Google Glassholes, Angry Boids And Interviewing Dogs about the Tumblr Deal
Need to waste a few hours of your life? Look no further! It's the Weekend Linkdown with Rob Walker!
It’s a chore, keeping up with the latest important information, current events, and mission-critical news out there on the Web. So why bother trying? While away the hours before quitting time with these entertaining distractions instead.
Critique Deemed Unhelpful: A YouTube video of an art class critiquing a student’s painting doesn’t sound all that interesting – but it comes to an incredibly satisfying (and profanity-laced) conclusion that will be thoroughly appreciated by anybody who’s ever endured a “crit” session. Some of the comments on Hyperallergic suspect it was staged. Either way, I say it’s art.
Angry Boids: “Boids is an artificial life program,” says Wikipedia, that “simulates the flocking behavior of birds.” Presumably you know that Angry Birds is a popular mobile game. Evan Roth combines these concepts in this very weird and hypnotic interactive art thingy.
Advice For Google Glass Owners: A Mashable video explains how to avoid turning into “a Glasshole.”
Looking At Noises: Aguasonic Acoustics converts animal sounds into beautiful quasi-photographic abstractions.
Plug and (Don’t) Play: Design firm Skrekkøgle offers a prototype radio that substitutes a big cork for the on/off switch. Putting a cork in it, as it were, is a more satisfyingway of shutting off the device “when you hear an opinion you don’t like,” suggests PSFK.
Unknown Pleasure, Indeed: Joy Division fans may be amused, or perhaps vaguely saddened, at this T-shirt depicting one of the band’s most iconic album-cover images, and the phrase: “ What is this? I’ve seen it on Tumblr .” (Additional note to Joy Division fans: Do not miss the interview with Peter Hook on recent Sound Opinions.)
Reliable Sources: Speaking of Tumblr, we’ve been discussing how Yahoo News should cover all the recent Yahoo news. Maybe we should just follow BuzzFeed’s example and interview dogs?
Meanwhile, in Japan: Making a creepy 3D doll version of oneself is, reportedly, “hot.”
Old News Is Good News: To close out on a more high-minded note, here’s a remarkable nine-minute film from 1935: Symphony in Black offers a “one of the earliest cinematic explorations of African-American culture for a mass audience,” with Duke Ellington and his orchestra, plus BillieHoliday’s “first filmed performance.” Via BoingBoing’s Google Group.
