The Known Universe

Hint: It's really big.

Prisencolinensinainciusol

Prisencolinensinainciusol, written by Italian artist Adriano Celentano in 1972 and recorded by Celentano and Raffaella Carrà in an American accent. The lyrics are gibberish, but the claim is this what English sounds like to Italian ears. Sounds like English to me.

Alma

Alma from Rodrigo Blaas on Vimeo.

[ Full Screen recommended ]
Written and Directed by: Rodrigo Blaas
Full credits: almashortfilm.com

JP Nataf Viens me le dire

Trichrome

Dutch illustrator and animator, Lois van Baarle made this lovely animated short, Trichrome Blue, a "commercial" for a fictitious company.
Trichrome Blue from Lois van Baarle on Vimeo.

Artist’s Website via Drawn!

Skhizein

Skhizein (Jérémy Clapin,2008) from Stephen Dedalus on Vimeo.

depersonalization disorder

Piano Stairs

I Got Opinions

Greg Johnson's I Got Opinions

Performance Art

Improv Everywhere:

Food Court Musical
Frozen Grand Central
High Five Escalator

and:

Sound of Music Train Station
I Gotta Feeling - Oprah/Blackeyed Peas
T-Mobile Advert
Supermarket Flashmob

And the latest in the giant puppets saga...

Berlin Reunion

A previous one was The Sultan's Elephant (same "little" girl)
video

Hibi no neiro - SOUR

Ella ja Aleksi - Yöjuna Rovaniemelle

I don't know what they are saying but I loves them so much!

Slow Moscow

Slow Moscow from Andrey Stvolinsky on Vimeo.

10th Dimension

The Gossip's Love Long Distance

One eskimO

One eskimO is a terrific indie band from London. Their music is promoted through their website, an animated series and a tie-in game site on Find Little Feather.

Hayao Miyazaki

Last night I went to the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater to watch John Lasseter interview Hayao Miyazaki. I took my family as we are all huge fans (of both men). Miyazaki was charming. And my daughter got to see a real living legend and hero. Great night.

The night began with the original Japanese trailers for Miyazaki's movies. Then John Lasseter introduced some clips, followed by discussion with Miyazaki - more clips, more discussion. Lasseter's introductions and highlight choices really showcased the art of Mayazaki's work - he certainly honored him. Miyazaki, of course, was humble.

Lasseter and Miyazaki have known each other for many years and been dear friends since Toy Story 2 and Miyazaki working on Spirited Away (which he won an Oscar for). Lasseter does not speak Japanese and Miyazaki speaks no English but they both speak the language of animation with a passion.

Lasseter spoke eloquently on hand-drawn animation (which hints at future projects at Disney). Miyazaki said he tried some computer animation in his films but gave it up as too time-consuming (which we are all thankful for - leave that to those who have mastered it, Miyazaki is master of the hand-drawn). He also talked about how every character reflects someone he knows and the friends he makes his movies for.

One funny thing was when he was asked about his hobby after mentioning he had one. He asked, "I don't have to talk about that, do I?" He rubbed his forehead and admitted that he draws manga for a model airplane magazine. He's a big model airplane buff. To come here to the U.S. he asked for a month off from the magazine. Funny to think of Miyazaki asking for time off from a small magazine considering the world-impacting accomplishments he's responsible for.

Thank you Miyazaki-san for your grace and generosity of the evening and for all you have done in the art of animation. And thank you John Lasseter for hosting so well and that you, too, have done in the art of animation.

Correction

Two often-made mistakes:

"For all intensive purposes."

Well, that just doesn't make sense. But when you say it the right way, it's easy to hear how this mistake can be made. It should, of course, be "for all intents and purposes." [link]

"She really thinks that? Oh, she can be so diluted."

Yes, well, diluted means to make less concentrated, thinner, lessen the force of or decrease in value. Almost sounds right but not quite. The word you want is "deluded." When you are deluded you are deceived, tricked, or mislead. And, properly, what you probably mean is self-deluded. "Deluded" is a close cousin of "delusional." [link]

Are there any mistakes you know of that you hear a lot?

Machu Picchu Post

Machu Picchu Post from Machu Picchu Post Team on Vimeo.

Peng Peng

Takashi TaniGuchi'a Mr. Ando of the Woods

Asperatus

Listening to PRI's The World yesterday and they talked about a "new type" of cloud, an asperatus - looking like the ocean's surface upside-down. The story is here. More asperatus clouds on the Cloud Appreciation Society's site. Check out more pictures of clouds too.

Beatles Rock Band

Had an embed here but it was pulled so go directly to the site and enjoy!

Xbox 360 game, Beatles Rock Band animated trailer. The game doesn't really look like this but this trailer is fantastic. Made at Passion Pictures with the Gorillaz animators. Enjoy.

Links

• Play Him Off Keyboard Cat
• Native American Place Name Meanings
• The Shining (Romantic Comedy)
• Westside Story (Horror)
• Obama - Ninja swords, rapping, fighting Darth Vader

serendipity

This robot wants to be free.

So does this one.

Niel Gaiman

Mr. Gaiman is a true magician of words. His writing is amazingly well-suited for reading out loud. His children's books are gifts to child and parent alike. I read Coraline to my 8-year old daughter and she declared it the best book ever. For weeks she pretended to be Coraline. The movie is spectacular as well - one of the few movies I've seen after reading the book that has left me satisfied. We have just finished reading The Graveyard Book (which Gaiman beautifully patterned after The Jungle Book). It is gorgeous, scary, and inspiring. Because of it, my daughter wants me to read The Jungle Book now.

Here are a couple of Neil Gaiman stories on the 'Net. The first one is a poem made into a children's book and was written for his god-daughter Tash, Tori Amos' daughter. The second one is a Neil Gaiman story, designed by the great Gahan Wilson and directed by Steven-Charles Jaffe.

Mock Duck

Enjoy fine cuisine over at Mock Duck.

Horsehead

Velma

I was always hot for Velma from Scooby Doo. - from Qiqo

Awesome Cat

Whose Father Was He?

This is a 5-part story - a blog by Errol Morris that appeared in The Times. It's about a soldier who died at Gettysburg, how he came to be identified, the stories of his descendants, the charity and villainy involved, the connections made with history and those concerned with history, the meaning of a life and a death and why it matters to us. Absolutely gripping. - LINK

Birdsong Radio

Powered by Birdsong Radio

Fifties Cuisine

Can lime Jello be any more delicious than with celery, olives and cheese?

Snow Bunnies with Swords

source unknown

Sith

source unknown

Herr Yeti

source unknown

What?

source unknown

Guilty

Red Riding Hood

Slagsmålsklubben - Sponsored by destiny from Tomas Nilsson

Modok

I contributed to March Modok Madness. Modok is mean and nasty. My Modok... might have something to hide, hm?

Phonies

I really don't know...

Desktop Toys

My Desktop Toys: Honey Baby by Gary Thinking and Scavengers, Ellie by Kathie Olivas.

Graceful Graces

Women Dancing on Beach (Bettmann/CORBIS)
Original caption: Graceful Graces. Long Beach, California, July 14, 1933: Aerial dancing. Dorothy Keane, Adeline Angove, and Bernice Beck.

Prayer

Comfy

Sita Sings the Blues

watch Sita Sings the Blues online

Lovely Ladies of Television

Angela Cartwright of Lost in Space

Angela Cartwright of Lost in Space and Veronica Cartwright of Daniel Boone

Dawn Wells of Gilligan's Island

Yvonne Craig of Batman

---

If you're my age, male, and watched television, you might have had a crush on these lovely ladies too. 8x10 glossies, lovingly signed to me. I'm so lucky.

Morse Code

-- .. -.- . / .-. .-.-.- / -... .- -.- . .-. .----. ... / -.. ..- -- .--. -.-.--

Translate to and from Morse Code.

Where is Mike Baker?

This is not me.
Nor is this.
This isn't either.
Not this.
Not this.
This isn't me.
This is me!
And this.

Bettie Page

My illustration
Official site
Bettie history (with modern photo)
Photo archive
Signature look
The Bettie page

IBM's Big Blue

whirrrr-whirrrr click-click-click

depravity

i forget where this came from

Mi Familia

wife, sister, daughter, sister

Moon Mistress

Greg Broadmore of Weta NZ

Fall

via ffffound

Transparent Head

fish with transparent head

Coraline

I read Coraline to my daughter a couple of months ago. It was instantly one of our favorite books. We were very excited about the movie. It did not disappoint in any way. It's very rare to find a movie that so well preserves the spirit of the book. We will be enjoying both the book and the movie again soon. I recommend you do so as well.

Here I did a design of "The Cat" from the book and used it as a retro-pulp book cover. See my original post on my art blog. I designed the book cover and title, using pictures of a button and needle I posterized, then I used the book texture and instructions found here. I was partly inspired by Spacesick's wonderful I Can Read Movies series. There's also a series by M. S. Corley that's quite wonderful. And enjoy the art of those that actually contributed to the movie.

Here's the best part... The author of Coraline, Neil Gaiman himself, praised my book cover! That was a major rush. Got lots of visits from fellow fans. He just added my name to a blog post as well! Seems the Internet has made illustration almost a performance art. :)

Coeur de Pirate

A very pretty CD from a wonderful group from Quebec. I don't speak French but it doesn't matter. The myspace page. The CD.

Ukrainian Fighting Women

Ukrainian Fighting Women

Harpo and Amelia

Harpo Marx and Amelia Earhardt, via pancakes barbara

Her Morning Elegance / Oren Lavie

Wikidump

Wikipedia Zen

The Fist Bump
Titles (Mr., Dr., Lord, Messiah, etc.)
The V Sign ✌
List of Terms of Endearment
Art of War

Red

Beer! Oh, yes, I love beer. Here I am, with a freshly bottled beer I made at a brew pub with my best bud Bob and my awesome dad-in-law, Steve. It tastes great. The brew pub is Brewbaker's in Huntington Beach, California, just a short drive from my home in Long Beach. They make some really great bread from the grains you use for brewing after you make the beer. They also make some really great pretzels. My daughter, Jasmine, got some pretzel dough and made some there. We made the beer, put it in a barrel, and came back 2 weeks later to bottle it. The beer there is great and so are the owners, staff, and patrons. We had a fantastic time and will be going back again soon.

Check out the pictures of our brewing experience.

Bob Jones

Bob Jones! This weekend my friends, family and I made a paper mache monster. His name is Bob. Bob Jones. He's a bit nerdy, a bit geeky, super friendly. An engineer working for Area 51. Why is he so happy? Because he's going home. How? Well, this particular monster travels by converting himself to pure energy, best accomplished through fire. Yes. We're going to burn him. In a big bonfire at the beach. It'll be a great party! What's it called?

The First Annual Burning Bob!

It's like Burning Man, except he's Bob. He'll be back, in some form, each year, to be burned again. We're thinking sometime in June. The guests will come in their favorite nerdy-geeky outfit. Geek Squad? Klingon? Storm Trooper? Pokemon Master? The sky's the limit. We love nerds. We are nerds. We're cool. But we're nerds. Yay!

Stay tuned for further developments. In the mean time, enjoy THE MAKING OF BOB!

A Place to Dump

A new blog will clear my head. At least, that's what I hope. I have a few blogs but they all have a specific purpose. This blog's purpose is to provide a place for me to dump all of the stuff that doesn't fit in elsewhere. Stuff about me, my town, my friends, etc. Who will read it? Maybe friends, a few people that are interested in me... doesn't matter. I just need to clear my head. So... here we go!