I Am A Flippy Doodle

Awwww, little pygmy marmosets

noreply@blogger.com (Flippy Doodle) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:58:00 +0000

If you regularly read my blog, you will know that every now and then I go crazy over some cute animal, and I just have to then post pictures of the said animal on my blog.

This time, it's little pygmy marmosets. Look at these cute little babies, don't they just make you go "awwwwwww"?

via link

These are the smallest true monkeys in the world, found in the forests of South America (western Brazil, southeastern Colombia, eastern Ecuador, eastern Peru, and northern Bolivia). Other common names for them are the finger-monkey, or dwarf-monkey, based on their teeny-tiny size.

Most of these pictures are of baby pygmy marmosets - these are the ones that very adorably cling to human fingers. The adults are are larger, normally about 11-15 centimeters (not including the tail), hence can snugly sit in the palm of your hand.

via link

I wish, I wish, I wish I could keep a pair as a pet. When I was looking for pictures of pygmy marmosets, it seems that a lot of other people are also looking to make these things as their pets.

Well, since they are not endangered, it's not completely out of the question to have them as pets, and I'm sure if you looked around the internet, you will definitely come across where to get one as a pet, or how to adopt one. But keep in mind that different countries have different laws on buying primates, so please don't buy a pygmy marmoset, get arrested, and then sue me for this blog post.

Also, I'm such a goddamn stubborn environmental hippie that I will say that it's best if people don't disturb the lives of these cute wild animals by buying them as pets. Let them comfortably live in the forest with their little families. There are also some statistics which show that some pygmy marmoset populations are negatively affected by the pet trade (Nowak, R.M. (1999) Walker's Mammals of the World. The John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London.)

So please don't try and get them as pets, and just console your soul by looking at cute pictures instead.

Further links:

Wikipedia
ARKive
Fact Zoo

Elevator Talk in Goldman Sachs

noreply@blogger.com (Flippy Doodle) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:40:00 +0000

I don't know if you've watched the movie American Psycho, but its about a Wall Street yuppie who becomes so mentally unstable that he becomes a serial killer. Awesome movie, if you ask me, and it has some nice commentary on the selfish and arrogant Wall Street culture. Like this wonderful sequence, or this.

I never gave much thought to if people on Wall Street really are that mean and creepy. But then I came across this Twitter account: @GSElevator, which posts interesting things heard in elevators of Goldman Sachs.

Reading through all the tweets, everyone at Goldman Sachs sounds like a complete wanker. I'm not sure if this account is serious or a joke. But if it is serious, then it confirms my fear that most bankers are psychopaths.

Anyways, read through some prime meat-cuts that I sifted through for you. Some are genuinely funny, some make me want to kick someone in the balls.

#1: Why aren't European markets closed? Thought they'd jump at
the chance to honor a philandering communist with a day off.
link

#1: The PWM chicks know how to dress. #2 (nods): Pretty good
wife material. Hot but not slutty-looking. Smart but not too smart.
link

#1: Chivalry is letting the chick still in your bed sleep in, then giving
the doorman $100 to go kick her out in an hour.
link

#1: Holy shit, Da Knicks! #2: No kidding. Haven't been this excited
about a bunch of black guys since Boyz II Men played my Bar Mitzvah.
link

#1: Some chick asked me what I would do with 10 million bucks. I
told her I'd wonder where the rest of my money went.
link

#1: US college kids shouldnt complain. China churns outs 3MM
engineers every year, many of whom go back to their parents DVD
stall.
link

Skirt #1: Whenever I get stressed, I go shoe shopping. [exits]. Suit
#1 (to Suit #2): Obviously not for running shoes.
link

#1: if you have a job where you have to wear a nametag, nobody
gives a shit what your name is.
link

#1: Banks paid back all the bailout money with interest. Remind
me again when the unions paid back the auto bailout?
link

[classic] #1: Riding the subway reminds me why I am pro-choice.
link

#1: Europe is starting to make African leaders look competent.
link

#1: The British have had multi-family homes for decades. #2: The
British have been embracing mediocrity since 1945.
link

#1: The fact that most people are too stupid to know how dumb
they really are is the fabric holding our society together.
link

#1: Romney's the type of consultant asshole who uses chopsticks
at the table even when the Chinese people are using forks.
link

MD#1: Markets go up... Markets go down... We always make
money.
link

ED#1 (to 1st year analysts): If I ever hear about something I say
mentioned on Twitter, I'll fucking kill you.
link

#1: Nothing says 'I was a filthy whore last year' like 'I'm giving up
hard alcohol in 2012.' #2: My girlfriend gave up hard alcohol.
link

#1: Whenever I see a black guy with my last name, I can't help but
wonder if my family used to own his.
link

#1: 2012 is going to make 2011 feel like 2007.
link

#1: She's only about 3 weeks of anorexia away from looking hot.
#2: Maybe 4.
link

A#1: Think about how much higher unemployment stats would be
if so many black guys didn't call themselves 'entrepreneurs.'
link

#1: Money might not buy happiness, but I'll take my fucking
chances.
link

#1: Groupon… Food stamps for the middle class.
link

#1: Almost time for children to learn a valuable life lesson. Santa
loves rich kids more.
link

#1: By now, protesters just look like pigeons to me.
link

#1: I love watching Asian guys smell and swirl their wine
obnoxiously. And then their faces get all blotchy. Pussies.
link

#1: 1 in 7 Americans has at least 10 credit cards. #2: Fucking
morons.
link

#1: Dude, she's the piñata of Christmas parties. Always gets
smashed, and anyone can hit it.
link

#1: My only inter-racial experience was with a black sock. Once.
link

#1: I always take chicks to sushi on a first date. Sake is like a legal
ruffie.
link

#1: If you want a friend, get a dog. If you want a friend with
benefits, find some chick who's in PR.
link

#1: My garbage disposal eats better than 98% of the world.
link

#1: Swinging by Tiffany's to buy a gift. #2 (looks cynically): Why
don't you get her something nice?
link

#1: If it weren't for Asians, Americans wouldn't look so fat. #2:
Dude, New Yorkers make Americans look fat.
link

#1: Magazines dedicate entire issues to 'Women in Business.' #2:
How much can you write about secretaries? #2 (to Skirt#1):
Kidding.
link

#1: I always thought he was a closeted homosexual. #2: It's
possible that he's just a closeted European.
link

#1: In times like these, I wish I was a black, pregnant woman.
#YouCantFireMe
link

#1: This market is tough to read. #2: It's like seeing a normal-
looking guy with some fat chick. Just makes no fucking sense.
link

#1: It says a lot about the 99% when my doorman is in the 1%. #2:
Along with the bathroom attendant at '21' Club.
link

Sorry for being so idle

noreply@blogger.com (Flippy Doodle) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:59:00 +0000

Sorry this blog has been like a graveyard for the past 2 months or so.

I promised myself that I wouldn't bitch and whine on this blog about why I've been so absent, but since I need to sort of mentally wrap this year up and move on, I thought I would bore you all with what was going on. Don't worry, I will try and make it funny (probably not).

I have been so idle on this blog since November because I was really very ill and was in the hospital. Since spending a week in the hospital I have been taking a big, big break from everything. I haven't really been doing anything except going on long bike rides and listening to Korean pop music (don't ask me about recommendations, it all looks the same to me from my burly depressed eyes. Although if you're desperate you can check out this catchy abomination: Girls Generation - The Boys).

Update on uni life

I have decided to take a semester off uni too, since I really cannot stand it anymore, and I really cannot afford to compromise on my health again. Especially since I spent the last 3 weeks of the Fall semester crying in bed and repeatedly watching 2001: A Space Odyssey all day long.

I hate my goddamn major, all my professors, the whole environment of the place, my stuck-up adviser and all my courses. So yeh, taking a semester break might put me to my senses again.

I'm so glad that my parents (despite being Asian) understand this and are not breathing down my back like dragons. They are disappointed that I am not as emotionally stable as they thought I was (I guess the goth poetry wasn't as big of a giveaway as I hoped), but they are being kinder to me than they have been my whole life. Which I appreciate a lot.

Ups and downs of the past year

Well, I guess the big down was my spectacular mental breakdown. The up was the subsequent entry into the psych unit and the recovery.

I kid, I kid.

Well, the main down was my spiraling disappointment with my university life and my major. But the positive side of this was the slow motion and inspirational self discovery to things I genuinely want to do in life... or something like that...

I also loved the progress I have made with my poetry skills. I have gone from writing to poems about depressed robots to depressed human beings. Yayy!

The other down was my lack of fitness level and my weight gain. Which is why I am resolving myself to losing at least 5 kilos in 2 months, and becoming healthy again.

On the up side, I am really happy the way I have been blogging for the past year. I am especially happy with my art blog, because I have always wanted to put up art which inspires me, and I finally did it this year.

New year resolutions

Lose at least 5 kilos of weight
Stop eating junk food completely and go back to my rabbit food diet =___=
Write poetry about more topics, rather than just robots
Change the blog layout
Focus more on my drawings and art

Links Ahoy! (13)

noreply@blogger.com (Flippy Doodle) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 16:11:00 +0000

Delicious links from my zombie-infested bookmarks. (The subtitles are the links.)

Further evidence that photosynthesis involves quantum mechanics

Biologists find that proteins that control photosynthesis in plants use principles from quantum mechanics. Pretty interesting stuff, as proteins are made up of very large molecules, and quantum principles have only previously been observed for atoms.

David Attenborough talks/sings What A Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong

This is honestly the best thing you'll watch all week. This is why I keep saying that David Attenborough is the greatest person ever.

Maybe Higgs, maybe not

Last week CERN announced the results for it's search for the Higgs boson - a key component in particle physics. Phil Plait from Bad Astronomy explains the results in an easy-to-understand way.

Antics

It's been a while since I've found a web comic that I absolutely love. But Antics is fantastic and hilarious as hell. Here are two of my favourite:

Designing for the mind

Here is an article on the components of good design by Francisco Inchauste. Very interesting and well written; as a bonus the layout of the article itself is excellent.

Flesh-eating plant inspires super-slippery material that repels everything

Read about the cheap and easy to produce material developed by Tak-Sing Wong from Harvard University. All sorts of liquids - water, blood, crude oil - roll straight off it. Even ice cannot form on it. It even heals itself when damaged. It's properties were inspired by the lips of the flesh-eating plant Pitcher plant.

What You Eat Affects Your Genes: RNA from Rice Can Survive Digestion and Alter Gene Expression

Usually rice just makes me feel lazy and fat. But apparently it can alter your genes too. Researchers at Nanjing University had been studying the MicroRNAs that circulate in human blood and were surprised to find that some of the MicroRNAs came from plants, mainly rice.

The Right (and Wrong) Way to Die When You Fall Into Lava

How exactly do you die when you fall into lava? Hint: not how you would expect. In most movies (e.g. Gollum from Lord of the Rings), you sink into the lava. Well you'll be surprised to know that it is not so.

With ‘Google Earth’ for Mars, Explore the Red Planet From Home

Allows members of the public to download high-resolution images of the Martian landscape almost instantaneously and explore the surface of the Red Planet from their own desktops. Make good use of it and have fun!

Does psychology’s over-reliance on American undergraduates distort our image of the human species?

Psycologists Joseph Henrich, Steven J. Heine and Ara Norenzayan at the University of British Columbia found out how most of the studies that psychologists claim show human universals are really just extrapolations from a single social group.

According to the study, 68 percent of research subjects in a sample of hundreds of studies in leading psychology journals came from the United States, and 96 percent from Western industrialised nations. All this leads to a huge cultural bias, hence researchers end up applying attributes to the entire human race, based on a limited population sample.

Anna Calvi - Suzanne & I

noreply@blogger.com (Flippy Doodle) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 17:21:00 +0000

I love this song by Anna Calvi. Her voice is so deep and she has such a strong persona. The video is beautiful too.

Soy Milk Tastes Like Crap

noreply@blogger.com (Flippy Doodle) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 14:08:00 +0000

Remember how I wrote a while ago about how I think I'm lactose intolerant now?

So I decided to buy soy milk a week ago, since I could not drink regular milk; but I didn't have the courage to drink it until yesterday.

So there I was, innocently pouring the white/brown soy milk in my cup, humming a beautiful melody of sorrow and joy. I sat on my bed, with my warm glass of 'milk', to curl up and think about the philosophy of life, or whatever the fuck people do when they are depressed, and took a sip of the soy milk...

What. The. Fuck.

Blah!

BLERGH!

It tastes like water strained with bran flakes. Which is a pretty close description of what it actually is.

People are always fucking on about how they substitute soy milk for cows milk, and considering the fact that it has the word 'milk' in it, I thought that at least it will taste like watered down dairy milk. But it tastes like fiber-water =__=

And the only reason it's considered a substitute is because it replaces proteins, calcium and other shit that people get from cows milk. But, but - how can you have hot chocolate and cookies using soy milk? Well, you can't, your life just sucks now.

I think I'm going to do what one of the comments suggested in my last post - keep drinking normal milk until my body just gets used to it.

A flat tarmac wonder slot

noreply@blogger.com (Flippy Doodle) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 21:21:00 +0000

We bulldozed over your grandfather's grave
To build a parking lot.

A flat tarmac wonder slot
With delicate stones layered on top
White lines neatly drawn
As if it were
An immaculate garden.

I have no sympathy
For the dried up bones
Of some old forgotten lone
Occupying useless space
When there are parking lots to be built
Beautiful, elegant concrete stalls
With the flesh of workers
Mixed into this modern art
Delicious, new age minimal art.

Pristine white lines
The fluorescent paint
As if carved in to the stone
Edges as sharp
As the rot on his bones
Each crucible
Occupied by a mechanical miracle.

I push the red button
A ticket to wonderland
I enter and gasp.

The flatness excites me
I trudge in my cheap machine
Into a white-lined slot.

I step out
Lie down
Strewn over it's surface
And scour my flesh.

I rub in my hands
Into the rough cracks
Till my nails are filled with tar
I scratch it desperately
Ready to feel some satisfaction
I come away empty
I claw, again and again
I smash in my teeth
They crack and shatter.

My hands melt, my flesh diffuses
Under this hot, desert sun
Right into the beautiful layers of bitumen
The dark cracks hungrily
Lap up my bones.

Here I lie
Buried
Under the same bulldozed graveyard.

I turn sideways
Your grandfather smiles serenely
And we both finally look up in peace
Obseve the cars roll over our pale faces
The black tarmac now transparent
Yet the people above
Unaware of the dead faces below.

Random Question: If you wrote an anthology, what would you call it?

noreply@blogger.com (Flippy Doodle) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 14:59:00 +0000

So if you wrote an anthology of poems, what would be the theme of the anthology, and what would you call it?

For me, the theme would be small observations made by an extremely neurotic person about modern life. And the title would be Modern Poetry for Lazy Bastards. Yeh, I like my good dose of cyanide.

Swiss Hotel Rooms

noreply@blogger.com (Flippy Doodle) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:28:00 +0000

Everytime I talk about powerless people
I do it in Swiss hotel rooms

So many rotten hands
Emersed in rotten dreams
Built on top of
Crumbling wooden beams

Garden of tinned roofs
And dirty streams
My slow, pathetic feet
Sweeping through meaningless schemes

I sigh.

But soon I step
In to my
Top notch Buisiness Class
Pristine Boeing wing span
In one hand
A wine glass
In the other
A pen and paper.

On which flows my poetry
About this poverty
The sound of beggers
Mixed with the delicate voice
Of the hostess
Her milky white legs
The same colour
As the saccharin happiness promised below.

The soft tinkle
As she places glass on glass
Mixed with echoes
Of the slums below
And the words flow,
As if written
From another universe.

A sterile bubble, if you will.

Jet lagged
Mind shagged
In my high rise
American flat
On this pedestal
Of a wonderful economy.

Turn on some soundtrack
Some edgy new alternative band.

I sigh.

Such a sorry state of affairs
To think of me here
In my central-heated bliss
Delicate snowflakes clouding
The hand-polished Italian window frames
And to think of them
8 1/2 thousand miles away
With out-stretched hands
Skin taught over hollow bones
Blackened feet
Their contorted limbs
Bent, as if mocking my corpulent stance.

I sit down,
Let the flow of poetry
Take over me
Words drip onto delicate lined paper
Passionate cries for attention
To this world's atrocities

Enough atrocities
For me to fill a thousand pages
A river of ink
An anthology of despair.

6 months.

6th page New York Times
Bestseller
Eye opener
For your common fella'
For 6 more weeks
The nation united
Against whatever
These poems cited.

It's all enough now.
Enough for me
To settle down
Feed the dog
Enough for me to buy
Another hise rise
American flat
On this pedestal
Of a wonderful economy.

Such a magnificent, juxtaposed world
Each 100 mile distance
As if etched out from a separate universe.

Everytime I talk about powerless people
I do it in Swiss hotel rooms

Hipsters who don't even know they're hipsters

noreply@blogger.com (Flippy Doodle) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 09:14:00 +0000

Fuck off my face, you skinny hipster bitch.

By their very own definition, hipsters should not exist. Think about it - they hate everything mainstream. But hipsters themselves are so mainstream now that they should stop being hipsters.

Anyways, every time I hear of a story about normal, decent people having to deal with hipsters, I get so mad. Hipsters are always eating their shitty vegan food and listening to some crap lo-fi folk band from Iceland, a band even Icelandic people wouldn't give a crap about. And then these hipsters treat my normal, decent friends as if they're inferior.

Next time a hipster acts superior to you, give them a great big kick right in the groin (this also works well for lady-hipsters). Seriously, out of all the subcultures, hipsters are the most annoying. Goths are fairly decent; emos are annoying, but we're getting used to them; hippies are nice people if they're the type who bother showering, although I cannot stand blonde dreadlocks (how the fuck do you even grow them? Dark magic?); nerds are well... like me, so I'm cool with them; and geeks are just awesome all the way around.

But hipsters, they just have to ruin everything for you. They're either changing the layout of their shitty Tumblr blog (which no one reads, because the only content is blurred Polaroid pictures of other skinny hipsters), or slavishly reading a Pitchfork review about some shit indie band, so that they can quote that band to you when you meet them, and try and put you down when you tell them that you have never heard of that band.

Ok, I enjoy my good dose of indie and alternative, but I'm not a bitch to someone when they tell me that they like Lady Gaga or Katy Perry*. I always maintain one slogan in my life: If it is aesthetically pleasing to your eyes, then it is art. This applies to music too - if you like it, listen to it, otherwise don't. Don't be a fucking prick, and just slavishly listen to whatever shit Pitchfork wants to stew out to you. There is nothing worse than someone who forces themselves to like a band just because no one is else is listening to them.

I highly doubt that hipsters genuinely enjoy all of the music they listen to, simply because there are a ton of shitty indie bands out there, and hipsters claim to enjoy listening to all of them. Pitchfork is also a bitch that tends to do whatever the fuck it feels like doing. It only favours certain types of bands that it will give good reviews to, even if they literally put out a pile of crap for a CD. I stopped taking it seriously 4 years ago, when it suddenly decided that indie hip hop is cool. It might be cool, but fuck all the hipsters who suddenly reached orgasm and started listening to indie hip hop. Develop your own musical taste, bitches.

I used to know these two hipsters in school, and all they used to do is burp out a list of indie bands that no one has heard of. And as soon as a band gets signed to a mainstream recording company, or their indie label gets bought by another company (as it inevitably happens), they stop listening to them.

Jesus motherfucking Christ, they used to make me feel depressed for listening to stuff that is even slightly mainstream. I was so naive back then. Now if someone does this to me, I will tell them to fuck off my face and probably beat them up with a stapler.

When wielded properly, a stapler can be a deadly weapon.

Considering the amount of collective hate the internet tends to give them, you would think that hipsters would know better than to associate with a subculture which is likely to get a bottle of piss thrown at them. But there are so many hipsters who don't even know that they're hipsters. They're just your run-of-the-mill assholes who like to think that they're intense indie kids, while chewing on their vegan cud** (which they will photograph with their DSLR, add extra saturation to it using Photoshop, and then upload it on Facebook). They won't dress like a typical hipster, but they will dress in annoying "chic" - all journalist-like with their scarves tied around their necks, even in the summer, and their thick stupid hipster glasses.

These bastard children tend to think that they're better than hipsters. Hell - they even make fun of other hipsters (but in an "ironic" way). But what's sad is that they themselves are hipsters, and they don't even know it.

They think they are very individual and special. Well guess what? You're a hipster - you're just like other hipsters. And one thing I've realised is that no matter what you do to make yourself an individual, there are at least 40,000 other people doing the same thing as you. For God's sake, the world's population is 7 billion (give or take a few million), did you really think it was possible for you to be an individual? Even if you only listen to Swedish alt-rock folk techno-metal, there will be 40,000 other people listening to the same stuff.

So please, if you're a hipster, I beg you to fuck off. I don't mind if you're with other hipsters, talking about "art" and "philosophy" (even though you don't know anything about either). But don't approach normal people and try to act superior to them. If you do, don't blame me if you end up with staples across your forehead.

And if you're a normal person, who feels like you're being violated by a hipster, you need to put them in their place. Tell them to fuck off, and point them towards this blog post (or any other blog post, among millions, which makes fun of hipsters). If they don't back down, then... well, you know where the groin is.

*Note that I am a major bitch to people who tell me that they like trance music. I also get into arguments with people who enjoy techno.

**Also note that I know people who are vegan for religious reasons. And there are also people who are vegan for other reasons, like animal cruelty or the environment (I don't always agree with this group of people, but whatever). These people are cool because they don't tend to masturbate whenever they see a celery stick, or scoff at you when they see you eating meat.

Random Music Thursday

noreply@blogger.com (Flippy Doodle) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 20:06:00 +0000

No, this is not going to be a new weekly series. I can hardly follow up on my past failed attempts. I just couldn't think of another, catchy title.

Anyways, enjoy some tune-love from me (new music that I have come across in the past week).

The Plastics - Caves

Found this wonderful band from Cape Town, South Africa. They seem like a cross between Ok Go (for the dancing) and The Kooks (the lead singer's voice). They just seem so catchy and great pop fun.

I love the video, but I also find it slightly creepy. Pay attention to the song, is basically what I'm saying.

The Plastics - Rocking the Daisies

Yup, another song by them. Not as awesome as the last one, but still pretty nice.

I love the dancing cardboard robot.

The Plastics Revolution - Light of Day

No, this is not the same band. But I randomly found this on YouTube while looking for the band above.

An indie band from Mexico, playing live with some mariachis. The recording is a bit noisy, but the atmosphere is so cheerful and lively. Well worth a listen, for the weird musical collaboration alone.

Taxi Violence - Long Way From Home

Another band from Cape Town. Kudos to the director for coming up with a music video which is both low budget and cool.

Some days I wake up and feel exactly like the furry dude in this video.

Grouplove - Colours

Hmn, for some reason I always read the band name as Grope-love.

I just discovered them recently, but apparently they have been prancing around the US indie scene for a month now, receiving heavy radio play. I'm loving their debut album, Never Trust A Happy Song.

They come across as slightly-violent hippies in this video. That's all you need to know.

Class Actress (Elizabeth Harper) - Journal of Ardency

This song is so sexy. It's like something you would strip to.

Warning: the video is a little bit sensual, in case your allergic to that sort of thing. It's safe for work, but people get pissed off if I don't warn them about these things.

Robot Fish

noreply@blogger.com (Flippy Doodle) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 19:38:00 +0000

Aie!
Slosh! Slosh!

Here I swim,
Within this emerald liquid,
Swishling about my little tail,
Slopping about my fins,
In and out,
With this bulging great apparatus,
On my eye,
Sending sonars,
In all directions.

All surface tension,
To perfect precision.

Little gelatin filled monsters around me,
Trying to outwit me,
Their golden scales flashing,
But my lovely smooth metallic cover,
Outwits them with their clumsy clatter,
My minute hydraulic pumps,
Piston on piston,
Pump on pump,
Pushing great waves of crystals,
In and out.

Those horrid collagen creatures,
Who simply exist,
To consume on others,
Not for a second considering,
This beautiful emerald green,
Not a even an instance of intelligence,
To spare,
For this aqua blue all around,
Multitudes of joy,
Every single molecule,
Salt, sulphur, carbonate,
All gently floating,
In this divine solvent,
Which gives birth to all life.

Each photon of light,
Scattered in perfect unison,
Sending waves of pristine delight,
Reflecting from this titanium frame,
This insignificant metal,
Of which I consist,
As if each photon had loved me,
In some previous organic life.

As if it were at all possible,
For God to design anything more immaculate.

Infinity

noreply@blogger.com (Flippy Doodle) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 17:09:00 +0000

It's only thoughts like this which keep me going nowadays.

Does anyone have advice on how to pick yourself up after soul-crushing depression? I wouldn't usually mind, but it's affecting my work badly.

9 Awesome HTML5 Tools

noreply@blogger.com (Flippy Doodle) — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 17:34:00 +0000

This semester I am taking a Web Application and Development class. I've been hearing about HTML5 for a while now, but I never looked into the details until I took this class. While doing some research for it, I came across a ton of really useful tools and applications, all using HTML5 elements.

The awesome thing about HTML5 is that it has the potential to make developing web applications a lot more consistent across all the different browsers. For a long time, developing web applications required you to test it for the different browsers, and even write separate code for each browser to make sure that it is compatible.

With HTML5, the browser just interprets the HTML and renders the page to you. No extra plugins required, no hassle. Since it's standardised under one umbrella (the W3C), there are no real differences between how different browsers interpret it.

For example, playing videos (on YouTube, etc) usually requires a Flash plugin. Not only is installing a plugin annoying, but Flash also injects a good dose of horse tranquiliser into your computer (it takes up a lot of processing power is basically what I'm saying). Whereas using the HTML5 video tag takes up a lot less processing power. In addition to that, you can do all sorts of cool editing on the video.

So I thought I will do some link lovin' in this blog post, and share some of the best and most useful HTML5 tools I have come across.

I am mainly linking to apps that I have played around with myself, and things that load in a decent amount of time. For example, the Ok Go HTML5 video takes eons to load, so I won't really be linking to that (well, okay, I just did, but you can chose to check it out or not).

Also, there are so many HTML5 apps being developed now that my head nearly exploded browsing through them all. Hence, the focus of this post is on HTML5 tools only. I.e. not games and simply entertainment stuff, but online applications which I hope you can make use of.

Let me know in the comments what you tried out and which ones you liked (or didn't like). If you find other cool things, shout out below.

Note that if you are using an old browser, none of these features will work. I recommend the latest versions of Chrome or Firefox (Safari is fairly decent too, and IE9 now has HTML5). If it's a little slow to load, please be patient :)

1) deviantArt Muro
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Muro

What better way to start the linkage love than with one of the best HTML5 online drawing tools developed.

I have seen a lot of HTML5-based drawing tools, but Muro just eats everyone's cake. It's almost like online Photoshop. There are 22 filters to chose from, and you can add multiple layers, as well as do basic things like fill block colours and use the paint brush. Both the "basic" and "pro" versions are available for free.

But for more advanced features, like using brushes and importing your own images, you need to register for a deviantArt account.

2) Finden
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Finden

This uses HTML5, Javascript and the Geolocation API to find and display all the tweets in your area (you can zoom in and out). I wish there was a way to change the location and see the tweets for other locations.

3) Continuous Calender
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Continuous Calendar

This calendar application saved my life mid way though this university semester. I really needed an online application to write down all my deadlines and exam dates, but I hate using Google Calender because, to me it's simply badly designed (too much clutter, too messy and clunky).

This is where Continuous Calendar comes in. It has infinite scrolling, so navigation between each month is incredibly smooth. Also, there is no server side feature, i.e. all your data is stored in your browser, so your data is completely private.

Maybe other people might not like it because of its simplicity and lack of functionality (for example, you cannot share your calendar with other people), but if you are looking for an application to simply plan your daily schedule, then you will like this.

4) Art of Stars
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Art of Stars

This uses geolocation to find where you are, and shows the star constellation directly above you. I am loving all the cool applications based on geolocation.

5) Colorist
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Colorist

Determines the basic color palette from any image that you upload. Useful to generate color palettes for any designs centered on photos.

6) Neon Flames
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Neon Flames

I blogged about this tool before, but since this post is my full closure on HTML5 tools, I thought to link to it again.

Using this tool, you can draw awesome, gracious-looking flames, and then download the PNG file. Unfortunately you cannot upload your own images and draw on them (yet). But still, pretty cool stuff.

7) Rutt-Etra-Izer
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Rutt-Etra-Izer

You can upload any image you fancy, and this renders the WebGL version of the Rutt-Etra video synthesiser. You can manipulate the image how you like, and then save it. I am not sure how useful you will find this app, but I loved playing around with it so much that I just had to link to it. And the final product looks wicked cool.

8) Background Generator
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Background generator

This app is bucket loads of awesome. I don't usually make backgrounds for any of my blogs in Photoshop (my background is always white), but I have tried and I find it to be a pain. Especially since I'm a novice when it comes to using Photoshop brushes and creating textures.

This allows you to design Photoshop-esque backgrounds within your browser. You can also enter a URL to preview the background on your website in real-time, without uploading it to your server.

Design some of those subtle noise, wood, and other "web3.0" backgrounds in a breeze. Select a texture to combine with the gradient. Then apply it to your website by generating the CSS code, or just saving the image.

9) YouTube

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YouTube in HTML5

Most people don't know that YouTube has an HTML5 version in beta testing. As I mentioned in the introduction, using HTML5 to play videos takes up less processing power, so you might want to try out YouTube in HTML5.

You can switch on the HTML5 version by visiting the link above, and switch it off anytime by visiting the same link. Note that not all of the videos are converted to HTML5, but you can use the advanced search to look for them, or simply add "webm=1" (without quotes) at the end of any search query.

Life Updates (for 0.0000000001% of the human population that cares)

noreply@blogger.com (Flippy Doodle) — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 08:41:00 +0000

I think I have lactose intolerance now, because I can't digest any of the milk I drink. I will have to start buying crappy soy milk, like all the hippie vegans (and other lactose intolerant people, obviously).

My laptop is getting worse. Either Windows, or Acer is fucking around. Or maybe they are both fucking each other on my motherboard, and creating an unholy demonic child, with a Blue Screen of Death for a face. Seriously, almost everyday I get a blue Screen of Death, it's driving me insane.

I think I will have to buy a new laptop. But I hate buying new electronics, because it's such a waste (e-waste, to be precise). Also, I hate moving all my data from one machine to another.

At this point in my life, I'm considering going gay with a Mac*. It's better than getting repeatedly violated by Windows.

Midterm grades are out. The joy.

I attempted to cook something decent this weekend. Let's just say that the eggplant ended up tasting like beef (?).

*An old nerd joke. But I think it's more applicable to Windows.

HTML5 Neon Flames

noreply@blogger.com (Flippy Doodle) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 20:05:00 +0000

There are so many awesome HTML5 toys you can mess around with, here is another one: Neon Flames by 29a.ch.

The results are gorgeous. Make sure you increase the "intensity" and the velocities to see more fluid results. You can then download high quality PNG images of your finished work.

What's the time in Sydney?

noreply@blogger.com (Flippy Doodle) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 12:12:00 +0000

I really want to talk to my brother, but I hate the gigantic time leap between where I live and Sydney.

Whenever I call, he's sleeping.

I miss him a lot :'(

I think I am becoming all emotionally volatile again.

The Evil Cat Organisation

noreply@blogger.com (Flippy Doodle) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 10:31:00 +0000

Image via link.

This image reminds me of you, Cels, and your crazy Victorian cat shirt (I saw that graphic around 3 years ago, but I still can't get it out of my head).

And yes, I devoted an entire blog post to this.

Songs about love

noreply@blogger.com (Flippy Doodle) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 08:25:00 +0000

What is with almost every single song being about love or breaking up. I am sick of all this puppy love crooning, mixed with tears of regret and lust.

Seriously, grab any random album, and look up the lyrics of all the songs in it. I guarantee you, at least 50% of the songs will be about something related to love.

People write songs about love as if it's some universal human thing.

You know what is more universal than love? Heart disease and diabetes.

I wish people would write songs about heart disease and diabetes.

Such a heart ache,
Oooh, such a literal heart ache,
When my left hand shuddered,
And I collapsed,
In your arms,
When my arteries closed up,
Yeah, baby, all my arteries closed up,
From all that trans-isomer,
Cloggin' up my delicate insides

But I knew,
All along,
That this heart ache was gonna happen,
'Cause my blood,
Had too much sugar,
From all that,
Gluttonous love.

Sucrose, lactose, fructose (sucrose, lactose...)
I desire you all day long now,
All day,
You're in my dreams

...

Please feel free to add your own lyrics about any other form of human suffering below.

Miracle Worker

noreply@blogger.com (Flippy Doodle) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 07:57:00 +0000

The single Miracle Worker by SuperHeavy.

Huh, I just came across this, even though it was posted 2 months ago. I have been hearing about this supergroup for a while now, consisting of Mick Jagger, A.R Rahman, Joss Stone, Damian Marley and Dave Stewart.

I kinda like this song - very catchy. And it has such a jumble of elements mixed together and they actually manage to fit together. Even though the beat is over used and overheard, it's still sort of refreshing to listen to. I love Damien Marley and Joss Stone in this - Joss Stone's voice is especially gorgeous, and she's just awesome all around.

I wish there was more A.R Rahman love though, his voice is so damn amazing, it would have made the song infinitely better.

And is it weird to say that Mick Jagger is a bit too extravagant in this video? I mean, what's up with the dance moves in the pink suit? His singing bits actually sound nice when you are just listening to the song, rather than watching him 'move' in the video.

Fusion makes the world go around

noreply@blogger.com (Flippy Doodle) — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 14:01:00 +0000

I love this performance by Shara Worden and yMusic Ensemble. I love the way she sings, with so many expressions and nuances. Performances like these make me feel like music is still very much alive and thriving.

If you want to read more about yMusic Ensemble, I wrote a blog post about them here (art blog link), .

Jesus Motherflippin' Christ: New Season of Arrested Development Announced

noreply@blogger.com (Flippy Doodle) — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 13:32:00 +0000

Ok, I am midway through the shittiest discreet Math homework ever, which is due in tomorrow; I have another huge computer lab, also due in tomorrow (and I barely know how to do it); and I have a Biology midterm (again - tomorrow).

But I am so goddamn happy because Arrested Development, one of my favourite television shows of all time, has just been renewed for a 4th season, after a 5 year long hiatus. And joy upon joy, they also announced a movie.

At an "Arrested Development" reunion Sunday at the New York Festival, the creators and cast announced plans for another season of the short-lived but critically acclaimed TV show, which went off the air in 2006 after just three seasons. They also discussed more concrete plans for a much-awaited movie.

Creator Mitchell Hurwitz said he wanted to do the movie originally but decided to tell where the nine main characters have been for the last five years. The Fox show starred Jason Bateman, Michael Cera and Portia de Rossi.

Shooting for the TV show is tentatively set to begin next summer.
The movie doesn't have a release date, Hurwitz said, adding that the creative aspects have been largely worked out, but the business side is still being negotiated.

via Yahoo! News

Aaah, it's impossible to be sad when the Bluth's are going to be back in business.

Do you have any idea how long I have been waiting in my cave, biding my time until something like this is announced? I think I must have watched every episode 6 times at least. Can't wait, can't wait, can't wait!

Exclamation point

noreply@blogger.com (Flippy Doodle) — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 11:39:00 +0000

It's impossible to declare your excitement of something in Mathematics.

Every time I write down an exclamation mark, it is deemed to be a factorial sign :(

Weird and Quirky Habits

noreply@blogger.com (Flippy Doodle) — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 21:26:00 +0000

Because I am slightly bored, and because I like embarrassing myself in public, I thought to list some really weird habits/hobbies that I have. You might know some of these already, either from previous blog posts, or if you know me personally. Some of these habits are really old, and some are relatively new, but all of them are rather odd.

Do you have any weird/wonderful habits like these? Let me know in the comments below :)

Reading the dictionary/thesaurus

Writing this makes me feel like such a bastard. But as a young kid I didn't really have that much entertainment at home. It was either go play outside in the park (which was awesome, and I did that most of the time) or stay at home with nothing much to do. We just had a television and that did not even have many channels.

I know I sound like I was born in the 50s ("where's the fucking PlayStation, you bitch!", I hear you yelling), but my family never really integrates new things into the house. It's just something that never happens. Plus all those electronic gadgets were just random luxuries which we couldn't be bothered to afford.

So there was nothing much to do in the house except play by myself. So I found this old Webster's Dictionary & Thesaurus in the drawers and just started looking up random words and greedily reading their meaning. I loved the thesaurus too, because I could see how all the words are related.

But let it be said that my vocabulary did not improve a great deal (as demonstrated by my copious use of the word "bastard" on this blog). I usually just read most of the words and forgot about them.

It sounds so odd, but I still find it entertaining to this day. I am still tempted to dig through drawers and find the old dictionary and flip through it. But I just use the online ones now.

I miss you too, Noah.

Looking at maps

This is another thing born from childhood boredom/curiosity (see above). I found this large world map in one of the drawers and I loved spreading it out on the floor and looking excitedly at all the countries.

Mind you, this map was from the 80s (probably bought when my brother was a kid), so the Soviet Union was still on it. I always used to wonder what this gigantic red "country", which appeared to take up half of Earth's land mass, was like in real life.

Only when I had turned around nine I realised that the "Soviet Union" did not exist anymore. At eleven I realised that it hadn't been an actual country. >___<

So Mordor does not exist? :(

But I still like looking up maps every now and then. I particularly like Europe, especially looking at where all the Eastern European countries are positioned, and Central Asia.

Unable to sleep without the sound of nature documentaries

I just developed this habit during this summer vacation. I guess it's because I keep getting stressed whenever I lie down to sleep, so I need something to soothe me till I fall asleep (think of it as a lullaby, but not at all in a ridiculous, childish way).

I realised that I don't actually like watching the nature documentaries (at least not while I'm trying to sleep), I just like listening to their sound, especially when it's one of those BBC ones with a David Attenborough narration. They calm me down and make me feel relaxed.

So I ripped off the audio tracks from all these BBC nature documentaries, and put them on my iPod. I don't listen to them every night, but sometimes I like putting them on and just imagining being in some Redwood forest in northern Canada.

Unable to study without the television

I simply cannot concentrate on studying without the background noise of the television. God knows where I picked this up from, but it has been a great annoyance since I started college, because we don't have a working television in the dorms (first world pains?).

I prefer listening to something inconspicuous, like the news. Or just switching on some shitty music channel, which turns even shittier after 12 AM, when it starts playing a string of power ballads from the 80s.

Listening to movies/trailers/TV shows

I guess this habit is the result of the habit above.

I like the sound of the television while studying, but there is no television to turn on. So I do the next best thing - just play downloaded television shows on my laptop, while working, and just listening to the audio.

Mostly I listen to music while studying, but sometimes it distracts me, and I need to listen to something else. In times like these, studying with just the audio track from something makes it so much easier to concentrate.

But I find that I really enjoy listening to movie trailers. I think it's because I like putting my own images on top of the sound...?

Talking to myself

This is pretty much entering the schizophrenic zone (is this TMI for you?). Yeh, I talk to myself a lot. Does this mean that I am mental? I think if you see me around uni, you will notice me smiling to myself or having a little conversation with myself.

I think this might be another result of the stress...

Slashdot Dreams

noreply@blogger.com (Flippy Doodle) — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 02:56:00 +0000

I just had the weirdest dream. That everything I was thinking was being asked as a question on Slashdot, and people kept answering to each and every thought of mine with sarcastic comments.

I am so sleep deprived :(