Blurred Eye

The last gasp of summer!

2011-09-29T23:27:00.009+01:00

With the weather making us feel like it's the height of summer, this weekend has so much going on it feels like a bank holiday... if you're looking for something to do over the next three days, look no further than Liverpool, and my round up of events below...

First up - and spanning the whole weekend - is the marvellous, fascinating, bizarre and always memorable AND Festival. Boasting a series of exhibitions, films, events and talks as well as a range of online and public realm activities there's plenty to choose from. Grabbing my attention are three exhibitions in FACT: Zee in Gallery 1 (by Kurt Hentschlager) is an installation of fog, light and sound which promises to be an immersive and disorientating sensory experience. In Gallery 2 is an installation from artist Ahmed Basiony, who was tragically killed during the Egyptian uprisings. His work was created over 30 days of running and tracks how his body responded physically and physiologically. In the same space is an exhibition by Chinese artist Zhang Qing. Posing questions on government surveillance and the spectre of Big Brother; the artist uses Communist-inspired propaganda, filmed using CCTV.

Exhibitions at FACT run through till the end of November but an event limited to this weekend only is happening just around the corner, at No. 2 St Peter's Square. Entitled 'The Immortal', AND hosts the world premiere of a piece by Revital Cohen where life support machines are linked together to create a moving, breathing synthetic organism - a commentary both on the potential of artificial life and the fragility of human life when supported only by the power of machines. The Immortal runs 11am-6pm until Sunday.

Now, if exhibitions and challenging narratives get a bit heavy - you're probably after a good party so you can shake what yo' mama gave ya... (yes, i said it) - so get down to Wolstenholme Creative Space on Friday night for AND's collaboration with local alt-heroes and queer punk party favourites Chew Disco. The night is centred round a screening of Bruce La Bruce's hardcore film LA Zombie. Expect gore, expect a damn good playlist and if you're lucky a secret early morning after-party!

Chew Disco won't get started till about 10, or more likely midnight. To get yourself warmed up, i recommend the acoustic delights and shoegaze DJ sets at My Twee Box, marking volume 5 with a move to the fantastic Static Gallery. Nomad Soul, Dirtblonde and ESA are on the line-up tonight. Over at Mello Mello at the same time is a night from EDILS Records, presenting female indie-pop group Puzzle, indie rock band Elk and 'post rock' band Rhodes, fresh off their first UK tour!

Saturday, get an antidote to excess and head down to newly opened The Brink on Parr Street. It's a café, bar, venue opened to support recovering drug and alcohol addicts and promises to never serve alcohol. The old head chef from the Everyman Bistro has been employed, so the food should be suitably delicious.

Now, not advocating further drinking, but Saturday night continues the hectic pace set by it's younger brother (...Friday, keep up...) Over at The Kazimier is a celebration party to mark the end of a week of Atalonia tours, an event which it seems more apt to call a phenomenon. It's being given impressive and rave reviews by those lucky enough to have experienced it so far. The tours are sold out, and i expect the night will be too but to see more details, visit the Facebook event page and maybe you'll be lucky to find some spare tickets out there!

Turned away from The Kazimier? The alternatives aren't too shabby - head over / back to the Static Gallery for an impressive show featuring local math-rock band Vasco da Gama, ably supported by Loved Ones, Voo and Dire Wolfe. For a perfect after-party, head up Hardman Street and drop into Liverpool institution The Magnet, which is reopening after several months hiatus. Legendary DJ Norman Jay (MBE no less!) is taking centre stage on the night.

If you make it through to Sunday in one piece, there is but one recommendation - a trip back to Wolstenholme Creative Space. A fascinating exhibition is running from Friday, through to Sunday afternoon. Entitled Unintention, it features a work by genius satarist Chris Morris (of Brass Eye, The Day Today and Four Lions fame) in which one of George W. Bush's Presidential Addresses is reworked. Another highlight in the varied exhibition is a collection of photos by Quintin Lake entitled 'Pripyat: 21 years after Chernobyl', examining the state of decay in the ghost city closest to the infamous former nuclear power plant; promising to be both haunting and fascinating.

Explore the exhibition, grab some food but then head back if stamina allows. From 7pm, the Unintention closing party begins - with a documentary screening then a series of musicians performing to a live visual installation from AV collective HIVE. With descriptions including 'mind melting' and 'electro doom jazz noise', the party looks set to be a fascinating and suitably crazy end to a whirlwind of events over the weekend.

Proof, if required, that life in Liverpool need never be dull!

Happy Easter!

2007-04-08T14:43:00.000+01:00

Despite the mistaken belief of Somerfield (a UK supermarket) that Easter was when Jesus was born (news article) "Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus, which his followers believe occurred on the third day after his death by crucifixion some time in the period AD 27 to 33".

For most people though, Easter means time off work, seeing friends and family, and chocolate - lots of chocolate! So, before i go to see my family, here are two of my favourite chocolate articles from this week:

Edible Chocolate Billboard!
A Thornton's chocolate shop in London constructed a billboard on the street outside their premises, using 390kg of chocolate. The public were invited to eat it if they wanted, and they did - after nearly 10 days construction, the billboard was eaten in less than 5 hours. Brilliant!

Viral Confections
Something not quite so appealing are chocolate models of the Hepatitis C virus. Part of an art exhibition, the little chocolates were cast from an authentic model of the virus. The hope is that visitors, and tasters will be able to reflect on what is an extremely prevelant and often forgotten disease.

Read more about Hep C on Wikipedia and at The Hepatits C trust - a UK based charity that provides information, support and representation for people affected by the disease.

Deep Blue

2007-04-04T23:01:00.000+01:00

NASA's image of the day gallery has again impressed me. Below is a satellite image of Eta Carinae, a Hypergiant star, the second brightest in the night sky. The clouds surrounding the star form an evolving nebula. Eta Carinae itself may explode as a supernova soon (in the next million years). It could in fact become a hypernova explosion, which can result in a black hole and causes Gamma-ray bursts - the most luminous events known in the universe.

Click for the bigger picture...

Milk meets Coffee

2007-04-04T22:27:00.000+01:00

Ever watched milk meeting coffee, or tea and been transfixed by the cloud of milk dispersing through the dark liquid in the mug....? Just me then! well, anyway, much better than that is a series of photos posted by 'busted' on You Say Too, a community website. They show the first moments when milk is dropped into coffee, in amazing detail. The shutter speed must have been incredibly fast. Click the link above, or the photos for more.

Shocking!

2007-04-04T21:56:00.000+01:00

Travel adapters? A bit boring aren't they, hardly a thrill-a-minute... so, when you next visit Russia how about you take the adapter pictured below instead. Plug it into the mains and stick your fingers in for an instant boost of energy!

I'm pretty sure it was an April Fool's joke.. but in Russia, i really wouldn't be surprised if you can actually buy it! Featured on the always excellent blog English Russia.

Terkezi Oasis

2007-04-03T23:19:00.000+01:00

One of the best sources for amazing photos is the NASA image of the day gallery. A few have caught my eye recently. The one below is a section of the Sahara Desert in Chad, showing a rocky expanse near an Oasis. I love how it looks really abstract - with no prior information it would be hard to tell what it is...

View the full image here, or by clicking above.

Rail Rage?

2007-04-03T23:04:00.000+01:00

A city in the Czech Republic began an amitious plan to move railways out of the city centre, presumably to free it up for road traffic. They did quite well... but then ran out of money. They seem to have removed stations, embankments, cuttings... but left the rails. This has resulted in the insane situation where steam trains travel in the middle of the road alongside cars - no divider, no fences, no protection.

via Say no to crack - full set of photos on the original Russian site, Ziza.

Giant Agave Flower

2007-04-03T22:38:00.000+01:00

My friends Andrew and Catherine are currently in Madagascar, on a 2 year charity work assignment helping to improve water supply and sanitation in remote villages. They're keeping a photojournal of their travels and their work there. I love photos of exotic places and weird and wonderful plants and animals, so i had to share some of the photos. The one below is the most impressive...

Looking like a tree in it's own right, It is in fact a 36 foot high Agave flower, photographed by Andrew in Antsirabe. For plenty more, check out their Flora and Fauna gallery.

Lazy Eye

2007-04-03T22:33:00.000+01:00

I have been very lazy - neglecting my poor blog for over 2 months. It's not for lack of material to post, but other priorities overtook my internet time.

However, i'm determined to make another go of it. I really got into posting and looking back, i'm really pleased with what i posted...

Anyway, enough massaging my ego - on with the posting!

Water flows uphill

2007-01-20T15:23:00.000Z

The 'Physikshow' is a regular exhibition held by students at the University of Bonn to demostrate the fun side of physics to members of the public. Videos from the most recent event have been put on YouTube and have been a big hit. My favourite is of a boat floating in the air:

The tank it floats over is filled with Sulphur Hexafluoride gas which is significantly denser than air and will therefore support light objects. You can see the effect when the students try to fill the boat with the gas and it sinks down. Brilliant!

The best of the rest include a cigarette burning through metal, a nuclear reaction shown with ping pong balls and water flowing uphill!

Scratch and Sniff Stamps

2007-01-20T14:43:00.000Z

China has issued stamps to celebrate their New Year on 18th of February that when scratched smell of sweet and sour pork! When the back is licked, the stamps also taste of the dish... in case you hadn't guessed, this year is the Year of the Pig.

It sounds like a made up story but the technlogy to make scratch and sniff stamps has been around for decades. The Royal Mail issued Eucalyptus scented stamps in 2001. Last year, Australian Valentine's Day stamps were issued smelling of roses. Several other scented stamps have been issued, including Magnolia, Green tea and Chocolate. The evolution of Postage Stamps is given in this comprehensive Fortune City site.

Storms sweep across the UK

2007-01-19T18:32:00.000Z

Yesterday's storms in the UK caused traffic chaos, killed 10 people and left hundred of thousands without power. It was a crazy day!

I was working, and we knew it was windy but the realisation suddenly dawned on us that they were storm conditions. People were talking about 90mph winds and a ship sunk in the Channel overnight. Then in the afternoon emails started flying - one of the CCTV cameras has been blown down into the street, the car park barriers have been broken by the wind... then traffic. The Runcorn bridge closed, the Knowsley expressway closed, then the Thelwall viaduct on the M6, then gradually the region's motorways began to shut down. Closures on the M56, the M60, M62, restrictions on the M53. Lorries jacknived, trees fell, flights and trains were cancelled. Everyone was wondering how and if they could get home, and hoping their houses were undamaged.

Today, the morning light revealed broken walls and fences, roofs that had come crashing down. One friend took 3 and a half hours to get to the airport, normally a journey of an hour. People reported being stationary in queues for an hour or more. The BBC News and Travel pages were invaluable to keep us up to date and today they've published the best photos received from visitors to the site.

Coastal photos:

Transport photos:

Nature photos:

and Building photos:

Antarctica - land of fire and ice

2007-01-11T22:57:00.000Z

You're in Antarctica. The ambient temperature is in the region of -50°C, but you're dodging balls of lava falling out of the sky... What the hell's going on?

They're coming from Mount Erebus, a volcano and one of the weirdest geological features of the frozen continent. Right in the midst of the snow and ice a massive pool of magma (molten rock) bubbles away, hurling lava out onto its slopes. The heat melts ice caves, some of which sustain life and in other areas, gas escapes to the surface and forms giant fumaroles which can reach 60 feet high. Intrepid photographer George Steinmetz had the oppourtunity to visit and capture the savage beauty of this landscape. The Smithsonian's website has a report, photos and a video of the volcano erupting.

It's all about the fish

2007-01-11T22:27:00.000Z

Tropical, Coldwater, Marine, Freshwater... whichever your preference, aquariums are popular things. I have one myself - a 2 foot tropical freshwater tank. They're fascinating, addictive and also immensely frustrating, but i'm definitely hooked! For some people the hobby becomes an obsession. Nothing is too big (or small) a challenge, hence the brilliant palmtop aquarium:

When the smallest fish in the world was discovered, the challenge went out to find a suitable aquarium to house it. The result is this tiny tank, made from a bird feeder less than 100ml in volume, with sand, mini rocks and java moss. Beautiful!

The website (Age of Aquariums) also features an aquarium made from a cracker box, and one from a lightbulb.

Winter Festivals (and you thought it was all over)

2007-01-08T23:18:00.000Z

January Blues? Christmas and New Year over too quickly? Well, the party's carried on around the world these past few weeks...

In India, the Ardh Kumbh Mela is well underway. Shortly after new year, the festival began in earnest. It's along similar lines to the huge Maha Kumbh Mela which takes place every 10 years and was reckoned to be the biggest gathering on earth, with up to 30 million people gathering back in 2001. The Ardh Kumbh will attract up to 40 million on the busiest day. The festival lasts a month and a half, at the confluence of three holy rivers in Northern India. Hindus believe that bathing in this sacred place can wash away their sins. The timing is based on astrological calendars and an ancient mythology, which is explained on the closest thing to an official website.

Prefer something a bit colder? The Harbin Ice Festival has begun in Northeast China. Running for a month and covering 400,000 sq. metres, the festival features huge ice sculptures replicating cathedrals, pyramids, palaces and the Great Wall - all built by stacking blocks of ice. Smaller sculptures are formed with chainsaws and chisels. The festival looks at its most impressive at night, when lights frozen into the ice illuminate the site. Flickr photos are here.

In Colombia, the Carnival of Blacks and Whites is held at the beginning of January every year. The carnival has several stages but the main days are the Day of Blacks and the Day of Whites. The Day of Blacks commemorates the free day slaves were given in colonial times. The Day of Whites is seemingly a counterpoint to that, with the white population joining in the fun. People paint each other in black, then the day after paint each other white and throw white powder at each other with parades, music and dancing in between!

Alternatively, you could have celebrated Christmas a second time with the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Coptic Orthodox Christian Christmas Day, which fell on the 7th of January this year (on account of the differences between the Julian and Gregorian calendars).

Coming soon... another chance at New Year's Eve - you've got to love competing calendars!

New Year around the world

2007-01-02T23:43:00.000Z

A bit late maybe, but i've been browsing photos of fireworks around the world from New Year's Eve. Flickr photos below from Sydney, Seattle, New York, Rio de Janeiro and London:

Sydney, taken by Saruken

Seattle, taken by tollen

Times Square, New York, taken by Dirt Life

Rio de Janeiro (from Copacabana Beach), taken by Mari B.

London (the London Eye), taken by Stevie H

See more photos of NYE celebrations in Flickr Groups or Pictures from the BBC

For a better view, BBC News has a video compilation of the celebrations, and of course, there are hundreds on YouTube including these:

Amazing fireworks on a skyscraper in Taipei

Great view of the fireworks at the London Eye

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Christmas Pillow Fight

2006-12-29T13:59:00.000Z

Flashmobbing? I thought it had quietly slipped back into obscurity. But, in 2006, it seems the popculture phenomenon has continued in cities around the world - in the form of mass pillow fights. On December the 23rd, Manchester was the latest to join in. Hundreds of students from across the city gathered outside the Town Hall to fight each other to a feathery death. Videos have sprung up on YouTube and posts appeared on various local blogs (Mancubist and IckleWeb). I don't know how much the Police knew about it, but only one arrest was made. Check out the mayhem below:

There's loads more videos on YouTube: Pillow fighting in Vancouver, New York, Montreal, London, San Francisco and Buenos Aires.

Merry Christmas Everyone

2006-12-23T15:42:00.000Z

I intended to make some proper posts before Christmas, but i've been too busy getting ready to go away that it hasn't happened! However, i would like to say Merry Christmas to anyone and everyone that reads this - thanks for visiting!

Below is a stunning image of the Christmas Tree Cluster (a star-forming region in the constellation of Monoceros). Hope you all have a great time, and i'll be back soon.

Size is everything... (in digital photos)

2006-12-20T16:49:00.000Z

Size seems to be becoming everything in digital imagery. The best of my cameras is a humble 4 megapixels - completely dwarfed by the recently published 2.5 Gigapixel image, supposedly the world's first. The view from a Dutch sykscraper is a combination of 600 images which produced a 7.5Gb file. Experience it!

It's not just a Dutch thing though. Another combined image, 350 photos this time is 3.8 Gigapixels and shows an amazing view of downtown Boston. Try zooming in to appreciate the quality... and hope it doesn't crash your browser! Click for the bigger picture.

Via Slashgear and Neatorama

The Original Diet coke/Mentos Experiment

2006-12-20T16:42:00.000Z

How could i have missed it? The original experiment by the Eepybird guys is equally as genius as the follow-up! Don't be fooled by imitations, Eepybird versions are the best of this type of video:

Star Wars Lego!

2006-12-20T16:00:00.000Z

My eyes have been opened recently to the glory of Star Wars Lego. Perfectly combines two cool geeky obsessions into one. There are some amazing sets out there. I saw the first browsing on ebay - a 1000 piece Millennium Falcon, with a removable lid revealing the bridge and its crew of lego Chewbacca, C-3PO, Han Solo and Princess Leia figures. It also has an escape pod and a swing-out gunner seat. Awesome stuff:

There's a lot of it on ebay, but the makers themselves have a big range too. The Lego website sells The Imperial Star Destroyer, Death Star, Scout Walkers, Tie Fighters, A- B- X- and Y-wings from the classic films as well as a host of sets from Episodes I-III. It's mostly stupidly expensive... but would make an ideal christmas present! My favourite is the Y-Wing below, a steal at £110:

Prague from every angle

2006-12-13T23:54:00.000Z

Prague 360 is an excellent site packed with images of Prague, from every conceivable vantage point in the city. When i say images, they are in fact QTVR images (panoramic photos you move around and zoom in and out, depending on what you want to see). You can sort the images by category: Landmarks, Life, Cafés and Bars, Clubs, Restaurants, Shops and even WiFi spots. Essential for anybody planning to go there, or just anyone who wants to see this beautiful city up close.

The site runs using Google maps, so be sure to drag the map around to see different parts of the city, and choose the overlay of your choice (map, satellite or both).

Japanese dereliction

2006-12-13T23:16:00.000Z

It's one of my more unusual interests, but i have a fascination with derelict and abandoned buildings - places where rust spreads as rapidly as the invading plants; where nature reclaims what man has deserted. They have a strange beauty.

The best examples are industrial landscapes - the warehouses, factories, docks, railways of the early 20th century. There are some great photo sets on the internet, from the US, UK and a collection i found recently of Japanese Factories, Warehouses and abandoned Theme Parks:

The page is all in Japanese, so i'm not sure where or what a lot of the places are, but the photos are so atmospheric. Make sure to click forward to the next page in each set (the right-most button at the bottom of the page).

I have a similar set of photos on my Flickr pages - a few months back i went exploring some of the derelict warehouses in Liverpool. The area i live in (Merseyside) has so many great places to photograph, but most are being redeveloped. I think it's important to try and capture the buildings before they change, whilst the traces of their past are still obvious.

What the World Eats

2006-12-08T21:55:00.000Z

Peter Menzel is a Californian photojournalist who has published numerous articles on various subjects in his 30 year career, including Science, the Environment and Travel. One of his series which combines all these subjects is a comparison of food consumption in different countries across the world. It's a fascinating insight into how diets vary in different continents, from the fast-food and branded goods of US households to the fresh produce of Asian countries. The starkest contrast however is with refugees in Sudan, shown in the picture below. What little food is displayed has to last the family a week...

The images have been published in several European and American magazines and cuttings can be viewed on Peter's website. The book "Hungry Planet: What the World Eats" has also been published with these photos.

Google Maps invade Germany

2006-12-08T21:42:00.000Z

Something weird is happening on the streets of Berlin. Red bubbles are appearing at points of interest and local services in the city, each with a single mysterious letter in the middle... what can it mean?

As much as i'd like it to be the internet breaking out of its binary prison and running amock on the streets, it is in fact the work of Aram Bartholl who was inspired by the little google map markers and decided to make one for real in the Berlin suburbs. Entitled Project Map, you can see pictures (and a video) of the construction process and the bubble in situ on his site. I love the blurring of boundaries between online and real life - a great idea made better because the completed article looks weirdly superimposed as if it is generated by a website:

There are a load of other great projects he's done along the theme of blurring boundaries, including a reinactment of the racing game Need for Speed by putting up red neon arrows on a city street and confusing pedestrians by installing pixellated boxes from the PC game Counter-strike on pavements:

His website (datenform.de) is in German. You can translate it using Babelfish, but the pictures speak for themselves.

Heli-Africa - perfect aerial photos

2006-12-05T23:26:00.000Z

The Heli-Africa project was an expedition undertaken by two Germans who dreamed of flying from Hamburg to Cape Town at low level, capturing the beauty of both continents and sharing their photographs with the rest of world. Having completed their journey, there is a wealth of stunning imagery in their photo galleries. Whether it be the perfect geomery of a German car park, the Fractal patterns left by water in Ethiopia or Elephants in the Okavango Delta - the amazing capacity of aerial photography to show us sights we will never experience ourselves is perfectly demonstrated in their work:

Stunning Paris Panorama

2006-12-05T22:59:00.000Z

From the lens of photographer Arnaud Frich comes a stunning series of photographs of Paris. The most impressive of his sets are night-time panorama, taking in 180 or a full 360º of city centre skyline. When i loaded the first image i came across (represented below), it seemed a pretty normal scene but as i panned right a church came into view. By the huge rose window i realised it was a close-up of Notre Dame. Carry on and the Eiffel Tower appears, with its shining beacon, then the spire of the Sainte Chappelle, the roofs of the Louvre and on a distant hill the gleaming white Sacré Coeur:

Others in the series take in similar views, including La Defense, Arc du Triomphe and Eiffel Tower, North Paris from the left bank and Avenue des Champs Elysées. If there was ever doubt as to the beauty of Paris, these photos will dispell it - essential viewing.

Deck the halls... with copper and silicon?

2006-12-03T22:41:00.000Z

Christmas is coming, the goose (or Quorn™) is getting fat... but, nothing says Happy Christmas like old IDE, USB and power cables all weaved together and lit up! That's exactly what one enterprising person has produced. He's called it the Geek Wreath and posted pics on his Flickr pages:

It was picked up by Make and BoingBoing. Personally, i'm not convinced, but it looks pretty cool and is a great use of redundant equipment. I actually have a bag full of all sorts of cables and connectors, and no money to afford decent decorations this year so, he could be on to something...

Waltz of the polypeptides

2006-11-29T22:04:00.000Z

Seen on BoingBoing, the Waltz of the Polypeptides is a sculpture that truly merges art and science. 80 foot long and up to 10 feet high, it depicts the synthesis of a the BLyS protein in ribosomes. The shapes are as realistic as possible - the artist (Mara G. Haseltine) used electron microscopy and NMR to create the design. The sculpture is set in a landscape intended to represent the cell that surrounds the ribosomes:

The work was commissioned by the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in the US and sits in the grounds of their headquarters.

The form and visual appeal of biological structures always interested me more than the way they work (which may explain my degree result...) and Mara Haseltine's art perfectly expresses this interest. She has worked on several large-scale projects with a similar theme to waltz of the peptides, including SARS Inhibited which is a bronze sculpture depicting the SARS protein inhibitor and a beautiful rendering of the Follicle stimulator hormone (used in fertility treatment).

Computers as Art

2006-11-29T21:35:00.000Z

An article was listed on Digg as 'bored sysadmin makes arch from old monitors'. It peaked my interest, so i clicked on to the link to have a look. It's a pretty impressive feat, but reading the digg comments revealed that the story was misleading. The arch wasn't made by some bored IT crowd-types but was the work of Sandy Smith who founded computersforart.org, a project setup in Glasgow to promote the re-use of redundant technology, such as old PCs and monitors, by artists. It seems the project didn't take off as well as it should, but Sandy now has his own site to exhibit his work, including the brilliant installations he created with PC equipment. The wall below is called Mauritian Sunset:

It's made, of course, of old PCs and monitors connected to them displaying different coloured backgrounds combined in the wall give the idea of a sunset. The back of the wall with the workings can also be seen on the artist's website.

Domino Rally Pool

2006-11-28T00:42:00.000Z

I think i'm getting a bit addicted, but here for your viewing amazement is Domino Rally Pool - the rally is started by a cue ball and as the dominos fall, pool balls are perfectly pocketed - on 4 different tables:

Cushions that look like rocks!

2006-11-28T00:24:00.000Z

The always excellent BoingBoing reported on a series of cushions made by French company Livingstones (living - stones, geddit?...) designed to look like large pebbles and boulders, they're available in textured grey, black and patterned fabrics. The effect is so realistic! They look ace piled up in a large group, indoors or outdoors:

The perfect experience of cognitive dissonance! (cognitive what?)

Invisible home electronics

2006-11-28T00:15:00.000Z

Gizmodo posted this article last week on the latest trend in Japanese home electronics - transparent cases. Showcased at a convention in Tokyo were a transparent washing machine, Air Con unit and a fridge:

I love the idea of it, but you'd have to be constantly cleaning and tidying it... on the plus side it would answer the question does the light go off when the door's closed!

Monster Machines

2006-11-27T23:47:00.000Z

Now, i've been sitting on this for a while (not literally! god it would hurt...) since i saw it via Neatorama on The Thrilling Wonder Story - a pretty cool blog written by the Abrams family with lots of posts about fantastical machines. The one i saw is by far the most impressive, and scary:

It's the biggest moving machine in the world - the giant bucket wheel excavator 'Bagger 288'. A mining machine, 300m long and weighing 45,000 tons - this monster chews up the ground then moves from one mine to another when its job is done. The photos are from the last move in 2001 when it crawled 22km. This required removing powerlines, planting special grass to smooth the way and took 3 weeks! The blog has a load more photos, including the scary series showing a bulldozer that got chewed up in the massive cutting wheel:

The Bagger was made by Krupps, who specialise in mammoth machines for mining and other operations. Their site has more examples, including this transporter moving a semi-mobile crushing plant, looking very sci-fi:

More domino rallies!

2006-11-23T23:51:00.000Z

I think i'm developing a thing for domino rallies. Since my Diet coke and mentos and £10,000 domino rally posts, i've found two more videos on YouTube.

The first was funded by GSK (big companies seem to like these rallies as a viral marketing tool). This one's based in a house and uses CDs, Books, DVDs, soap, reams of paper, anything that happens to be around:

The second is for the Fatboy Slim song Champion Sound. The song's nothing special, but the rally is great! Again, it's in a house, with CDs, DVDs, but also has LPs, board games, biscuits, pizza boxes and videos. The ending's great as well...

Flying alarm clock

2006-11-23T22:23:00.000Z

Following a link, i ended up browsing Shiny Shiny, a very pink blog with all sorts of gadget news and reviews aimed at women. This flying alarm clock, winner of a technology design award, grabbed me:

When it goes off, the rotor on the top is launched up in the air. To turn the alarm off and stop the extremely annoying mosquito noise it emits, you have to find the rotor disc and put in back on the alarm. It will make you swear and curse, but you'll be awake... and judging by my lateness record at work, i think i should invest in one!

Paintball Cannon

2006-11-20T23:33:00.000Z

My friend Chris posted on SlashGear about a scary 6 barrel paintball cannon, and with my post on Tankball a few weeks back, i had to mention it here. The man responsible is a special effects builder and he's done a pretty impressive job, but i for one am going nowhere near it!

His website has a quicktime vid of the gun being tested.

Geo-greeting

2006-11-20T23:19:00.000Z

Found via Neatorama, Geo-greeting is the idea of Jesse Vig, who has used Google maps aerial photography to find buildings that look like letters and numbers and worked a bit of magic to create a page where you type in any text you like and it displays it, in building form. Try it out.

Nordic Trendshop

2006-11-20T22:31:00.000Z

The annual Nordic Exceptional Trendshop (NEXT) will be held at the beginning of December this year, in Copenhagen. It's a combined event with exhibitions of the latest developments in technology to come out of nordic countries, with a conference on the ideas and technologies of the future. Some of the exhibits look damn good! Highlights include Nano clothing (shirts that don't stain, socks that don't smell), the hug shirt (activated by bluetooth to give the sensation of being hugged), bacterial photography (differential growth of light sensitive bacteria) as well as a host of 3D gaming equipment and devices using renewable energy sources.

Two exhibits caused a particular stir on blogs recently - Transparent concrete and the concrete VDU from Litracon and Innovation Lab:

Both are essentially simple ideas but have huge potential - anywhere there is concrete, there could be a display, whether it be displaying advertising on walls or images on flooring and ceilings. Check out the video, and the potential applications on the Litracon site.

Along with all the slick exhibits are more simpler concepts. One that paticularly grabbed me is the Cutting Scale.

It has an integral area on the cutting board that can be used for weighing food, combining two appliances in one. Simple, but a genius idea.

£10,000 Domino Rally

2006-11-15T01:02:00.000Z

Hot on the heels of the Diet Coke and Mentos video comes another fantastic domino rally, all done with £1 coins. I got it off neatorama:

There's a bit of dispute as to whether the stacks of coins the rally goes up and down count in the 10,000 total... but who cares when it looks as good as this. Thank god for boredom!

Tropical Islands

2006-11-15T00:28:00.000Z

Browsing on Wikipedia, i ended up looking at an article on the largest buildings on earth, whether it be by volume, area or mass. One that caught my eye was the Aerium - a massive hangar built to house an airship that was never made. Looking so alien in the landscape, it reminds me of the old pictures of moon colonies and artist's impressions of where we would live in the future...

It's in eastern Germany and lay empty for years. Recently, a Malaysian company bought the site and have turned the hangar into an artificial tropical resort with a rain forest, beach, artificial sun and palm trees - open 24 hours a day, every day of the year! Sounds brilliant. The official website is all in German, but there's some cool photos, including this one of a basejump from the roof:

Orion Nebula

2006-11-11T15:52:00.000Z

Orion is my favourite constellation, because it's outline is so striking in the sky, and easily recognised anywhere. Its Nebula is the closest to Earth and has given us some of the most spectacular images of space. The image below has just been released by NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab.

It shows the nebula in a riot of infrared, ultraviolet and visible light colours - described by the JPL as "painted by hundreds of baby stars on a canvas of gas and dust, with intense ultraviolet light and strong stellar winds as brushes"... elaborate analogies aside, it's a really striking image.

Flickr-ing

2006-11-09T22:42:00.000Z

I've been browsing Flickr sets a bit recently, so thought i'd do a composite of the user sets i liked the most...

First up is spidrwegian. He's taken some amazing, atmospheric photos from around Scotland and the rest of the UK. The ones that really caught my eye are in his Camera Toss set. Camera tossing is the risky art of tossing your camera in the air so it takes a photo mid-flight. (remembering to catch it again!) The technique results in some beautiful abstract images - visit the Camera Toss Flickr Pool for over 2000 great examples.

On a similar project theme is the set Project 365 '06 from Taylor McKnight, who garned attention two years ago with his project to take one photo a day for 365 days. It was a big success, so he's repeating it this year with some great results. It's a fascinating way of documenting your life and a brilliant means of refining your photography skills. He has a link on his pages to an article with tips if you fancy trying it!

I have a thing for montage, and a bit of a soft spot for all the collectors of number photos on Flickr - brilliantly executed in the Clockr screensaver. One user to bring this all together is Claudecf with her mosaic of alphabets and numbers. She's a talented and very prolific photographer. Her other sets are well worth a look - ranging from the collections (including squircles, medallions, knobs and handles) to the thousands of photos from her holidays and trips across the world.

Finally, for a bit of a relaxing view are some evocative photos of Greece from moritz. It looks such a beautiful part of the world in these few images. Makes me want to quit my job and emmigrate!

Tapes n' Tapes

2006-11-07T21:33:00.000Z

I mislead you! I'm not in fact writing about the (very good) band Tapes n' Tapes which i'm a big fan of, but about cassettes. This picture caught my eye on Neatorama the other day:

It was in a post about tapedeck.org, the website that showcases cassette tapes and the quirky variations in design, from the 60s right up to the present day. With a growing collection of 138 images, you can search by manufacturer, playing time and quality to find the ones you used to (and may still) use. It's perfect geeky nostalgia, and makes it seem like such a long time since they were commonplace. It used to be all i had, back when CDs were brand new and still had the old compact disc logo on the cases... i'm getting all misty-eyed!

Skate Invaders

2006-11-06T02:08:00.000Z

I've long been a fan of space invaders, not just the game itself but the whole cult that's sprung up around it - illustrated clearly at space-invaders.com. They sell a range of merchandise with the invaders image on (including trainers i've been eyeing up for a while). Now they've teamed up with very cool skateboard makers Mekanism to produce three space invader boards:

The company is a small-scale enterprise based in Paris, run by people with a passion for skateboarding, and cool design. They collaborate with artists to produce limited edition boards. My favourite of this series has to be the Rubik's cube design - a winning combination of two truly geeky icons.

Click the title to see more of Mekanism Skateboard's designs. Also, you can see photos of the Space Invader invasion on the Flickr stream.

Rapping Paper

2006-11-06T01:29:00.000Z

It's a bit cheesy, a bit obvious, but when it involves a play on words - i love a bit of obvious cheese... the rapping paper in question is actually (W)rapping paper. Simon Hill, who runs Si Hill Design has come up with the idea of printing Rap lyrics on wrapping paper:

The four types so far feature House of Pain, NWA, Vanilla Ice and the Sugarhill Gang. My favourite is Jump around- See close-ups on the website. The paper isn't currently in production, but fingers crossed might be soon. Lets hope he adds some other artists to the line-up as well... Nothing says Happy Christmas like Cypress Hill lyrics!

Crabs and Insects...

2006-11-04T17:41:00.000Z

A picture caught my eye browsing round, the bizarre Hawaiian Pom Pom Crab (above) which is one of the many new species that's been discovered by scientists at the French Frigate Shoals

I was going to make a big post about it, linking to brilliant galleries of the weird and wonderful new creatures... but, such pictures don't exist, the website is a bit crap... a missed opportunity by whoever runs the project.

Instead, i'll have to share something from dry land - the NSECT, featured over at uncrate.com. Looking like something out of Naked Lunch, it's a remote controlled insect with colour changing eyes and motorised mandibles to grab whatever's around. But, the main feature is the integral missile launcher (a common feature of insects) - which can fire foam missiles 20 feet! I love the idea of it:

Perfect for scaring insect-phobic people... in fact it should be creepy enough to make most people take notice! Read more at iwantoneofthose.com

Diet Coke and Mentos...brilliant

2006-11-01T22:32:00.000Z

I had no idea what happened when you added mentos to diet coke. i didn't really know what mentos were. Regardless, adding one to the other gets an impressive reaction!

The video comes courtesy of the guys at EepyBird.com who used 251 bottles of Diet Coke and over 1,500 Mentos mints to create an exploding domino rally. It's a spectacular chain reaction of fountains, sprays and sprinklers - truly genius creation by people who freely acknowledge having too much time on their hands!

Mars Express

2006-10-27T00:31:00.000+01:00

Like Pizza Express - but with less garlic bread - Mars Express is a planetary orbiter launched a few years ago by The European Space Agency (ESA) to map the Martian surface and analyse its atmosphere. Fantastic new high-res images have now been released by ESA, including ones of the infamous face in the Cydonia region, now proven to be caused by a trick of the light.

Browse images on a rotating martian globe at the ESA site. Or, you can view similar (false colour) images at Google Mars.

Tankball!

2006-10-27T00:28:00.000+01:00

Paintball? running around in forests playing soldier? Nah... it's all about the heavy artillery now, in the form of Tankball. Pay £75 and you get 2 hours in a tank, driving round trying to beat another tank by firing paint-filled shells at it. Find out more, and book a session at Funday.com

And, on an ever-so-cleverly related note, BBC News have an article on how to drive a tank; inspired by the hijacking of a tank by protestors in Budapest recently, a journalist went to find out how easy it is to drive one with no training. Ideal for prospective tankballers...

Chlorophyll Art

2006-10-27T00:21:00.000+01:00

One of my top bookmarks is Found magazine, which exhibits and describes found items - letters, cards, ticket stubs, doodles, anything that gives a snapshot of someone else's life. Recently, i came across Vietnamese artist Binh Danh, who has invented a technique of printing found photographs on leaves.

He takes the photo, digitally renders it into a negative and then presses a leaf against the negative and exposes it to light. The leaf will produce chlorophyll and photosynthesise in the light areas of the negative more than the dark areas and gradually, the photo will be transfered to the leaf. Once 'developed', the leaf is removed, preserved in resin and hey presto - you have a chlorophyll print.

Fascinating stuff! See some examples at his Haines Gallery profile.

Ice Fountains!

2006-10-19T01:11:00.000+01:00

I have a bit of a thing for Saturn. It's the show-off of the Solar System with it's beautiful rings and fascinating moons. Browsing on Neatorama, i came across a new picture of the Rings taken by the Cassini orbiter from the dark side of the planet. It shows the rings really vividly, especially the outermost E-ring which is created by the Ice Fountains of the moon Enceladus...

Ice Fountains?! Apparently Enceladus (named after one of the giants who sprang from the union of the blood of Uranus and the Earth) has warm polar regions where ice and ice-water are heated and ejected into space in massive eruptions. The water then freezes back to ice and forms a ring held in orbit around Saturn.

Sony splashes out

2006-10-18T00:30:00.000+01:00

Three things i love: colours, paint and pyrotechnics... along came Sony and put them all together in a new ad for Bravia TVs. Excellent!

Take a Scottish council estate, 70,000 litres of paint, a lot of explosives and then set it all off in a symphony of exploding colour. The ad can be viewed and downloaded on the Bravia website.

It follows on from the award-winning Bouncing Balls/José Gonazlez advert which captivated me from the first time i saw it. The Bravia Balls website has plenty of pics and the extended version of the ad. Well worth a look!

Jet - Shine on

2006-10-13T16:15:00.001+01:00

Jet. oooh-ooh-ooh-oohh... Actually, not the Paul McCartney song, but the Australian Band last seen with their debut Get Born three years ago. Where have they been? I'm guessing Australia, but wherever, they've been making great music! The new album is ace! I got it in ASDA on a whim, but it was definitely worth it.

Get Born was a great album, they were amazing when i saw them at V 2005 and the new material doesn't disappoint. It's got slower tracks, fast and furious tracks, a really great rounded sound. The central tracks Come on Come on, Stand up and Rip it Up are brilliant Indie-Rock tunes. Makes me think of The Strokes and Oasis at their best, with a hint of the Rolling Stones.

Highly recommended! Listen to tracks on their MySpace page.

Lego ice cubes!

2006-10-13T01:56:00.000+01:00

Says it all, and what could be better?! Love Lego? Love drinks? Love Lego ice cubes!

They look so cool... and only 4 quid!

Geowanking

2006-10-13T01:37:00.000+01:00

Getting my daily BoingBoing digest, through NetVibes, i saw an article on Geowanking... now, i love new words i haven't seen before so this one caught my attention. The question i have to ask is - what does wanking mean to Americans? because i'm hoping it doesn't mean the same as it does in the UK... or maybe it does and that's the point...

There's no wikipedia entry to make explaining geowanking short and sweet, but basically it's to do with mapping, and the way online maps are revolutionising cartography - making it more interactive and democratic. Geowankers are "high-tech map enthusiasts": Article on AlterNet.

It's something that really interests me, i've always been fascinated by maps - road maps, world maps, old maps. When i first discovered google maps i was enthralled - the aerial photos are amazing. 6 years ago i spent a fortune on a book that comes up to my knees with aerial photos of England, now it's all there and more for everyone, for free. Geo-tagging is something i'd love to get into properly as well. My Flickr account would be so much more interesting with proper tagging...

The Eye Opens

2006-09-20T07:18:00.000+01:00

Welcome to the first post! I'm not sure why i'm writing this, but i felt i should do an opener.

My name's Andy Minnis, i live in Liverpool in the UK and have for years thought about, planned and in several failed formats tried to maintain a site/blog with bits and pieces that have caught my eye browsing around. To end this cycle of attempts, I found a name i like, got a positive feeling about it and came here to make a fresh start.

So, this blog is my new outlet to share my travels online and anything else i feel like writing about. Thanks for visiting, reading and i hope you come back!