Friday, June 06, 2008

Friday Links!

You can stop pretending to work now, thank goodness.

First, a few gaming links.

Several of you sent in this link (Christophe Grandsire-Koevoets was first): Birdmen and the Casual Fallacy. Sean Maelstrom has written a sprawling, provocative examination of Nintendo and their strategy. I don't agree with some of his conclusions, but it's tremendously interesting and a terrific read.

Craig Miller sent me a link to a commercial (in Japan) for Shiren the Wanderer 3, which looks terrific, and I can only hope that they bring it out here.

Lummox JR sent in a link to The 7 Commandments All Video Games Should Obey.

From the New York Times, an article detailing the current scientific knowledge about post-workout recovery and how it can be maximized (DQ Fitness Advisor Doug Walsh, take note).

From Future Nobel Prize Winner Brian Pilnick, a link to CamSpace, which "enables you to play any PC game you want using almost any object as a controller." Very, very cool.

Ryan Malinowsky sent in a link to the website for the M-TRAN, the "modular transformer" robot. I linked to a short video last week, but there is much more information here.

Last week, it was Gene Kelly tap-dancing on roller skates. This week (thanks David Byron), it's Fred and Ginger.

Incredibly, and this will probably never happen again, here's a second dance link this week. Sent in by Cibby Pulikkaseril, it's a crazy video mash-up of Fred Astaire dancing to the music of Smooth Criminal by Michael Jackson. Oh, and Cyd Charisse (red dress) had what might have been the finest legs in the history of the world. Also from Cibby, and this must be a record for the greatest distance between links, an article titled Can Machines Be Conscious?

I linked to Daytrotter last week, and "mts30+" sent in a link to La Blogotheque, which is different but also entirely wonderful. La Blogotheque features bands performing in environments that are usually startlingly intimate, and the results are remarkable. For a sample, take a look at the Arcade Fire songs. The second (starting at about 7:00 of the video) shows them performing Wake Up (which is a brilliant song) in the middle of a crowd--using a megaphone. It's stunning.

Oh, and here's R.E.M. as well. I think this is some of the best live footage R.E.M. has ever done.

Eric Higgins-Freese sent in an outstanding link--classic literature, now in Powerpoint.

From Ryan Leasher, a link to a 1967 Soviet demonstration of animation--according to the video, it represents the "first images to be animated with the use of a computer."

From Sirius, a 'paper towel' for oil spills.

From the Edwin Garcia Links Machine, Fail Boat Sails Home.

From Mike Gilbert, a link to Cereal Mascot Reunion. And also from Mike, an article that begins with this:
Of all the drugs young people can use at clubs, the latest trend in New York may be the least hip among all circles: Preparation H.

Read (incredibly) Preparation H Finds Place in Club Circuit.

From Michael O'Reilly, a link to a story revealing that the discovery of the Titanic in 1985 resulted from a secret U.S. Navy investigation of two wrecked nuclear subs.

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