Japanese artist, Kenji Yanobe, has created the toddler of all toddlers. The 24 ft robot goes by the name of Torayan and supposedly, will only respond to the orders of a child’s voice. Yanobe has described him as “the ultimate child’s weapon”. We can only hope that he doesn’t learn to walk, cry or become sentient.
Awww, what a cute little guy!
Getting fussy...
...getting angry...
... completely pissed off...
... fully realized satanbot.
Tagged Art, Baby, Fire-breathing, giant, Japanese, Kenji Yanobe, Robot, Torayan
I stumbled upon these wonderful old video clips of The Mike Wallace Interview from the late 50’s. So far I’ve watched interviews with Salvador Dali, Ayn Rand, Frank Lloyd Wright, Eleanor Roosevelt and Margaret Sanger. But there are many more, including: Henry Kissinger, Pearl Buck, Aldous Huxley and Kirk Douglas.
Not only are the subjects of the interviews fascinating, but the videos themselves are incredible and a wonderful slice of history. I especially love the earlier videos where Mr. Wallace starts things off by saying, “ My name is Mike Wallace. The cigarette is ___________ (usually Philip Morris but sometimes Parliament).” After which he lights up and then launches into a promotion for the cigarette.
Below is his interview with Margaret Sanger, leader of the birth control movement and founder of Planned Parenthood. I think the sound is misaligned so you may want to click through on the link above. Or to view the full library of Mike Wallace interviews click here.
Posted in Random Interests
Tagged Ayn Rand, Eleanor Roosevelt, Frank Lloyd Wright, Interview, Margaret Sanger, Mike Wallace, Salvador Dali
Glass Frog is the common name for the amphibian family Cochranella, of which there are about 60 species. In most glass frogs the skin appears as somewhat opaque lime-colored frosted glass. However, a number have transparent skin (usually on the torso) exposing such organs as the heart, liver, digestive tract and eggs (in females). Species range in size from 1.2 inches – 3.0 inches and are found in many countries including, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Columbia, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua and Mexico.
Nature’s not the only one creating transparent skin in frogs. In 2007, Japanese scientists genetically engineered this frog’s see-through skin, which could help to reduce the amount of dissections preformed and create more humane studies on the frogs. The scientists advise to not expect a see-through mammal anytime soon, since their skin differs so much from that of an amphibian and the current technique would not work.
Posted in Nature, Science, Animals, Earth
Tagged Centrolenidae, Glass Frog, Science, transparent
I’m not really sure how or why this happened, but I’m pretty glad it did.
Futomomo Satisfaction (futomomo = thigh) is a Japanese 10-piece band with a wonderful gimmick: 3 bikini-clad girls, front and center, rock’n their trombones. The girls skillfully execute covers from a wide array of genres, from punk to jazz. Even so, would the band be getting this much attention if they were a bunch of hairy dudes? Probably not. But, they’re not. So we will watch and we will be delighted!
This first song sounds a bit like a Man Man song. Actually, I’d be delighted to see Man Man play in bikinis too.. especially that dreamy Honus Honus and his stupendous mustache. In fact, I think the mustache deserves a bikini of its own.
Ahhh, but I digress. Here’s a fun little clip from Futomomo’s SXSW show.
Vodpod videos no longer available.Posted in Music
Tagged bikinis, Futomomo Satisfaction, Honus Honus, Japanese, Man Man, Music, SXSW
Mademoiselle Caroline Rivière (1806) by Ingres is one of my favorite paintings. I can’t wait to return to Paris and see it at the Louvre.
Meet my friend, Shrimp.
Shrimp has been hiding in the deep waters off of south western Australia, sporting polka dots and a mohawk. He only wants two things: to be 80’s punk and to acquire a rightful name.
Anna McCallum, the PhD student who discovered the new species, has opted to auction off the rights to name him. The money will be donated to the Australian Marine Conservation Society.
The cute little guy belongs to the genus Lebbeus. The species name, which the winning bidder will chose, will follow after Lebbeus and finish with a Latin ending (“i” to signify a male is being honored or “ae” to signify a female is being honored).
CLICK TO BID
As Tim Winton, an AMCS patron, states on their website:
“Who wouldn’t love this spotty little bugger? Who wouldn’t want their name on it, and what kind of Australian could resist shelling out for the privilege of naming a crustacean? It’ll be a stampede, so get your bid in early and go hard.
Bidding will continue on eBay through Wednesday, April 1st.
At the time of this post, the current bid was at AU $3,050.00. I guess Mr. Winton was right!
The Crystal Stilts are responsible for one of my favorite albums of last year. I hijacked this video of them playing Crippled Croon off of Pitchfork TV.
Vodpod videos no longer available.
I was delighted to happen upon Keith Loutit’s videos last week. Keith is an Australian photographer and maker of short films, specializing in tilt-shift. Before this fortuitous stumble, I had never heard of tilt-shift. At first I thought his videos were created through hours of model manipulation using stop motion. Instead, tilt-shift uses focus distortion techniques to create a shallow depth of field, giving the illusion of miniatures.
I’m crazy about all of Keith’s video’s, but ultimately chose Bathtub IV to post because there are two parts that I’m simply infatuated with. Around time-marker 00:41, a fisherman falls into the water. The video soon cuts away, but returns again at 00:57 to show the miniature figure being thrust around by choppy waves and dragged out to sea. It’s captivating and a little terrifying once you realize that this was a real person (participating in a rescue training exercise). A few moments later, at time-marker 01:22, there is a stunning shot of a rescue helicopter floating backwards into the air and then stalling like a fat bumblebee surrounded by an atmospheric halo. Then suddenly, it zips over the water in a stealthy zig-zag.
Vodpod videos no longer available.My next two favorite videos of his are The North Wind Blew South and Bathtub III. The North Wind is a beautiful and swaying video (coupled with a perfectly matched audio track), in which ocean tides and cloudy skies move in ever-changing directions. The Bathtub III pulses and vibrates, treating the ships in Sydney Harbor like oil on a hot skillet. Small figures lounge on a swimming platform, periodically jumping into the water and propelling themselves in frantic loops around the harbor. All of this to a track that samples the Knight Rider theme song. It’s kinda brilliant. I highly recommend watching them both.
If after this you’re still hungry for tilt-shift, you can purchase one of Keith’s still shots.
I’ve been obsessing over these Free Spirit Sphere’s since I first saw them a few months ago. My idea of heaven would be to throw my iPod, a book and my bunny, Radar, in a backpack and retreat to this little wooden ball for a week. She and I would put our little paws and noses to the window and watch bluebirds sing and chipmunks play. Once in awhile we would hang out the door and drop treats to the grizzly bears. We will have our day! Yes, Radar, we will have our day!
The spheres can be purchased or rented. The two rental spheres are located on private land on Vancouver Island, BC near Qualicum Bay. They are nestled into 5 acres of forest and close to a large pond.
Eve is the older and smaller of the two ladies. She is 9′ in diameter and will accommodate up to 300 lbs of human. She does not have a kitchen, only a counter and cupboards. Eve goes for $125/night or $199/2 nights.
Eryn is almost twice as big and can sleep up to four. She has 5 windows and a skylight. She also has a small kitchen including: sink, microwave, small fridge and dishes. She goes for $175/night or $299/2 nights.
A composting toilet is located at the base of the spheres and other facilities are located across the pond, such as: showers, sauna, washrooms, a kitchen and barbecue area with a covered deck.
If you want to purchase one of these for your very own, they’re not cheap. A ready-made wooden sphere will cost you about $150K . The fiberglass version is a little more in my price range at about 1/3 of the cost (and at 1/3 of the charm, in my opinion).
Telepathe is a Brooklyn-based electro-pop duo. From what I’ve learned, their style has changed and improved quite a bit since the emergence of Dave Sitek (TV on the Radio) as their producer. Their new album, Dance Mother, incorporates tribal drums, dubstep beats and spaced out ambient sounds with shimmering synths. Telepathe’s exploratory nature, coupled with lyrics like Trilogy’s “Let’s make out in the snow. I’ll fuck you up, you ought to know” make them interesting even when they’re not completely on target.
In Your Line
http://www.mediafire.com/?wmwjwzjdw11Trilogy: Breath of Life, Crimes and Killings, Threads and Knives
http://www.mediafire.com/?z0buynnqjymOh and Andy Milonakis’ description of them is pretty hilarious.
Battle Bunny 