Bob Dylan Paper-craft

Bob Dylan + Acoustic Guitar Paper-craft designed (partially) by me as a gift to my sister's boyfriend. Credit where credit is due: the face is adapted from this image & the body 'borrows' liberally from (read: is a copy of) this character. The guitar is just some image I found on Google, touched-up and created a template for. Fun times had putting together my first paper-craft project!

Terror Tales (2010)

Terror Tales (2010)
In lore that bore,
Upon its breast,
Black-winged creatures,
Atop skeletal nest,
Fixation grew,
As to ensue,
A deepening loss.
As thoughts withdrew,
Far, the influence, reality's sway.
A mind unhinged.
Until, words tortured, lead the way.
Sanity soon impinged.
Screamed was madness from the pages.
Byzantine labyrinths evoked,
Terrors yet unknown to these ages,
Cyclopean ruins bespoke.
And above - sat their eyes,
Eagerly to gleam,
Framed in twisted skies,
On the one below,
Bound so to dream,
Of black-winged creatures,
Atop a skeletal world.

Something I whipped up to avoid studying for awhile. Somewhat of an examination of the experience of being transported to a frightening world from which there appears to be no escape. Specifically in relation to when this occurs while reading something along the lines of Lovecraft..

Off That (Rationalist Anthem) - Skeptical Music?

YouTube
- Off That (Rationalist Anthem)

At first, the notion of Atheistic/Humanist/Skeptically-minded/Science influenced music stuck me as pointless, lame and niche. Frankly, I expected a poor level of musical competency and lyrics that would come off as forced. I only foresaw these songs speaking to a small crowd and most importantly I feared that the music wouldn't possess the 'magic' and deep connection that all great music does. In other words, I didn't credit a rationalist mindset as a source of musical inspiration. A fair call, but a wrong one. The above track is just the latest example in a slew of songs promoting a humanist/rationalist world-view. Surprisingly, many of these songs stand on their own merits, some have even earned a permanent spot on my playlist(s). Personal favorites include Baba Brinkman's Darwin's Acid and Requiem for Heaven, Tim Minchin's Storm, Greydon Square's A Rational Response, Jill Sobule & Julia Sweeney's Letting Go of God, countless songs from

George Hrab, Creation Science 101 by Roy Zimmerman. This forum thread has more and so does this site.

Fan edit. Remixing media.

'Alternative cuts' (especially 'Director's cuts') of films are nothing new, nor are slightly altered/updated editions of books. Music gets remixed. In the realm of video-gaming, patches/bug fixes/mods and the like are of a similar vein. Clearly, any piece of art can be subject to revision and reinterpretation, usually at the hands of the original creators. But times are changing, It is well known that the computer age has heralded a generation which doesn't simply passively consume content but rather actively participates as content-producers. Video-game creators are cottoning on with the concept of 'user-generated content' now well-established. Almost anyone can now (with varying success), edit levels, mod and create scenarios, new objects, artwork and even music (ie. Rock Band). End-users now have an unprecedented ability to interact with media and shape their own experiences. Often vibrant fan communities are spawned where creations are traded and worked on collaboratively. In some cases people can even legally sell their new content to other users. With at least basic forms of editing software pre-installed on most machines, the tools to produce; machinima, remix of songs and redub or edit videos are under everybody's fingertips. What I am leading to is the existence of a film 'Fan edit' community. No these aren't exactly 'Fan films' (films or videos inspired by a film, television program, comic book or a similar source, created by fans) although they too have benefited from the advent of cheap video technology & special effects. 'Fan edits' are alternative versions of films (usually the restoration of deleted or previously lost scenes) produced entirely by fans. I find this fascinating. Highly regarded films and films with a strong following are common choices (ie Star Wars, Lord of the Rings) . It is now in the hands of dedicated individuals or groups to extend or improve pieces to their limits. Think of the possibilities. Shoddy studio cuts which mar a potential classic can be redone in line with the original vision. Deleted scenes can be edited back into movies to give a better cut. All this may amount to insignificant tweaking to the average viewer, but for an enthusiast this may be the only method to approach a definitive version of their beloved film(s). There are obviously also a lot of tricky legal questions pertaining to this practice, which lands squarely in the copyright grey-area. Fan-editing? Potentially valuable or amateur irrelevance? You decide.

http://fanedit.org/ - Big fan editing community.

Jinni & the Movie Genome Project.

I lamented to my girlfriend today of the absence of a website designed to provide movie recommendations in a manner akin to Last FM's 'Similar Artists' and 'Recommendations' features. How incredibly convenient I postulated that such a service would be! Well I did some searching, hopeful that as the the internet has spawned just about everything one could care to imagine, that my fancy might not be so far off reality. Turns out, Jinni.com exists (albeit in its beta stages) to meet my needs, and has been billed as the 'Last FM for movies'. The verdict? Well the jury's still out, but at first glance I am impressed with both the system's intuitiveness and its impressive suite of options. I can draw strong comparisons to the Music Genome Project's Pandora.com. Thankfully, the breakdown of how the movies are categorized and sorted in relation to others (the films' 'genetic relatives' if you will) appears to be quite robust. It shows a lot of promise, that is providing that its database is large enough and its algorithms sufficently sophisiticated as to be able to accuarately cater to the tastes of this hardened film buff (with an added penchant toward the obscure).

Visit Jinni