Wonderland

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Wherever you may be (I still have 7 hours to go, but friends in France are celebrating in 15 mins, and Brian Ashcraft is already fast asleep post-Japanese midnight) - best wishes to you and here's to 2007...

Hurrah! 2007 is going to be a magic year, I feel it in my bones. xx

Basement talent playing Halo theme

Mac sent this vid in ages ago: a handful of seriously talented young 'uns playing the Halo theme - how do they do that, anyway? Work it out note by note, or can you buy the score?

Thanks Mac!

I saw the Halo 3 advert in the cinema last night - it's very beautiful, especially on the giant screen. Not as inspiring as the Gears of War one, and certainly relying on FMV a lot more (I think?!), but beautiful nonetheless.

Another interesting thing at the cinema: the Paramount in Toronto is showing live hockey matches on the cinema screen. What's enabled that then: hi-def broadcasting? Licensing? Either way, the thought of seeing live broadcasting on the big screen is pretty novel.

Recycled computer art

A great find by Chip Chick today - fun jewellery made from old computer bits, by Portland-based artist Bonnie Meltzer.

Resolving to be less shy next year? Pop on a Networking Necklace:

"Jacks and beads on ball and chain. You can select the color of the beads. Chain comes with an extension so it can be worn at multiple lengths. Everyone will talk to you. $60."  Also..

Pins with personality!

Meltzer's also done some really cool exhibition work. I could look at this memory totem all day. It's made with CDs, floppies, USB cables and pencils.

No SMTP, no mobile, no address book

I'm so stuffed!
So sorry, fambly and friends who might be expecting me to call you ever, or email you: my mobile's in LA, my address book is unsynced (hard drive failure before holiday) and my SMTP is unresponsive. It's hopeless, and frustrating, and I'm really sorry.

:o/

Swap out commercials for exercise?

MSNBC has an article up entitled 'How To Get Healthy In Four Hours A Week': the premise of which is, use the time you currently use watching television commercials to do some exercise instead.

A Nielsen Media Research report from fall 2006 shows that the average American spends four hours and 35 minutes watching television each day. Each week, television viewing adds up to more than 30 hours — well beyond a part-time job.

Picking my jaw up off the ground here. Of course, we have to take this with a pinch of salt: I'm sure there are some folk who do sit immobile on a sofa, slack-jawed, taking in the adverts, but I'm also sure that an enormous chunk of so-called 'television watching' is actually just having the television on - while the humanoids do something else. Background noise. Companion media.  Approximately 50% of television consumption is "on in the background", in fact, according to some BBC research I read last year (can't find any online citations there, sorry).

Makes  you wonder why television commercials are considered to be such valuable vehicles for a message, doesn't it?

Either way, jumping around for the four minutes or so of adverts each time they come on (assuming you live in the past and haven't TiVoed them off already) is a fine idea. Or just play the Wii.

Capcom goes to Hollywood

Following the success of the Resident Evil franchise as movies (they really weren't that bad, although I wish Alice had actually featured in the games, ever), Capcom's back in Hollywood, rustling up interest for both Devil May Cry (PHWOAR) and Onimusha. StreetFighter's up first though (uhoh). From Sci-Fi Wire:

Japanese video-game company Capcom—publisher of the popular titles Resident Evil, Devil May Cry and Onimusha—is getting into film production with a new original film based on the game Street Fighter, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The company is partnering with Hyde Park Entertainment on a new film focused on the character Chung Li [sic], one of the most popular fighters from the franchise. It's set for release in 2008.

Ziyi Zhang as Chun Li would be pretty cool, though...

Chris Anderson's 2007 predictions

I'm going to reproduce Chris' entire 2007 prediction here - one of a series of seven published over at the LA Times - because .. well, because he's covered all my favourite work topics in one tidy little chest-thumper. Good ole Chris.

Chris Anderson is the editor-in-chief of Wired magazine

I'M WILLING TO bet that 2007 is the year that somebody figures out how to make video advertising work in a YouTube world. And if I'm right, the TV industry is going to get very rocky, very fast.

I doubt that the same disruptive force will hit movies, however. The big-screen home-theater boom created a market for high-def films, and that factor-of-10 increase in downloading time bought Hollywood another five years or so to figure things out.

I also think that this will be a big year for video gamers, and not just because of the delightful game-play innovations of the Wii and the power of the Xbox 360. (I can't wait for Halo 3.) Equally important is the fact that all of the current generation consoles now have built-in Internet connections. Their role as a bridge from the Net to the TV isn't just a big deal for gaming, it's also potentially a breakthrough moment for online video of all sorts.

We knew gaming competed with television for time, but now we're learning that mainstream acceptance of networked gaming may also create the greatest competitor for the broadcast distribution model itself.

Don't miss the others either, Kevin Werbach's got a goodie, and Steve Ballmer's offered up an impressively worthless piece of tired, corporate brochure twaddle.

Handmade Pac-Man chokers

Uber-cute and up for grabs:

Australian artist Kit Walker made these and loads of others - here's her eBay store.

Jen's xmas goodies

Xmas is now All About the Kid, and amidst the chaos this year I totally blanked on wanting anything myself (besides a Wii, which I didn't actually want until I played it, and by then it was too late). Undeterred by my apparent apathy, my husband had a t-shirt made for me, celebrating the glorious cultural diversity and community spirit of Orgrimmar:

I also got a little pressie for myself...

A Pullip Zuora. I'm not a doll person (stop cackling, Alice!!1), but she's awesome. The Alice mini is too. Box/promo pics don't do dolls justice (I hear, from doll people). Instead, here's a flickr pic of mini Pullip "Fantastic Alice (blue)" with petite Blythe "Marmalade Heart":

Sweet, eh? ;)

And finally, I'm playing Neverwinter Nights 2. I like the storyline - it harks back to earlier games, and the KOTORy companion interaction is entertaining. Sick of orcs now though, and the drippy paladin has a crush on me.

Embarrassing.

Bomberman plush bomb

Heh, try taking one of these through customs: Bomberman's bomb, in plush. With sounds.

BOOMB! POM!!

Also selling at the super emporium that is ncs this week: the music-playing, illuminated, multicolour LED Rubik's Cube.

 

BOOMB! POM!!

Hehehe. So my new catchphrase.