Monkey Plunger

WSJ Science Journal

lux — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 15:30:04 +0000

Get Out of Your Own Way!

Studies Show the Value of Not Overthinking a Decision
June 27, 2008; Page A9

Fishing in the stream of consciousness, researchers
now can detect our intentions and predict our choices before we are
aware of them ourselves. The brain, they have found, appears to make up
its mind 10 seconds before we become conscious of a decision — an
eternity at the speed of thought.

Their findings challenge conventional notions of choice.

Corbis

“We think our decisions are conscious,” said
neuroscientist John-Dylan Haynes at the Bernstein Center for
Computational Neuroscience in Berlin, who is pioneering this research.
“But these data show that consciousness is just the tip of the iceberg.
This doesn’t rule out free will, but it does make it implausible.” link

Is Scott’s shirt dangerous?

lux — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 09:32:34 +0000

Thirsty

lux — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 09:18:29 +0000

Originally uploaded by fellowsfog.

It’s me, ya… taking a break from helping out on a video shoot. Thankfully I had unicorn power and a pbr. More photos from the shoot here.

mypocket spending

lux — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 00:51:00 +0000

is a network model created to generate list of predictions about future spending. it shows the unprocessed model of dynamic relationships between transaction items and their effects over time. each node represents a transaction and are connected to each other through categories and dates.

[link: turbulence.org|thnkx jack!]

Originally from information aesthetics on January 24, 2008, 6:44pm

malwarez cyber threats

lux — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 00:51:00 +0000

is a series of visualization of worms, viruses, trojans and spyware code. for each piece of disassembled code, API calls, memory addresses and subroutines are tracked and analyzed. their frequency, density and grouping are mapped to the inputs of an algorithm that grows a virtual 3D entity. the entities have been used in campaign to heighten awareness of cyber threats.

[link: sq.ro & messagelabs.com|thnkx jose!]

autonomous architecture

lux — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 00:51:00 +0000

an augmented reality architectural form, driven by real time environmental information such as temperature, brightness, humidity, wind direction and sound. nodes reflecting the sensor network are the seeds for the virtual architecture, growing and subsiding like an organism.

[link: corpora.ycam.jp & doublenegatives.jp |thnkx thedlab]

Originally from information aesthetics on January 15, 2008, 6:03pm

a year in iraq

lux — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 00:51:00 +0000

infographic representing the type and location of each attack in the Iraq war, responsible for the 2,592 recorded deaths among American and other coalition troops, Iraqi security forces and members of the peshmerga militias controlled by the Kurdish government.

[link: nytimes.com (article) & nytimes.com|thnkx reallifepixel]

Originally from information aesthetics on January 7, 2008, 8:05pm

internet usage statistics origami

lux — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 00:50:00 +0000

a collection of abstract, paper origami pieces that represent the world internet usage statistics. the length of each flap on these data sculptures exactly corresponds to a numerical statistic different country.

[link: ordigami.net|thnkx Monika!]

Originally from information aesthetics on January 29, 2008, 12:36am

Videodrome : International Hardcore Videoclash Tournament

lux — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 00:48:00 +0000

Also by the Atak label, the nicely chopped intro to this, positions 4 different video artists and crews against each other in a battle of AV sampling skills. Quite varied styles on the disc and a bunch of interesting extras to wander through. Worth a look.

fame fame ( toronto )
The Fame Fame disc portion showcases clips from another label who exist for the ‘production and promotion of the aggressive, intense and volatile..’. So when Elvis & James Dean appear, it’s not long before they are whipped and sliced into an AV frenzy. Actutally works well, and followed by a more splattery stroboscopic piece by - cheerfully titled ‘i die u die’ by Jubal Brown. ‘In the eye’ by Tasman Richardson plays with surveillance cameras, mirror effects, layering of extreme close ups, tv glitches, all nicely composed then blending Robert De Niro in with rapid-fire micro-samples. Tasman follows this by remixing vintage guitar concert footage with white stripes drums, Ice cube, Public Enemy video samples..

eclectic method ( london )
Bill themselves as DVJs… “mixing music video and film snips like a DJ mixes records…”. Funny thing is - add together music videos by Blur, Prince, Snoop Dog, Beastie Boys, Aphex Twin, Metallica & Britney Spears etc etc all beat-matched and mashed together in a glossy high value production style, and you end up with a glossy, banal jukebox. Some cool moments, but they should be able to use their talents for far more interesting things than this.

madame chao ( new york )
“Everything is illegal’ - proclaims the intro by madame chao to a video described as ‘Violent slapstick’ best watched with a sword in one hand a drink in the other…’. The title sequence is quickly followed by a fast flickering density of hyper-speed collages, kaleidoscope warping, asian tv edits, and a text announcement that ‘copyright infringement is your patriotic duty’. Some genuinely inventive parts, bit relentless for myself though.

atak ( paris )
The label releasing the DVD leave a quarter of it for themselves, being a ‘hybrid mix of Vjs, movie makers and musicians’. Thusly, we get fed an initially sophisticated blend of medical experiments, horror movie special effects, motion graphics… with film sound bleeding through layered on a bed of industrial beats. Soon becomes a barrage, and a couple of high-speed carnage clips by Rko continue that pace.

Originally by jean poole from { { { { - - Sky Noise — >>> on January 16, 2008, 8:30pm

V-Atak 01 : ‘Meat’ by Lifesteak, Cinemassaker & Mutation

lux — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 00:48:00 +0000

Atak hails out of Paris, an audiovisual label with a quite a few releases under their gallic belt by now. ‘Meat’ features a series of clips by 3 artists on their roster, on a DVD boasting to be ‘DVJ ready’ - ready for looping and scratching by those with access to DVD turntables. The disc’s cover is a good clue to the content within, an eye-popping collage of photoshopped flesh in various states of life, augmented by various bolted on bits of electronic technology.

Cinemassaker start off with various close up screen textures, layers of surveillance cameras and jolts of colourised tv news, punctuated by beeps and glitches. It’s nicely done, with mostly restrained palettes, and quite hypnotically edited, up to and including the introduction of footage from John Carpenter’s legendary ‘They Live’ movie, where the main characters discover special sunglasses which enable them a capacity to decode all public advertisements ( put the glasses on and a billboard for a car now reads in stark black and white : ‘work, consume, die’ ). Overlaid barcodes and pixelated animations, along with burnt colours help their editing condense the film’s samples down to a bare repetitive essence, and they manage to lock into some kind of ambient audiovisual groove. Next track follows the same recipe, gradually introducing a film I didn’t know and paring it down over time, and the final track is a sequence of ever bloodying hi-speed martial arts chops.

Mutation continue the gore with a chicken killing scene that comes off as some weird voodoo circus scene the way they’ve colorised and framed it. Some wasted human dominates the next clip in eerie close up, and their final clip plays with highway panoramas and nicely overlaid motion graphics with sound on top of footage of overhead power lines sweeping by.

Lifesteak start off in a much more ambient vein, overlaid layers of light streaked plant close-ups, building up in slow intensity, the next clip musically editing and layering the squawks of birds flying from clifffaces. Factory machine close-ups are sequenced in the next clip, getting denser over time and it closes with butcher footage interlaced with motion graphics and some lab hand analysing a human brain.

Not for the squeamish then, but some worthwhile moments on the disc.

Originally by jean poole from { { { { - - Sky Noise — >>> on January 16, 2008, 8:28pm