e-clecticism: May 2010

Monday, 31 May 2010

1967's View Of 1999

OK so they weren't entirely accurate and the sexism is very dated, but this 1967 documentary on what life in 1999 would be like is not a million miles from reality. I particularly like the flat panel monitors. :-)

Sunday, 30 May 2010

Monkey Puzzle

This is great. Two Capuchin monkeys show signs of cooperation and a sense of fairness, by working together to solve a problem using tools, and then sharing the reward. They also seem to understand fairness. When unequal rewards are given to one monkey and not another, the monkey receiving the lesser treat would rather go hungry than accept anything less than an equal reward. Fascinating stuff. From the BBC documentary "Capuchins: The Monkey Puzzle", narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

Saturday, 29 May 2010

Momentos

I love this film. As seen on RGS, this short film is called "Momentos". I don't really need to explain much, just enjoy watching it.

MOMENTOS from Nuno Rocha on Vimeo.

Thursday, 27 May 2010

Virtual Choir

A composer and conductor by the name of Eric Whitacre has assembled a virtual choir. Made up of many YouTube volunteer users, each recorded individually, but assembled to make a beautiful sound. The following is called 'Lux Aurumque' and is one of Eric's own compositions. Check out Eric's channel for more great examples.

Wednesday, 26 May 2010

Swings A Winner

The Swinger is a clever little program (actually a bit of Python code) that takes a song and changes its rhythm to a swing beat. Developed by Tristan Jehan, it does this by taking each beat and time-stretching the first half and time-shrinking the second half. It has a great effect. Here is a nice familiar tune as an example.

Every Breath You Take (swing version) by TeeJay

Here is Journey's Don't Stop Believin'. Well it is no worse than the murder that Glee committed. :-)

Don't Stop Believin' (Swing Version) by plamere

And finally my personal favourite. Sweet Child O' Mine by Guns n Roses.

Sweet Child O' Mine (Swing Version) by plamere

Tuesday, 25 May 2010

Young Schizophrenic

This is perhaps not the normal post on e-clecticism but I saw it and felt compelled to share it with you. This is a rather harrowing film about a young girl who appears to have (in a very rare case) been born with Schizophrenia. She and her poor parents are at the mercy of her mind as incredibly strong drugs seem to be having little or no effect.

Sunday, 23 May 2010

Logorama

Before I go any further, I need to tell you that the following video contains explicit language! e-clecticism is usually child friendly, but I have made an exception in this case. If you are easily offended, go no further. You have been warned.

This is a short film that was directed by the French animation collective H5, François Alaux, Hervé de Crécy & Ludovic Houplain. It was presented at the Cannes Film Festival 2009. It opened the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and won a 2010 academy award under the category of animated short. How they haven't been sued, I will never know. Enjoy.

Logorama from Marc Altshuler - Human Music on Vimeo.

Saturday, 22 May 2010

Top Gear Caught

I'm sure most of the readers of e-clecticism will be familiar with the BBC TV show Top Gear. If you're not, in a nutshell it ostensibly a motoring show, but features a lot of comedy and wackyness that make it a firm family favourite in our household and I'm sure many others.

They are currently making a new series which will be shown here in the Summer and the following video shows the team being caught filming in South West England. As the YouTube description puts it.

Two ridiculously over excited parents happen upon the Top Gear team on the A303 and film it for their absent, Top Gear loving 10 year old son. The son has now disowned them and lithium has been administered.

I can almost guarantee that this clip makes it on to the show. :-)

Friday, 21 May 2010

Meet The Sloths

Another soppy post from me I'm afraid. They're going to take away my geek licence if I'm not careful. Amphibian Avenger, a Vimeo user has posted this great video featuring both two and three toed sloths. I hadn't realised how downright adorable they are. As she explains...

I filmed this at the Aviaros del Caribe sloth sanctuary in Costa Rica - the world's only sloth orphanage. Baby 2 and 3 toed sloths, whose mother's have either been run over or zapped by power lines are brought to the sanctuary and looked after by Judy Arroyo.

Amphibian Avenger has a blog of her own with more pictures etc and for more information on the sanctuary, please see their website.

Meet the sloths from Amphibian Avenger on Vimeo.

Thursday, 20 May 2010

The Last Airbender

Another film I'd like to see this year. M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender. Visit the official website here.

Air, Water, Earth, Fire. Four nations tied by destiny when the Fire Nation launches a brutal war against the others. A century has passed with no hope in sight to change the path of this destruction. Caught between combat and courage, Aang (Noah Ringer) discovers he is the lone Avatar with the power to manipulate all four elements. Aang teams with Katara (Nicola Peltz), a Waterbender, and her brother, Sokka (Jackson Rathbone), to restore balance to their war-torn world.

Based on the hugely successful Nickelodeon animated TV series, the live-action feature film "The Last Airbender" is the opening chapter in Aang's struggle to survive.

Wednesday, 19 May 2010

High Powered Carousel

There isn't really much I can say about this, you just need to watch the video. It's one of those that you just know what is going to happen, but you stil marvel at the stupidity anyway. :-)

Those crazy kids eh?

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Tuesday, 18 May 2010

Robot Jazz Improv

May this is how Skynet started? :-)

"Shimon" is a robotic marimba player. In the following video it demonstrates its ability to perform genuine Jazz improvisation and interaction with a human pianist. Shimon listens to the human play and tries to match its beat, sync, and themes. It uses choreographic gestures to generate both motion and sound. This video is just some highlights. The full performance can be seen here.

Monday, 17 May 2010

Voyager Hijacked?

NASA photograph of one of the two identical Vo...

Image via Wikipedia

Has the Voyager 2 spacecraft been hijacked by aliens? Well probably not but it makes for a great story. Voyager 1 and 2 were launched in 1977 and have spent the last 33 years documenting and photographing various planets in our solar system. Now Voyager 2 has reached the very edge and will soon pass through the heliosphere and out in to interstellar space, but it has never stopped sending back the 8.6 billion miles data to Earth. However the spacecraft late last month began sending science data in a changed format that mission managers could not decode.

Alien expert Hartwig Hausdorf said "It seems almost as if someone had reprogrammed or hijacked the probe – thus perhaps we do not yet know the whole truth…". I would guess that it is more likely that the probe has malfunctioned but hopefully we'll find out for sure in time.

Sunday, 16 May 2010

Ditch Boarding

Wow, this looks a bit dangerous, but a lot of fun. Being towed along on a surfboard is one thing, but whilst in a flooded ditch? That takes pure genius. Enjoy!

Ditchboarding 2

Spencer | MySpace Video

Saturday, 15 May 2010

Obscura CueLight

This Obscura CueLight pool table is found at Esquire's ultimate bachelor pad in New York. It features sensors and a projector that projects an image only where the balls are on the table.

Frankly it would put me off but I'd still want one.

Obscura CueLight from Gizmodo on Vimeo.

Thursday, 13 May 2010

Paparazzi

I know some of you will think I have gone a bit mad as this is not geeky at all. Quite the opposite actually but it is just too good not to post. Sorry folks.

The following video is of a young chap performing at his school concert. He is in sixth grade which I think makes him about 11 or 12 (correct me if you know better). Not only does he have a cracking voice and great skill on the piano, but he must be a hit with the ladies. Keep an eye on the blond girl on the back row. Her face is a picture. :-)

Enjoy greyson97's version of Paparazzi by Lady Gaga.

Wednesday, 12 May 2010

Gravité

This is another one of those videos that I'd love to tell you more about but I just have much information. It is called Gravité. It features falling objects which, by way of some wickedly clever editing, have been synchronised to produce syncopation and rhythm. Enjoy!

Gravité from Renaud Hallée on Vimeo.

Tuesday, 11 May 2010

Jetlev Flyer

This looks a lot of fun. But then at around €130,000 it had better be. :-)

The Jetlev Flyer promises to be the ultimate toy for those of us that like the idea of flying like a superhero. It is connected to a separate vessel via a 33ft (10m) hose. This vessel provides the motorised (215hp) pump and doubles to act as a stabiliser and tether. Visit the website to find out more.

Jetpack dry weight (approx.): 30 lbs (14 kg)
Maximum Thrust: 430 lbf (1,900 N)
Thrust-to-weight (150-lb or 68 kg pilot, at takeoff):
2.3 : 1
Measured top speed (150-lb or 68 kg pilot): 22 mph (35 km/h)
Hose length: 33 ft (10 m)
Flight ceiling (measured at feet level): 28 feet (8.5 m)
Duration at wide open throttle (approx.) 1 hour
Duration at cruising speed (approx.) 1.5-2 hours

Water Powered Jet Pack from toxel.com on Vimeo.

Monday, 10 May 2010

Yo Yo Master

I was never very good with the Yo-Yo. I was OK with the first Yo, but the second always failed. :-)

Not a problem for this young chap. His name is Grant Johnson and you can see more of him on his Youtube Channel.

Yoyo master
Uploaded by Polanna. - Click for more funny videos.

Sunday, 9 May 2010

Rosano Lepri

Rosano Lepri is one of the behind the scenes people that make great film footage even better by tweaking it. The irony is that if he does his job well, you won't even notice he has been involved. Take a look at the following build reel to him in action. All of these enhancements were made using Autodesk Flame.

Saturday, 8 May 2010

Star Wars Babies

So apparently Jennifer and Jeff are having twins. No I don't know who they are either, but as Jeff is a confirmed Star Wars addict, he decided to make the announcement to friends and relatives using the following video. For that, they are legends.

Congratulations Jennifer and Jeff!

Thursday, 6 May 2010

To Boldly Go

Here's one for the Trekkers out there. This guy has built an RC version the Starship Enterprise (NCC-1701-A to be pedantic). Apparently it is made out of depron foam from plans that he found in Model Aviation magazine. I have to say it flies very well.

Wednesday, 5 May 2010

Apollo 11 Launch

OK this one is really geeky folks. :-) Originally seen on BoingBoing, the following video shows the launch of the Apollo 11 mission (the one that first went to the moon) on July 16th 1969. It is a HD transfer of the original 16mm film from camera E-8 fixed to the mobile launch platform. The camera is running at 500 fps, making the total clip of over eight minutes represent just thirty seconds of actual time. Narration is provided by Mark Gray, Executive Producer for Spacecraft Films, who have many other great clips available.

Apollo 11 Saturn V Launch (HD) Camera E-8 from Mark Gray on Vimeo.

Tuesday, 4 May 2010

Bad Romance

"On The Rocks" is the University of Oregon's premiere all male a cappella ensemble. The following video is them performing Bad Romance by Lady Gaga in the street. Not a song or artist that would normally appeal to me, but I love this.

Monday, 3 May 2010

What Happened To Charlie

Anybody who was around in the early 1970's in the UK will remember the animated Public Service Announcements that featured a little boy and his cat named Charlie. To explain to the rest of you, our government at the time felt the need to point out the error of children's ways and give us advice on all manner of things. From not playing near water to not going off with strangers.

The little boy would invariably make a bad life decision and Charlie (the clever cat that he was) would be there to put him straight.

Here is an example from 1973.

I often wonder what happened to Charlie. Did his career in acting continue, or was he cast aside like Bagpuss? Well I can wonder no more, because I found him. It looks as though he is still giving out good advice as well. :-)

Sunday, 2 May 2010

A Spot Of Gardening

We recently had our garden completely ripped out and rebuilt from scratch. The lady that lived in the house before us had packed the garden with plants of all kinds and it looked beautiful when we first moved in. Although I enjoy the garden I am not a keen gardener and unfortunately we had let it get very overgrown. It is now much more manageable. I am finding that the older I get the more interest I seem to take.

So yesterday I decided to continue with my small vegetable bed. I transplanted some potatoes from the pots I had been growing them in, some carrots, some spring onions, broccoli and cabbage. Only the potatoes are visible yet but a picture for you anyway.

I also potted some beans that my youngest daughter had been growing at school, together with three different variety of tomato plants. It won't be a massive crop, but it will be perfect for us hopefully.

Ever since getting in to growing Bonsai, I have to admit to getting quite partial to the Japanese style of plant as well. I was therefore delighted to get a gift of two Japanese Maple trees. One gold and one garnet. So I have placed these in planters either side of my door. Not sure if that is correct in terms of Feng shui but they look great. :-)

Saturday, 1 May 2010

Chillout

ZeFrank wrote a short song for a lady called Laura simply because she asked him to. She was stressed out and anxious because she had move cities for a new job. Via email he asked her to describe her feelings in more detail to form the basis of the lyrics. He then sent a short musical phrase out to some of his fans, asking them to record a simple vocal which formed the chorus. He put it all together and sent it to her. She loved it!

Listen to "Chillout" below, but first perhaps read the full story, along with some sound bytes the recording process, here.