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Scott's Internet Picks of the Week:

Dear loyal readers,

I'll be taking a break from SIPOTW for a while.  I'm taking a leave of absence from Ed Video for a few months to spend time with my new baby daughter, and I don't have as much time to look at hundreds of links each week. 
Thanks for reading each week,
Scott McGovern

October 21, 2010

Quick Picks!

This little defeatist graphic really tears away at my heart and mind:

http://i.imgur.com/dZzS9.jpg

Ten years ago this week, I had my first major art show in a gallery.  It was called Homoschtank and featured lots of art from myself and Nick Denboer and took place at the now legendary Art System in Toronto.  The Nihilist Spasm Band played at the opening, and the exhibit was a real landmark for me personally and professionally.  Here are a few pictures that Nick still has on his website:

http://genericversatility.com/homoschtank/

As Oscar Wilde once said, "Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.”  Very true, and I would add that fashion is just felicitous conformity.  So what happens when a designer is inspired by timeless Amish garments?  Well, I hate the notion of fashion, but I can stand behind this collection:

http://www.refinery29.com/limi-feus-spring-collection-ge.php

I visited the new ‘Communitech Hub’ in downtown Kitchener this week to check out Christie Digital’s 3D video cave.  Wow!  It is very inspiring to see KW investing in things like this and preparing for the future: 

http://news.therecord.com/article/790207

A video projection on the water below a bridge that is meant to prevent suicides.  Neat:

http://ccnerdfactory.wordpress.com/2010/10/10/suicide-ads-projected-under-bridge-jumpers/

Video!

The David Hoffas show at the MOCCA is amazing.  It feels like a Disneyland exhibit, and that is a good thing.  If you are in Toronto before the end of the year, don’t miss it.  Here is the artist talking about the show, and you can get a peek at some of the work, but you really must see this in person to appreciate it:

http://vimeo.com/16025214

Ah yeah!  I love finding full length documentaries on youtube!  Requiem for Detroit is a BBC production about the decline and rebirth of the motor city.  Great soundtrack, interesting characters, and some surprising facts I didn’t know even though I grew up just south of Detroit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OpXhd7iau8

‘Oops’ is a very creative video made entirely from footage of people dropping their video cameras.  Very smart editing.  I can’t get the clip at 4:20 out of my mind:

http://vimeo.com/13788278

Very much like some Aphex Twin videos, but ‘Helping Johnny Remember’ is what video should be about 2010.  I kinda love this video and I’m not really sure why:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pl2LiSjysBQ

Music!

It took me years to figure out what this instrumental song is called.  I’m sure you’ve heard it before in a waiting room or elevator.  What a lovely melody:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRu4aLAG2AI

Flash Game!

Rocket Science is the best game I’ve played in a long time.  You set the trajectories of your rocket ships and try to make them hit planets.  Sounds boring, but it isn’t, and you’ll notice some little details in this game that make it special:

http://www.gamephysics.info/swf/rocketscience.swf


October 14, 2010

Quick Picks!

Some amazing stunts, tricks, and magic erupting over municipal elections recently.  I’m following the Guelph ballot closely, and it is really fun to see things play out, entirely on the internet.  I kinda wish it would go on longer because it is a good time for people to speak passionately and publicly about the issues most important to them.   Probably the most hotly debated issue of the election was the use of blogs and facebook. 
My man Adam Donaldson has a great blog (where he uses his real name) to make some rather insightful comments about Gwelf happenings.  About half of the candidates responded to his questionnaire, and ‘Arts & Culture?’ was one of the questions.  A few of the responses have some insight, but the main benefit always mentioned is tourism.  Certainly true, however that road is paved with good intentions but a denial of the magically transformative and enriching power of art - specifically on those who create it.  Guelph is bursting with educated, creative people, ready to contribute to the community and economy if the conditions are invested in.  A minimal amount of funding, on par with what other cities more broke than Guelph contribute, would have an immense impact.  Anyways, here is Adam’s blog:

http://guelphpolitico.blogspot.com/

Van Gogh, blah blah blah.  Tilt shift, whatever.  But honestly, giving depth to paintings like this is wicked and has a lot of potential as a technique:

http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/van-goghs-paintings-get

Video!

Here is some interesting software to recognize and replace corporate logos in moving video:

http://vimeo.com/14566198

Using words in videos, either narrated or written, is an effective technique to sustain the viewer’s attention, at the risk of being overwhelming.  This magical little paper animation may be guilty of the latter, that’s forgivable because it would be interesting with almost any sound:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBec95Mv8G8

Well, congratulations are in order to Ed Video affiliate Jamie, from the popular and irreverent vlog Jamie’s World.  Two weeks ago in LA at the Stony Awards, High Times Magazine awarded him with 'Best Internet Video of the Year' for a video he made "Debunking the rumours of Mary Jane (dope)”.  I hear the party was a hoot! Jamie isn’t your average video blogger (thankfully).  There isn’t a term like ‘production values’ to apply to editing quality that I can think of but if there was, Jamie’s World would deserve it. I think I’ve seen Jamie in Guelph before, usually on the first Friday of each month at the Jimmy Jazz:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1E39j-iuFL0

Music!
I'm not feeling very musical this week.

Flash Game!
Not this week kids, no time to mess around.

September 30, 2010

Quick Picks!

The internet allows you see things that have taken people thousands of hours to create - for free, at home, anytime you like.  A good example is Peter Callesen’s amazing paper sculptures.  I can’t wait until people forward these pictures to me via email in about two years:

http://artbns.com/amazing-art-a-single-sheet-of-paper/

If you work with computers, you’ve probably got a bit of spaghetti under your desk, but hopefully nothing like this:

http://i.imgur.com/2R3p7.jpg

Even as a small child, I had a suspicion that nature shows were totally fake.  Now a producer of them comes out to admit it.  Not too surprising, but something to think about next time you see two animals engaged in a vicious battle on TV:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/21/AR2010092105782_3.html?nav=rss_nation/special/8

Yes, yes I do little man:

http://i.imgur.com/2x5YE.png

Video!

I’ll share this here first - This is an animation of the Pine Cone Wall that is currently in the gallery by Stan Krzyzanowski.  It is high resolution so takes a few minutes to load, but it is well worth it:

http://webspace.ocad.ca/~stan/accidentallyPerfect/cone_wall/

A whole bunch of historical films from Nova Scotia were put up on youtube last week:

http://www.youtube.com/user/nsarchives

Music!

Kevin Breit shreds up an amazing bluesy guitar song while playing samples from a walkman.  The town of Elora should put Kevin and his wife Trish on a retainer just because they live there.  They are ridiculously cool people that contribute a lot to the culture and legitimacy of that small town:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH0-0cXHHs4

Flash Game!

This game is very difficult and makes 60 seconds seem like a lifetime.  There are some interesting facts about what can happen in one minute:

http://www.kongregate.com/games/nitsud/every-60-seconds

September 23, 2010

Quick Picks!

This is one of the most useful websites I know about.  I use it all of the time:

http://onlineclock.net/

I can’t stop thinking about this concept, and how true it is.  It isn’t just how company policy is made, it is also how society is kept afraid and obedient to the ideals of those in power:

http://dsmcity.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=558&Itemid=1

The best show on TV right now is definitely Mad Men.  A few episodes ago, Peggy and Pete got egg on their face got for hiring actors to stage publicity stunts to promote tinned ham.  Well, Netflix set up shop in Canada last week, and it is too bad their ad department didn’t stream that episode (from their own site).  BTW, I can’t help but think that Netflix is just torrents for people who feel guilty not supporting corporations:

http://mobile.avclub.com/articles/netflix-apologizes-for-hiring-actors-to-pretend-to,45507/

A very simple but cool idea for a human video installation:

http://i.imgur.com/g8OOn.jpg

I don’t really know why, but I find this photograph very intriguing:

http://i.imgur.com/58OmE.jpg

But it isn’t as creepy as this one.  The kid in the bottom left is the best:

http://i.imgur.com/g35be.jpg

You know I love the animated GIFs.  These ones among the best I’ve ever seen:

http://www.webdesignmash.com/2010/02/truly-amazing-collection-of-hypnotic-animations-by-davidope/

Yummy rocks!:

http://i.imgur.com/Ycxi1.jpg

Video!

The exhibit ‘Accidentally Perfect’ is up right now in the gallery, and I would strongly recommend checking it out before it finishes on October 8.  It is such a good show.  One of the two artists in the show, Stan Krzyzanowski, had a video in the Toronto Urban Film Festival last week called Some Assembly Required.  It won an award for ‘Best in Category - Our Environment and Urban Growth’:

http://www.torontourbanfilmfestival.com/films/some-assembly-required

Here is something kinda neat that won’t get mainstream attention - a student at University of Toronto has made a human-powered aircraft.  The video is beautiful when those huge wings start flapping with the sunrise behind it:

http://www.engineering.utoronto.ca/About/Engineering_in_the_News/Human-powered_Ornithopter_Becomes_First_Ever_to_Achieve_Sustained_Flight.htm

Music!

I’ve probably listened to ‘Halfaxa’ by Grimes fifty times, since I bought it from her last month when she played at Ed Video.  The songs are so layered, complex, and unusual, yet it still sounds like a pop album.  Here is a short documentary about Grimes called Human Heart.  It isn’t the best video ever, but has some nice moments, and gives the viewer peek into the mind and world of Claire Boucher who is Grimes:

http://arbutusrecords.blogspot.com/2010/08/emily-kai-bock-human-heart.html

Flash Game!

Robichai is a cute little game that has simple controls, but gets challenging very quickly:

http://www.kongregate.com/games/Kcori/robichai

September 16, 2010

Quick Picks!

Now that I’m almost recovered from Guelph’s Nuit Blanche, it is time for the next exhibit in the gallery - Accidentally Perfect.  I’m just putting the finishing touches on it today, and it is a hell of a cool show.  Come to the opening next Friday to have a drink, meet the curator and the artists, and see some fascinating art:

http://www.edvideo.org/gallery-events/screenings/accidentally-perfect

Lesbians who look like Justin Bieber, is just as the title suggests.  Somebody had to make this website:

http://lesbianswholooklikejustinbieber.tumblr.com/

Video!

Some people I know have been on this new TV show, Star Portraits.  The latest episode features my friend Kelly Grace, who is a beautiful person and fantastic painter.  She has done a portrait of me before, but for this show she recreates the likeness of David Suzuki.  I probably would have edited this show differently to make everyone sound a bit more intelligent, but it is television, and television is for old people.  Still the three artists featured all create some nice work, and a reality TV show about art is better than 99% of what normally exists:

http://watch.bravo.ca/star-portraits/season-2/star-portraits-ep-201-david-suzuki#clip334729

If you haven’t seen this video of Republican Phil Davison going apeshit during his speech, please check it out.  He has a ‘masters degree in communication’, but I just can’t help but think about Chris Farley:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/martin-olson/phil-davison-gop-speech_b_710642.html

Music!

Kinda neat but kinda lame, this DJ scratches with cassette tapes.  If you are still DJing in 2010, I guess you need some sorta gimmick:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=088AWsTtTFU

Flash Game!

Winter Bells is a pretty old game, but still very pleasant.  You are a bunny that jump up in the air to hit bells. 

http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/g3/bells.htm

September 9, 2010

Quick Picks!

This looks innocent but isn’t.  It hurts my eyes and I’m afraid of triggering something:

http://i.imgur.com/0bXCJ.jpg

Video is fiction, every single time.  Video games are video, as the name implies.  Peter MacKay is silly to open up a dialogue about the ethics of Metal of Honor (spelling not corrected for for the commonwealth market, just like ‘Color Your World’):

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/MacKay+misfired+video+game+assault/3492208/story.html

It is difficult to make the ads in Times Square, which somehow draw tourists to their ambiance, look innocent - but this one promoting the Canadian tar sands seems to do the trick:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/albertaoilsands/4968558310/

Here’s a touching article, written by someone my parent’s age about my grandparent’s generation.  The ideas are overly simplistic about patriotism, but the lamentation of the lack of inherited logic and learning is lovely:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/facts-and-arguments/our-generation-has-dropped-the-torch/article1698939/

If you are from Elmira, as myself and and a few thousand other people are, you might refer to the fabric known as ‘fun fur’ as ‘borg’.  A factory in Elmira that made fun fur was called Borg Textiles, and some of my friends worked there turning barrels of chemicals into fluffy fabric.  My sister even worked there briefly in the factory outlet store.  During my early teens, I thought that one factory supplied the whole world with fun fur.  
When I was 18 I bought a few yards of black borg at the outlet store, more like a corner of the factory where they had cheap offcuts and the patterns too weird to sell.  I sewed my high school graduation gown (and mortarboard) from it because I refused to rent the standard getup for $15.
Anyhow, I could go on and on about raves and 90’s sculptures and stuff, but just check this shit out... I haven’t owned a shred of fun fur in many years, but suddenly I want some again:

http://9gag.com/photo/34517_540.jpg

I think I gave this guy an Ed Video membership application about a year ago when he visited the gallery.  He never joined:

http://snitchwire.blogspot.com/2010/08/concerning-potential-infiltration-in.html

The CAFKA folks over in Ktown have some very impressive programming coming up this fall, including a talk by Reese Terris on November 10th.  Check ‘American Standard’ by this Vancouver-based artist, a riff on a very familiar and definitive art icon:

http://www.reeceterris.com/exhibits/american-standard.php

Video!

On that theme, a $20 water fountain that has a $50,000 effect:

http://vimeo.com/10321678

Certainly the most exciting video around Gwelf this week is the awkwardly titled "Case Dismissed with Cause and Prejudice Judge bows to Sovereign”, an illegally videotaped trial in the Guelph municipal court.  The star is a local musician who was summoned for parking his vehicle on his lawn.  Basically, he takes authority of the courtroom.  It is hilarious, and the hundreds of comments are a free-for-all on legal loopholes, the magna carta, and awesome accusations.  The local press is too worried about legalities to post a link to this video, but they ought to do it soon because I have no faith that youtube will keep it up.  Keith Thompson (if that is his last name) has become a folk hero to anyone who has ever been summoned to one of these courtrooms (as Ed Video has twice in the last three months!):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EzJsUExEDE

North Korea sure has some redeeming qualities, like a penchant for choreographed spectacle.  I’ve never really seen anything of this caliber before:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwKWttrEaSM

On a lighter note, here is a really good video that explains how a mechanical watch works:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiCPu0SjEW4

On a super light note, this video narrated by a little English girl has a great formula... cuteness, LOLs, and WTF combined perfectly:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFyD3KiGspU


Music!

Tons of great music happening in the Royal City this weekend for the Nuit Blanche, like this experimental piano installation at the WC Woods factory by the artist Gordon Monahan:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpDVww0duuE

I’m super excited to go see Deerhoof play in Toronto in a few weeks.  In a time of autotuned bad hip hop and generic pop, this band is such a breath of fresh air:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcNnCxrN2Xk


Flash Game!

This isn’t technically a Flash game because it uses HTML, but Sand Trap is simple, fun, and loads really fast:

http://gopherwoodstudios.com/sandtrap/sand-trap.htm

September 2, 2010

Quick Picks!

Randall Rosenthal makes some amazing sculptures.  It may not be obvious when you first see them, but these are all carved out of wood!:

http://www.randallrosenthal.com/Pages/New%20Pages/whats_new.htm

An existential loop in bathroom graffiti:

http://i.imgur.com/YOcNe.jpg

Here is a fascinating thing that I’ve never heard of - Charles Darwin had this idea to convert the barren Ascension Island into a lush paradise.  It took over a hundred years, but it worked:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11137903

Here is a guitar made out of a garden spade.  There is a video at the bottom of the page where the crazy Russian dude who who made it plays the spade, and it actually sounds pretty good:

http://englishrussia.com/index.php/2010/09/01/the-awesome-guitar-made-out-of-a-shovel/

I was really into tropical fish when I was a kid, but unfortunately this type of fish hadn’t been invented yet.  Even today, you can’t get them in Canada.  They are genetically modified to glow:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GloFish

Check out how the City of Guelph skirts my simple question about sidewalk repair.  Great spin to make it sound like they answered my query, which they did not.  They "want to be sure that these issues are addressed” but then they don’t.  It is fun to see politics and web 2.0 clash:

http://guelph.ca/remastered/?page_id=104#comments

Video!

Banksy posted a new video two days ago.  The incognizant masses just wanna have fun, and thinking about your surroundings often gets in the way of that pursuit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hjIuMx-N7c

Music!

The videos from the Paddle Slower music festival are now up on youtube.  I shot these and Anthony Ferreira, the organizer of this unique festival on the banks of the Speed River, edited the footage.  I would particularly recommend the Whoop-szo and Jenny Omnichord videos, but they are all pretty good:

http://www.youtube.com/user/EdVideoGuelph

Flash Game!

Cross breed these petunias to make your own hybrid flowers.  This very unique game is sorta boring, but you don’t want to stop playing it for some reason:

http://www.bobblebrook.com/games/rare-breeds-petunia

August 26, 2010

Quick Picks!

I tried to post this link on Facebook a few days ago, but it wouldn’t let me.  Openbook lets you search open Facebook profiles.  I typed in Guelph and saw a few of my friends come up.  Even when I typed in Toronto, a few names were familiar.  The site advocates for private FB profiles, but I still keep mine open anyways:

http://youropenbook.org/

I’m considering getting one of these headbands for when I do events in the gallery because I need this many remote controls:

http://blogs.sun.com/kevin/resource/remotehead.jpg

Just a monkey in a tux riding a goat, that’s all.  I just let this play and play and play on my desktop until I start to feel sorry for them:

http://i.imgur.com/V698o.gif

This GIF featuring dozens of characters who share the same eyes and mouth just goes on and on:

http://i.imgur.com/KdzF8.gif

I’ve never really thought of the differences between Aldous Huxley and George Orwell like this, but this sorta sums it up and suggests Huxley FTW:

http://imgur.com/YU5AF

Pat Fleet is the voice of the telephone, and you can get her to record a custom message for you for about $15!  That’s pretty awesome, and I have some twisted ideas of stuff I would like her to say, but I’m too cheap:

http://patfleet.com/

Video!

Human pong?  I don’t really know what this is about:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBAtNTC7yso

Last week I featured that NASA video of the rocket booster returning to earth, this week I’ve got a similar one of a time-lapse of earth that is also quite stunning.  The lens flares always do it for me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyHiMORy9tU

Music!

The Grimes, Doldrums, and POP Winds concert is almost here!  I’ve been anticipating this one for a long time, and it is really shaping up to be something special.  There will be live projections to accompany the music, and the good folks from CS Galleries are working hard on their Sculpture Park exhibition.  For those in the know, this is not an event to miss!:

http://www.edvideo.org/gallery-events/screenings/pop-winds-grimes-doldrums

Here is a song called Gambang by Grimes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWam7u9uBNY

Flash Game!

People seem to really like this game called Solipskier, where you draw your ski slope with your mouse.  It’s OK, but I’ve played better games before:

http://www.kongregate.com/games/Mikengreg/solipskier


August 19, 2010

Quick Picks!

This gives me an amazing idea for a conceptual website (that I’ll never make) that is only open for one hour each day:

http://i.imgur.com/RtIXG.png

Please Toronto, stay cool in the future, whatever may happen.  Here are 25 pretty good suggestions:

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/846897--toronto-s-most-wanted?bn=1

There are some young women in Guelph who are planning a topless protest later this month.  No big deal, eh?  Well, actually it has turned into a big deal, titillating the local press and causing a flurry of angry letters in opposition to the protest.  I guess I thought this issue was over, but it would seem that women’s bodies are still big news.  Here is an interesting article about the politics of pubic hair - centered around one of my favourite actresses, Sasha Grey (warning, nude pictures, oh my!):

http://conversationswiththewall.wordpress.com/2010/08/13/sasha-grey-and-the-truth-about-having-a-bush/


Video!

This stunning video caught some buzz yesterday and I can see why.  It really gets going about two minutes in, but why not give 7 minutes of your life to seeing what it looks like to get expelled from a space shuttle at the outskirts of our atmosphere.  The sound and technical problems are epic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uk_viH4Unw

Thanks (in large part) to the internet, human achievements in physical pursuits are continually improving.   In the circus, this is what it is all about - constantly improving, and often diversifying, your skills.  By chance, these talents translate very well to internet videos, and that available knowledge of what can be done grows wider.  Same could be said for any knowledge based practice, but circus people take stuff pretty far sometimes, like this dude who won YoYoFactory’s Canadian competition. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knYCilujrFM

Not me though, I don’t practice balloons at all anymore.  I’m on a plain slightly above adequate skills for your average balloon twister, and it is hard to move on.  Lucky for me, people still get very excited about balloons in 2010, begrudgingly waiting in line for up to an hour in exchange for a balloon like this guy makes.  Except I’m not this guy, thankfully, and I’m even reluctant to share this because it isn’t good for business:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iKWKnXl5pg

Music!

Someone figured out that if you slow down a Justin Bieber song 800% it sounds like Sigur Rós, and actually quite listenable:

http://soundcloud.com/shamantis/j-biebz-u-smile-800-slower

The reverse (speeding up Sigur Rós 800%) isn’t as cool but worth trying for experimental purposes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8_dSrY1MXs


Flash Game!

This game is dumb but cute, kinda like a purebred cat.  You observe a city from above with a giant magnifying glass, and you try to burn what you observe.  Actually it is completely pointless, but if you are looking for relevance in your life, maybe you shouldn’t be playing flash games:

http://www.bossmonster.com/games/antcity.html

August 12, 2010

Quick Picks!

A very clever way to reserve the best seat in the house:

http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l6msq2yYub1qzo3kso1_500.jpg

The Earth’s moon is a spoiled brat compared to Saturn’s brood:

http://i.imgur.com/PZ6R9.png

Video!

When people ask me when I will cut my hair, I often joke and say, "When there is peace in the mid-east.” Obviously, that would mean taking a oath akin to that of a Sikh, and I worry about actually committing to such a notion. However, the brothers in this video have taken a much larger oath - to continue to bike around the USA until the wars are over. I really feel for these veterans, and hope that they can stop their ride someday:

http://therealnews.com/t2/component/seyret/?task=videodirectlink&id=7303

A very well made German video that explains that the terrorists have won:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdIA0jeW-24

Music!

I watched the youtube live stream of the Arcade Fire playing at Madison Square Gardens as directed by Terry Gilliam. The music was great, but Gilliam’s overlaid visuals were a bit lackluster. I couldn’t stop thinking about how this band played at Ed Video six or seven years ago, and how far they have come since then.
Well, don’t miss Grimes, Pop Winds, and Doldrums on August 28. Any one of these three talented bands could go the way of Arcade Fire. In particular, Grimes (who is Claire Boucher from Montreal) is a talent to watch out for. My friend Brad McInerey describes her music as "like Madonna if she never got famous and just got weirder in the New York underground”:

http://www.myspace.com/boucherville

Flash Game!

A simple flash game that is sorta based on colour theory, but Johannes Itten would probably disagree:

http://1pd.org/play/22386_color-theory.aspx

August 5, 2010

Quick Picks!

So this special effects artist from Montreal named Remy Couture was arrested last year after being investigated by the RCMP and Interpol. He was charged with ‘corruption of morals’ for making a short horror film. The video in question certainly is extremely violent and full of gore, misogyny, and other standards of the genre - but it is fiction. Is Remy just too good at special effects for our government? I look forward to following his court case this October:

http://www.reddit.com/r/canada/comments/cwwp9/censorship_canadian_style_canadian_horror_fx/

I didn’t know that so many qualified art critics were employed as civil servants. Last week, these stickers were deemed illegal:

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/842606--cheeky-luggage-decals-banned-by-transport-canada?bn=1

If I had a bit more time on my hands and calmness in my life, I would be heading off to the amazing Arboretum in Guelph each Wednesday. They offer guided nature walks on a theme, and it only costs $2. I wish the summer was longer:

http://www.uoguelph.ca/arboretum/ArbOverview/JCTaylorCentre.htm

A great article about the bleak future of the suburbs. I’ve always figured this would be the case, but you don’t see a lot of articles about the inevitable collapse of cookie-cutter neighbourhoods. The McMansions of Milton may be gone sooner than we think:

http://www.greaterfool.ca/2010/07/13/burbicide/

Just type in your postal code into this Stats Canada site and see how you stack up against your neighbours:

http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/prof/92-597/index.cfm?Lang=E

Picasso draws with light, decades before all the kids were doing it with slow-exposure digital cameras:

http://i.imgur.com/lGLnX.jpg

A brilliant technique for covert stenciling:

http://i.imgur.com/SI4Tv.jpg

The coolest wedding ring ever:

http://i.imgur.com/ElDlq.jpg

Video!

Toronto city councillor (and mayoral candidate) Rob Ford making some fantastic observations about bicyclists. This is better than stand up comedy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nySs1cEq5rs

The classic video game ‘Wipeout’ is recreated in real life to make an analog version of the game. My heart bleeds for the players when they crash but it is their own fault at the end of the day:

http://vimeo.com/13217587

Music!

Looking for some nice classical music to listen to at work? Pull up this Wikipedia page and there should be enough for a whole day. I’m getting really into Claude Debussy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Sound/list

Flash Game!

Here is a neat thing you may not know about - if you hold down the left arrow key while you are watching a youtube video, you can play Snake! For real, try it.

July 29, 2010

Quick Picks!

Comics that are published in newspapers just aren’t funny, but you gotta love it when they sneak in a bit of WTF:

http://i.imgur.com/xcvui.jpg

Yesterday morning, in the span of half an hour, I was called by three telemarketers, solicited by two donation collectors on the street, and had some junkmail delivered. Please stop, or else:

http://officeofstrategicinfluence.com/bulkmailer/

Here is an interesting Canadian that I just heard about named Jean Béliveau, who is walking around the world to promote peace for children. I had no idea that the United Nations declared 2001-2010 as the ‘International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-violence for the Children of the World’. I’m not sure if that is working out very well, but I salute Mr. Béliveau’s efforts:

http://www.wwwalk.org/FrameSet_an.html

Two cases of sadistic and disgusting behaviour from British Columbia revealed this week:

http://www.vancouversun.com/group+used+snowmobiles+chase+wolves+hunt/3325936/story.html

and

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/07/28/bc-penile-sex-tests-young-offenders.html

Alright, I don’t mean to be a downer so here is something very cute to bring your mood back up:

http://milasdaydreams.blogspot.com/

I saw this hypothesis a few weeks ago, now I can’t stop giggling every time I see someone with a bluetooth earpiece:

http://i.imgur.com/AshqO.png

I know the topic of postering bylaws is so five minutes ago, but for those who are interested, here is what has been going on in Montreal lately. The most interesting part of the article is, "the city will continue to enforce its law until it decides whether to challenge the court's decision.” Wow!

http://spacingmontreal.ca/2010/07/19/court-throws-out-montreals-anti-postering-bylaw/

Video!

Watch out Republic of Nauru! If Canada’s draconic new copyright laws come in to effect, Tony Clement will come to your island and sue each and every one of your 14,000 people for stealing our national anthem!:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBIHFsirNvc

Creepier ‘Kiss’ makeup than the original:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nashkris/4760263629/sizes/o/


Music!

Electric Eclectics is almost here! I’m super excited to see the acts that are lined up for this weekend. I was just looking at some of the bands that will be playing and noticed that First Rate People will be there, featuring Ed Video artist and affiliate Liam Sanagan. I didn’t know that Liam was a musician, but it kinda makes sense because he is a suave young buck of the regency, kinda like a young Leonard Cohen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OPLy68UqoI

Here is a poster I designed for an upcoming concert at Ed Video featuring Cannon Bros and Matt Collins. I really like the way it looks, but I’m not sure that my generation will recognize the gay butterfly logo:

http://www.edvideo.org/gallery-events/screenings/cannon-bros-matt-collins

Flash Game!

Android Soccer is probably the best game I’ve featured in a while. Very simple but really challenging. It is one of those games where you keep telling yourself, "Just one more try” and then suddenly it is 5am and you’ve messed up your sleeping patterns for the whole week:

http://www.officegamespot.com/android-soccer.htm


July 22, 2010

Quick Picks!
Here are some things that are so clever that I’m jealous I didn’t think of them. Actual conceptual art by the people, not that boring ‘quasi-conceptual’ crap that universities tell their art students to make:

Infinite power. The glowing light in the switch makes it:

http://i.imgur.com/Y6SDy.png

Install a door anywhere with this mirror:

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/07/19/10_glimpseshot3.jpg

A carved stone in denial of itself:

http://i.imgur.com/UpcR2.jpg

This could have been a performance art piece from the 1970’s, but now dumbass teenagers from the suburbs have taken over this genre:

http://i.imgur.com/pqDES.gif

Video!

It is always cool when someone figures out how to translate information in to a new form to better illustrate it. For example, this video shows Vancouver’s wildly fluctuating real estate for what it is - a roller coaster ride:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqOn5XEm86A

Music!

Doldrums will be playing at Ed Video on August 28, offering up some of their frantic music to a bill that also includes Grimes and POP Winds. Doldrums also appear to be video geeks, as they have released a mix tape on VHS. My favourite format is back already! VHS is dead, long live VHS! Also, there is a cool grid of youtube videos on their myspace page where you can do your own mashups:

http://www.myspace.com/doldrumstoronto

Flash Game!

I just wasted about an hour trying out some really bad games to find this one. Even this one isn’t that great, but it was the best of the bunch. IQ Ball is a cross between a puzzle and physics game where you swing on a rope to reach your target:

http://www.lingolux.com/2010/07/13/iq-ball/

July 15, 2010

Quick Picks!

A negativ