without regret for all the things that we have done

Can you endure 23,000 spoonfuls of terror? Or, y'know, at least spare ten minutes for a short film about an inexplicably slow murder?

I will say, past the first four minutes or so--the first three of which are really, really funny--the concept seems to drag on. And on. And on. And maybe that's the point, really.

I've been pondering how to bring up dio, but part of what trapped me in place was trying to figure out what it was, exactly. Nothing I read really answered the questions I had. But, now I don't have to! That last post contains all you really need to know!

Interested in making books by hand? There's a lot of resources, from simple online tutorials to paid classes, but this actually covers all the basics in a short series of photographs. Impressive.

In the world of gaming, there's a lot of parody videos. There are even entire parody games. So when I first saw the trailer for Blocksworld, I thought it was exactly that--something filmed just for the fun of it.

Apparently I was wrong. Blocksworld exists. It's not a parody, it's a really good game designed (mostly for kids) for the iPad. Who knew?

Ever find yourself curious about D&D? Or if you play D&D, and you don't know how to explain what you're doing to people that don't? There's an online tutorial just for you. (Personally, I find their description of sorcerers scarily apt. For several years, the battle cry of my human mage was "Sorry about that!")

The Prim Perfect blog brings us a story about the not-so-secret "secret" of Second Life--that many participants are older than they say they are. I'll go one better and say that the other "secret" population was just grazed over in this article--the deaf.

Well, I'd say handicapped in general, but for folks in SL who cannot hear RL, it's especially relevant. Though this particular population was severely unhappy when voice launched--because, before voice, everyone typed. Not every deaf person speaks, and for some of those that do, they don't speak in ways we're accustomed to. Sometimes, this is because of the inability to hear their own voice; sometimes simply because they don't think to speak before they think to sign. But there's more than a few deaf people in SL, just as there's more than a few who have retired from their First Lives.

Speaking of the disabled, we're in the land of medical breakthroughs--again. Brendan Marroco, a U.S. soldier who'd been on the ground in Iraq, lost all four limbs to a roadside bomb. The loss of his legs, he managed to accept fairly equably. He already has prosthetic limbs, and he says they work.

But what he really missed were his arms. In January, he got them back. It was a thirteen-hour surgery, and he will have months, if not years, of rehabilition in order to regain the function he can with them. But already he can push his own wheelchair, brush hair out of his eyes, and pick up light objects. It's nothing short of amazing.

The next chronicle of Riddick has released stills! It's coming. And it looks very dark and gritty, but really, did we expect anything else?

Finally, back in 2011, on on SLUniverse, Miss Wunderlich started posting images--and explaining the whys behind--her recreation of the Crystal Palace in Second Life. It's still up--you can visit it--because she's made it her store.

I realize I'm late to the party on this (and really, that should be my cue that I need to visit her store more often!), but this strikes me as especially significant not because it's the first recreation of this structure (hers would, in fact, be the third, though the thinking goes that one of the three is no longer up0. Rather, this is significant because for historical purposes, there's very little more accepted as a structure that represents the Victorian era. The thread she largely worked from is also one of the most amazingly detailed, a room by room examinations of the structure I've ever read.

Go see it if you can, and walk through recreated history.

I was a mess before you came

[23:33] cxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx:
╔══╗
╚╗╔╝
╔╝(¯`v´¯)
╚══`.¸.ＪＥＳＵＳ
[23:33] Emilly Orr: Good for you?

Y'know, barring Caledon--where religious discussion comes and goes, depending on age of resident and amount of alcohol consumed--I'm fairly careful with my groups. By and large, no one bashes my head in with their intense religious devotion to whomever, and I don't have to hurt them. It works both ways.

And I am letting this one go, beyond saying she's fifty-seven days old, three of her picks are for the same damn club (down to the coordinates; she just bookmarked the same place three times), and three out of her four groups have to do with music (and two are related to that one club), so...I'll grant that she's impaired in some fashion, and move on with my life.

Miss Quandry's put up an excellent post on Madpeas' Room 326 hunt, which is counting down its last days. I have a couple of shots I'm planning on posting of the hunt, itself, but I'm waiting until the hunt is over, just in case there are issues with revealing locations. I will say, this was one of the more difficult of the Madpea hunts--not Twisted difficult, mind you, but fairly challenging. That, paired with the jump from L$10 HUDs to L$50 HUDs, has made several people somewhat irate.

My view is, though, we're still getting fifteen really good prizes, plus the chance to wander through a story and see how it evolves as we go. For only fifty Linden. That's less than half the price of a Bare Rose outfit, or one-eighth the price of a FallnAngels kimono, so seriously, pony up the funds and move on; it's a trifle.

Beyond that, if people really object that much to paying forty Linden more for a scavenger hunt...well, seriously, they need to reevaluate their values, or something. You'd pay more for a pack of gum. Honestly.

I'm done, I'm done, I'm done, you won this time

Do you know the history of the .mp3? NPR wasn't sure we did, so went to Karlheinz Brandenberg to get the real story. It's fascinating, uneasy-making stuph.

And you will never see me on this hunt. Talk about missing the point...in all directions!

Looking for a terrifying avatar? I can help you with that.

The FTC has finally stepped in and forced Linden Lab to change their "Become your avatar!" campaign, on the charge of false advertising. You can see the revised before and after pictures on Miss Questi's blog.

(Yes, yes, it's a parody...but seriously, that would be cool if they did it that way.)

And this is one of the most impressive images I've seen from a Second Life photographer. My eyes keep telling me it's real; that the combination between the exquisitely textured sign, and the veiling of approaching night, manage to remove the computerized component entirely. Would it still feel "real", to me, at any other time of day? Likely not, but as it is, it's stunning.

Meanwhile...in a texture group far, far away...

[20:57] Bxxxxxxxx Sxxxxx: sprinkles the otter with pink glitter...
[20:58] Dxxxxx Kxxxx: dear santa thane, id like a martini the otter hasn't stirred with her paws... that is all
[20:58] Sxx Wxxxxxxxx: NO!
[20:59] Sxx Wxxxxxxxx dabbles her paws in ALL THE MARTINIS
[21:00] Bxxxxxxxx Sxxxxx: --==crate=--
[21:01] Sxx Wxxxxxxxx: AAAAGH NOT THE CRATE!!
[21:00] Dxxxxx Kxxxx: hehehehe
[21:01] Emilly Orr: So first we had an otter covered in pink glitter. Then we had otter retaliation by stirring all the martinis. Does that mean we now have martinis with pink glitter in them?
[21:01] Emilly Orr: Is it edible glitter, at least?
[21:01] Bxxxxxxxx Sxxxxx: it is! like kid proofing the house, we have otter proofed this group
[21:02] Sxx Wxxxxxxxx: havent!
[21:02] Sxx Wxxxxxxxx: well - maybe for a while - gotta go to beta grid
[21:02] Sxx Wxxxxxxxx: but Ill be back!
[21:02] Emilly Orr: You forgot the MUAHAHAHAHA.
[21:03] Sxx Wxxxxxxxx prances off giggling darkly to herself
[21:03] Emilly Orr: Close enough.

Seen at Patron, spinny people:

(from the random album)

Sculpted by Miss Eliza Wierwight (she also owns the Patron sim), the entire installation slowly rotates under a giant red balloon, and it's far more impressive in person. Do go look.

And there's a certifiably angry bird at La Boucherie:

(from the random album)

See? Angry. Really angry.

Seen at The Cube, the sculpture "Womanflower":

(from the random album)

This one was worth going back through to check again, because I wanted to name the artist. (She's Yaiza Galicia, by the way. She's also got a Marketplace store where you can purchase her sculptures at insanely reasonable prices.) The Cube gallery is a linked set of installation spaces, with artists that rotate in and out taking each of the cubes, or only some. If you go, they're happy to send you an invite to their group to keep up to date on the artists in residence.

If you're wondering how J.J. Abrams will do directing the Star Wars reboot, other fans are wondering the same thing. Ross Thompson did a trailer mash-up of both films, just to find out what it might be like.

Do you like zombies? Do you like teddy bears? Ever wonder what you'd get if you mixed the two? I can now answer that, also.

And there's a lot of Kickstarter project videos that start with the fairly artificial "surprise" angle--"Oh hey, I didn't see you there!" Kickstarter's finally made a video montage of projects that have used this angle.

Finally, there's a movement afoot against lives of indulgence and overspending. People are finding smaller spaces, and learning how to live in them; sometimes by building them, sometimes by buying or renting them. Felice Cohen is one of these people, who started out living in a tiny, tiny space, but--due to publicity and sub-leasing restrictions--now lives in a much larger one.

The bit about that which I think is important: she misses her old space. She misses feeling like everything she loved was nearby. I think making the sacrifice to live in smaller spaces means we find out what's truly important to us, and we work on making that feel like home (or reflect the home we have). Instead of what we think we 'should' have, or 'should' be working towards, we work on what we need.

More of us need less than we think we do, to be happy.

there's a message that I'm sending out, like a telegraph to your soul

So if you read part one and part two of the grand Candy Mountain/Yulicie controversy, you thought that was over and done with, right? Well...no. Which is why this is the third part.

I realized something about all this was bugging me, and it wasn't just not having the dress to compare the Vellent Retro frock to. So, after pondering for four days, I dropped Ms. Legend a notecard.

She wrote back. Apparently she made over thirty-five variations of this, some of which only went out for limited-edition release. However, there were a couple interesting things that came out in her answer:

[19:54] Mynx Legend: (Saved Tue 22 Jan 2013 08:02:01) I made the dress templates all by hand, I never ever use photo sources or purchased templates. I can happily send you a non-special edition candy dress for you to inspect. (These were made in September with my Tea dresses)
[19:54] Mynx Legend: (Saved Tue 22 Jan 2013 08:04:08) PS: Here is the screenshot of my first WIP of my cupcake dress: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mismatch/8010759491/ If that helps you out at all
[19:54] Mynx Legend: (Saved Tue 22 Jan 2013 08:06:02) The dress is a mesh source from Meli Imako, but I haven't used the shading map provided - I don't enjoy doing that. Also, sorry for all the IMs. My brain is a bit scattered today.

It's good to have that confirmed, at least, because as the photos will show, there's virtually no difference in the actual mesh structure of both dresses:

(from the Comparisons album

That's what both dresses look like when laid over each other--if they'd used different base mesh forms, this would have shown that. As it was, they perfectly aligned, with only bits of the texture flashing on and off. This is what's going to make evaluating mesh (and mesh texturing) difficult: six different designers can buy this particular cocktail dress and turn out hundreds of different dresses. The dress form itself does not change. The mesh of the dress does not change. Just the texturing--which Ms. Legend calls "template", by which I think she means her created texture and shadow-map--for the mesh.

Okay. We know they both used the same dress form now. That's fact, that's undeniable, and it's bound to happen when full-perm mesh constructs are sold. What about the dress textures themselves?

That's where things get tricky.

A tip from a friend informed me I could actually rez the dresses out, instead of just trying them on, so for this entire picture run, that's what I did.

(from the Comparisons album

Candy Mountain's dress is on the left (note the star on the back), and Yulicie's "Vellent" is on the right. And it does look as if they've drawn shading in different places.

(from the Comparisons album

Here are both dresses from the front--the "Vellent", again, on the left, Candy Mountain's dress (note the Peter Pan collar) on the right.

(from the Comparisons album

Something was really starting to bug me, though, about the pattern itself. I couldn't put my finger on it, quite yet, so I rezzed out another version of the Candy Mountain dress. Now, Candy Mountain frocks are left and right, leaving Yulicie's "Vellent" in the center.

(from the Comparisons album

Here's the tricky bit. This is an extreme close-up of Yulicie's "Vellent" dress, showing a little jag in one of the drops of the painted texture itself.

(from the Comparisons album

And here, while it's difficult to see, is that same jag on the front of the Candy Mountain dress.

Okay, so what does that mean? Well, if I had to hazard a guess, Ms. Legend bought the template sometime in 2012, textured it with her own textures (not the six-pack that comes with the package from Ms. Imako), and released it. Then went a little crazy with brightly-colored tea dresses until she had those many, many variations.

Ms. Neaph, on the other hand, looks like she might have wandered across the Imako mesh dress recently, and picked it up. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, by the way--mesh forms that Ms. Imako releases are released with full permissions.

But. See that last picture? There's a complication, I think.

Namely, it looks like the drippy 'frosting' texture (or whatever it's supposed to be) on the Yulicie version has been flipped, front to back.

I'm going to go a little farther out on this limb, and say that it looks--at least to me--that the Yulicie dress uses the same texture as the Candy Mountain dress, which was released first, as far as I know.

I want to note: I don't know Ms. Neaph, I'm not saying she's infringing anything with her outfit. It's perfectly possible someone handed her the dress, and the texture, and she just did some quick recoloring for variation, some additional shading across the bust, et voila, her "Vellent Retro" released for the event.

But however she got it, I am saying that it's the same texture as on the Candy Mountain dress. How that happened, I'm not even hazarding a guess, but this comparison run is done, at least for me: the "Vellent Retro" dress does use the same texture as Candy Mountain's "Puddi" dress.

my ship is sinking, so watch me drown

Why does this maker not have this lip? Who makes this lip?!?

And there's a new heavy metal band on the scene--literally. Massing over a ton of solid working gears and metal, they're the heaviest thing around and then some. Give them a listen.

(from the loss album; the last of Armada Breakaway)

In the meantime, some sad news. I'm copying directly from the notecard received.

******************************
Sidney Arctor's Updates Group
******************************

22nd January 2013 Update.

Bad News Everybody :(

The Armada Breakaway Sim is going offline this weekend. :(

All has been done to save it, but there is just too much empty land.

So this will mean Arctor Ship Yards and Fabulous Contraptions will both be closed.

The most popular items from both shops are already on marketplace and will still be available, and I plan to reopen a shop somewhere eventually, but this could well the last chance to get certain items, such as individual sofas (marketplace only has sets) and most of the furniture, full perm sculpts, and dock decorations. Also, it could be a while before my cannons are available again.

As my subscribeomatic server is set up in Armada, this could well be the last update message too.

My marketplace Page is here:

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/22780

This shan't be the end of old Siddy tho, nor the last you hear of Armada, new adventures be awaiting in Blake Bay where building is underway, there won't be any commercial ventures but those of you who appreciate creations by me and the rest of Armada builders, drop by in future as there's going to be various fun creations to check out.

Thanks for reading, and good luck to everyone in future!

Sidney. ◕‿◕

P.S.
There will be an end of Armada party on Saturday 26 from 7-9pm SLT and everyone is invited!

(from the loss album; the last of Armada Breakaway)

Personally, I thought Armada Breakaway was an amazing sim concept. In these harsh economic times, we must adapt or sink; and it's not news in the least to hear of another store closing, another sim disappearing. But this one is especially poignant, because it wasn't just another cookie-cutter mall plot. The entire sim was water-based, and every tenant and shopkeeper was parked on a boat, a ship, an airship, in a hot air balloon--the sense I always got was, whatever they could scavenge that could float or fly. And all of these myriad constructions were anchored one to another by rope bridges, wooden walkways, riveted planking, steel catwalks...There was a definite sense of craft, and by that, I mean, making what we have work for us, patching what we're missing, and never giving up.

(from the loss album; the last of Armada Breakaway)

This is pure economic necessity, yes, but I don't view this as giving up. I don't think Sidney does either. But it is a major setback, and another beautiful, irreplaceable thing gone from the grid.

Though it is a sadder, emptier place right now, I'd recommend people see it before it goes up in flames for good.

the night is my enemy, and you're the only reason why

Wait, there's more clip posts? Oh, darlings. There are always more clip posts.

First up, this is awesome. Though I'm slightly weirded out that it came up on a general Final Fantasy search (I wanted to know how much infringement of Square Enix' IP we were dealing with. I have no plans to email them, I was mostly just curious). Still pretty, though.

While we're on the topic of Final Fantasy, why do these exist?

And artist Russell Walks has designed an absolutely gorgeous Gallifreyan calendar. He's taking preorders now.

There's a steampunk section for craftster.org! Not all the tutorials are tutorials; some are just "my crafts, let me show you them". Still, there are some good tips here, and even the failures are interesting (like the belt pouch that didn't dye perfectly, because it's the first time she's tried to dye leather; but she wanted an aged look anyway, and I think the splotches actually give it character).

From Miss Malaprop comes news of a potential solution to the problem of oversized "smartphones" that won't make calls consistently--a Bluetooth-enabled mini-phone that takes over the actual call functions. So...let me get this straight--rather than make the candybar-styled touchscreen phones work as phones, they're just...including a miniature cell phone?

It does other things, of course--I like the fact that it can serve as a television remote and a photo shutter, thus enabling users to prop their smartphones up somewhere and snap a shot across the room--but to essentially just add on another device to the device one already has, in order to bring more functionality to the device one already has...I tend to agree with the reviewers: it shouldn't have come to this.

The Laughing Squid blog is pimping Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab's "Cthulhu in Love" perfume, sold only through Thinkgeek. It's an intoxicating blend of ritual incense, sea kelp, ancient spice, and chocolate, and it's a wonderful tie-in and introduction to what Black Phoenix does as a parfumerie.

Other mentions leading up to Valentine's Day: a pair of hand-painted Sriracha heels, and the giftable 8-bit rose, forever blooming for your personal Player 2.

Back in 2012, graduate architect Jack Munro developed a new method of making bricks--with cow blood. They're not as strong as traditional clay bricks, but much of the construction in his test area (Egypt) features mud bricks, anyway, and he postulates they're just as strong as the mud versions, plus use less water to make.

From the same site comes interesting news on bricks made from wool, bricks made from fly ash (a by-product of coal power plants), bricks made from paper-making waste, and bricks made from steel mill slag.

There's other interesting tech being developed, though--for instance, an entirely new means of data storage: encoding it into DNA. If this catches on at a possible, forget Johnny Mnemonic's measly ten Gb capacity: about three zettabytes' worth can be encoded in around a cup of cloned DNA strands.

There's someone who goes only by "Major Scaled", who's slowly uploading pop songs originally written in minor keys, that have been digitally re-scaled to feature major key blends. They're odd but definitely informative, to the difference between minor and major scales.

Finally, I give you a sloth flying. Well, mostly a sloth being lifted. But hey. Enjoy either way.

oh, he's slightly clever, to just a certain extent

Homeland Security is now telling people not to download Java updates. Java has no response as of the writing of this, though they really should--either a brief press release saying they're sorry, or a brief press release saying they're working on it and don't hate them. Either would be fine.

Back to Candy Mountain vs. Yulicie!

Since I only have the one photograph to use for comparison, I'm thinking my best bet is to just list the dress features and go from there.

(from the Comparisons album: the "Puddi" dress from Candy Mountain, again

I do love the texture of the fabric; it's making me wish I'd actually acquired this when it was released (even if it was in flan colors)! How'ver, the features of the dress as I see them:

• Peter Pan collar
• demi-cap sleeves
• cloth fold/cloth stretching shadowing across the chest
• a bas-relief printed 'nubbly' texture across bodice and upper section of skirt
• bell skirt, patterned in the same 'nubbly' texture for the upper section, and a straight deep custard yellow for the lower section

Even though it was released in November, it seems a light, fun summer dress, conservatively short in length, and could go admirably with many different skin tones and hair colors.

And now, some shots of the "Candy" dress from Yulicie for comparison:

(from the Comparisons album)

This is Yulicie's Vellent Retro mesh dress, in "Tutti-Frutti".

So, first up: this doesn't have a Peter Pan collar. It also seems to have actual cap sleeves, not demi-caps, but to be fair, I only have Candy Mountain's product shot to look at, not an actual wearable copy. And while the skirt is similar, it doesn't seem precisely exact, at least texture-to-texture-wise.

(from the Comparisons album)

Tossing in a couple close-ups here, this one specifically showing the draw lines across the chest. Candy Mountain's dress clearly has four wider draw lines; Yulicie, for comparison, has four draw lines, but narrower ones. And Yulicie's designer adds in a wrinkle along the right-hand side, as well. (I'd go back to Candy Mountain's dress for comparison, but it's obscured in the one shot I have by the "LIMITED EDITION" printing across the shot.)

(from the Comparisons album)

The second close-up features the scoop neck of the Vellent Retro dress. And, while we're here, let me say that having this scoop neckline on this color makes it look very similar to the traditional "boat-neck nautical-inspired tops and dresses seen around and about--without verging into Flashdance territory. Plus, let's bring up the one thing I still like about well-made mesh outfits--that they look like actual clothing hanging on a body, not design work painted on a body.

(from the Comparisons album)

The side of the dress, to show the flow of the skirt, basically. I don't have any views on the side of the Candy Mountain dress, so this is basically just me showing you the side of the dress, because, dress side. Essentially.

(from the Comparisons album)

And the back of the dress, same reasoning.

(from the Comparisons album)

Finally, a shot of the other dress color in the pack, "Strawberry Avalanche". This also shows the basic flaw of this--well, any--mesh outfit, but let me stress, it's not the fault of this dress that our avatars clip through the fabric. It's actually the fault of the clipping our avatars do in general, because there's no anti-clipping code in the SL client. (And likely never will be.)

My end conclusion: I'm wondering if this was just a case of similar templates, again. I went looking on the Marketplace to see if I could find the base template used, and nothing came up with this specific shape, so the jury's still out on the possibility. (To be fair, I didn't ruthlessly pursue a search using all potential search terms, either).

I think there's definite similarity, but whether that similarity is because Yulicie scarpered off with Candy Mountain's LE dress is decidedly unclear. The textures used are different, the sleeve styles at least appear to be slightly different, but to me, it does look like both designers went to the same template maker for this outfit.

If anyone knows who that is, do let me know, and I'll do my best to post pics of the base template used.

Last notes: I was wearing size M for both versions of the Vellent Retro dress. I did alter my base shape for two slider points: breast size, and torso muscles, both found under the Torso slider settings. I only needed to drop by two points on each setting, though, so it didn't put me out by that much. And after I adjusted those two slider settings, the dress fit perfectly.

(Worn [besides the dress] for this entry: Rue's "Cabal" skin, 'Naif' variant, in Powder [no idea if it's available now, though I know you can find reasonable facsimile skins in her shop]; the Leafy lipgloss tattoo in "Ice" over that; Discord Designs' "Starstruck Eyes" in Sophie [might still be available at the store at a DEEP discount if you look around]; GG's duotone pink/pink OTK socks [Naoki Ninetails designed them, but GG doesn't seem to exist anymore. She says her items are now under the Locke Couture imprint on SL Marketplace, but nothing seems to be there]; ploom's "Dawn" hair, a ring-curled mesh pony style in one of the "Candy" color-pack variants [in this case, blonde base with ombre pink/blue tinting]; and Dare Designs' "Looking for Strange" mesh boots in bubblegum pink [an in-store special a few months back]. And I took all the shots in the Sky Retreat skybox, designed by Desperation Isle Productions but provided by (and floating in a sim owned by) Little Dreams Estates. It's pretty here. I like it.)

the shock hit eleven, got lost in your eyes

I don't know. You deal with it. For some reason that weirds me out.

So at the behest of a friend, I found myself at Candy Mountain, a store I'd never heard of. Damn, that store is bright:

(from the shopping album; the Candy Mountain main store)

Also, all that bright and color come with occasional hazards. Avoid the ceiling tentacles:

(from the shopping album; the Candy Mountain main store)

There's also a couple group gifts, scattered about, if you're in the group (it's a one-time fee of L$75, but currently, she's got a pretty amazing skin sale, and I'm a sucker for eyes, so yeah, joined the group), but keep in mind, they're close to another tentacle!

(from the shopping album; the Candy Mountain main store)

Wing crumple! Oh no!

I was there, ostensibly, to try to track down this dress (or a reasonable variant thereof):

(from the Comparisons album; Candy Mountain's "Puddi" dress for the Black Friday event in November of last year)

As it turns out--after thoroughly exploring the store--there's nothing that matches this dress in the least. I may contact the maker, but yeah, not holding out any hope for acquiring a copy of my own.

[Insert from the Editrix: I was wrong here. There actually are copies in-store of this outfit, which I completely glossed over because they didn't match the one picture I had in my head. Oops. More in this entry.]

The other version's over at Perfect Wardrobe, an occasional event in the Escapes sim. This time out, it has "Candy" as the theme...so here comes Yulicie's offering for the event:

(from the Comparisons album; Yulicie's "Candy" dress for Perfect Wardrobe)

Currently on offer--two-packs of the (mesh) dresses, one in a more sugary-candy palette, and the other greatly resembling the "Puddi" dress, in token flan shades.

(from the shopping album; Yulicie's main store)

Also, what is UP with the constant trend for pouty fish-lipped women in SL?!?

(from the shopping album; Yulicie's main store)

I just don't get it.

I think I'll make the actual dress comparisons their own entry, so watch this space!

you are the silence in between what I thought and what I said

And another of the clip post variety--I'm building up far too many links and just leaving the tabs open until I get around to mentioning them here. This really needs to stop.

First up is a treat for horror fans--if you're a fan of the genre as a whole, you'll understand the deep frustration involved in feeling like there's been no really good horror films released in a while, just tepid, insipid remakes or sequels, neither doing the originals justice. This may help with that--it's a list of twenty-five under-appreciated films, with various takes on horror as a theme. Some are amusing, some are gory, some are bizarre, a few are outright bleak and nihilistic--but I guarantee you'll find something you'll treasure on that list, if you give them a chance.

My personal recommendations:

• Darkness: Evocative, subtle, unnerving, and it works on more than one level--the over-arching occult trope playing well into the concept of the haunted house, the haunted family, and everyday standard familial disintegration.
• The Woods: Gorgeously filmed period piece about coming of age, with all its myriad horrors--with, of course, grace notes of insanity, haunting, paranoia and the darkness at the heart of old forests.
• $la$herS: Don't let the bargain-basement, reality-TV show concept put you off. While everything about this is low-budget, and there's not one actor you'll recognize, start to finish, the entire film is so damned earnest--and well-done--you really won't care. Add the further unsettling realization that at this point, we're really not far from the future posited in this 2001 film.
• Pontypool: Slow-paced to the point of causing shivers on its own, when this little gem picks up, it picks UP--right into a wall of razorblades and hooks. While that description may seem to imply massive gore, there's really not much; the main strength of this is in its bizarre, surreal linking theme: language, after all, is the virus passed over the airwaves.

While we're on the horror kick, Silent Hill as a concept has now spawned multiple games, mini-games within those games, two feature films, and a host of soundtracks in full release (as well as numerous limited editions). For some reason, one of the most haunting monsters from Silent Hill never had her own action figure...until now.

Personally, I think her head looks too much like a puppy whose features have been rather thoroughly erased, but she's excellently done. Even with the strange puppy symbolism, she remains evocative, disturbing, and compelling.

And still creepy.

(For anyone who's wondering still, this is why the nurses are creepy. This might also help, as well as one of the best fan tributes from the Anime Boston convention in 2007. Note that all of those reference horror games, along with the original action figure mention, but hey, we were talking about horror beforehand anyway.)

Jumping from horror to media in general, have a ten-year retrospective of Firefly. You're welcome.

Oh, so she really is a fake geek girl. Yeah, fine, I can deal with that. But nobody else gets a pass using that term.

Recently, Mr. Allen and I went through an inordinately long Let's Play series for something called "Deadly Premonition" (it starts here if anyone's interested, but I'll warn you now: it goes on for forty-sevenparts, most clocking in at either half an hour or a full hour in length), by a new LPer (to us, anyway) who goes by "supergreatfriend". Mostly, it's a long, rambling, Japanese video game that is oddly paying tribute to Twin Peaks (Twin Peaks having found even greater popularity in Japan than in the US). If you're unclear on the concept of the Let's Play video trope, think of it as watching a friend play video games. You're not actually playing, but you can get enjoyment out of watching someone else play. (Sometimes even if they play badly, and yes, while that video makes me giggle, it also comes with a HEAVY language warning.)

After all that, though, I found I'd actually developed some mild interest in the game, as bizarre as it was, so I went looking for more information. The first thing I tracked down was also the most hysterical, so I am now sharing that review with you, because it's just too funny not to spread around.

Some particularly beautiful lines from that review:

• "The game starts off simple enough: you step into the shoes of FBI Special Agent Francis York, an astute and intelligent man who chooses to only investigate homicides involving red plant seeds. Oh yeah, and he can also tell the future by looking into a cup of coffee. And he talks to invisible, possibly imaginary characters nobody else can see. And he eats raw potatoes, sleeps on a mattress in the middle of a cemetery, and stores giant fish inside his suit. Let me take this opportunity to point out I am not making any of this up."
• "Like any responsible FBI Agent concerned with tree-related justice, Agent York approaches the small town around midnight, driving his muscle car through pouring rain while simultaneously talking on his cellphone, listening to music, looking at a laptop, and smoking a cigarette."
• "A definite lowlight of 'Deadly Premonition', the combat missions require you to walk through countless identical hallways killing countless identical zombies while picking up valuable items such as 'country ham' and 'sugar donuts'. These enemies attack you by either walking backwards and sticking their hand in your mouth, or walking forwards and hugging you until you decide to die."
• "During the murder investigation (and lack thereof), you'll find yourself in very odd situations punctuated by Agent York's equally odd demeanor. This is where the game absolutely shines; the surreal interaction between York and the townsfolk (as well as the interaction between York and himself) can only be described as a work of art. In a town where crimes can be solved by shooting bird nests with shotguns, trees drop severed hands that can be used as doorknobs, and countless giant dogs fall out of the sky at midnight, the choice to behave illogically is simply...logical." 

Ah, yes, Japan. You either understand American culture in totally realistic ways (making me scared of my country), or you miss understanding American culture in a way that's actually breathtakingly surreal (making me scared of Japan, but in awe of your cognitive skills). Never change.

In other news--I don't watch a lot of Jim Sterling's output, mainly because he makes my elitist snobbery look like Rebecca-of-Sunnybrook-Farm-level philanthropy. On occasion, this is a shame, because every once in a while, something rolls across my dash like this, which is a precise diatribe against the sort of gamers who complain about the OTHER sort of gamers, when these additions to "their" games do not change their gameplay in the least.

Towards the end, he also makes a very subtle and brief jibe towards people who fear gay marriage because it will somehow impact their "real" marriages...to which I have to say, first, brilliant, Mr. Sterling, and second, if people protesting this are really so easily swayed from their heterosexuality that they would be influenced by hearing about someone else's marriage...well, maybe they shouldn't be married, honestly. Maybe they should just stay at home wrapped in a blanket with a warm bottle of milk nearby.

Forever.

I'm thinking this is getting officially longish, so let me wrap up with a technological advance first heard on Gizmodo. This is both terrifying and awe-inspiring. Let me explain the precise advance.

A group of scientists a couple of years ago started trying to teach a computer basic comprehension skills by giving it full access to Google Image Search and YouTube. Essentially, what they wanted was a computer who could be told one basic concept--"apple", say--and would access images and videos until it came across a representative fruit. It might not be an apple, precisely--it might be a pear, or a coconut cracked in half on a beach, or seven frantic little sausages wondering how to fix their submarine--but there would be some relationship between "fruit" and "consumable food".

What they got wasn't exactly that, but it was even more amusing. Their computer, when fed any basic concept, would find something reasonably approximating, register the find...then go off and watch Youtube videos of cats.

Totally not kidding. That's what happened.

So, another group of scientists started thinking. If we can teach a computer to associate one thing with another approximate thing...what if we remove the middleman? This is what they did: they created a database comprised of literally millions of media slices--some just various colors all the way up to microfragments of an original moving image. Then they set up a group of experiments. This was their result.

So why is this so cool? Think about the possibilities. In the future, I could plug into one of these machines, and think at the receiver. The receiver would access its database and translate what I sent into understandable data. That data would then be re-translated to a display screen where an image that was somewhat close, but not exact, would display.

Oh, sure, it's not that realistic now, you say, but wait. Wait until someone gets the bright idea to film their nightmares, and then make horror films based on them. This will change the WORLD.

my god, look at what we are now

One step.

"Acceptance of one's life has nothing to do with resignation; it does not mean running away from the struggle. On the contrary, it means accepting it as it comes, with all the handicaps of heredity, of suffering, of psychological complexes and injustices."
--Paul Tournier

One step.

"It hurts to let go. Sometimes it seems the harder you try to hold on to something or someone the more it wants to get away. You feel like some kind of criminal for having felt, for having wanted. For having wanted to be wanted. It confuses you, because you think that your feelings were wrong and it makes you feel so small because it's so hard to keep it inside when you let it out and it doesn't come back. You're left so alone that you can't explain. Damn, there's nothing like that, is there? I've been there and you have too. You're nodding your head."
--Henry Rollins

One step.

"Leaving is not enough. You must stay gone. Train your heart like a dog. Change the locks even on the house he's never visited. You lucky, lucky girl. You have an apartment just your size. A bathtub full of tea. A heart the size of Arizona, but not nearly so arid. Don't wish away your cracked past, your crooked toes, your problems are papier mache puppets you made or bought because the vendor at the market was so compelling you just had to have them. You had to have him. And you did. And now you pull down the bridge between your houses, you make him call before he visits, you take a lover for granted, you take a lover who looks at you like maybe you are magic. Make the first bottle you consume in this place a relic. Place it on whatever altar you fashion with a knife and five cranberries. Don't lose too much weight. Stupid girls are always trying to disappear as revenge. And you are not stupid. You loved a man with more hands than a parade of beggars, and here you stand. Heart like a four-poster bed. Heart like a canvas. Heart leaking something so strong they can smell it in the street."
--Frida Kahlo

And another.

"We've all had that fear, that despair of losing someone, or this fierce desire because it's not reciprocated. The less reciprocation there is, the more desire we have."
--Emmanuelle Beart

One step.

"To be fully seen by somebody, then, and be loved anyhow - this is a human offering that can border on miraculous."
--Elizabeth Gilbert

And another.

"Without pain, there would be no suffering; without suffering we would never learn from our mistakes. To make it right, pain and suffering is the key to all windows. Without it, there is no way of life."
--Angelina Jolie

One step.

"And ever has it been known that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation."
--Khalil Gibran

And another.

"We're all seeking that special person who is right for us. But if you've been through enough relationships, you begin to suspect there’s no right person, just different flavors of wrong. Why is this? Because you yourself are wrong in some way, and you seek out partners who are wrong in some complementary way. But it takes a lot of living to grow fully into your own wrongness. And it isn't until you finally run up against your deepest demons, your unsolvable problems--the ones that make you truly who you are--that we're ready to find a lifelong mate. Only then do you finally know what you're looking for. You're looking for the wrong person. But not just any wrong person: the right wrong person--someone you lovingly gaze upon and think, 'This is the problem I want to have.'

"I will find that special person who is wrong for me in just the right way.

"Let our scars fall in love."
--Galway Kinnell

And always.

all the others just disgust me

While spending some time in inventory organization, I caught a few worrying lines from the Builders' Brewery group:

[03:09] Dxxxxx Exxxx: what can you do if trapped in a cage?
[03:09] Axxxxx Bxxxxx: is the griefer named Frank? he's doing it at Little Blue also
[03:09] Mx Lxxxxxxxx: read a book
[03:09] Axxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: Rezz a prim, sit on it, and edit yourself out maybe
[03:09] Emilly Orr: Port home or log out and log back in somewhere else.
[03:09] sxxxxxxx Jxxxxxxxx: frank (dartman07)
[03:09] Axxxxx Bxxxxx: yep..that's him

In this case, names were not changed to protect the guilty. You'll see why in a bit.

At any rate, it seemed fairly serious, and fairly blatant. And it seemed to be getting worse:

[03:11] txxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: try filing a report and take a pic
[03:11] Axxxxx Bxxxxx: I did it here in Little Blue...
[03:11] Emilly Orr: Do fill out a report and snap a pic.
[03:11] Axxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: Yeah I'd want to AR and have snapshots and stuff - cos the cage bit is especially annoying
[03:11] txxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: it takes time sometimes and frank is in the group i see

That statement killed my brain. And he wasn't just in the Builder's Brewery group; he was in the Speakeasy group, too.

[03:11] Emilly Orr: Also, for someone in this group and the speakeasy group to be caging people? I'd say he needs to apologize, or be kicked from the groups.
[03:12] Mxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: Now he's got me caged in a Porta-Potty!
[03:12] Lxxx Axxxx: naming someone in group chat can get you into trouble
[03:13] Axxxxx Bxxxxx: Franks reply when I told him he was being reported?..."Cool"...
[03:13] Emilly Orr: If he's running around griefing people I would damn well hope it gets him in trouble.
[03:13] txxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: trouble or not i like to know who to look out for and LL does go after griefers

Sometimes yes, sometimes no, but it's never a bad idea to send them a report so that they know, at least.

Still, the fact that this idiot was actually in the group bothered me for some reason. And then it got worse:

[03:14] frank (dartman07): is there a mod on?
[03:14] Emilly Orr: You're kidding, right?
[03:15] frank (dartman07): sorry we have a griefer here & im trying to do some work :(

The absolute gall of this weakened oyster of a man...First, he griefs everyone in a group-only sandbox; then he joins the chat pretending he's being griefed along with everyone else! I mean, really. What kind of a knuckle-dragging Visigoth do you have to be to find this amusing in any way?

[03:15] Sxxxxxxxxx Cxxxxx: Frank, stop the griefing and I'll release you
[03:15] Wxxxxxxxxxx Sxxxxxxx: there is a griefer at builders brewery his name is dartman07
[03:15] Wxxxxxxxxxx Sxxxxxxx): I have reported him to LL
[03:15] rxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: busted frank
[03:16] Emilly Orr: I would say Frank's behavior qualifies as violating the rules
[03:16] frank (dartman07): please get a mod here

The problem was, there were no mods on at three in the goddamn morning. And I found myself actually getting seriously irked that he was still playing the innocent here.

Still, as it's happened before, someone who owned a prim sets it out full-perm, some miscreant grabs it and passes it off as the owner's prim, and not their own scripted griefing object...I figured, I owed it to myself at least to go see what was going on with my own eyes.

So I packed up what I was doing and traipsed over. It didn't take me long from the main beam-in point to find the sandbox (for anyone who doesn't know, it's behind the new Creators' Village, in the north corner of the sim), and what I saw when I got there went a far cry past one simple caging:

(from the bizarre album; griefing attack in the Builders' Brewery group sandbox)

By the time I arrived, the cages were gone, and the last bout of giant pencils were just beginning to fade. The bigger problem was now the scripted bouncing objects, and--closer to the ground--the screaming flat prims. Both ones I'd dealt with before as an estate manager--the scripted bouncers being Mario (I've also seen Suiseiseki being used), and the screaming prims being headcrab zombies (which are especially annoying, as they tend to be auto-generated from transparent cubes that generally hover around 1000 meters up, and spawn anywhere between 800 meters up and ground level):

(from the bizarre album; griefing attack at the Builders' Brewery sim)

[03:17] Lxxx Axxxx: there are no mods in chat as far as I can see by the chat list
[03:17] Emilly Orr: Wau, you're not kidding. Massive griefing attack going on.
[03:17] sxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: Is anyone being griefed by someone named dartman07?
[03:18] frank (dartman07): well more fun for me then :D

Remember when I said I was deliberately leaving dartman07's name exposed? This is why. He was bragging about it at this point.

[03:18] Emilly Orr: All owned by frank (dartman07)....and you're complaining about people griefing that AREN'T you, Frank?
[03:18] sunshine Juneberry: just tp out if your being griefed

The problem being--though I may be the only one who does this--is that when I'm reporting a griefing attack, I tend to stay on site so I can accurately record the sim, my position on the sim, and snap a decent image of the attack to send to the Lab.

[03:18] mxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: Massive attack, and using very obscene items too! How can he be allowed here? This used to be such a nice place to create.
[03:18] rxxxxxxxx Lxxxxxx: so that's you dumping all the prims, psycho-frank?

The other problem, of course, is that the attack spread. It took less than a minute for the sandbox to fill up with unwanted, unnecessary prims, and then it overflowed to the sim at large.

[03:19] Zxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: griefers are truly a lower form of life
[03:19] frank (dartman07): hehe
[03:19] Lxxx Axxxx: take pics, collect all evidence and report to group mods and LL
[03:20] Lxxx Axxxx: and don't feed trolls
[03:21] sxxx Xxxxxx: frank your computer will be traced not your account YOUR COMP! so by all means have your fun!
[03:22] pxxxxxxxxxxxx Axxxxx: It is a child everyone...you are dealing with a child.
[03:22] wxxxxxxxxxx Sxxxxxxx: you must have a very sad rl life if u need to annoy people on sl to get your kicks, what goes around come around

Karma being what it is. And yes, it tends to, but never fast enough:

(from the bizarre album; griefing attack at the Builders' Brewery sim)

By the time I'd filed a report with the Lindens, and sent a notecard to one of the sim owners, the entire sim was infected.

[03:23] frank (dartman07): kay im tping out now
[03:23] frank (dartman07): enjoy
[03:23] frank (dartman07): next sandbox to hit

Some days I really hate people.

I couldn't find a better man to let me go

Seen at Coco Designs:

(from the Avatars album; the divine Gigy Flux)

May I present to you the fabulous Miss Gigy Flux, who did not know I was taking pictures of her, but who was nonetheless divine anyway.

(from the Avatars album; the divine Gigy Flux)

People, I tear down a lot of different avatars on this blog. I always have; I likely always will. But here, heels to the top of that incredibly poufed hair, is an avatar that gets it right.

(from the Avatars album; the divine Gigy Flux)

The only shot of the back of her dress I was able to get; that one last shot, and she was gone. Fare thee well, Miss Flux; may you have truly exceptional adventures in a life full of glitter and luxe things.

Her hair was from HoB; but she ported off before I could get any other information (or compliment her on the look!).

(Also, if you're interested, Coco Designs has a free Dorothy mesh doll avatar at the beam-in point.)

Zombie lips! With real little zombies! Actually, her entire deviantArt account bears perusal, for the afficionados of makeup and costume. Which reminds me, I should pass some of these on to Miss Mocksoup, to peruse for inspiration.

More fun can be seen over here, with a blend of lip gloss, powder pigment, white eyeshadow and thin Fimo cane slices used for the effect. (You can see more in her gallery, including a Beetlejuice eye, crime scene lips, extreme bling (with a Tiffany variant), Maleficent lips, the Black Swan, a tiger eye, and a blend between the Disney and the Burton Cheshire cats. Impressive.)

And while we're on the subject of deviantArt, let me introduce you to tweebears. These may, in fact, be the world's smallest jointed bears. Most clock in at about 1/4" tall...or smaller.

I left a thorn under your bed, I'm never gone

Speaking of copyright infringement...

This is Vanille, from Final Fantasy XIII:

(from the Comparisons album; the character of Vanille from Final Fantasy XIII, All Rights Reserved, Copyright Square Enix)

As far as I'm concerned, she's the second most annoying character in the game, but hey, at least she's memorable. Or something.

This is Vanille as an action figure:

(from the Comparisons album; the character of Vanille from Final Fantasy XIII, All Rights Reserved, Copyright Square Enix; figure is sold by Kirin Hobby, among others, for $39.95 plus shipping.)

This I tracked down less for the Vanille doll options, and more for the full-length outfit/accessories shots.

I'm thinking we're all on the same page so far, yeah?

This is the "Hippie Girl" avatar from 'Fantasy Mesh':

(from the Comparisons album; the character of Vanille from Final Fantasy XIII, All Rights Reserved, Copyright Square Enix; mesh avatar made by Alternate Lastchance for Fantasy Mesh on the SL Marketplace.)

Gosh, but that entirely coincidental resemblance is uncanny, innit? Well, not so much, because Ms. Lastchance also features the entirely coincidental mesh avatar rip-offs of the Elementalist from Guild Wars, Bayonetta (renamed "Ninja Girl") from the game Bayonetta, plus Lightning, Tifa, Rikku from Final Fantasy games...do I need to go on? Essentially, every damned thing Ms. Lastchance makes is infringing on someone's copyrighted creations.

There's not one original thought in Lastchance's head. It's sickening.

Perceive this. We all violate copyright, at one point or another. For some it's music; for others, movies or software. Some people copy paintings. Some copy furniture styles, or fashions. No less an august personage as Michelangelo knew this well--a famous saying is attributed to him:

"Where I steal an idea, I leave my knife."

Even back then, inspiration came from other artists, and influenced the work.

In Second Life, since it is, in essence, all virtual, it's just easier to have what we want. Remember: wanting isn't the bad thing. It's not a flaw, it's not a weakness of character, to want. And, RL or SL, it's not always a weakness of character to have--consider cosplayers, for instance.
Where the ethical lines are drawn is generally in making a profit on the creations of others. And this is where we as individuals need to decide--are we honorable, or are we thieves? And if we're thieves, is it going to bother us to be thieves?

And if we are thieves, we cannot remain ignorant of the consequences of being thieves. Because, while SL violations rarely result in RL consequences, they can. It depends on the violation. And even if RL consequences never manifest, if we do not do our own work, so to speak, we risk losing access to those works, losing temporary access to the grid, or a permanent ban from Second Life forever.

So is it worth it? Is it worth the brief and temporary financial gain? That's the question we should consider. Especially if we're Alternate Lastchance.

makes me want to be a little stronger; still I see monsters

So so so many links to things today.

First up: Linden Lab carefully screens mesh makers so they won't just rip mesh models from other games and upload them for quick Lindens, but...who do we complain to once they start doing exactly that? Every single thing in Manticore's shop is a straight model rip from Final Fantasy XI. There is nothing original in that shop, not one thing, from textures to the actual mesh models themselves.

I pulled up the "Baby Boco" model and actually started to flag the item, but the only thing that seemed to apply was that Manticore was violating my IP rights, and I'm not the injured party, Square Enix is.

There's going to be an upcoming change in Monopoly tokens, apparently. I can't vote, because you have to have a Facebook account, but if you have a Facebook account, and you want your opinion registered, that link will show the new proposed designs, and how to vote for the old token you want to keep.

I'm maybe not the best voice of Monopoly traditionalism, anyway--I usually play the Mind Flayer.

Things like this just make me never want to own an iPhone 5. Also, longcat is long, but we knew that. Also, I don't know whose girlfriend is in the panoramic view, but if that jagged distorted thing and her deeply frightening expression are an example of the panoramic setting on the iPhone 5? That's actually a deterrent for getting one.

David Bowie has a new single out! You can see the first video and pre-order the album on Bowie's site. Because Bowie just is that cool.

Few days ago, Gizmodo leaked that PhotoShop CS2 had gone free. Apparently that's not quite the case, but Adobe just can't be bothered to correct the misunderstanding at this point, so...it's effectively free. Ish. Sorta.

Moving to quirky gadgets, I have to admit the breakfast station makes me giggle. Small coffeemaker, small griddle--just big enough for one egg and a couple of sausages--and a toaster oven for toast. All in one device. It's suitably odd, but fun.

More gadget news--there's a terabyte solid-state computer hard drive (SSD) that will be released for under six hundred dollars. It technically rates as a 960 Gb drive, but seriously, that's still an amazing amount of memory for the price. It should release in the first quarter of 2013.

Also, if you want to mess with the heads of your guests, this would be a good way for more futuristic design ethics.

And while I don't spend a great deal of time on Pinterest, on occasion there are some fascinating board concepts. Like that one from "lettybird"--some of the most innovative architectural ideas worldwide, with links to source content.

The UK Royal Mail is putting out Doctor Who stamps in honor of the show's upcoming fiftieth anniversary. It's obvious they gave some serious thought to each design, and they look SO impressive.

And finally, the first full trailer for the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 MMO has released, and I have to admit, I am so anticipating this one. It's likely more than we can afford, but right now, I just want more information! If it all looks like that, I am going to be waiting impatiently by the door into the game!

on the way to the wedding, dressed in black

There's some debate over whether or not the world's hottest curry is, in point of fact, actually food. With twenty ghost peppers per plate, clocking in at over twenty million Scoville heat units, it's no wonder Dr. Rothwell started to hallucinate from the pain after taking only a few bites.

And have a list of some of the weirdest video game spin-offs in game history--including possibly the strangest sequel in the Final Fantasy franchise, "Theatrhythm", the really odd "Silent Hill: Book of Memories" (wherein the single-protagonist face-your-horrors franchise became a multi-person actioner shooter), "Metal Gear: Acid (the...collectible card game??), and "Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix", the game that fails on both being a good DDR sequel, and a playable sequel to the Mario series of games.

Oh, and only the top Next/Previous buttons seem to work on that link, so keep that in mind.

Two years ago, Red Dead Redemption launched as a game. On an entirely unrelated search, I found a few new (to me) videos of the (oh, so VERY many) glitches in the game. I thus offer them to you if there's interest: let me introduce you to the piano wizard, the rare wild boar-man, the equally rare bird men of Red Dead Redemption (apparently, this glitch has since been patched), the rare wild cougar mount, the spring-loaded wagon, and the roaming packs of feral girls. Um...enjoy?

I'm not entirely sure if a banana slicer is really necessary, but--anticipating some sort of culinary demand--Amazon laid hands on a few. While you're wrapping your minds around the fact that a specialty kitchen implement solely to slice bananas (which now accompanies various strawberry, pineapple, mushroom, apple, avocado, cheese, tomato, egg and other slicers) is now a thing, check out the comments on the...can we call it a 'device' with no moving parts? I'm not honestly sure. But the comments--as well as the recommendations--are few, but fabulous. People have been having fun with this one.

I'm sure that everyone reading this knows about the awarding of Nobel prizes. They are, and have been for quite some time, the highest pinnacle of scientific and intellectual achievement on the planet.

But did you know about the Ig Nobel awards? This is a list of all winners, from when the Ig Nobels first started in 1991, to the present day. You may mourn the death of intelligent thought that many of the award-holders seem to have suffered, but there were good reasons everyone was awarded their Ig Nobility, for lack of a better term.

Also, the Aeroscraft nears a launch date! It's incredibly large, incredibly spacious, seems to have both transport and military applications, and could end up a leader in commercial cargo delivery in the very near future. Considering the high price of gas these days, that would be good for this company, not so good for existing shipping firms.

when you only make it better, and it better be tonight

The Every Second Man blog purports to have an interview with the person behind the flatterbot ruse currently plaguing Second Life. She claims to make L$40,000 per day with this gimmick, and to that I say: more people on the grid need to be more observant.

Apparently, there are games now where the player can take a picture of whatever's in front of their webcam, and use it as the face of their character. If that sounds scary to you, then...you're likely right. For an example, one player made his in-game character his dog. And Penny Arcade did a comic on the most-commonly seen Tiger Woods game scan back in 2007. (Though any actual nudity is pixelated out, as it does deal with adult topics--sorta--I'll warn that it's NSFW.)

Speaking of NSFW things, this lass explaining the workings of her necklace to a studio audience and her fellow commentators--none of whom can keep a straight face. For those who don't speak French, the Reddit article on this tells me she's saying "Happy. Not happy" when she's pulling the chain that activates the...err...well, just don't watch it at work.

Over in France, apparently, the next big thing is blow-up lamps. Well--they're not actually balloons, they just look like balloon animals. I'd say it's a fun idea, I'm just not entirely convinced it's a fun idea worth over two hundred Euros each.

And in other design news, the spork has been reinvented! With a larger bowl, and actual tines instead of pointy bits. Thing is, though, does it really improve that much over the design of the original spork? Well, maybe if you eat a lot of ramen.

Let me also introduce you to the Cycloptopus by Nemo Gould. He makes sculpture that moves, with a sort of steampunk-futuristic edge. Very fascinating stuph.

To that same end, Greg Petchkovsky's blending of real and digital art is nothing less than astounding. Using high-resolution photographs, digital imaging, and 3D printers, he is changing the physical world around him, one small object at a time. Deeply impressive.

Over on i09, Christopher Salmon's posted the initial animatic--with Neil Gaiman narration--of one of Gaiman's short stories, "The Price". It's fifteen minutes long, and both inspiring and heartbreaking. Go watch. Make a cup of tea and open your heart to wonder. It's well worth the time. And quite possibly, it will be a feature film soon.

Other depression for the day that's worth your time: Amanda Palmer blogging about Amanda Todd, and the phenomenon of internet bullying, and how it really is that much worse than "traditional" bullying. For one, the fights tend to be both longer and more vicious, and for two, the entire world has a chance to jump on the bandwagon--out of boredom, out of misdirected anger, out of their own hurt and resentment--and join in.

But that's not why I'm tossing it up for your perusal. I'm tossing it up because of the comments she's getting. Just as bullying can work as an online mob-mentality gathering of ill will, so can support. And while Amanda Todd will never receive this outpouring of endurance, encouragement and faceless love--in the end, she took her own life, unable to face both her stalker and fellow students who told her, repeatedly, she "needed" to just kill herself because "nobody" liked her--maybe other teens will see it. Maybe other adults thinking of taking their own lives will see it. That's why I think it's worthwhile.

Spinning from that in a 'we are the internet, we need to be better to each other' kind of way, here's a tale about Star Trek fans coming together to help one of their own. In this case, this particular one happens to be dying of an incredibly virulent form of cancer--to the point that he's not entirely sure he's going to be alive by the time the next Star Trek film opens.

The request: friends of his wanted those involved with the film to send the ten-minute special preview to his local theatre. The solution: JJ Abrams brought the entire film to screen for this guy. Marvelous.

Massoud Hassani, meanwhile, has come up with an absolutely brilliant idea: a low-cost, low-powered mine detonator that can be released over minefields to detonate land mines that have been forgotten. While his main goal (and a worthy one) is the Middle East, I can also see these being used in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, where there are still mines in place from the early 1960s that have never been found. There are eleven days left on the Kickstarter; help if you can.

I wish I knew where this came from--other than "somewhere on Tumblr"--but it's good advice, nonetheless. Plus, whoever came up with bundling WD-40 and duct tape together is a GENIUS.

And will someone please tell me if Kyary Pamyu Pamyu is a corporate spokesperson, or a band? Either way, her videos are getting very strange.