INFOGRAPHICS HOW-TO: markets, tablets and whatnot (Tablet2Cases)
Remarks on a new piece of infographics I finished a couple of days ago for Tablet2Cases - a company not only focusing on selling cases for a great variety of tablets but also keeping a tablet wiki with relevant data running. Inside - pics on drafts and notes on how this infographics ended up the way it is. (Note: there are a few more infographics posts coming up like this on my related projects and a much bigger one on visual resumes, stay tuned!)
PRE
Need more infographics how-tos? Check out part 1 and part 2 of my ongoing series on how to make a visual resume.
TRAILER: copelia (when sounds mutate into something else entirely)
A doctor converts sound into organisms. When his creation is reproduced, the townsfolk become trapped in an evolving, terrifying world. (via quietearth.us)
A doctor has invented a strange new technology that converts sounds into protective organisms, which he uses to shield his precious flowers and plants. But when his creation is stolen, reproduced and used on a massive scale by The Authority to shield a town from perceived terrorism, the townsfolk become trapped inside a bizarre, evolving living structure. Copelia zooms in on one story from the entombed city: Engineer Bill Brigmann is divided by the evolving shell from his wife, Agatha, as they share their final intimate days together in a beautiful, yet terrifying world. (even more on watchthetitles.com)
foundation falls apart
(Comes from SLC Punk!, a great movie more relevant now than ever featuring all-time favourite Matthew Lillard (if you grew up on Hackers, Cereal Killer's a fave for sure), kindly recommended by Moiré.)
BOOKMARKS for 2012-07-29 (death on every corner)
- A house that changes shape to survive earthquakes: Architect Fernando Herrera has a solution to the problem of how to build houses that can survive California earthquakes. He's proposing that we make houses out of flexible strands of material that can bend like muscles. When a quake hits, the house will move with the Earth and remain intact.
- Mad scientists create artificial jellyfish from rat hearts: Oh, and the scientists also want to release their zombie rat jelly out into the wild to see if it's capable of gathering food on its own. They didn't specify what kind of food, but based on absolutely nothing, these things will probably latch onto your eyeballs and suck them out of your skull next time you go swimming.
- Man makes $9, working bicycle out of cardbard: There are a number of interesting bike designs made from a variety of materials, but one factor always held true: they're not generally made of cardboard. Well, designer Giora Kariv wasn't having that, so he went ahead and built a bike out of cardboard for $9.
- Brutal Battle Royale TV show could be coming to the CW: The LA Times reports that the CW is in talks to acquire the rights to Takami's novel, about a junior high class forced to battle to the death, which was famously adapted as the bloody 2000 film of the same name. The Hunger Games effectively killed the chances of a US Battle Royale film, but a television series would be a different, and potentially very popular, animal.
- Real-Time Language Translation With UK Developer’s Own Google-esque Augmented Reality Glasses: A UK developer who has been hacking together his own Project Glass has now expanded its functionality to make a real-time speech translator. Will Powell, a 2010 graduate of the University of Oxford, has spent his spare time coupling Vuzix video eyewear with a few Raspberry Pis and an iPhone and iPad to allow for one person speaking one language to talk to someone speaking a different language with tolerable delays between translations. provided by Microsoft’s Bing.
BOOKMARKS for 2012-07-27
- The Orb reimagine ‘Little Fluffy Clouds’ with Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry: The Orb have produced a new version of the 1990 classic, featuring fresh vocals from the inimitable Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry. The reworking replaces the analogue burble of old with acoustic guitars and languid dub-chamber percussion. The Upsetter contributes some freewheeling toasting, most of which sounds like a weatherman having a breakdown.
- AWAKENINGS: AN ANDROID DESIGN PROCESS: doubleTwist Alarm has been an overwhelmingly successful project. It has received universal acclaim, from Google executives to design publications and many Android and gadget websites. Yet, the first question on anyone’s lips was always the same: “Why an alarm clock? Why would you take a swing at something so trivial and small, something so elementary to any cellphone made since the 1980s?”
- Human urine causes high levels of caffeine in Pacific coastal waters: A new study from Portland State University has found elevated levels of caffeine at several sites in Pacific waters, off the coast of Oregon. The researchers speculate that, while wastewater treatment plants are effective at removing caffeine, sewer overflows are still flushing the contaminants out to sea. IS THAT EVEN NEWSWORTHY? COME TO THE SEWERS UNDER MY PLACE BEFORE WE HAVE A DEADLINE AND YOU COULD STAY AWAKE OFF ME FOR A MONTH
- Things You Didn't Know About the Internet (Deep Web): No comment. The Deep Web has always been a fascination and this just came at the right time for a good story brainstorming.
♪ MACHINES OF LOVING GRACE - Burn Like Brilliant Trash
One of the best underdog industrial rock tracks I've heard in a long time. Yes, they are THE Machines of Loving Grace off The Crow soundtrack and yes, they had tracks way better.
FREE DOWNLOAD: Haujobb - Let's Drop Bombs EP (bandcamp)
HAUJOBB just released their latest IDM/electro donationware EP Let's Drop Bombs on Bandcamp. Since their ascent with acclaimed albums like Solutions for a Small Planet or Vertical Theory, their comeback album last year, New World March, was an obvious letdown to oldschool fans - less hypnotic, less rhythmic, more mellow and downtempo and definitely out of sync with the grit-teeth emotional rollercoaster we so came to know. (Still, key tracks like Let's Drop Bombs, Dead Market or Membrane keep the album afloat.) EPs apparently come with better selections of tracks - similarly to the Nomenklatür remix on the previous release (Dead Market EP) -, this one comes with Crossfire (Amnistia Modification), an extended version of LDB and a Horrorist remix for Membrane - enough for a few listenings and quite worthy of support. ROCK!
REVIEW: burnt like brilliant trash (J. G. Barnes - Thieves)
Thieves is exemplary. And problematic. A cyberpunk short film focusing on an interrogation gone completely amok, it's both great for its writing/background story and how J.G. Barnes and his crew tries to deliver the best out of a $300 budget and a crew of amateurs. At the same time - its obvious shortcomings are needlessly emphasized by its promo campaign and its unintelligible intensity. Still, as I said, good writing. Verdict? 4/10.
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REVIEW: god's zoo gone punk (Ebbëto - Analog)
God twitches. Facial muscles and hand-eye coordination goes out the window. The first woman really was created from the first man. Behavioural conditioning probably inspired by Aphex Twin, a grin never completely primordial, nor balancing on the edge of cocaine-induced grit teeth mania. Sleeping. Perchance to dream. God might have been an intergalactic surgeon with faulty implants. If his hands went faulty, what of his brain? Welcome to Ebbëto's Analog, an arthouse experimental sci-fi short coming from Brazil. Verdict? 10/10.
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BOOKMARKS for 2012-07-18 (jones' addiction)
- The Top Thirteen Occult Detectives in Comics:See, Agnes was an occult detective. In service to the Queen and, really, anyone else with the right connections. It’s an honorable, if thankless, occupation. It’s also one of my favorite topics to read about. Luckily, there’s a great deal of crossover in comics. Let’s do up a list, shall we?
- Soviet synthesizer bridged occultism and electronic music: This isn't a new Dorkbot or Maker Faire oddity. It's a nearly forgotten Russian synthesizer designed by Evgeny Murzin in 1938. The synth was named after and dedicated to the Russian experimental composer and occultist Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin (1872–1915). The name might not mean much to you, but it illuminates a long running connection between electronic music and the occult.
- A TRIBUTE TO ZDZISLAW BEKSINSKI' CD: A tribute to one of the darkest painters of the 20th Century, released on the 2 year anniversary of his death in 2005. As his paintings were never titled, all tracks are unnamed as well. Special, exclusive, Dark Ambient tracks, inspired by the Polish artist from: Asmorod, Contemplatron, Desiderii Marginis, Gustaf Hildebrand, His Divine Grace, Hybryds, Inade, Job Karma, Kratong, Necrophorus, Svartsinn and Zenial.
- What may be the world’s first cybernetic hate crime unfolds in French McDonald’s: Steve Mann, the "father of wearable computing," has been physically assaulted while visiting a McDonalds in Paris, France. The Canadian university professor was at the restaurant with his family when three different McDonalds employees took exception to his "Digital Eye Glass" device and attempted to forcibly remove it from his head. Mann was then physically removed from the store by the employees, along with having his support documentation destroyed.
SFW SUPPORT THE CAUSE: black is not the new black, japanese sexpunk is the new black
Above, that's the work of controversional hentai artist and Urotsukidōji creator Toshio Maeda and this, this is planetdamage.com telling you to go support adult indie literary sexpunk zine FULL METAL ORGASM.
Sexpunk is the geometrical focus point in the triangle of cyberpunk futurismo, gonzo brainspit and adult filth. Carrier waves and viral vehicles are mostly Japanese (glowjob-infested Tron porn remakes do not even come close, although Bizarro literature does have a strong flavour in how current sexpunk really is) and most of the stuff I find in this scene come via Brent Millis, editor of the fanzine Full Metal Orgasm and writer of actually intriguing and great materials like BUKKAKE BRAWL (find more on him at junkdna.tumblr.com and also at amazon.com) and also an editor behind Kizuna, a a mixed-genre anthology of short fiction created to help orphans in the disaster-devastated areas of Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima.
So, Brent has already launched his first issue of FMO and he's now campaigning for funds for the second issue - the IndieGoGo campaign site is here, at least go and read what he has to say about it before deciding to spill some well-earned new yens his way. ROCK!
SUPPORT THE CAUSE: LEVIATHAN FOR PRESIDENT!
My long-time friend Sylwia just gave me a heads up on a new Hitachi-related creative competition called Driven Creativity Competition and just by the description of it I could name at least two dozen regular readers who would go on an actual creative spree, so stay wired and heed the words of wisdom below.
Just before you would go work on your own submission, do spare a few minutes of your time and give a vote to Thery's Leviathan, the track above. Not that I would do an endorsement like this regularly, but Thery kicks some symphonic shredding ass, so spread/vote him up NOW! (vote here!)
Entry is free and the competition is for both pros and amateurs across Europe*.
Have your creative drive rewarded with a high-performance G-Technology storage system or €5,000 towards your next project.The categories of the competition are: Short Film, Animation, GoPro Active, Photography and Music.
*The G-Technology Driven Creativity Competition 2012 is only open to residents of United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands and Russia who are 18 years of age and older. Entry is free and you can enter only ONE submission in photography, film or music. Only work created in 2011 or 2012 is eligible. Entries close 24th September 2012, with the category winners announced on the g-technology.eu website.
BOOKMARKS for 2012-07-08
- Alan Moore hates films based on his comics so he's making his own: Moore is working on a new, indie short film series dubbed Show Pieces, and he's teamed up with photographer Mitch Jenkins to make it happen. Considering how vehemently he has opposed films based on his comics, it's definitely interesting to see him branching out into the medium.
- Gateway of the Mind: In 1983, a team of deeply pious scientists conducted a radical experiment in an undisclosed facility. The scientists had theorized that a human without access to any senses or ways to perceive stimuli would be able to perceive the presence of God.
- What Happened to Cyberpunk?: Cyberpunk, in the popular consciousness, conjures a glut of dissociated images: Blade Runner’s slummy urban landscape, hackers in sunglasses, Japanese cyborgs, grubby tech, digital intoxication, Keanu Reeves as Johnny Mnemonic. But it began as an insanely niche subculture within science fiction, one which articulated young writerly distaste for the historically utopian optimism of the medium and, in turn, provided an aesthetic reference point for burgeoning hacker culture, before metastasizing into a full-on cultural trend.
- Bike cross country in your basement with Google Streetview: Biking cross-country is a worthwhile pursuit, but then you’ll have to deal with terrible drivers, rain, bugs, and heat. [Jeff Adkins] over at lowendmac has a neat solution to exploring the country via bicycle without ever leaving the safety and air conditioning of your basement.
(Links sent by @sajtoshu and @honeymooncroon - dunno the source for the goggled monochrome crow lady of ROCK)
FRIDAY FILMS: Analog and Seed
Back in the business from the world's second hottest capital. Look grateful. I'm writing this post during the 2-hour time window when my brainmeat actually delivers production. What I have for you now is films - full-length and trailer-phase -, sent to me by readers of ROCK!
ANALOG tells the tale of a machine traveling in deep-space which has as a primary function the preservation of a living organism: a man. Strange events with biblical analogies begin to occur, disturbing the machine and making it rethink it’s priorities. (more on analog's vimeo page)
I wrote about Analog last March when its trailer was released on QuietEarth - now Ebbeto, mastermind behind Analog dropped me a mail and sent me the link to this wonderful monochrome monogatari - expect longer review when the brain is not overheated - YOU ROCK!
SEED (2012) Teaser Trailer from Tyson Wade Johnston on Vimeo.
Set in the year 2071, where technology has brought mankind to the brink of colonization on a planet named Gaia, one man takes on an isolated mission and discovers unearthly horrors that could bring an end to life on this planet. (more on seed's vimeo page)
This was one sent over by Jeremy Stanz - short's by the same Tyson Wade Johnston who did Exist last year. Looks intriguing and there's certainly a chance of any spacefaring colonizer meeting him/herself in any hostile environment, hope it doesn't come to that point. Or I hope it does! (Thx, Jeremy!)
TRAILER: RZA screenwrites, directs and fights through THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS
Ever dreamed about a real Wu-Tang infused martial arts flic? RZA's latest book The Tao of Wu and his samuraiity in the latest season of Californication somehow gave away the inclination and now it's finally here with a red band trailer - THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS featuring not just the Master RZA but also Russell Crowe, Jamie Chung, Lucy Liu, Dave Bautista and a lot more... dying to finally see this on screen! Synopsis goes like this: In feudal China, a blacksmith who makes weapons for a small village is put in the position where he must defend himself and his fellow villagers.
the damage diary: 2012 so far
Six months passed since the last retrospective post and I'm doing my best to avoid the red alert heatwaves of Hungarian summer in innumerable kinds of shadows both in- and outside the country borders - sort of an ideal time to claw up the brief list of 2012 so far. Includes Scoville attacks, more coffee, more pictures and lots about... frequencies.
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