The Norwegian Meets the “Reverend”


One of my favorite flickr-ites, “The Norwegian” has posted a great story (along with photo, left) about his experience of a recent visit to the Church of Scientology.

I agree with his opinion of “The Church”, but read it for yourself. He also makes a great suggestion for those seeking enlightenment: Venganza.org. Of course, there are other paths; I’m just saying…

Oh, and check out his photo stream… he’s a great photographer.


Flickr Video: A Good Thing?


In case you haven’t heard, flickr has added video capabilites. Of course there are plenty of nay-sayers, and being a fan of great photography, I can understand how adding video could dilute what makes flickr great. Of course, there are lots of talented artists out there on flickr who can make motion an asset for flickr. I know I’m looking forward to seeing more like “The Blue Samurai”, a collaboration of flickrite ArtWerk and Manel Ortega. I’ve been following ArtWerk’s flickr feed for awhile now, and it’s nice to see another aspect of his talent. Not to mention some groovy sounds by Substatic.


Ecards That Are a Bit More…. Heartfelt


I remember a series of cards at Jungle Red in OKC that all had small illustrations of bugs on the front, and contained such witty messages as “I want my stuff” and “You’re old, Happy Birthday”. I can’t say I ever actually gave one to any of my friends, but I secretly wanted to.

Well, for those of us who “care enough to hit send”, there’s a site full of cards with just such messages like “Now that you’re 18, you can legally not bother voting” and “I hope you’ll always consider me someone who reluctantly pays for part of your birthday dinner”. Complete with vintage public-domain illustrations on every card, it really says “I’m too to go out and buy a card and mail it to you, but this ecard is just the right price”. (Hey, I’m guilty)

So check out someecards.com… and please send me one for my birthday. At least I’ll know how much you care. Exactly.


A Science Fiction Legend Dies


Arthur C Clarke, the author of 2001: A Space Odyssey, died yesterday at the age of 90. Though he wasn’t my favorite author, anyone who loves science fiction should at least have read some of his work. I’ve read the entire 2001 series (2010, 2061, 3001), as well as the Rama series.

Another lesser-known work was The Songs of Distant Earth, which was also an album by Mike Oldfield released in 1994. I stumbled across this album during the Enigma era, while looking for more of the same style. I bought the Enhanced CD, which included some pretty cool CGI video that accompanied the ethnic chants and trippy ambient rhythms of the album.

I think I need to dig up the CD and remember a sci fi genius.

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
- Arthur C Clarke


Happy St. Patrick’s Day!


I loved the Muppets when I was a kid, so how better to say Happy St. Patrick’s Day…

 

Thanks, Cory Doctorow at Boing Boing


Nathan Ota - Another Fine Artist


Nathan Ota - Back to School I’ve started following “Right Some Good”, the art blog of Kirsten Anderson . She writes about artists she likes, and I’ve found I agree on many of them. One recent recommendation is Nathan Ota, who illustrates curious creatures like robots, eyeless birds and monster tree trunks. His art often has a greenish-golden glow that reminds me of tarot cards. Kinda spooky in a fairy-tale kind of way.

Be sure to check out his site to see more of his great work.


Curious World of Toys

  • Posted by Michael
  • February 23, 2008

I’ve recently stumbled across a wonderful photographer and storyteller on flickr.  Michael (aka “frogmuseum2″) has kindly given me permission to share one of his photos.  As you can see here, his characters come to life with their own little oddworld personas.   Since quirky is my favorite kind of art, this is right up my ally.

Check out more of his work at flickr .

Mr BigHead


Frozen in Grand Central

  • Posted by Michael
  • February 1, 2008

I want to be a part of something like this. I’ve followed their exploits after I first heard about them on “This American Life”. Ira Glass interviewed the organizer of a “stunt” where they picked a guy out at random at a bar and threw him a birthday party . They brought gifts, bought drinks, and called him Ted all night. He at first protested and eventually gave in.

After watching the video, check out some of their other uber-cool improv at their site .


Mathematical Chaos

  • Posted by Michael
  • January 26, 2008

I’ve been playing around with a very cool 3D rendering software called Chaoscope. It has some pretty mathematically intensive settings, but also a “search” function that randomly creates “viable” combinations. You can then tweak away at the criteria until you get the perfect imaginary universe. Here’s a few of my creations; (click to view large)…

Chaos1_sm Chaos2_sm

Chaos5_smChaos7_sm

And this series are of the same “universe” rotated in the 3D space.

Chaos4_smChaos11_sm

Chaos10_smChaos9_sm


Robot Art

  • Posted by Michael
  • January 18, 2008

“The Discovery” by Brian DespainKirsten Anderson over at Right Some Good has posted some great art by fellow artist Brian Despain.  His work has the sort of tone I love (a la steampunk/Myst) and features another geek fav - robots!  What more could you ask for.  I’d hang this on my wall.

Perhaps I should check into that…

Meanwhile, check out Brian Despain’s website .


A Little Remodelling

Time for a little sprucing up around the place. This'll be a work in progress for a bit, so pardon the mess.