I suppose other people's photos will have to do (and are probably better than anything I would have taken anyway):
http://www.colinpeddle.com/featured/hurricane-igor/
pg "Hosted by imgur.com")
http://hashalbum.com/igornl
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Hurricane Igor
Of all the times to be without a camera, one of the worst hurricanes that has come through Newfoundland in a very long time is not a very good one. I've seen so many road signs ripped up and thrown across the road, trees uprooted, lamp posts knocked down and rivers flooding to fill a book but I haven't been able to take any pictures of any of it.
I suppose other people's photos will have to do (and are probably better than anything I would have taken anyway):
http://www.colinpeddle.com/featured/hurricane-igor/
http://hashalbum.com/igornl
I suppose other people's photos will have to do (and are probably better than anything I would have taken anyway):
http://www.colinpeddle.com/featured/hurricane-igor/
http://hashalbum.com/igornl
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Making of Star Guitar
This video is "Star Guitar" by Chemical Brothers.
It's a pretty amazing music video on its own but there's a lot to it that's not obvious on first viewing. First of all: the director, Michel Gondry who is a fascinating story on his own. He's best known for his auteur films "Eternal Sunlight of the Spotless Mind" and "The Science of Sleep". Aside from that, he's done a number of music videos including the one above. The depth of the video might not be obvious at first but what it represents is a blending of film-making and the creation of electronic music. Like most music there are patterns that represent certain musical phrases and beats. Sometimes you get this in the form of formal music notation, sometimes you get something like this.
That's a kind of sound map that Brian Eno used for his landmark "Ambient 1: Music for Airports" (also one of my favourite albums). The following video is like that for Gondry's Star Guitar. Check it out and appreciate the insane depth of Star Guitar.
It's a pretty amazing music video on its own but there's a lot to it that's not obvious on first viewing. First of all: the director, Michel Gondry who is a fascinating story on his own. He's best known for his auteur films "Eternal Sunlight of the Spotless Mind" and "The Science of Sleep". Aside from that, he's done a number of music videos including the one above. The depth of the video might not be obvious at first but what it represents is a blending of film-making and the creation of electronic music. Like most music there are patterns that represent certain musical phrases and beats. Sometimes you get this in the form of formal music notation, sometimes you get something like this.
That's a kind of sound map that Brian Eno used for his landmark "Ambient 1: Music for Airports" (also one of my favourite albums). The following video is like that for Gondry's Star Guitar. Check it out and appreciate the insane depth of Star Guitar.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
9 Songs About Waking Up
Why do so many songs about waking up fail to actually entice anyone to get up and start your day? Here are 9 songs about waking up, about 3 of which actually might get me up instead of just hurling the radio across the room.
Arcade Fire - Wake Up
My pick for song that I'd most like to rip me from the sweet embrace of sleep in the morning. Great percussion, a sing-a-long chorus, upbeat tempo; the only problem is that I'd want to listen to it a few more times and probably miss whatever it was I was getting up for.
Rage Against The Machine - Wake Up
Total bomber. This should get you up, albeit not much much finesse. I think it's a great song but as a wake up call it's about one step above having a dumptruck back through your bedroom wall every morning.
John Legend & The Roots - Wake Up Everybody
This song's got potential but it should be followed with a little more energetic kicker to get you moving. This is a wake up song for people who like to ease into their mornings, like those folk who tune into the classical station to wake up to the gentle sound of a string quartet. (This has never worked for me and only led to the inevitable 15 minute morning sprint to get you to wherever you need to be once you realize you've slept in.
Coheed and Cambria - Wake Up
What the hell is this? The only way this song is waking anyone up is if Coheed and Cambria are actually jumping on your bed while playing this slow dance.
Three Days Grace - Wake Up
The prospect of not having to listen to this Chad-Kroeger-esque crooner for any longer is certainly enough to put a spring in my step
Mad Season - Wake Up
Now we're talking. A slow, gentle first half with a kicker of a bridge featuring a shredding guitar solo. Slows down near the end but at least you're cajoled with a series of "WAKE UP"s so at least you can pretend Layne Staley is your dad (although in Layne's case he's probably just trying to get you up for some money so he doesn't have to sell the TV to get his heroin fix for the morning)
Korn - Wake Up
WAKE THA FUCK UP! It's songs like this that make you wonder why you secretly (or not so secretly in my case) like Korn way back when.
Hayden Panettiere - Wake Up Call
That cheerleader chick from Heroes who was Paris Hilton's skank understudy for a while does some pop/ska nonsense about whatever skanky pop starlets sing about these days.
Maroon 5 - Wake Up Call
Maroon 5 seem as good as any modern day soul/pop derivative. I wouldn't want to wake up to them though. This song especially seems like it would both unoffensive and slow enough to leave me passively accepting as it intruded upon my sleep.
Arcade Fire - Wake Up
My pick for song that I'd most like to rip me from the sweet embrace of sleep in the morning. Great percussion, a sing-a-long chorus, upbeat tempo; the only problem is that I'd want to listen to it a few more times and probably miss whatever it was I was getting up for.
Rage Against The Machine - Wake Up
Total bomber. This should get you up, albeit not much much finesse. I think it's a great song but as a wake up call it's about one step above having a dumptruck back through your bedroom wall every morning.
John Legend & The Roots - Wake Up Everybody
This song's got potential but it should be followed with a little more energetic kicker to get you moving. This is a wake up song for people who like to ease into their mornings, like those folk who tune into the classical station to wake up to the gentle sound of a string quartet. (This has never worked for me and only led to the inevitable 15 minute morning sprint to get you to wherever you need to be once you realize you've slept in.
Coheed and Cambria - Wake Up
What the hell is this? The only way this song is waking anyone up is if Coheed and Cambria are actually jumping on your bed while playing this slow dance.
Three Days Grace - Wake Up
The prospect of not having to listen to this Chad-Kroeger-esque crooner for any longer is certainly enough to put a spring in my step
Mad Season - Wake Up
Now we're talking. A slow, gentle first half with a kicker of a bridge featuring a shredding guitar solo. Slows down near the end but at least you're cajoled with a series of "WAKE UP"s so at least you can pretend Layne Staley is your dad (although in Layne's case he's probably just trying to get you up for some money so he doesn't have to sell the TV to get his heroin fix for the morning)
Korn - Wake Up
WAKE THA FUCK UP! It's songs like this that make you wonder why you secretly (or not so secretly in my case) like Korn way back when.
Hayden Panettiere - Wake Up Call
That cheerleader chick from Heroes who was Paris Hilton's skank understudy for a while does some pop/ska nonsense about whatever skanky pop starlets sing about these days.
Maroon 5 - Wake Up Call
Maroon 5 seem as good as any modern day soul/pop derivative. I wouldn't want to wake up to them though. This song especially seems like it would both unoffensive and slow enough to leave me passively accepting as it intruded upon my sleep.
Monday, September 13, 2010
INCEPTIONAUTS!
The Internet has been swamped these past few weeks with so many Inception mash-up trailers I'm starting to feel like we will soon have an Inceptionized trailer for every significant movie of the last 20 years. Up, The Matrix, Lord of the Rings, Jurassic Park, THE SECRET OF NIMH! I was on the verge of saying that the whole meme had been officially beaten into horseburgers until I saw this: Inceptionauts.
If anyone remembers this criminally underappreciated game, good on you. It's Psychonauts from Double Fine which is the company Tim Schafer founded after working on such amazing games as Monkey Island 1 and 2, Maniac Mansion, Day of the Tentacle Full Throttle and Grim Fandango for Lucasarts. If you haven't, add it to your bucket list. (Though people still give Psychonauts crap for having the difficulty spike near the end that hits you like like a volleyball player after an adrenaline shot to the heart. I didn't think it was that bad. Your mileage may vary.)
If anyone remembers this criminally underappreciated game, good on you. It's Psychonauts from Double Fine which is the company Tim Schafer founded after working on such amazing games as Monkey Island 1 and 2, Maniac Mansion, Day of the Tentacle Full Throttle and Grim Fandango for Lucasarts. If you haven't, add it to your bucket list. (Though people still give Psychonauts crap for having the difficulty spike near the end that hits you like like a volleyball player after an adrenaline shot to the heart. I didn't think it was that bad. Your mileage may vary.)
Paging the Real Iron Man
Sorry all you other Iron Men. There's another Iron Man in the house and he SHOOTS ELECTRICITY FROM HIS FISTS.
OK. Not really but this video involves Black Sabbath, Tesla Coils and some badass metal suits so who really cares.
OK. Not really but this video involves Black Sabbath, Tesla Coils and some badass metal suits so who really cares.
Wednesday, September 08, 2010
CCTV Footage Of One Stormy Night
CCTV footage of a Pacific Sun Cruise liner that MIGHT be doing barrel rolls.
LiveLeak.com - Pacific Sun Cruise liner in very heavy seas. Internal CCTV footage.
LiveLeak.com - Pacific Sun Cruise liner in very heavy seas. Internal CCTV footage.
Friday, September 03, 2010
The Wilderness Downtown
It's not often that I see something truly new online but the recent interactive video by Chris Milk and Aaron Koblin is an extremely fresh and interesting experiment in both interactive art and HTML5. The website/video/art project (or whatever it is) blends video, elements from Google Maps and the users personal sense of nostalgia to weave a surprisingly personal experience. Apparently the experience can be viewed in other browsers with some trickery but it's been optimized for Google Chrome so I'd suggest going with that. Check it out at:
http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/
If you found it as imagination capturing as I did check out the behind the scenes work at the link below. For what it's worth I have a hard time not thinking about The Wildnerness Downtown whenever I hear the Arcade Fire song that provides the accompanying music.
http://creativity-online.com/news/behind-the-work-arcade-fire-the-wilderness-downtown/145696
http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/
If you found it as imagination capturing as I did check out the behind the scenes work at the link below. For what it's worth I have a hard time not thinking about The Wildnerness Downtown whenever I hear the Arcade Fire song that provides the accompanying music.
http://creativity-online.com/news/behind-the-work-arcade-fire-the-wilderness-downtown/145696
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
