Blogables

Cool marching band routine:

2011-09-12T10:17:00.001-04:00

My Shortcomings: Meeting People

2011-08-31T19:37:00.001-04:00

Whenever I meet someone, and shake their hand, I put all my effort and attention into giving a good hand shake that I imediately forget their name

The Shining

2011-08-29T09:31:00.002-04:00

If you've never seen Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" then watch this trailer. I think it will give you the general idea of what the movie is about:

Holy crap. That's the same guy?!

2011-08-23T08:30:00.081-04:00

Maybe it's not surprising to those who were around in the 60s and 70s, but I recently discovered something amazing about these two songs. The first is the folk rock song "Everybody's Talkin" from 1969 that was made popular after it became the theme song for the Oscar winning Midnight Cowboy. The second is the 1972 love ballad "Without You". You know it: "I can't live if living is without you..." What's amazing to me about these two songs is the fact that they are sung by the same guy. Along with the disparity in the style of music, I don't hear any similarities between the two voices. It's like the musical equivalent of 1984 Mickey Rourke and 2010 Mickey Rourke:

Throw in a third song for the Harry Nilsson trifecta, send them out in to space, and when an alien civilization finds them they will think, "wow this planet has a very diverse music scene."

It is interesting to note that the two songs Nilsson won Grammys for were cover songs.
"Everybody's Talkin" was written by Fred Neil. Hear his version here.
"Without You" was written by Pete Ham and Tom Evans of Badfinger. See their version here.
It has been recorded by over 180 artist, but I'll let you find all the versions on your own.

What's with the lamp at the beginning of Pixar movies?

2011-08-20T14:28:00.005-04:00

Have you ever wondered why there is a desk lamp that seems to have a vendetta against the "I" in Pixar?
Well here's where it all started.
(This video does not shed light on where the lamp's gripe with the "I" comes from however)

If you ever visit the Pixar Animation Studios you will see a giant model of Luxo Jr pictured here.
The picture comes from a Pixar studio tour taken by collider.com's Matt Goldberg. See all the pictures of his tour here.
See how the lamp lights up at night here.
Watch a tour of Pixar studios:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

There is a great book by David A. Price about the origins of the Pixar company called The Pixar Touch.
I actually listened to the audio book.

Small Car Or Giant Coin?

2011-08-19T01:04:00.007-04:00

PETAPIXEL | AUGUST 18, 2011
http://pulse.me/s/1ehpF

Norwegian design studio Skrekkøgle -- the one that printed a photo with a... Read more

The same people also made a 3D model of the game that has cost the corporate world billions of dollars in lost productivity: Computer Solitare. More specifically, the bouncing card screen when you win.

View more projects they have done including using ashes from a cremated dog to print a picture of said dog on their website

They rejected Floozy...

2011-08-18T09:46:00.017-04:00

I guess this company has been around for a while. My friend said it is big in the midwest, but this was the first I had seen of it.

What are they hi-fiving about? I wonder.

The company is obviously aware of the term since plastered all over their advertising is directions on how we should pronounce the name: "Say 'Beembo'"

If you bought this bread, go ahead and make yourself a tunafish sandwich while you read about the brand name here

The most unfortunate branding of a product:

Learn how to figure out the day of the week for any date...

2011-08-17T15:50:00.013-04:00

[audio file]

...and be just like this guy:
(Read the Cliff's Notes of the trick below the video)

Read more about this trick here

Cliff's Notes of the trick:
Take the last day of February. (This year was a Monday) and that's called "Doomsday"
I don't know why it was given that name but you can call it the "Magic Day" if you like.
The following dates are also Doomsdays and will be Mondays this year:

For the even months: 4/4, 6/6, 8/8, 10/10, 12/12, For February, since Doomsday is the last day of the month it will be the 28th except on leap years which would make it the 29th.

For the odd months John Conway tells us to think of working a 9 to 5 job at 7-11.
That means 9/5, 5/9, 7/11, and 11/7 are all Doomsdays.

For March, its football touchdown scores: 7,14,21,28

For January, there isn't any good trick to remember: 3,10,17,31 and for leap years move it up one to 4,11,18
Now with a simple bit of math, you can add or subtract your way to any day of the month.

To learn how to figure out dates throughout the centuries listen to the audio clip at the top of the post starting at the 7:00 mark

Test your geography skills

2011-08-17T00:16:00.010-04:00

You can find out how badly you suck at U.S. geography here. (Select [All States - National] in the game controls to the left of the map for a respectable challenge.)
More U.S. geography games here

The World Shot Through a Light Bulb

2011-08-15T23:31:00.005-04:00

PETAPIXEL | AUGUST 15, 2011
http://pulse.me/s/1b5F7

Flickr user Henrique Feliciano Silva made this neat photograph by hollowing out a light bulb, filling it with water, hanging it upside down on his balcony, and shooting his neighborhood through it with a shallow depth of field. Read more

Do People Always See the Same Things When They Look At Colors?

2011-08-15T23:24:00.002-04:00

PETAPIXEL | AUGUST 12, 2011
http://pulse.me/s/18LmY

Color is simply how our brains respond to different wavelengths of light, and... Read more

Here is a picture

2011-08-15T23:14:00.001-04:00

Blogables: The greatest blog ever created at 11:06pm on a Monday in August

2011-08-15T23:06:00.002-04:00

Holy crap! it took long enough to find a name that was available for a blog. Update: After 24 hours of owning the name Blogables, I have come to find that it is the perfect name for a blog and if I could have my pick from every single name for a blog, I would choose... Blogables. Indeed this is part of the human coping mechanism which tries to make us happy.