Ladies and gentlemen… my vicious guard dogs.
They ran inside as fast as they could at the first sign of rain. Presumably, this hasty retreat wore them out, because there they’ve stayed ever since.… Read more
So last week I tried an experiment, and it wasn’t entirely successful. It’s probably a damn good idea… for someone who isn’t me, and has more free time, to try.
The idea was as follows: borrowing a page from the playbook of the ol’ teevee production days, record a week’s worth of daily podcasts in one session. Tightly time everything – each podcast should be roughly the same length. Work from a detailed outline. Get five of these done in a day… and… go! … Read more
A few days ago, I was raving about the short film Stardust, inspired by (and, in a CGI sort of way, starring) the Voyager 1 space probe, and I have to fess up that I’m still pulling this up and watching it at a rate of about once a day. I’m just a wee bit of a Voyager fan myself, to the point of having a little plastic one sitting on the shelf, and Stardust pushes my buttons – in a good way – on many levels.
One of those levels is that rhapsodic, hypnotic piece of music playing in the background. I’m a sucker for anything with a prominent cello line (see also: early ELO), so this music stuck in my head. Thanks to persistent pestering by myself and others, Stardust sound designer/composer Guy Amitai has released the four-minute piece of music from the short on iTunes. Just as Stardust is dedicated to graphic designer and cancer victim Arjan Groot, the proceeds from the iTunes single go to cancer research.
A worthwhile purchase on so many levels. If you want to read up on the real history of the real Voyager 1 and 2 space probes, go here – I’ve included many important dates from the Voyager program in theLogBook’s new timeline menu, all meticulously researched via NASA’s wealth of archive material and several other sources.… Read more
Though I try not to get hung up on it, my mind is really good about playing the what-if game: what had happened if the course of my life zigged – presumably for great justice – when, as we all know by now, it zagged with a vengeance. Sometimes it’s “what if I’d passed on the chili dogs at Sonic and eaten something else or, perhaps, nothing at all” (a not uncommon thought when I’m on bathroom trip #7 at two in the morning), sometimes it’s major life decisions, and the beauty of the human brain is that it can pierce the veil of the possible and imagine what didn’t happen. I sometimes wonder if, perhaps, we’re closer to being Douglas Adams’ “pan-dimensional beings” than anyone truly imagines. But every once in a while, one pauses to consider a cosmic “if… then” statement that defies imagining. … Read more
I’ve got some fish in the oven with some seasoning that I whipped up with a recipe as a starting point and just a little bit of “I don’t have that ingredient, so let’s throw in a bunch of other stuff” improvisation. I wrote down the mixture in case it works out well. If it doesn’t work out well and is borderline inedible… well… five cats. You work it out for yourself.
Anyway, Little E was asking me about what I was preparing for dinner, and the following conversation took place:
E: What kind of fish is that?
ME: It’s called swai.
E: Why is it called that?
ME: I don’t know. Maybe because it’s gonna be really tasty, that swai! [“that’s why!”]
Even the Mrs. laughed from across the house. Little E decided he wanted hot dogs instead. *shrug* MORE NOMS FOR MOM!
Cooking and comedy while you wait. Now, it remains to be seen if I could go pro at either one, so probably best if I contain this deadly combination to the safe confines of my house. Pity my wife and child. (And, if the seasoning mix isn’t particularly sound, my cats.)… Read more
Okay, one last gigant-o-GIF before the weekend’s out. Again, the subject is the rings of Saturn. Big animated GIF after the jump. … Read more
Check this out. This is the sort of thing I wish I could say I had put together.
Stardust from PostPanic on Vimeo.
PostPanic director Mischa Rozema’s new short film, Stardust, is a story about Voyager 1 (the unmanned spacecraft launched in 1977 to explore the outer solar system). The probe is the furthest man-made object from the sun and witnesses unimaginable beauty and destruction. The film was triggered by the death of Dutch graphic designer Arjan Groot, who died aged 39 on 16th July 2011 from cancer.
Nicely done, gang. Just beautiful. Four minutes of pure poetry.
Very minor detail: in real life, the Voyager probes have their large dish antennae pointed back toward Earth, not pointing forward in the direction of travel. Don’t let that get in the way of enjoying the work and feeling put into this, though.… Read more
Another view of Saturn’s rings, taken just a few days ago by Cassini and just transmitted back to Earth in raw form. Gigantic GIF after the jump. Focus on the center of the pictures, and then a few repetitions later on the bright outer ring in the lower right hand corner. Some really interesting stuff is going on there. … Read more
You like watching Saturn’s rings go all whooshy from the vantage point of a passing spacecraft? You’ve come to the right place. (Again, warning – great big animated GIF ahead.) … Read more
