extremely well done short animation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygon_(film)

The film was drawn in an unusual animation technique called photographica that consists of two celluloid layers for each character with special color schemes and with one of the layers out of focus to imitate the three-dimensional space rendering. The animation then actively moves the virtual camera to change perspective dynamically for each scene and give a sense of realism, without the use of any CGI methods (which weren't available at the time).
The characters in this animated film were designed with faces very similar to those of several famous movie actors and celebrities of the time, including Ringo Starr, Jean Gabin, Paul Newman, Yul Brynner and Mel Ferrer (The scientist) among others.

crises of global capitalism

This animated video illustrates David Harvey's speech that looks at how the current economic problems came to be.

WARNING: volume


The speech:
http://fora.tv/2010/04/26/David_Harvey_The_Crises_of_Capitalism

the new widow-maker?

...introducing Ferrari 458 Italia

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/41513/

The Ferrari 458 Italia, the Italian car manufacturer's latest model, might just be cursed. Ten of the exceedingly expensive vehicles have crashed in the past month, according to reports on Tuesday.

Six Ferrari 458 Italias have been involved in accidents, three caught on fire, and one was destroyed in a fire while it was being stored innocently in a warehouse.

Aug 23 2010

high 33C (while thermometer shows 35.8C)
overnight low 25C
humidity 88%
south wind 5m/s

Happy Birthday to my girl!
The heat of this summer is something. We had a relatively cool summer last year. The year before that was pretty brutal; we saw 40C weather in several prefectures. The nights are cooler this late into Aug but no breeze. The humidity is thick in the air through out the night you can cut it with a knife. We want to turn on the A/C but catching a cold is no fun.

Man VS Wild
I've been watching Man VS Wild. I'm usually pretty OK with the "delicacy" but this morning with some wine and overly sweet chocolate cake being digested down my stomach it almost turned. I had to stop the video to take a long breather.

I'm very surprised this group of people keep calling Bear Grylls fake. First of all, it's a TV show. One that shows survival situations, worst case scenarios, and ways to get out of them. How else can a TV show do it without setting things up? Bottom line, to me, it's entertaining, keeps my pulse racing, is far removed from what I can ever hope I can do, other words - a fantasy. On top of that, there are some real gems on survival techniques, however unlikely.

August updates

Summer summer hot hot hot. high 33C, overnight low 23C, humidity 88%

work:
moving forward... ever so slowly, need a new manager right now

life:
middle of summer, lots of festivals, another one this Sat
kid doing great, another one on his/her way
real physical signs of getting old(er)

car:
serious need of a pro wax job
car detailing is hard
as paint ages

population growth

Well one aspect of it, visualized.

what to listen to?

These have strangely been the days I listen to music often. Let's put it this way, "no music no life" has always been the furthest from my truth. I'd rather listen to a good engine scream to be honest. But with the drive I have now (good open top motoring, not so busy country roads) and the extra speakers right around my neck I finally got myself wanting to look for that missing piece of puzzle.

Here is what I've come up with in my journey to a second music discovery.

Indie

Everything that has indie in its names, indie rock, indie alternative, alternative rock, indie pop. I can't listen to anything else. For 3 years, I have tried everything on the horizon, well besides death metals. I find indie music a breath of fresh air, the only thing that goes into my ears through to my entire being without the cynicism.

But soon after my decision to stick with indie music I was hit with a dilemma. As I find out more about a particular band, I start to lose interest in them. I don't want to know who they are. I don't want them to become widely popular (main stream-ish), case in point, The Black Keys.

So the most sane thing to do is I get what I can from Internet indie outlets that bring in the unknowns and the lesser knowns. Still the damage is there. When I'm 50 years old, I'll look back to this decade seeing a blank sheet of music history when I chased the invisible. (I don't pay attention to who they are. The chances of them being played on the radio, now or ever, is a whopping zero.)

I'd rather have that than current pop, hip hop, pop rock, please god no. And I'll have the occasional opera tracks. Thanks.

manly romance

The most romantic thing I can think of, in toying with human emotions, the respect, glory, stupid manliness, death, cold machines, etc, etc, etc...



Forget this being a commercial. Forget this being a video. Forget this being two champions reminiscing about the past. Forget this is about Prost as much as Senna.

In the olden days these would have been battle machines, where generals had fought and lost their lives for all the glory to the people they served. In a sense completely meaningless. This is the same battle, without massive loss of lives except a handful.

The most romantic thing I can imagine, by a mile. Genuinely stupid.

ouch.....

The devastation of England losing to Germany is so thorough it hurts this total bystander.

If the match was fair:
2 - 2 at halftime
3 - 2 in the end

The Germans were a better team. They played together better. They had much much better defense.
The English on the other hand, Rooney being as useful as a potato, defense had too many holes. Could a strong national football/soccer league lead to horrible team chemistry? More or less like the NBA and the US basketball team?

Too many egos. Too much at stake.

The UK can't win against Germany today. F1 Englishmen Hamilton and Button finished behind Deutschland's Vettel earlier at Valencia on race day Sunday, European GP. Not a bad day though if you're on the other side.