Kupuk

100 Dances

2009-02-26T13:21:39Z

Really, one has to admire the effort and dedication:

The Reef Just Whispered to Me

2009-02-25T03:08:50Z

The Gates Mosquito Shot

2009-02-21T19:12:25Z

James Duncan Davidson explains how he captured not only the moment Bill Gates released his make-the-point mosquitoes but an actual shot of the mosquito itself:

“At the time of the mosquito release, Bill was standing next to his prop table with the jar on it. We actually didn’t know what was in the jar. Asa was down in front for close ups. I was up on the stage left stairs just doing semi wide shots with my 70-200. As Bill talked, he turned, reached down, opened up the mosquito container, and then sat down the cover. I barely had time to realize what he was doing and to react on the fly, reframing the composition I was working on. I didn’t even have time to zoom in. The EXIF data from my image says that I shot this at 86mm. “

Hugging At Work

2009-02-19T01:38:06Z

Penelope:

“And that’s why I never drink in the morning. Because only four sips leads to hugging insanity.

But I’ve met with that guy a bunch more times, and he has hugged me each time. Not like, let’s-do-something-inappropriate-later hug. But just sort of a nice, I-like-doing-business-with-you hug.

And I’ve been thinking about what this means at work, and then I read that Obama is hugging. Men. In the White House.Obama has made hugging co-workers cool by using the combination of a handshake and a one-armed embrace”

The Phone Wars Will Be Fought By Software

2009-02-19T00:11:23Z

Tim Bray makes the case, reasonably, that the big three touch phones (iPhone, G1, and Pre) are a wash when it comes to hardware differences and that the deciding factor will be the software that runs on those phones.

But what if this is a return to the good old days where much software was available on all platforms and choice came down to other factors, like which carrier treats you right or your personal fashion statement.

Bray also fails to mention the iTunes factor. I live the iTunes life now, storing my music there, buying it there, and watching my TV on the Apple TV sourced from my iTunes. It will be much harder to detach me from THAT piece of software than from the apps on my iPhone.

In any case, read Bray’s argument. It’s worth it, if nothing else, for the reference to “certain institutional tight-assedness”.

Quartzeroids

2009-02-18T13:03:21Z

The prolific Matt Gallagher starts a new Core Animation tutorial stepping would be game programmers through the creation of an Asteroids like game, one CALayer at a time.

“The application I’ll present over the next few weeks will be similar to an experiment I wrote about 8 years ago. Back then, the application was named Quartzeroids and it was an experiment to see if NSViews were fast enough to use for a 2D Asteroids game. The code was not good — if you find it out in the wild, keep your distance and call animal control.”

Say 'BANG' In Osaka to Random Strangers

2009-02-17T02:41:28Z

Japanese TV holds a special place in my heart because it has such a unique flavor that you would be hard pressed to find anything like many Japanese shows in other countries (that goes for FOX TV too, but that’s another story).

Like this demonstration where the reporter says, “BANG” to random strangers throughout Osaka to see how they will react:

Step By Step

2009-02-16T20:57:55Z

Lucius Kwok on his methodically determined (and successful) path to the indie life:

“After I came back from Detroit (where MacHack was held), I immediately started working on Sound Studio 1.0. It took about 6 weeks, and I had no beta testers, no PR or marketing agency, no blog or twitter, and nobody looking over my shoulder.

September 1999, I released the very first version of Sound Studio.Sound Studio 1.0 had a very basic set of features, bugs that would cause crashes, and not a very good data model. But it worked well enough that the day after I released it, I got my first purchase through Kagi. One sale a day isn’t much, and I only made about $1,888 in shareware sales in 1999, including sales from my other shareware products.”

Elizabeth Gilbert On Genius

2009-02-15T18:11:56Z

Over the last couple of years I have made it a personal habit to watch TED Talks whenever I get the chance.

Sometimes I don’t connect with the talks, and sometimes I violently disagree, but I always learn something and have a little bit of my world lens recalibrated.

But this talk, by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, is my favorite TED Talk of all time. Gilbert explains how the lens of creative genius has gone so wrong in recent times and how we can look at all our creative endeavors in a way that is just a bit more forgiving and more human.

Take nineteen minutes to watch it now - you will be glad you did.

Canada's Healthy Banks

2009-02-15T03:10:17Z

Newsweek:

“Guess which country, alone in the industrialized world, has not faced a single bank failure, calls for bailouts or government intervention in the financial or mortgage sectors. Yup, it’s Canada. In 2008, the World Economic Forum ranked Canada’s banking system the healthiest in the world. America’s ranked 40th, Britain’s 44th.”