Artist Dylan Kehde Roelofs responds to the „soulless glow of low-energy bulbs“ with a series of self-made light bulbs and lamps.
These artworks are fully fledged lamps which indeed do give off light. Dylan doesn’t specify the life span of such a bulb, but he claims that his testing lamps are already glowing for 2500 hours. The price of these art lamps ranges from about 130 Euros to 870 Euros. Once burnt out, the filament can be replaced – for a fee.
I like these incandescent lamps. The style is beautifully steampunk’ish They would also fit very well in a Firefly set. ^_^
Yamaha released a mp3 player which automatically chooses songs which match your current activity. It is called BodiBeat or more plainly BF-1.
Using a accelerometer the player tries to determine the current running rhythm. It then automatically chooses the music best matching this rhythm.
In another mode, it monitors the heartbeat of the listener using an ear clip (stylish… yuk). If the pulse becomes slower than the optimal training pulse, BodiBeat plays faster music. If the heartbeat accelerates too much, it plays slower music.
Alternatively Yamaha’s BodiBeat can also be used as a plain simple mp3 player. ^_^
I’m not really a jogging person, so this toy is not for me. However, I’m very curious how well this will work. Yamaha claims that the player can even switch mid-song to something with a more approptiate speed – I can hardly imagine how this can be done smoothly.
Victoria Reynolds chooses rather uncommon subjects for her paintings: Raw shreds of meat.
Pictured left is Flight of the Reindeer (2003, 81,25×111,12cm ). Most of Victoria’s painting in that size cost about 3000 Euros.
Somehow, the paintings have a fascinating morbid flair. I only wonder what the buyers are going to do with them. I can hardly imagine that someone decorates his or her living room with art like that – although I would be positively surprised if someone did. :)
For translations, I usually refer to the excellent online dictionary of LEO (German-English). Unfortunately, this is suboptimal when you are currently without internet connection. So I searched for a offline dictionary – and found it: LingoPad.
LingoPad is free (though not Open Source). It can display phonetic transcriptions for many words. Besides the obvious way of using it (entering words into the GUI) it can also translate words taken from other application using shortcuts or Alt+right mouse click.
There are just two downsides: To copy words from another application, these words need to be marked. It would be easier to just move the cursor into the word without having to mark it. It’s also a pitty that you have to manually choose which direction you want the words translated upon entering directly in the interface. LEO just takes any word and automatically figures out which language it is.
On the bright side, the supply of different dictionaries is impressive. Besides German↔English there is this excessive list of available languages:
German↔ English
German ↔ English Specialist Dictionary for Wale and Delfine
German ↔ English Specialist Dictionary for metalworking
I am currently working on a project together with Erik for which we produced some slow motion videos (~1400fps at 720p, yay). That was around Easter, so back then we also produced a little Easter video for fun. :)
Zen Station is a game focused on relaxation. The player who is chilled the most wins.
It is an installation on which two players can play a game. Goal of the game is to win by being as relaxed as possible. During the game, pulse and blood oxygen levels of the players are measured. The player who durably has the lowest pulse wins.
At the beginning of the game, a thin line is created on the center of the playing field. This "destroyer" slowly moves towards the player with the faster pulse. Additionally, each player frequently creates "virtual life forms" (which look more like landmines to me). If the destroyer touches such a life form, it is hurled back in the opposite direction.
The overall design of Zen Station is very cool. The effects are beautiful and also have nice sound effects.
In case you always wondered how a 35′000 dollar camera is shipped, here’s an interesting article by Mike Curtis. Mike has recently bought a Red One and documented the unpacking process a little. :)
What he is unwrapping there is the Red One number 417 with a bunch of accessoiries. Worth about 35k$. He believes that one could manage with less accessoiries and get away with just 25-30k$.
The central message of the article: This is a whole lot of stuff in a whole lot of packaging. Better schedule a lot of time for the process. :)
Anberlin are an american Band which exists since 2002. Their style is commonly referred to as alternative rock, emo or "christian rock" (weird term for a music style). I am very bad in categorizing music, so please leave a comment if you know more. :)
In 2003, Anberlin released their debut record, Blueprints for the Black Market. As usually I don’t have the verbal skills to adequately describe why this record is so cool, so I’ll stick with a simple description: It rocks! :) My favorite tracks are "Readyfuels", "Autobahn" and "Glass to the arson". The "Lovesong" cover is pretty cool as well.
Unfortunately, the acoustic version of Autobahn is not included on the CD - a shame! This version is what first introduced me to Anberlin. According to an internet source, this version was originally created as a promo for the website of the Rolling Stone Magazine and maybe was also found on the MTV website. Now, the acoustic Autobahn seems to be only available through illegal channels. If someone knows a legal source, please leave a comment!
Samples
Listening samples are available at Amazon and Last.fm
Besides announcing the Red Scarlet, Red also announced a 5k camera called Red Epic. Again, a fascinating announcement. As far as I know there is no digital camera, yet, that can record in 5k resolution.
To put things in perspective, here a comparison of different resolutions, taken from a Red leaflet:
The small rectangle in the lower right is the common TV resolution. 720p, the next level, is what Erik and I are currently using for a project. The dark gray rectangle is full HD resolution, the highest resolution of the new TV standard and also the resolution that most other current digital movie cameras are recording in. 2k, sharp above full HD, is what most current digital cinema projectors can handle. 2k-3k is what most ordinary analog films have in the local cinema.
To see a movie in 5k, you probably would have to visit a film festival and hope to see a especially good copy (film festivals are usually supplied with better copies than normal theatres).
In short: A 5k camera is pretty impressive. :)
Here a few specifications:
Full Frame S35mm new Mysterium X Sensor
1-100 FPS
Up to 100MB/s recording to Redflash
Full size dual link HD-SDI, 2 XLR audio inputs and HDMI
Wi-Fi control
Firewire 800 and USB2
compatible with most Red One accessories
fully upgradable sensor, body, boards and mount
As usual: Specifications are subject to change.
The price is rumoured to be around 40′000 dollars. That’s quite a lot, but compared to many other digital movie cameras with only a fraction of the resolution still very cheap.
After creating quite a buzz with the Red One, Red is doing it again: They announced a small camera. A small camera with a 3k resolution. It is going to have a 2/3" sensor, a built-in LCD display and a zoom lens. The release date of the Red Scarlet is expected to be in the beginning of 2009.
According to rumors the price tag will be around 3000 dollars. That would (once again) be a phenomenal price for that kind of resolution. It would be cheaper than most cameras that I used in recent years and those had at best a resolution of 1920×1080. :)
The only pity is the sensor size. Many hoped that the Red Scarlet would have a full 35mm sensor. With 2/3" you’d still need a 35mm adapter for the 35mm feeling.
Here some of the announced specs from the red website:
2/3" Mysterium X Sensor
1-120 FPS (180 FPS Burst)
up to 100 MB/s recording to dual compact flash
4.8" LCD
8x T2.8 Red Zoom Lens
HDMI and HD-SDI
compatible with many Red One accessories
Wi-Fi control
The website also contains a thick warning that all specifications, release dates and designs are subject to change… and that you should count on it. :)
