Research and Development

Impossible is… Titles, Clouds and Suburbia

admin — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 00:15:22 +0000

A deserving impossible project. I wonder how much the equipment cost to “acquire”.

An astounding title sequence.

I love how clouds are made. And the rest.

A nation not worth fighting for?

The Greatest Demo of All Time, Folk Streams, Secret Stations and Scale

admin — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 00:13:45 +0000

“And it does!”. We still haven’t got to the same level of flexibility.

A amazing resource: Folk Streams.

The secret Russian space station program. “Diamond“.

100 million times better.

TV-B-Gone, The Thief and the Cobbler, Lifts from my ex

admin — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 23:50:32 +0000

TV-B-Gone is one of the best inventions of the past decade - Mitch Altman explains why he open-sourced it.

The Thief and the Cobbler, a never completed gem by Richard Williams, the man behind “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”.

From my ex. Selecting is where it has always been. Coxsone Dodd and King Tubby would tell you that.

Finally, what might happen when we finally build one.

Flying fish, Cabbage hat and what Twitter was made for

admin — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 23:36:13 +0000

Does exactly what it says on the tin.

I actually made a costume like this for Comic Relief back in the day.

This made me think of the infamous JWZ rant on Netscape source swearing.

Musicians getting Meta, Light Cones and Augmented Reality

admin — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 13:02:48 +0000

Getting meta. Meta is one my favourite words of the moment. Along with Tek. Reminds me of the classic, “Musican enters look a like content of themselves and comes second” meme.

The idea of a light cone is amazing, I am sure you could build a new religion around it. You can even track your own. It’s always useful to know your local area.

Finally, someone has done Augmented Reality right. The use of an Anglepoise- one of my British design classics, is lovely.

Bill Stone, Patricia Burchat and Brian Greene

admin — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 11:59:58 +0000

A Triumvirate of wonder about the universe. Courtesy of TED. This kind of thing gives me hope - I wonder if the luminaries of the Enlightenment would look upon the modern world and despair or rejoice?

Bill Stone explores the Earth and space.
Patricia Burchat: The search for dark energy and dark matter.
Brian Greene: The universe on a string.

Daito Manabe, Y’all So Stupid and PTAM

admin — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 12:08:25 +0000

Daito Manabe is an artist from Japan. He caught my attention recently with his facial animations and new take on body popping. A wealth of videos are available at his YouTube site.

Y’all so stupid is the creation of Devin Flynn. The intro graphics alone justify admittance.

Finally, PTAM (Parallel Tracking And Mapping) is a technology from Oxford University that allows three dimensional data to be gleaned from a two dimensional input. I have been involved in projects using custom 3D cameras when I worked at UnitedVisualArtists, and am fascinated to see how much can be done with more conventional systems.

A related pair of projects:

A research project from Adobe and the University of Washington, all to do with how to use this kind of technology to edit videos in some intriguing ways.

A great Google Tech Talk, entitled “Simple interactive 3D modeling for all“.

The possibilties for new interfaces are obvious, I am particularly interested in applying them to experiences and art installations. Imagine combining these technologies with the projection tek behind projects like Laser Tag.

George Smoot, Franco Sacchi and Stewart Brand

admin — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 00:43:05 +0000

George Smoot on the shape of the universe. Mindbending scale, multiple magnitudes of beauty. Thinking of dark matter as invisible matter is a much better analogy. As he says in the talk, “Matter just follows where Dark Matter goes”.

Franco Sacchi on the third biggest wood after Holly and Bolly.

Finally, a classic, Stewart Brand on the long now.

Teahupoo, Travis Pastrana and Anthony McCall

admin — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:26:55 +0000

I have always been obsessed with putting myself in the moment, and through my work, other people. It’s a very powerful thing to see people forget about their everyday lives and come back to now - which is all we really have.

The world keeps throwing up places that seem to bring out extraordinary performances out of people, seemingly by their very existence. The “because it’s there” syndrome. It’s interesting to contrast Manoa Drollet surfing Teahupoo, and Travis Pastrana playing in his own backyard. Both in the moment, one in a natural environment, and the other in an environment of his own imagining.

The sheer imposing physicality of Teahupoo made me recall an experience I had recently in Anthony McCall’s “Line Describing a Cone”. The cone being of light didn’t stop it from transporting me into another world, bringing me back to the moment.

Wabi-sabi, Lateralisation of Brain Function and 77Boadrum

admin — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:55:39 +0000

Wabi-sabi is a Japanese concept, based around the beauty and perfection of the natural imperfection of nature, and how to incorporate that into man made objects, buildings and places.

Lateralisation of brain function is the concept of the left and right sides of the brain having divided functionality - something as a left hander I am particularly interested in - and how such “handedness” develops.

77Boadrum is a performance by Bordedoms. I wish I could have been there - a perfect example of Wabi-Sabi and Lateralisation of brain function?