National Geographic has a feature article on light pollution, and the social, environmental, and biological effects that the loss of darkness has exacted on humans and non-humans alike. Among the many unforeseen consequences of light pollution: increased incidence of certain types of cancer, birds dying from disorientation in the urban light-jungle, frogs’ and toads’ circadian rhythms.
The highlight of the report, though, is an incredible photo slideshow, which almost tells the story just by itself. Familiar places are transformed into strange, luminous mazes and the wildest corners of the countryside are shown in the glowing penumbra of far off sodium lamps. Another reason I love night photography.
I can imagine some fans having mixed feelings when Radiohead first announced their remix contest. On the one hand, who wouldn’t be excited to hear an awesome track by their favorite band taken apart by far less talented imitators, rearranged and distorted beyond recognition, and completely sapped of its musical potential? On the other hand..well, wait.
Oh of course it wasn’t so bad. I actually loved one of the songs enough to post it, and some other ones were unexpectedly witty, if not exactly as musical as “remix” might imply.
And then you get this (video above — if you’re on Facebook, you’ll have to click “original post” to see). If videos were eligible to win the contest, I would definitely put this as my pick. As creator James Houston puts it, he basically “grouped together a collection of old redundant hardware, and placed them in a situation where they’re trying their best to do something that they’re not exactly designed to do, and not quite getting there.”
That’s exactly what it sounds like, yet it’s something brilliant. You have to see (and hear) it to believe it.
Also check out Kitsune Noir, where I first saw this.
I showed the Autodesk ad to a friend and she said it was kitschy. THAT’s the word I was looking for — the original eye-candy, as German/Yiddish culture enjoyed it. Well, I love kitsch. Here’s another example, unfortunately embodying other principles people associate with kitsch (which I don’t love as much): mass marketing, rampant materialism, and exploitation of Third World labor markets. Too bad it’s still so damn fun to watch.
Probably one of the coolest ads I’ve ever seen, mostly because of the music:
This was at the end of a video of Amy Tan’s TED2008 talk on creativity (mp4 of the talk).
This video is what would happen if advertising firms were run by Kronos Quartet and Philip Glass. There is also a longer version of this spot with different music, and therefore not nearly as cool because of it.
More impressive is this video, also by Autodesk, also about the TED conference. This one has some really nice animation and a sort of Nathan-Fake-inspired soundtrack.
Hi-res versions of the 2nd and 3rd videos can be found at Autodesk’s TED2008 site. I don’t know why they wouldn’t post the 1st one too, especially since it’s the best one by far.
One in the morning isn’t always the best time to embark on programming projects of indeterminate length and scope. I learned that last night when, after having spent most of the afternoon and evening on a take-home midterm for my visualization class, I was beset with the dilemma of the extra credit problem. “Design your own poetry visualization,” along the lines of Poetry on the Road. This is a series of graphic designs commissioned each year by the Internationales Literaturfestival Bremen, designed by a team of professional graphic artists led by Boris Müller. The two things that immediately struck me about these graphics were 1) their juxtaposition of visual complexity and conceptual simplicity, and 2) their obvious requirement of a vastly greater number of hours — and sheer programming virtuosity — than the 24 hour maximum allotted for my midterm.
I must’ve been struck with temporary amnesia, or just had an acute attack of masochism, because I promptly forgot about the 3 problem sets that I had been saving up my sleep-hours for later in the week, and proceeded to bang away at Processing (coolest programming language ever) for the next 3 hours. The result, humble by the standards of any legitimate computer artist — but hopefully not of my exam grader — is this, a grid of colored squares representing “The Wasteland” by T.S. Eliot. I chose the poem mainly because it was long enough to really show patterns in my algorithm, but not so long as to crash the program. (although I would like to run Paradise Lost or The Iliad through, just for kicks.) (more…)
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