Hello, little miracle

Oldest word and whistling orangutans

University of Reading scientists have discovered that "I , we, who" and the numbers "1, 2" and "3" are amongst the oldest words, not only in English, but across all Indo-European languages. And surprisingly, the ones heading to extinction? "dirty, squeeze, bad, because, guts, push (verb), smell (verb), stab, stick (noun), turn (verb) and wipe"

Bonnie, a 30 year old orangutan, had taught herself to whistle after imitating a caretaker. She has shown her roommate Indah how to whistle too. Scientists say her ability has implications on the evolution of speech. Learn more at the Great Ape Trust.

6 degrees of separation-#1

One thing I love about the world wide web is the "6 degrees of separation" path it leads me down. I google something, come across something else, follow that, find another interest, all the while commenting to myself, "I like that!...Oh I love that!...Oh that is a great song!...I wonder what happened to that!"

Yes, every thought in my brain ends with an exclamation mark!

TODAY'S 6 DEGREES OF SEPARATION JOURNEY:

CRAFTZINE
A blog dedicated to crafty ideas. There are some ridiculously ugly items you can find free patterns for, but there is also some beautiful handmade ideas. I discovered arigumi (knitted japanese stuffed animals) here and have since got a best friend making me wonderfully cute creatures (she has the talent - I, just the appreciation for)

PANTALINE- Provisioners of America's Finest Plural Clothing
From Craftzine, I linked to a ridiculously funny site about "Plural Clothing". I want to order the "couch dress".

MCSWEENEY'S
The Pantalaine website that gave me such a laugh, was created by the one and only McSweeney's. The literary journal was started in 1998, edited by Dave Eggers, publishes some of the world's most talented writers. And not only is the writing drool-worthy, so is the design of the the McSweeney's magazine. **sigh true love** . Also some great stuff in the McSweeney's Store.

DAVE EGGERS
Editor of the brilliant McSweeney's, as well as author of one of my favourite books "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius". AHWOSG: focuses on the author's struggle to raise his younger brother in San Francisco following the sudden deaths of their parents. The book is a bestseller and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction.

"THE BALLAD OF TIMOTHY MCSWEENEY"
A song done by They Might be Giants". I love this band since they created one of my all time favourite happy songs: "Birdhouse in your Soul"

BIRDHOUSES
I have numerous bird houses in our little city backyard (ok, 13 right now). I love birds and I love this modern bird house at Make Blog (which is a sub-set of the Craftzine blog)

List Mania

I am always making lists. I love trivia. Therefore I love List Universe. List Universe is a site updated daily, full of top ten lists, covering every kind of subject matter from UFO hoaxes to 10 amazing paintings on feathers. Started by Jamie Frater in 2007, another fan of lists and trivia. The comments are pretty hilarious (and there's a list for that too!)

Flying 100 years ago

I have a slight fear of flying, partly due to not understanding how (for example - a Boeing 747-400 that weighs about 393,000 pounds), can even get off the ground. As many times as I read about how an airplane "works", the technology still baffles me enough to cause a fear of the unknown. But I have an appreciation of the history of air flight and am amazed that it's been only about 100 years that humankind started getting off the ground. Wow.

"I believe that it will be possible in a very few years for a person to take his dinner in New York at seven or eight o'clock in the evening and eat his breakfast in Ireland or England the following morning."
- ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL, 1896

Former Canadian astronaut Bjarni Tryggvason declared "mission accomplished" after successfully taking off a modern version of the famed Silver Dart airplane.

The Silver Dart (named for its silvery-coloured wings) was a ground-breaking, skin and bones aircraft, that first flew 100 years ago on Feb. 23, 1909. First flown in Baddeck, N.S., led by famed inventor Alexander Graham Bell, the crew was anxious to fly or fail, but either way making Canadian history.

The Wright Brothers had launched the era of controlled, powered flight in late 1903 at Kitty Hawk, N.C.

Blame Ringo

Not sure if this video really qualifies as "smart & beautiful" or it's just here because of my fascination with the Beatles. It's a fun idea by the band "Blame Ringo". The band had to change it's name from "Goodnight Vienna" since they were threatened legal action by Ringo Starr, as it was the title of his fourth studio album.


Come on Ringo, that's a little ridiculous.

The song is "Garble Arch" which the first single from their from the album, "Lucky Number 9". The video records a day in the life of Abbey Road.

Spare Change

A gentleman panhandler. One of the pioneers of Canadian animation. Oscar nominee. Poor beggar. An artist unable to create. God observing the world. Fallen angel. Arrogant. Shy. Broken. Not destroyed.
- FROM THE NFB WEBSITE

As fan of animation and the artists, I was thrilled when I accidently discovered an amazing story about a brilliant Canadian talent. His name is Ryan Larkin. There were two parts on the DVD about Larkin. The first, an Academy Award winning animation tribute titled "Ryan" by another talented Canadian Chris Landreth. Although incredibly realistic and detailed, "Ryan" was created and animated without the use of live action footage, rotoscoping or motion capture...but instead from an original, personal, hand animated three-dimensional world which Landreth calls 'psychological realism'.

The second film was a documentary titled "Alter Egos". We find out from Director Laurence Green, that Larkin produced some of the most influential animated films of his time, including 1969's "Walking", which was nominated for an Oscar (but lost to "It's Tough to Be a Bird" by Walt Disney). Ryan was living every artist's worst nightmare - having lost his ability to create and succumbing to addiction, he panhandles on the streets to make ends meet.

After the success of Chris Landreth's animated film, it encouraged Larkin to start drawing again. He started on a film titled "Spare Change" about his life panhandling in Montreal. Sadly, he passed away in Feb. 2007 from lung cancer at age 63, not having finished the film.

I found out from a very nice friend of Larkin, Laurie of the band Chiwawa, that "Spare Change" will be in theatres soon, as well as airing on CBC and Bravo later in the year. I am anxious to see it as part of the Canadian Music Week, March 14 at the NFB Theatre.

Eyeballing

Whenever I am designing something or making something hands-on, and I often "eyeball" it first. After making my "guesstimation" as to where things should hang, line up, balance or where it just feels "right", I check my accuracy, and more often than not, it is pretty darn close to "bang-on". I get a little mundane thrill from that.

Now you can check out your own "eyeballing" accuracy and get your own mundane thrills from an online game created by an Ontario carpenter. You get three chances at seven geometric tasks: bisecting angles, making parallelograms, and finding the midpoints of triangles, circles, and lines.

Warning: Slightly addictive.

Now, check YOUR "eyeballing" accuracy.

Nixie Tube Clock

I have a brilliant headboard being built by the creative Graeme Marrs. While I anxiously wait for it to materialize, I have been searching for the perfect clock to compliment the design. I came across this clock and was fascinated with the technology history and it's "simplistic and modernist" looks.

Passionate creator Peter Jensen.

From the site: HISTORY OF THE NIXIE TUBE
Nixie tubes were originally developed in 1952 by the Haydu brothers for the Burroughs Corporation as the precursor to the computer monitor. The name "Numerical Indicator experimental: NIX-i" was first a working acronym belonging to the Burroughs company but became the common name for these readouts. From the early 1950's to the 1970's Nixie tubes were the dominant display service. Later they were supplanted by LED displays and are quite rare today! They found their way into everything from test equipment over early computers to aerospace and submarines or the display of the New York stock exchange. While LED's are technically more advanced, their aesthetics leave something to be desired. A Nixie's digits consist of ten thin metal electrodes that are individually formed and can easily incorporate uneven curves and skew lines. The only technical flaw is based on the fact that the digits are stacked in front of each other; this causes tiny gaps where they are shadowed by the digits in front of it. Ironically, they were hardly used as clock displays. Over recent years their popularity has increased dramatically due to their unusual appearance and historical value. In essence they are like miniature neon signs with a warm, comforting orange/violet glow. Nixie clocks have become very popular as a way to bring these devices 'out of the dark'.

If I had a brain for electronics: Nixie Tube Clock DIY Kits.
Build your own for $99!

Can your latte do this?

Not sure if latte art really qualifies as "smart" but I do like the mundane and ephemeral aesthetic. Now when you pay $5.00 for a latte, it might make it worth the price paid.

Video of a "latte artist" at work.

One of the most beautiful ephemeral artists - Andy Goldsworthy

1928 film masterpiece

I recently had the opportunity to see: THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC at Cinematheque Ontario. It is a beautifully shot silent film produced in France in 1928, directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer and stars Renée Jeanne Falconetti. Toronto got a piano accompaniment, whilst Winnipeg, Manitoba enjoyed 48 musicians and 44 singers performing "Voices of Light": an oratorio by contemporary American composer Richard Einhorn. While I enjoyed the piano version, I was jealous of Winnipeg's orchestra and voice accompaniment. I wish Toronto would organize more events like that.

The film is based on the trial records of Joan of Arc. What especially stood out was the film's camera-work and emphasis on the actors' facial features that were purposely without makeup. The newly developed panchromatic film captured the actors expressions beautifully. Renée Jeanne Falconetti's portrayal of Joan is widely considered one of the most astonishing performances ever committed to film, and became her final cinematic role. Dreyer's method of directing his actors, pushed Falconetti to emotional collapse.

A masterpiece found! The original version of the film was lost for decades after a fire destroyed the master negative. Dreyer himself attempted to reassemble a version from out-takes and surviving prints, but he died, sadly believing his original cut was lost forever. In one of the most important discoveries in cinema history, a virtually complete print of Dreyer's original version was found in 1981 in a janitor's closet of an Oslo mental institution. This version is now available on DVD (and on the big screen, if you are so lucky)

And the ball was square

My family loved Pong and played our console endessly. Now we can celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first video game with the The Pong museum. The museum officially opened on January 27, 2009 to commemorate the anniversary of the video ping-pong.

The earliest form of an electronic ping-pong game dates back as a game played on an oscilloscope, by William A. Higinbotham at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in 1958. His game was titled "Tennis For Two".

In 1966, Ralph Baer, an employee of defense contractor Sanders Associates came up with the concept of a "television gaming apparatus." This device included both a chase game and a video tennis game, and could be attached to a normal television set.

Check out the great video of Bill Harrison and Ralph Baer demonstrating the thrilling new game. And I love the screen-saver clock.

"I can never thank Ralph enough for what he gave to me and everyone else."
- Steve Wozniak, co-founder Apple Computers

Couch travel

It seems I haven't been away from my desk or couch at all this winter, but my mind sure wanders a lot. My mom and I "traveled" around the world this weekend visiting relatives, friends and the Eiffel tower in Paris (as well as the mini version on the Vegas strip) all with Google Earth. I haven't played with this program in awhile and was ecstatic to the see the new "3D views" of places.

They also have started diving into the oceans. Fascinating explorations with marine experts including National Geographic and and BBC. I can't wait to swim through some shipwrecks.

And if that's not enought, you also can do virtual tours including detailed examinations of artwork at the Prado Museum in Madrid. You can examine 14 masterpieces in the most minute detail. Beautiful. The google earth technology continues to blows my mind.

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Another fun way to "travel" online, is back in time. The Travel Film Archive is a collection of travelogues and educational and industrial films that show the world the way it was between 1900 and 1970. I love seeing life moving at a different pace. An amazing collection to explore.

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Gallery of super-high resolution satellite images. GeoEye. Spectacular views.

I Can Read Movies

I am in love with this "I Can Read Movies" series by Mitch Ansara (aka Spacesick). The Toledo-based artist has taken 21 films and imagined what their '60s novelization covers may have looked like, right down to the scratched surfaces and bent corners. He perfectly captures the idea of the films and the Saul Bass aesthetic of the '60s, that relied on visuals over language to deliver the message.

Her Morning Elegance

A beautiful and smart music video.

A simple idea, but the effort and patience this video took is phenomenal. Appropriate for the lyrics and movement of the music.





The gorgeous melodic song is called "Her Morning Elegance" which was written and produced by Oren Lavie, from his album "The Opposite Side of the Sea" in 2008, which he released on his own label. This video, as co-director, is his first venture into the moving pictures.

Yuval and Merav Nathan – Co-directors / animation
Are a pair of Israeli directors/creators, husband and wife. They each bring their own special background and skills and together they create a unique style that combines photography, design, 3d animation, stop motion and 2d compositing. More beautiful work at One Wing Fly.

Eyal Landesman - Photographer
Eyal is a leading Israeli photographer who is renowned for his work in the worlds of theatre and dance. The video was shot all stills in Eyal’s studio in Tel-Aviv. More work of Eyal on his website.

Wow facts:
- The video was shot all stills.
- Roughly 3225 still photos for the entire video, using one camera, hanging from the ceiling for the main body of the movie. - It took 4 weeks before shooting to create an animated computer generated storyboard for the video, with 3d dummies for the characters.
- It took only 2 days of shooting for the live actors on set to re-create the 3.5 minutes computer sequence, frame by frame.