elklad

When worlds collide

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:06:17 GMT

A few years ago, there was a trend of ads featuring tiny pixelated depictions of musicians and other celebrities; maybe you know the ones I'm talking about. It was amazing to me how recognizable some of them were at such a small, blocky scale. I never learned who created them, and after the ads stopped running, I forgot all about them.

Earlier today, an ex-colleague Facebooked a link to some clever and funny baseball-related infographics. These are great on their own, but the amazing thing is they're done by the same guy. This is like discovering that the head chef at my favorite local restaurant also plays the drums for my new favorite rock band. It's just not done.

Anyway, some of you may get a kick out out of one or both of Craig Robinson's sites: miniature pixel art portraits and baseball infographics.

Detroit Rock (Bottom) City

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 15:17:28 GMT

According to this article, the median price of a house sold in Detroit in December was $7,500. Another source estimates that the median is around $10,000, with the average listing price more than seven times that.

For comparison, the latter source pegs the median sales price in New Orleans as $103,172. It's difficult for me to picture what living in Detroit must be like if housing values are a tenth of what they are in a city that was devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

This is why I listen to MIT's radio station.

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 16:00:54 GMT

Listening to WMBR a few days ago, I heard what I can only describe as a kabuki-lounge version of Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water". Thanks to YouTube, I can share.

Robotics, peeps, and anthropomorphism

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 02:58:19 GMT

It takes surprisingly little to make a small yellow peep-bot seem alive:

This is an actual robot and not just video fakery, also.

Photographic recap of my trip to Asia

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 00:58:13 GMT

It only took me three weeks, but I've finally uploaded and organized my photos. You can check out either the Beijing half of my trip or the Seoul half. If you're curious, this is how the week played out:

Day 1: Fly from Boston to Seoul via NYC.
Day 2: Fly from Seoul to Beijing. Visit the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square.
Day 3: Attend the Daum Developer's Conference. Wander briefly around Beijing.
Day 4: Visit the Great Wall and Ding Ling Tomb. Fly to Seoul.
Day 5: Visit Gyeongbokgung, the National Folk Museum, Insadong, and COEX Mall.
Day 6: Work in the Daum office. Go out for dinner and drinks.
Day 7: Fly back to Boston via NYC.

You can read some of my impressions in the captions of the photos, but I'll sum up the trip with this: I had a fantastic time.

Now that's a career change

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 02:25:59 GMT

My previous boss recently made an appearance on WWE's Raw in which he was pantsed and beaten by Vince McMahon's illegitimate leprechaun son.

Clip available here. Just click on the "Adopt a Leprechaun?" video.

Ahead of his time

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 19:31:43 GMT

I've mentioned to a few of you that Jim Henson's pitch to CBS for The Muppet Show was hilarious. Thanks to a widget we put together here at work, I can now share it (and a few other Muppet highlights):

And to think CBS rejected Henson after this.

This is a slightly edited version of the pitch, actually. The original ended with Kermit appearing in front of a CBS logo and saying, "What the hell was that?"

Some marketing departments are very confused.

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 18:29:26 GMT

Since I use Amazon to buy gifts fairly often, it's not unusual for their recommendations to not quite fit my own interests. But Stories of Jesus: My Giant Fold-out Book? Where did that come from?

Even more puzzling is a piece of junk mail I received recently. The front of a glossy fold-out features a photo of a shirtless thirty-something guy with a shaved head and tattoos. Labels beside the photo describe him as an Archaeologist, Beach Volleyball Player, Hopeless Romantic, and Audeo Wearer. Inside, the fold-out advertises the Audeo, which at first glance looks like a tiny cellphone with an earbud; one caption calls it a "personal communication assistant".

The best part? The Audeo is actually a hearing aid. So if you know a hunky, romantic, and hearing-impaired archaeologist-athlete who has a child-like love of Christ, I've got the perfect gifts for him.

GH3 OMG

Sat, 26 May 2007 18:32:37 GMT

The upcoming Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s should be fun, but the songs revealed in the official announcement of Guitar Hero III look awesome to me:

* Paint It Black (by The Rolling Stones)
* Cherub Rock (by Smashing Pumpkins)
* Sabotage (by Beastie Boys)
* The Metal (by Tenacious D)
* My Name is Jonas (by Weezer)
* Knights of Cydonia (by Muse)
* Rock And Roll All Nite (as made famous by Kiss)
* School's Out (as made famous by Alice Cooper)
* Slow Ride (as made famous by Fog Hat)
* Cult of Personality (by Living Colour)
* Barracuda (as made famous by Heart)

"Knights of Cydonia" is one of the songs I most hoped would make it to the series--you should watch the video if you haven't already--and "Paint It Black" spent most of a high school summer on heavy rotation in my tape deck. All of the other songs I actively like or at least find amusing.

I know little of classical music ...

Mon, 09 Apr 2007 21:10:50 GMT

... but this article's real subject is beauty and our modern obliviousness thereto. I thought it was a good read; perhaps you will too.

ETA: My use of "obliviousness" above might have been misleading. I don't think we've lost the ability to appreciate beauty, nor do I think we're necessarily foolish to make the modern trade-offs that hinder our recognition of it. If anything, this story reminds me that we're often closer to beauty than we realize, and all it takes is a nudge (or willingness to be nudged) to notice.

My brush with Neanderthal greatness

Fri, 30 Mar 2007 14:19:23 GMT

I discovered this morning that I was once acquainted with one of the Geico cavemen. I didn't recognize him under the makeup and prosthetics (and I'm still not sure which one he plays).

This post goes to eleven.

Wed, 14 Feb 2007 04:36:14 GMT

About a year ago I posted links to music videos I'd seen at a screening at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Since then, I've been keeping my eye out for new and interesting videos to share, and I've created a video playlist of eleven of my favorites from the past year. In no particular order, they are:

"Crazy", Gnarls Barkley: 2h2o was right; this was big. Great pairing of visuals and song.
"Knights of Cydonia", Muse: Epic. Silly. Genius. Also makes me want to play Guitar Hero RIGHT NOW.
"Over and Over", Hot Chip: You know the triumphant synth-pop concert from Revenge of the Nerds? The Tri-Lams got the band back together.
"A Pillar of Salt", The Thermals: "You enter a 10' x 10' room with three hasted indie musicians and a wand of wonder. Roll for surprise."
"Here It Goes Again", OK Go: Everyone's probably seen this by now, but still worth including.
"Take Me Back to Your House", Basement Jaxx: My knees hurt just watching this.
"Oh Mandy", The Spinto Band: I'm a sucker for stop-motion animation. And setting things on fire.
"Steady As She Goes", The Raconteurs: Nice to see Paul Reubens can still get work.
"Wolf Like Me", TV on the Radio: This had me at "Biology prevails!"
"In Context", Field Music: Wait for it.
"Whoo! Alright — Yeah... Uh Huh", The Rapture: Who hasn't wanted to throw a kegger with a kiddie pool?

There are a number of other videos that could have easily made this list. I'll add more to the playlist if there's interest.

A question for the DDR fans

Sun, 22 Oct 2006 00:31:21 GMT

If I were to purchase the game, what kind of pad would you recommend? Ideally, I'd like something that's both portable and resilient.

This I did not know.

Sun, 22 Oct 2006 00:19:08 GMT

Alton Brown was the director of photography for the video to R.E.M.'s "The One I Love". Who knew?

MTV without the commercials, grating VJ's, or duds

Tue, 18 Apr 2006 03:07:16 GMT

Back in February, I had the rare treat of watching a collection of music videos on the big screen with megastoat and a few LJ-less friends. The event was hosted by the MFA and featured twenty videos selected from the best of those shown at the Edinburgh Film Festival over the past ten years. The full list, with links to where you can find them online:

"Sugar Water", Cibo Matto
"Say It Ain't So", Weezer
"Nouveau Western", MC Solaar
"California", Wax
"Biting Tongues", Faultline
"Coffee & TV", Blur
"All I Need", Air
"Pyramid Song", Radiohead (online video arguably too small to be worth it)
"Rabbit in Your Headlights", U.N.K.L.E. (disturbing)
"Eye for an Eye", U.N.K.L.E. (disturbing in an entirely different way)
"From Your Mouth", God Lives Underwater
"Out of Sight", Babybird (sorry--haven''t found a free place to view this one)
"Fell in Love with a Girl", The White Stripes
"I Changed My Mind", Quannum
"Hitchcock", Phoenix Foundation
"Days Go By", Dirty Vegas
"We Don't Care", Audio Bullys
"Hurt", Johnny Cash
"Assassinator 13", Chikinki (almost but not quite work-safe)
"Bastardo", Charlotte Hatherley

Some suffer more than others when viewed online, but if you've got a broadband connection and the standard media players, most of these should be easy to watch. A few require free registration.

Okay, they got me.

Thu, 09 Feb 2006 13:28:22 GMT

<td align="center"> elklad --
[adjective]:

Smells like teen spirit

'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com</td>

From the makers of "Dave": "Theo"

Fri, 03 Feb 2006 23:07:29 GMT

It's so obvious in retrospect that I can't believe I didn't realize it before: The man recently announced as the GM of the Red Sox is not Theo Epstein, but his twin.

Here's what I think happened. In the closing hours of the difficult negotiations between Theo and Larry Lucchino, Theo had an unexpected aneurysm and died. Knowing the fragility of the collective psyche of Red Sox Nation, Larry and John Henry did what any major-league GM would do in this situation: They covered it up.

First, they had to deal with the media that were waiting for Theo to leave Fenway with a new contract in hand. They clearly couldn't put on a "Weekend at Bernie's"-style show, so they sent out a flunky in a gorilla suit and then leaked to the media that it was Theo trying to sneak quietly out of Fenway. Once the media were convinced, they left, and John and Larry were able to dispose of the body.

But they still needed a lookalike replacement for Theo. Fortunately, Theo has a twin brother Paul who does social work. Since he clearly wouldn't be missed in his current job, John and Larry were able to sweet-talk him into pretending to be Theo for a while. I suspect they played up how devastated Red Sox Nation would be: What greater social work could Paul do than to prevent the emotional devastation of the entire Nation?

Paul couldn't play the part of a GM immediately, of course. To buy time, John, Larry, and "Theo" announced that they'd been unable to come to an agreement. Their ensuing press conferences were emotional, confusing, and contradictory thanks both to the trauma of losing Theo and Paul's imperfect knowledge of management cliches, but the media and public bought the deception. The team announced a reorganization to replace Theo, and Paul then dropped out of sight to receive a crash course in baseball operations at an undisclosed location.

Meanwhile, John and Larry dropped hints that Theo might return, and even that he might still be involved in some mysterious way with the team. This paved the way for the announcement, three months later, that Theo would be returning to exactly the same role he had before. This implausible return--his interim replacements stepping aside with gratitude rather than complaints, the lack of any concrete difference to trigger a change of heart--was nonetheless accepted largely without question. To make things easier for Paul, John, Larry, and "Theo" refused to discuss any of the terms of his contract and limited contact with the press to just the major outlets. Even then, they made sure that interviews were conducted in small groups so that someone was present to help Paul at all times.

And that's where we are today. The bizarre trades that reversed many of Theo's previous moves, the inexplicable reorganization and un-reorganization, the goatee--everything makes sense. It remains to be seen how long they'll be able to maintain this facade: If "Theo" starts to skip Red Sox games "because how much does any one baseball game matter, really?", expect him to have an unfortunate accident in short order.

Ninjas, pirates ... doctors.

Mon, 09 Jan 2006 21:20:02 GMT

http://www.drmcninja.com/index.html

If only it included robot monkeys.

"There are three rules you are taught the day you enter the Institute Of Accoutermentia."

Wed, 23 Nov 2005 18:56:21 GMT

1. Always keep your rubian safe.
2. Don't ever doubt the power of Dark Elemenstation.
3. Never bring a nightstand to life.

http://elothtes.pbwiki.com/

Part collectible card game, part elaborate fantasy setting. All awesome.

By request.

Fri, 16 Sep 2005 15:23:49 GMT

cute_fuzzy_evil and woobat, thank you for prompting me to do this.

List 10 things (in no particular order) that bring you a moment of joy and tag 5 friends to do the same.

1. Those times when I'm just falling asleep and my thoughts aren't quite dreams but aren't fully under my conscious control, either.
2. Eating an unfamiliar dish--tofu dengaku, beet salad--and finding that I really like it.
3. Playing catch with either a disc or a baseball.
4. When I see nature surviving or thriving in the urban environment: geese crossing the highway, red-tailed hawks nesting on office buildings, grass and flowers reclaiming abandoned parking lots.
5. Watching or interacting with nearly any (non-threatening) critter.
6. Performances or events that transcend weirdness or absurdity to become sublime. (Sock puppets optional.)
7. Defying expectations.
8. Hannibal said it best: "I love it when a plan comes together." (Most often occurs with harebrained schemes at work.)
9. Unselfconscious, aimless hanging out with friends.
10. Graceful victories.

Wasn't sure I could come up with ten, but now that I have I'm sure there are others I could name.

Tag: ltlbird when she gets back online, bluekniggit, thicky, megastoat, papa_funk and anyone who has been looking for an excuse to try this meme or post to LJ.

I'm surprised it doesn't rank higher.

Thu, 18 Aug 2005 19:33:09 GMT

According to this meme, the seventh-most popular interest among my LJ friends is "blaming Toby".

Note that this is more popular than "roleplaying" and "Willams College" and just as popular as "games" and "books".

London

Thu, 07 Jul 2005 10:31:50 GMT

By the time most of you see this, you'll probably have more information than I do, but apparently several (bomb?) blasts went off across London today. K. and I are safe and sound in our hotel on the southwest side of the city waiting for more information. The Underground and most of the rest of the public transportation are shut down right now, and phones between here and the U.S. are spotty.

London's a great city. I can't really articulate well how this makes me feel. Mostly angry right now.

Science, meet my unconscious.

Fri, 14 Jan 2005 00:08:11 GMT

It can meet yours as well if you take the tests located here.

I'm not sure how valid I think these tests are--while taking some of them, I was also thinking about their potential flaws--but since I try to manipulate my unconscious through conscious strategies, I find them interesting.

Of the tests I've taken, the age test came back with the strongest implicit assocation: that youth is very, very good. I can come up with a number of reasons for why my unconscious might think (feel?) this way: I don't regularly interact with many elderly people; I follow popular culture, which skews young; and, frankly, even my conscious mind has a hard time thinking of the positive aspects of growing old. (Not of old *people*, but it's not clear to me how distinct those associations are.) On the other hand, one of my other results showed a slight preference for a stereotypically negative characteristic where I would have expected the opposite.

Since the tests where I showed little to no preference were the ones during which I remember thinking the least, perhaps the results are more indicative of distraction or variance in test-taking ability than of implicit associations.

City mouse-voter, country mouse-voter

Thu, 04 Nov 2004 18:47:58 GMT

Not really a surprise, but I've found it interesting to imagine a more complete overlay of major population centers on this map.

Texas' major cities are a huge exception to the rule. I'm also curious about the counties along the Mississippi River, especially towards the south. (Larger African-American populations there, perhaps?)

Wed, 03 Nov 2004 16:54:36 GMT

One possibility raised by this election is that some Americans are so frightened and confused--by the threat of terrorism, by the perceived threats to their religious beliefs, by the glut of information they're exposed to daily--that they chose the simplicity and reassurance of Bush's message over Kerry's criticisms and supposed wavering.

If there's any truth to this, the lack of skepticism and critical thinking in our country is disappointing, but is it surprising? As one of my coworkers pointed out to me earlier today, haven't most recent presidential elections gone to the candidate who more successfully conveyed warmth and optimism? (Nixon comes to mind as an exception.) This leads me to wonder if we would be better off without television when it comes to politics.

Less charitably, I think cognitive dissonance is also at work here. Not voting for Bush would imply that something was wrong with voting for him the first time; for those who did vote for him, that's an especially uncomfortable thought after 9/11. No one wants to think that their vote helped elect a president who ignored warnings of a possible attack by al-Qaeda. Therefore, Bush must be doing a good job and deserving of reelection.

Clearly efforts to bring about change at the presidential and congressional level have failed. Perhaps grass-roots efforts can keep our political situation from becoming even more one-sided, but I worry that only scandal or an even greater disaster than 9/11 will convince enough Americans that they are being led astray. I hope that I'm wrong about either the dire state of affairs or what might have to happen before people are willing to acknowledge it.