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Teen Brain

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 07:38:00 -0800

Teen Brain

A short film for teen mental health

Today I'm very excited to share my latest project, a short I directed and animated for Egg Studios. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Teen Brain, a piece that (we hope) will be a humorous and informative trip through the maturing mind.

I was approached about Teen Brain quite some time ago, and despite some scheduling conflicts that might have jeopardized my involvement, I made it very clear to everyone that I wanted this job... badly.

It was just way too far up my alley to even consider letting go. You see, I'm fascinated by the human brain, and some day I hope to be the proud owner of one myself. This film aims to share such fascination with youth. It's part of a series of videos produced by Egg Studios on behalf of IWK Health Centre to get kids interested in their gray matter. You can see the other films Egg has made in the series here and here.

Normally I only share personal projects with this degree of fanfare, (shameless self promoter that I am) but I have to admit that I'm pretty happy with this piece. I loved the subject matter, I laughed at Don Veinish's script, and I was very happy with the direction we were able to take it.

You may notice some stylistic similarities to Vision, my piece about the James Webb Space Telescope. Ever since that project I wanted to take that look a little further, and Teen Brain was a perfect opportunity to get it out of my system. Once again the music is composed by the enormously talented Bob Mills from the band BIG IDEAS.

Thanks again to Egg Studios and Mike Hachey, who do all sorts of work to promote mental health awareness. Learn more by going to teenmentalhealth.org.

Don't forget to go fullscreen, and enable the HD option if your connection is fast enough. Enjoy!

More about Teen Mental Health

The Chair's vision is to help improve the mental health of youth by the effective translation and transfer of scientific knowledge. Our model is to use the best scientific evidence available to develop application-ready training programs, publications, tools and resources that can be applied across disciplines to enhance the understanding of adolescent mental health and mental disorders.

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Directed and Animated by Brad Goodspeed

Written by Don Veinish

Music by Bob Mills

Sound Design/Mix by Marc Arsenault

Produced by Kris Booth

Executive Producer Mike Hachey

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More Great Sci-fi Concept Art

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 08:17:30 -0800

Video-Game Concept Art
by Andrea Bianco

I have to admit that I stole the idea to feature Andrea Bianco from the official Posterous blog, but since I've been featuring so many awesome science-fiction artists over the past little while, I thought it appropriate to do some thieving.

To read some of his thoughts on this work, please read that piece here. However I was so enamoured with Andrea's art that I wanted to show more of it than they did, and if you look below, that's just what I've done. Most of this work is concept art for video game design, which seems to be the great new avenue for sci-fi sensibilities in modern culture.

Do you like space-ships, weird looking demons, and gun-toting robots? What better way to get paid for it than the video game biz? When I was young we got maybe 2 or 3 new sci-fi movies out of Hollywood each year, and all the big comic-book drawing jobs were taken by the same exclusive group of dudes. What was a dork to do with his dreams?

The video game industry, our generation's great new creative channel, has been the grateful beneficiary of these inclinations. New games can't be pumped out fast enough, and each of them has to look cool. All of that gives talented guys like Andrea a chance to do his thing.

Got to love it.

Click to see larger, and enjoy!

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The Stars from Atacama

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 08:18:00 -0800

Atacama Starry Nights: Episode I

by Babak Tafreshi and Christoph Malin

This brilliant little film accomplishes something unique. Unlike any of the other astronomy time-lapse videos which have been flooding the internet of late, which simply inspire you with a gorgeous look at the heavens, this one will alter your vacation plans.

That's because it's filmed on the spot of our planet with the clearest skies above it: Cerro Paranal in the Atacama desert. Most astronomy enthusiasts have heard of the Atacama—famed for it's high altitude, absence of light pollution, and extremely dry air; all perfect conditions for stargazing—but this movie will have you booking airline tickets there. After all, if it's good enough for the folks who work at the Very Large Telescope, it's got to be worth taking the kids to, right?

This short, made by science communicators Babak Tafreshi and Christoph Malin, makes me long to stand under those famously dark skies myself. It's a lovely little film, almost as beautiful as the heavens it so dramatically reveals.

Now I just have to explain to my wife that we're going to the desert for March break.

Bonus content! Here's a really HUGE (and beautiful) image of a lunar eclipse, taken from Cerro Paranal. Have a look.

More from the filmmakers

Cerro Paranal is an astronomers paradise with its stunningly dark, steady and transparent sky. Located in the barren Atacama Desert of Chile it is home to some of the world's leading telescopes.

Operated by the European Southern Observatory (eso.org) the Very Large Telescope (VLT) is located on Paranal, composed of four 8 m telescopes which can combine their light to make a giant telescope by interferometry. Four smaller auxiliary telescopes, each 1.8 m in aperture, are important elements of the VLT interferometer.

This footage is made during an imaging expedition to Paranal assigned by the European Southern Observatory (ESO). All video rights reserved by Christoph Malin (christophmalin.com) and Babak Tafreshi (btafreshi@twanight.org) of The World at Night (TWAN) program.

The music theme is by Carbon Based Lifeforms (carbonbasedlifeforms.net). Song Arecibo extract from the album [Twentythree], write & produced by Johannes Hedberg and Daniel Segerstad, published by Ultimae (ultimae.com). Music remix by Tiny Types.

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Excellent Sci-Fantasy Illustrations

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 07:32:20 -0800

Fantasy Scenes
by Yap Kun Rong

Here's a look at another great sci-fi illustrator and painter, Yap Kun Rong. I really love the style, and how he isn't afraid of using lots of colour in his work. Not everything in science fiction has to look like Bladerunner, and Kunrong obviously doesn't mind bringing a little bit of an optimistic, cartoony palette to bear on the genre. (although there's some darker stuff mixed in as well)

Click to see larger, and enjoy!

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Death and Jules Verne

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 05:05:56 -0800

Some more work today by graphic designer/artist Justin Mezzell, who I've profiled before. I find the following work mesmerizing, but unfortunately don't have a lot of time to describe it. Therefore I'll let Justin take it away himself.

Enjoy!

Aeternus

A Conversation with Death & Timelessness

Aeternus is a graphic narrative told in the final act of one man's life--lying in his death bed. In these created worlds of fiction, the Dreamer lives in a time outside of time.

It is crafted with respect to an extraordinary dreamer, Jules Verne.

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Under the Microscope - Part 2

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 09:07:00 -0800

Sorry for the recent lack of content folks. As is my usual excuse, blame work. I'm knee deep in a huge project right now, which I can only tell you is a cool one; something I'll share with everybody just as soon as I'm able.

In the meantime, the nice folks at Cambridge University (or at least the curator of their Vimeo channel) were nice enough to forward me two new links to videos in the series I profiled last week. At the time I posted about Under the Microscope, I wasn't sure if the series had been discontinued, so that now that I know otherwise I thought I'd pass them on to y'all.

I know, not really the self produced content that you're supposed to put on a blog, but given the fact that I had publicly questioned whether there'd be more episodes, and that I don't really have a lot of time this week, I thought I'd point you to them all the same. From here on in, if you'd like to see more installments, make sure you subscribe to the channel.

Enjoy!

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Under the Microscope

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 04:08:00 -0800

No more talk about God this morning folks. Instead a very quick post about a video series that I just discovered from Cambridge University. 'Under the Microscope' is a collection of images taken, you guessed it, under a microscope, and then accompanied by explanatory narration. I found them fascinating. They're all very short, so you can run through the entire series (below) rather quickly.

It's been 3 months since they last posted a video, so I hope the series isn't over, but you can subscribe to the Vimeo channel by going here. More info on each video below.

Enjoy!

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VIDEO 1

In the first of this microscopic video series, Dr Chris Forman shows us the eye of a beetle and the eye of a fruit fly and explains how they have inspired technology.

Dr Forman:

“Nature has found remarkable ways of using small amounts of energy to combine common elements such as carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen into fascinating and complex assemblies like these insects shown here. If we could do the same in our manufacturing processes then perhaps we could recycle our products more easily and we wouldn't use as much energy processing large lumps of aluminium, concrete and plastic. My research into biomaterials tries to learn from nature how to combine the same basic materials into a wide range of structures that perhaps, one day, may be used in all kinds of products from food to factories!”

Size of these images:

μm = micron (one thousandth of a millimetre)

Beetle eye: each individual lens is 12 μm (the thickness of cling film), the entire eye is about 750 μm across (thickness of 5 sheets of paper) and the entire image is about 240 μm across (really thick bit of human hair).

Fruit fly eye: Again each lens is about 10 μm (thickness of cling film), and the entire eye is about 200-300 μm (3 sheets of paper). The total distance across the image is about 115 μm across (thickness of a human hair).

More info:

cam.ac.uk/research/?p=24151

More images:

flic.kr/s/aHsjwMhSFd

Dr Forman’s profile:

ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/people/cjf41

Thanks to Dr Bill O’Neill and Dr Paul Barker.

Department of Engineering:

eng.cam.ac.uk

Music by Joe Snape:

larmlicht.wordpress.com

VIDEO 2

In this video Dr Chris Forman shows us his incredible images of a fruit fly foot and beetle antenna.

Dr Forman:

Size of these images:

μm = micron (one thousandth of a millimetre)

Fruit fly foot: 50 μm across (thin strand of human hair).

Antenna: 60-70 μm across (strand of human hair)

More info:

cam.ac.uk/research/?p=24151

More images:

flic.kr/s/aHsjwMhSFd

Dr Chris Forman’s profile:

ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/people/cjf41

Thanks to Dr Bill O’Neill and Dr Paul Barker.

Department of Engineering:

eng.cam.ac.uk

Music by Joe Snape:

larmlicht.wordpress.com

Find more Cambridge research here:

cam.ac.uk/research

VIDEO 3

In this video, we see a mouse embryo developing. Erica Watson tells us that studying this process helps us better understand human pregnancy.

Erica Watson:

“The development of a fetus is elegant yet complex. Amazingly, most fetuses undergo a highly orchestrated sequence of events during development to produce a healthy baby. This suggests that a baby can adapt to changes in the womb, such as to the availability of nutrients from its mother. But how do these environmental changes affect the baby’s health in later life? And is it possible that these adverse changes will alter the development of generations to follow? In other words, does the environment that a baby develops in affect its grandchildren’s growth and development? Our research aims to understand these questions using a mouse model with a genetic mutation that prevents the normal breakdown folic acid (a vitamin). This mutation alters the metabolism of a mouse and causes long-lasting effects on the generations to come. Our hope is to find out how environmental changes caused by a genetic mutation are perpetuated into subsequent generations, even when these generations do not carry the mutation.

Since humans and mice use similar genes during development, we can get valuable information from a mouse model about how an embryo and its placenta develop over time. Compared to a human pregnancy that lasts nine months, a mouse fetus develops quickly, taking only three weeks to get from a one-cell embryo to a fully-grown mouse pup. Using a light microscope, we generated this image showing the growth and development of a mouse embryo during the second week of pregnancy. The first embryo is nine days old and has few recognizable features whereas the last embryos is fourteen days old and more closely resembles a mouse pup as birth. Understanding the progression of normal developmental processes will ultimately help us explain the events that cause fetal development to go awry resulting in miscarriage or stillbirth.”

The smallest fetus in the video is the thickness of a penny and the largest one is the size of a blueberry.

More information:

trophoblast.cam.ac.uk/people/watson.shtml

Department of Physiology, Development and Neurosciences:

pdn.cam.ac.uk

School of Biological Sciences:

bio.cam.ac.uk

Graduate School of Life Sciences:

biomed.cam.ac.uk/gradschool

Music by Peter Nickalls:

peternickalls.com

VIDEO 4

Dr Tim Wilkinson is combining liquid crystals with nanotechnology to try and create 3D displays which would look like real life.

Dr Wilkinson:

“Liquid crystal displays are now a commonplace technology from mobile phone displays to wide screen televisions. They are, however, still limited by the shape, size and speed of their pixels when they are used to display video images. This video shows microscope sequences of a new nanotechnology based liquid crystal pixel structure that will allow much higher resolution displays and even true 3D holographic displays to be fabricated in the future.”

The videos are all in real time. The scale varies from video to video, but the little dots which form a grid in most of them are all 10 μm apart (10th of diameter of a hair).

More info:

g.eng.cam.ac.uk/CMMPE/displays2d.html

g.eng.cam.ac.uk/CMMPE/research.html

Department of Engineering:

eng.cam.ac.uk

Music by Intercontinental Music Lab

intercontinentalmusiclab.com

Find more Cambridge research here:

cam.ac.uk/research

VIDEO 5

In this video Dr Beverley Glover explains how a daisy is a collection of tiny flowers grouped together to look like a single big flower.

Dr Glover:

“The flowering plants (Angiosperms) form the dominant vegetation over most of the Earth’s land surface. They are found in all habitats except the Antarctic, and can tolerate an extraordinarily wide range of environmental conditions. All major human food crops are Angiosperms. We are interested in the evolution and development of the flower, one of the defining features of Angiosperms. The evolution of flowers changed the way in which plants reproduced, allowing them to use animals to carry their pollen around. Our research is particularly focussed on understanding how the features that make flowers attractive to insects evolved, and what the genetic control of their development is. We hope to be able to use this knowledge to improve pollination and yield of important crop plants and to help protect the great diversity of flowers and insect pollinators in the wild.

This image of a developing daisy flower head is part of our work on understanding different ways of attracting pollinators. All the plants in the daisy family use the same trick – by clustering together many tiny flowers they produce a structure that looks just like a single big flower. The daisies that grow in our lawns contain two different types of flowers – central radially symmetrical yellow ones, and an outer ring of bilaterally symmetrical white ones with a massively elongated petal structure. In this Scanning Electron Micrograph you can see the central yellow flowers at a very early stage of development, with the petals still folded over the centre of each little flower.”

More info:

(research horizons story which will be release at a similar time)

Dr Glover’s profile:

plantsci.cam.ac.uk/research/beverleyglover.html

Department of Plant Sciences:

plantsci.cam.ac.uk

Music by Peter Nickalls:

peternickalls.com

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Rejecting Religion Openly, and Being Polite About It

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 06:47:00 -0800

It's the million dollar question. You live in a world where almost everybody believes in a story that you do not. Besides the fact that societies are built around these stories, so are people's most intimate hopes and fears. You don't want to be silent about the way that you see the world, but at the same time you hate being rude.

So why challenge religion openly? I may take a round-about route, but in the following article I'll try to at least give my own answer.

I don't like getting shit upon.

In this way I am not unique. People generally prefer not to be oppressed, harassed, diminished, or abused; especially when it's because of some aspect of their person that cannot be controlled. We all know that it's wrong to revile an individual for their skin colour or handicap, precisely because those descriptives have been with them since birth.

I don't believe in God. (or anything supernatural for that matter)

In this way I am also not unique, although I'm certainly not in the majority. Statistics regarding the prevalence of atheism vary depending on the source, but it remains clear that theism (belief in a god or gods) is the primary lens through which mankind sees the world. It's a viewpoint so prevalent and so cherished that those who reject it might be the most universally loathed minority in modern history.

Most of us know the results of the 2007 Gallup poll which says that fewer Americans would vote for an atheist (45%) than for any other minority; including homosexuals (55%) and the thrice-married (67%); and far fewer than for any religious group. (Jews at 92%). Or the 2006 report that told us that “atheists are less likely to be accepted, publicly and privately, than any others from a long list of ethnic, religious, and other minority groups.”*

Anecdotally, most atheists will tell you they learned to keep their opinions quiet, at least for some period of their lives, thanks to interpersonal feedback. I've certainly been loudly dismissed by otherwise polite people once my lack of beliefs was revealed to them.

People seem willing to respect you no matter which god you worship, just so long as you worship one of them. Otherwise—unlike they would with any other minority—many people are quite comfortable telling you to your face that you're less of a human being. Just ask Jessica Ahlquist.

All these factors have a chilling effect, making the accurate counting of non-believers very difficult. This despite some hints that it may be the fastest growing way of looking at the world, and in America, more populous than any of the minorities listed above.

Recently however, what was once a fractured and silent population of non-believers has begun to speak up. Unlike theism, where the god you believe in typically depends on the culture you come from, non-believers can pop up in any of these cultures, and on any part of the globe. It's certainly no surprise therefore that the internet is the best place to find them. From all over the world faithless people are sharing their thoughts and being heard, (although sometimes using pseudonyms) making fertile ground for movements like the new atheism, skeptical activism, secular-humanist political groups, etc.

Like myself, I imagine not a single one of these heathens decided to abandon their faith. In fact, I'm not sure people are capable of deciding what to believe in the first place. One can make choices to insulate themselves against ways of thinking, surely. Self delusion sometimes takes work. But the idea that non-theists should 'turn off' their skepticism is simply a silly one. While I imagine that different people come to reject faith for different reasons, a lack of credulity most certainly has to be among them; a trait that, like skin colour, we're probably born with a certain amount of.

To quote Popeye; "I am what I is." Kinda sucks to be hated for it.

But while I'm willing to bet that I'm an atheist at a genetic level, I'm not sure how much of an anti-theist I'd consider myself to be. To put it more simply, while I don't believe in God, I don't think my job is to convince anyone else of the same. Well, maybe a little bit. Let me go on.

On Twitter I've been a repeated witness to fellow unbelievers chasing down and harassing people of faith. They scour through religious hashtags looking for anyone saying something bad (or inarticulate) about atheists, and then set to work on them 140 characters at a time. (You know who you are) Soon their atheist buddies join in, and it invariably becomes an evening-long flame war between the the faithful and the faithless.

This is a tactic I don't fully understand. I guess some folks just like a good donnybrook, and I suppose that thousands of years of persecution gives a suddenly empowered populace of atheists some licence to be bitter. However exactly what is it that they hope to achieve by aggressively attacking the religious? We all know how hard it is to change another person's beliefs, and let's not just assume out of hand that it's even ethical to try to do so if you could.**

It's a fine line, but there's a difference between standing up for what you believe in and tearing down the beliefs of others; perhaps for no other reason than because it's rude. Since this blog was conceived not as a way to speak to the masses, but rather to introduce a little bit of skepticism and critical thinking to the people in my immediate sphere, it's important for me to co-exist with those people. Some of my readers are relgious friends and family, and I'm not so much of a crusader to trade their feelings for pursuit of an agenda.

My goal is not to mock or punch holes in anybody else's way of seeing the world, but simply to make sure the world makes room for mine.

Many have made the case that religion is a detriment to society, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't find that notion compelling. But even if it's true, is religion the biggest threat our civilization currently faces? Is the threat of climate change not worse? Or poverty? Peak Oil? Nuclear arms?

Not that we shouldn't try to solve smaller problems while we solve the big ones, but might there be some other motivation at play, which skews our priorities as rationalists?

Could it be that free-thinkers focus so heavily on religious beliefs thanks primarily to an overgrown sense of rejection? Of anger over being an outcast? Is their desire to diminish religion disproportionate to any pragmatic reason for doing so? And if that's the case, then just how rational are we being?

What needs to end first is not intolerance among believers, but rather the silence of non-believers. Once the latter is commonplace, the former should take care of itself. We don't need to diminish the religious, and we don't need to throw our lack of belief in everybody's face. We just need to be open.

We need to change our religion to 'atheist' or 'agnostic' on our Facebook profiles, whether Aunt Clara can see it or not. We need to not shy away from answering 'atheist' whenever the topic comes up in polite conversation at dinner parties.*** We need to be at least as comfortable discussing our beliefs as religious people do theirs, in every sphere of discourse.

By doing so people think you're saying they're stupid for believing in God, or that you think you're smarter than everyone else. This is an unfortunate side effect of holding a minority opinion, but that doesn't mean we stop being who we are for everybody else's sake. What we say has to fly in their faces a little bit, simply by the nature of the argument. But the goal should remain only to be heard and counted, not to win a war of ideas.

Remember the homosexual example, and their successful (but ongoing) ascension towards acceptance in society. (below) Imagine how much more difficult their struggle would be if it were perceived that they were trying to make everyone else gay too. Remember the very reason that 'pride' is the word they use to encapsulate their movement. The more open and expressive a group of people are, the more difficult it is for the general populace to marginalize them.

Why? Because by being open the true numbers of that group can be counted, and more importantly, can impact the day-to-day lives of average people. By coming out in significant numbers, more people can say "I have a cousin who's gay", or "My niece is an atheist". That's the way a political climate is created, so that acceptance of a group is not begrudgingly done, but is instead unavoidable.

By simply stating who we are, so everyone can hear us, and avoiding the pitfalls of endless debate on the specifics of what we believe; we create the landscape on which tolerance for the non-religious can exist.

That's the way each individual atheist avoids getting shit on. By being part of a vocal, proud, and mutually supportive whole; a group to whom it's no longer socially acceptable to be rude.

*Thanks to the Friendly Atheist for that link.

**Listen, I know all the counter arguments to this notion, but you have to at least admit that it's not an easily answered question. I don't want to suggest that we should 'bend over backwards', as Dawkins puts it, to preserve the faith of others. But aggressively attempting to destroy the faith of others seems like a different beast to me.

***The hardest of them all?

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Two very short bits of science-fiction

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 05:10:27 -0800

Genesis and Soul Bot
by Andreas Wannerstedt

We're not here to have a serious discussion about science today folks. Nor are we here to discuss the plausibility of the events that take place in either of the following ultra-short films. According to the artist, Andreas Wannerstedt, they live squarely in the realm of science fiction, and should be treated as such.

Sure, a reference is made in one of the shorts to the pseudo-scientific claim that the 'soul' has been shown to have real, physical mass, but let's not get too serious on a Wednesday morning. If you'd like to get into that idea a bit more, feel free to read Massimo Pigliucci do so here.

No, let's just sit back and lose ourselves in some entertainment that we can at least call science-ish. (If one was permitted to do such a thing with our language) They're both very stylishly done, set to ominous pieces of music, and are totally watchable scientific flights of fancy.

Andreas' descriptions of each film from can be found below. Enjoy!

GENESIS

Track: Detritus "Haunted (remix by Niveau Zero)"

Taken from Detritus's album "Things Gone Wrong" (adn121) , remixed by Niveau Zero

originally released by Ad Noiseam

adnoiseam.net

In 2010, scientists succeeded in recreating a miniature version of the Big Bang.

Within a few years, some of the universe's deepest secrets may be unlocked.

Genesis is another self-initiated personal project that I've written, designed and animated single handedly. It's a 3D short film with a story that revolves around a machine that has the power of creating new, miniature universes. By controlling the universe rotation, it can speed up the time and evolution of the miniature worlds, and with the help of a fancy search engine it can pin point and extract terrestrial planets. Well, it's not very scientifically correct by any means.. Or is it..? You might live in a manufactured miniature world.

Anyway, what would mankind do if they possessed the power of creating new worlds? Probably use it for creating some kind of decorative snow globe. Guaranteed gift of the year.

Well, it's not all science fiction, I actually got inspired after reading some interesting articles about the European science agency CERN, who designed the world's biggest particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider. This accelerator shoot beams around a freezing 27km concrete ring underground near Geneva, smashing atoms together in search of the elusive "God particle" believed present at the Big Bang. Since it began operating at the end of March 2010, CERN engineers and physicists have created billions of miniature versions of the Big Bang, revealing fundamental insights into the nature of the cosmos.

Also, at Lancaster University in UK, physicists unraveling the secrets of how to build a universe. In fact, they have already formed one, or something very much like it. This scientific breakthrough lies in the bottom of a chamber no larger than a pinky finger, filled with helium and cooled to 0.0003 degrees Fahrenheit above absolute zero.

There's a short "behind the scenes" here: andreaswannerstedt.se/motion/genesis/breakdown/

SOUL BOT

Track "Inquisition part III" by Matta, taken from the "The Lost" record released by Ad Noiseam (adn126)

adnoiseam.net/adn126

They say that we all lose 21 grams at the exact moment of death. They say that it's the weight of the human soul.

Well, it was Dr. Duncan MacDougall of Haverhill, Massachusetts who first attempted to weigh the human soul. In 1907, he placed 6 dying patients on a homemade scale, which also acted as a bed for the patients. More recently in Dan Brown's novel, "the Lost Symbol", there is a segment that explains how "The Institute of Noetic Science" uses noetics to weigh the human soul. After tests on terminally ill patients, it came across that immediately after death, a person's weight dropped.

So, what would happen if they found a way to contain this invincible mass.. this soul.. Obviously the only reason to do this would be to put it in some kind of awesome robot.. yeah!

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Meet Buck: a fun and stylishly animated short

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 08:35:20 -0800

Meet Buck

by TeamCerf

Here's a great little short that uses every smidgen of it's run time to entertain you. Chock full of smiles, thrills, and gorgeous animation, Meet Buck is sure to be the cutest thing you'll see today. From beginning to end it certainly had me grinning. (Wait for the 'almost' kiss)

Check out more about the creators, along with an accompanying film about different characters, by going here.

Enjoy!

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Growing on graves: The spooky story of Lichen

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:54:00 -0800

If you read this post carefully you'll witness a blogger desperately trying to unify two completely different subjects, those being Halloween and science. You'll then notice an attempt to trick the audiences interested in each of those subjects into believing that this post was written specifically for them. What can I say...whenever I'm being sneaky, I like to be honest about it.

Yesterday morning I had a creative meeting with a director in the downtown Toronto neighbourhood of Cabbagetown, and as fortune would have it, I arrived early. So, with about half an hour to kill I jotted over to the area's famous Necropolis Cemetery, and started shooting reference stills for some of the tombstones I've been working on.

What's that you ask? Tombstones?

Oh, you must be new around here. See, I'm obsessed with Halloween, and throw a big haunted house every year for the neighbourhood kiddies. Ever since the last piece of candy was handed out this past October 31st, I've been plotting 2012's installment of my spook-fest. A bunch of projects are already under way, including the construction of multiple styrofoam tombstones.

In case you're curious how such a thing is accomplished, I personally learned a lot from the astounding work of fellow Toronto haunter Hector Turner, who's tutorials can be found here. And in case you're wondering what I've come up with so far, see below. (click to see larger)

But I digress. At the Necropolis I shot all kinds of pictures of grave-markers, mostly for shapes to use in future designs. However in the process of looking closely at the stone I happened upon some particularly nice examples of Lichen, and soon that was all I was interested in photographing. Especially because, as I'm sure you'll agree upon close examination, they're really quite pretty!

Lichen is often found on tombstones, and even though I didn't have a good reference when I painted the example above, I think including them on a prop headstone adds a welcome layer of realism. Now that I have the photos from this morning, I hope to bump up the detail to another level.

I wanted to post those images in one place in case they might be helpful to some of my tombstone-making friends in the Canadian Haunter's Association, and thought a blog post might be the way to do it. Check out the pictures I took, followed by some from a Google image search, and then I'll meet you afterwards to discuss how this whole experience got my science-bone tickled.

And some pics off the web.

So there you are. Hopefully those images are helpful to haunters with a penchant for realism. (you clicked the images to embiggen, right?) I'm already thinking of ways to use tiny discs of (feathered) soft clay, or even just slatherings of coarse pumice gel, to simulate some of the larger growths of Lichen, although I'm sure to many that kind of attention to detail sounds neurotic. Of course it's not a necessary embellishment, but I can see doing at least a patch or two of really realistic looking lichen on a key tombstone, and then simulate the rest with paint.

Halloween readers: check. Science readers: stand by.

But all this got me curious as to exactly what lichen is. And I'm sure you're wondering what's so spooky about it, after all? Despite the common misconception, it's not the same thing as moss, another organism that tends to grow on tombstones. (and which can be represented on a prop with craft-store moss as I've done above) No, lichen is something else entirely; a form of life made interesting by the fact that it's actually two separate life forms living symbiotically!

WEIRD.

That's right, lichens are neither fungus nor plant, but a symbiotic partnership between the two.* They've evolved in such a way to have a fungus component (the mycobiant) and an algae component (the phycobiont) which combine to create a morphologically distinct species that exhibits characteristics not displayed by either.

The fungal component is responsible for growing the structure, or plant-like 'leafiness', which protects and supports the food-making photosynthetic role played by the algae. Some wonder if the fungus parasitizes the algae, (Sounds like possession...call an exorcist!) but it appears from my (limited) research that more consider the relationship to be an example of mutualistic symbiosis. Basically that means that both fungus and algae need each other.

While scientists have separated the two in labs and got them to reproduce independantly, the same cannot happen in the natural environments in which lichen grow. Each organism requires the other in order to survive the water-poor niches in which lichen thrive, often selected because they are niches in which normal plants can't overwhelm them. Like on the side of a tombstone, for example.**

Lichen is sometimes consumed as a delicacy, but can also be poisonous. Northern people have been known to eat partially digested lichen from the guts of slain caribou. It's also been used for pigments in dyes thanks to some of the wonderful colours in which it grows. There's even a kind of lichen named after Barack Obama, thanks to a scientist who discovered it fast on the heels of anti-science president George W. Bush leaving office.

And just in case that all sounds like useless information, guess what happened after my little photo excursion? During my meeting with the director, you know what came up as a topic of conversation? Lichen! As it happens the project is a documentary about events that take place near the arctic, and we had to discuss which forms of 'plant' life can be found there, and therefore be appropriate for my animation.

So whether you be a fan of science or scares, hadrons or hellspawn, hypotheses or old hallow's eve; the next time you're near some lichen, lean in and have a look at the little critters. You'll witness a lovely, colourful, and resilient marriage of two great things that work great together.

Perhaps a little bit better than blog posts that try to fuse science with Halloween.

*With the word plant being broadly used to include algae - don't shoot me. Cyanobacterium can also take the place of algae in lichen.
**A little speculation here. Sounds right, anyway. Give me partial points and then go read something interesting for Christ sakes. (or comment below)

More on the biological symbiosis found in lichens here.

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Lumaajuuq: A dark and beautiful short film

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 19:47:00 -0800

Sorry for the week-long hiatus folks. I've been unbelievably busy... believe me! Here's something cool to watch until I find to time to write another proper article. Stay tuned!

While searching for some style references for an upcoming project, I decided to check out the latest from one of my favourite animators: Daniel Gies. Daniel is an extremely talented artist, and his portfolio is filled with just the sorts of projects I'd love to do more of. What's inspiring is that like me, (and unlike many animators who work with characters) Daniel is an After Effects guy! See my previous post on his work here.

Anyway, a short film I found on his page absolutely floored me; not just because of the stunning job both Daniel and director/animator Alethea Arnaquq-Baril pulled off, but also due to the deep pathos in the film itself. Based on part of the Inuit folk-tale The Blind Boy and the Loon, Lumaajuuq is a very dark telling of the typical origin myth.* It's coloured by a haunting soundtrack, highly stylized visuals, and tangible sense of tragedy; a feeling which didn't leave me until well after I watched it.

Have a look at this lovingly created, and award-winning film. It's just over 7 minutes, and well worth the time.

NOTE: I had some problems playing this full-screen in Chrome, but it worked in Safari. If you have problems, try another browser.

*A term which need not be reserved only for stories about the creation of the entire universe, but also for the origins of any feature of the natural world; in this case, the Narwhal whale.

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Concept Art with a Sci-Fi Twist

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:39:38 -0800

Today's featured artist is tremendously gifted, and obviously prolific. Simon Weaner is a concept artist and matte painter from Quebec City, and his portfolio contains a large body of simply beautiful work. Only a couple of years out of school, Simon's collection of digital paintings, along with his level of talent, simply floors me.

Have a look, and enjoy!

(Note: Since many of the images below are matte paintings, they're much wider than they are tall. Since Posterous limits my column width to 500 pixels, make sure you click on those images to see larger)

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Animating another world

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 04:51:00 -0800

Globosome FMX Trailer

by Sascha Geddert

It's been awhile since I've featured some motion graphics on this site. I suppose that's because I'm trying as hard as heck to keep the subject matter within a more constrained range of topics, lest my readers begin to wonder if I'm suffering from some severe version of attention deficit disorder.

However whenever people who's work I've featured before create something new and exciting, it's a great excuse to do so again. Sascha Geddert was the creator of the charming little short called Fallen that I featured in October 2010, and today he's back with a trailer for his next short film; Globosome. I'll post a description from the man himself below the video.

It's a lovely piece of animation; a little bit spacey, and totally appropriate for this blog!

Now where's my ritalin?

Here's the Trailer for my next short film: "Globosome"

It's also the official Trailer for the 2012 FMX Conference. fmx.de

In the vastness of space, there’s a a small speck of rock inhabited by the most peculiar lifeforms: Dark little dots that start to replicate fast and begin to show signs of intelligence. „Globosome“ tells the story of the rise and fall of these little creatures.

This film is inspired by the special times we’re living through on our own planet. We're at the crossroads. The question is what makes humans actually different from bacteria in a petri dish. Surely we have culture, science and art but what does remain of these achievements if you look at our world from a global perspective. The Film will be released in Summer 2012.

Written and Directed by: Sascha Geddert

Executive Producer: Philipp Wolf

Technical Directors: Tonio Freitag, Patrick Schuler

Compositing Supervisor: Johannes Peter

Stereo Lead: Andreas Feix

Concept Design: Jin-Ho Jeon

Music: Patrizio Deidda

Sounddesign: David Kamp

Sound mixer: Namralata Strack

Produced as part of the Subject Area Animation at the

Institute of Animation, Visual Effects and Digital Postproduction.

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Look at this spacey poster. Then go look for yourself.

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 11:02:00 -0800

Keep Looking Up

poster at bottom

Some of you remember the skeptical posters that I've done in the past, and that I plan to continue doing as time goes on. What you see here today isn't really one of that series, because there's no skeptical quote attached to it, but I had a hankering to do another poster all the same. Most of what this poster conveys is just the following: "Isn't space cool!"

So we'll call it a dork poster, another pin-up for pencil necks, if not a skeptical one. It's kind of a quickie, but I hope you like it. You'll see a little homage to Comet Lovejoy in the image, but that wasn't really the inspiration for the piece. Again, I just wanted to make a pretty picture of space for the most part. I suppose if there was any thought put into what I meant to say with this poster it might be this:

Some people look to the skies in search of heaven, and still others see the wonder of the cosmos as further proof of God's existence. I encountered this personally when religious people turned out in droves for my Earth-Sun distance post a while back. ('Droves' to this blog is like 12 people, by the way.) Many of those folks interpreted the beauty and vastness of space as confirmation of God's 'mad space-making skills', so to speak.

While I'd argue that going from an appreciation of natural beauty to a belief in God is a non sequitur, I'd invite anyone who thinks that way to keep looking up. To keep looking at the stars and to contemplate what they tell us. To keep exploring not just the natural universe, but our scientific understanding of how it got this way.

By continuing to explore the causes that precede these phenomenon, rather than just being impressed by their beauty, one gets a glimpse of the natural and material order of the cosmos; the intricate and elegant way in which the universe is put together. Rather than simply wondering how something could possibly arise from nothingness, one can actually take steps to provide themselves with the answers.

Don't reduce all we've learned about space to the role of confirming an ideology. On the web, in the library, and embedded in the night sky, much understanding is ripe to be had.

And you know what that is? Beautiful.

Click on the image to see larger. If anyone would like a full resolution, printable copy, email me here.

To see more skeptical posters, click here.

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More Stunning Underwater Photography

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 07:19:37 -0800

Another World 2 and Octopus Kingdom
by Alexander Semenov

Some of you may remember my post from 6 months ago, where I shared the stunning under sea photography of Alexander Semenov. Alexander is a research diver working at Russia's White Sea Biological Station, and a pretty gifted shutterbug. He manages to capture hauntingly beautiful images of underwater flora and fauna, some of which are so alien to our eyes that it's become clique to say so. If you haven't seen the previous post, definitely check it out.

In any case, Alexander is back with more, so I thought another post was in order. The highlight for me is the shot of the gorgeously strange Skeleton Shrimp, pictured above and in geater detail below, but have a look and pick your own! The giant Octopi found in the Sea of Japan are quite a sight to behold as well.

No matter your favourite, enjoy the photos! I've separated the two projects by their titles — the descriptions you see below are Alexander's own.

Another World - Part 2

Beautiful monsters from the White Sea, Season 2011

Another part of photos of amazing underwater life from the cold water of the White sea. Tiny creatures live here in the environment you can hardly imagine: water temperature sometimes is below zero, darkness under 20m depth - there is absolutely no light there, strongest tidal currents flow for six hours four times a day.

Octopus Kingdom

The Japan Sea bestiary

The Japan sea is the true pearl among all Russian seas. It’s northern and tropical at the same time and that mix makes the Japan sea absolutely unique. Underwater life here feels like a boiling pit full of invertebrates – so many different creatures are moving around you every minute. Also here lives real-world aliens – cephalopods. I never was as emotional as when I saw 6 meters long octopus… It’s amazing. The Japan sea is wonderful place for diving, you need decades to see all the living stuff here.

See the previous post about Alexander's work - a can't miss!

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Mocking the Mayan Meme

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 08:18:00 -0800

Ah, the new year. Time for quiet reflection on the time that's passed. Time for good cheer amongst close friends. Time to count our blessings, share our memories, and imagine warmly what must lie ahead.

And it's also time to figure out who we'll be mocking one year from now. After all, nobody could have predicted that the death of Kim Jong Il would have summoned such a wellspring of jokes on social media; jokes at his expense mind you, even before the man was cold.

But it's at least fun to try to predict who we'll be poking fun at in 365 days, and I think I might have a way to do better than guess work. This is the plan; wherever you end up tonight, whether it be a nightclub, house party, romantic restaurant, or even just a quiet gathering of friends; ask whoever's around you the following the question:

Are you even slightly concerned about the Mayan calendar predicting that something will happen in 2012?

You can leave out the fact that it actually doesn't, as even a small amount of research reveals. Just write down the names of every person that responds with anything other than a "Psshaw" or "Horseshit", and you have your 2012 list of mockable targets!

Now, I know this may sound cruel to some, and dangerous to others. The world almost cetainly won't be ending in 2012, but by cruel I mean that nobody likes hearing "I told you so" after the fact. And I say dangerous because some might feel that by poking fun at the idea of an apocalypse, I'm tempting fate.

To the latter I can only say that I'll have to look up my google analytics numbers again, but I'm pretty sure that my blog doesn't influence the cosmic fortunes of the entire planet. However as for the former I do have some thoughts.

Yes, one year from today it might be considered rude to read aloud your list of 'Mayan believers' whilst laughing and pointing, because again, nobody likes being reminded of how they were wrong. So here's what you do; start mocking them now!

That's right. Do it loudly and do it proudly. Spend a whole year at it, sarcastically rejoicing with the passing of each hour during which the world didn't end.* Jump and point and draw attention to everyone who's even moderately compelled by this nonsense; yet another doomsday prediction amongst the several zillion that man has fabricated since they descended from the trees.

Then, exactly one year from tonight, abruptly stop it all. End the laughter, and toss out your list. Never mention the Mayans or Nibaru or 2012 ever again. Just hope that by being subjected to a full year's worth of mockery, some might learn a lesson; that pre-scientific people had zero ability to predict the end of the world.

It's true, people hate hearing "I told you so". And since there's absolutely no rational reason to believe in such silliness, it's far better to tell them now.

*Yes, I know that the world isn't supposed to end until December 21st, 2012 - as that's when the calenday expires.

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The best toy I ever got for Christmas

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 14:47:00 -0800

Just a quick post today—sorry that I've been light on content over the last week, but I've been on holiday! Both work and blogging take a backseat this time of year. Lots of ideas though, so stay tuned!

Christmas is almost here, and the underside of our tree is absolutely laden with shiny parcels. There are big ones and little ones, long ones and round ones, ones with bows and ones in bags. This morning my wife and I got to counting how many of those parcels were for anyone other than our two boys.

The answer? Not many.

Those two nuggets are going to make off like stagecoach robbers on Christmas morning, and there's nobody happier about that prospect than me. I did all the shopping for the lads this year, because they're coming to an age where everything that they want is unmistakably 'boy-centric'. That leaves Mommy a little out of her element on the present front—especially since she doesn't know the difference between an Autobot and a Decepticon.

Not that I mind of course. Shopping for all those toys is a blast, because I get to relive my own childhood to some degree. It makes me want to look downwards and express unending gratitude to my Y chromosomes, because I'm fairly certain that I'm be an entirely shitty Barbie hunter.

The highlight of my/their haul this year is this:

Anyway, all this has me thinking of my favourite childhood Christmas prize, which you can see pictured at the top of this post. That's the G.I.Joe Terrordrome, something I asked Santa for without being 100% certain that he'd say yes. After all, it was a big gift, the sort of thing I commonly didn't dare ask for. The Christmas morning on which I received it, the only year ever that I actually snuck downstairs in the middle of the night to catch a peek at Santa's handiwork, was by far my most memorable.

Anyway, then my new friend Paul Clinton started posting vintage toy commercials on Facebook today, and I decided to go looking for the Terrordrome spot. Finding it brought back a lot of memories, including the anticipation I felt in the days leading up to Christmas. It seemed like the world would be perfect if I could just play with that amazing piece of coloured plastic. And for a little while after Christmas, I'm pretty sure it was.

Here's the video, but I'd love to hear what was in your favourite holiday haul. Post it below, and better yet, track down an old commercial for it and post it on the BradBlogspeed Facebook page!

Happy holidays to everyone; and to those who don't mind the term, Merry Christmas!

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A lovely short for a lazy Sunday

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 06:19:32 -0800

Tactile Waveforms

by Süperfad

What to post on a lazy Sunday morning? Sure, there are some ideas making banging noises upstairs in the old noggin, but none of them are finished baking yet. I also have a few recently completed projects that I could talk about, (and one really awesome one still in production) but, dangit, I just don't feel like it.

Why? Well it's Sunday, and the wife and I were shocked to discover that neither party had any plans for the other's time today. What's that mean? It means we're doing nothing! Nothing other than listening to some Christmas tunes, wrapping some presents, and maybe watching a little telly.*

Hallelujah.

So what does any of that have to do with the gorgeous little piece of animation below, an abstract but enthralling two minutes of eye candy that attempts to describe music with pictures? Well it's my long winded excuse for not having anything to say about it, in typical lazy Sunday fashion, other than this:

It's good. Watch it.

*I almost never watch telly, and to be honest, I doubt I will today; but for whatever reason I just really wanted to sound British right there.

More from the creators:

Süperfad’s latest short film, directed by Nando Costa, explores the connections between science, mathematics and music. Drawings representing a musical score are released into stylized landscapes that illustrate conditions through which sounds travel. These drawn representations react in different ways when traveling through the desolate landscapes, transforming into impossible musical instruments and altering elements in the environment along the way. The film’s structure is defined by World Gang’s music composition, which features classic instruments altered electronically to create the track. Working in a push and pull relationship, the film’s video and audio abstractions unite in an experience that is both otherworldly and rooted in tradition.

Also seen on Vidpicks! Subscribe today!

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Losing Hitchens

Sat, 17 Dec 2011 07:43:34 -0800

Christopher Hitchens is gone. A man so well spoken, so outspoken, speaks no more.

I had been following Mr. Hitchens' illness for the last few months, terrible as it was to watch a man's body decay before your eyes. Yet I was encouraged by the retention of his character and intellect, by his undiminished desire to speak clearly to the world. I did not always agree with Hitchens, but stood in awe of his ability to slice through fuzzy thinking and bad argument with the sharpest of scalpels. He was sort of a school-yard scrapping version of Dawkins, willing to take debate to the most directly confrontational, and sometimes uncomfortable places, just so long as they made his point most accurately.

While I would describe the belief in deities as just another myth amongst many, something worthy of constrained criticism, Hitchens truly believed that religion poisons everything. He was tireless in his pursuit of a world built on better ideas than those of two millennia ago. And he was unafraid of the loud and unlearned elements that even tried to deconstruct his arguments.

The death of Christopher Hitchens is no small or fleeting loss to the secular movement. While others perhaps did a better job of turning people on to a Universe without God, or leading them gently by the hand through what must be frightening new territory, he was atheism's 'big gun'; it's most potent and fearless proponent. When it came to public debate on these matters no more capable a warrior could be sent into the fray. Without it's strongest, and one of it's most eloquent voices, the movement will need to take great care, lest it's message be externally and maliciously perverted.

Like when George Carlin died, I am saddened these last two days. Atheists have a uniquely grown-up approach to death, understanding that the loss of a prominent voice is incontrovertibly permanent. Oh sure, other voices will eventually rise from the ether, and maybe within our lifetimes we'll have somebody else to watch in debates that approaches Christopher Hitchens' rare gifts.

But there will never be another quite like him. His specific light, which shone so clearly and focused so directly on the darkness of non-thinking, has forever gone out.

Apologies to anybody who already saw this content on the Brad Blogspeed Facebook page, or saw me share it on Twitter, but I wanted wrap up both these videos into a single blog post. If you haven't seen them, please set aside about half an hour to do so.

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