“It is a vast energy package”
I particularly love the “midnight buffet”. At midnight the doors to a vast restaurant open and passengers stream in to gorge themselves on elaborate food sculptures, while one of the staff stands above them with a microphone telling them over the speakers the amazing statistics of how much they are consuming on a voyage.
The Everything Challenge
I Believe I Can Fly (Flight of the Frenchies)
A trailer for a documentary about some crazy Frenchmen who combine ‘climbing, slackline and tightrope walking.’ As well as base-jumping and whatever that thing is called where you fly down the side of a mountain with those batwing suits.
(thanks, Joel)
Sam Bosma: Hobgoblin
In my last D&D session a bunch of hobgoblins teleported into a room because someone — I’m not saying who — said that he didn’t want to work as a slave in the necromancer’s tower.
This hobgoblin, additional D&D figures, and more from Sam Bosma.
(Via @wilfreeborn, who says that D&D passed him by, though he remembers a super-secretive group meeting at school.)
Fanfarlo – Shiny Things
I did the wardrobe styling/costumes for this video.
Behind the scenes fun: I sewed all the bracelets/hairpieces the night before, as well as hand painted the shoes. To get the leotards I went to a magical warehouse called Danny’s Warehouse where everything is 10 dollars and dug through bins that are taller than I am, looking for six matching leotards. I couldn’t find the kinds of judges outfits that I wanted, so John drove me to Walmart at midnight the night before. We ate Sonic, it was freezing cold in Lancaster. By the time I arrived on set the next day I’d slept two hours out of the past thirty-five. It was a beautiful shoot.
Stop the Presses
I stopped the presses once. The 1977 Hanafi siege of D.C.’s city hall ended after the press run had started. It was the lead story in the Birmingham Post-Herald and I was the late copy editor that night. Calls were made, stopping the presses was a costly move and rarely done. But I persisted, saying the story had to be updated. I remember the printers’ boss nodding to me, smiling and saying, “Let her stop the presses.” I was trying to be authoritative but couldn’t. I looked at the eyeshade wearing men poised over the layouts, started laughing, and said it, “STOP THE PRESSES!”
I had no idea that in three years I would be in Washington, D.C., working for United Press International. No more stopping the presses for me. But that city hall building was the first place I went to cover a story, a news conference with Rosalynn Carter, the first lady, and Mayor Marion Barry, whose election came after he was lauded as a hero in the Hanafi siege. After, I walked to the front of the room, introduced myself, and shook Mrs. Carter’s hand. I told the Georgia native that I had just transferred from Alabama. She said, “I’m so glad to have another southerner up here with us.”
This story was partly an excuse to post a photo, taken in the UPI newsroom in D.C., showing one of my favorite bosses ever, Lucien Carr, a key member of the New York City circle of the Beat Generation in the 1940s. And that’s another yarn for another day.
Riding a motorcycle across the top of the world
Holy cow, I don’t know much about this video, or where this is, but some guy on a motocross dirt bike rides along the knife edge of a mountaintop.
Warning: Grenade Splasherz
This from my friend TigErrrrrrrr:
It’s funny how when you buy these 2-packs of Grenade Splasherz @ Von’s Grocery Stores (impulse items next to the GIANT $4.49 each size of Red Bull!!!) they carry this warning across the top label: “Do not aim or throw at anyone’s face.”
Much more fun is what it says across the bottom of the label: “Squeeze’em, Soak ‘em, & Throw ‘em!” :^) YAY !!!!!
Not my super-heroine persona,
but I am thinking that somebody should assume the mantle of The Sanitizer.
Whalers, Activists & Drones
Anti-whaling activists intercepted Japan’s harpoon fleet far north of Antarctic waters on Sunday, they said, with the help of a military-style drone.
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society spokesman Paul Watson said the unmanned long-range drone, launched from the anti-whaling ship the Steve Irwin, had located the Japanese fleet and relayed the coordinates back to the activists.
I know I should be shocked at what appears to be the ease of obtaining a long-range drone for non-military use, but really I’m just fascinated that the activists named their boat the Steve Irwin.
You can’t just toss an old surplus turbojet engine into a homemade chassis anymore and go for it
Waldo Stakes wants to build a rocket car to beat the current land-speed-record of 763.035 by 1273 mph.
Moving his family to Southern California in 1984 to be closer to the aerospace industry, Stakes was soon scouring scrapyards for parts he could use to build a rocket car. His most impressive find is a set of XLR99 rocket engines designed for NASA’s legendary X-15, the stub-winged experimental plane that grabbed the flight speed record of 4520 mph in 1967 and has never let go. “Back in the ’80s this stuff was considered scrap metal, and everyone was melting it down to recover the silver and gold from the brazed tubing,” Stakes says. “But these engines weren’t built that way. They’re made from Inconel-X [an exotic alloy] and virtually indestructible. I think they cost $1500 each for four. I have two left. One for the car and a spare.”
The Whitest Kids You Know
This is just a log for today, January 6th, 2012. Please write down the most privileged thing you’ve said or thought today. Multiple entries accepted. My first of the day is below.
9:35a – “Did you listen to that Adventure episode of This American Life? It was pretty phoned in, in my opinion.”
Harry Potter and the New Year at Hand
Just finished the marathon, a little while ago. Potter was Becky’s call, her birthday is the 31st. Doing such over New Year’s eve/day has been a tradition for four or five years. Potter won. In case you wonder. Ho-hum.
We said good-bye to our guests and watched an episode of The Riches. Only 20 episodes to watch, but it is delicious.
I don’t know what to expect of 2012, but I hope to lift my ass off the couch and start moving around tomorrow.
Happy New Year, Y’all
Smootch.
Films sans subtitles
My friend Charlie is now living in Buenos Aires in a house full of folks from all over the world, and among them is Lauren Stephenson, whom some of you may know. The other night Charlie and Lauren went to the movies. Their command of Spanish was not up to the task of following the film as its makers intended, and Charlie reflected on the experience of watching a talkie without a solid grasp on the words the characters spoke.
There were a lot of solitary and broody fishermen in boats and seaside bars. And one mouthy whore. There was a girl thrown into the mix, but her character stared vacantly into the distance so often that I wondered what she was looking at. Was she psychic? Did she make that guy have a heart attack just by squinting through the window? What was she looking for in the distance anyway? Did she like to find beavers in clouds? Again, not sure.
Charles Coleman, the celluloid adventurist
Coleman, 47, is film programmer for Facets Multimedia.
One thing being lost is the art of conversation, of people seeing a movie and then actually having a good talk afterwards. — As told to J.R. Jones.
Man, does this put me in mind of my friend Charlie’s thoughts re: the “hidden cinema” he frequents in Buenos Aires.
headline of the day, II
Portland police arrest man after alleged ‘Star Wars’ light saber assault at Toys’R'Us
(this happened about half a mile from my house)
An Introduction
My car is a Kia.
I drive to IKEA.
I had Chick-fil-A for lunch.
Clusterflockers with Children…
…is there a book you wouldn’t want your children to read?
in case the NAzis with the GERMAN dog come back to kick me out
I am clean and keep a neat tent. I shave and shower every other week, we can alternate so some one is always in the tent. My girlfriend will bring food so we don’t have to leave. $1.00 rent is due upon our agreement and is due on the first of every month. It is not refundable as your dollar symbolizes your dedication to the tent and our cause.
(via)
Swimming Like a Dolphin
Franky Zapata uses a flyboard to zoom in and out of the water and leap through the air.
It’s like a jetpack for water.
(via ★jkottke)
headline of the day
Errant ‘Mythbusters’ cannonball hits home in Dublin
Wreath this year…
I didn’t do a wreath for DIFFA this year. This one, I did at a client’s house this morning.
I hope they like it. The feathery greenery, painted silver, at the bottom the wreath: I couldn’t decide if it looked like hoar-frost or Santa’s beard, but it seemed terribly original.
How do I feel about this jetpack?
Yves Rossy, who you may have seen in a TED talk or elsewhere, flies in formation with a few jets, and it is amazing.
What does it feel like to be alive?
Mich Kemeter on the Taft Point in Yosemite, CA is walking unprotected a 30m /99 feet long highline both ways.
(via ★slyoyster)
