schwillz : machina deus ex schwillz
Welcome to our new gameroom. This is what happens when you turn the master bedroom into your game room. Here we have the backwall, with the gaming setup, futon at the bottom and crap everywhere. The TV is a 24″ Toshiba. Component ins, but no HD… yet.
Yet more viral image fill material to cover a busy day here at the studio.
They say you can tell a lot about a person by looking at their bookshelf. Well, have a look at this one.
I suspect the site will go down due to heavy traffic quite soon.
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DigitalCinemaMag
Digital color grading is the biggest thing to hit the motion picture industry of recent times. Until very recently, the way that films were put together and color timed at the film laboratory, hadn’t changed much since the beginning of the industry itself. Like everything else, it was only a matter of time before digital became involved, turning the whole process on its head. Now, the colorist and DP have the creative freedom to explore completely new looks and styles that were never achievable before.
I stumbled upon an interesting
post production video diary about color grading at Kong is King.net web site. These days colorists, like so many other craftsmen, are doing their creative work in front of a computer screen. Color grading is no longer called just “color correction”. It has become an increasingly important and integral part of the visual look of a film. Gone are the days of “La Nuit Americaine” shot through a blue glass filter. Instead of doing most of the creative decisions about color on location, a lot of directors of photography are aiming for a healthy negative that can be adjusted in the post if necessary.
An interesting concept in the diary entry was the “color bible”.. a collection of 20 key shots in the movie that are used as a reference when grading other shots. That’s a technique that can be utilized in a lot of generic visual design work as well.
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World Stunt Awards
Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson (L) shakes hands with professional stuntman Jim Trella at the 5th Annual Taurus World Stunt Awards at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles September 25, 2005. The show honors the most outstanding stunt professionals from all over the world for their extraordinary performances.
Photo: REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
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ASLSP - John-Cage-Orgelprojekt Halberstadt
The pace indication “as slow as possible” for the organ piece “Organ 2/ASLSP” by John Cage poses this question. John Cage, born in 1912 in Los Angeles and died in 1992 in New York, was a student of Henry Cowell and Arnold Schoenberg. After Schoenberg, there are only a few composers in the history of the modern music with a similar meaning, not only in the development of the new understanding in music but also beyond the border of the acutal music producing. John Cage was a philosopher, a painter and a man of letters. Behind all of his work one can feel the need to “create awareness” for music, for behavior pattern and for our own ability to think. In 1985 ASLSP was created as a version for the piano but in 1987 John Cage changed it for the organ at the suggestion of the organist Gerd Zacher. 10 years after that, in 1997, on a symposium for organs in Trossingen, the question how one can understand “as slow as possible” and how one should perform the piece came up. Organists, musicologists, organbuilding workers, theologians and philosophers talk about the technical, the aesthetic and the philosophical aspects that can meet the title and the piece.
You can support the project by sponsoring individual years of this 639 year long organ piece. The last year, 2639, is unfortunately taken already.
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I’m quite amazed that these guys manages to get this robotic paintball sentry gun to actually work with the automated target tracking. I wouldn’t believe it unless I had seen the video. Computer games are inspiring some rather frightening hobby projects. Another one that comes to mind is the DIY rail gun.
How we built the quintessential Sentry Gun
Okay, “quintessential” might be going a little
far, but it’s enough to frighten me. The idea of this project was
to create a fully-automated sentry gun, capable of picking out a human
target and accurately tracking and shooting him or her in the heart.
Really, the idea was to find a cool robotics project for the summer
while I was working at an advertising agency, and I’d only ever seen
sentry guns in movies (like Congo) and video games (Half-Life 1, Half-Life
2, Team Fortress Classic). I couldn’t find any record of anyone building
one, even the military, although it seems likely I just didn’t look
hard enough. It’s a pretty simple technology.
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Helsinki Film festival in it’s 18th incarnation continues to deliver first class material. Last night I saw both Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the wererabbit and Pusher II: With blood on my hands.
Pusher trilogy is a highly acclaimed danish series of movies about the vicious spiral of crimes that drug criminals often end up doing in order to save their asses after a deal gone wrong. The ruthless world of pushers, dealers, addicts, small time criminals, hookers, fences, crime lords and gun dealers seems like a completely different universe when compared to the peaceful atmosphere we seem to be enjoying up here in the rest of the nordic democracies.
Interestingly, all the scenes in the movie were shot in order. I saw the intense first part in 1996 and I was really looking forward to seeing the second part. The freshness and the rawness were still there and Mads Mikkelsen did a really great job as the ex-convict who is trying to make it all right again. I can’t wait to see the last part of the trilogy which premiered this year.
Posted by api at 10:26 - 1 Comment »
I have a Dakine High Roller snowboard bag, which is big enough for all my snowboarding gear including all the clothes and boots. Although it’s very heavy duty, it got nasty slashes in the bottom when it had to be crammed into an already full storage compartment of a ski bus. There was probably a screw in the top of that compartment and while the bag was being pushed in to the last remaining free space, the screw tore it open. I fixed it with some band aid, but in order to fix it in a more durable way, I decided to try ironing some heat activated seam sealing tape on the slashes. There is a little tutorial on the subject at the excellent and very friendly fabric supplier shelby.fi.
Well, it worked like a charm. The tape bonded to the fabric very well and it’s a much better fix than the band aid. Fabric welding seems to be the latest buzzword in outdoor clothes as well. Omega Jacket from North Face is one of the many examples of seam free construction. Arc’teryx and Klättermusen are two other high end brands that weld some of their products instead of sewing them.
At ARC’TERYX we take a different approach to hardshell construction. We select the highest performing waterproof/breathable membranes and fuse them with proprietary fabric lamination techniques. Our designs integrate revolutionary innovations like die cut components that eliminate bulk, WaterTight(tm) zippers that precisely seal and tiny seam taping that radically improves membrane performance.
I am not exactly sure what the “proprietary fabric lamination technique” means, but I suspect it has something to do with ultrasonic equipment. A little googling around revealed that Branson Plastics is selling some sort of ultrasonic fabric sealing system.
Posted by api at 09:56 - 3 Comments »
Beijing Official Website International
Located in the Fengtai District of Beijing 16 kilometres from the city proper, the World Park in Beijing features 106 of the most famous sites from 14 countries and regions the world over.
The park, measuring 46.7 hectares (116.75 acres) in size, consits of two parts: The scenic area in miniature displayed according to the position of its country on the map, and a shopping, dining and enteratinment area. The enteratinment area is situated in an international folkloric village characterized by buildings in the American and European styles. The tourist can take an electric train and a motorboat through the park to simulate a trip around the world.
The World Park was featured in a Chinese film which we saw yesterday at the Helsinki film festival. The film itself offered a rare glimpse to the everyday life of Beijing. It was not a documentary, but all the little details in the physical surroundings and in the soundtrack were very interesting.
I found it amusing that the Chinese tourists go to a special park to get to see an easily digestible version of various cultures around the world and we go to a special movie to get to see a glimpse of their lifestyle.
The park reminds me of Legoland, which I used to drool over in travel brochures when I was a kid. I never saw Legoland and perhaps it is best left to rest in peace as a childhood Eldorado.
Posted by api at 10:09 - 1 Comment »
Tramp New Zealand
The Abel Tasman Coastal Track is a breathtaking, casual walk around a spectacular, unspoilt coastline. This is a haven for anyone out there who loves the sea. There are brilliant, blue lagoons, estuaries and tropical island sanctuaries. The beaches, oh those beaches are simply a delight covered with sand that is so soft on your skin it feels like powder. You will see dolphins, seals, oystercatchers and eels. Its accessibility and beauty have led it to become something of a tourist attraction drawing about 30,000 visitors every year. Its a park that caters for everyone. As water taxis are readily available to take you almost directly to the huts or camping grounds, the sights are available to anyone from little children to the elderly to the disabled. The more energetic may hire a kayak, water ski or swim with dolphins.
Next January, I’ll start my New Zealand tramping career with the most popular and easiest of the Great Walks. There are a few huts and plenty of camping sites along this easy trail, but the huts need to be reserved in advance. After much brochure studying, I found out that some days are better than others due to tides. There are a few crossings across water that can only be done safely during low tide. In the beginning of January there was luckily one spot left in the huts. All in all, the Department of Conservation has done a great job maintaining these trails and producing all the brochure material and an impressive on-line booking system which even used “Verified by Visa” which was a first for me. There was an additional layer of security there with an identification process with an online bank.
After this four-day tramp, I might continue to Heaphy track which is reasonably nearby or head down South to Travers Sabine Circuit. After that I’d like to do the Whanganui river journey with a canoe. Travel fever is rising at an alarming speed.
Posted by api at 10:44 - No Comments »
Kekexili
In their desire to feed the lucrative Western market for pretty pashmina wool, impoverished Tibetans began poaching the endangered antelope, and the antelope population plummeted from 1 million to 70,000 in just 5 years. Unable to get official assistance in protecting Kekexili, the last virgin wilderness in China, locals formed volunteer patrols, locked and loaded their AK-47’s, and engaged in a running, four-year war with the heavily armed poachers. A Beijing journalist, Ga Yu, went out on an incredibly dangerous 17-day patrol led by ex-military man, Ritai, and returned to Beijing to publish his account of what happened. His articles resulted in the Chinese government getting involved and rectifying the situation in 1997, but the human cost was enormous. This film is the story of that last patrol.
It’s hard not to be moved by the tiny, fragile, highly killable humans who head out into the wilds of Tibet to put their lives on the line for a bunch of animals. If the poachers aren’t perforating them with bullets, they can either freeze to death, step into quicksand, die of altitude sickness, dehydration, starvation, or in car accidents. And yet they walk right into the savage teeth of Kekexili, engaged in a quixotic quest that they don’t even fully understand. They’re not heroes, they’re not environmentalists, and they’re not members of Greenpeace. They’re just people who decided that the killing had to stop.
My Saturday night treat at the film festival. The film was rough, warm-hearted and very realistic. It felt very much like a Western movie, except the horses had been replaced by 4×4’s and the bad guys were poachers instead of train robbers. And obviously they were not the really bad guys.. they were just a group of poor people trying their best to get by in the harsh environment. A very humbling and enjoyable viewing experience at the trusty ole festival once again. I’m not surprised that this movie has won a number of awards.
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Electroplankton for Nintendo DS preview
Electro Plankton is being produced by Japanese contemporary musician Toshio Iwai, and is being referred to as a “Touchable Media Art” game. The game places players in a water-based world. Within that world there exists ten types of “electric plankton” creatures. These creatures react to your touch and voice. Based on your touches and voice inputs, the game will output different video and audio patterns, modifying your voice with a variety of effects.
The concept of making media art for game consoles is exciting and I’m happy to see that it has become a reality these days.
See the web site of Electroplankton.
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My film festival week began last night with Blood and Bones by Yoichi Sai. It was a very emotional and thought-provoking film. The story revolves around a single cold hearted patriarch, a Korean emigrant called Shunpei. He rapes, murders, manipulates and ruins the lives of everyone around him. The film is based on an autobiographical novel by Yan Sogiru. Takeshi Kitano gives a superb performance and manages to portray the violent and, in many ways, evil main character very realistically. I recently saw the prequel to “Silence of the Lambs” on tv and I would say that Mr. Kitano’s acting easily matches Anthony Hopkins or any of the other top notch western actors.
I left the theatre with a little crack in my heart. Cancer, selfhisness, brutality, paralyzation, violence… the film was filled with a plethora of negative subjects, but instead of disgust, I felt great sadness. Still, after seeing all that human misery, it was easier to appreciate the positive aspects of one’s own life. I highly recommend this movie, if you can hold your breath and take a dive into the some of the worst aspects of being human for two intense hours. After that, the modern inner city air will taste fresher and better than before.
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First Class Isn’t What It Used to Be
We know how frustrating air travel can be. That’s why we offer comforts that bring out the best in business passengers, like our on-board massage therapy. With five amazing treatments to choose from, it’s no wonder why more of our passengers arrive rested, relaxed, and dare we say, smiling. So, go on, fly Virgin Atlantic Airways and see why Upper Class is rubbing everyone the right way
And if you can’t get enough pampering in first class, you can always buy a private jet or two and build your own airstrip at home, like Mr. Travolta
Emirates Airlines has fully enclosed private suites in their planes. The price of a flight from New York to Dubai is a mere 8999 US dollars.
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Superman Homepage
If you ask the average person on the street, “Where does Clark Kent change into Superman?”, nine out of ten people will answer “In a phone booth”.
Why? Why has the phone booth become synonymous with Superman?
Let’s go back in time and take a look at the various eras of Superman…
In the Golden Age of comic books Clark Kent didn’t use a phone booth to change into Superman. Actually right throughout every era of Superman comics the phone booth change has rarely been seen.
Yes, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster (creators of Superman) used a phone booth for Clark Kent to change into Superman in a Sunday newspaper comic strip in late 1942. Clark, seeing that there is a job for Superman, excuses himself from Lois by arranging to be called away by a bogus phone call. While inside the phone booth he says to himself, “This definitely isn’t the most comfortable place in the world to switch garments, but I’ve got to change identities - and in a hurry!” Yet this was not the very first time Superman found himself changing clothes inside a phone booth.
In “The Adventures of Superman” TV series of the 1950s starring George Reeves, Clark mostly used the Daily Planet Store Room to make his costume change. Some times he used a back alley way… but in all 104 episodes he never used a phone booth.
TeliaSonera, one of the biggest telecom operators in Finland, is abandoning their phone booths. The reasoning is that almost everyone has a cell phone these days. I can’t even remember when was the last time I made a call in a phone booth. They should save a few coin operated ones for covert spy calls and other cinematic purposes.
The news in Helsingin Sanomat (in finnish only)
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The japanese Hayabusa probe has arrived to it’s destination, asteroid Itokawa on September 12th. It hovers around 20 kilometers away from the asteroid at a relative velocity of 0,25 mm/sec. After two months of scientific measurements, it collects a sample from the surface and begins it’s flight back to Tellus with it’s precious cargo.
Asteroid Sample-return Spacecraft “HAYABUSA” (MUSES-C)
HAYABUSA (MUSES-C) has been developed to investigate asteroids. Asteroids are celestial bodies that are smaller than planets but are part of the solar system. HAYABUSA was launched on May 9th, 2003, and has been flying steadily towards an asteroid named “Itokawa,” after the late Dr. Hideo Itokawa, the father of Japan’s space development program. HAYABUSA is traveling through space using an ion engine. It will orbit the asteroid, land on it, and bring back a sample from its surface.
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