet shape, and nice touches of color. Sneakerlicious. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/19/2006 12:11:00 AM ----- BODY:

Photos of an abandoned theme park. Spooky during the day, must be downright scary at night! -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/18/2006 08:47:00 PM ----- BODY:

adicolor blue is out. r023g075b158. Cool video of course, different vibe than the other adicolors thus far. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/18/2006 10:34:00 AM ----- BODY:

Back in 2004, a construction site that I walk by almost every day found an old whaling ship while digging up the earth to start building a high-rise. Wish I'd noticed this article at the time of the discovery - woulda been neat to see a bona-fide contemporary archeological dig with my own eyes ;) In any case, the ship ended up underground because much of SF's port / downtown area is built on reclaimed land from the rapid building up of the city. Also, the city was stricken with several severe fires around 1900 and they bulldozed the debris into the ocean, over ship wrecks and abandoned ship-breaking yards (which is where the recent discovery was). Of course, San Francisco being prone to earthquakes makes building on reclaimed land a particularly bad idea. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/18/2006 10:15:00 AM ----- BODY:

Rob has a page documenting all the Incredible Stuff he Made. From the wacky costumes to the Hero's Soda Can Engine, it all worth a look! -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/18/2006 09:59:00 AM ----- BODY:

I heard the Passion II is going to be a blockbuster. That would be a tough one to pull off, but I wouldn't be suprised if they tried, what with all the sequels that some out! The first ever movie to have a sequel is 'Fall of a Nation' from 1916 which was the sequel to 'Birth of a Nation.' The movie with the most sequels is the Japanese film 'It's Tough to Be a Man' which had 48 sequels! The US movie industry tops out at 11 with the 'Friday the 13th" series, followed closely by 'Star Trek' with 10. There are no 8s or 9s, and most reach only 3. Check out this Screen Digest page for more details. 2 28 3 18 4 4 5 1 6 2 7 1 10 1 11 1 -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/16/2006 04:49:00 PM ----- BODY:

US Military study showing Stability in Iraq. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/16/2006 04:35:00 PM ----- BODY:

Coffins From Ghana are often created by artists to resemble the things that the deceased enjoyed when living. This results in some pretty unusual looking creations. And no, this isn't a joke. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/16/2006 04:29:00 PM ----- BODY:

The Easter Bunny Hates You video featuring your favorite Easter creature kicking everyone's ass. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/15/2006 10:42:00 AM ----- BODY:

WTF? Where the hell are these microwave sized chunks of ice coming from, and what are the chances of 2 such impacts happening within one week. Where's Mulder and Scully when you need 'em? -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/15/2006 10:38:00 AM ----- BODY:

These maps that show geographical distribution of religion are quite interesting as a quick visual guide to where certain religions are more prevalent. I was surprised by the high percentages of certain religions in Alaska. Who knows how accurate this information is, and if it represents all major religions... Where's the Scientologists? -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/15/2006 09:17:00 AM ----- BODY:

Slick movie-style pre-election posters for Yulia Tymoshenko, one of the leaders of the Orange revolution in Ukraine. With the nickname of the Orange Princess and her Leia looks, even if she doesn't win the election she'll probably get a movie deal! -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/15/2006 09:04:00 AM ----- BODY:

Take a really insane technique for making a circuit-board on a wall out of special paints, flashing LEDs attached with magnet paint, and cool NYC graffiti artists - and add to that a soundtrack that makes fun of Our Great Leader and you have a killer vid. Oh yeah, the soundtrack is not worksafe, but great fun to listen to. Someone spent a whole lotta time scouring archives for the eloquent words of Mr. Bush. Mad props on the cutting edge vandalism to Graffiti Research Lab (responsible for Throwies and Night Writer LED graf) -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/14/2006 08:42:00 PM ----- BODY:

Adidas seems to be going strong in the cool video department lately. Perhaps they have a marketing department that believes in the strength of 'viral' videos. Well, whatever. It works. Slow motion 3D exploding soccer players set to Beethoven's 'Moonlight Sonata.' Who could ask for more. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/14/2006 06:52:00 PM ----- BODY:

Nicholas Galanin has some crazy art that involves cutting paper to the countours of a 3D object and then assembling and binding them as a book whose edges have a sculptural form. Very cool. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/14/2006 06:43:00 PM ----- BODY:

Me and some buddies are thinking of entering the Power Tool Drag Races that are coming to SF again this year. The basic idea is you take a powertool, and convert it into a mini top-fuel drag racer monster. I saw this on tee-vee last year and it'd be such a kick to be able to enter. I'll just have to be careful not to get an appendage sawed off in the fabrication and testing process! -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/14/2006 06:30:00 PM ----- BODY: Along with the white earbuds, IMHO iTunes is by far one of the most annoying products Apple has produced. I prefer not to use iTunes for listening to music on my iMac, but I'm forced to adhere to the iTunes structure for my iPod. I put new club tracks in a playlist on my iPod and check them out when I'm out and about. I rate the tracks as I listen. So then comes the pain of trying to sort my MP3 files into folders by genre and rating so that I can easily build DJ sets in Traktor. Without bowing to Apple's imposed structure and syncing my pod to itunes, I have a jolly old time using iPodRip, then an applescript to get the actual files organized. It's a mess. And that's just one of the things that annoys the crap outta me with iTunes. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/14/2006 06:13:00 PM ----- BODY:

I got a chance to try out the Canon EOS 20D recently. While great overall, I had a serious issue with OS X support. This was my first time messing around with a high-end digital camera, but my familiarity with the 35mm Canons made it pretty easy to play around with. I was quite impressed by the simple menu system and the simplicity of operation compared to many snapshot digital cameras. The camera was able to take very rapid successive shots which was excellent for bracketing - I had a high-speed write CF card which may have helped a bit. The camera has very little noise, even at 1600 ISO. The only feature I missed vs. 35mm was the ability to do multiple exposures. Though admittedly I don't use that much. So - to the irritating part. Canon's support for OS X really sucks. I keep my computer updated with the latest OS version, and apparently that seems to break Canon's software. This is near unforgivable given that there are so many Apple users these days. I ended up having to pull the CF card and using a card reader. Canon really should get some proper OS X coders working for them - you can tell from their program installers that they are really stuck in Windoze mode. Other than the software issue, great camera. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/12/2006 02:29:00 PM ----- BODY:

Some say it came from a plane. Some say it is a natural phenomena. Whichever it is, good thing the big chunk of pure ice that fell in a park in Okalnd didn't hit anyone on the noggin, cuz they'd be dead as a doornail. I wonder how an investigation into that would have proceeded... -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/12/2006 02:13:00 PM ----- BODY:

Honda seems to be in the business of producing cool videos for it's cars. I just came across this ambient experimental video for the Honda Civic. Produced by lostinspace and with music by funkstorung, this is a far cry from your typical car commercial. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/12/2006 01:07:00 PM ----- BODY:

the pink installment of the adicolor series is out. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/12/2006 01:03:00 PM ----- BODY:

I want to buy a car. My #1 choice is to get a 87 Fiero fastback. But one of our requirements is space - for four people, for luggage, for cargo. Blah. That rules out both the Fiero and one of my other top choices, the RX7. I would have opted for the 80s style body - but alas, no rotary engine for me. So what does that leave? Well, there are plenty of recent vehicles that are pretty stylish and cool - but that goes against the other primary requirement - low cost. Disqualified for being too expensive are the Toyota Celica, VW GTI & Golf, and the Ferrari. *sniff sniff* What does that leave? I'm thinking seriously about the VW Corrado - good lookin, not too expensive, four seater, good upgrade path. Could take it to Solo II races. I'm still open to other options though. Just no SUVs, minivans or sedans. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/12/2006 12:39:00 PM ----- BODY:

These Japanese Rube Goldberg machines are super cool. They always end with a short jingle, the text of which is triggered by the machine. The variety and originality of some of the examples are amazing. Reminds me of another nice Rube Goldberg-esque video for Honda. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/11/2006 08:55:00 AM ----- BODY:

Everyone needs a laser. OK, maybe not everyone, but certainly every self-respecting geek needs one. But some people yearn for lasers that can burn and cut! Check out the PowerLabs CO2 burning laser - a basement project that I am quite envious of. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/11/2006 08:47:00 AM ----- BODY: collision detection discusses a New York Times article about how Google News is changing the way newspaper headlines are written. The basic idea is that catchy, poetic, exciting headlines with a 'hook' just don't cut it online in the ruthless search engine world. So reporters have taken to writing very clear, concise headlines containing distinct keywords, or the publications have started to use two headlines per article to allow for creative headlines as well as keyword visibility. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/11/2006 08:44:00 AM ----- BODY:

"At Cute Overload we scour the Web for only the finest in Cute Imagery. We offer an overwhelming amount of cuteness to fill your daily visual allowance. Drink it in!" ... Then projectile vomit it back up! -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/08/2006 10:54:00 AM ----- BODY:

This review will be short. It sucked. Now that I'm done with the review, I have to admit that I watched the whole godawful thing. So I have legitimate grounds to tell you not to waste your time on this crap (unless you get a kick out of USB cables that are connected to female private parts...) I'm not even gonna bother telling you what it's about. Read a review here. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/07/2006 02:12:00 PM ----- BODY:

Artist Elizabeth Demaray has a really neat project going on that is part art, part architecture, part environmentalism. Inhabitat has an article on her designs for prefab Hermit crab houses which address an increasing shortage of shells on shores for hermit crabs to shack up in. Of particular interest is the idea of branding these creatures by having a company sponsor the project and slapping their logo on the lil plastic 'shells'. I vote for Shell as corporate sponsor ;) -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/07/2006 02:10:00 PM ----- BODY:

North Korea has one very big and sinister looking 'dirty little secret' among it's many secrets. It is the Ryugyong Hotel , which cost a whole ton o money, was never finished, and will probably never be completed due to serious engineering problems. It looks disturbingly similar to the shape of the classic 'evil mountain' where bad-guys and sinister wizards hang out. All it needs is some lightening and cackling. Also looks pretty crazy from above. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/06/2006 10:43:00 AM ----- BODY:

Why anyone would feel compelled to do paintings on hair, I'm not sure. But it is sorta neat. -------- AUTHOR: spyhunter DATE: 4/05/2006 05:58:00