I’m obsessed with Morton Heilig lately. He’s called “the father of virtual reality” with good reason.When TV sucked the life out of the cinema in the 1950s, the cinema fought back with gimmicks like Cinerama, 3-D and Smell-O-Vision. Heilig, who was working as a Hollywood cinematographer, wanted to take the illusion of cinematic immersion one step further.His Sensorama machine, patented in 1962,
Thursday, 31 January 2008
Wednesday, 30 January 2008
Ninja skirt
Posted on 11:46 by Unknown
The level of street crime in Japan is actually declining, but the local media is fanning hysteria about muggings and assaults. It prompted designer Aya Tsukioka to create this piece of clothing for escaping from an attacker. And she's serious. It's yours for ¥80,000, with a kimono-to-vending-machine version available by special order.
Tuesday, 29 January 2008
Belief-O-Matic™: Choosing My Religion
Posted on 11:04 by Unknown
I was answering the 20-question Belief-O-Matic™: What Religion Am I? quiz at Beliefnet and, between questions about God, the afterlife, abortion and Satan, this ad popped up.It's for Eli Lilly's post-Prozac cash cow, duloxetine. It's the new standard-issue seratonin reuptake inhibitor for depression. An interesting choice of target audience, I thought.Anyway, the quiz said my number one choice of
Monday, 28 January 2008
Eye candy
Posted on 11:52 by Unknown
Professor Akiyoshi Kitaoka studies the psychology of vision at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan. His work centres around visual illusion, visual completion, motion perception and stereopsis (binocular depth perception). He is a scientist but I think his work is art.His current research is about "anomalous motion illusions": static images that look like they're moving.Click these pictures to
Sunday, 27 January 2008
My summer jam
Posted on 11:07 by Unknown
I've got the new three-CD Pacha set on high rotation. CD1 is mixed by The Potbelleez, CD2 by Vandalism (the thinking man's Sneaky Sound System), and CD3 by KC Taylor from Pacha Ibiza. And it's all rly rly good. Very tasty.
Saturday, 26 January 2008
The Crapworks
Posted on 12:38 by Unknown
There used to be a waxworks in Kings Cross. It was called, brilliantly, the Kings Cross Waxworks. It closed in the late 1980s because it was kinda sad and boring.Here, for instance, is the "Shark Attack!" exhibit. Note the rather casual pose of the now-footless bather, and the stick holding up the surface of the "sea". Terrifying.[Photo by Goobertron at flickr]My friends Jeffrey and Amy and I
Friday, 25 January 2008
Thursday, 24 January 2008
Paradoxes
Posted on 11:22 by Unknown
I was reading a pdf document and came across this:Technically, it's a "self-refuting meta-reference". I like to think of it as a koan, a Zen puzzle to clear the mind.Here's another one.Cue the finger cymbals, please. Twing twing!
Wednesday, 23 January 2008
Tuesday, 22 January 2008
RE: Trade secrets press release
Posted on 11:38 by Unknown
As an editor I get a shitload of email from PR companies. But why bother sending me an email press release with this disclaimer in the footer?The information in this email is confidential. The contents may not be disclosed, forwarded, published or broadcast without the explicit written permission of [company name].So, do you want me to write about your client or not?
Monday, 21 January 2008
I’m just a mess of Body Thetans!
Posted on 11:24 by Unknown
I can answer these questions from Scientology’s 343-question Whole Track Sec Check audit with an emphatic “Yes!”• Have you ever tried to give sanity a bad name?• Have you ever consistently practiced sex in some unnatural fashion?• Have you ever been a professional critic?• Have you given robots a bad name?• Have you driven anyone insane?• Have you ever warped an educational system?• Have you ever
Sunday, 20 January 2008
Drinking and dialling and dialling and dialling
Posted on 11:14 by Unknown
There's a committal hearing underway in Sydney against a football player. Another one – yawnzies. Anyway, one piece of evidence caught my eye.The woman said she had been drinking heavily and dancing with friends at clubs in Kings Cross the night earlier, and she had no recollection of how she came to be in the [football player's] apartment.The court also heard the woman made 21 calls on her
Saturday, 19 January 2008
Not written in the stars
Posted on 10:48 by Unknown
Friday, 18 January 2008
禁止吸烟！
Posted on 12:18 by Unknown
Beijing's trying to turn smoke-free for the Olympics in 200 days, but it's not going very well.Authorities wrote to 30,000 restaurants asking them to put a ban in place, and only one took up the suggestion – and it's going out of business.The Meizhou Dongpo chain of Sichuan restaurants trained its floor staff to discourage people from lighting up only to have them locked out of private dining
Thursday, 17 January 2008
Facebook groups about Corey Delaney: a taxonomy
Posted on 11:26 by Unknown
As of this morning, there are 70 groups on Facebook about Corey Delaney (née Worthington). There's something for everyone! To make navigating them a little easier – it's so hard to decide! – I've classified them into this handy guide.NEUTRAL > Discussion✮ Corey Delaney: A genius or a complete retard?✮ Corey Delaney: Friend or Foe?FANS > General✮ Corey Delaney, we salute you.✮ Corey Delaney Fan
Wednesday, 16 January 2008
The new princes of pop: a crash course
Posted on 11:37 by Unknown
If you are a 12-year-old girl you may skip to the next post. The rest of you, pay attention.Meet the tween phenomenon that is the Jonas Brothers (left to right): Kevin (b. 1987), Nick (b. 1992) and Joe (b. 1989). They’re Hanson for the 21st century with an extra dollop of Disney.They have a totally poptastic "history":March 2007 - Performed the jingle in an ad for Baby Bottle Pops. “You can lick
Tuesday, 15 January 2008
What's that word?
Posted on 11:41 by Unknown
I've been playing with a couple of visual thesaurases – or is it thesauri? – online. They're excellent for feeling your way towards the word you're looking for in an intuitive way. The first one is the Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus.You can try it online and either subscribe to it or download it. It's extremely comprehensive and allows you to chase a word depending on nuance – if you click on one of
Monday, 14 January 2008
The kids today
Posted on 12:10 by Unknown
[I started writing this post on Saturday night when the ABC began reporting on the police helicopter's presence, with only a gut feeling that it would be a good media moment. I had no idea that it would become massive just 24 hours later.]Corey Worthington’s parents went on holiday to Queensland. They left the 16-year-old at home in the outer Melbourne suburb of Narre Warren, telling him not to
Saturday, 12 January 2008
I’m Gonna Wash These Dishes With My Tears
Posted on 20:41 by Unknown
I was listening to Loretta Lynn this morning while I was doing some housework and singing along like a crazy person, like you do. Listening to “You’re the Reason Our Kids are Ugly” reminded me of “I’m Gonna Wash These Dishes With My Tears”, which isn’t a country song, but it should be. These country songs, however, are real and wonderful.♪ Is It Cold in Here, or Is it Just You?♪ Are You Drinkin
Friday, 11 January 2008
Petrol and porn
Posted on 12:15 by Unknown
I saw the National Theatre of Scotland's Black Watch last night. (It's the ninth show I've seen this year - yes, it's Sydney Festival time!) It's about the famous Black Watch Regiment and their deployment in Iraq. The play moves between their active service and their homecoming, and all the contradictions of the two.It begins in a pub with the boys recounting stories to a journalist. When a knife
Thursday, 10 January 2008
O'Mer? Oh, my!
Posted on 11:21 by Unknown
I went to see La Clique in The Famous Spiegeltent last night as part of the Sydney Festival. It's mix of cabaret, burlesque, vaudeville and circus.The highlight, for me at least, was David O'Mer, the bathtub acrobat.Lordy.
Wednesday, 9 January 2008
Have you even looked in a mirror lately?
Posted on 12:11 by Unknown
Mr Blackwell – or Richard Sylvan Selzer, as I like to call him – has announced his Worst Dressed Women List for 2007. At the top of the list: Victoria Beckham. Oh, really?Here is Mr Blackwell and his husband.Here is Victoria Beckham and her husband.I know who I'd rather look at.
Tuesday, 8 January 2008
A (former) pop star's cry for help – and, no, it's not Britney
Posted on 13:23 by Unknown
Marilyn, who had a hit in 1983 with "Calling Your Name", wants a computer. The 45-year-old former Blitz Kid is willing to give you "personal items" at lunch "or preferably dinner" in return for the required £850. There's more: promises of an official web site and more music. Oh, hooray. And presumably more posts like this one. Here is an edited version of his sales pitch which you can read in
Monday, 7 January 2008
Bon appetit! [Warning: enlarge pic at own risk]
Posted on 12:13 by Unknown
Looking for something to horrify the guests at your next dinner party? Just serve anything from the Knudsen Recipes for Greater Food Value cookbook published in 1958. It all looks dreadful.From the top: Green Beans in Hampshire Sauce, Onion and Green Pepper Stew, and Curried Rice Casserole.These are just three of the many culinary disasters featured at James Lileks' The Gallery of Regrettable
Sunday, 6 January 2008
Box-office whores
Posted on 10:46 by Unknown
Global branding consultancy Interbrand has announced the top product-placement movies of 2007. Here they are in order of product placement volume.#1: TransformersAAA, Apple, Aquafina, AT&T, Austin-Healey, Beretta, BMW, BOSCH, Bose, Boston Red Sox, Burger King, Cadillac, Cadillac Escalade, Chevrolet, Chevrolet Camaro, Cisco, CitiGroup, Daewoo, DeWALT, Dickies, Ding Dong, Dodge, eBay, Enterprise,
Saturday, 5 January 2008
Amazing trompe l'oeils
Posted on 10:54 by Unknown
The works of Swiss painter Felice Varini are magical illusions. They can only be viewed from a single point in space, otherwise they make no sense. In person, the pieces appear two-dimenensional and floating. In photographs, they seem to be superimposed.Here is a simple example. This painting appears to be a cross over a doorway.When the point of view changes, you can see that it's painted onto
Friday, 4 January 2008
Wheeee— aaaaargh!
Posted on 12:03 by Unknown
How safe are amusement park and fairgound rides? Not very.
Thursday, 3 January 2008
Exploding dogs? "Oh, it happens"
Posted on 14:08 by Unknown
This was just posted on ABC News. Any – any! – explanations are welcome.Exploding dogs pose no threat to estate housesThe Northern Territory Government is confident it will not have any problems building a housing estate across the road from a crematorium in Darwin where a dead dog exploded on Wednesday night. Police were called to the crematorium because of a strong red glow coming from the
A kinder, gentler Chinese execution
Posted on 12:33 by Unknown
Lethal injections will become the preferred death penalty in China as shootings are phased out. The reason? It's more humane, says a Chinese government official. Welcome Lucky Olympic Year 2008!It's also a lot more efficient. Executions by lethal injection are carried out immediately once the order has been made, including in mobile "death buses". The procedure for shootings is much more
Wednesday, 2 January 2008
Armoire amour
Posted on 11:03 by Unknown
This cabinet is from a collection of five pieces in editions of five from the Dutch design group Studio Job. The pieces are all for the imagined residence of a robber baron and represent industrial power, wealth and corruption. It's made of polished bronze with a black patinated "crater" with gilded reliefs. It weighs a couple of tons but the doors are functional thanks to a ball-bearing
Tuesday, 1 January 2008
2008: the year, so far, in violent crime
Posted on 21:33 by Unknown
What the hell is going on? The year is only two days old and it has already been unbelievably violent. All this happened in Australia in the past 48 hours. So much for goodwill to all men.New South Wales• Police say a tomahawk was used to hack a 61-year-old man to death at Schofields in Sydney's north-west.• A 38-year-old man was found dead from head injuries in an apartment at Forster on the
Driving and dialling
Posted on 12:34 by Unknown
While I was having lunch today at a café in Victoria St I was amazed by the number of people driving past with a phone clamped to their ear. It was more than half of all the drivers that went past, so I counted them for 15 minutes: 32.Last year I was almost hit on a pedestrian crossing by a woman driving while on the phone. She screeched to a stop – on the crossing – and then carried on, one
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