Hi,
Another week gone, we are ripping through them. Yesterday Jools and I went to the hills for a birthday brunch. Talk about impediment to productivity but it was a hoot. Let the games begin.
Revisiting the Dr Who bits from a week or three back. Shigella over at Livejournaller has crocheted a Dalek shaving-cream cozy (I am not making this up). Now I am willing to bet that you will take one look at this and go “I want one”. Make sure you read some of the comments
http://shigella.livejournal.com/519884.html?view=3621068
Now lets play with pretties.
Electric Sheep is a free, open source screen saver run by thousands of people all over the world (my copy runs on my audio PC). It installs on PC or Mac and it chews up grunt like it is going out of style . When your computer “sleeps”, the screen saver comes on and the computers start chatting with each other by the internet to share the work of creating morphing abstract animations known as “sheep”. The result is a collective “android dream”, an homage to Philip K. Dick’s novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep”.
You get to vote for your favorite animations using your keyboard. The more popular sheep live longer and reproduce according to a genetic algorithm with mutation and cross-over. Hence the flock evolves to please its global audience. You can also design your own sheep and submit them to the gene pool.
Samples Here – http://electricsheep.org/index.cgi?&menu=samples
Quicktime Here – http://electricsheep.org/electricsheep-sample.mov
http://electricsheep.org/
More pretties?
Judith Fegerl is works with a widespread range of material. She plays with the processes of perception and experience and translates them into sculpture and installation for the audience to re-experience.
“In her most recent work she got inspired by the fairy tale “The Chinese nightingale” by Hans Christian Andersen: It is the story of a Chinese emperor who was presented a mechanical nightingale as a substitute for a natural one. A similar mechanical system – in the 18th century these kind of toy-like automats were very popular in Europe – is re- and deconstructed by Fegerl. Once more the inherent tension between human body and machine becomes manifest, in the very end representing the one between culture and nature”
http://www.judithfegerl.net/avian/avian-index.html
And lets finish off the pretties with Eye Candy for the monitor. Drab desktop? Have a look at http://www.mandolux.com/ and you are sure to find some thing to tart up the tired look of your monitor.
http://www.mandolux.com/archive/index.html
Flashgame time. Eyemaze’s have may have problems with counting (GROW ver.3 came out before GROW ver.2, which came out before GROW ver.1. ) but GROW ver.1 is a short-and-sweet game, but it has the usual Eyemaze colorful animation and fun puzzle action. The deal is you have to choose the correct sequence of seemingly-arbitrary objects to max out the meter at the bottom. If you make the correct choices, you’re rewarded with a fun animation. If you don’t, you’re still rewarded with a (different) fun animation, but the game will end rather sooner and you’ll have to start over. It’s fun to play, and I will bet you keep playing to see the other outcomes once you have solved it.
http://www.eyezmaze.com/game/grow_v1.html
This was sent to me by Kalene. (you know who to Blame now) it is really only pertinent to people living in Melbourne (unless you are visiting around Moomba {aboriginal for lets get together and spend money}.
“Rockwiz Live
The RocKwiz team will be performing on the opening night of Moomba by the Yarra. The night will include a live version of the SBS smash hit music trivia show, featuring all the usual segments, and of course special musical guests, audience participation and a few surprises.
The evening will also include selected highlights and musical performances from past RocKwiz shows on the big screen. To close the night, the RocKwiz team are proud to present a performance by one of Australia’s true rock and roll legends – Daddy Cool! Bring the family, pack a picnic and put up your hand to be in the show!
*When:* Friday, 9 March *Time:* 6.30pm *Where:* Alexandra Gardens ”
So if you sit there on a Saturday night hitting your imaginary ‘air” buzzer faster than the contestants on the screen (Million Dollar Riff is my favourite) pop this in your diary so that you don’t forget to stroll down and have a go.
Thanks Kalene.
IKEA guitars?
To quote.
“This is one of the most interesting guitars I ever built and it is also one of the best.
The action is great, the tone is unbelievable, the neck is super fast, tuning stability is as good as it gets. In short, everything just worked out great on this guitar. This amazingly figured top is from Ikea Furnishings. I bought one of their unfinished end tables for $15 and I can get three guitar tops from it. What a shame that they would use such amazing “tone-wood” for their cheap furniture. Its a sacrilege.”
Now that’s an Ikea hack.
http://www.zacharyguitars.com/120300pics.htm
And lastly some of the highlights from over at http://notdeadyet.com.au/
Bad Karaoke (you mean there is such a thing as “good” karaoke???), Bill Canty, Jimmy Camp (iPod hero) and punks from Norway.
Once again business as usual
Have a listen.
Have a good one
thatch
{Currently listening to Ralph Towner and Buddha Bar}
{Currently reading: OReilly MySQL Cookbook }
{Quick Status Check: A cheeky little sparkling burgundy and a huge breakfast dripping in fat (yum). I’m going to hell}
{Crop Circle Status: LOST: One crop circle. If found please let me know}