Last week I went to Jamaica for a little fun in the sun. Here are some photos I took while I was there:
See my Jamaica Flickr set for more.
Bob Dylan in Lethbridge
Thursday night Bob Dylan performed at the Enmax Centre here in Lethbridge. He played a lot of songs that I didn’t particularly recognize and a few that I only JUST barely recognized.
I’m left to assume that after 40 years of the same songs, he tries to mix it up a bit. Personally I would have preferred to hear more of my “favourite” Bob Dylan songs (the ones that come up on my iPod for example) but having said that, it’s a rare and exciting event to see a living legend.
Update: I just read on wikipedia that after Bob Dylan’s 1979 conversion to Christianity, he decided he would no longer play any of his old material.
From the article: “Dylan refused to play any of his older compositions, as well as any secular material. Though Larry Myers had assured Dylan that his old compositions were not sacrilegious, Dylan would say he would not ‘sing any song which hasn’t been given to me by the Lord to sing.’ Fans wishing to hear his older songs openly expressed their disappointment. Hecklers continued to appear at his concerts, only to be answered by lectures from the stage. Dylan was firmly entrenched in his evangelical ways, and it would continue through his next album, whether his audience would follow or not.”
Hollywood Director Attack Ads
What if John Woo, Kevin Smith, and Wes Anderson directed political attack ads?
Hit play or watch Hollywood Director Attack Ads on YouTube.
I’m not much of a John Woo fan, but the other two were right on.
The Tattooed Banana
The The Tattooed Banana, has some clever banana art. These are a few that caught my eye. They would be perfect for cheap and creative Halloween decorations.
A Brighter Day
The Vote for Hope video was created at Ursa Minor Arts and Media in San Rafael, CA with chief animator James Curtis, using designs and direction from M.C. Yogi. It’s is an extremely well crafted video funded and supported by grassroots donations.
MC Yogi – Vote For Hope from MC YOGI on Vimeo.
Hit play or watch Vote for Hope on Vimeo.
About the video:
With the 2008 presidential election, Americans face a pivotal choice between not just two candidates, but two paradigms. We need someone who understands the complexity of our time. Someone who believes in investing in renewable energy, in education, in women’s rights, in civil rights, in healthcare for Americans. Someone who believes in dealing with global issues with diplomacy so we can restore our respect in the world. Barack Obama represents the change we need and can lead us into a brighter future.
Vote For Hope was written to encourage and inspire the hip hop generation and everyone to get involved, and contribute their time, energy, creativity, and other resources to be the change they want to see in the world. We have been inspired by the artistic and musical contributions that have been pouring out across the nation in support of Barack Obama’s campaign. Vote for Hope is our offering to this creative movement. It is our way of adding our small voice to the collective voice of millions of Americans calling for a change.
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ILoveSketch: 3D curve sketching system
ILoveSketch is a curve sketching system that makes drawing in 3D a lot more like drawing on paper. Check out the ease with which the demonstrator creates a three-dimensional air plane at the end.
ILoveSketch from Seok-Hyung Bae on Vimeo.
Hit play or watch I love sketch on Vimeo.
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How to Hook Up Your Home Theater
This hilarious Jack Kinney style Goofy short, How to Hook up your Home Theater, isn’t new — it was released in 2007, shown in theatres before National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets — but it is significant because it recaptures the spirit of Disney in the golden era of animation. It aims particularly at recapturing the Jack Kinney classics like Hockey Homicide or a Goofy Gymnastics with a modern twist.
It’s available in the iTunes Store. Search for How to Hook Up Your Home Theater. It think it sells for around $2.
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Adobe Photoshop CS4 Release Date Announced
I’m happy to hear that Adobe will be releasing their newest version of Photoshop in just a couple of weeks. The entire Creative Suite 4 (CS4), is targeting a release date for October 15, 2008.
Here’s a quick video demonstrating one of Photoshop CS4’s amazing new abilities (which was foreshadowed here) to scale intelligently based on the content of an image.
It opens up a whole new can of worms in the ethics of editing photos department, but at the same time, it looks REALLY fun to use.
Hit play or watch Content Aware Scaling on YouTube.
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jeffmilner.com Wordle
Another wordle, this one is comprised of the words I use most when posting to this site.
Obama / McCain Wordle
I downloaded the transcripts of all of Obama and McCain’s speeches from their respective official websites from March 25th, 2008 to the present and then put them each into Wordle.
Wordle gives greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text.
I used 51 speeches by McCain and 61 by Obama.
McCain’s site only had transcripts from March 25th to the present and I figured that was plenty of data for my purposes.