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Posted on 03.06.09 by Widge @ 2:57 pm
Comments on this: just one. Add your own.  So there I was, minding my own business, reading Pink Tentacle's article on "Monster Mummies of Japan"...perhaps initially disappointed in the fact it's not a Roger Corman film or a kaiju spectacular...but still, reading along and came across our friend there, a "raijū". With a limited scientific understanding of the sky above, the common person in Edo-period Japan looked upward with great awe and mystery. Supernatural creatures called raijū (雷獣) — lit. "thunder beast" — were believed to inhabit rain clouds and occasionally fall to earth during lightning strikes.
Now although appearances vary, check out this description: One document depicts the raijū as being the size of a cat or weasel, with one big bulging eye and a single long horn, like that of a bull or rhino, projecting forward from the top of its head.
Now what do we know that quite nearly fits this description? We reveal all after the break. Categorized as: Stimuli
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Posted on 03.05.09 by Widge @ 4:04 pm
Comments on this: none yet. Add your own.  Kutiman is apparently an Israeli DJ (I say apparently because his site is being destroyed right now by traffic) who has taken a slew of YouTube videos and sampled/remixed them into a series of seven badass jam/songs that he calls "Thru You." It's fantastic and a pox upon Doc for sending this to me and blitzing my productivity for the rest of the afternoon. I think it's like Danger Mouse decided to taken on the entire goddamn Internet. Doc says, "He's taken my belief that YouTube's best function is for finding talented unknown musicians, and followed it to the logical extreme. YouTube is the best unsigned act in the world." Here's all of the songs in a single playlist for your convenience. Check them out. Let me know what you think. Direct link for the feedreaders. Here's his official site and here's his YouTube ID. Categorized as: Stimuli
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Posted on 03.01.09 by Widge @ 9:15 pm
Comments on this: 4 so far. Add your own.  Caffeine. It's always been there for you, even (and especially) in your darkest hour. Give it some love. Worldwide Caffeine Appreciation Month is something we declared March to be last year, after seeing some people (who shall go nameless but are easily Google-able) declare it a different sort of caffeine month as a ploy to get people to buy their books and coffee substitute product. They even got some government officials to come on board their cause. What was it Mencken said about politics? Anyway, in order to show you too appreciate caffeine for all that it's done for our species in the fight against sleep and lack of productivity, please join us. Worldwide, it's time to get buzzed and get some work done. So, as threatened previously, we declare the second annual month-long caffeinated party to be in session! If you have anything caffeine-related that you'd like to share as a result of this mayhem, please let me know. Categorized as: Stimuli
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Posted on 03.01.09 by Widge @ 6:58 pm
Comments on this: none yet. Add your own. Cosette founds this in an issue of Popular Mechanics from two years ago. And I went searching just because I had to see this in action for real: Direct link for the feedreaders. The thing weighs 700 tons and has been around since 1962. It's the only ship to be able to do a handstand. And far be it for me to ask silly questions, but if the galley can right itself as the ship is flipping, wouldn't you want the shower and toilet to the do the same? And we don't see them manually adjusting the shower, do we? Do they take sponge baths while in vertical mode? But hey, added bonus: we'll be able to get a few more futile seconds' warning about the coming of you know who. Categorized as: Stimuli
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Posted on 03.01.09 by Widge @ 4:41 pm
Comments on this: just one. Add your own. Every frame of an animated film is a different work of art because somebody had to make that grimce, or eyeblink, or reaction shot...or the frame that leads into one of those things. I think about the time and effort it takes to create anything animated and think I was pretty sane to go into moving words around on paper. Still, I have a lot of respect for the sort of mad genius it takes to do animation. And here we've got a particularly mental case: Reza Dolatabadi, who decided to animate a film comprised of full-on paintings and spent two years creating over six thousand of them. Total headcase. Still, the results are fascinating: Direct link for the feedreaders. Categorized as: Stimuli
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Posted on 03.01.09 by Widge @ 6:20 am
Comments on this: none yet. Add your own. Our amigo Aaron from Cabin Fever sent me this before he succumbed to sleep and slumped in the corner tonight. I think it's a great way to kick off Sunday, personally. Why can't every pub have Lisa Hannigan hanging out in the back with a full band? Seriously. Categorized as: Stimuli
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Posted on 02.27.09 by Widge @ 1:07 pm
Comments on this: 3 so far. Add your own.  So I finally got around to watching Jeremy Clarkson's The Greatest Raid of All Time, which covers the World War II raid on the drydock at St. Nazaire by British commandos. I count this as yet another incredible story of the war which I had never heard of before--I've complained about this previously--but I usually figure that was the limits of my public school education. I feel a little better about this one that Clarkson didn't know about it apparently, and it's based out of his country. Seriously, watch this. I know it's an hour, but there's a really good chance it will be the best thing you watch this weekend. Categorized as: Stimuli
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Posted on 02.26.09 by Widge @ 6:28 pm
Comments on this: none yet. Add your own.  It's like our friends at Kaiju: Big Battel mixed with a big ol' bowl of crystal meth. I want to see this so badly, I can't even begin to tell you. Direct link for the feedreaders. Yet again, something where, if it was completely translated, I think it would lose a great deal of its magic. Found at Ben Templesmith's Twitter thanks to the watchful all-seeing eye of Uncle Warren. Categorized as: Stimuli
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Posted on 02.26.09 by Widge @ 3:07 am
Comments on this: 4 so far. Add your own.  Behold this hilariously awful commercial for Folgers instant coffee. Direct link for the feedreaders. Found via The Consumerist. That's right, ladies, back in the day there was nothing that kept your husband from screwing one of those trollops at work quite like Folgers instant coffee. Also, I can't help but think that he didn't kiss her goodbye to begin with because coffee breath can be...well, rather off-putting. Another one of these gems after the break. Categorized as: Stimuli
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Posted on 02.24.09 by Widge @ 7:50 pm
Comments on this: 2 so far. Add your own.  So here's the real Christopher Robin--Christopher Robin Milne--with his amigo, a real bear..."Winnie" aka Winnipeg. Pic was taken back in 1926. Some of you might look at this and think, "Awwww, that's so freaking sweet." I look at this and think: A.A. Milne was one paw swipe away from writing in a completely different genre. Categorized as: Stimuli
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