Alex Santoso's Blog Posts
It may not be exactly the same as standing in front of masterpiece paintings by the Old Masters, but if you can't make the plane trip to Madrid, Spain, it's still pretty darn neat.
Google just launched a Google Earth feature that lets you view select paintings from The Prado Museum in astonishing details:
The Prado Museum has become the first art gallery in the world to provide access to and navigation of its collection in Google Earth. Using Google Earth, art historians, students and tourists everywhere can zoom in on and explore the finer details of the artist's brushwork that can be easily missed at first glance.
The paintings have been photographed in very high resolution and contain as many as 14,000 million pixels (14 gigapixels). With this high level resolution you are able to see fine details such as the tiny bee on a flower in The Three Graces (Las Tres Gracias), delicate tears on the faces of the figures in The Descent from the Cross (El Descendimiento) and complex figures in The Garden of Earthly Delights (El Jardin de las Delicias)
Link (with a pretty nifty embedded YouTube clip for those of us who don't have Google Earth installed) - via The Lede Blog
Last month, we started a new feature on Neatorama: an open forum for Neatorama readers. In the blog post introducing the forum, I promised that the best posters will win a mystery prize, and since I'm a man of my words, here it is:
Congratulations to SparkS, blakdragon, and Johnny Cat for being the top forum posters. As my thanks, they'll get a free iPod shuffle (they even get to choose the colors!). The rest of the top participants in the forum, shown above, will get a free Neatorama T-Shirt.
Thank you again for putting in the time and effort to make the Neatorama forum an enjoyable to hang out and chat!
I Wish I Were the Moon is a refreshingly different and genre-defying Flash game by Daniel Benmergui of Ludomancy. It is inspired by Italo Calvino's short story The Distance of the Moon
and has been showcased at the Tokyo Game Show for its experimental gameplay.
The object of the game is to find the 8 possible outcomes or "endings" - all you have to do is take snapshots of something and click again to move it ...
Supposedly there's even a "secret" ending: Link [Flash]
If you like that, check out Daniel's other games: Storyteller and The Trials - via Blue Tea
Can't go anywhere without your cuddly teddy bear? Sebastian Errazuriz made a coat for people who can't part with their stuffed animal for just one second: http://www.meetsebastian.com/english/ (Flash Website, click on Limited Edition > Fasion > Coat N2) - via designers block
Love, love, love these cute marzipan sculptures by Glenn D'Hondt, Sylvia Meert, and Tinne Mermans of Eugene and Louise Bakery (it's a fictional bakery for an art show): http://www.eugene-and-louise-bakery.be/ (don't miss the white chocolate butter cookie clouds!) - via Scene 360 Illusion
Photo: Second City Warehouse [Flickr]
Neatorama reader lir wrote an interesting account of the abandoned Uptown Theatre in Chicago. The ornate theater, the second largest in the United States, has been abandoned and boarded up since 1980 because the high cost of upkeep and repair:
The theatre is called the Uptown Theatre. It was built by Balaban and Katz, a company started by four Chicagoans who built, owned and operated dozens of theatres and movie palaces from the 1920's to the 1970's. It was designed in a Spanish Baroque style by Rapp and Rapp - the same who built the Chicago Theatre on State Street four years before. It was built in 1925 with 4,381 seats (only the Radio City Music Hall is larger), a five story main lobby and two other side lobbies, an eight story facade, a large Wurlitzer organ, and millions worth of marble statuary and oil paintings. Silent films with full orchestras were the original entertainment at the theatre, but since its opening the theatre has been a stage for musicals, concerts, television shows, company meetings...
Unfortunately, due to the less then perfect reputation the area has had for a while, the cost of upkeep, its size, and from competition with the Riviera and Aragon, the Uptown started to sell off parts of itself, starting with the organ, and continuing with much of the interior decorations to pay for the care of the place. In the 1970's, the Uptown was used as a large concert venue, with evidently a very memorable show by Bruce Springsteen taking place there in 1980. It was about this time that the theatre was sold, boarded up, and while plans with what exactly to use the massive ornately archaic and deteriorating structure for were being formed, water pipes froze and burst inside, causing severe damage. (Source)
Undercity.org, a website dedicated to exploration of abandoned and hidden urban sites, has a fascinating gallery of the Uptown Theatre: Link | Uptown Theatre photoset at Flickr by Second City Warehouse
The following is reprinted from the May - June 2007 issue of mental_floss magazine. PARDON OUR FRENCH What do D-Day and disco have in common, besides the letter D? Nazis, of course! During World War II, when the Third Reich occupied Paris, jazz clubs were closed and live music of a liberal nature was strictly verboten! But Parisians couldn't live without their jazz, so they took it underground, opening illicit cellars where they could drink booze freely and listen to pre-recorded music. One such club, on Rue de la Huchette, called itself La Discothèque - coined from the French words for "record" (disque) and "library" (bibliothèque). ALWAYS STARTIN' SOMETHIN' Many elements of what we now call disco music appeared in songs like The Jackson 5's 1969 smash "I Want You Back" and Isaac Hayes' 1971 hit "Theme from Shaft." (Actual movie tagline: "The mob wanted Harlem back. They got Shaft ... up to here.") Chubby Checker even released a song back in 1964 titled "At the Discotheque."
But most historians agree the first real disco record was 1972's "Soul Makossa" by the Cameroon-born sax player Manu Dibango. In the song, Dibango can be heard chanting Mama-se, mama-sa, mama-koo-sa. Sound familiar? It should. Michael Jackson used it 10 years later in his song "Wanna be Startin' Somethin'" BEE KEEPING Oddly enough, members of the disco super-group The Bee Gees never dug their moniker. In fact, after Robert Stigwood signed on as the band's producer in 1967, the group lobbied to change its name. But what could possibly be better than The Bee Gees? The band suggested Rupert's World. Luckily, their manager nixed the notion. Years later, singer Barry Gibb remarked, "It was like changing your name from Charlie S--t to Fred S--t." "D" IS FOR DISCO The success of "Saturday Night Fever" changed the face of disco forever. Suddenly, everyone was sporting white polyester suits - and not just Travolta wannabes. Rod Stewart, Cher, Bette Midler, The Rolling Stones, Dolly Parton, Andy Williams, David Bowie, Neil Diamond, and, yes, even Cookie Monster all donned disco-wear. (Disco Kermit via Jonathan Mc [Flickr]) HEY MISSUS DJ, PUT A RECORD ON Sometimes, bold experiments result in mundane things like polio vaccines (yawn.) But other times, they result in wild, earth-shattering breakthroughs! Case in point: 1953's birth of the DJ. That's when 24-year-old Regine Zylberberg, manager of Paris' famous Whisky a Go-Go, undertook an experiment to replace the club's jukebox with two turntables and a microphone. In no time, DJs were pumping up the jam at parties the world over, as was Zybelberg. By the 1970s, she was running 25 clubs across Europe and the Americas. In fact, you could boogie down at Regine's establishments somewhere in the world 17 out of every 24 hours - assuming you could get in. FIELD OF FLAMES Because 1970s discos were often frequented by African-Americans, homosexuals, and working-class white women, the scene was perceived as a threat to the rock 'n' roll community, which had long been a Viking ship of straight white males. Their establishment's witty, orginal slogan - "Disco Sucks" - became popular in the later part of the decade and was available for purchase wherever fine rock T-shirt were sold. (Photo: Rich.lionheart via Wikipedia) Album-oriented rock (A.O.R.) stations also fueled the anti-disco fire. On July 12, 1979, Steve Dahl, longtime DJ at Chicago's WDAI, staged Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey PArk, where the White Sox were playing a doubleheader. Fans bearing disco albums were admitted into the stadium for a mere 98 cents. Then, between games, they stormed the field to set their records ablaze. Some even detonated them with bombs. As the fires roared, the masses chanted "Disco sucks!", whipping the stadium into a chaotic frenzy so threatening, the second game of the doubleheader had to be cancelled. Fittingly, more records were broken on July 12, 1979, than on any other day in baseball history. "SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER": DISCO INFERNO OR DISCO INFURIATING?
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The article above is reprinted from Scatterbrained section of the May - June 2007 issue of mental_floss magazine. Be sure to visit mental_floss' website and blog for more fun stuff! |
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Ooh, it's there all right. It's a hidden message by Brad Troemel - the question is: can you see it? See the bigger version at today and tomorrow blog.
Heh! This is pretty neat: a set of 14hand drawn "doodle" icon set, including social media logos of digg, delicious, twitter, and so on by Chris Spooner of SpoonGraphics.
The best part about it is that they're free for you to download! Link - via Fuel Your Creativity
Here goes: "Neatorama isn't a political blog ..." so thank goodness that this article by Kiera Butler in Mother Jones pokes fun at both liberals and conservatives:
You may be a liberal if...you're in the mood for Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie-Dough Cheesecake. Liberals' chain eateries of choice are the Cheesecake Factory, Panera Bread, and Starbucks, while conservatives dine at Hardee's and Fuddruckers.
You may be a conservative if...you're happy with tap water. Domino's Pizza claims Republican customers are less likely to order beverages.
You may be a liberal if...you're too lazy to walk to the pizza place. The Domino's survey found that Democrats rely on delivery more than Republicans.
Let's keep the comments clean, mmkay? Link
What to do with ugly ceramic vases and jugs? Turn them into chic art pieces and rock collectibles by painting the logos of famous rock bands! That's exactly what Pierre Blanc did: http://www.legaragepierreblanc.com/catalog/index.php - via Scene 360 Illusion
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Coraline alphabet posters, designed by Ignition
Print at Internet
Movie Poster Awards
A few days ago, I posted about bloggers that got special boxes from the creators of Coraline, an animated stop-motion fantasy film based on a novella by Neil Gaiman (directed by Henry Selick, who also directed The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and The Giant Peach). The Coraline boxes contain items from the highly anticipated movie - dolls, wigs, suitcase, etc. There are only 50 such boxes made and sent to bloggers, and each is a one-of-a-kind handmade box.
The blogosphere is abuzz with these mystery boxes - there's a hunt of sorts to find out which bloggers got them and what they look like. (See, for instance: Evil Buttons and NotCot). In addition to these 50 boxes, there are also Button Box from "The Other Mother" sent to many other bloggers.
Little did I know when I was writing the post that sitting just 5 feet away from my desk was ... Neatorama's very own Coraline Box! (It's good to be a blogger sometimes!)
Our Coraline box (No. 27) is gorgeous: a 7 x 6 X 4 inch wooden cigar box that opens up to reveal nine "Chocolate Beetles From Zanzibar," a key, and a photo from the movie. On the side of the box is a wax-sealed envelope with a letter from LAIKA animation company in Oregon that created the movie.
Here are the pictures:
Coraline Box: "Handmade in Oregon 27/50"
Inside the box are 9 "Chocolate Beetles from Zanzibar"
The Chocolate Beetles - one is "crawling out" and one is um,
rather dead. These are wonderful handpainted pieces and each one is unique.
"[The Other Mother] carefully picked out a particularly large and
black beetle, pulled off its legs ... and popped the beetle into her mouth
... 'Yum,' she said, and took another. -- CHAPT. VI
Coraline.com is a fantastic website for the movie - go forth and visit
this instance!
There's a sealed letter attached on the side of the box. It's similar
to the one other bloggers got.
Thank you for the wonderful surprise, "The Other Mother" and Coraline Team! (And thanks to my lovely wife Tiffany who took the neat photos!). Coraline opens in theatres February 6th, 2009.
Previously on Neatorama: Coraline Boxes | Video: Coraline movie footage | Explore the Coraline Site
And yes, sharp-eyed readers may notice that the Chocolate Beetles from Zanzibar is featured in the "Z" poster:
Z is for Zanzibar - where chocolate beetles come from.
Surprisingly tasty, if you can catch one.
Maria of fashion and design blog Stickers and Donuts has just completed her year-long project of wearing a different outfit every day of the year. Here's the photographic proof:
... sometime early last year, I started taking pictures of my outfits everyday. There was a bit of a hubbub at work, at the time, about how many bright colors I wore and how ridiculous I sometimes looked. We had no dress code at work, so I took advantage of it. I crave a bit of creativity in every day, and getting dressed in fun outfits is one way I got it (until I started S&D). Anyway, I started taking the pictures just so I could see what people were talking about. And yes, as you might have noticed, I win some and lose some as far as fashion is concerned.
Link - via Limited Fun
I can only imagine Steve Jobs doing this: it's black turtleneck and jeans every friggin' day!
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