Viewing entries tagged with 'nostalgia'
The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello
A fantastic silhouette-style steampunk animation by Antony Lucas. In terms of the visual style of the animation I really like the fusion of 2d and 'unobtrusive' 3d style. It reflects the theme of the futuristic yet nostalgic and mechanical world of Jasper Morello in an ideal way.
It's quite an inspiration for my Postgraduate studies (towards a Master of Art & Design) that I started last week. Actually the mechanical ideas blend in well with my current story idea that I've been carrying around with me since end of 2008 (and which due to an incredible lack of time is still far from complete).
Lucas' animation was nominated for an Oscar and a BAFTA award in 2006.
I luckily discovered it through ARDEN, the Postgraduate Research Community of the School of Art & Design, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand.
Incredibly Strange: Movie Marathon 09
It seems I survived the 24 hour Incredibly Strange Movie Marathon over the weekend. Here is the lineup:
The Secret Four/Kansas City Confidential (1952)
(opening sequence)
Zombieland (2009)
Road House (1989)
Forbidden World (1982)
Vice Squad (1982)
Paranormal Activity (2007)
Maidens of Fetish Street (1969) part of The Abnormal Female
(Couldn't find a trailer but here's a photostream on Flickr)
Mill of the Stone Women (1960)
Night Train to Terror (1985)
(Watch the trailer here.)
The Visitor/Stridulum (1979)
The Informant! (2009)
Creature From Black Lake (1976)
(Couldn't find anything on this film.)
Howling II: ... Your Sister Is a Werewolf / Stirba: Werewolf Bitch (1985)
Commando (1985)
That's all folks.
Including some very short breaks it lasted about 25 hours nonstop.
Here are the instructions for this year's movie marathon:
And if you still don't have enough here are some trailers for the Movie Marathon itself. Enjoy!
A million thanks to Ant Simpson and everyone involved for a fantastic weekend!
Remi Gaillard - Astronaut
I just came across this astronaut video by Remi Gaillard. Watch it - there's no more to say!
Rise and Fall
This is a 30 minute version of the movie I.O.U.S.A, a film about the rapidly growing national debt of the United States, the long-term ignorance of the problem and it's occurring and looming consequences.
Quite interesting in this regard is Arnold J. Toynbee's A Study of History about the rise and fall of human civilisations. According to a Wikipedia article Toynbee "argues that the breakdown of civilizations is not caused by loss of control over the environment, over the human environment, or attacks from outside. Rather, it comes from the deterioration of the 'Creative Minority,' which eventually ceases to be creative and degenerates into merely a 'Dominant Minority' (who forces the majority to obey without meriting obedience). He argues that creative minorities deteriorate due to a worship of their 'former self,' by which they become prideful, and fail to adequately address the next challenge they face."
Sounds familiar? You make up your own mind.
Mo Than Words Can Say
Now I truely missed this year's Movember, the month formerly known as November. Just as last year thousands of dedicated males have their mo (=mustache) grow to it's full glory within a month.
These are the rules: on Movember 1st you shave and then let your mo grow until the end of the mo-nth. Growing a beard and shaving it to a mo at the end of the month is considered as cheating. Instead it must be an honest mo through and through with a clean shaven chin. A mo with dignity, one that Burt Reynolds, His unapproachable Mo-ness, would be proud of.
For cowards: Grow a virtual mo!
For undecided ones: Study the mo!
For real men: Celebrate the mo!
Six Browsers You Don't Need (but Can't Avoid)
It's always the same ... you create a neat web design with clean html and CSS and it looks just the way it should, then you test it on Browsershots and realise that it looks absolutely perfect except (and without any exception) in all versions of Internet Explorer prior to IE7. I wish I would not have to burn my lifetime with these kind of problems – even a grey, cold and rainy Monday in November is more fun than to find workarounds for Internet Explorer.
Even though Browsershots is probably the best free service available for cross browser webdesign it does not help much to actually work on a CSS file and check it in real time. Fortunately I found a multiple IE installer that installs IE3, IE 4.01, IE 5.01, IE 5.55 and IE 6.0. You still need a Windows PC, but it's probably a good solution for a lot of web developers/designers.
I really don't like IE hacking, but from my experience it works best to make a clean html/css template that works well in all other browsers plus IE7 and then apply a conditional IE style sheet or make a few adjustments in the original CSS file if it requires just a minor tweak.
While I really would not bother too much with anything below IE5 (especially if it's a pure CSS design) I now still have six browsers installed that I don't need and IE8 is on it's way – I wonder if Microsoft will ever bite the bullet and go with the standards it so successfully ignored for more than two decades.
Sesame Street Rocks!
"A-one and a-two and a-chicka booma chick!"
Rock'n'Roll!
A Short Story About Life
Motivated by an article on mediensalat I found this article in Die Zeit concerning the major loss of our youth: Yps. This nice magazine we spent our pocket money for and which was terminated last year. Actually the comics were poor, but the gimmicks were unbeatable! Remember the Urzeitkrebse und Pupsmaschinen.
Also missing: Es gibt Eis, Baby! *sniff*
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