A little bit of everything

I've seen the future and I like it

2011-09-28T13:43:00.000-05:00

There is not much to add. The clip was created by a glass and ceramics company, wich means that everything we see here is probably in development. It makes me really really excited to think that we might be living like this in the future... I just hope not to be too old by then ( ó.Ò )

I don't know about you but in my opinon most of this projects are brilliant, others make me wonder about the compatibility, like for many of those you need that phone, others just look a bit too hard to carry and use, like the flexible display. However the concept behind it is what makes it great.

So, what do you think?

Oh sweet technology how much I missed you

2011-08-31T17:54:00.000-05:00

So I finally got my computer to work (applause). But while it was gone I traveled to the past, to where the Internet was not an everyday thing, so I guessed it was around 20 years ago.

My first reaction was to crawl up in the fetal position and cry when I realized that the Internet was gone. But don't worry, this didn't last enough, after the first couple days of doing this I remembered, Oh!!! I can use the computer without Internet, suck that one cloud based OS, (Pst your computer burned down)... that leads me to sway while covering my ears with my hands and closing my eyes.

Ok that was not what we would call a good start, but hey 20 years ago people lived in caves and drove donkey powered cars... right? So I decided not to go outside my new (old?) cave afraid I would find a dinosaur walking around. Nobody likes to be eaten by raptors you know, those things can open doors... that is like saying you mess with us you get fkd up while you're sleeping.

It saddens me how their technology is better aswell

After days of isolation trying to resist, I had to do it. Go outside and fight the wild to collect food, it sounds easier than it actually is, 20 years ago people didn't shop on eBay and stuff, they had to go to the forests, kill a bear to steal his honey while running away from the raptors.

Lucky for me I found a bunny eating berries outside my cave, looks like the dinner is here! So rushed in and beated it up to steal its berries, it ran away but not without putting up a fight. Bunnies can be dangerous creatures, if you give them a change they will fk you up as hard as the raptors would, so when approaching one, never give it your back or you will regret it.

This kitty learned the lesson the hard way

The night fell and it started to get cold, I couldn't just hug my overheating computer to warm myself so I decided to make a fire... but how?!?! I can't search about it on wikihow, so I just grabbed a big grenade from the WWII that was happening outside and started hitting it with a rock, at least that is how people do it on the movies. A click, -damn it-, then a boom.

Oh shi~

What happened after? I don't remember. How are you reading this? I don't know. But, if you ever go back 20 years in the past, bring your laptop.

Music you are ashamed to addmit you like.

2011-07-21T19:22:00.000-05:00

I have a friend who is very "musical", what do I try to say with this?, well he just needs to listen to a song once to remember it completly, and as a bonus, if the song is catchy he will be singing it all day long. Some people might think this is a gift, I just think it is exploitable.

When we work together on any project we have a deal with music, we will take turns picking up songs, so I will pick up one and he will pick up the next and so on, this usually works fine until someone (me) picks up an annoying catchy song on a slow day (because I'm bored) to annoy the other person who usually responds with something like "damn it I hate you TURN THAT SHIT OFF!!!!" However I just ignore his plead wich leads to a lets-pick-the-worst-and-most-annoying-songs-ever battle to the point in wich both of us play songs that even annoy ourselves (or thats what he thinks)

The truth is I have a lot of annoying, corny or repetitive songs in my arsenal that I'm ashamed to addmit I actually like, but I know I'm not alone in this!!! I know people who are usually like "oh I hate this song" but then they dance to it or have it on their computers, or simply don't mind it while listening to it on the radio.

So this is why I ask you... What songs are you ashamed to addmit you like and you probably listen to it as loud as you can inside your closet???

Just a little example of what I'm talking about.

Coffee shops and laptops

2011-07-19T21:48:00.001-05:00

The other day a friend and me went to this nice coffeehouse near my place, we wanted to talk and this kind of places are great to do that, you know, the faint lights, the ambiental music, the coffee and a nice view. But when we got there I was pretty confused to see that like 2/3 of the people had an open latop with them. I mean, why in the name of God, would you take your laptop to a place where you supposedly go to TALK and INTERACT with someone else.

Ok let's think of the reasons to bring a laptop to a coffee shop:

1. You have a lot of work to do, but this person you really like wanted to go out, and you being the nicest person in the world go out in a date with your lover... and your work (because you are a really responsible person right?).

Brrrt wrong. It was saturday night, you most likely have nothing to do at the next day.

2. You have something (maybe video, photos or w/e get creative) in your laptop and you want to share it with the person you are going out with... because a public place is the best place to show others your shameful pictures.

Brrrt wrong. All the people with a laptop had them pointing at themselves, and sometimes there were as many laptops as persons in the table. (Fk sharing this be only mine!)

3. You are a trendy hipster (oh the irony) and you think having a laptop in a coffee shop is neat because you think it makes you look smart.

Oh we have a winner! The screens I got to spy on, had: desktop wallpaper, the browser on google, 2 lines of an in-progress-email, and other trivialities. I couldn't help but laugh out loud in the middle of the shop when I stopped to think about it.

So now you know folks, bring your laptop next time you are on a date in a coffee shop! and maybe you would look as happy as this little guy.

A couple memories.

2011-07-02T15:29:00.000-05:00

An old friend will spend a couple here like a scale in one of his many trips, wich is great because he is a really fun person and always manages to deal with weird situations.

I remember this one time in Madrid, we were around the city at night looking for something to do, it was pretty late but we were still a bit too drunk to realize (drinking wine is a bad BAD thing) we saw a something maybe it was a night club or a bar I can't remember, however we locked it as our next target but the guy that lets you in didn't wanted us to, we were trying to convice him but I doubt our drunk reasoning was working because at some point my friend starts saying "Let us in! we are mexican!!!" Yeah right! as if being mexican is something that matters. But surprisingly enough the big bad guy is like Orly? "Ok come in because the owner is mexican". I still can't believe that argument worked.

In London, we decided to go meet the fun side of the city, so we go happily to this place I forgot its name, outside there was this huge hefty bald hooligan. He stared at us when we wanted to go in, he bows a little (we are not exactly tall) without losing sight at us, he takes out his black glasses and tell us with a deep voice "Do you know... this is a gay bar right?" And then my friend is like "Uh yeah, I'm here for the guys, shes here for the girls" Then the big hefty bald hooligan now with a thin voice and waving his hand is like "Oh cool come in come in!". Its impressive how fast a person can change.

___________________________________

Anyways from the previous post: What kind of music are you getting into lately?

I'm pretty much in a phase of rediscovering the 70's rock bands ^_^

Music Lately

2011-06-28T20:44:00.000-05:00

I'm aliveeee! well kind of, after some well deserved (I think) vacation I still need time to rest (Yes I'm still tired!) at least school is over so I have loads of time now to write stuff here ^_^

The other day I was talking with a friend who was annoying me with "Why do you hate all the music?!?!?" well I'm sorry but I don't hate ALL the music, just the music you like (If you are reading this, you know I love you <3) but I have a good reason for it, and it is because they all sound the freaking same, and after a while I get bored with it.

However bish wouldn't believe me so I had to look for proof, luck on my side I watched this videos some years ago, odds are you have watched them already but if not they will help illustrate what I'm saying.

Stop Motion

2011-05-31T18:35:00.000-05:00

So I was searching for King Crimson on youtube and I was pretty dissapointed to see that they are not as popular as they should be, but oh well, at least I found this stop motion movie with Epitaph as the background sound... I was like oh nice! however the clip was shorter than the song so the person who did this had to loop it a little so after that I was like... aw damn! Now I'm on a quest to find the original video.

I really like stop motion short clips, the amount of work needed to make one of them is outstanding. So for now I'm going to share a few with you, starting with Tim Burton's (Nuff said) Vincent:

The Sand Castle (Le Chateu de Sable) This one is amazing because they use sand as a central element, one wich is really hard to manage:

The Captain's Daughter (КАПИТАНСКАЯ ДОЧКА) This one is longer (around 30 mins) but couldn't find it with subs *sighs*, anyways here is the first part, and if somehow you understand russian or if you are simply don't care the next parts are here and here. It is based on the novel with the same name:

Loneliness

2011-05-19T19:13:00.005-05:00

Hello anyone who cares! I'm sorry I haven't been active lately, so much to do working on my thesis but we are almost finished and about to have finally some free time yeeeeey! Anyways, I couldn't resist posting today because I've been having a lot of signals telling me to do it. What am I talking about? well you will see!

First, a couple friends have been talking to me about how lonely they feel on the place they live, and how hard its been for them to find people they can call friends.

Second, I saw this story about a town with only one habitant, Monowi Nebraska in the U.S.A. The only lady living there decided to stay after her husband passed away some years ago. If you are wondering, they decided to stay together after everyone in the town eventually left when the train arrived around the 30's.

Then I saw this video of a song I like, you may not get it because its in spanish but basically is about someone's inner confrontations because he feels lonely and doesn't know why when apparently nothing is missing. On a side note the video shows a big influence from his father from who I posted some time ago, it's really cool ^_^.

This stuff made me wonder about my own loneliness, what I was probably aware but trying to ignore while making up excuses like... I'm busy for that and I don't have time to worry about it, probably the reason I've been unconsciously slacking off at college trying not to finish to keep myself busy lolwut anyways thats another story.

I think we can see a pattern here, but the question I wonder is why? Why does loneliness affect people on different ways? Or is just people reacting on different ways to it? Why do people make it a comfort zone and doesn't leave it? Is it something affecting more people than we are actually aware of? Maybe just an effect of the contemporary times?

Oh well, I will continue on the next post on next week, but for me to get a better idea would you please give me your opinion on the topic? Also do you feel lonely?

F**n Holograms v2

2011-05-14T05:52:00.000-05:00

Some of you should remember about Miku on this post, well apparently Toyota has started using her as the image for an advertising campaing for the Toyota Corolla in the USA as you can see on this, in my opinion, horrible commercial.

Why should I care? you might be wondering. The cool part is they will be also sponsoring her concert on the USA so the people in Los Angeles will be lucky and might get the chance to see the holograms in the Anime Expo convention on July 2. (If any of you actually go I'd like to see some pics please!!!)

Anyways, this seems like a risky movement for Toyota since otakus are well known to be unable to drive cars and will be asking their moms to drive them to the concert, so probably thinking on preventing this and not only aiming for otakus, they "americanized" her image as you can see here but I really don't think that will help a lot since they made her freaking creepy. Oh well she looks better on the image below but... Would that be enough to make the otaku's mothers buy Corollas? Only the time will tell.

Internet Kisses

2011-05-09T08:12:00.003-05:00

There is really nothing much to say about this, oh Japan! Thanks to you soon we will be able to send not kisses, french kisses to people over the internet, isn't this amazing? ^_^

I will addmit the idea caught my attention immediatly but after seeing the device and how ridiculous it is I wonder how much experience the designers actually have on this topic.

Mozilla says no!

2011-05-08T03:28:00.000-05:00

When the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in the USA began to hijack domains, they failed to consider that the internet is a distributed network. Nor did they realize that their colleagues in the military R & D designed it to withstand the drop of multiple nodes and further disseminate information.

Acting as a good distributed network shortly after the domains hijacking, it appeared a little utility that redirected traffic from the hijacked domain to another, just like a routing mail service. On the internet, no node "knows" nothing more than who its neighbor is, to the one it sends the information. Sooner or later, and after a few turns, the information reaches its destination. This is exactly what the MafiaaFire Redirector add-on does.

But obviously, the DHS did not like that, who have shown to have little knowledge of the technical operation of the network, and how a hijacked domain is so easy to bypass. So the Department asked Mozilla to withdraw the add-on. Without further ado.

Obviusly, Mozilla made it clear to them that they are law-abiding, therefore will only take action if they get an order from a judge. For that reason, they returned the request for withdrawal with a letter asking the DHS a few things:

Have any courts determined that the Mafiaafire add-on is unlawful or illegal in any way? If so, on what basis? (Please provide any relevant rulings)
Is Mozilla legally obligated to disable the add-on or is this request based on other reasons? If other reasons, can you please specify.
Can you please provide a copy of the relevant seizure order upon which your request to Mozilla to take down the Mafiaafire add-on is based?

As expected, Mozilla is still waiting for their answer. This is another case of an attempt of self-censorship by the application of fear. First is instilled in everyone that certain activities could constitute a crime, and then it is only needed a burly and menace-looking guy to stand in front of you and ask, without more, to self-censure it.

If a random person does this, it is extortion. But if the security departments or any of their cronies do, it is a 100% legal activity intended to protect someone or something. Who? Usually a very small part of society. Legal mechanisms acting as private security guards for four companies...

I love Firefox.

A short chinese story

2011-05-04T03:07:00.000-05:00

Once upon a time, there were two mountains that stood right beside each other. Both were over ten-thousand feet high, and together, they were four-hundred miles wide.

Facing the mountains lived Old Man Yu, who was over eighty-years-old and also known throughout the county for his foolishness. Every morning, as Old Man Yu walked to the village, his wife would shake her head as she saw him make yet another detour around the two mountains. As the years went by, he found it a great inconvenience to make these daily detours. So one day, Old Man Yu finally decided that the twin mountains would have to be moved.

He then called a family meeting and told his wife, sons, daughters, and their families of his intentions. He will move these two mountains, Old Man Yu cried, and you will all help me do it? Old Man Yu's sons and grandsons thought it was a terrific idea. They cheered and gave him their undying support. Old Man Yu's wife sneered, You are a foolish old man indeed! Just how would you go about moving two big mountains like Tai-Ying and Yellow-House?she continued, never mind two mountains, I do not think you can even move two piles of cow-dung! And even if you could move the mountains, just where would you dispose of the dirt and rocks from the mountains? she asked.

The old man thought for a moment, and without backing down answered her, he will throw out the dirt and rocks into a faraway place. I will throw them into the sea! Once again, Old Man Yu's sons and grandsons thought that it was a terrific idea to throw the dirt into the sea. They cheered a second time and pledged to him their dying support. Even the neighbour's son named, Little Turnip Boy, gave the old man his support although he was only eight-years-old.

Off went Old Man Yu, his three sons, his many, countless grandsons, and Little Turnip Boy to work on removing Tai-Ying and Yellow House. It was such grueling work that in a year's time, Little Turnip Boy was only able to make one trip to the sea to dispose of the dirt and rocks. Nonetheless, no one lost their enthusiasm, as they all held steadfast to Old Man Yu's dream of having the two mountains removed.

Now on one of their trips to the sea, they met a man who lived along the Yellow River, who was known throughout the county for his cleverness and his arrogance. The clever man, who lived by the Yellow River mocked Old Man Yu saying, you foolish old man! I have seen you, your three sons, your many, countless grandsons, and even Little Turnip Boy making trips to the sea to dispose of the dirt and rocks from the mountains. Do you think that you can actually remove two whole mountains? And look at you! You must be over ninety-years-old and closer to the grave as each day passes. How do you expect to move two mountains in your lifetime.

Old Man Yu looked upon the Yellow River Man with pity. You are known throughout the entire country as a clever man. Yet, you are a man lacking in vision. Regarding this matter, even Little Turnip Boy has more wisdom than you. Old Man Yu continued, -You are correct in saying that I am an old man who is closer to the grave as each day passes. But I have three sons, and many, countless grandsons. In time, my grandsons will bear their own children, who, in turn, will bear even more children. So in time, my dream of removing these two mountains will become a reality. As each day passes, my dream can only increase, as these two mountains can only decrease.

Original link

Tourists

2011-05-01T09:54:00.000-05:00

Have you ever seen the pictures of famous places that the tourists upload everywhere over the internet and wondered, well... they all look the same. Or gone somewhere and see all the tourists trying to take a picture from nearly the same angle all of them?

We travel, we see a monument, and we take a picture. But, we are millions who travel, millions who see this monument, and millions who take the same picture. If you don't believe me take a look at this images.

This images are from Corinne Vionnet and her work "Photo Opportunities", she collected hundreds of pictures from the internet about well known monuments and touristic places around the world and gathered them together in successive layers.

I think it's pretty interesting to see how human mind works similar, I wonder what exactly makes so many people want to take a picture from the same angle?

Oh the babies

2011-04-26T22:30:00.000-05:00

Today I saw a vid wich may be a bit old, but pretty much creeped me out. It was a guy with a very sharp knife slicing a cake. Uhh? Oh yeah did I mention the cake was made in a form that looked like a baby and the guy with the big sharp knife is about to slice the head? What's wrong with you people!! Oh well here it is if you wanna watch it, don't click it if you are a sensitive wuss.

Oh well, inevitably that made me remember about that common hoax about how it was believed that people in the southeastern asian countries used to eat human fetus. Seriously whats wrong with you people!! Avant-grade art striked again. This time it was this guy named Zhu Yu and his performance named "eating people" (now you know what to google if you wanna watch the images, I know many of you will, but you have probably watched them already) Anyways he didn't get a chance to show his work in an art show because it was just a little bit controversial. However the internet did the hard work for him.

So people in those countries actually do not eat babies? Well cannibalism is not exactly legal on any country so its not supported by, as the urban legend used to make it sound. So uhh this guy ehh...? Well he said he stole a fetus and cooked it himself (the image is more shocking if what is happening there is actually true), but this is unlikely or he would be in jail for it.

Anyways!!!!!!!, random cute pic to clear the mind.

Time

2011-04-25T16:14:00.000-05:00

If there is something I hate is being sick, specially a cold in spring, so I apologize I couldn't post yesterday because I was feeling really ill, so I stayed on bed all day. It was specially annoying because I had a lot of stuff to do and I thought I didn't really had time to be sick lying on bed cussing everything around.

Oh well! After being all doped for the medicine, my mind started to fly and wondered... time... Why do I say I don't have time, when there is people probably doing a lot more things every day, and they don't complain about it? Maybe they appreciate every little moment of their time as something valuable and they try to do something with it?

One person I admire, is one of my college teachers. He has time for his classes, has time for his work, has time for his PhD, has time for his family. Damn! and he has the same time every day as you and me do. There is always time, stop complaining, start doing.

F**n holograms how do they work

2011-04-23T19:21:00.001-05:00

Oh well, I spent the whole day playing with photoshop so I didn't have time to prepare anything so chances are you have seen this ^_^

This is Hatsune Miku, world's most famous "virtual diva". Wth virtual diva? yeah, that's how people usually refer to her. She is basically a voice bank from a singing synthesizing program from Yamaha, Vocaloid 2. Pretty much you can use her to sing for you if you suck at it (and know japanese because is the language she is avaiable at)

She gained a lot of popularity thru japan and around the world after many developers used the voicebank to perform songs. What I find interesting about it is, that all the developers have been eventually creating her a "personality" thru all the songs they have been making. Da fk, how can they do that? I don't really think it was intentional, but the lyrics usually have a lot of meaning and often tell a story helped with anime-like images based on the original concept art of the voice bank. So at the end, new creatos took that as established and was base for the next songs and so on. Same happened with the new voicebanks they have been developing. Everyone has a different personality wich has been growing since they came out.

Below is a link of one of Mku's concerts. Wait how does a virtual character has a concert? Since they have become really really popular in Niconico Douga (Some kind of japanese youtube) the creators performed a concert with the most famous songs using a live band, but playbacking the vocals. And since they are japanese, they did a full hologram of Miku to sing for the gathering of japanese freaks. Just check it out!

Vacation

2011-04-22T20:01:00.000-05:00

Spring Break is over and I didn't have time to go anywhere. Summer vacation is comming soon and all I can think of is I WANT TO REST! My last year of college is almost over so my mind flies far far away wondering Where would I go if I had the money? I think the answer is simple, there are a lot of places I want to visit (if i had the money ofcouse!) but the first would be without any doubt, Therme Vals, wich is an hotel/spa complex in Vals, built over the only thermal spring in the Graubünden canton in Switzerland.

In the 1960s a German property developer, Karl Kurt Vorlop, built a hotel complex with over 1,000 beds to take advantage of the naturally occurring thermal springs and the source, which provides the water for Valser mineral water, sold throughout Switzerland. After the developer went bankrupt, the village of Vals bought up the five hotels in the development in 1983 and resolved to commission a hydrotherapy centre at the centre of the five hotels, at the source of the thermal springs.

Peter Zumthor was selected as architect for the spa, and the facility was built between 1993 and 1996. The site owners asked the architect to design the building between the 5 hotels complex in a way it wouldnt disturb the view of the surroundings. So he decided to create a form of cave or quarry structure, using the natural stone slabs from the area half buried into the hillside with a grass roof structure wich makes it look like it was always there, even before the hotels were built.

The spa was planned for visitors to rediscover the ancient benefits of bathing. The interior is designed in a way the combination of natural and artificial light and shades, textures, scents, water temperature, and open and enclosed spaces, offer a highly sensuous and restorative experience.

If you are interested here is a documental about the complex, with the architect concepts and great images.

Redemption

2011-04-22T02:25:00.001-05:00

Walking thru the supermarket minding my own bussiness as usual wondering what am I gonna dinner today, and then I saw it... there it was again staring at me with that creepy smile... And so I remembered the first time we met, it wasn't long ago, but it was a tragedy, oh! the memories giving me nightmares, I won't let them chase me anymore!!!!!

I'm decided. I grab it tightly and pull it to my shopping car. Rice flour. I'm gonna try to make dangos a second time.

If any of you watches/likes anime you have probably heard about them, I did too so I wanted to try them at least once, but my first attempt went terribly wrong.

This guy's recipe is amazing so u should check it out if interested (^_^).

And so I followed this vid and tried once again to make the goddamn dangos, but this time it was a success! I wish I had my camera with me but it's still stolen... yeah long story short, friend asked me to borrow my camera, then he got it lost, promissed to pay it back, it's been 2 years since.

I took pics of whole process with crappy cellphone cam but they're so bad I dont really want to upload them. Anyways!!!! The dangos taste so good, the mitarashi sauce is just delicious, you should try to do them too!

What could have gone wrong on my first try you may wonder... Well there are two kinds of fluor for dango, I followed the wrong recipe in wich I had to put the dango balls in boiling water for a couple minutes. So at the end, the dough was raw. And that's all im going to say about it!!!!

Surrealism and 4/20

2011-04-20T19:03:00.001-05:00

So.. happy 4/20 everyone stay safe!!

Earlier today I was lying on the floor thinking what would be good to publish.

Tic toc tic toc tic toc

When I was happily about to fall asleep something pops up my mind like Oh! I remember ages ago entourage of hippies knelt and worshiped Alejandro Jodorowsky for making "The Bible of LSD" so sounds like pretty good idea to talk about him on a day like this.

Most of you will be like who the hell is this guy?? Well! this guy is mostly known for his avant-garde films, his work is filled with violently surreal images and a hybrid blend of mysticism and religious provocation. -Wat? - Basically his films are strange and full of symbolisms. You just need to watch it to understand what am I talking about.

Right now I'm going to rewatch the movies and probably do some commentary on each one of them for another post some other time, I've found a few but none of them seem to understand whats actually going on. Like this guy im linking he addmited he didn't understand the films but he can give you some insight on them if you are interested.

Lately

2011-04-19T20:39:00.001-05:00

So tired...

-Have you ever seen yourself and what you are doing, and wondered, is this what I wanted? A friend asked me early today, that kept me thinking all the day and still I dont know what to answer.

What exactly did I want? or more accurate What do I want? I wish i knew. No wonder why my lack of motivation. I hope to find the answer not too late.

So, for you... What do you want? Is your current self a step to achieve what you wanted or are you already there?

24 Hours

2011-04-18T13:36:00.000-05:00

And so the countdown begins. Wich? hours without sleep, forcing myself to work but procastinating all the time. Anyways its good to find some stuff. This time Gaki no Tsukai in the school.

A little bit of everything

2011-04-18T10:17:00.000-05:00

Hello and welcome!

Don't mind me, I'm just gonna rant and deviant about a little bit of everything that goes on my daily and boring life, feel free to rant along!