The Cube Lives... Again!

I sat down and burned my way through Portal this morning. If you haven't played it, you should; it's possibly the most cleverest game to come out this year. In a nutshell, it is a first-person physics-based puzzle/platformer in a setting that can be best described as System Shock: Comedy.

It's great. Really.

If you haven't played it, and mean to, you should probably stop paying attention to this post soon. There are spoilers afoot!

Anyway, I dug up some Portal booty from the cluttered attic that is the Internet:

The ending theme- "Still Alive"- is also great. Here is the link, in case you want a copy for your collection.

Everyone loves the Weighted Companion Cube. It is loss which makes us feel love the strongest.

Weighted Companion Cube wallpapers.
Weighted Companion Cube screensaver.
Weighted Companion Cube avatar.
Weighted Companion Cube papercraft(!).
Weighted Companion Cube costume.
Weighted Companion Cube plushie (coming soon!).

...And in case you were worried (I certainly was), rumors of the Weighted Companion Cube's demise have been greatly exaggerated.

If you use Facebook, you can even declare yourself a fan of the Cube (search for "Weighted Companion Cube," it's a public figure) and install one on your profile (search apps).

Maybe we've gotten a little too attached.

A Lesson Learned: Don't Fight Monkeys.

...And the rest.


Junk-sculptor Andrei Severinko from Ukraine makes some unsettling biomorphic "robots."

A thoughtful tale of Man versus Monkey.

It's time to legalize drugs. Here are some reasons why.

Ever want to help nudge someone over the edge of sanity for Christmas? Here's your chance!

Finally: What are you doing on Dec. 22nd? Why not share in a simultaneous global orgasm?

Revelers, Tentacles, and the Queen on the Loo

Next in the linkage madness, pictures.

From Reuter's Pictures of the Year, 2007:





From Flickr's "Strange Vintage Fictions" group:

Alison Jackson takes paparazzi photos (and videos!) of celebrity lookalikes:

God Damn; Space is One Cold Motherfucker.

I'm done with my semester! To celebrate, I have collected for you all kinds of wonderful videos and art and such. I'm breakin' it into multiple posts for ease. Of you. First, videos:

The Theremug: a theremin made from a mug of pipin' hot tea! Here are instructions.



LARPers invade a live-action nativity scene. Amusing! Maybe a li'l heavy-handed with the geekiness. From these guys.



"Mathemagics!" Arthur Benjamin (mathemagician) shows how he can square a five-digit number in his head. Sweet.



Alain Robert ("Spiderman") climbs big ol' fucking buildings without any gear. Usually. Sometimes he just gets arrested.



Beatboxing puppets! Not quite as cool as it sounds- the puppets themselves are not mechanically beatboxing- but still pretty damn slick.



The Old Negro Space Program- mockumentary in the "History Channel old baseball show" style.

I Have to Get Better, Quick!

Money folded to look like people wearing hats(!).

Thomas Lang is good at drums.

Amusing stop-motion Lego animation based on a sketch about Darth Vader visiting a cafeteria.

Breathtaking photographs of icebergs by iceberg photographer Camille Seaman (hoy hoy).

How to be a good grad student (beware: .pdf). Informative and poignant. Not just for economics students, either.

Where is Waldo? In your house, motherfucker.

Lists from Cracked: 25 Most Ridiculous Band Names, 5 Reasons a Zombie Apocalypse Could Happen, 9 Most Unnecessary Greatest Hits Albums.

Billy's Surface

Here is a poorly-edited unveiling of Microsoft Surface, a new multi-user, touch-sensitive "natural interface" built into a coffee table. Neato. Check out the end (where the sound cuts out) for shots of some spiffy fiber-optic painbrushes.

Madcap Bombastic Attack

I made a Windows theme to go along with one of those French nuclear test images (which make cool wallpapers when properly adorned)! Here it lies.

Snow Day

So I was going to have all of my final critiques today- all three of my studio classes were scheduled to finish up in a marathon 9am-10:30pm-or-so day- but classes were canceled due to an ice storm.

Instead, I have spent all morning looking at the Internet (and playing Moonbase Commander).
Here's what I found:

Photos of a French nuclear bomb test! The high-res ones are big enough for wallpapers.

Violin-playing robot!



Japanese art bikes.

Scenes from the Bible as if viewed through Google Earth.

Famous moments of the 20th century recreated by senior citizens.

RC planes made of kitchen supplies.

The Gomboc- a geometric shape with only one stable resting point and one unstable resting point. It's self-righting!

Things Other People Accomplished when They Were Your Age.

Sweet furniture sculptures





I hate 80's music, but love stop motion animation.

A bunch of neat papercrafts, many of which are free for .pdf download.

Whiskerino.org chronicles big manly men growing out full beards. With pictures.

First-ever footage of the long-eared jerboa, a rare nocturnal rodent that is cute.

The Terrible Secret of Animal Crossing.

Final College Fantasy- a real-life recreation of Final Fantasy. In college.

What I Killed Today - a blog by a veterinarian.

One Thousand Pardons

Leaf-Man Seeks a Rubbleslug

The Llama-Slug, in his Fiefdom

Tummybuddies: Psychic Warriors Connected by their Bellies

One-String Bass Gimp in the Meat Castle

Another Sock Full of Bones

...And here's the other series I've been working on for a while: One Thousand Pardons. These started their lives as ink drawings, which I then textured with various macro photos and digitally painted over. I think I may post a progression of the various steps so that folks like yourself can see how these came to be.

Stolen Carbon

Meat is Amoral

The Rich Live Longer

Too Many Kids? Have Some Wars

Here is my Stolen Carbon series. The actual prints are 17" by 36" (pretty big!). I've been working on 'em more or less all semester in one of my photo classes. The project started out as me building sets and characters out of wax and clay, but evolved into me spending 25-30 hours carving relief sculptures into some large scented candles with a soldering iron, then macro-shooting them all the way around in three levels and blending a few hundred pictures together in Photoshop (which took much longer). The soldering iron's plastic casing actually melted away in my hand (prompting a slightly-early finish to the carving).

Weekly Monster

Dude draws a monster from an ink splotch each week. Some are animated, too. Cool beans!

So Here's the Deal:

I've got two new series to unveil soon- they should be complete and printed by next Tuesday. (And up on here.) I also have excitements galore for the future: I am taking a character design course, as well as an independent study of Flash, next semester! Hooray!

In the meantime, please enjoy this wonderful link: [visualcomplexity]
(It is for those who love maps and charts and things. Or at least programming. Or Flash.)