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If the film’s rubbish, don’t worry…

aogw — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 18:06:20 +0000

I always look forward to the end of films. Not because I don’t like films, but because I do. Because I love everything about them. And whether the film is good or bad, something that can always be relied upon to amuse and amaze are the names in the credits. Especially if they’re predominantly Americans. For years I have stayed in the cinema for the duration of the credits to see what morsels might scroll into view, and rarely am I disappointed.

To illustrate this fact, I’ve chosen some choice names from everyone’s favourite maritime disaster film, Titanic:

Conrad Buff IV
Kathleen ‘Bo’ Bobak
Doreen Austria

See? Wonderful. Never rue your bad film choices again.

The merging of fictional worlds…

aogw — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 14:16:13 +0000

If I wrote TV dramas, there’s one thing I would very much like to do.
I would like to get a job writing Midsomer Murders (for example), and create a scene with the following dialogue:

PASSER-BY
Excuse me?

INSPECTOR BARNABY
Yes

PASSER-BY
Did you used to live in Jersey?

INSPECTOR BARNABY
No, no I’m afraid I didn’t

PASSER-BY
Oh my mistake, must have been someone else

That this has never happened in any show I have ever seen (I would love examples if it is has) is a real shame. It wouldn’t get in the way of anything, it would only bring additional joy to a subset of fans with nostalgic or comical inclinations. TV Producers of the world, the challenge is set down. Merge those fictional universes and have some fun…

Bear 71. Wow.

aogw — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:25:19 +0000

The world as we know it has changed a lot over time. Today, it’s a marriage of technology, industry, history and nature and while it’s easy to focus on the positives that such a flourishing world offers, it’s sobering to remember what is being lost…

Bear 71 is an interactive documentary about a Grizzly Bear who was captured and tagged in Banff National Park aged 3 and follows her life through a series of cameras hidden around the park. But that’s oversimplifying things. Yes, it’s a 20 minute documentary, but as the viewer you can interact with the landscape and view other animals, people and images of the landscape while uncovering new facts and nuggets hidden in the vast sprawl of Banff National Park.

But still, that’s over simplifying things. Bear 71 is an immersive world like no other I’ve seen online. It looks stunning, it’s digital landscape is as breathtaking as the real thing and the integration of the digital and physical worlds is beautiful. You really feel like you’re exploring a real world, and the off-kilter digital elements only add to the realism of a natural habitat being encroached upon by modern humanity.

Too often content creators, marketers and artists talk about telling stories in innovative ways while offering little. To those people I say ‘this is how you do it’. A truly stunning piece of work.

Put aside half an hour, step outside your world and visit Bear 71. Now.

The Festival of the Spoken Nerd…

aogw — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:37:19 +0000

I go to the theatre a lot. And when I say theatre, I mean the building, rather than the art form in the strictest sense. And when I say ‘the’ theatre, it’s not one specific one. It’s lots of them. I’m lucky enough to live a short toddle from The Almeida Theatre and Screen On The Green in Islington and see most showings at both. But films and plays are just the start. I love nothing more than uncovering a talk, or a lecture, or a show, or an event that will tell me something about the world I couldn’t have dreamed existed.

Festival of the Spoken Nerd is such a show. It’s comedy mixed with science in a wrapping that sits somewhere in the crossover between a kind of science based live TV telethon and a TED talk for people with ADD. I saw the show at The Theatre Royal, Haymarket on Feb 2nd having bought a ticket off the back of seeing a couple of the titular Nerds appear at 9 Lessons & Carols For Godless People pre-Christmas.

The show was great, but that’s not why we’re here. We’re here because during the show the brilliantness of shapes of constant width were brought to my attention. A shape (or curve) of constant width is, essentially a circle. Except it isn’t just a circle. It could be a Reuleaux Triangle. And while you don’t probably know what a Reauleaux Triangle (will you give me your last Realeaux Triangle?) is quite yet, know this: you could make a bicycle’s wheels from them.

Watch:

Now, if you watch that video, and marvel at the not-round-back-wheel of the bike doing amazing things to your knowledge of physics and geometry, think this: that front wheel looks an awful lot like a 50p piece. And you know what, a 50p piece is a shape of constant width too. And so’s a 20p. British currency is an awesome marriage of metal smithery and polygon related mischief. Bloody wonderful. Home reading below…

Reuleuax Triangles…
Curve of constant width

Look-a-likes…

aogw — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 23:35:57 +0000

I love look-a-likes. Largely because, in almost every case, they’re a bit crap. And I like things that are a bit crap. Well, unimportant things anyway. But never have I seen a look-a-like quite as poor as the winner of the Kilkenny based competition to find a George Clooney look-a-like. Before you click through to the story, I’ll warn you: you won’t actually be able to guess which of the men in the photo has won the competition, and which was running it.

I got it wrong.

No word of a lie…

Letters of Note…

aogw — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 21:35:21 +0000

There’s a fantastic blog I don’t spend enough time reading. It’s called Letters of Note.

The premise is simple: to uncover amazing written artefacts from throughout history that bring to life hidden corners of the world. A particular favourite of mine is a letter sent early in his career by David Bowie to a fan. When a letter from one of the great creative minds of the modern world starts like this, it makes you feel good about things:

When I called in this, my manager’s office, a few moments ago I was handed my very first American fan letter – and it was from you. I was so pleased that I had to sit down and type an immediate reply, even though Ken is shouting at me to get on with a script he badly needs. That can wiat (wi-at? That’s a new English word which means wait).

Read the full letter here, and then explore the beautiful world of the written word.

An island at war…

aogw — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 20:14:02 +0000

In 1986, The Scilly Isles – the beautiful flecks of Britain that lie beyond Land’s End – were finally allowed to relax. Why you ask? Because for the previous 335 years the islands had officially been at war with Holland. Don’t worry if you didn’t notice; no casualties were caused by the war, and there is a certain lack of confidence around whether war was ever declared in the first place.

Still, it’s a nice dotted line that connects these two corners of the world, and a reminder of the vast, complex and odd history that surrounds us wherever we are.

Abandoned

aogw — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:56:33 +0000

The world is a vast canvas, full of places that remain untouched by man. But there are also many places that were once bustling with activity and now lie silent, devoid of the life that brought them into being in the first place. The theatres and cinemas who’ve run their final shows, the abandoned building projects, and of course the towns and villages that have been left behind for one reason, or another.

A quick search will throw up dozens more examples, so go explore a world that at once persists and ceases to be…

The world, in review

aogw — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 11:45:55 +0000

The opinions and thoughts of people are fascinating. From the high level ideas of Aristotle or Kant, to the throwaway comments of Saturday night TV critics, we all enjoy a wallow in the insightful, the shocking and the absurd. But nothing illustrates the strange recesses of the human mind better than a brilliant trawl through the world of Amazon One-Star reviews, an idea I picked up some months ago from A Hard Day’s Blog.

It’s a simple game: pick a great piece of work (or one you admire for any reason), find it on Amazon and navigate to the reviews. Once you filter down to the one-star points-of-view, you’ll be hooked. And of course, you can do the same on IMDB for films, or any other review site. Now I won’t quote from any reviews here, but it is interesting to note that The Beatle’s Revolver has only picked up two one star reviews: one for a damaged box, and one for the remix of the sounds on the CD release. So some sense still prevails…

And if, after much one-star battering of the great, good and inspiring you need some way to restore your faith in humanity, you need look no further than the wonderful reviews of the Bic Crystal Ballpoint Pen, Medium Point, Black on Amazon. Superb.

The money shot

aogw — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 21:30:22 +0000

Simply awesome work from Dan Tague.

Dollar bills revealing hidden messages. Beautiful. Simple.

Via the ever wonderful Quipsologies.