30/03/08
Marcus:
Archive of the world's oldest recorded sounds. The very oldest were made by French inventor Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville around 1860. Pretty amazing.
Marcus: NY Times article on the restoration.
29/03/08
Gareth:
Creative are publicly telling someone who wrote improved Vista drivers for several of their soundcards that he is stealing from them.
Gareth: Creative sure have gone downhill.
28/03/08
27/03/08
Zanna:
A 58-year-old man who fed pigeons wearing only a skimpy thong which was back to front has been fined £150.
zanna: Featuring this quote "Asked why he did it, he replied 'I don't know. I was just feeding the birds and if I was wanting to do that I would just go down town and get a wh*re'." from the eloquent Mr Batchelor.
23/03/08
Marcus:
Terrifically funny Esquire interview with George Clooney, in which the writer gets Clooney to look himself up on the Internet. At the end of the article Clooney watches 2 Girls 1 Cup. (via)
Marcus: "I did get my balls done, though. I got them unwrinkled. It's the new thing in Hollywood - ball ironing."
Marcus:
A German WWII fighter ace recently learned he shot down his favourite author. And somewhat regrets it. (via)
Marcus:
Marcus: Happy Easter folks. Remember: an Easter Bunny is for life, not just for dispensing chocolate eggs one day a year.
gareth: Those bunnies look familiar.
gareth: Those bunnies look familiar.
22/03/08
Marcus:
Free Video Flip and Rotate: Rotate video that you accidentally shot upside down/sideways with this free Windows utility. (via)
Marcus:
Tip: force Safari 3.1 to open all links in the same browser window.
Marcus: In Terminal:
defaults write com.apple.Safari TargetedClicksCreateTabs -bool true
defaults write com.apple.Safari TargetedClicksCreateTabs -bool true
Marcus: One of those little things that has been bugging me about Safari now fixed - although it shouldn't need to be a secret preference.
21/03/08
20/03/08
Justin:
The British Army is asking that we all send our troops messages to help cheer them up; Regardless of what you think about the war, there are some young kids out there who could do with the kindness. Leave a message or see what people are saying here.
Gareth:
Holy sh*t, this sound like an action movie plot: Russia's 'Rambo' recluse dies after shoot-out with police.
19/03/08
Justin:
Writer Arthur C Clarke dies at 90 - British science fiction writer Sir Arthur C Clarke has died in Sri Lanka at the age of 90
justin: One of those stories that hits you when you read the headline - He was a great man and very entertaining.
justin: His obituary.
18/03/08
Laura:
The 25 most disturbing sex toys. Needless to say, this is pretty much NSFW, unless you work in Ann Summers.
17/03/08
16/03/08
15/03/08
Justin:
New Scientist - Red heads suffer more pain.
Gareth: That definitely contradicts what I've heard in the past.
justin: That's pretty interesting. They're saying different things for the same reasons - the only anwswer is MORE PAIN TESTS on redheads.
Laura: As a slight redhead I would hasten to disagree. Surely the answer would be to test pain reactions on those without red hair and see how it compares to data already collected?
14/03/08
Chris:
I hope you all celebrated Pi day. I was wondering *how* you'd celebrate it - maybe by eating something circular...
chris: Then I decided I'd just have 3.141 glasses of red wine. That did the trick.
13/03/08
Marcus:
Portishead's new album, Third, has been leaked online. It wasn't due for release until 28th April. Review in the Village Voice.
Marcus: "The leak that's floating around doesn't sound finished; tracks cut off early and sound-levels change."
Marcus: Also leaked recently, nearly a month early: Gnarls Barkley's new album The Odd Couple. Review.
12/03/08
Marcus:
YouTube: the Fonz jumps the shark and inadvertently spawns the phrase for the point when a TV show becomes gimmicky and past its sell-by date. (via)
justin: Well, as the Fonz pointed out in an interview - Happy Days stayed number 1 for six years after that. That's why Jamie Oliver keeps saying 'happy days!' - to invoke the power.
Justin:
How the hand reacts to a Karate chop - even a properly performed one looks horrible in slow motion.
Dave: That's brilliant.
11/03/08
Tim:
Seeing such contrived marketing crap like this makes me believe the world is about to end.
I'm not sure this is even real, its so shamefully dreamed up by people with no grasp of their target group. I'd believe it if this all turned out to be some hideous joke, surely no marketing department can be that patronisingly out of touch. This has to be a joke.
tim: the shocking this is I actually spent quite some time exploring this site- I couldn't quite believe it was that bad until I clicked on the bloke on the right on the home page and he started dry-humping the air
justin: I think it's meta-ironic.
10/03/08
Justin:
Trailer for the 2008 Edward Norton version of The Incredible Hulk!
gareth: very sneaky
dave: oh f*ck off.
Marcus: YouTube is blocked at work, but I'm assuming Justin is attempting to Rickroll everybody or something? He's always on the cutting edge of internet trends.
Marcus: [Later, at home] Oh, so it's a Rickroll mixed in with some kind of weird American History X/Linkin Park lameness. Not even the whole Rick Astley video?! Why not?! I was just getting into it!
Gareth:
In case you were about to use g-archiver, don't. It apparently emails the author with your username and password (he left his own in the source so I guess that kinda makes it a trade?)
Dave: That's a really interesting blog.
Justin:
Nothing makes the British quite so happy as being miserable, or so a best-selling author claims.
09/03/08
08/03/08
Gareth:
Italy's highest appeal court has ruled that married Italian women who commit adultery are entitled to lie about it to protect their honour. What a strange world.
06/03/08
Justin:
Here is a video link to the alternate ending of I Am Legend
gareth: Much better, I'd say. Still not at all like the novel, but oh well.
Justin:
Pixar Presentation - A Human Story of Computer Animation
justin: Panel discussion with: Brad Bird, Writer/Director, The Incredibles, Pixar Animation Studios, Ed Catmull, Co-Founder and President, Pixar Animation Studios, Alvy Ray Smith, Co-Founder of four centers of computer graphics excellence (Altamira, Pixar, Lucasfilm, New York Tech) and a Microsoft Fellow, Andrew Stanton, Writer/ Director, Finding Nemo, Pixar Animation Studios , and Michael Rubin, Moderator, Author of Droidmaker: George Lucas and the Digital Revolution
05/03/08
Justin:
Horton Hears a Who! Trailers and Teasers
Marcus: Based on a Dr Seuss book, I see. The world certainly needs more 3D cartoons, that's for sure.
justin: The world needs as many cartoons as it can get.
Marcus:
Tomorrow's World 1970s feature on the potential of computer animation. Starts off slow but worth persevering with. (via)
04/03/08
Marcus:
Da Vinci's The Last Supper, Battlestar Galactica-style. The original, for comparison. (via).
03/03/08
Marcus:
Nine Inch Nails have released a new (and free) download-only album. Pay money and you can get all sorts of physical goodies too.
Marcus: Officially released on The Pirate Bay, too!