Friday Ephemera
Hurricanes, seen from space. // Tilt and shift. Make big things seem small. // The ultimate masculine barbecue. // The deep dish pizza vending machine. // “After the liquor was smoky, he filtered out the bacon pieces and chilled the vodka to congeal the fat.” (h/t, Ace.) // Ejector seat tests we have known and loved. // The typewriter sculptures of Jeremy Mayer. // Robert Hughes: American Visions. A history of American art. // Visual migraine, visualised. (h/t, Dr Westerhaus.) // The otherworldly Socotra Island. // Homes that defy gravity. // More dwellings of note. // Fish condo. (h/t, The Thin Man.) // Greensleeves played on a Theremin. (h/t, Coudal.) // Cockatiels perform The Imperial March. // Christina Hoff Sommers on the war against boys. (h/t, Jeff.) // Bruce Bawer on multicultural doublethink. Soaping the vanities of our would-be overlords. (h/t, Cookslaw.) // Stalin and genetics. // Cold War concept cars. // Alan Moore on comics, politics and Watchmen. // And, via The Thin Man, it’s Ms Carmen McRae.
The tilt-shift thing is amazing. I found some more on flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fonu/2830534658/sizes/l/in/pool-18329392@N00/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dontknow/402032375/
http://www.flickr.com/groups/tilt-shift1-2miniatures/pool/
On the subject of Star Wars, you can now a one day course on how to become a Jedi Knight in a UK higher education institution:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/education/2798657/Star-Wars-Jedi-Knights-course-offered-by-Queens-University-Belfast.html
apparently. Its not April yet…
“’I hope to get more people interested in life-long learning,’ Dr Baird said. ‘It is not just about the Star Wars films. It is also about the sociological and political issues that are addressed in the films.’”
Ah, the sociological insights of George Lucas. Bring the weapon to full power.
The cockatiels haven’t mastered the key changes yet.
True. And it doesn’t quite have that ominous and purposeful atmosphere. There is, however, some improvising. In a hepcat free jazz styl-ee.
I bet you have the Imperial March playing when you look through the Guardian.
I keep a 70-piece orchestra on hot standby.
“It’s another article by Arabella Weir. Fire up the timpani, boys!”
http://dmeb.net/dveb/sounds/march.mp3
“the sociological insights of George Lucas”
Do you remember the film THX1138? I recall reading that this was intended to be a savage indictment of American consumerist society. Particularly the scene where the hero is in a very threadbare shop buying coloured cubes. That was the subtle part. The film is generally very confused. The people are forced to take drugs that keep them in a psychedelic haze. Obviously a horrifying prospect to someone growing up in the hippy era. American traffic cop robots beat non-conformists while intoning “We’re only trying to help”. People’s organs are regarded as the property of the state.
Oddly the dystopian elements seem to be coming true thanks to the left.
Mr Lucas can barely make films, let alone good ones. His socio-political insights are even less impressive.
What about the Empire Strikes Back? That wasn’t bad.
Directed by Irvin Kerschner, mercifully.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080684/
Revenge of the Sith…? 🙂
Ahem. http://dmeb.net/dveb/sounds/dontmake.wav
The ’tilt and shift’ photography is awesome. Does anyone know how it’s done?
“Does anyone know how it’s done?”
See links below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilt-shift_photography
http://hame.ca/tiltshift.htm
And there are some handy comparison shots here:
http://www.bentimagelab.com/sg/pages/Smallgantics.htm
bacon vodka… mmmm…
Was ‘The Imperial March” comissioned by the Gild of Evil?
John Williams is one of our longest serving members.
Good use of Imperial March:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8-A8TpZqVk&eurl=http://songun-blog.blogspot.com/2006_03_01_archive.html
Via:
http://songun-blog.blogspot.com/2006_03_01_archive.html
“Throwing snakes at children to make their lives miserable.” A work of genius. Evil genius.
David,
Have you been doing anything in San Francisco?
http://current.com/items/89204971_death_star_over_san_francisco
It’s operation overlord.
Nonsense. That’s clearly a weather balloon.
It looks like an imperial star destroyer to me. 🙂
It’s a weather balloon on a purely diplomatic mission.