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March 29, 2005
Wing Is Amazing.
There is a Chinese Florence Foster Jenkins in New Zealand. Her name is Wing. Maybe you, like me, saw her on South Park the other day.
Her website demands you visit it. Especially since it also features samples of her vast and varied repertoire.
I think she's adorable.
Posted by Ben at 11:44 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
New Gorillaz Video
This one's on an entirely different level from the ones that came before. Incredible animation, well-plotted and directed.
The song is out on an iTunes single.
Posted by Ben at 06:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Nice Guy Jin
Three Crazy Foreigners + Afros + Japan + Rap = Nice Guy Jin
= Awesome.
Posted by Ben at 06:11 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 17, 2005
Send in MORE Clones
Oh, and it really is this good. Y'all best watch on Monday. It's gonna be great.
Posted by Ben at 07:31 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Scrobbler
Following the thread of "neat audio-related web things," I now have an audioscrobbler. I haven't listened to enough music yet to make the really cool stuff work yet, but it's a neat idea.
Posted by Ben at 07:29 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 15, 2005
James Earl Jones is in this one, too!
Posted by Ben at 02:18 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 13, 2005
Spam: Irritation, Poet
I hate spam, but I have to admit I sometimes get quite a bit of enjoyment out of those random keywords that sometimes come at the end of the message. They occasionally make a strange kind of sense, a sort of postmodern associational poetry. Here's a highlight of today's crop:
"verse sisters marshes Talladega. sanction redeclare wondrous bolted bovines filer,
contents remover espousing swinging steeples. securing
offense. commanders conclusive risen, assails tract. abdomens attaches
Seidel aplenty obsoleting. atoms Ripley meson Oriental. havens vehicular grandly affair appall zigzag!!"
This comes from the pen of Andrewplunkett, who wishes to inform all of us that "--------- Karen takes 16" Horse C0ck ---------."
As far as I can tell, this is a recounting of some historical event. There's a city with a religious center ("steeples" and "verse sisters"), under siege ("sanction"). Their supplies hold out so miraculously that even the clerk taking inventory of the herd ("filer") is impressed ("redeclare wondrous bolted bovines").
Then we have this:
"contents remover espousing swinging steeples. securing
offense. commanders conclusive risen, assails tract."
It's unclear at first who is removing the contents, so there's moment of chaos, but then we perceive that the army has attacked and is engaged in an iconoclastic raid on the church ("assails tract"). Perhaps the city is Constantinople?
Then we see designated a few of the heroes of this battle, including Seidel, who "abdomens attaches aplenty obsoleting." and a squad named after subatomic particles (seemingly an anachronism, but it could be a clue that these forces are those of scientific reason assaulting the church).
We are left with a visceral impression of the citizens futilely trying to escape the oncoming chariots of the enemy ("havens vehicular grandly affair appall zigzag!!").
All in all, quite an interesting work. I wish I could compliment the bot who put it together.
Posted by Ben at 03:42 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Listen to what Ben is listening to. In case you cared.
Hey everyone! Look left! It's an audio blog! Pretty neato, huh? Go check out the spiffy software here.
Posted by Ben at 03:20 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Cat + Bunny = Batsu!
Alanna's let me in on two funny, adorable Korean animations. The actual animation work is great as well. I wonder what whoever made these things is up to animation-job-wise.
Posted by Ben at 01:03 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 12, 2005
The Vatican & Stem Cells
William Saletan has another fascinating article discussing a Vatican meeting on stem cell research and Jewish and Catholic theology regarding life issues.
Highlights:
"The first presenters, a couple of scientists, summarize the state of stem cell research. When they're done, a soft-spoken young priest in the front row raises his hand. "In a case of aneuploidy, it may be possible to laser ablate one or two of the blastomeres," he says. A priest in the back row asks about "aberrant silencing of the IGF and IGF2 receptor." I can hardly believe what I'm hearing. Afterward, I ask the first priest, Father Tad Pacholczyk, where he learned this stuff. Turns out he's got a Ph.D. in neuroscience from Yale, plus a research stint at Harvard Medical School and undergraduate degrees in biochemistry and molecular biology. Around the room, half the guys in collars are scientists."
and:
"Monday night at dinner, I ask Austriaco if he sees a Catholic-Jewish difference on these questions. He does, particularly among theologians. Jews follow diffuse commentary, he says; Catholics follow streamlined authority. Jews trust intuition; Catholics trust reason. 'You don't have as clear a definition of boundaries as we have,' he observes. This is why Catholics have an easier time getting over the yuck factor. 'We say, "Yeah, it looks yucky." But I'm a molecular biologist. We make tumors in the lab all the time. For a Catholic, if I can articulate what I'm doing, it's not yucky.'"
Posted by Ben at 07:50 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 11, 2005
More Android Weirdness
There's video (realplayer) of the android in action here. She looks exactly like a real person (at least she does in the still pictures). It's actually kind of creepy.
Posted by Ben at 05:06 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Rappin' Android
Apparantly, this android, due to make her debut at the Aichi World Expo in Japan this year, in addition to knowing 40,000 phrases each in four languages and how to perform 2000 facial expressions, also knows how to rap.
I have to go to this thing.
Posted by Ben at 01:43 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
March 10, 2005
Richard Linklater: Sci-Fi Savior?
There's a new trailer out for the latest effort from Richard Linklater (Waking Life), which employs his signature rotoscope animation. It's, surprisingly, a serious science fiction film based on a Philip K. Dick story: A Scanner Darkly, and it stars Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey Jr., Wynona Ryder and a few other people you wouldn't expect. The animation looks like its used very, very well, and having an actual story will be a step up for Linklater. The effort has more potential than any science fiction film I've seen the past several years. Hopefully it will turn out well.
Posted by Ben at 03:40 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
March 09, 2005
Score one for the good guys.
Accountants and executives get fined for stealing from their companies, but what about the kids? What if they want to get put on probation too? Internet piracy: finally, a white-collar crime for the whole family.
Posted by Ben at 01:32 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 08, 2005
Bono for President!
...of the World Bank. As I think about it it could be a stroke of genius on the part of the Bush administration. It'd take quite a bit of the air out of the protest movement, at least regarding the Bank. Of course it helps that the World Bank is a lot better as an organization than the IMF and the WTO.
Posted by Ben at 12:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 04, 2005
Lift A Finger, Why Doncha
AIDS Set to Infect 90 Million Africans by 2025, according to a UN report.
The report makes an interesting point regarding why the campaign to stop HIV is coming up short:
"If by 2025 millions of African people are still becoming infected with HIV each year, these scenarios suggest that it will not be because there was no choice," the report said. "It will be because, collectively, there was insufficient political will to change behaviour at all levels from the institution, to the community, to the individual and halt the forces driving the Aids epidemic in Africa."
That's really what it comes down to. We could be doing a lot more on our own, there's no question about that. But aid for AIDS would come much easier if more African leaders really had the interests of their peoples in mind. If more African leaders made this issue their international rallying cry-- oh wait, taking the moral high ground would mean they'd have to stop stealing from everyone around them. Oops.
Posted by Ben at 02:36 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 01, 2005
Too much anime makes the baby go nerd
My bud Karl's nerdcore cd is out. Funky 'n' funny. Check it out.
Posted by Ben at 10:54 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack