cat in the hat
I've been meaning to blog this one for a while, and I just found it in a mail to myself - one of the nicest Google logos I've seen. On March 2, Google paid tribute to Dr Seuss on his birthday:
"9"
I was surprised last night to find out Tim Burton has a new movie - that I knew nothing about! It's set for release on 9 September 09 - 9/9/09 - and is called... wait for it... 9.
Having spent today quickly finding out all I can about it (being the Tim Burton fan that I am), 9 looks to be a very dark (like you expected anything else?) new adventure in to animation for Burton. But very dark. The story centres around a group of sentient ragdolls made of burlap who live in an almost post-apocalyptic version of Earth. Or rather the post global warming world Al Gore has been warning us of. It's colourless, bleak and deserted... almost.
A ragtag little group of ragdolls, desperately wanting to survive see a potential leader in one of their own, and look to him for their survival. His name is 9.
The story is based on a short film of the same name by Shane Acker.
The trailer looks a little something like War of the Worlds - explosions, aliens, big spindly scary legs and whispered one-liners - but all done with animation. Even the bed music sounds like a big-budget action movie rather than an artsy animation. You decide:
Having spent today quickly finding out all I can about it (being the Tim Burton fan that I am), 9 looks to be a very dark (like you expected anything else?) new adventure in to animation for Burton. But very dark. The story centres around a group of sentient ragdolls made of burlap who live in an almost post-apocalyptic version of Earth. Or rather the post global warming world Al Gore has been warning us of. It's colourless, bleak and deserted... almost.
A ragtag little group of ragdolls, desperately wanting to survive see a potential leader in one of their own, and look to him for their survival. His name is 9.
The story is based on a short film of the same name by Shane Acker.
The trailer looks a little something like War of the Worlds - explosions, aliens, big spindly scary legs and whispered one-liners - but all done with animation. Even the bed music sounds like a big-budget action movie rather than an artsy animation. You decide:
music for a friday morning
If you haven't seen it yet, this is the music video, Sunset Ribbon, created by Levi's for AIDS awareness starring a host of SA's hottest talent - it's a sweet sentimental video, but mostly it's really cool to see all these people in one place. Artists include: Karen Zoid, Arno Carstens, Loyiso, Chris Chameleon, Louise Carver and at least two bands I don't recognise. If you know who they are, please let me know :)
[edit: Nadja tells me two of the other bands featured are Flat Stanley and Fokofpolisiekar - thanks Nadja! *colour me embarrassed for not knowing em*]
[edit 2: Nadja has asked around, and band three is Malaika. See what you can do with a little pooling of resources :) ]
enjoy!
[edit: Nadja tells me two of the other bands featured are Flat Stanley and Fokofpolisiekar - thanks Nadja! *colour me embarrassed for not knowing em*]
[edit 2: Nadja has asked around, and band three is Malaika. See what you can do with a little pooling of resources :) ]
enjoy!
#saelections 2009
So they've come and gone, and much can be said about them, but I think today is more of a celebration - we voted! Yes, we did.
Here are some pics of our voting experience. You can also see a cool collection of inked thumbs here. And hey - why not add yours too! Twitter Nic, or contact him through the site - add your thumb today!
ps: the slightly odd title is from the twitter hash tags people were using around the country to tweet their experiences in yesterday's vote. You can see the full - and growing - collection of voter tweets here.
Here are some pics of our voting experience. You can also see a cool collection of inked thumbs here. And hey - why not add yours too! Twitter Nic, or contact him through the site - add your thumb today!
ps: the slightly odd title is from the twitter hash tags people were using around the country to tweet their experiences in yesterday's vote. You can see the full - and growing - collection of voter tweets here.
if you ever needed motivation to follow your dream
Unassuming Susan Boyle is making waves around the world with her performance on Britain's Got Talent. 47 years old, never been kissed, from a small collection of villages in the UK, Susan shows what it takes to follow your dream in the face of those who don't believe - and how to shock a nation! The clip has already had over 17million views, I've watched it three times and it's still bringing tears to my eyes.
a trilogy in two parts
This is my rant for a pseudo-Monday morning... why do book stores never stock all three parts for any given trilogy?? There's nothing more annoying than reading through 500 pages of part one, 600 pages of part two, only to find no one is stocking part three! Argh!
In this light, I decided to buy all three parts of a trilogy at once. Smart, no? That way, each book is ready and waiting as soon as I am. Brilliant! Problem is - no one stocks all three! How hard can it truly be when ordering your stock to make sure you have all of them? And what made it worse, as the dreary assistants looked at me with disdain for making them come out from behind their counters, was that they had four different trilogies from the same author, but never more than two of each! Argh!
Eventually, they found a hidden copy of the missing third, but with a different dust-jacket from a different publisher. Not to be picky, but why buy all three at once, only to have your set still look like you scrounged around town to find the only available copy? Bleugh.
Anyway. I must have seemed like a pedantic fantasy-sci-fi-nut to be buying three books at once AND to want them to match, but is that really such a big ask? I ask you...
In this light, I decided to buy all three parts of a trilogy at once. Smart, no? That way, each book is ready and waiting as soon as I am. Brilliant! Problem is - no one stocks all three! How hard can it truly be when ordering your stock to make sure you have all of them? And what made it worse, as the dreary assistants looked at me with disdain for making them come out from behind their counters, was that they had four different trilogies from the same author, but never more than two of each! Argh!
Eventually, they found a hidden copy of the missing third, but with a different dust-jacket from a different publisher. Not to be picky, but why buy all three at once, only to have your set still look like you scrounged around town to find the only available copy? Bleugh.
Anyway. I must have seemed like a pedantic fantasy-sci-fi-nut to be buying three books at once AND to want them to match, but is that really such a big ask? I ask you...
domo nom nom
Domo-Kun nom noms anything... from wiis to christmas kittens and batman... watch domo munch, and even suggest his meal for tomorrow
a simple little blog idea that shows how creative you can be with open source platforms - in this case, tumblr
a simple little blog idea that shows how creative you can be with open source platforms - in this case, tumblr
csi goes trekkie
CBS own the rights to both the Star Trek and CSI franchises, so it was natural (to someone obviously) that the two should cross over at some point. Especially with JJ Abram's massive Trek movie set for launch later this year, AND the sequel of the as-yet-unreleased movie already OK'ed by studio bosses.
Airing next week in the US, CSI fans will be treated to a Star Trek-themed episode of CSI complete with silly costumes. According to SciFiWire.com, in the episode Hodges and Wendy "run into each other at a science fiction convention for one of their favorite classic television shows that is not Star Trek and end up investigating the murder of one of their beloved actors."
There is also reportedly a fantasy-sequences of Hodges imagining himself "the captain of a starship that's not the Enterprise—though it has the Enterprise's sound effects and background score".
This one is definitely JUST for the fans...
Read the full story (and see the bizarre hair and outifts) here.
Update: watch the dream sequence trailer here - it's hilarious! Courtesy of warrenhallett.
Airing next week in the US, CSI fans will be treated to a Star Trek-themed episode of CSI complete with silly costumes. According to SciFiWire.com, in the episode Hodges and Wendy "run into each other at a science fiction convention for one of their favorite classic television shows that is not Star Trek and end up investigating the murder of one of their beloved actors."
There is also reportedly a fantasy-sequences of Hodges imagining himself "the captain of a starship that's not the Enterprise—though it has the Enterprise's sound effects and background score".
This one is definitely JUST for the fans...
Read the full story (and see the bizarre hair and outifts) here.
Update: watch the dream sequence trailer here - it's hilarious! Courtesy of warrenhallett.
makes you think, doesn't it
There's a very apparent split in SA right now between those who are bubbling with excitement for the coming elections, and those who go "when is it again? really? oh.". I suspect - but don't hold me to it - that that split also follows a similar line to that between those who support the ANC and those who don't. I could be wrong though.
What I've encountered is the latter - people who are resigned to the outcome of an election that has yet to happen. People who accept that Jacob Zuma will be our next president. And even if they are determined and excited about South Africa as a country, the opportunities it represents and living here - they're finding ways to do it in spite of the ANC being in power. Not because of.
I've read two articles this morning that again highlight for me the disparity between our country and what is effectively the first world. The world out there. I live here, and make my life here, and make the best of what we have here (it is a beautiful country with many opportunities, don't get me wrong). But I can't help it on days like today letting my mind wander to what it would be like living in another country...
The first article made me smile, and made me think about how something as simple - and universal - as childbirth can be approached so differently in different countries and cultures. I marvel at a culture that can make it seem so hip and inviting. This article makes me want to *be* French.
And while I'm musing on how fabulous this one little (but not so little) change in approach to something so intrinsic must make your life if you happen to be a French woman as opposed to, say, South African, I read this. A scathing portrait of our next (let's be real, shall we) president. A president with four wives, a rape charge, an angry dead wife. A portrait of a country not heading closer to the first world, but further away.
In less than two weeks I will cast my vote. And do what it may, the election won't take my mind from wandering elsewhere... Wondering if it can't all be done just a little differently. A little better. As a young woman living in South Africa, I'm unlikely to be offered la rééducation périnéale après accouchement or given a prescription for abdominal muscle training after childbirth. But that's what I want dammit!
So, a state that labours over discussions on the "true" causes of HIV and whether beetroot helps or not? Or a state that's moved on to other pressing matters, like getting my tummy back in shape after kids?
Flippant? Yes. But that's how I'm feeling today.
What I've encountered is the latter - people who are resigned to the outcome of an election that has yet to happen. People who accept that Jacob Zuma will be our next president. And even if they are determined and excited about South Africa as a country, the opportunities it represents and living here - they're finding ways to do it in spite of the ANC being in power. Not because of.
I've read two articles this morning that again highlight for me the disparity between our country and what is effectively the first world. The world out there. I live here, and make my life here, and make the best of what we have here (it is a beautiful country with many opportunities, don't get me wrong). But I can't help it on days like today letting my mind wander to what it would be like living in another country...
The first article made me smile, and made me think about how something as simple - and universal - as childbirth can be approached so differently in different countries and cultures. I marvel at a culture that can make it seem so hip and inviting. This article makes me want to *be* French.
And while I'm musing on how fabulous this one little (but not so little) change in approach to something so intrinsic must make your life if you happen to be a French woman as opposed to, say, South African, I read this. A scathing portrait of our next (let's be real, shall we) president. A president with four wives, a rape charge, an angry dead wife. A portrait of a country not heading closer to the first world, but further away.
In less than two weeks I will cast my vote. And do what it may, the election won't take my mind from wandering elsewhere... Wondering if it can't all be done just a little differently. A little better. As a young woman living in South Africa, I'm unlikely to be offered la rééducation périnéale après accouchement or given a prescription for abdominal muscle training after childbirth. But that's what I want dammit!
So, a state that labours over discussions on the "true" causes of HIV and whether beetroot helps or not? Or a state that's moved on to other pressing matters, like getting my tummy back in shape after kids?
Flippant? Yes. But that's how I'm feeling today.
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