Saturday, April 12, 2008
When Cuddly White Whales Go Bad
Parker approached me excitedly as I came home to tell me about his trip to the library. He was especially excited about a pop-up book he found that was all about sailing.
In the book, Parker explained, a bunch of sailors were going across the ocean in a sailing ship, when suddenly a giant Beluga came and wrecked their ship! The people were then caught in a whirlpool and diappeared.
Finally piecing it together, I asked him "Was this book called Moby Dick?"
"Yes!" he shouted excitedly!
Photo by Iwana Kellie.
Labels: Cute Overlord, Parker, Spot the Pop Culture Reference
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Saturday, January 19, 2008
Vector Magic
Stanford has created an amazing tool called Vector Magic. Vector Magic converts bitmap images to vector images, through a Flash interface. Stanford's logarithm is amazing - it produces nearly perfect line artwork 100% of the time. For anyone out there who has tried to use the Live Trace feature in Illustrator, know that this is better by a factor of 1000 - it can take even the most finicky woodcut illustration and produce a perfect vector in almost no time flat.My coworker on campus now swears by it - she does a lot of illustration work by hand, and it has proved invaluable to her in transferring that work for department posters. Go over and give it a try - it's not often that you get to see the way the trick is done.
Unless you are friends with Val Valentino or Mitch Pileggi, that is.
Labels: Fun on the Web, Graphic Design, Sheer Awesome, Spot the Pop Culture Reference
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Saturday, December 08, 2007
Fantastic Four, Plus One Dweeb
Kristin and I got to see both of the Fantastic Four films, and although I wasn't blown away, I found there was a lot I liked about them. I admit I've never been a huge fan of the World's Greatest Comic, but once thing I have liked about the Fantastic Four is the family aspect, and I think the four principles in these films capture that dynamic perfectly.
If only Doom would live up to his name.
I like Julian McMahon as an actor. He was the main reason I stuck with Charmed for so long, and once his character went from series regular to an occasional appearance my attention to the show waned. But he is woefully miscast as Doom. He never portrays the right amount of menace or sinister intentions. He never acts arrogant enough, and never refers to himself in the third person. In both films his confrontations with the Fantastic Four are laughably short, as they take the upper hand way too fast. Everything about his character, from his background as a European monarch to his costume and powers, and never fully explained or fleshed out enough to give him any resonance, and so ultimately the films fail as a hero is most often defined by the villain. The inclusion of the Surfer and Galactus in the second give it the edge as the better film, though, and precisely for the same reason.
Now if the film Doom had looked this, and sounded like Udo Kier or Arnold Vosloo, we would have had a sure fire winner:
I'm wondering if this film has set up a possible third film. Doom is sent to the bottom of the Atlantic, teasing us with a possible Namor tie-in. However, part of me feels that the universe of the movie Fantastic Four is ground too much in reality to preclude an Atlantic civilization. Of course, that grounding in reality would hamstring many plots, as one of the biggest appeals to a Fantastic Four story is that science can cause all sorts of wacky things, and invasions by Mole Men and other-dimensional insect lords are an everyday occurrence. Plus, given the emphasis on children, I'd imagine a third film would have Franklin Richards in it, and a Reed-Sue-Namor triangle would feel a lot more uncomfortable when children are also involved.
Labels: Hey Kids - Comics, Marvel Zombie, My Cinematic 2 Cents, Spot the Pop Culture Reference
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Thursday, November 22, 2007
Ask Not For Whom the Songs Taps
Songtapper says it can discern from the tapping of the space bar the rythym of a song and then can identify the song from its database.
It would be awesome if it worked, especially for those songs that stick in your head but you can't quite remember the lyrics. Bur in my try it went 0 for 6. Presumably it learns from user input, but I don;t think I'd have to patience to teach its it every song I know.
Maybe it's a good thing Songtapper doesn't work. After all, we all know where this kind of technology leads:
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Friday, July 20, 2007
Life's a Beach
Our weekend of 'relaxation' at Jacksonville Beach with my mom and Aunt Margie took a turn for the worst almost the moment we stepped our onto the golden sands. I did a poor job of girding Kristin for the sun's pummeling - and she develop a severe that would last for several weeks. Just twenty minutes later, while picking up Kira, I consigned my glasses to the briny deep - or at the very least, to a group of curious minnows in three feet of water.
Kristin and I spent most of the rest of the day shopping for glasses, a task turned Herculean ordeal by the sheer number of frames that are now manufactured in China. The only United States made glasses in the store where the stylish roll shades they gave me after dilating my eyes, MADE IN USA stamped proudly across the brow of the plastic.
In the end, I selected three frames. My main glasses now have stylish wood accents that underscore they are Italian...while wearing them,I feel like I'm skimming across Lake Como in my Cris-Craft on the way to Clooney's villa:
My second pair of glasses are from Japan. They actually use fishing line cut into the groove of the glass to hold the lenses in, which makes the glasses nearly invisible on my face:
Finally, I got a pair of sunglasses from Italy.
The lenses are tinted with an amber filter: it takes some getting used to, as things seem so much different when I'm wearing them. For example, I took these right outside the office:
The trip did get better after that. I learned Rummy in between smearing Aloe across Kristin's tortured back, and we saw the new Harry Potter, as well as read the last Harry Potter. Mom ran into an old high school friend she hadn't seen for for twenty years at the library. And Parker got to learn about geology, the weather, and marine biology.
Labels: Anti-Fun, Art, Parker, Sheer Awesome, Spot the Pop Culture Reference
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Saturday, July 07, 2007
Record Robot
The Record Robot presents vinyl goodies from the past. Some are good, some are bad, and some, like the Stylers, Singapore's answer to the Ventures, are a fantastic musical experience that has to be experienced.Also, the album art is not to be missed - it's a great way to see the cultural and fashion trends of times long past. If I produced local band posters (I've always wanted to do it, I admit), I'd definitely mark this as a location for inspiration!
Careful - it's a definite time-consumer. Bad Robot!
Labels: Fun on the Web, Spot the Pop Culture Reference, We Who Are About to Rock
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Logo....of the Future!
Is this a logo for the University of Florida or a pavilion at Epcot? I'm at a loss to determine how this evolved from the actual University identity.Labels: Identity, Logos, Spot the Pop Culture Reference, UF
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Saturday, March 17, 2007
Road Hazzard
The Cincinnati Pops cancelled a planned performance with Bo and Luke Duke after complaints were made about the show's "racist overtones".
The Dukes of Hazzard...racist? What? I think I might have heard more racial undertones in Different Strokes or Sanford and Son than I ever did on the Dukes, which never presented itself as more than light family fare. It seems to me this is solely centered on the flag plastered atop the General Lee, which was never made mention of except in reference to the name of the car.
Why did the Pops have to cancel because of this. Could they not have had Tom Wopat and John Schneider on without referencing the car?
On another note, I had no idea that Cooter had been so involved in the Civil Rights movement:
In the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's, Jones was arrested several times attempting to integrate segregated facilities. He says he was shot at by the KKK, had a tooth knocked out by a Klansman, and had ammonia thrown in his eyes at a sit-in".
I think Jones sets a precedent for all actors who claim they have been typecast into a role and can't break out of it - dive into something else you believe in with all your heart, and you'll break away from that persona.
Labels: Anti-Fun, Hooray for Hollywood, Spot the Pop Culture Reference
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Monday, February 12, 2007
Happy Birthday Jane!
Labels: Art, Sheer Awesome, Spot the Pop Culture Reference
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Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Call Me the Waco Kid
I went to my first after-hours Gainesville Advertising Federation event. I got to know a few people in the industry from around the town, but overall I was my usual wallflower self. I was finally able to break out of my shell thanks to Derrick from Alta Printing, an all-around great and personable guy. I have to admit, we had the most unusual introduction ever.Derrick was on the other side of the room just as the raffle was about to begin. The raffle consisted of quite a few of those chains of tickets. As they got ready to call the numbers, Derrick handed his drink to someone, and, in a dead impersonation of Cleavon Little, announced:
“Excuse me while I whip this out!”
I immediately rejoined “Noooo!”
Thus introduced, Derrick introduced me to quite a few other members and the night proceeded smoothly.
Labels: Hooray for Hollywood, Spot the Pop Culture Reference
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Friday, December 01, 2006
Ginger Snaps, Meet Rasberry Beret
Labels: Kira, Spot the Pop Culture Reference
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