i cant delete blogs

that sucks

Some Serious Next-Gen Shit

Here are a few projects that folks are working on over at The Microdynamic Systems Laboratory - affiliated with Carnegie Mellon University. Interesting stuff:

Magnetic Levitation Haptic Interface

• http://www.msl.ri.cmu.edu/projects/haptic/video/peter2.mpg

An Architecture for Agile Assembly

• http://www.msl.ri.cmu.edu/projects/minifactory/


• http://www.msl.ri.cmu.edu/projects/minifactory/video/moviefull2.avi


• http://www.msl.ri.cmu.edu/projects/minifactory/video/moviefly.avi


• http://www.msl.ri.cmu.edu/projects/minifactory/video/movieside.avi

... and over at MIT's Media Lab (and affiliates)

Touch Sensitive "Skin" for an expressive robot

• http://robotic.media.mit.edu/projects/Leonardo/Leo-touch-movie.html


• http://robotic.media.mit.edu/projects/Leonardo/Leo-intro.html

Bravia Colors, Part II

I'm sure everyone remembers the amazing Bravia ad with all of the colored balls. No? well, take a moment to check it out. There's also a nice write up of how the ad was made.

Well, those folks are at it again with an ad that focuses on color. What happens when you hang a few thousand buckets filled with pain and explosives? A pretty amazing event.

Flatlife

This is one of those little gems that makes you smile. A simple concept - beautiful execution - and a pace that makes you keep watching - it's hard to not just sit there and watch it. Would be cool if one day you could have one of these just running as an entertainment piece - watch life evolve in interesting and unique ways without your involvement. Who knows - maybe some day.

Enjoy:

Jeff Bridges Surprises Me

I recently came across Jeff Bridge's site and was, quite frankly, pleasantly surprised. I can't say I had any specific expectations for an actor's site, but I suppose I wouldn't have been surprised if it had been more like official sites for Leonardo DiCaprio site, Will Smith, Alec Baldwin or Adam West. Instead, Jeff Bridges has decided to actually embrace the medium and break out of a box. Sure, it's hard to read at times. Sure it's got some relatively annoying aspects to it, but overall, it's a really fun site that kept me exploring.

Visit JeffBridges.com

Why I Love Japan

Cultural differences are supposed to be celebrated and embraced, right? Well, here's a good reason to get on the "I love Japan" train. Ever wonder how big of a fish a cat will be able to carry? Wonder no more:

Errol Morris

I was browsing through some blogs and came across this "Aborted Project" on Errol Morris' site. It turns out to be quite a nice little showcase that includes a bunch of cool stuff:

- "The True Strangeness of the Universe" is a short film that Errol did for IBM. Unfortunately it was never finished - it looks like it was on its way to be a nice one.

- "On Tour" -is one in a series of Volkswagon commercials that really demonstrate his style.

- Academy Awards Movie - A nice little piece that I've always thought was one of the best sequences at the Oscars. The editing must have been brutal.

- "Deviled Egg", "Bounty" & "Waiting" are three of my favorite spots. The V/O is perfect, and the moments chosen are incredibly genuine.

True Talent. Need more proof?

If you haven't seen Fast, Cheap and Out of Control, you should.

The Tsunami

I had a dream on Friday that New York was slowly filling with water, likely spawned by the recent increase in environmental media coverage and somewhat alarming predictions from respected sources. What I found to be most frightening was the inevitability of it - the water will keep rising - it was a very slow process that made me (in the dream), continually re-evaluate what seemed safe - how high would you need to go? As the city filled, what would happen to its population? Frightening thoughts - I got over it though, and eventually began imagining the very real experience that millions of people had when the Tsunami hit on December 26th, 2004. I think we've all seen a lot of footage from that event - home videos, aerial flyovers, and before and after comparison photos were all part of the incessant coverage.

With that in mind, I'm not sure that many people saw the footage that Discovery eventually aired and placed into sequence. The whole thing is about 15 minutes long, so I divided it up into two parts. I won't say "enjoy" because it's all pretty awful.

Part 1


Part 2


Imagine the forces required to lift the ocean that caused that event.