Brian Short's New Thing

"Right away, Jonze told me, he could see that the heads were absurdly heavy. Only one of the actors..."

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:03:30 -0400

“Right away, Jonze told me, he could see that the heads were absurdly heavy. Only one of the actors appeared able to walk in a straight line. A few of them called out from within their costumes that they felt like they were going to tip over. Jonze and Landay had no choice but to tell the Henson people to tear apart the 50-pound heads and remove the remote-controlled mechanical eyeballs. This meant that all the facial expressions would have to be generated in post-production, using computers.”

- Bringing “Where the Wild Things Are” to the Screen

A1

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:35:42 -0400

First Day

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:00:54 -0400

First Day

Another Sunset

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 19:51:32 -0400

Another Sunset

"The early 90s called and they want their device back.” The comments on Engadget.com were especially..."

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:43:52 -0400

““The early 90s called and they want their device back.” The comments on Engadget.com were especially pointed. “It looks like a Timex Sinclair glued to the bottom of an oversized 1st gen Palm device,” Marcus wrote. “That’s some ugly shit,” Johan agreed. “Was this damned thing designed by a band of drunken elves?” Jerome asked. CB summed it up: “It is truly butt ugly. wow. ugly.””

- Can the Kindle really improve on the book?

"Their relationship — the rooster and Ms. Sandrow’s, that is — followed the usual fowl-meets-human..."

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 10:00:01 -0400

“Their relationship — the rooster and Ms. Sandrow’s, that is — followed the usual fowl-meets-human trajectory. Ms. Sandrow gave him a name, Shinnecock, for the woods he was found in, and then set about learning how to make him comfortable. The rooster set about charming his new family: flying down each morning from the tree he roosted in (“Who knew chickens could fly?” Ms. Sandrow said) to dance a jig and gently peck their cheeks.”

- An Artist Feathers Her Nest

Photo

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 08:54:51 -0400

"The trick,” he yelled in a heavy Greek accent, “is to use certain forces, like temperature and..."

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:18:13 -0400

““The trick,” he yelled in a heavy Greek accent, “is to use certain forces, like temperature and pressure, to preserve the product as a solid mass, so it doesn’t deteriorate.””

- Where Do Gyros Come From?

"The trick,” he yelled in a heavy Greek accent, “is to use certain forces, like temperature and..."

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:18:13 -0400

Sleepy

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 18:45:21 -0400

Sleepy

"Before approaching me, Penn apparently made himself a nuisance to the California Department of..."

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:46:52 -0400

“Before approaching me, Penn apparently made himself a nuisance to the California Department of Justice. Early on I was in touch with a nice investigator there named Fred Shirasago, who knew Penn’s father and could sometimes get him to make his son stop harassing me for a while. But I guess when you know something terribly important that the entire world thinks is hooey, it gets harder and harder to let it go.”

- Confessions of a Non-Serial Killer

"This part happens all the time: A construction crew putting up an office building in the heart of..."

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 12:40:39 -0400

“

This part happens all the time: A construction crew putting up an office building in the heart of Tysons Corner a few years ago hit a fiber optic cable no one knew was there.

This part doesn’t: Within moments, three black sport-utility vehicles drove up, a half-dozen men in suits jumped out and one said, “You just hit our line.”

”

- Metro Dig at Tysons Stirs Underground Intrigue

"The program lasted eight weeks and participants were followed for an additional three months...."

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 11:36:50 -0400

“The program lasted eight weeks and participants were followed for an additional three months. Williams said they found those who received the mindfulness training “had significantly less daily hassles, psychological distress and significantly fewer medical symptoms” — like lower blood pressure and fewer aches and pains — than those who were handed a pamphlet.”

- Mindfulness Training Busts Stress

"Instead of making the starting chemicals form a sugar and a base, they mixed them in a different..."

Thu, 14 May 2009 10:02:44 -0400

“Instead of making the starting chemicals form a sugar and a base, they mixed them in a different order, in which the chemicals naturally formed a compound that is half-sugar and half-base. When another half-sugar and half-base are added, the RNA nucleotide called ribocytidine phosphate emerges.”

- RNA Can Be The Starting Point For Life

"Today, mainstream print and electronic media want to be neutral, presenting both or all sides as if..."

Thu, 07 May 2009 15:36:37 -0400

“Today, mainstream print and electronic media want to be neutral, presenting both or all sides as if they were refereeing a game in which only the players—the government and its opponents—can participate. They have increasingly become common carriers, transmitters of other people’s ideas and thoughts, irrespective of import, relevance, and at times even accuracy.”

- Newspaper Narcissism

"I have read many of the notes and letters sent to my office, and I have weighed my decision..."

Thu, 07 May 2009 15:22:22 -0400

““I have read many of the notes and letters sent to my office, and I have weighed my decision carefully,” he said in the release. “I did not come to this decision lightly or in haste.””

- Main Governor Signs Same-Sex Marriage Bill

"Most cable breaks go unnoticed by users. Maybe a YouTube clip will take someone a nanosecond longer..."

Thu, 07 May 2009 14:45:46 -0400

“Most cable breaks go unnoticed by users. Maybe a YouTube clip will take someone a nanosecond longer to download, but that’s about all anyone might notice when a single cable snaps. There are so many different lines connecting so many different places—a map of the network looks like the inside of a baby grand: strand after strand of cable stretching across the ocean floor like so many piano wires that service providers can usually reroute around any break. But if several cables snap in chorus, as they did several times in the past two years, big problems result.”

- Who Protects the Internet?

"By the time Epyx got around to publishing the commercial version of Rogue, gamers had several free..."

Wed, 06 May 2009 12:31:26 -0400

“By the time Epyx got around to publishing the commercial version of Rogue, gamers had several free versions to choose from. The 1986 ports for the Atari ST and Commodore Amiga were even considered embarrassing by some, as critics could point out that more advanced roguelikes such as Hack and Larn were freely available, whereas the commercial Rogue was a typical full-priced game.”

- The History of Rogue

"In other words, humans have been striving to make their lives better for a very long time. And it is..."

Tue, 05 May 2009 11:38:45 -0400

“In other words, humans have been striving to make their lives better for a very long time. And it is very unsettling to realize that we may be entering an era where questions like “what is the meaning of life?” will be practical engineering questions.”

- Singularity 101 with Vernor Vinge

"These devices from Amazon and other manufacturers offer an almost irresistible proposition to..."

Mon, 04 May 2009 14:41:34 -0400

“These devices from Amazon and other manufacturers offer an almost irresistible proposition to newspaper and magazine industries. They would allow publishers to save millions on the cost of printing and distributing their publications, at precisely a time when their businesses are under historic levels of pressure.”

- Big Screen E-Readers to the Rescue