Two years ago today, Prince Rogers Nelson passed away. He was an American singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, actor, and director, and he was loved the world over for those reasons and more. When Prince died in 2016, California artist Christine Stein painted a piece of plywood in the likeness of the late artist under a shrub outside her Citrus Heights home. Two years later, the shrub is in full bloom:
Prince fans are now making the pilgrimage to visit it, according to KTVU:
YouTuber Spacepig22 worked a little video magic on a scene from Seinfeld, replacing Jerry Seinfeld with Barry B. Benson, the fuzzy little insect he portrayed in Bee Movie:
“This idea popped into my head, and I wanted to see if I could do it. […] I was so preoccupied with whether or not I could, I didn’t stop to think if I should.”
The radio informed me that there were over fourteen thousand lightning strikes last night across Auckland, Northland. Wind speeds reached two hundred kilometers per hour in some areas, and power is still out to over ninety thousand homes and commercial businesses. Mine went out yesterday around 8 p.m.
The house was a little chilly today.
Dad suggested we go see a movie to kill time, before it got dark. We saw A QUIET PLACE, and we both agreed it was well told. When I came home the power was restored to the area, so it was out for roughly 27 hours. Not so bad, especially given what other parts of the country endured. I didn’t really want to gripe about the weather though, just wanted to have a written record of a moment, because it was nice. Doing my nightly/early morning writing under candlelight. Listening to Newstalk ZB radio the following day and then deciding to randomly see a movie with dad with an audience that was on edge throughout (hehe receptive much) and who were probably without power as well. Then coming home to reheat leftovers. No power got me feeling nostalgic, I guess. Used to make blanket forts in my room on rainy days and use the leftover sheets to cover the windows. Sit in the dark and listen to music on my mother’s Sony Walkman. Her mixtapes and the radio. And this funny thing used to happen on rainy days too, when evening came I’d run around the house looking at every windowsill, because I’d always find a small crocodile somewhere, waiting for me to gobble up. Thanks, Dad.
“After 3 months of work and probably more than 500 fails, I’m happy to present you my best video ever. Since magnets and marbles I’ve always wanted to make a big chain reaction in one take with this 2D style ! It’s also a “one marble path” which means you have to follow the same marble for all the tricks (in that case the little blue one.) Because everything is in a tilted plane, the hard part was to find different ways of having the marble riding up along the table (magnets, falling weight, catapult …). To do that, the marble has to be light. And because everything has to be triggered by this little marble, all the tricks are very unstable. Most fails happened when an element fall down earlier than expected.”
Discovered a new artist today while shuffling through random playlists, as you do, and she also happens to be a comic book illustrator and author. The first couple of issues of Lights‘ comic book series will be accompanied by new music from her fourth album, Skin & Earth. Here are the videos I saw today:
Savage is part of a bigger story (literally) as the vocalist’s album coincides with a comic series of the same name that she wrote and illustrated.
“I feel my whole life has lead up to a project like this. It’s a complete convergence of everything I love – music, comics, post-apocalyptic romance, crystals, wine and powerful ladies, all perfectly entwined. It’ll be by far my most care-free and fierce album yet. I think now, more than ever, people need a reason to listen to a whole record, and this is mine,” said Lights.
I had a good laugh with these commercials, especially at the end, so be sure to watch it all the way through. Sakeru gum comes in regular and long. In these TV ads, Chi-chan seems to prefer the long kind. About a dozen ads ran in the series over the past year, and we are lucky to have them all together with subtitles. While technically SFW, it’s full of innuendo that wouldn’t fly so well on American TV. The story takes some turns as Chi-chan battles her temptation and constantly loses, but it ends with a twist you do not see coming at all.
Since we’re on the topic of *cough cough* innuendo, McDonald’s Japan recently sent a startlingly suggestive tweet, encouraging customers with a pep talk, about French fries…
“The longest French fry isn’t necessarily the best French fry.
Short French fries, curved French fries, crispy French fries, and soft French fries. All of them have good points. All of them have people who love them.
As long as you value your own unique flavor, we believe you’ll be able to contribute in your own way. To all new employees, congratulations on your new jobs.
A deep neural network making predictions on live camera input, trying to make sense of what it sees, in context of what it’s seen before. It can see only what it already knows, just like us.
Humanizing the idea that comprehension is reliant upon tangible concepts really reminds me of the climax in the film CONTACT (1997), so if you have yet to see it — spoiler alert —
This site automatically colours your sketches. I played with it for a bit, adding colour for aesthetics sake, and I found its preset styles to be neat. Rather than a serious tool, PaintsChainer is more for fun, in my opinion anyway. Feel free to prove me wrong:
I uploaded some old (really old) pictures and yeah, it works. Please don’t ask me why I drew a character with exposed legs over armour. …I was working on a comic and she was meant to be a weapons courier for this sword, so she had to be a fighter and able to move fast, OKAY! … *cringe.
Why not? But don’t expect these scientists to mention religion even though that’s basically what the simulation hypothesis proposes; a mathematical architect:
Edited by: Emanuel Danneman nobaddays.nu / Full list of credits at Vimeo.
No Bad Days stitched together discussions from scientists, enthusiasts and art forms about the possibility and consequences of our reality being a simulation. “So you’re saying as you dig deeper, you find computer code writ in the fabric of the cosmos.”
If simulation is a word that describes something intelligently created, and reality is a word that describes what is not (for some) and is something that just is (or random cosmic explosion), then why are we as a species intrinsically not content with that “just is” explanation for existence? Could it be that it lends no clue as to the reason why? If we’re all in the same boat, behind the veil of knowing for certain, then why can’t we stop debating and all just be in awe? Maybe it is our predisposition for disparity that makes us human. The ultimate itch for certain truth that advances us forward. Birthing ambition. Ignorance, like curiosity and imagination then, might just be another one of our greatest mechanisms for achieving greatness. But who of us truly likes admitting ignorance. (🙋🏾♂️)
Following after the last post (Video Game Soda Machine Project), I remembered this cool photo series by Hokkaido photographer Eiji Ohashi. Vending machines in Japan are more ubiquitous (found everywhere) than they are in most other parts of the world (like here in NZ), which is no doubt why when I first saw these pictures, I really liked them:
Japan has the highest concentration of vending machines per person (there’s roughly 1 vending machine for every 23 people in Japan) and the fact that the majority of them are outdoors is a testament to the country’s safety and respect for property. Very rarely are these machines ever vandalized.
Juxtaposed with the landscape of Japan, these images are visually striking.
One snowy night, Ohashi was walking outside when he found himself transfixed by the form of snow that had piled up on top of a vending machine.
The collection of Ohashi’s photographs are also available as aphotobook. …Since it is sort of related; I tried Calpis for the first time this year (thanks Shizuka) and I love the stuff!
🎭 