June 8, 2011
Not Quite Mercenaries 3
505 Games will be publishing a Kinect game based on controversial mercenary group Blackwater/XE. Previously.
Hatsune Miku sings to sold-out arena
Japanese pop star Hatsune Miku is the voice behind the globally famous Nyan Cat. Miku's first breakout hit was a cover of Ievan Polkka, aka the Leekspin song. Nowadays Miku is playing to sold-out arenas. But Miku isn't real. She's just a computer animation with a voice synthesized through Yamaha's Vocaloid software. But the audiences at her live performances are real. Here's a video of several hundred humans with glowsticks cheering the appearance of her holographic image on stage. [more inside]
Ouch
A few good examples of why it’s NOT always the best idea to stay within the bike lane, even if it costs you a ticket. (via)
things
"We have assembled objects in the form of a human figure, objects of all types that we found here each day and selected for their form and color, to obtain a familial nucleus that is the unity through which the individual forms itself and develops its ability to live and realize itself in the world." Artworks by Dario Tironi. via iGNANT
Evolution & Creation
Some early test shots from legendary filmmaker and animator Ray Harryhausen's unfinished film, Evolution. [more inside]
We're talking 30 tonnes of books.
Book rescue turns nightmarish. A Saskatchewan couple saved 350,000 books from being burned by a neighbor, but now the house they bought just to store the collection is collapsing from the weight. What to do?
Vroom, Vroom: Boys and their Toys
Mattel's Hot Wheels for Real campaign documents "the existence of a testing facility 'hidden for 43 years,' where all sorts of bad-ass driving happens on huge Hot Wheels tracks." Their first real world stunt: a Guinness world record 332 ft. jump off a giant orange track at this year's Indy 500.
The World is Still Smiling
Global Slacker (One Day) (YouTube: One couple's drive across two continents, from Chengdu to Capetown. A
compilation video.) Main Site.
(Via) [more inside]
The Renaissance Man
The Renaissance Man: How to Become a Scientist Over and Over Again.
Facefacts, a blog post by Jason Scott
"[T]he fact that anyone would put anything of any unique nature on there, that matters to them, is beyond insanity – it’s identity suicide." Digital age historian and Metafilter's own Jason Scott on Facebook.
Character Armour
"There are few more relentlessly tragic and depressing stories in the history of showbusiness than that of Lena Zavaroni."
Kick Out the Jams
Follow Your Dreams!
“—to remind us of the values we've lost, and of those that we've allowed ourselves to relinquish.”
Abigail Nussbaum, senior reviews editor for Strange Horizons, has written a series of personal blog posts on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. [more inside]
Why, fool, you shall never wake till Judgement-Day!
Terminator the Second is a project to stage Terminator 2: Judgement Day using only lines from Shakespeare (with some proper nouns and pronouns changed). A sample page from the script. A second page. A bit of background on Husky Jackal Theater. [more inside]
New elements identified
Two new elements have been identified. They will need to be named. The new elements have temporary titles of ununquadium and ununhexium. [more inside]
A Brief History of Mad Scientists
Jess Nevins, author and librarian presents a History of Mad Scientists (both real and literary) in two parts: Alchemists, Astronomers, and Wild Men (part 1), and Organ Theft and the Insanity of Geniuses (part 2: the Industrial Age). [more inside]
Achtung! Dinosauriergruppe
To promote the launch of Dino D-Day, an FPS where you fight Nazis and their resurrected dinosaurs, Steam created a line of WWII-style propaganda posters that are pure win. (Via)
"God is just what happens when humanity is connected"
The Internet Is My Religion. Jim Gilliam gives a moving ten-minute speech at the Personal Democracy Forum on surviving cancer, faith, activism, interconnectedness and the internet. [more inside]
Album Falls From Internet
The Original Cast Recording for Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark is currently available for a free listen thanks to MSN. (approx 51 minutes) The track listing shows that it's not only the cast members performing the songs. [more inside]
We ideally will align incentives via some sort of equity-sharing model.
Whartonite Seeks Code Monkey (SLTumblr).
"Five minutes later, Winfield got eaten by giant cockroaches."
Black Actors in Love Scenes: No Need to Apply. Observations by African-American sci-fi novelist Steven Barnes.
Broken Social Scene Sweetest Kill Video
Broken Social Scene - Sweetest Kill Video for Broken Social Scene's "Sweetest Kill" from the 2010 album "Forgiveness Rock Record".
Who is Amina?
Amina Arraf, A Gay Girl In Damascus was reported missing yesterday. (Previously on the Blue). Pleas for information as to her whereabouts have been widely circulating through Twitter and Facebook. And then, the plot thickened. [more inside]
Ghost Ships of the Mothball Fleet
Inside the Ghost Ships of the Mothball Fleet : The Cleanup of Suisen Bay
For decades, dozens of forgotten Navy and merchant ships have been corroding in Suisun Bay, 30 miles northeast of San Francisco. These historic vessels—the Mothball Fleet—served their country in four wars: WWII, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and Desert Storm. After a decade of impasse, the ghost fleet is slowly dwindling as the ships are towed out one-by-one for scrapping. About 15 retired ships are already gone; by 2017, the entire fleet will be just a memory. [more inside]
For decades, dozens of forgotten Navy and merchant ships have been corroding in Suisun Bay, 30 miles northeast of San Francisco. These historic vessels—the Mothball Fleet—served their country in four wars: WWII, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and Desert Storm. After a decade of impasse, the ghost fleet is slowly dwindling as the ships are towed out one-by-one for scrapping. About 15 retired ships are already gone; by 2017, the entire fleet will be just a memory. [more inside]
Warning: something you have to care about sports to care about
Launching at 12:00PM ET today is Grantland.com, a new site from ESPN's Bill Simmons which will feature longer-form articles and a mix of sports and pop culture, with an impressive roster of contributors, including Malcolm Gladwell, Dave Eggers and Chuck Klosterman. The site takes its name from the legendary early-20th-century sportswriter Grantland Rice.
The License Agreement that Swims Up and Bites You in the Ass
Apogee
It is a stunning image and one that is bound to be reproduced over and over again whenever they recall the history of the US space shuttle.
Feminist geek critiques pop-culture
Feminist Frequency is a videoblog by Anita Sarkeesian that critiques pop-culture from the perspective of a feminist geek. She explains her approach in this video. Among the topics she's covered in her videos are fembots, the boy's club veneer of file sharing sites and gendered toy ads. Sarkeesian has recently started to make a series of videos for Bitch Magazine called Tropes vs. Women, about "the reoccurring themes and representations of women in Hollywood films and TV shows." So far there are four episodes: The Manic Pixie Dream Girl, Women in Refrigerators, The Smurfette Principle and The Evil Demon Seductress.
So shall we come to look at the world with new eyes.
Extremities is a short video of a skateboarder with a camera strapped to his head, each arm, each leg, and the underside of the board. Directed by Eli Stonberg.
Know your enemy
Pool party at Saleh's
"We have a saying in Yemen. Girls who are very lovely get married. Girls who are not so lovely finish school." Lauren Goulding meets the president of Yemen. [more inside]
Switchel: The original Colonial era sports drink
It's going to be a hot one today in the northeast. Why not make some switchel to stay cool? [more inside]
Aerial photographs by Yann Arthus-Bertrand
The Earth from Above, a collection of aerial photographs by Yann Arthus-Bertrand. More can found on his website (warning, has sound). (Previously)
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