Saturday, March 31, 2007

Hermeto Pascoal Lagoon Extended Version

As it fell into my high-frequency posting period some people may not have paid full attention to my post on this great musician that goes by the name of Hermeto Pascoal. Here is a version of his Lagoon Nature Funk Jazz Performance that is extended by a two minute waterdrum session. Unbelievably good!

Friday, March 30, 2007

Photolog pt. I - Sacre Coeur 2007 (copyright Fine)

Somebody told me Sacre Coeur looks nicer from afar than from standing next to it.
I think this picture taken by Fine would state otherwise.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Do It Yourself (DIY) - Cute Knut Homemade

With all the hype on Cute Knut the polar baby in the Berlin Zoo and the sunny weather outside I feel like being close to the summer slump.
In order to better build your own polar bear costume at home get inspired by this guy named Geoffrey Cottenceau.

Monday, March 26, 2007

Missing Berlin - Alec Wowereit

I noticed I'm really missing Berlin when I went to see Martin Scorsese's The Departed the other day and I couldn't help thinking about Berlin's mayor Klaus Wowereit every time Alec Baldwin turned up on the screen as "foul-mouthed inspector Ellerby".

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Post #150: Dynamics, Year Cycles, Multitouch Displays

A year ago I posted something on multitouch displays. Now I stumbled over a very similar presentation found on zedomax.com.
Funnily enough, compared to the original demo, the most impressive enhancement within these twelve months has been the web interface to present the videos online. Nah--jus' kiddin'...
also the music got a little bit more ambient and future-like.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

"Post-", X, Heroes, and Savants

I admire the prefix "post-". Is it classy to claim to be "post-something", e.g. for one's band to play post-rock music, or for one's art to be post-modern? Does it mean that rock music and modern art has been overcome and should therefore be abandoned? I dunno...

Anyways--
I came to watch some episodes of Heroes.
Just as Family Guy is post-Simpsons, Heroes is post-X-Files and post-X-Men.

In principle, Heroes is about the not so original theme of some genetic mutation that allows more or less random people to have superpowers.

As you probably know, savants (i.e., people with extraordinary mental abilities) are a popular topic of TV documentaries and even cinema movies.
So funnily, I also saw a well-made Channel five documentary on number savant Daniel Tammet, who, unlike most other savants, is not obviously socially handicapped and can report on his experiences (found on the Developing Intelligence Blog). The broadcast bears the catchy title "the boy with the incredible brain" and its length is 48 minutes -- just as long as one episode of Heroes.



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Addendum: Wow... As if Tatsuya Ishida magically has read my mind, I stumbled over this great sinfest strip.

Addendum II: Ah yeah, I just noticed how repetitive this blog is: Vilayanur S. Ramachandran shows up in the documentary, too.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Per Anhalter durchs Web 2.0 (German) + Apple Ad (English)

The longer post in preparation has to wait-- this overview over Web 2.0 found on spreeblick is just too funny to be missed (in German only).
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And for English readers to laugh about something:
This apple ad on family holidays (but don't forget).

Monday, March 12, 2007

Hilarious Indexed Blog


I already told you about Jessica Hagy's gorgeous blog some weeks ago. But I can't emphasize enough how great her work is.
Furthermore, she recently got a book deal and there is this nice new video by a guy called Clemes Kogler who neatly animated her index cards.

Saturday, March 10, 2007

As Announced on Thursday's WWShow: Hermeto Pascoal

On Thursday, Gilles Peterson mentioned Hermeto Pascoal, a freaky but ingenious Brazilian composer who "uses nature as a basis for his compositions" and who played with Miles Davis.
Since man's (lost) closeness to nature is a recent recurring theme, I thought, I'd post on Hermeto.
Check out his gorgeous 10 minute gig on the Montreux Jazz Festival 1979 (upper video), which might be hard to follow if you're not into this kind of music.
The funnier 'close to nature' clip, that was also announced by Gilles, is the lower one with him and six other half naked men playing water-filled bottles in a lagoon.



Thursday, March 08, 2007

Revisited: Lacquer -- Behind, LAX2NYC in 4 min.

The high-speed "Paris in a car" movie made me remember an ancient post from a year ago. The Lacquer music video directed by Michel Gondry, which, this time by time lapse, let's you cross the USA in 4 minutes. Plus there is cool music.

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

C'était un Rendez-Vous - Visit Paris in 8 Minutes (a link by Steven)

Visit Paris in 8 minutes getting a high-speed headache.
This short movie is called "C'était un Rendez-Vous" and was shot in 1979. A cool commentary-revisited-making-of hybrid is also available.

Friday, March 02, 2007

Understandable Neuroscience--Art and Brain

Linking two of the last three posts, satisfying people who are interested in neuroscience:

The New York Academy of Sciences hosted a conference with the title "From Mirror Neurons to the Mona Lisa [who, by the way, the French call 'La Joconde']".
Interestingly, they put audiovisual recordings of the presentations online:
Thus, for example Margaret Livingstone, an important researcher in the visual domain who has worked together with 1981 Nobel laureate David Hubel, gave a lecture entitled what art can tell us about the brain (directly to the presentation), artist Deborah Sperber, doing something like 3D Op-Art, presented her work, and entertaining Vilayanur S. Ramachandran out of San Diego, talked about Synesthesia and the Universal Principles of Art (directly to the audioslides).