Gaming: More Pictures, Less Words

Mikael over at Fosfor Gadgets has a great post about Gaming Now and Then where he compares the asthetic quality of video game graphics today to those of the 80s. And by "great post" I mean "lots of comparison pictures" cause really I know you guys are all lazy and just want to look a pretty pictures. Here's a taste:

Morning Puzzle

I know I'm little late to the party on posting about this one but maybe I would have been on time had I had one of these puzzle alarm clocks! See how did that? See how I tied that in like that? That's why I have a blog people. If you're one of those lazy mofos that smacks the snooze button several times every morning then consider the Puzzle Alarm Clock. When the alarm goes off the puzzle pieces on the top of the clock pop off and go flying and the only way to turn it off is to get all the pieces back together in their respective places. I don't think that it would work for me cause I'd just go right back to bed. Now if they made me complete a Sudoku puzzle or something, then maybe.


Via all the blogs that I read that have already posted about this.

La Linea

If you had the pleasure of watching La Linea animated shorts by Oslvaldo Cavandoli when you were a wee one (they used to be aired as between-show fillers on TVO) then you'll be happy to know that you can resurrect those old memories from the back of your brain, give them a good dusting and relive those happy times courtesy of the internet. For those of you who have the misfortune of never having seen a La Linea short then there is hope for you yet. The simple animation featured a very intense little man drawn out of a white line on a solid colour background that varied based on his mood. The little man communicated with his creator in an unknown language often demanding that certain arrangements be made for him and his creator always obliged. There's really no way to accurately explain the pleasure I get from watching these little shorts. You can find quite a few episodes by doing a search on YouTube or DailyMotion.


Via We Make Money Not Art.

3D-licious

Forgive me if I could choose just one or two (or three) pictures for this post. They're all so brilliant that I wanted to share as many as possible with you. Julian Beever is a UK street artist who uses chalk to create incredible optical illusions (or anamorphisms, or even trompe l'oeil if you prefer) on streets and sidewalks.





The results are what seem to be incredibly realistic 3D drawings when viewed from the right angle.



When viewed from the wrong angle you get an idea of how distorted the image has to be in order to appear three dimensional. I wish I had an idea of how distorted Julian Beever's mind has to be in order to create these incredible images. Unfortunately his homepage seems to be down at the moment but a Google Images search should give you your fix.

A BIG thanks to Andrea for this one!

Feed The World With One Trip

Check out how some Taiwanese students have learned to deal with the one-trip-only rule that applies to the salad bar at Pizza Hut:


The fascinating structural feat is a carefully engineered to carry as much food as possible. The entire process is documented in detail on this blog. Not sure how much I like salad dressing on my peaches but I suppose it's a worthy sacrifice if you can get away with something like this!

Via Farpas & Bitaites.

Ad Pole

I never thought I'd be blogging about a strip club but a blogger's work can be crazy and unpredictable that way. The UK stripclub Stringfellows has set up a series of great outdoor advertisements on street lamp posts in Paris. The ads depict women in various positions using the poles as, well, poles. Great idea, they've convinced me!


Via The Cool Hunter.

Super Mario DS Style

Nintendo has recently posted a whole bunch of fantastic screencaps from the New Super Mario Bros. for the DS. There are desert worlds, underwater worlds and all around 2D goodness. The game seems to have all our favorite meanies and some new capabilities for Mario including a super-sizing mushroom and rides in a blue shell. The game also takes advantage of the DS's wifi capability allowing players to play with friends as Mario and Luigi. The release date for the New Super Mario Bros. is May 7th and I'm trying not to pee in my pants with anticipation.

Can't We All Just Get Along

Check out these pictures from Flickr user kazzie taken in Kuala Selangor, Malaysia. Apparently these two friends are just inseparable. The monkey actually looks pretty protective of his kitty in some of the pictures. If only mankind could learn to live like this. Doesn't it make you want to gag?

Via Geisha Asobi.

Ny-ny-ny-nyokki

These little guys are just so darned cute I don't know what to do with myself! Nyokki ("grow" in Japanese) Pets are kind of like a much cuter version of Chia Pets. They come in monkey, froggie, chickee, panda and piglet flavours and their "hair" is really "grass", get it? Get them at Wrappables.

Barcode Beauty

Designers are the type of people who can't leave anything alone. Everything has to be made to look good: just because it's functional doesn't mean it be beautiful right? Enter Bar Code Revolution, the online home of Design Barcode, Inc. a group of designers that "set out to innovate a new way for companies to think about how their valuable product real estate gets used." Check out the gallery where they have some great barcode designs that only cookie creative types could come up with. Really neat stuff.

Via Bibi's Box.

Remembering Google

So which website do you visit about 36 times a day? Now I may not know you but I do know the answer is Google. OK so you should know that page as well as you know your own blog right? Well the fine people over at Google Blogoscoped want to test your memory. They've posted a gallery of reader-submitted drawings of google.com - some of them are really bad and others are freighteningly accurate. Here's mine:


And here's the original:


Not bad, only a couple of colours off. And all that other little stuff. And the link buttons. But otherwise I think I deserve an A for Effort.

That Burger Better Be Worth It

This is a pretty neat idea for a game. If you have time. And patience. Goldburger To Go! is one of those chain reaction contraption-type games where each thing affects the next, like that old board game Mousetrap (by Milton Bradley, by the way). The goal is to make a hamburger - a lofty goal indeed - by tinkering with all the parts of the contraption to make them work together. It's neat but I gave up after about 3 minutes.

The Realsons

I can't believe no one has done this until now: a live-action version of the Simpsons intro. It is incredibly well-produced and the casting is great, they even got the secondary characters bang-on. I wonder if they were lucky in casting or if they just happened to know people who look like real-life version of the music teacher (Dewy Largo - yes I looked it up) and Bleeding Gums Murphy. Either way, it's super awesome and I wish I knew who made it so I could give them the credit they deserve. Now who's going to step up and make a live-action intro of Family Guy? Anyone know a football-headed baby?



Via Fosfor Video.

OMG! New Blog! OMG! Mash Up Mansion!

Oh my god I started a new blog! Holy crap it's true! What more could I possibly have to say, you ask? Well lots...as far as mash ups go anyway. Yes that's right, my new blog Mash Up Mansion will be all about mash ups. Music mash ups, movie mash ups, video game mash ups, basically any two previously unrelated things that have been mashed together will qualify. I've already got lots on there for you to check out (what, you thought I would send you to an empty page?) and I think you'll really enjoy it. So visit it, read it, bookmark it, comment on it, tell your friends about it and check back often. Got any hot mash up tips? Send em this way!

C'mon, show me some love!

Love's A Bitch and Stuff

Ah L'Amour is a really poignant stick man animation about relationships by Don Hertzfeldt of Bitter Films. Guys, listen up, you just might learn something.

Thanks Dalia!

Extreme Browsing

The good blogger over at Splasho had finally done what each and every one of us has wanted to do but never has: he has installed the 100 most popular Firefox extentions for extreme browser functionality. Behold, The Superbrowser:



Via The J-Walk Blog.