Stop motion light play

I've been meaning to re-post these for the last couple of weeks - they're a pair of cool stop motion light animations I saw on Gizmodo (which they of course posted on from somewhere else). Click on through to the Vimeo pages for the full artist's information.

Nowhere Near Here from Pahnl on Vimeo.

Subcarpati - Am crescut pe la Romana from z00x on Vimeo.

Silly Jokes

The funniest thing I have seen today

I have a cold and feel horrible. Yet I am still at work - this does not compute.

projectors and pretty lights

A video of a light show at the Vimeo Festival and Awards afterparty last week. The light show is pretty cool, although the music is a bit crappy quality and doesn't quite sync up.

Amazing Building Mapping - Vimeo Festival from Dan Ilic on Vimeo.

Now get back to work, you slackers!

Guitar Hero Metallica

So I clocked GH: Metallica in hard over the weekend - I was a little disappointed by how easy the final track (The thing that should not be) was, but the excellent pain of completing One on hard more than made up for it.

What it really did though, was remind me how much I love Metallica! I've had a real craving to listen to them the last two days as a result, but I don't have any of their albums (I had a bit of a boycott against them after they made Napster cancel my account years ago in the whole Napster v Metallica thingy). I think this is something I might have to rectify at some stage.

The one track that has really been spinning round and round in my head, due to a combination of the weekend's gaming and the frenetic pace of work at the moment is Battery - what an awesome song!

I look like an idiot listening to this stuff at work, because I can't quite stop my head from bouncing a little to it. Speaking of work, it's been getting pretty challenging recently, but I've actually been really enjoying the uptick in pace - makes me feel like I'm squeezing everything out of the day

I would also like to share this excellent video that came to me via Glennboi and the H dog.

More awesome than a double rainbow...

Friday video art

Another lunch time browsing find, this is a result of the "lets colour" project. And it's awesome.

Via Gizmodo.

Hopefully that's some colour to get you through your day. Quite frankly, I cannot wait for mine to be over, thank feck it's Friday.

PS: Pulled the trigger on a home loan application yesterday morning. I was pretty sure we weren't going to bother with a broker and just go to the bank, but we took a last attempt at a broker a colleague of Dana's recommended. Long story short, he was excellent, and I think we got a really good deal on the loan. I cant wait until the pre-settlement inspection on Monday!

Eat them up, yum yum.

Found this video in a hazy, post luncheon haze today. Stop motion pacman on a large scale.

In other news, it turns out Sri Lankan food is really excellent. I'm so full, I just want to take a nap.

Bleep'n'skweep music

I've been listening to Ratat's LP3 and LP4 today while trying to get my head around a particularly convoluted piece of work, and it has helped me no end. The mixture of weird ambient sounds, bleeps and skweeps has been just the ticket. It helps that there are no lyrics to distract either. Here are two of their latest album, LP4:

Check out cartoon anti-drug video some joker posted with the second track - made me chuckle a little.

The music reminds me of one of my favourite scenes from Spaceballs

They don't make comedy as good as that any more...

We've seen a drop in all three measures of workforce engagement

Hello! Fancy seeing you here - it's been a while, and I bet you thought I'd forgotten all about you.

This is simply not the case - I've just been swamped at work and have been going through a massive reading phase recently. I've been averaging around 3 books a week since about mid-August. I blame this on the staycation and also Dana ordering a lot of books off the internets. I'm starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel in terms of books at home though, will need seek out other pursuits. Or buy more books...

The work side of it is a little bit interesting. By rights, working in a policy area that both sides of Parliament are swearing blue that they won't be active in, it should be really quiet and cruisey in the caretaker period. But unfortunately, this has not been the case, due to a couple of things. The first is that the time frames for the issue that I'm working on are really tight, and there's not that much room to stop and do nothing. In addition, the time frame is being set by Fair Work Australia, the federal industrial tribunal, which doesn't take that much notice of elections.

The second is that we had a re-structure, and my direct supervisor took a voluntary redundancy. As she wasn't replaced, I've had to take a few extra duties.

None of this is really that exciting to you, I'm sure. Suffice to say, I had a whole heap of work to do and now, I'm in post election limbo, with much less to do. It's actually pretty demoralising not knowing who I'm going to be working for, and not being able to get working on it. Don't get me wrong, we've done a lot of prep for either way, but there's not much more that I can do without actually having a Government.

The funny thing is, everyone else where I work reached this point weeks ago. A friend summarised it with a lol public servants:

Hopefully it will all be over soon, but to be honest, for the sake of the next three years, I think I'd rather just have them go back to the polls and someone get a full majority. You think this whole independents horse holding the power thing is bad now, wait until there's some essential bill that Parliament can't pass because Bob Katter's a nut bar in a cowboy hat. It'll be double dissolution before you can say "how's ya father" and we'll be right back where we are now.

Another six weeks of annoyance vs. three years (and probably less) of stagnation in the Parliament? Shit choices either way really. Although I guess if you go in for politics generally and it means the other side (which ever that is to you) doesn't get their way for another three years, there might be some consolation there.

Bleugh.

In other news, I'm going to Foreshore in November with Dana and kindred spirits Karla and Esa. It costs a mint, but I'm looking forward to a few bevvies in the sun in a nice location and some tuuuuunes. I'm also looking forward to laughing at Tiesto.

"OHAI2U RAVERS, I ARE NUMBER 1 DJ LOL!!!1!1"

To balance out the Tiesto, here's some Noisia and Phace. I've been listening to Phace and Misanthrop's 'From Deep Space' this afternoon, and it's keeping me positive.

The sample 20 seconds in to this till about a minute always makes me smile. Also making me smile in that particular clip are all the ravers caught making made nightclub faces. Somebody make some noise (or some such) for the DJ!

To round it all out, here's an absolutely awesome clip that was on Giz a little while back of some stop motion animation. I also dig the soundtrack. Hey Daver, this one's for you (no play dough though).

Marketing works

I'm so very looking forward to the Tron Legacy movie, their slick advertising and flashy special effects have me salivating already!

I'm waiting until December with baited breath! In the mean time, I think I'm going to try and find a copy of Tron - I wonder if it's available on blu ray...

Skylight

Popped past the house this afternoon - unfortunately there were people working on site (industrious buggers) so we didn't get to check out the paint job that was going up last time we popped by. Things are coming along nicely around the site though - I think all the buildings are just about water tight, but some of the garages are not quite there yet. Some of the internal roads are going in as well, which makes the place that much more finished.

From the outside, there were two new additions to our unit that were of note - they've installed the skylights! I was quite happy to see this, as the en suite and the laundry were looking quite dark on our last visit. I was also pretty happy that there is one installed in the laundry - I haven't checked in a while, but I didn't think there was one on the plan!

Things are coming along nicely anyway. I still think they're going to be pushing things to get everything finished this month, but I can always hope. The silver lining, as always, is that the longer it takes, the more money we'll have in our pocket when we're ready to go. Barring some horrible intervention, it will certainly be ready by December, when the contract stipulates it must be ready, and we start being in danger of missing out on the first home buyer's boost (touch wood). However, I'd be lying if I said I was happy at the prospect that we might have to wait longer than the end of August to move in.

Anyway, the completed skylights remind me of this track from the Blade Trinity soundtrack:

 I enjoyed it, even if it does sound like futuristic elevator music...

Anyway, I'm going to get back to enjoying a lazy quiet weekend - have been feeling under the weather all week, and I think being a hermit for a weekend is the only way to go.

I leave you with a little video a found care of Google Reader's recommended feeds. It's a video made by a student of the University of Hannover in Germany - check the original Vimeo post for the full details. Anyway, it's a CG projection of Super Mario Bros on to a wall.

Super Mario Bros. from Andreas Heikaus on Vimeo.

BIG BANG BIG BOOM

This was a lunch time Google Reader Play find - hasn't had a bajillion hits on YouTube yet, so I thought I'd repost it here. This is BIG BANG BIG BOOM, a wall-painted animation by artist Blu.

The YouTube description calls it "an unscientific point of view on the beginning and evolution of life ... and how it could probably end."

I like it, but I can't even begin to imagine how much time and paint went into it!

PS: no updates on the house, haven't had time to make it up to the site recently.

Couch update

We put some more thought into the couch situation on the weekend and visited a few stores. I'm much more positive about the whole thing. For starters, it looks like we could maybe still get the couch we wanted in the first place, but just in a slightly different configuration. Instead of the L shape with a two seater and a three seater arm, we could go down the parth of a three seater with a chaise on one site. This would still get quite a bit of seating (and crucially, allow 2 people to lie on it at the same time) and fit into our living room.

However, we also rather liked the alternatives available at King furniture as well. Those funky modular jobbies are actually looking rather attractive, especially with some of the cool fabrics they come in.

One thing is certain after the weekend's shopping - there are whole warehouses of terrible couches out there that I never want to go near. I think we've narrowed down the choices quite well, now it's just a matter of refining and ordering.

It has also not become apparent that there will be at least a six week wait between couch purchase and one turning up. This may put a crimp in our original plan not to order one until we move in...

Heh, crimp....

Has everybody seen this or what? WHERE'S THE GODDAMN ARNIE AT?

I saw this in an ad this afternoon (well targeted, google ads) and it's blowing my mind. I don't know what to make of it.

I mean I'd heard they were remaking the original Predator with Adrien Brody instead of Arnie as Dutch, but had dismissed it as hyperbole. It seems like it's not a total remake, and I'm actually rather glad of that.

But holy crap! Lawrence Fishburn!? The "are you a mexi-can or a mexi-can't" dude (aka Danny Trego)? EPIC LOLS!

The best part? The cast list on IMDB lists characters called "Bezerker Predator Black Super" and "Dog Handler Super Predator".

HA!

PS: I'm a Mexi-can!!!

ABSOLUTE GENIUS!!!1!1!!eleven

The frequency of posts on here is getting rather low due to the new job - I actually turn the majority of posts out during my lunch time or other quiet periods at work, so being really busy taking new things on puts a real restriction on it.

Anyway, we had a "site visit" over the weekend and I do have lots more to say about the house, but I just don't have enough time to post it properly now. I'll get on to it when I have the time and inclination. For now, I leave you with a video that a mate forwarded on today.

It combines two of my favourite things - Streetfighter and white trash TV. Enjoy.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Eat them up yum yum

Today's tune to get you through the morning is "Pacman (Power-Pill Remix)" by Power-Pill (aka Richard D. James, aka Aphex Twin). There's a couple of different uploads of this tune on youtube, but only the one below features a mish mash of Tron clips.

Ahhhhh yeah. Makes me want to go and watch the original Tron again. To help get you in that same nostalgic mind set, here's a blurry 1982 trailer of the original Tron:

For extra laughs, here's the description on the youtube post:

FrankSchenk6 — February 07, 2008 — Kevin Flynn is a former employee of the software corporation ENCOM, now running a arcade. Flynn has been trying to hack into ENCOM's mainframe computer to find evidence that ENCOM's senior executive Ed Dillinger stole four video games he created. But Dillinger's supercomputer "Master Control Program" foils Flynn's efforts and dictates and controls most of the computer systems. One night, Flynn's former girlfriend Lora and her boyfriend, ace computer programmer Alan Bradley helps Flynn break into ENCOM to shut down the MCP with Alan's security program "TRON". But MCP uses Lora's matter transmission program and converts Flynn into data and sends him into the computer. Flynn finds himself in a electronic world ruled by the MCP and his evil chief henchman Sark, where computer programs are the alter-egos of their creators and are forced to compete in gladiatorial games. With help from Tron, a heroic and fearless security program and his lover, Yori, Flynn sets out destroy the MCP and help Tron liberate the system from the MCP's control, by destroying the MCP is Flynn's only way of returning to the real world.

Gold! I have to admit though, I didn't realise this movie was quite as old as all that. If it came out in 1982, it's older than I am, which makes my nostalgia for it a little misplaced. Whatever, it's still awesome.

So awesome that Disney are remaking it in 3D. 3D!!1!1!11one!!1eleven

Stereo sound, straight to your earholes!

The trailer actually looks pretty good, despite the reliance on the 3D gimmick. Unfortunately embedding is disabled on the clip, so you'll just have to follow this link here to watch it. I recommend it. I really hope it ends up being good.

Edit: I'm totally going to make that pacman track my ringtone!

Art imitating life

I saw a snippet of this video during my lunch time browsing in a short doco posted on Gizmodo about pixel art. The doco itself wasn't hugely interesting, but some of the pixel artwork that it shows off looked quite interesting, especially the animations.

This one took my attention, because I've always loved side scrolling platform games. The story follows the life of the hero, in brief, after he beats the boss and rescues the princess.

The other art that caught my attention in it was the rather excellent Pixels by Patrick Jean, which did the rounds a little while back. Pixels is well worth the watch, if you haven't seen it already.

Now, get back to work, you slackers!

Schwarzanegger Friday

This demands posting - prepare youreself for 10 minutes of Schwarzanegger glory.

I only wish they'd included a horse or camel punch in there...

Props to Patto for forwarding this on (and less props for the Age for showing it to him.

PS: have just about finished experimenting with twitterfeed. I'm going with a partial implementation - while it's good to have automated posting, I don't think everything I post on this is worth spamming on fb. Twitter I don't really give a shit about, so that will take it all.

Edit: Matthew, I hope you are reading this. MATTHEW MATTHEW MATTHEW!

I heart Hot Chip...

... or at least the two albums of theirs that I've got (The Warning and Made in the Dark). I just saw a clip on youtube of theirs that I was not impressed with at all. Sometimes it feels like a small betrayal when a band I really like releases an album that I don't like, but I guess I can't hold it against someone if they don't want to make the same tracks over and over.

Anyway, enough of that mindless drivel. Here's a link to a clip of theirs I really do like - Over and Over. Unfortunately, the emedding has been disabled (curses!). I'm using it to relax my mind before netball tonight, with the possibility of another ignominious defeat.

Friends and accquaintances on twitter and facebook may have noticed that these posts and my google reader shared items are now being pushed regularly to facebook and twitter with twitterfeed. It's something I'm trying out at the moment. Please let me know if it's annoying, otherwise you're likely to keep seeing it. It does rather help having it automated, and it makes me feel like I'm not neglecting facebook when I'm sharing all the interesting things I read on google reader instead. Why should I worry about neglecting fb? That I cannot tell you, but still I do.

Rather than bore you with the details of my rather mundane week, I shall instead share a rather groovy video I saw on Gizmodo.

ENVISION : Step into the sensory box from SUPERBIEN on Vimeo.

In other news, I've spent some time with a measuring tape and ordered a custom shirt from http://www.indochino.com.au/. I'm interested to see how it pans out. The cost was around US$99, which isn't too far off what I pay for a nice cotton business shirt at the moment (less on sale). I'm going to write it up for the office newsletter as well, which I may well repost up here at some stage.

Now...off to netball!

Sometimes everything happens at once

Have been really busy at work with developments on a few things I work on. It's good to be busy again, but my head has been swimming a little bit trying to keep up. Watching the below video may help to put you in the same mind state:

On top of that, we've been meeting with a mortgage broker recently trying to work out which home loan to go with, and on top of that how we want to structure our finances when we get the house. While the second half of the sentence is still very much up in the air (making the first problematic as well) we did come to a very good conclusion while at the broker - we have enough money saved up now for a 20 per cent deposit (or for those who read my earlier musings on the subject, an LVR of 0.8)! This is very exciting, as it means that we don't have to worry about paying mortgage insurance, which was looking like at least $5k.

Looks like all that saving has been paying off! I'm glad, because I'm getting sick of tinned soup for lunch, and I'd hate to think that my tastebuds had been suffering for nothing.

However, it does mean we'll have less money left over to pay for all the other things that need to happen when we get in there. Our previous calculations had left us with plenty left over for the new couch we want to buy, the curtains, the aerial and the garden. It looks like I will be eating canned soup for lunch for a while longer.

The other alternative is that we opt for a loan where the lender takes a current market value of the property, rather than the contract price. While I had previously thought this was a fairly common place scenario, according to our broker, it actually narrows the choice of lenders quite a bit.

Decisions, decisions!