The Venice Floods

I got these pictures from The Huffington Post. This place doesn't even seem real... It looks like a set for a play or something. Pretty cool stuff.

Pranav Mistry: The thrilling potential of SixthSense technology

Unless you are Amish, this should excite you. Watching this video is like looking ten years into the future.

Toward Expiration

Our birthdays are almost here. Twenty-six. One more year and then we'll be in our late twenties! Where does the time go and how can I make it stop killing me? I think I'm only writing this entry so I can look back at it thirty years from now and cry. Maybe by then I'll be paying a mortgage and doing my own taxes. Exciting!

Dramatics aside, I'm actually looking forward to 2010. Especially now that we got our own little apartment and I'm going to begin my path toward GIS mastery soon. Throw in some traveling, other projects I'm cooking up, and baby we got a stew going! I feel like I've been setting the stage for some excellent wins. Universe, get ready to deliver.

Anybody want some bananas?

That's what Professor Dad (my professor who looks like my dad) asked the class first thing yesterday morning. He's such a weird dude. Skip to the end of the story - half the class was eating bananas while discussing the geography of China. Strange but sort of.. sweet?

We went to see MEW on Sunday with some friends and it was aaaaawesome. Except for creepy run-ins with street folk who spoke in tongues and a set that was too short. Everything else? A+

Now for the next show!

But first, here's a picture (taken in CA of course) just for the hell of it. I found it on the USGS website. And I *love* the colors.

Tuesday! Are you kidding me?

I'm pretty done with this week. And - why not - the entire month of December, except for seeing Mew, celebrating John's birthday, and that great gift-grabbing bonanza...Christ- something. I won't go into the sad details of my whiny life, but I will say that I am fully unsupportive of this stupidly frigid weather. I didn't know San Francisco was airlifted to Russia. Why am I scraping ice off my car with my fingernails...? Oh yeah. Because this week sucks.

Here's a non-sucky find though: Modest Mouse's new EP! It's not the most amazing thing ever, but I do give high ratings to a few songs. Guilty Cocker Spaniels, Satellite Skin, and History Sticks to Your Feet, in particular.



Time for tea and homework.

(Final ten points to carpet and central heating!)

Mega Mushu Battle

We know the kid wearing the weird hat with blue and white sheets. Hilarious video. This is the sort of thing we figure a brilliant director might have made at the age of fifteen. Keep the film rolling, man.

Song of the Week

Thanks to Julia for the heads-up! I agree with everything about this song. Sweet build-up. Rad beat. Just straight and solid music.

Mew... Live in Copenhagen

The guitarist dancing in the spotlight during the intro kills me.

We just bought tickets to see Mew in December! If this video is any indication, it's gonna be a pret-ty rad show. I think the last concert I went to was SF Outside Lands in 2008, and I remember really wanting my money back. Man that was disappointing. Go Mew!

Tobias Fonseca

...is an illustrator from Brazil. Me likey!

Good Night Song

you've got the love by florence + the machine, remixed by the xx. you're welcome.

Noisettes!

I just found out about this band last night. As I told John, they make me want to rip off my clothes and run through a candy store lit up by rainbows. Love the sound, love the vibe, LOVE her voice. Made my brain cry. And I'm really starting to get into girls performing barefoot...

Anyway, check out this song and get your paws on the album already!

Peggle whores

Kristal and I have invested a significant number of hours with Peggle... all of which I recently erased while installing Windows 7. The unicorn doesn't call you a whore by default, despite the screen shot shown above, and it's simple enough in design that any age can enjoy it. It's the kind of game that leaves you thinking you can quit anytime you want... after just one more round. It would be a stretch to say I'm glad we're starting from scratch, but this is one game I don't mind playing twice.

Animals are crazy

I found a few pictures of some bizarre-looking animals on the Huffington Post today. Seriously, where the hell do these things come from? I wonder if anyone's tried to create the world's strangest zoo. Giraffes, rhinos, penguins, elephants, gorillas etc are nice and all, but damn. Bring me the axolotl too. That guy is sick.

Angora rabbit. I thought this was one of those "world's fattest cat" things, which, for the record are really gross.


Yeti crab. Accurate description.


AXOLOTL. Easily the coolest thing I've seen this month. It is a type of Mexican neotenic mole salamandar, found only in Central Mexico. The Aztecs ate em.



Okay, back to homework.

I know how the weather works.

...Well I'm starting to anyway. Pause. I haven't slept well in two days and my head feels like a hundred pounds right now, but I just couldn't resist the urge to geek out and think about the temperature and humidity in San Francisco today. Why did it feel so muggy? Because of the huge amount of evaporation occurring since the gigantic storm passed. That contributed to how much water was in the air (humidity). There were also lots of clouds, which prevented warm air (temperature factor) from rising off the surface of the earth. Finally, maybe the wind died down along with the storm, and the warm, moist air stayed right where it was generated. Another factor could be close proximity to the ocean and the bay. I *think* that's the basic answer. Get it?

YamaMotoYama Genmai-Cha

Normally, I would compare a green tea with little or no caffeine to a shot of non-alcoholic whiskey. I usually drink it for the drug, but this here is my exception. The packaging is simple, but each bag is individually wrapped. There are two ingredients: green tea and roasted brown rice, the second of which adds a great earthy flavor and offsets the usual bitterness. The smell makes me want to snort the stuff, and I’ve thought about buying a couple boxes just so I can throw them all in a hot bath and lay in it until it’s entered every pore of my body. Sure, it would be nice if it had a little more kick to it, but sometimes you’ve got to slow down to enjoy something this good.

Night Orbit

The shark was fun, but this image is my real fixation. I found it in the same place I found the shark - NYT Science in Pictures. Stop by if you're ever curious for some new perspectives. Here's the explanation of the image:

"Researchers say they have identified a basaltic meteorite that originated from a different parent asteroid than most others on record, implying that there are sources of basaltic meteorites other than the asteroid called 4 Vesta in the main inner asteroid belt. Watching the sky in the desert of Western Australia, researchers tracked the meteorite's orbit, located it after it fell to earth and analyzed its composition. In this long exposure that lasted most of the night, stars appear as curved white streaks. The streaks that cut diagonally across them are 'fireballs.'"

Am Montag

As far as Mondays go, today was really not bad.

1. Continuation of some truly beautiful fall weather
2. Scored 100% on my Chinese geography test, PLUS extra credit
3. Had a pretty good cup of coffee, instead of the bland hot brown water I'm usually forced to stomach when I'm running late to school
4. Found the above awesome picture of a shark
5. Discovered this amazing website: www.cantyouseeimbusy.com

That last one will change my life. I can just tell.

TED: Oliver Sacks: What hallucination reveals about our minds

Sit down with TED and stay for a while. Not everyone can be Oliver Sacks, but TED usually hosts a good show. Just watch. It will make you smart.

-john

London, you've done it again.

i am yours now

so now i don't ever have to leave

The xx is deceptively spartan. I might have passed over their debut album without much interest if Romy Madley Croft's voice didn't make me raise my eyebrows with some serious curiosity. She suckered me in for repeat plays #2 through infinity. Don't be fooled by the understated nature of this band; they will uppercut you with awesomeness if you're smart enough to give em a try.

Monday, November 23, 8pm @ The Independent, SF. 

yessss.

Best of 2009

Bat for Lashes on Jimmy Kimmel.

She's barefoot. More importantly, I love her. Cure-style guitar totally makes up for hipster keyboardist, although that might be the reason he's there anyway. Back to the point though- I acquired Two Suns in July and it's still blowing my brain to pieces. Bonus points for recording parts of this album in Big Sur and Joshua Tree.

Afternoon Stretch

lei · sure [lee-zher, lezh-er]

-noun

1. freedom from the demands of work or duty

2. unhurried ease

-adjective

1. free or unoccupied

…Most work is pretty lame. Today I took the long way home and drove through the wet misty fog with music at full volume. Then I bought a donut and chocolate milk. No big philosophies or crowning life achievements here, but I do want to emphasize the importance of letting life breathe once in awhile. And if you're not into donuts, you might be dead.

-kristal