Car in a bubble
The CarCapsule - just in case your car wasn’t looking silly enough.
I can see how someone got to this product - what’s the point of a cool car that people can’t see? But it’s hard to imagine any car cool enough to justify this that you wouldn’t need to keep inside in a garage anyway…
Well, the first annual IntShoStoWriWe was a success, with 100% of participants completing a short story of at least 2,500 words.
OK, so it was just me this year. But I actually finished a story for a change. It’s a little rough around the edges, but I think it works as a complete piece.
The whole thing is posted in the rest of this post. I hope you enjoy it - if you have any comments, you can find my email address on the contact page.
Design & the iPhone
Revered designer Edward Tufte reviews and critiques the iPhone interface.
Just makes me want one all the more. Even though most of what he says applies to the iPod Touch as well.
Coming Soon: 10,000 BC
Emmerich takes the action movie to prehistoric times.
So much of this is so stupid, so I’ll just focus on the fact that the saber tooth tigers were extinct by 10,000 BC.
Need some more productivity
Reviews of high energy caffeine drinks.
Personally, I still stick with the tried and true for my caffeine fix each morning.
Does money make you happy?
Yes.
This is probably a good place to link to John Quiggin’s explanation of what’s wrong with happiness measurement.
Valleywag, before per-view incentives were provided to staff:
[Valleywag], after (links are not safe for work…):
Any questions?
Straight from SF
The US Navy’s 5,640mph rail gun.
I wish they could provide this kind of technology to the Mythbusters.
A scream of unending horor
Bollywood is thinking about making a version of Ghostbusters.
There’s a line from Aliens that comes to mind.
How to make your bathroom look very silly
Don’t expect to see these around our house - I’m not very good at origami…
Pushing the limit
An IL76 tries to take off from Canberra airport.
This has got to be safer than it looks. Because it looks like this plane takes off by the skin of its teeth.
The Palace, a new series from ITV in the UK.
The setup is pretty simple: The West Wing meets The Queen.
That’s a difficult premise to live up to - one of the best TV series of all time, and one of the best films of recent years.
Inevitably, it doesn’t live up all the way to the source material, but it does come surprisingly close.
The show really covers three overlapping worlds - the feuds and conflicts of the royal family, the intrigues of the politicians and the political staff, and the below stairs antics of the pages and valets.
The political side works best - it’s so reminiscent of The West Wing that you can almost assign characters. The problems surrounding the king are well imagined, and the consequences play out nicely. There’s also some lovely acting from the king and his staff.
The family side is a bit more arch - the Princess Eleanor in particular is a fantastic villain. There’s a bit more scenery chewing, but it’s still fun stuff.
The weakest point is the servants side - it’s played quite ‘camp’, and the cast of characters is implausibly small for a palace. Fortunately not much time is spent on this stuff, and it can be quite funny.
Only five episodes in so far (out of eight for the initial first season order), but it’s worth watching.
Coming Soon: Fools Gold
An obsessive treasure hunter and his ex-wife hunt for Spanish riches.
This looks like a very very silly film. Maybe sometime when I don’t want my brain on.
At least it’ll be easy to move
A table, stool, wardrobe, bed and bookcase that fit into a small crate.
Watch the video - this is a very nice bit of design.
Caffeine productivity
How to maximise your use of caffeine.
Hmmm, I could go for a coffee about now…
Where’s the Lego Shrubbery?
Personally I’d love to get a Black Knight minifig.
(And if you haven’t seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail, none of this will be the slightest bit funny).
Race Fish
A Racetrack shaped goldfish bowl.
I’m not sure how well the fish could handle the hairpin turn, to be honest.
Last year I tried to complete NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month. I did better than the year before, but still fell well short of the goal of 50,000 words written in the month.
It’s hard to commit to something for as long as a month - life tends to intervene, and once it does it’s easy to find that you’ve lost the energy to finish it.
What people need is an easier on ramp, a task that lets them feel like they’ve achieved some good writing, and hopefully serves as a stepping stone to bigger things.
And so I give you:
The 2008 inaugural International Short Story Writing Weekend, February 15-17
Hereafter to be known as IntShoStoWriWe.
The basic concept is simple - between Friday evening and Sunday evening, write a complete story at least 2,500 words long. It has to be complete, not just the opening section to some bigger novel. It should be a story, with beginning, middle and end. Any genre, any setting. And must be shorter than 10,000 words.
Total participation for year one is expected to be low - that is, just me. Unless someone reading this decides to join in, in which case - email me! And if you need a bit of help with your plot, try the random plot generator.
I’ve queued up posts for this weekend, but I’ll be writing. And unless I’m too ashamed of the result I’ll try and post it Sunday evening.