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October 31, 2011

Danger 5

Possibly the best thing ever (with a shout out to Rick McGinnis, who should have a cameo somehow).

Posted by the Flea at 07:58 AM

Now thinking of getting a second-hand Jaguar

Purchasing power parity aside, how much do you need to earn to be among the top 1% of the world?

$34,000.

That was the finding World Bank economist Branko Milanovic presented in his 2010 book The Haves and the Have-Nots. Going down the distribution ladder may be just as surprising. To be in the top half of the globe, you need to earn just $1,225 a year. For the top 20%, it's $5,000 per year. Enter the top 10% with $12,000 a year. To be included in the top 0.1% requires an annual income of $70,000.
Posted by the Flea at 07:57 AM

Some assembly required

Ford reintroduces the 1965 Mustang.

Posted by the Flea at 07:54 AM

BMW- Innovation Accelerated

Yes, please.

Posted by the Flea at 07:53 AM

Babymetal: Doki Doki Morning

Posted by the Flea at 07:52 AM

October 30, 2011

Trick Or Treat With Timmy

Creepy! (via Boing Boing)

Posted by the Flea at 08:28 AM

Elite

Next level Halo cosplay.

Posted by the Flea at 08:24 AM

Bleiburg feat. Lonsai Maïkov: Six

Posted by the Flea at 08:22 AM

October 29, 2011

Why people really become vegetarians

And why vegetarians should be force fed with lard (via The Fourth Checkraise).

Posted by the Flea at 06:28 AM

Mapping Stereotypes Project

The ultimate bigot's guide to Europe and points elsewhere (via AoSHQ).

Posted by the Flea at 06:27 AM

Slavery Footprint

How many slaves work for you? I have 43, apparently.

Posted by the Flea at 06:24 AM

7 billion people and you

What's your number? I arrived just after the three and a half billion mark.

Posted by the Flea at 06:23 AM

Led Zeppelin: Since I've Been Loving You

Posted by the Flea at 06:22 AM

October 28, 2011

AXE Excite - Even angels will fall

Do I believe in God? Do I believe in me? Controversy!

Posted by the Flea at 06:48 AM

Growing-up for goths

Most people grow out of their style tribes, goths just carry on.

"It's a relatively middle-class subculture, so despite … all the going out and being into the music, goths have always had a fairly positive view of people who are also achieving academically."

It means goths may have better career options than an outsider might expect.
Posted by the Flea at 06:47 AM

The truth about Steve Jobs' number plate

A loophole in California law at the link.

Posted by the Flea at 06:44 AM

Dragon Age: Redemption - Josmael (Episode 3)

Posted by the Flea at 06:43 AM

Triarii: Ode to the Sun

Posted by the Flea at 06:42 AM

October 27, 2011

Soon, Swedish snoods

Lisbeth Salander hits the high street as H+M licenses a collection by Trish Summerville (hat tip to Bedhead).

Not one to miss a trick, H&M have collaborated with Trish Summerville, the revered costume designer who worked on the English film version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, to add an urban, edgy twist to 30 pieces, all with the unmistakeable essence of Lisbeth Salander.

Battered jeans, cropped leather jackets and hoodies make up the uniform of the private detective, who is played by breakout American actress Rooney Mara.

Details at the link.

Related: Snood history.

Posted by the Flea at 06:28 AM

Pac-Man publishing

Tanya Huff on storytelling, stubbornly logical mages and Pac-Man publishing.

After Lucas proved there was money in SF back in 1977, smaller publishing companies began being bought up by the larger companies then the larger companies were, in turn, bought up by multinational corporations. (The staff at Bakka, NA’s oldest SF book store, called it PacMan publishing as imprint after imprint was devoured.)

An interview, and a giveaway, at the link.

Posted by the Flea at 06:27 AM

Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages (1922)

"Häxan (English title: The Witches or Witchcraft Through The Ages) is a 1922 Swedish/Danish silent horror film written and directed by Benjamin Christensen. Based partly on Christensen's study of the Malleus Maleficarum, a 15th century German guide for inquisitors, Häxan is a study of how superstition and the misunderstanding of diseases and mental illness could lead to the hysteria of the witch-hunts. The film was made as a documentary but contains dramatized sequences that are comparable to horror films."

Posted by the Flea at 06:24 AM

Backstreet Warlocks

Via Biorequiem.

Backstreet Warlocks from Dan Meth on Vimeo.

Posted by the Flea at 06:23 AM

The Creepshow: The Garden

Posted by the Flea at 06:22 AM

October 26, 2011

Shubh Diwali and Saal Mubarak

B-Town Diwali wishes: Use explosives!

Backgrounder: Ramayan, Episode 1.

King Dasrath and his army receive a tumultuous welcome in Ayodhya on their victory in a battle with neighbouring kingdom. Dasraths subjects hail him with cries of praise and adulation. His three queens express their relief and joy on his victorious return.
Posted by the Flea at 08:48 AM

Translation and cryptography are made to rhyme

The Copher Cipher succumbs to a team of Swedish and American linguists as the experts decide to treat translation as a code breaking problem.

In an oft-cited letter in 1947 to the mathematician Norbert Weiner, he wrote: “One naturally wonders if the problem of translation could conceivably be treated as a problem in cryptography. When I look at an article in Russian, I say: ‘This is really written in English, but it has been coded in some strange symbols. I will now proceed to decode.’ ”

Related: Reading the article through, it looks as though nobody has let the New York Times know the Voynich Manuscript may already have been decoded.

Posted by the Flea at 08:28 AM

I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library

Homes of the Rich looks at some impressive two-storey home libraries.

My first thought: Karl Lagerfeld's library comes to mind.

We need a word for "knowing something after using a search engine": Twenty celebrity home libraries. My heart jumped at William Randolph Hearst's. I used my outside voice for Hearst's private library.

The mother lode: Beautiful Libraries.

Posted by the Flea at 08:27 AM

Bad vastu shastra

The Ambani family have yet to move into their 27-storey, billion-dollar home in Mumbai. It turns out Antilia has bad feng shui.

Vastu, a philosophy that guides Hindu temple architecture, emphasises the importance of facing the rising sun - and despite the staggering sum spent on Antilia the building's eastern side does not have enough windows or other openings to let residents receive sufficient morning light.
Posted by the Flea at 08:24 AM

Despicable Me - Banana

Posted by the Flea at 08:23 AM

Serebro: Mama Lyuba

The Fates. The Norns. The War Witches. Serebro.

Posted by the Flea at 08:22 AM

October 25, 2011

How to bake a potato

First, closely monitor your nuclear reactor.

Each night, deep in the bowels of the sub, the engineers bake potatoes by nestling them next to machinery as they closely monitor the nuclear reactor.

Crew member Graham “Scouse” Finley, 30, said: “I don’t know what the right temperature is for spuds but if we put them on at 10.30pm they’re perfect three hours later, crispy on the outside and fluffy in the middle.

“I ­personally like mine with a bit of butter, cheese and curry paste, though some put all sorts on theirs.” The Liverpudlian LET – Leading Engineering Technician – added: “You could probably do other food like trout but you wouldn’t want to stink out the engine room.”

It's cooking with Robert Heinlein as HMS Triumph returns from station off the coast of Libya. Their Jolly Roger features prominently.

Posted by the Flea at 08:58 AM

Speedy neutrino mystery likely solved

Relativity safe after all.

Posted by the Flea at 08:57 AM

UFOPORNO!

I don't have a good excuse for this.

Posted by the Flea at 08:54 AM

Mutant: Das Grauen Im All (Fordidden World) (1982)

I am trying to pick up a little German and, in principle, it should be fairly straightforward: Figure out where the verbs go and rely on about half your vocabulary looking eerily familiar (provided your first language is English).

In practice, it's a different story. I can't make the words sound sufficiently clipped when I say them aloud... This trailer was chosen for clipped pronunciation and bare breasts .'. nsfw unless your workplace is overrun by mutants in which case you are good to go macht schnell.

Posted by the Flea at 08:53 AM

Camollís: Prólogo

Posted by the Flea at 08:52 AM

October 24, 2011

The revolution will not be centralized

In today's publishing, as one Amazon executives says, “The only really necessary people…are the writer and the reader” (via AoSHQ).

...the distinction between the published and the unpublished writer is about to become much less clear.

This is the kind of disintermediation that the internet does, and it’s going to upend a lot of lives and careers. We will still have gatekeepers; people will still need help sifting through the flood of new titles to find what they are looking for.

We will still have gatekeepers but their last names won't be "Atwood" or "Frum."

Posted by the Flea at 07:28 AM

The execution may get complicated

"...but the basic maneuvers are simple": A simple four-item formula for turning story into fiction at Making Light (via Boing Boing).

Posted by the Flea at 07:27 AM

Pretention of disbelief

Modern slang in Downton Abbey is a problem, innit?

Footman Thomas Barrow used 'get knotted' in one episode earlier this month, while in Sunday's instalment he said: 'I am fed up seeing our lot get shafted.'

Both expressions are believed to have originated in the 1960s. Meanwhile, Captain Matthew Crawley, while in the trenches, used the modern-sounding phrase: 'You have been taking logic pills again.'
Posted by the Flea at 07:24 AM

Truman Capote on pronouns

Hat tip to Ben.

Posted by the Flea at 07:23 AM

Newbeats: Bread and Butter

Posted by the Flea at 07:22 AM

October 23, 2011

Thor's Daughter

Sevan Matossian interviews 2011 Reebok CrossFit Games winner Annie Thorisdottir. It's an ad but I don't think you'll mind (via Boing Boing).

Posted by the Flea at 05:49 AM

Banzai

Whether you're a warrior in the boardroom or the bedroom, make your underwear match your samurai spirit with these world-exclusive Samurai Underwear.

Posted by the Flea at 05:48 AM

Compare Tanks, Artillery and Military Vehicles

"Compare specifications and performance of any two vehicles or artillery pieces in our database in this handy side-by-side format."

Posted by the Flea at 05:47 AM

Science International - What Will They Think Of Next?

Hat tip to Paul.

Posted by the Flea at 05:44 AM

Soap & Skin: Our Secret Fate

Posted by the Flea at 05:42 AM

October 22, 2011

Toronto Tempo

Shot and edited by Ryan Emond.

Toronto Tempo from Ryan Emond on Vimeo.

Posted by the Flea at 08:48 AM

Body Art Barbie

Tokidoki Barbie and her pet, Bastardino, are raising all the usual eyebrows.

She’s edgy — with pink hair, sky-high stilettos and a cactus-covered pet named “Bastardino.”

But it’s her body art that has some parents on edge.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate for little girls to be having Barbies with tattoos all over,” parent Reye Griffith said Thursday.
Posted by the Flea at 08:47 AM

Chronicle (2012)

Posted by the Flea at 08:44 AM

Caste: Virus

Posted by the Flea at 08:43 AM

October 21, 2011

William Shatner: Bohemian Rhapsody

In which William Shatner does a passable William Shatner impression.

Posted by the Flea at 07:28 AM

All along the watchtower

Bryan Singer’s Battlestar Galactica movie Is underway.

Singer doesn’t offer any further details, but we do know is that his movie will have nothing to do with either the 70s television series or the more recent Ronald Moore helmed remake series.

And: Universal Pictures is closing a deal with John Orloff to write Battlestar Galactica, a feature based on the Glen Larson 1978 TV series.

“I have wanted to write this movie since I was 12 years old, and built a Galactica model from scratch out of balsa wood, cardboard, old model parts and LEDs,” Orloff told Deadline. “I love BSG, and I would pass on the job rather than frak it up.”
Posted by the Flea at 07:24 AM

TV adaptations and the Butterfly Effect

Adam Pasick interviews George R.R. Martin as he starts work on The Winds of Winter.

We had ten hours for the first season, and the same for the second. Boardwalk Empire has twelve, Treme has twelve — if we'd had two more hours we could have told a lot more of the story. Storm of Swords [the third book] is enormous and it will have to be broken up into two seasons, I think. ...

The other thing that concerns me is what I call the butterfly effect. If you're familiar with the Ray Bradbury short story, you'll know what I mean. On TV, we saw the death of Mago, but we will see him in the books — he's still alive.

Also, he's beginning to wish I had never bothered with the colour of people's eyes.

Posted by the Flea at 07:23 AM

Jozzef & The Children: Warm Leatherette

Posted by the Flea at 07:22 AM

October 20, 2011

Theme to Downton Abbey

Now with added lyrics by Mary-Jess. What's Edwardian for "schmaltz"?

Posted by the Flea at 06:48 AM

Educational and ostentatious

Based on 50 years of research, and another 1,250 hours to build, a scale model of Nonsuch Palace is complete.

Posted by the Flea at 06:47 AM

Is The Walking Dead terminal?

Yes. Because it's stupid.

Posted by the Flea at 06:44 AM

Voyeur Theory

Peepers premieres in Toronto this Friday.

Led by the eagle-eyed Steve Sherman (Joe Cobden), a rag-tag group of Peepers take to Montreal’s chilly rooftops under cover of night. They’re on the prowl for the perfect peep—desperate to glimpse a “hottie hookup,” a “panty party” or a “big booty buffet” through unshuttered windows.

But their lives are about to change. Enter Annette Fulvish (Janine Theriault), a brazen academic who turns the tables by setting her sights on the Peepers themselves. Soon it’s a battle royale for rooftop supremacy—will these die-hard obsessives manage to defend their turf, or will Peeping as they know it never be the same?
Posted by the Flea at 06:43 AM

How To Destroy Angels: The Space in Between

Posted by the Flea at 06:42 AM

October 19, 2011

Dragon Age: Redemption - Episode 2, Cairn

Felicia Day's acting cleavage stars as something elf-related.

Posted by the Flea at 06:48 AM

Zuckerberg doctrine

In the UK, more people are opting for legal name-changes than ever before.

I've had several passports without my middle name ("Efram") which I've never used (though I'm not embarrassed by it or anything); however all the identity documents I've received in the past decade had insisted that all my names be present and identical on every piece, thanks to the growing use of databases and the growth of the Zuckerberg doctrine that every person should have exactly one name and that name should be identical in every context.
Posted by the Flea at 06:47 AM

Trick or treat

Charlie Sheen's Hallowe'en costume is ready.

(yeah... This really confused the kids!!)
Posted by the Flea at 06:44 AM

The Sleeping Beauty (2011)

I think I know where she's going with this.

French provocateur Catherine Breillat (Fat Girl, Bluebeard) continues her deconstruction of classic fairytales with her latest, The Sleeping Beauty. Cursed at birth by an evil fairy, Anastasia is destined to prick her finger and die at the age of sixteen. When three feckless fairy sisters discover this they hatch a plan to alter the curse: rather than die, Anastasia will sleep for 100 years. While in slumber, Anastasia comes of age through a series of vivid dreams, filled with charming princes, dwarves, gypsies and magical creatures. When she reawakens a fully-formed adolescent, she finds that in real life, happy endings are more elusive than in our fantasies.
Posted by the Flea at 06:43 AM

Deadmau5: Derp

Posted by the Flea at 06:42 AM

October 18, 2011

Melancholia (2011)

I think someone was naked in this but I developed narcolepsy about half way through.

Lars Von Trier is back with his new film, officially premiered in Cannes 2011. Described as "A beautiful movie about the end of the world", Melancholia tells the story pf two sisters (Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg), who find their relationship challenged as a nearby planet threatens to collide into the Earth.
Posted by the Flea at 08:48 AM

Bringing fancy back

Sales of silk gloves, empire-line velvet dresses and demure strings of pearls surge as Downton Abbey influences the high street.

Downton Abbey fashions for all? You mean that even shopgirls and the second maid of the coalscuttle can now afford to wear the kind of elegant velvets and fur shrugs that were once enjoyed only by the proper ladies of the aristocracy?

Well I never. This is the kind of thing that would give Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham, as played by Dame Maggie Smith, a fit of the oyster-eyed vapours. Yet this is exactly what is happening.
Posted by the Flea at 08:47 AM

Iktsuarpok (Inuit)

You know that feeling of anticipation when you’re waiting for someone to show up at your house and you keep going outside to see if they’re there yet?

Posted by the Flea at 08:44 AM

Kauan: Suora Liila Sydänkäyrä

Posted by the Flea at 08:42 AM

October 17, 2011

Terje Isungset at the glacier of Val Senales

Terje Isungset's instruments are made entirely out of ice.

Above: Terje Isungset with Lena Nymark and Sidsel Walstad on the ice harp.

The group is playing on handmade istruments made out of ice, the horn is made out of the ice of the glacier of Val Senales, south tyrol in Italy, where the concert took place. The concert was held during the 45th icemusicfestival (february-march 2010)in a cave which was carved out from the glacier, close to the place where the famous iceman (Ötzi) was found.

Talking about ice music.

Posted by the Flea at 07:28 AM

Disguise our bondage as we will, 'Tis woman, woman, rules us still

On the one hand Grant Morrison argues the fetishistic roots of William Moulton Marston's Wonder Woman. On the other hand, Morrison aims to reboot the character without "without it being prurient or exploitative."

It seems to me he is missing his own point.

The Wonder Woman strip had this weird libidinous kind of element and obviously on Paradise Island, it was this amazing Second Wave, separatist, feminist idea of an entire island where women had ruled for 3000 years and what they did for fun was chase one another! So the girls would dress up like stags and run through the forest and another girl would chase them and then they'd capture the girl, tie her up and put her on a table and pretend to eat her at a mock banquet. This is a typical Wonder Woman adventure!
Posted by the Flea at 07:27 AM

Operation: Hibernation

Let's Play Enviro-Bear 2000.

Posted by the Flea at 07:24 AM

The Hardkiss: Babylon

Posted by the Flea at 07:22 AM

Blocked content

I am trying to work out what McAfee was trying to alert me to just now when I re-loaded the Flea; some sort of "blocked content"... Either it's a glitch or McAfee being twitchier than I am or I need to consider removing something. Your mileage may vary. Please let me know if there is a problem.

Posted by the Flea at 07:04 AM

October 16, 2011

Secrets of the Star Disk (2004)

Nebra_Scheibe.jpg

I had assumed the Nebra sky disk was a forgery. Majority opinion now appears to suggest it isn't.

"The Nebra Sky Disk is a bronze disk with a blue-green patina (originally black) and inlaid with gold symbols. These are interpreted generally as a sun or full moon, a lunar crescent, and stars (including a cluster interpreted as the Pleiades)."

"Two golden arcs along the sides, marking the angle between the solstices, were added later."

"A final addition was another arc at the bottom surrounded with multiple strokes (of uncertain meaning, interpreted as a Sun ship with numerous oars). The disk is attributed to a site near Nebra in Germany, and associatively dated to c. 1600 BCE. It has been associated with the Bronze Age Unetice culture."

Posted by the Flea at 02:24 PM

October 15, 2011

The story is fictional, but the weapons and tactics are real

So too are the men.

Act of Valor started out as a training video for the Navy.

Act of Valor has an unusual backstory. The film, directed by Mike "Mouse" McCoy and Scott Waugh, started out as a training video for Navy SEALS. The Navy liked what they saw so much that they decided to turn it into a documentary.

Then, they decided to make a feature, and hired screenwriter Kurt Johnstad (300) to create a fictional story about a squad that goes on a covert mission to recover a kidnapped CIA agent.

Every SEAL in the film, including the trailer above, is an actual US Navy SEAL.

Precedent: To Hell and Back (1955) (via Hot Air).

Audie Leon Murphy (June 20, 1924 -- May 28, 1971) was the most decorated American soldier of World War II. To Hell and Back is a CinemaScope war film released in 1955. It was directed by Jesse Hibbs and starred Audie Murphy as himself and Kyle Sanville. It is based on the 1949 autobiography of the same name and is an account of Murphy's World War II experiences as a soldier in the U.S. Army.[1] The book was ghostwritten by his friend, David "Spec" McClure, who served in the Army's Signal Corps during World War II.
Posted by the Flea at 07:48 AM

The Clocktower Building

If I should happen to win something north of $40m, I am buying the clock tower mansion at 1 Main Street in Brooklyn. And a super-villain costume.

Though I am more impressed by the space than the furnishings.

Think: a masculine, neutral palette, modernist furnishings, and a custom Swarovski light fixture that makes full use of the 50-foot-high ceiling. Four 14-foot windowed clock faces—for which this building gets it name—frame the square and afford unrivaled views of the city.
Posted by the Flea at 07:44 AM

5:46 am

Paris, abandoned and underwater.

5:46 am from ArtefactoryLab on Vimeo.

By Olivier Campagne and Vivien Balzi. Music by Brice Tillet (via Boing Boing).

Posted by the Flea at 07:43 AM

Kollektiv Turmstrasse: Dead Room

Posted by the Flea at 07:42 AM

October 14, 2011

F*ck, Marry, Kill

Who would you rather: William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway or F. Scott Fitzgerald.

All right, look, as much as I can say conclusively that having sex with Hemingway would be horrible, at a certain point we have to step back and say it would be equally horrible to marry any of these men, as they’re all dour, self-obsessed alcoholics. Within two months of the wedding, they’d look at you and see a dried up old harpy who represents nothing more than the novels they aren’t writing. Why are you such a selfish bitch?

I resemble that remark (via Five Feet of Fury).

Posted by the Flea at 08:58 AM

Yet no cigar

I appreciate the thought of a Cheryl Cole wall calendar but I think I could have done a better job of the actual photography. She needs to work with Zoe Ebb (hat tip to Bedhead).

Posted by the Flea at 08:57 AM

The Muppets - Official Trailer 2

I wish she'd say it a little more curvy!

Posted by the Flea at 08:54 AM

Kat Frankie: People

Posted by the Flea at 08:52 AM

October 13, 2011

Lo there do I see my father

The 13th Warrior (1999) - Viking Prayers.

Posted by the Flea at 05:58 AM

Iceland Travel Tip #22

Posted by the Flea at 05:57 AM

You know nothing, Jon Snow

Game of Thrones: who's who in Season 2 including and especially Ygritte.

Posted by the Flea at 05:54 AM

Five steps to get zombified

The Alchemy Center makes zombies for Hallowe'en in Toronto.

Posted by the Flea at 05:53 AM

Massive Attack vs Burial: Four Walls

‘Four Walls’ / ‘Paradise Circus’ will be available exclusively as a limited vinyl edition of 1000 copies worldwide.

Posted by the Flea at 05:52 AM

October 12, 2011

Steve Jobs' turtleneck

The secret behind the signature black turtleneck, revealed.

Also: In a parallel universe, Halo was a real-time strategy game... for Apple.

Posted by the Flea at 07:29 AM

Kern Type

The kerning game (via Boing Boing).

Your mission is simple: achieve pleasant and readable text by distributing the space between letters.

For once, a game I am very, very good at. Thanks, Mother Adams.

Posted by the Flea at 07:28 AM

The Avengers - first trailer

Whereas if they had made The Defenders, I would get my Dr. Strange fix.

Posted by the Flea at 07:24 AM

Joe and Buzz: Firework

In which we learn how to pronounce "firework."

Posted by the Flea at 07:23 AM

October 11, 2011

Dragon Age: Redemption - Tallis (Episode 1)

"Dragon Age: Redemption, is a web series about an elven assassin, named Tallis, who is hunting down a renegade mage. The success of the mission is of the utmost importance to Tallis, who risks having her freedom taken away if she fails."

Felicia Day introduces this six part web series.

Posted by the Flea at 08:58 AM

Now with added lettbrekkelig

Aftenposten interviews Noomi Rapace about her actionheltinnene role in Ridley Scott's forthcoming Alien universe feature, Prometheus (pace the limits of Google's Norwegian translation utility).

I play Elizabeth Shaw, a researcher and archaeologist. She is English but grew up in Africa for his father was a missionary. From him she had faith in God, and have a strong inner self. She is NOK most whole person I have done. She has an inner light. She is very stubborn and determined. She lost her parents when she was a child, as she has from early times been alone. But she is very intelligent. I know that when one has survived a long time myself, so be strong. But also fragile, for the wounded child within her has not been'll develop naturally. One is emotional lettbrekkelig. She is full of hope, a dream, a little naive. In the middle of the movie is a lot of things and she transformed into a warrior - another aspect of her springing to life.
Posted by the Flea at 08:57 AM

The full Westeros

"This is a fairly straightforward breakfast, but one that is unmistakably Northern. Each element of the meal, from the black pudding to the dark ale is heavy, packed with the calories necessary to keep warm and alive on The Wall."

Posted by the Flea at 08:54 AM

John Carpenter's The Thing: The Musical

Posted by the Flea at 08:53 AM

Sturmpercht: Der Tanz des Tatzelwurms

Posted by the Flea at 08:52 AM

October 10, 2011

Hedgehog in the Fog (1975)

Yozhik_v_tumane.jpg

Hedgehog in the Fog (1975).

This is a story about a little hedgehog (voiced by Mariya Vinogradova), who is on his way to visit his friend the bear cub. As explained in the introductory narration, the two would meet every evening to drink tea from the cub's samovar, which was heated on a fire of juniper twigs. As they drank their tea, the hedgehog and the bear would converse and count the stars together.

Also: The adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1969) by Soyuzmultfilm.

The 60s, 70s and 80s saw the release of many films whose characters became an integral part of Soviet culture: Winnie-the-Pooh (Винни-Пух), Crocodile Gena (Крокодил Гена), Karlsson-on-the-Roof (Карлсон, который живёт на крыше), The Musicians of Bremen (Бременские музыканты), Three from Buttermilk Village (Трое из Простоквашино), Nu, pogodi! (Ну, погоди!), Hedgehog in the Fog (Ёжик в тумане), The Mystery of the Third Planet (Тайна третьей планеты) etc.

Posted by the Flea at 05:48 AM

Architecture is petrified music

There: Hobbit highrise.

Called the Magic Mountain Lodge, the 13 room hotel looks like it came straight from Middle Earth. The lodge sits in the private Huilo-Huilo Biological Reserve in northern Chile's Patagonia...

Back again: Bishop's Castle.

Colorado, San Isabel National Forest – the heart of what many call Cowboy Country. Yet stray of the beaten path and you come across Bishop castle – a 160-foot high structure that weighs in at an estimated 50 thousand tons. Incredibly, it is the work of a single man – Jim Bishop.
Posted by the Flea at 05:47 AM

Ent-wife located

The world's oldest known living tree, a conifer that first took root at the end of the last Ice Age, has been discovered in Sweden.

The visible portion of the 13-foot-tall (4-meter-tall) "Christmas tree" isn't ancient, but its root system has been growing for 9,550 years...
Posted by the Flea at 05:44 AM

Julie Fowlis w Jenna Reid & Donal Lunny: Biodh An Deoch Seo 'N Làimh Mo Rùin

Hat tip to The Campblog.

Posted by the Flea at 05:42 AM

October 09, 2011

Royal Navy Ships on Flickr

"The surface fleet was reorganised in 2002 into two flotillas, one based at each of the two naval bases at Portsmouth and Devonport."

Posted by the Flea at 08:53 AM

Heinrich von Herzogenberg - Symphony No. 1 in C Minor Op. 50 (1885)

Symphony No. 1 by Heinrich von Herzogenberg. Conducted by Frank Beermann with the NDR Orchestra.

Herzogenberg's music is most frequently compared to that of Johannes Brahms, and the two composers actually were linked through Herzogenberg's wife, Elisabet von Stockhausen, who had studied piano with Brahms. Indeed, beginning at their key signatures, there are more than superficial resemblances between Brahms' First Symphony, premiered in 1876, and Herzogenberg's, which first was heard in 1885. A contemporary reviewer remarked, "The symphony seemed to us to be one whole gigantic reminiscence, though in the best sense of the word, of Johannes Brahms."


Classical Music CDs)

Posted by the Flea at 08:47 AM

October 08, 2011

Please stand by for a demonstration of relevancy

The Bloggess received yet another email pitch from a clueless PR company. First she replied with her usual picture of Wil Wheaton collating paper. Then things got out of hand.

I sort of felt bad for the guy (as I’ve accidentally fallen victim to the reply-all trap as well) and I considered just cowing down and remaining quietly chastened by this man, but then I remembered that this isn’t the 18th century and that I’ve never taken a high road in my entire life.

This is a bit inside baseball unless you run a high traffic blog but I am foursquare for demonstrations of relevancy.

Posted by the Flea at 07:58 AM

The best sentence in the history of sequential words

Robert Brockway chronicles the pitch meeting behind the worst movie idea ever produced (via Five Feet of Fury).

"Like it?! You're gonna win an Oscar! All the Oscars!" Geoff raced over to the Luge, hit the Igniter and sucked up the torrent of chilled smoke that came billowing down the ice-pipe. When he spoke again, his voice was still thick with held breath: "Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots: The Movie!"
Posted by the Flea at 07:57 AM

If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe

Suicide Girls pay tribute to Steve Jobs.

Posted by the Flea at 07:54 AM

Introducing GLaDOSiri on iPhone 4S

"Inspired by my love of Portal, and GLaDOS' inevitable take over of every iPhone in America."

Posted by the Flea at 07:53 AM

Chisu: Sabotage

Hat tip to Beautiful Atrocities.

Posted by the Flea at 07:52 AM

October 07, 2011

Innovation Starvation

Neal Stephenson argues the merits of Galapagan isolation in the Google search era (via Quotulatiousness).

The counterpart to Galapagan isolation is the struggle for survival on a large continent, where firmly established ecosystems tend to blur and swamp new adaptations. ... In the pre-net era, managers were forced to make decisions based on what they knew to be limited information. Today, by contrast, data flows to managers in real time from countless sources that could not even be imagined a couple of generations ago, and powerful computers process, organize, and display the data in ways that are as far beyond the hand-drawn graph-paper plots of my youth as modern video games are to tic-tac-toe. In a world where decision-makers are so close to being omniscient, it’s easy to see risk as a quaint artifact of a primitive and dangerous past.
Posted by the Flea at 05:28 AM

Sunset on the Tevatron

Photos and memories from a Fermilab physicist.

The end of the Tevatron doesn't mean the end of research at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, and it doesn't mean the end of particle research in the United States. But it is the end of an era.
Posted by the Flea at 05:27 AM

CL0958+4702

The Spitzer Space Telescope has captured images of four massive galaxies slamming into each other.

The new quadruple merger was discovered serendipitously during a Spitzer survey of a distant cluster of galaxies, called CL0958+4702, located nearly five billion light-years away. The infrared telescope first spotted an unusually large fan-shaped plume of light coming out of a gathering of four blob-shaped, or elliptical, galaxies. Three of the galaxies are about the size of the Milky Way, while the fourth is three times as big.
Posted by the Flea at 05:24 AM

Creep feat. Nina Sky: You

Hat tip to Jad Jad.

Posted by the Flea at 05:22 AM

October 06, 2011

Steve Jobs, rest in peace

HillBuzz comments on the passing of Steve Jobs.

How many anti-Capitalist troglodytes are tweeting “Down With Capitalism” from their iPhones tonight?

Related: From “I, Pencil” to iPhone: The spontaneous order of capitalism.

There is perhaps no greater image of irony tonight than that of anti-capitalist, anti-corporate, anti-materialist extremists of the Occupy Wall Street movement paying tribute to Steve Jobs — the co-founder, chairman and former chief executive of Apple Inc., who passed away this evening.

Update: Computers are like a bicycle for our minds (hat tip to Adam).

Also: Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech 2005.

Posted by the Flea at 06:48 AM

Dr. Minogue, I presume

Kylie Minogue has accepted an honorary Doctor of Health Science from Anglia Ruskin University, known once upon a time as the Cambridge School of Art opened in 1858 by John Ruskin (hat tip to Jad Jad).

Posted by the Flea at 06:47 AM

Awolnation: Sail

Much as I enjoy the '80s storytelling of the official video, this is better. It's amazing what you can achieve with an HD camera and a garden hose.

Posted by the Flea at 06:44 AM

October 05, 2011

Shawn Nelson - Aestas (2008)

Aetas from Shawn Nelson on Vimeo.

aetās (genitive aetātis); f, third declension
lifetime, age
(metonymic) a generation

Posted by the Flea at 07:08 AM

I see what you did there

"Emma Watson has something to say about the pressure Hollywood puts on young women to look a certain way.
"Quite why she had to pose in a bunny outfit to get her message across in a magazine interview is unclear."

Posted by the Flea at 07:07 AM

Alnwick Poison Gardens

The sign at the garden gate reads "Warning, these plants can kill you".

Posted by the Flea at 07:04 AM

Dragon Age: Redemption Trailer (ft. Felicia Day)

"Saw 'Felicia Day' Clicked video."

Posted by the Flea at 07:03 AM

Metaphorest: Follow You Down to the Red Oak Tree

Posted by the Flea at 07:02 AM

October 04, 2011

Forza 4 - Endangered Species

Jeremy Clarkson introduces the ideology of Forza Motorsport 4.

For example: A garage view of the BMW M5. The aliasing is probably due to down-rezzing from 1080 to 720 HD.

Note to drivers: First brake then accelerate when you are in the turn. Taking a BMW M5 for a spin.

Featuring the Stig: TopGear integration in Forza 4.

Posted by the Flea at 06:28 AM

Z-Type

A space shoot'em'up where you type to shoot.

Posted by the Flea at 06:27 AM

A brush with excellence

We clean up the mean streets of the city of Sauberhausen in Street Cleaning Simulator! The GameSpot community goes wild!

Geekology calls it the Three Wolf Moon of video games.

Have you ever seen something so horrible, so terrible, that you just couldn't wait to share it with everyone you know? If you said no, then welcome to the internet - you're clearly new here.
Posted by the Flea at 06:24 AM

Glukoza: Wag

Four on the floor and speakers to 11.

Posted by the Flea at 06:22 AM

October 03, 2011

Inside The Actor's Studio - Johnny Depp (2002)

James Lipton's conversation with Johnny Depp, "one of only a handful of interviews ever given by the reclusive yet influential actor."

Posted by the Flea at 08:48 AM

Good idea

Idris Elba might the next James Bond.

... it would be a good way to incorporate the very cool theory that James Bond is not an actual person but a code name passed from spy to spy the same way “007″ is.
Posted by the Flea at 08:47 AM

On their home worlds, do they put on human masks, and play?

Casting calls have gone out for a film adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s Ender's Game.

Posted by the Flea at 08:44 AM

Blackjack

A leather jug made from the hide of Oliver Cromwell's war horse turns up at the Antique's Roadshow.

The trusty steed died in 1651 after the end of the civil war and – perhaps to honour the animal's memory – Cromwell had a number of leather jugs made from its hide.
Posted by the Flea at 08:43 AM

Burial: Street Halo

Posted by the Flea at 08:42 AM

October 02, 2011

The Mistress of Spices (2005)

The Mistress of Spices features Aishwarya Rai as the spice of nourishment (possibly nsfw due to garlic and eggplant).

Posted by the Flea at 06:48 AM

Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek: Tere Bina

From the soundtrack to Guru (2007).

Posted by the Flea at 06:44 AM

October 01, 2011

BMW Oracle

BMW_Oracle.jpg

Winner of the 33rd America's Cup in 2010.

Going fast.

Time to step on the gas.

The corporate version.

We want to win this cup.

An amazing 24 hours.

Winging it: America’s Cup racers push the sailboat to its limits.

America’s Cup 2.0 is still two years away, but the beta is already here: the America’s Cup World Series. Featuring everyone from Oracle Racing to Team Korea, the series is a preseason road show, a tour of racing events meant to build public awareness of the main America’s Cup event, which will be held in San Francisco in September 2013.
Posted by the Flea at 07:58 AM

The X-Men Guide to Puberty

By Charles Xavier.

Greetings! If you're reading this book, chances are you're going through puberty. Let's take a closer look at how your body might be affected.
Posted by the Flea at 07:54 AM

Raquel Welch: Bang Bang

This is pretty much the best thing you are going to see today.

No wait, this.

Posted by the Flea at 07:47 AM