Robotperson

No explanations, just straight back into it:

• Domenench, having achieved bottom spot in the group, proposes to his girlfriend on live TV. She remains tactfully silent. Bad luck Raymond
• Shymalan’s new movie The Happening…
  

  …is not merely bad. It is an astonishment, so idiotic in conception and inept in execution that, after seeing it, one almost wonders whether it was real or imagined.

  Here’s the review / point-by-point enumeration of what actually happens ‘which will enable you to marvel at its anti-genius without sacrificing (and I don’t use that term lightly) 90 minutes of your life.’

• In the same vein, The Guardian reviews the Hulk. Uh.
  

  Hulk. Smash! Yes. Hulk. Smash. Yes. Smash. Big Hulk smash. Smash cars. Buildings. Army tanks. Hulk not just smash. Hulk also go rarrr!

• Also at the Guardian, excellent James Richardson fronted Euro 2008 podcasts.

What is it with me? Nothing for 6 weeks then I feel like the links are coming out of my ears.

• Beautiful Catalina Estrada cd packaging kit. More pics on her Flickr stream. If only I had some mixtape cds to write, which nicely links to…
• Muxtape: create and share your mp3 mixtapes.
• The Gareth Emery podcast. Nothing like a bit of trance when you’ve got a lot to do.
• More Steampunk Star Wars. This time, custom action figures of unbelievable quality. Scroll down for the group shots, and whilst you’re there, take a look at his other re-imagined SW figs. And it looks like he’s been at it again, this time with 1942 era customs.
• Common errors in English usage
• Almost upon us, the great whisker consumer electronic crisis of the 21-teens. All our precious toys are growing increasingly hairy, microscopically, with metallic whiskers. Once they get long enough to short-out: pfffft …fizzle …duh?
• One nation uner CCTV. Banksy erects three stories of scaff behind a security fence to paint his biggest piece yet.

• Brick Arms. Mini-fig compatible ordnance for those who think there just isn’t enough violence in Legoland
• One for Babe: Kent Rogowski’s inside-out bears project. This poor guy looks like he’s on dialysis or something. Take a look at his jigsaws whilst you’re there:
  

  Although puzzle pieces are unique and can only fit into one place within a puzzle they are interchangeable within a brand

• Last FM have a ball pit. Perhaps I should suggest one for Detica. although they’d probably want the balls to all be grey. And cast of solid stainless steel.
• nimportequi.com. Watch a couple of vids and you’ll get it soon enough. Tres bien.
• Sleeveface
• Star Wars credits, Saul Bass style
• Nice SW tees at Addict. Am liking the sandtrooper, mostly, but why are they in black? Who wants to look like a loser emo? I went there for the wallets, which are at least as nice as the Maharishi billfolds, and are about a third of the price.

• Random House bravely opts to crowdsource the cover design of a new book on Crowdsourcing. See also ‘Crowdsourcing’ tagged shots on Flickr. Nice.
• Rejected Star Wars products concepts
• BBC experiments with surround video. How long can you watch it for without throwing up?
• Library staircase. Cooool.
• How to listen to iTunes only podcasts without itunes
• Lego MMO. This might finally suck me into the time-hoovering world of MMOs
• Ooops! Emergency 7th link added: Brick Arms. Mini-fig compatible ordnance for those who think there just isn’t enough violence in Legoland

• Domo arigato, Mr Roboto. The Economist on robots in Japan.
  

  Kokoro, a Japanese manufacturer, showed off a robot for training dentists, which it developed with Nippon Dental University. As student dentists drill into its teeth, replete with sensors, the robot yelps “ouch!” when the work is not up to par. But the robot would really squeal if the dentist accidentally leaned in so much that he or she accidentally pressed upon the robot’s breasts.

• Smouldering moisture farm playset. Don’t remember that one.
• A suprisingly technologically literate Stephen Fry talks about the seductive Asus EEE on the Guardian’s technology pages. I saw one of these for the first time yesterday, and they are sweet, sweet machines. I also saw a Zune in the wild for the first time this week. Are they still even being made?
• First the fanfic, then the meme spreads. Repeat viewing necessary before you get it.
• Wonderbra umbrella. Ad execs can be insufferably clever.
• Baroque Star Wars illustrations

Sy tips us off to this superbly topical parody / commentary on Blu-Ray’s all-but-victory in the high-def DVD format war: (profanity warning)

Can I be the first to go on record and state that I believe the Heathrow airliner crash yesterday was caused by a mistimed electromagnetic pulse weapon, intended to bring down the Prime Minister’s plane on take-off. It certainly would have killed all the electronics instantly in exactly the way the pilots describe, and they’re not impossibly difficult to make. And the PM’s jet was less than 1000m away…it all adds up.

Hang on, maybe not: an EMP would have trashed all electronics within a certain radius, not just the plane. Hmmm, Okay, how about this: maybe someone’s built an EMP beam weapon that can be directed. Unlikely I suppose, and it wouldn’t explain the fact that the accidental trigger happened to hit a plane, which really would have been a freakish coincidence. Still, I reckon there’s a screenplay in it. I wonder what sort of noise the pulse would make.

Have I been reading too much sci-fi recently?

Trick for establishing the visual hierarchy of a wireframe if you’re in doubt: shrink it down to thumbnail size and see what pops out the most.

“Don’t hold back”

As I sit in the balcony of the Brighton Centre, waiting with a heavily pregnant Lara for the Chemical Brothers to ignite, I recognise the opening strains of Galvanise. A smile spreads across my face.

“Don’t hold back”

I lean over and shout in her ear: “They’re sending us a message. They’re setting out their manifesto for the night!”. She smiles and nods. I’m not sure if she’s heard me. It doesn’t matter, because with this simple sample they’re sending out an instruction that the fans can’t help but listen to.

“Don’t hold back”

Consciously or otherwise, 5000 clubbers prepare to obey. It’s going to be a good night.

Photos.

Maybe it’s a bit late for the new year, but here it is: Turn off all notifications that you’ve received an email. No de-duh noise, no envelope in the system tray, nothing. Get email back on your terms.

I’m not quite brave enough yet to turn off Outlook completely, and only check for mail at predetermined times. Perhaps for 2009.