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star trek new voyages: phase II
starship exeter
hidden frontier
stone trek
star wreck: in the pirkinning :: parody's final frontier
this stop action mural painting is pretty crazy...especially cool is the way they make the mural animation interact with the physical world.
the videos were created by blu.
BIG BANG BIG BOOM - the new wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.
MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.
one day, far in the future, if population growth continues at expected rates, people will live like this.
at an estimated 33,000 people, population density of kowloon walled city in 1987 was approximately 3,249,000 people per square mile.
more info about kowloon walled city.
here's a movie i made back in 2000. it's called "general file" and is about a lego dictator who has wrested control from the disorganized citizens of ipsahema minor in his effort to bring order to their chaotic nation.
i filmed it all with a 320x200 webcam so the resolution is not that great. in fact, neither is the sound...but it was fun to make and here it is.
i like historic photo sites...this is a good one.
the empire that was russia
due to a cpu fan failure, the anatone.net machine quit working.
i took the opportunity, when replacing the machine with my former desktop computer, to upgrade from windows server 2003 to server 2008.
now, anatone.net is back after a restore -- windows home server saves the files again.
remember to backup your data, kids.
want to sit at your desk -- but still feel like you're in space?
crunchies are just the ticket.
freeze dried food is delicious and makes you feel like an astronaut.
take a look at crunchies
full disclosure, i have no affiliation with this company. i just love space fruit.
this was a pretty entertaining game back in the day.
here are some pc clones of "jumpman junior". the first two are for windows, the last two need to be run in dosbox or another dos emulator.
you have to listen to this phone call (right-click and save as).
this guy, george vaccaro called to ask verizon to deal with a billing issue. it is amazing! it's 27 minutes long but oh the stench to behold as he tries to get charged the rate that he was quoted.
especially the part where the verizon representative says there is no such thing as 0.002 dollars. absolutely classic.
the most helpful comment made on his blog for explaining this issue to someone was to type into the google search engine: .002 cents/KB * 35000 KB = and .002 dollars/KB * 35000 KB =
to his credit, he remained more calm than i think i would have managed.
this risotto recipe looks pretty good!
charles potts, a friend of mine and a local walla walla poet, shares some wisdom about living through hard times.
i think his advice about finding something you love to do and mastering it is apt advice.
Weapon used to make love Celebrate spring fully armed A few simple steps to power You owe it to yourself
spam verse for 2008.
in addition to being a wonderful game with a great story, unique gameplay, and great atmosphere, max payne is now an impressive movie.
unlike any movie based on a video game to this point, it captured the unique feel of max payne, the video game. mark wahlberg was the perfect choice to play the role.
it had all the grittiness that you would have liked to see in batman 3, a more subtle and effective noir art style than sin city, and wonderful sound effects that mimic the feel of the video game perfectly.
i would rate it as a pg-15/16 movie for violence.
overall, highly recommended, even if you have not played the game.
link to the official max payne movie site
i hope to one day see a max payne 3, developed by the original developer remedy with technical assistance from rockstar, creators of the amazing grand theft auto 4 (in specific, their custom built rage engine).
photos, then and now.
link
happy holidays!
check out the "ted talks" to watch generally smart people say interesting things
if you can't decide, start with james watson talking about dna.
i don't usually discuss movies but...
you should go and see ratatouille.
it's a beautifully done movie. without a doubt, it is the cutest movie ever made to this date.
it's sweet without being sappy. it is emotional without being manipulative. it has excellent comic timing, perfect animation and a wonderful soundtrack.
the voice acting never detracts and peter o'toole brilliantly voices the critic "anton ego".
both rachel and i absolutely loved it.
highly recommended.
the site has been updated slightly. i've moved the latest photos to the sidebar and up the page so that they are visible without scrolling. it adds a little color, as well.
i also added a little promo box and changed the links to display at the default browser font size.
if you're a phillip k. dick fan, don't bother with this one, unfortunately.
it will probably just piss you off.
nicolas cage, an actor i attempt to avoid, is surprisingly less annoying than normal in this film. however, the screenplay is weak.
this is no "blade runner" or "a scanner darkly" or "total recall" which at least attempt to convey the intent of his writing -- instead, this is "paycheck".
as an aside note, there was a canadian series called "total recall 2070" which i would like to see. it doesn't appear to be available anywhere. i heard that you can get it on joost but only if you are outside the united states or canada. if you know anything about this series, could you please let me know?
a message from my sister, deborah.
Devaunt is getting ready to sail tomorrow for 6/7 months in the Mediterranean sea. Below i have sent you all Devaunt's physical address on the boat. This is a great way to keep in touch with him and send him small packages. This is great for the morale - do keep in mind that he has roommates and some are single so sometimes something for all four of them is nice as well. Please make sure the letters are informational and encouraging. keep them light hearted and full of small details that come with life back home in the states. Send non-perishable items, and small boxes are always better cause they get there much quicker...(couple of days). Devaunts Address: 1st Lt. Devaunt Z. LeClaire, USMC HMM 264 Det A Unit 77072 (S-3) FPO AE 09509-7072
without you by badfinger hyperland by douglas adams top 25 censored stories of 2007 democracy: open source tv platform
i found a cool video, talking about the life and works of philip k. dick, who i believe is the greatest science fiction writer of all time. it is a video produced by the bbc and has appearances by terry gilliam of monty python fame (also the director of the movie "brazil"), elvis costello, and brian aldiss, another science fiction writer that i enjoy, among others.
it is about an hour long. link
i found the link on www.philipkdickfans.com
if you haven't read philip k. dick, you are missing out. you may have seen the movies "blade runner", "total recall", "screamers", "minority report", or "paycheck". these films capture in varying degrees the dystopia that philip k. dick invisioned but to dive deep into his vision, you must experience his writing.
i would suggest starting either dr. bloodmoney or the simulacra
just got a couple photos taken using a pretty amazing machine. i call it the "optomap ultra-widefield retinal scanner" since it sounds more sci-fi than its real name, "panoramic200 scanning laser ophthalmoscope".
you can see a picture of the device here.
you can see the photos of my eyes by clicking on the thumbnails below.
back from alaska. have some pictures to share once i get the chance to transfer them.
hope everyone had a great christmas.
rachel and i are up in alaska visiting rachel's sister karen and husband jason. right now we are staying in a loaner house overlooking the mountains and the ocean. i haven't seen it in the light yet, as we got here after dark last night. i just took Bell, who is the dog of the house, on a long walk along the ocean front. it's raining and about 45 degrees. very nice and extremely quiet.
yesterday, we showed up at karen and jason's house with jim and susan (rachel's parents). mostly we played with and took pictures of keanna, the new baby girl addition to the family! now rachel and i are aunt and uncle two times over. she's cute and although she was an extreme preemie, she has made up for lost time and filled out nicely. i will post some pictures in due time. my new camera takes great pictures and i have been able to get some more "artistic shots" than i was able to get with my point and click.
they almost didn't let us on the plane in walla walla, TSA people can be a huge pain in the ass. i know that they are just doing the job that they were hired for but it does seem to create some sort of power complex. when we showed up the gate to the boarding area was closed and they told us that we had to be there 30 minutes early as regulations prevented us from boarding the plane if we were late. after we pointed out that we were indeed there 37 minutes early and a better trained employee checked out the situation, they opened up the gate and let us on, which was good because i was getting pissed and there is nothing worse than being pissed about a situation that you have no control over (i.e. starting to involuntarily mutter profanities under your breath like a nut). other than that, the flight through seattle and up to juneau was uneventful (and i had some really good tangerine chicken and rice in seattle at an asian restaurant in the airport.)
greg and lydia (joshua's parents) are house-sitting for us and watching our cats which is nice of them and that way they're only blocks away from joshua and natasha at christmas.
which reminds me, merry christmas everyone!
timothy
cute overload
Link
got a good cat pic last night.
bijoux in a gene simmons's pose.
it has been a long time with no update as there have been lots of projects in the works. i have added a new section to anatone.net called "pages" which will allow me to create feature stories.
the first thing that i am going to cover is my recording setup with pictures and commentary. the lack of updates has mostly had to do with an expansion to the studio as i've had things torn apart, turned the basement into a horrible mess, and set everything off on a discombobulated path.
the andy kershaw show on the bbc
he's a dj for a radio show on the bbc with a good taste in music and interesting talk about the music that he highlights.
over the weekend, i built some carpet runners for my basement to replace the small rugs that ran between the stairs and the cat's litter boxes.
i had a whole bunch of carpet left over from when our upstairs floor was carpeted. it is very nice carpet, which we got for free when some rich people upgraded.
we had bought a product called instabind when we edged the carpet in a curved shape upstairs but it was fairly expensive -- a dollar a foot, i think. so i decided to use sisal.
i cut the carpet in the correct shape, flipped it over, and used a hot glue gun to attach the sisal rope to the bottom of the carpet. it ended up with a nice edging. then i glued anti-slip mat to the bottom and brought it inside.
go to work, time passes:
when i returned home this evening, i discovered that one of my cats had peed right into one of my leather teva sandels, sitting on the ground next to the new carpet runners.
an olympic-sized cockroach pee pool.
somehow, although i do not understand the motivation, there is a connection between carpet runners (made from old carpet) and the desire to go into the field of pool architecture.
i painted a digital picture of gavin.
view it here
deborah and devaunt have become home owners.
here are some outdoor shots of their new mansion.
some new photos added:
from textfiles.com: Feb 11, 1992 17:32 from Firedrake Here's the peanut butter cookie recipe that even my friends who don't like peanut butter cookies like. 1/2 cup soft shortening 1/2 cup peanut butter 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1/2 cup brown sugar (packed) 1 egg 1 1/4 cups flour 1/2 tsp. baking powder 3/4 tsp. baking soda 1/4 tsp. salt Mix shortening, peanut butter, sugars, and egg thoroughly. Measure flour by dip-level-pour method. Mix rest of ingredients and stir in. Chill dough. Heat oven to 375 F. Roll dough into balls the size of large walnuts. Place 3" apart on lightly greased cookie sheet. Flatten, crisscross fashion, with a fork dipped in flour. Bake 10-12 min. or until set but not hard. Makes about 3 dozen 2 1/2" cookies. I usually don't chill the dough, but it does make it easier to flatten. Also, there is enough grease in the dough that it's not really necessary to grease the cookie sheet.
Gonzalo Castillo and Ruben Gomez practice English skills with Timothy Russell, right, who is honing his Spanish during Garrison Night School's two-way language class. The program has become one fo the most popular classes at the decade-old adult education program.
Garrison Night School offers classes in Spanish and English and a hybrid immersion class for students who want to hone skills with native speakers.
The two-way English-Spanish class began about three years ago when Walla Walla Public Schools began offering similar programs in kindergarten classes, according to district bilingual coordinator Cindy Gregoire.
Walla Walla Community College, a partner in the night school, also offers two-way classes for students. College officials and Gregoire said interest in the interactive programs has risen steadily.
``We had a huge interest this year in that class,' Gregoire said.
Students in the two-way program spend one hour studying their second language, then team in the second hour to practice language skills.
``The second hour is the favorite part of the class,' Gregoire said.
According to language instructors, students studying a second language can become functionally literate in the new language in about three years. Total fluency takes about seven. The aim of the two-way classes is to foster better understanding and stronger conversational skills within the limited time frame of the four-month night school sessions.
At the night school graduation, Walla Walla Community College Board member Dora Reyes said such programs help ``bridge the gap between the two cultures.'
Walla Walla High School Assistant Principal Mark Agrellas agreed. He and his wife took the interactive language lessons during the latest night school sessions.
``We really loved the time we spent with that class,' he said. ``They knew a little English. We knew a little Spanish. It was a perfect match.'
Agrellas said he was able to put his lessons into practice at Wa-Hi, where more than 21 percent of the students are Latino.
``The students become my teachers,' he said. ``Even the parents help. It means a lot for them if you try to use their language.'
well, rachel and i are aunt and uncle for the second time this year.
first, steven and hathaway begat gavin -- now karen and jason begat keanna.
she is two months early but is doing well at a hospital in seattle where karen was flown from juneau alaska to take advantage of more advanced medical facilities.
her name is keanna hope tarver.
i had the unfortunate occurance of having to tell a neighbor lady that her cat, casper, was dead.
it had died in my yard attempting to get home after, most likely, being hit by a car on 4th street.
i called animal services to ask whether or not they wanted to pick it up, or if i should bury it.
they said that i should put it in a plastic garbage bag and leave it by the curb and they would be right over to pick him up.
after i put on some surgical gloves, i picked him up -- it looked as though his eyes had collapsed. he was lying in the grass, covered with dew and frost, in a pose that suggested a quick trot.
rachel and i noticed that he had on a collar and were forced with the duty of informing our neighbor that her cat had died.
i let her know that we were terribly sorry about casper and that we had three cats ourselves and generally showed empathy. she said that casper was 20 years old and that he had been blind most of his life. he had been missing for three weeks and that he never wandered as far as our house, a block away, but that he usually just lounged around the front yard.
she called her son -- it was his cat and he came over to bury it.
it was pretty sad.
amazon is taking donations for the red cross and their effort in south asia to provide what relief they can.
if you can spare a couple of dollars, please donate...
a partial list of the reasons why you [update: shouldn't have] re-elected bush
just built this --
i built it with an eye toward rustic simplicity merged with modern aesthetic.
click the image to enlarge it.
the first debate between john kerry and george bush was tonight, thursday the 30th of september, 2004.
they both were master-debaters.
john kerry did what he needed to. he told the truth about what is happening in iraq and how bush is misleading the american people by following an agenda that is single-minded, while simultaneously damaging america's esteem thoughout the world.
george bush did what he needed to. he stated he was right, over and over.
and over.
oh, that we were in a world where things could become reality by simply asserting that they are true.
based on the debate, which was, of course, simply a press release...and based on the actions of the current president over the last several years, my vote will be for john kerry.
as close as i can tell, given that it was dark and there were lots of flashing lights, this is what happened.
three houses down from my house -- a light tank, seven police cars, a police van, the police supervisor's suv, four unmarked cars, an ambulance, about twenty law enforcement officers, swat or army/national guard, fbi, and local police, an assault weapon, an abusive person, physically and verbally, some mace, and about ten to make sure he didn't get up without permission.
...but it was dark and i was a block away, so who knows.
update (09.28.04) union-bulletin press release
read the article
new radio episodes of the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy
you know you want microbe plushes
how about black death -- anyone?
if you live in washington state, i hope you had a chance to make it out and vote in the washington state primary today.
washington primary faq
more
that is certainly your choice -- but, please read the information at this link first and reconsider.
steven and hathaway, my brother and sister-in-law have just had a baby.
his name is gavin and he's cute.
see more pictures here.
changed around the code that displays blog entries on the homepage.