Only 3068 more years until the end of the world!

Ignore the Mayans. They're outdated.

Instead, let's all take a closer look at Baba Vanga and her miraculously specific predictions for the rest of humanity. Baba Vanga was Bulgarian clairvoyant and herbalist. She was lived from 1911 - 1996. Baba was blinded in a childhood accident, and it was then that she also claimed to have received her "gift" or seeing the future. She claims to have predicted the total history of the world from the mid-90's all the way to 5079, her predicted date for the end of the world.

It's worth taking a look at. If not for pure interest, then for the chuckle you get from some of her more... quirky predictions, such as "2291 – The sun cools. Attempts were being made to light it again." or of course "4599 – People achieve immortality."

Some of her predictions, such as the ones about feuding countries, or war, seem very realistic, and in fact logical as well. However, her predictions are laced with absolutely ridiculously impossible ones, like "2164 – Animals turn half-human." That simply can not happen. Evolution takes millions of years, not 150. The thing is, that despite these cooky predictions, they can almost be discounted because of the harsh reality of the other ones she made. Here are a few of the ones that seem eerily real to me for numerous reasons. Remember, she made these in the late 1900's, shortly before her death. At this time, technology was not nearly where it is today, so these predictions are made all the more astonishing.


2010 – World War III. War will begin in November 2010 and end in October 2014. Will begin as usual, then nuclear will be used initially, and then chemical weapons.
2011 – As a result of the fallout of nuclear fallout in the northern hemisphere will not be any animals or vegetation. Then Muslims will wage war against chemical surviving Europeans.
2014 – Most people will suffer skin cancer and other skin diseases (a consequence of chemical warfare).
2016 – Europe almost lonely (empty).
2018 – New China becomes a world power. Developing countries in turn operated from exploiters.
2023 – A little bit of change in the Earth’s orbit.
2025 – Europe still little settled.
2028 – Creating a new energy source (probably a controlled thermonuclear reaction). Hunger is gradually being overcome. Launched a manned spacecraft to Venus.
2033 – The polar ice are melting. Greater levels of the oceans.
2043 – The world economy is thriving. In Europe, Muslims rule.

These predictions, especially the first one about how World War III begins in November 2010, isn't as far-fetched as many think. Sure, it's now December, and we're all safe and sound. However, the foundation for war was partially laid in November. Remember the North Korean artillery bombardment on South Korea, not to mention the countless nuclear weapons at their disposal? The transition from normal weapons to nuclear to chemical is also a very natural progression of things, and one that I'm shocked was made in the 1900's and to such accuracy. The following predictions are also all very realistic. Skin cancer is of course a viable result of chemical/nuclear warfare. China is already on the path to become a world power. Thermonuclear technology (creating an artificial sun) has been in the works for the recent years, but science has been unable to provide a way to sustain a stable source of it. The polar ice levels melting is also becoming a growing problem. As for the Muslims, they are growing faster and faster every single day and I do believe they could overtake all other religions in a short time.

Her predictions after that point of 2043 seem more far-fetched to me. But, then again, if you told me 10 years ago that all the information in the world would be available online, or that technology to watch television in high quality 3-Dimensional projection would be available to the masses, I would have said you were crazy. Maybe her future predictions seem strange now, but in the future, they will be just a normal part of life.

Teacher attempts "Pencil Ban"

In North Brookfield elementary school, Massachusetts, a lonely teacher began a crusade to stop the rash of recent pencil and pen killings in her classroom by banning them altogether. Okay, everything except for the "killings" part is true. Wendy Scott, a seemingly paranoid schoolteacher, sent home a letter that read:

"Students will no longer be allowed to bring writing implements to school. Pencils will be provided for students in class and any students caught with pencils or pens after Nov. 15 will face disciplinary action for having materials to build weapons."

Seems like Wendy's been having suspicions of an impending revolt by her 6th grade Math class. Any day now, they'll strike back by flinging semi-sharpened 5gram pencils at her, or maybe *gasp* viciously attacking her with a ballpoint pen.

Let's be honest here, any student that's sick enough to want to attack or kill another student or teacher in their class, will bring a knife to school. They wouldn't use a little pencil to do it. Banning pencils won't do anyone any good. How else are they supposed to learn? They're in elementary school, so half of them don't have laptops anyways. This teacher needs to smarten up and stop being so paranoid.

Any more of these stupid pencil banning letters home, and her students really will plan a revolt!

Hyper Parents: Doing everything but the wiping for their kids.

http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/Shows/Doc_Zone/1242299559/ID=1405930535

In a video done by CBC, they examined the effects that "Hyper Parenting" is having on our generation, or "Generation Y". They state that our parents are coddling us too much. They are doing too much for us. Seems rather contradictory, since the widespread belief was that the more your parents did for your well-being, the better off you would be. However, it's when parents end up going overboard on trying to help us in our lives, that they end up actually causing the most harm.

It's the gymnastic classes before the baby can even walk, let alone balance on thin boards. It's the $4000 party for the baby's first birthday, complete with a professionally designed and made cake, as well as over 40 guests at a rented out hall. It's the GPS-locators being placed in school bags. The Cell-spy and Internet-spy, to keep tabs on your child's activities at all times. This sounds like an overlord, not a parent.

One part of the video that really got my attention was when someone stated that parenting has become a "cross between competitive sports and product development." When raising a child becomes developing a product, that's where I draw the line. A child is someone to instill the good values that you learned and were taught throughout your life. If you treat your child like an product, constantly trying to improve it with everything you can think of, with no regards to what's actually best for the child, then you are an unfit parent. Too much stress will be on the child, and this stress is detrimental to natural development.

In my opinion, you should never solve your child's problems, or try to improve them through your own doing. Instead, simply help your child to discover how it is he can solve his own problem. In doing so, the child will learn problem solving skills, and in the process, he has improved himself! Hardly magic, as this has been the method of choice for our grandparents, and generations before them. In this day and age though, too many new parents think that if they solve their child's problems for them all the time, then their child will be happier and better for it. What they neglect to realize is that once their child matures and goes out on their own... noone will solve their problems for them.

It's gotten to the point where parents enroll their children in specialized early reading classes, in hopes that others will teach their students how to read earlier than their peers. While many see this as a positive thing, it has an underlying nastiness to it that isn't always apparent. From my own experience, I know that the best way to learn something is to experience it yourself. While these reading classes are drilling the words and pronunciations into young minds, these young minds might not be very receptive to wanting to learn the words. I am a very good reader, and always was, because I wanted to learn. How is this possible? I'm not even a book-lover, and in fact I picked up very few books when I was young. Instead, I learned to read by playing video games. Back when I was 3 or 4 years old, I played a game system where all the dialogue was written. I wanted to understand what I was playing and doing in the game, so whenever words came up, I called my mother into the room. She'd help me read and pronounce the words correctly, and when I asked what each word meant, she told me. By the end of the game I could read like a pro, because throughout the whole process, I really wanted to learn!

This all just goes to show, that while failure at a young age can be prevented through protective, hyper-parenting, self-motivation can eliminate circumstances where failure happens for the rest of their lives. Just let kids be kids, and help them when they ask for it. Other than that, I think we'll be just fine.

Beat that box! Beath that box! Beat that box!

Naturally 7 has truly outdone themselves this time. They decided to put on a show where they attempt to emulate an entire band, complete with bass guitar, snare drum, bass drum, high-hats, keyboard, synthesizers, vocalists, and a whole mess of instruments that I don't even know the names for!

If you're unfamiliar with Naturally 7, simply do what I did and search youtube for them. They're a group of african-american men with a god-given gift. The gift of music and rhythm and an incredibly natural soul/flow to their music. They work as one unit, and the amount of time they must have put into perfecting their outstanding creations is immense. They do large performances in theatres, as well as impromptu performances in the most unusual locations. The weirdest place I've seen them perform? In a subway! Yep, they actually rode the subway, and began performing "I can feel it" during the ride, with all the passengers in awe at the showmanship of all 7 members.

Check out the subway video here.

This all just goes to show, you don't need fancy instruments or years of lessons in each respective discipline. All you need is a love for music, and a voice-box.

Well, at least I'm not a digital dummy.

12 billion. That's how many texts are sent worldwide, every single day. Considering there's only 6 billion people on Earth, and many of those people are living below the poverty line in Africa, India, and many parts of Europe... double the world's population in text messages is really astonishing.

What's more astonishing is the fact that people are being drawn in to the notion that these things are a part of our being. Some people actually treat their phones like their babies. Need proof? There's a blackberry case that attaches to a baby stroller. Yes, you can now walk your precious month old baby down the street, whilst you're texting and not paying any attention to your surroundings at all! Sounds too good to be true, I know. But, here's the sad part. It is true, and to an even greater extent than aforementioned. There was an experiment done with students at a major university, where a clown on a unicycle pedalled  his way around campus. The test was to determine whether or not students would see. Not talk to, not make comments about, but merely see a brightly coloured, unicycling, wobbly clown going right past them. Needless to say, the students on cellphones did not see the clown. Back to the previous baby stroller issue: if using a cell phone prevents noticing a brightly coloured entertainer, then what's to stop this cell phone use preventing someone from noticing and incoming car or bicyclist... headed straight for their baby. It's a gruesome thought, but it's a necessary one, and it raises the question... are we digital dummies?

In this article from CBC, they asked that question, and so much more.

Using technology, or should I say, abusing technology, has become an epidemic. Work hours have stretched from working 47 hours a week, to over 70 hours a week. This has in turn, caused an increase in stress, which has a whole slough of negative side effects. Cell phone usage has also been linked to decrease in job and life satisfaction, as well as an increase in marital/relationship quarrels. But it's not just cell phones that are the major players in this digital addiction. It's also computers. One man stated that he spent "probably 8 hours a day. maybe 12 to be honest", hours using a computer. With 24 hours in one day, that's half the day spent on your butt doing... whatever you want on the computer. One kid became so addicted to his computer, that he spent literally days on end, without much movement at all. This prolonged inactivity caused a bloodclot in his leg, and he had to have his leg amputated. He was lucky he didn't lose more than his leg in the incident.

This could have been completely prevented by limiting the usage of his technology. I, for one, am taking the article's message to heart. I spend way too much time staring at a computer screen, and not enough outside, or doing things other than being on Facebook, or surfing the internet. Despite what many (including me) thought about information gathering online, it's not as good as it's made out to be. Getting information through prolonged computer usage requires quite a bit of shifting from one piece of information to the next. Our brains don't have time to concentrate fully on any one thing, and therefore we lose the ability to give any substantial amount of focus into our activity at hand.

The solution? Stop being digital dummies. Use your cell phone quickly to do what you need to do, but don't sacrifice safety. Use the computer for your school work, or information gathering, but then leave and go take a break. Read a book. Do anything other than staring into a screen of brain-altering information.

Don't be a digital dummy.

The Body Cures EVERYTHING!

Seriously though, it does! Well, almost everything, according to this article from Men's Health.

This article covers most minor ailments and even some things that are just helpful to know about your body and it's healing/restorative properties. It's a good read, and not just for men, but women too! Some of the points covered include how to hold your breathe for longer underwater, how to stop a brainfreeze immediately, how to not fall whilst drunk (not that anyone under 19 drinks), how to prevent peeing, how to clear your stuffed nose (very interesting), and... my favourite... how to shut down your friend's muscular resistance.

This one's really cool.

Simply ask your friend to raise his arm to his side, with his palm facing down. Now, take two of your fingers and push down on his wrist. His arm will not move. Now, ask him to place one foot on a platform a few inches off the ground, and raise his arm again. This time, when you push down, his arm will fall like a house of cards. How? Well, he's on a platform, and his brain knows it. The brain senses that his body is at an angle, and that his spine is vulnerable, which partially shuts down his body's resistance in order to prevent a spinal injury. But what it really does is make you look like you have superhuman strength... or makes your friend look like a little girly-man!

Let's squish our fruits together!

Check this out! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnY59mDJ1gg&feature=channel

If you've never heard of Improv Everywhere, you have now! This is a group of everyday people, not necessarily actors or singers, they can be volunteers from the New York area, and they go around doing spontaneous acts of hilarity. Why? Just to mess with people's heads and get a few good laughs out of them while they're at it!

In this creation, the good folks at Improv Everywhere assembled a team of about 6 singers, and planted them at strategic spots in a grocery store. Once the song came on the intercom (a musical instrumental piece, since the singers provided the vocals) they sprung into action. It started with one man singing about his "lonely fruit", and eventually spiraled into a musical about "squishing fruits together", consisting of numerous singers dancing, singing, and waving fruit in the air, whilst all the customers in the fruit and vegetable aisle were left in awe. Sounds corny (pardon the pun), but it worked out beautifully! The camera work was superb, with numerous cameras placed around the event in order to capture the faces of not just the singers, but also the unsuspecting grocery store shoppers. The main camera was a front-on view of the whole cast singing, and it made for something truly magical. It definitely brought a smile to my face! :)

The Mental Everest

In this article by Harrison Solow, she describes, in detail, how the "dream and you will achieve" philosophy taught to the youth is actually a bunch of bull.

She states that even the youth in "our universities are filled with people who have dreams but no plans, desires but no talent, talent but no work ethic..." Her claim is that parents have drilled the idea that to succeed in life, you must have a dream, and simply follow it. This "you can do anything you dream of" approach to parenting perturbs her to no end. Harrison goes on to explain how the only true way to achieve your dreams in life is to do it through sacrifice, dedication, and actual work towards attaining your dream. Whether that dream is becoming a rock-star, professional athlete, movie star, or businessman, the same rules apply. You'd have to give up time spending hours practicing your instrument, or working out in the gym, or taking acting lessons, or studying your craft. Even then, only those who put in the most work will actually make it. Her point is that the younger generation is now starting to develop a "think and get" attitude, whereas the appropriate attitude to have is a "do and get" disposition.

In my opinion, she's very right, and still very wrong. She brings up some good points about having to work towards your dreams. I know, better than anyone, about that, because of the thousands of hours I've put into the gym, working towards my goals. And therein lies the major flaw in her argument. "Dreams" are something you literally dream of, or, in her sense, aspire to become. "Goals" are something entirely different. Goals are something that inherently includes some sense of work, or path, in order to achieve. Dreams do not. Dreams can be just that, dreams; something mental, and if it is mental, it will remain that way until you change your thinking and consider it your goal.

That's my opinion anyway. I have numerous goals in life. I want to be physically fit and dominant, and so I will continue to work out throughout my entire life. I want to surround myself with the best people I can, so I make sure that I have good friends, and I do. Most of all, I want to be successful. It's not a dream of mine, because my dreams consist of me flying around in my own imaginary dreamland. Instead, this is a goal. And I will work to achieve it.

Independent Project Proposal

Proposal Questions

What communications technology skills will you be using in this project?

I will be using communications technology skills that I have learned and developed from last year to the present. These include my camera-work, film editing, Rotoscoping, picture editing (using Photoshop), and all video-related skills at my disposal.

How will this project be significantly different from the current projects listed? Make direct comparisons.

This project will be different than the current projects listed because it is a combination of all three project rotation categories, with my own personal modifications made to each. This project will utilize the best parts of each category. The video aspect will be taken to a new extent by combining action with a documentary style creating. The animation aspect will be altered by incorporating drawn-in figures of actual people who aren’t originally included in the filming. This has not been done before in this class and is a major aspect of the project that I’m looking forward to. The last category, the HT-Week-end review will be altered by using the sports aspect to a great extent. The majority of the project will be sports-based, with a focus on HT Football. This is being combined with the documentary-style of what it means to lose two years in a row to the same team in the finals, and also what work must be done to succeed, and what football means to me specifically. All of this is interlaced with bits of highlights from previous games, as well as the championship game. Finally, the scenes pertaining to what football means to me, and what it feels like to lose, will be edited to create artificial, cartoon-style people who are interacting with a real person. This is completely unique in it’s own right because not only are fake-people being created, but they are actually moving and interacting with the real people in the video. The most ambitious part of this will be a scene where it is literally me against an entire team of rotoscoped, hand-drawn players. However, to go one step further, I am going to attempt to do this scene in one continuous shot, very similar to the Nike Football – Leave Nothing commercial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55BZ2gSsSmY

What technology is needed to complete this project?

The technology needed will include: a video camera, tripod, editing software, Photoshop, and a creative mind.

What kind of preparation work is needed for this project? Include research

I’ll need to obtain videos of all the football games from this year, as well as use my own collection of film to find the best view of the plays as possible. In addition, I will need to find 5^th year football players who are open to being interviewed about their football careers at Holy Trinity.

What is the scope of the project?

The scope of this project is extremely large, mainly due to the numerous scenes being shot, in addition to the rotoscoped football team being drawn in.

How many people are needed to meet the scope of the project?

About 5 or 6 people are needed to meet the scope of this project. One to film me for certain parts, about 3 or 4 people to interview about their football careers, and then myself.

Describe pre-production work needed to prepare for this project.

I’ll need to create a storyboard, a script, a treatment, and then make sure to complete all of my preparation work mentioned above, as well as get the costumes/wardrobe sorted out.

What will you do during production?

During production I will complete all of the interviews first, followed by the rest of the filming of off-season training for me. After the filming is complete, I’ll need to combine that with the footage of the football season from this year.

What kinds of things will you be doing in post-production?

In post production, I will be editing the entire video, as well as photo shopping a filmstrip and adding numerous special effects to the video.

What will the final product look and sound like when it is done? Describe with regard to scope, difficulty, output medium (print or screen, with or without sound)

The final product will look very cut and clean. The interviews will be well put-together, but short and to the point, so as not to bore the audience. The music in the background will consist of “Fly” by Ludovico Einaudi, as well as “Requiem for a dream” by Clint Mansell. Both of these are very inspirational songs, the first one being a bit slower, and the second one being faster/more upbeat and suited to action scenes. Therefore, the first song will make up the beginning of the video, which will be slower and include the interviews, while the second half of the video will consist of the action scenes and the more upbeat song.

The most difficult, time-consuming aspect of this project will inevitably be the rotoscoping of me against a whole team of football players who aren’t even really there in the first place. This portion will take weeks, so I need the filming to be done fairly shortly to accompany this portion of the project.

The last effect I’m going to incorporate is the contrast of the video. I want to introduce a few effects to give this video impressive lighting and contrast, to give it a “300”-esque look to it. Very rich, deep colours, almost exaggerated, which will give the video, especially the action scenes, an impressive, unique look.

Very Important: Describe criteria in which the project can be evaluated? For each criterion you have to answer the question,

“What make this a well done _____________?”

Visual Effects: How well have the visual effects been utilized in this video? Is the rotoscoping well executed?

Camera-Work: Are the scenes well filmed and crisp (no blurriness)? Does the video incorporate many angles and utilize them in an attractive, eye-catching way?

Audio Quality: Are the voices clear (no excessive background noise)? Does the music selection fit the theme and flow of the video?

The World Premiere: Black-Forrest Gump

The final video, "Black-Forrest Gump", is complete!

The sound's a little rough and peaks at some points, but that's because of the microphone we used to record it. The video's also a bit scratchy at some points, which is entirely due to the conversion software I used changing the frame rate and therefore having to blend some parts, leaving streaks of pixels throughout the video. It doesn't take away the overall message/feeling of the movie, and we're both still very pleased with the end result.

It ended up being significantly longer than planned, but you can't rush genius film-making, right?

The video is 8 minutes long, and 1.7GB in memory, so the whole video wouldn't upload onto my blog. I have it saved onto my USB so I can show the video from there.

Do one of Jesus riding a panther.

Thankyou, StumbleUpon, for directing me to this unbelievable artistic video.

There's this guy, who goes by the youtube name "spacepainter", and he has almost 200 videos of him doing fast spray-paint artwork. And by fast, I mean FAST! Watch it for youself, he paints a beautiful moon/pyramid landscape in less than one minute. This isn't just some finger painting chicken scratch either. This is a legitimate, "I'm a professional and this is my life" sort of painting, and it's done by using just spray paint, and a few stencils and paste-ons. Still, the speed, fluidity, and skill that this guy uses to paint these things is, like his paintings, out of this world.

I certainly wouldn't mind buying one of these.

Skip the morning coffee and pick up this phone instead!

Imagine the following scenario. Your friend asks you to borrow a dollar, but doesn't tell you what it's for. You, being such a nice friend, give your old pal a dollar. He runs into a store, and comes out 5 minutes later with a brand new cell phone, and get this... he's not on any plan. Impossible? No, he could very well have just stolen the phone!

But he didn't. In fact, there's a new phone, the OT-209 by Alcatel out of England, which is offered for only 99 pence. How is this possible? Well, even after reading these articles, I'm not entirely sure how it is that this company can make a profit from this. That is, unless hundreds of thousands of people buy these phones, and then tell their friends to buy it too, just in time for Christmas. And apparently, that's exactly what the company is aiming to do.

They teamed up with Virgin Mobile, to offer this phone for less than a pound, on no fixed-term contract, and you only have to pay 10 pounds to start making all your calls and texts from it, with no additional fees at all. The Alcatel Executive Chairman, Charles Dunstone, says "You have to remember at Christmas the one question we get asked the most in our stores is 'what's your cheapest phone?' and at 99p this is the lowest its ever been."

The phone is aimed at first-time users, cash-strapped citizens, and people looking for a good, cheap backup phone. It's only offered in England at the moment, but this idea seems intriguing to me, and it just might make it's way across the ocean soon enough.

1000 text messages: $100
60 minutes of talk-time: $15
Getting a new phone: Priceless


... well... technically it's 99 pence... and then you add in the 10 pounds of talk time soooo... yeah.

Give me bonus marks or give me... four hours of my life I'll never get back.

Yesterday, I'm sitting at home, icing my leg, and thinking to myself... "gee, I should probably start piecing together bits and pieces of the movie that we filmed so far." So, I turn on my computer, plug in my USB, and open up Premier, only to find... THAT THE FILES WON'T WORK.

Apparently, Premiere has it out for me. It won't open my .mpeg files from my Sony HandyCam DC-100 Camcorder. Or more specifically, it won't play the sound. Same deal though, right? You can't properly understand a video without sound, so I figured it was kind of important. So, now problem-solving-Declan shows himself. How do I get this sound to work? Codec error? Most likely. But I have a pirated version of Premiere (*sshhhhhh) so I can't get updates for the Codec files. What else could it be? OF COURSE! The file type. Maybe I should convert the file type to an .mp4.

So now it's been about 30 minutes of cursing at the computer for not loading the sound on my videos. But I had to move on. I download and open up a free trial version of AVS-Video Converter software (legally obtained of course) and converted the videos.

There was a watermark on the damn videos.

I can't hand in a project with a watermark, so I had to go download ANOTHER pirated program (again, *ssshhhh) of AVS-Video Converter. Now it's been well over an hour and a half of downloading, re-downloading, and installing programs to my computer. FINALLY, I get the program to work. I convert the videos to .mp4, import it into Premiere, and... they don't work.

If you can't see where this is going, I took the same approach as last time, and re-converted the videos to about 4 or 5 other formats, none of them working of course, since, as hinted at earlier, Premiere is the devil. Finally, I give in. Maybe I can convert it from an original .mpeg, to another type of .mpeg. It sounded stupid, but then again, I'd tried everything else, and I was pushing close to 4 hours at this point of looking up a solution for my problem on google.

I convert it to another .mpeg file. I put it into Premiere. It works.

Give me bonus marks or give me death.

Storyboard - Black Forrest Gump

Treatment - Black-Forrest Gump

Black-Forrest Gump

Genre: COMEDY/DRAMA

Story Outline:

BLACK-FORREST SITTING ON BENCH

Black-Forrest is sitting on a bench with a stranger. He offers her some chicken, and starts telling her about his life. At this point, she’s uninterested.

FLASHBACK TO BEING CHASED BY A CAR

Black-Forrest runs by the whole frame, screaming. Immediately followed by a chasing car with music blasting out the windows.

STRANGER LEAVES THEN RETURNS

The stranger doesn’t care about his stories, so she pretends that her bus is coming and leaves... She returns shortly, out of boredom, and listens to another story.

FLASHBACK TO MAMA DYING

Stranger shows genuine interest in this story. Then Forrest relates it to his rapping career, which made him millions of dollars.

FLASHBACK TO B-GUMP RAPPING

Stranger can’t believe that she’s sitting beside the actual B-Gump! She asks why he’s here. He tells him that he’s waiting for the number 7 bus to Oakville, to go to house number 1282... until she tells him that he’s in Oakville... and 1282 is right behind him.

FORREST GOES TO JENNY’S HOUSE

Heart-felt meeting by the two re-united lovers. Jenny tells Black-Forrest that they have a son, Buble... but he died. He was hit by a bus, which turns out to be the number 7 bus to Oakville. Buble was on his way to visit them.

BURIAL FOR BUBLE

After burying Buble, Black-Forrest and Jenny have many years together into their old age.

BLACK-FORREST AND JENNY BOTH DIE

They both died while sitting in a chair, doing nothing... they were just really old.

The end.

Brainstorming - Black-Forrest Gump

Office Video - Individual Brainstorming Sheet

TGJ3M

Situation:

Black-Forrest Gump is on his way to his former wife’s (Jenny) house. To get there, he’s waiting for the bus to come, by sitting on a bench and waiting. While waiting, he discusses various events in his life, and how they affected him, to the girl who sits beside him. This makes for an interesting tale of development, and an inside look at what made Forrest Gump’s life so special.

Investigation:

Main Character:

1. Black-Forrest Gump

2. Girl on bench

3. Jenny

Reason for going to Jenny’s house:

1.      He got a letter from Jenny, asking him to come over.

2.      He still loves Jenny, and always did.

Exploits:

1. Sitting on bench.

2. Flashbacks to various scenes (Car chasing Black-Forrest) (Rolling around, instead of “running” around)

3. Meeting up with Jenny again.

Finally, an invisibility cloak!

Apparently, Harry Potter wasn't just blowing smoke when he donned his invisibility cloak.

That's right, it exists.

Well, not yet... but scientists are getting closer every passing moment. They've discovered a new "Matematerial" that can actually manipulate light to the point of the material acting as an invisibility screen. It's not perfect yet, but, the scientists are trying to perfect the way to make these materials harness light better. The material basically absorbs light, then internally bounces it around until the desired point of release. This release makes whatever light that was on one side of the invisibility screen, visible on the other side. In other words... once they have this material all sorted out, and you wrap it around someone... they will, for all intensive purposes, be invisible.

Imagine the possibilities! People could be... well someone could be watching me right now, and I wouldn't even know it... hmmm now this idea is sounding just plain creepy. I certainly wouldn't want the general public to get their hands on this, as cool as it would be to have an invisibility cloak. The number of crimes and general unlawful acts that would be committed with these things is too great to count, so here's what I think:

Once finishes, this invisibility cloak should only be used for scientific, military, and law-enforcement purposes. That way, random people off the street won't be magically disappearing as they walk off the street, and our country will be safer with our soldiers using the cloak. The police could use it to sneak up on a criminal during a hostage situation, or really for any dangerous mission.

Or you could do what I'd do and walk around as a floating head all day... up to you.

I can totally do that...

Check out this amazing video of people doing amazing things.

It's a five minute video of people defying the laws of physics, and doing things that, in my mind, didn't seem possible. It's basically a cut-up of everything extreme that you can think of. Skateboarding, bicycling, jumping, running, diving, and even some things that you wouldn't normally think of (like extreme stair-walking). The audio track is an upbeat techno song, which really adds to the environment of the video being all about craziness, speed, and dare-devilish stunts. After seeing this, all of my goals and achievements suddenly seem less extreme.

So remember, if you ever feel like witnessing something that shouldn't be possible... watch this video and your mind will successfully be blown.

I feel like belly-flopping into a shallow pool of water from 40 feet high.

Declan Cross "Likes" The Social Network

By Declan Cross, the only black(ish) student in his class.

This past Wednesday, my Communication Technology class and I saw “The Social Network.” I had heard some positive reviews from friends, so I was looking forward to this modern media-related movie. I use Facebook on a daily basis; so seeing a film about the trials and tribulations that were involved in the creation of it was intriguing.

            The story is set in two different stages, with one being the progressive tale of how Facebook was created, and the other a static story of the meetings between Mark Zuckerberg, his ex-best friend Eduardo, and a handful of Lawyers. Mark Zuckerberg is the main character, and also a programming wizard at Harvard University, which is the primary setting for the movie. In the beginning of the film, Mark just broke up with his girlfriend, Erica Albright, and he is heart-broken. He mends his broken heart in the usual way… drinking. After a couple hours of drunken blogging, coding, and hacking, Mark had successfully made a website, called FaceMash, which compared all the women at Harvard, one-on-one against eachother. This was the beginning of the end for Mark, as that act had granted him notoriety among the technological community at Harvard, and also got him noticed by two brothers looking for someone just like him. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss approached Mark with an offer to help them create HarvardConnection. Mark took the idea and ran with it, improving upon it with his own ideas, and within just a couple weeks Mark had already laid the foundation for TheFacebook. From then on out, everything happens so fast that Mark is overwhelmed. The site spreads to Universities across America, and eventually goes International. It’s at that point that the Winklevoss brothers sue Mark for stealing their idea; a common, recurring theme in this movie, which always swirls back to the idea that “if you think it, can someone else technically steal it?”

            All of the actors did a magnificent job throughout the movie, but I was especially shocked at two in particular; Jesse Eisenberg (Mark Zuckerberg) and Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake). Jesse’s portrayal of Mark was so genuine throughout, that from the beginning to end, I felt an emotional connection to him, and was actually interested in what would happen to his character next. As for Justin Timberlake, he had the same effect, but in reverse. I didn’t even know Justin could act, but he successfully made me hate him by the end of the movie. His portrayal of Sean started off as an intellectual media business mogul, but ended up being a slime-bag druggie looking to make quick cash. Excellent jobs by both of these actors kept my interest in the movie, but the other actors and actresses were also stellar in their portrayals of each character.

            There are two parts that really stood out to me in the movie; the hacking scene, and the final scene. The hacking scene in the beginning of the movie really stood out to me because it was one of the most emotional parts of the movie, since Mark had just broken up with his girlfriend, which, combined with drinking, made for a very expressive sequence of hacking numerous sites. The final scene, with Mark sitting at the table, constantly pressing refresh, is one of the most moving scenes of the entire movie. He has fame, money, and respect worldwide, yet all he wants at that moment is to have, at the very least, some form of contact with his ex-girlfriend. It really works to tie the whole movie together, since it started with her, it is only fitting that it ends with her as well.

            The main lesson I learned from this story is to always remember who your true friends are, and to look out for them. If they’re real friends, they’ll do the same for you. This was the main theme throughout the movie, because as Mark gained fame and wealth, he let his best friend Eduardo slip away, as he was replaced by the untrustworthy Sean Parker. As for others who watch it, hopefully they will at least realize that sometimes the old saying, “keep your friends close, but your enemies closer” isn’t always true.

            This movie is geared towards our generation. In other words, if you’re aged 14-20, or even if you’re older and use Facebook, then this movie is for you. To see a movie about something that many of us use every day is intriguing, and worth the price of admission to be sure. However, to fully appreciate the movie, make sure you come ready for more of a drama-type of movie, since action is pretty sparse. It’s rating of PG-13 makes it appropriate for most audiences, with only a few sexual references.

            Overall, “The Social Network” was an excellent film. Great script, near-perfect acting, and a story movement that is unusually captivating for a non-action movie.

I give the “The Social Network” 8.5 chicken legs out of 10.

Declan Cross is a half-Jamaican, half-Polish Senior at Holy Trinity Catholic Secondary School. He is the only blackish student in his Communication Technology class, but he feels at home around all cultures. Declan is a captain on his highschool’s football team, and has an excellent booty. He is going to get 100% in Comm. Tech. this year, as reflected in his outstanding effort in all aspects of the course.

Spiderman's got nothin' on these goats!

Imagine you're on vacation in... oh, I don't know... Italy. You're going sightseeing one day, and you pass the great Cingino dam.You're marvelling at it's architecture. The old world charm in the beautiful stone. The high, nearly vertical walls of it's side... and it's... it's specks of... GOAT?!?! Yes that's right, the Cingino dam in Italy, has frequent furry friends visit on a daily basis.

Take a look at this article, which contains pictures of the damn, as well as a video showing the goats climbing the wall of the damn!

Now remember, this is an almost vertical, 160 foot rock wall. Yet, these Alpine Ibex goats are casually climbing it, grazing on it, and just generally having a good old time on it. These goats are no stranger to steep climbs either, as they usually live on mountains at elevations upwards of 4600 metres. They are on the dam's wall because of the abundance of salt present on the rocky surface. So, they climb up the wall during the day, lick the rocks up and down, and then leave when they please.

It's a good life for a goat.

Work, Home, Sleep... Hospital?

It seems that the workers in Asian assembly lines, particularly the ones in China, have even worse conditions than many suspected. A common day in the life of one of these assembly workers could consist of spending all day exposing plastics to fire, smelling the chemical-smoke that it emits, and sorting the plastic in any number of bins, then repeating the process for 14 hours of the day, every day. They could even be working for  any number of reputable companies, like Microsoft or Apple. Assembly line workers have been exposed to dangerous chemicals from the adhesive used in making Apple laptops, or be subjected to a chronic disease from the cleaning chemicals used in making a touch screen computer.

These are mothers, daughters, fathers, and sons who are being affected. Everyday, working-class people in China are put under extreme conditions and given little or no monetary compensation for the suffering their work environment causes. For example, a computer assembly line worker in China was exposed to a dangerous chemical for many years, and eventually his condition deteriorated to the point where he was in the hospital; his nervous system irreversibly damaged.

"I am back at work but my symptoms are still with me. My legs still hurt. This will accompany me for the rest of my life. It’s very painful", says the assembly worker.

It's things like this that gets little attention in international news, while it really should. These people have children, and a family to support. Simply using dangerous chemicals that kill-off workers for the sake of efficiency and low-cost simply isn't right.

Decide for yourself by reading the full article here.

What should I do?

This is an incredibly inspiring video that has different interpretations and different meanings to each person who watches this video. It's a Nike Ad... and you really have to check it out for yourself, because explanations just don't do this video justice.

Lebron James - Nike Commercial - Rise

Nike outdid itself with this one. Lebron James has been the subject of ridicule for longer than most will remember. Back when he was still on Cleveland, people wanted him to be the winner. They wanted championships but he couldn't deliver. Now, in Miami, people call him the traitor, they want him to fail because he left Cleveland. After all he did for the Cavaliers and their organization, the fans still treat him like dirt, and they expect him to be a certain way, act a certain way, play a certain way; but that doesn't always happen. So, Nike teamed up with Lebron to create this new video, depicting the different things that people want Lebron to do. Not just the fans, but also players, friends, children, coaches, and analysts.

The use of sound effects, along with colourful overtures during each scene, creates an almost comical atmosphere to the video. However, with Lebron speaking throughout, the message is still very clear. Lebron is confused about what everyone wants him to do, and what everyone wants him to be. So, by the end of this commercial, when the Nike logo and slogan shows, "Just do it.", it seems to me that Lebron wants to just be Lebron for once. He wants to win and succeed and do well wherever he goes, and this video is a perfect representation of the stress he goes through on a daily basis.

I prefer lemons anyways...

LIMEWIRE, the popular music-sharing software used by millions around the world, has been sued! That's right, after many years of filling our iPods with hundreds, even thousands of songs, they are now being taken to court.

I logged in yesterday to Limewire, hoping to download a few songs to complete my Modest Mouse album, only to find a bland looking Limewire with a non-descript message in the middle of the page, reading "downloading or sharing copyrighted content without authorization is illegal.” Apparently the music industry simply had enough of them spreading music to the masses free of charge, and they wanted a slice of the pie... well, technically they wanted their whole pie right back. All of the music Limewire provides for people, at one point came from a legitimately obtained CD. However, that one CD was "shared" with millions of people, and those millions of people had a couple songs from CD's that they "shared" with people, and pretty soon nearly every song you could think of was available on Limewire's Peer to Peer network.

Now, is this "sharing" of music really illegal? According to the federal Judge in New York who issued the "cease and desist" injuction against Limewire... it is. For me personally, it was extremely useful to be able to go on Limewire and download entire albums quickly and easily. Now, I'll be forced to use a youtube to .mp3 converter to obtain my music. Not necessarily the end of the world for obtaining music, but it's a real hassle. Also, this act of taking music from youtube and simply converting it to an .mp3 is, at it's roots, doing the EXACT same thing as Limewire. Youtube users come to one central site, upload/"share" movies and music, and other users can download these movies and music for free.

What's next? No more Youtube?!?

Michael Jackson - Rotoscoped

 

A video. Michael Jackson - Beat it. Rotoscoped... 549 frames.

Too legit to quit.

If only this really happened...

Animator vs. Animation

In this clever flash animation, the animator created a video where the unthinkable happened... What if that harmless stick figure you just drew, came to virtual life and started causing mayhem on your computer? Well, that's exactly the situation in this video. I presume this video was made in flash, and it was very well done, with several hundred frames required to create this masterpiece. It recreates a fictional fight between a stick figure and your mouse. However, the stick figure has some very sneaky moves up his sleeve. Fighting the Firefox, using paintbrushes to defeat the AOL Guy, and even emptying your recycling bin, and destroying nearly everything on your computer before the virus blocker finally quarantines the nasty 'lil stick figure. Some serious man-hours went into this project, with great use of Flash, and a very creative mind. Technically, I could create something like this, it would just take a huge amount of time and energy to do.

It really makes you think... what if this could REALLY happen??

Well... apparently it does...
Enjoy. http://www.addictinggames.com/anivanigame.html

Colours make the world go 'round.

Feeling Colourful?

Apparently, as human beings, we ALL are! According to this article, we are all attracted to colours in specific ways that are dependent on our location, surroundings, and even lifestyle. However, the general rule for colours, and what each represents is as follows:

Red......excitement, strength, sex, passion, speed, danger.
Blue.....(most popular) trust, reliability, belonging, coolness.
Yellow...warmth, sunshine, cheer, happiness.
Orange...playfulness, warmth, vibrant.
Green....nature, fresh, cool, growth, abundance.
Purple...royal, spirituality, dignity.
Pink.....soft, sweet, nurture, security.
White....pure, virginal, clean, youthful, mild.
Black....sophistication, elegant, seductive, mystery, sexual.
Gold.....prestige, expensive, elite.
Silver...prestige, cold, scientific.

 Don't think that wearing red will suddenly make you seem like a strong, dangerous, sex-god/goddess or anything though... all of the above colours have the effects to some degree, but usually it is sub-conscious, and we don't even realize the effects these colours are having on us. For example, have you ever noticed that most fast food restaurants feature a lot of red, orange, and general bright, vivid colours? It's because they want their consumer base to come in, eat quickly, and get out. Cool, right? Also, library's will often feature substantial amounts of browns, pastelles, blues, and greys. Why? Those are all calming, non-intrusive colours, which provide an ideal environment for comfortable reading and studying. Using these rules, a web designer could make his website more attractive for his ideal clientele, and the result could be increased site traffic.

In other words... sometimes it pays to match.

Microsoft decides to give BIOS the "boot."

This afternoon, I decided to turn on the village's computer. Sounds simple enough, but as usual, the process of turning on (or "booting up") the computer takes what seems like a lifetime to complete. I pressed the power button, and after waiting for five minutes for everything to load up and get sorted out... I, !Xobile, had forgotten why I had wanted to use the computer in the first place! Why does this happen? Why does something as simple as turning on a computer take so long? Well, according to Microsoft, it isn't as simple as it's chalked up to be.

Apparently, for the last however many years we've been using PC's, despite the upgrades to RAM, Hard-drive Memory, Graphics Cards, and Processors, no one thought "Hey, why not fix the one thing EVERYONE has to do before using a computer?!" Finally, Microsoft smartened up and announced a new code to be used next year, called the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI). This is supposed to cut boot times from 2 minutes (or more depending on your computer) down to 2 seconds! How is this possible? According to Microsoft, they royally screwed up in the very beginning of coding start-up, and haven't updated it sufficiently to account for newer technologies (USB peripherals), which caused an already ancient code to run even slower than usual. Hopefully, next year, when I turn on my new computer, it will boot up fast enough for me to remember what I wanted to do in the first place! Thanks Microsoft!

For you tech-savvy people, here's the full article: DailyTech

Human Chain - Nike

Check out this motivational video by Nike, called the Human Chain. It's all about determination, and the drive to persevere and continue fighting even when things get tough. In this video, representatives from almost all major sports are shown performing a move typical to their sport (a basketball player dunking, or a football player running). The editing is done in such a way as to make it appear that the athlete has clones that are following the exact movements of the athlete. Not just one or two clones though, there are at least 10 or more clones for each person shown in the video. How they managed to capture and edit the video in such a way as to show all the clones of the athlete in a moving, changing environment is beyond me, but all the effort certainly paid off to create an emotionally and aesthetically pleasing video, with music that suits it perfectly. The video leaves you with a feeling of newfound strength and pride, as it asks you "When you're knocked down, are you going to get back up? Are you going to finish?"

JPEG versus WebP

The WebP image, at 36,154 bytes.

The battle for photo web supremacy has just been re-awakened with a new challenger by Google... WebP.

The JPEG image, at 46,768 bytes.

For years, the clear-cut best choice for images in terms of the trade-off between quality and image size has been JPEG. Just enough edge sharpness and smoothness, with a relatively low memory footprint. However, with so many images and other content now on the internet, Google has been trying to develop a new type of image that is of comparable quality to a JPEG, but that takes up less memory. That image type is known as WebP, and it is designed specifically to display internet images at about 40% less memory usage than it's older brother JPEG.

Take a look for yourself at the images to the left, the above one is the WebP image, and the bottom is the JPEG. At first glance they seem to be identical, but upon closer inspection, the JPEG is slightly smoother and contains less jagged edges than the lower quality WebP counterpart. However, at 10,000 bytes less memory, that could really make a huge difference if there are numerous images being displayed at once. And, with about 60% of all Internet memory usage coming from pictures, less memory could mean a drastically different internet. Faster, smoother, better internet.

check out the article here: http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20018146-264.html?tag=topImage1

Freediving World Record or Work of Art?

This 288 foot, 88 metre free-dive video, created by Vertical Blue and Blue Eye FX, is more a work of art than a world record footage clip. The editors used beautiful, calming music to set the mood for the attempt, which begins with panning views from the depths of a coral reef, and then fades into the surface of the water, where the diver is preparing for his dive. Dozens of little breaths, taken less than a second apart, seemingly being stored into his slender frame. And then, as the picture changes to a bottom view of the diver, he makes his descent, calmly and smoothly into the depths of the water. As the dive continues, the water blackens, and the music sets the tone by throwing out thundering low notes, almost bass-like, yet still calming, as the diver effortlessly reaches the 288 feet, and turns around for his ascent. Now a close-up view of the diver during his rise to the top, it is clear he is struggling. Much of his air is gone, which makes him less buoyant, and the pressure at the bottom must feel like his whole body is in a vice. Nevertheless, as he gets closer to the top, the music layers in some high sounding flutes, and triumphant vibes are clear as he nears the world-record setting mark at the surface. The scene begins to brighten, the surface is in view, and at the last moment, he surfaces. Taking about 30 seconds of rest and recuperation at the top, the music switches to nervous sounds of sharps and flats, before finally... he pulls out the marker he grabbed at the 88 metre mark, and holds it proudly in the air. Success.

Without the beautiful camera angles and expertly composed music, I probably would have overlooked this video. But, because of the aesthetic and emotional appeal to watching this video, I love watching it. It seems to tell a story without words, and that is the mark of an excellent creation. DOUBLE success.

The Marker Story

This video was made using a collection of pictures taken and then compiled in a super-awesome-mega-hyper-creative project. We call it... The Marker Story.

On-field action in the palm of your hand.

The NFL and MLB are expressing interest in a new device that is aimed to revolutionize the way fans appreciate football and baseball at the stadium. The device, called FanVision, has a screen about the size of your palm, and plays the games for the sport you watch at the stadium. Not just the live one (after-all, you could just look at the field for that), but also games being played at stadiums all over the United States.

Replays, highlights, statistics, team breakdowns, and more will be shown during the game, and this new media is leaving some wondering why fans even come to the game if their heads will be buried in the FanVision the whole time. However, Mike Weisman, a former executive of NBC sports, claims that the device is "best used during the substantial down time in a game..." In other words, during pre-game warmups, scheduled breaks, timeouts, quarter-stoppages, and halftime.

An intriguing idea to be sure, but as of now, it is still largely just that; an idea. Only 12 of the 32 teams have embraced and shown support for the FanVision media player. Until the other 20 teams choose to incorporate it into their fan's football experience, the FanVision will not have the necessary foundation to support it and make it an attraction for more people to come to the games. However, if word spreads, teams jump on the bandwagon, and FanVision becomes a reality, I wouldn't mind taking the trip to see an NFL game and try this new media device out.

Check out the article here.

Movies to Music? Who would have thought?!

Take a look at this: It's the best and probably the only movie to music compilation you'll see in quite a while!

A man by the name of Ricardo Autobahn created this masterpiece of movie clips spanning decades of film, and pieced them together in rhythm, to a beat, AND it actually rhymes! This has to have taken many hours of cutting/editing movie clips into place, and it worked like a charm. The compilation brings back memories of movies and movie quotes I had completely forgotten about, like Ghostbusters, "We came, we saw, we kicked his ass!", and then he topped it off with some Sesame Street as well! This is just one of those things that you don't see very often, but when it happens you have to appreciate it with some head nodding goodness that is... the Seinfeld/Anchorman/Ghostbusters/Sesame Street/Airplane/Naked Gun/Spinal Tap/Pulp Fiction/Star Wars/Many, many more compilation.

The Journey of a Marker: Rough Draft

http://purpleslinky.com/jokes/kids/101-things-to-do-with-a-permanent-marker/

With the help of this link above ^ me and JV-Roo will be creating a story through pictures. The idea is to tell the story of a day using a marker in as many ways as possible. For example, we can draw on someone's face, throw it at someone, make funny signs, ruin someone's uniform, graffiti random walls/places, and the list goes on and on... further updates to come.

I was there... Yes... I was a refugee in Vietnam...

That's me, !Xobile, 2nd from the right. It was a terrible time. Very little food or water, and all we had were loin cloths. Luckily, I managed to steal some shorts, but it was nevertheless a traumatizing experience for me...

The Limits of the Human Body. Engineered for a beating.

When an engineer designs a new building, or a new computer, they must take into account many factors (although I, !Xobile, am not an engineer, I attended the Royal African Academy of Learning, so I am well educated in most things). They have to factor in the unit strength, the conditions they will be subjected to (heat, cold, wind, water), and they must always account for the unpredictable as well. As it turns out, The Great One (or God, as some religions would say) created us using the same set of rules.

In this article, information regarding the human body's true limits are suggested, and although never tested, the theoretical limits to how far we can go are astonishing. Ever felt so cold you thought you were going to die? Think again, because until our core body temperature reaches 0ºC, we technically still stand a chance of surviving. Ever felt like you were running so fast your legs would break? Think again, because human males can technically run at just over 43 km/h before the tendons in their knees break. Ever had something so spicy you felt like you couldn't breathe? Multiply that by about 100 and you'll come close to the maximum spiciness the human body can take without dying.

In closing, the human body, like most things nowadays, is made to withstand a tremendous beating. The forces of nature and everyday use seamlessly pass by, because of the tremendous amount of abuse we are capable of taking. If our body were a computer, it would be pretty damn hard to break.

Fun + Music + Stairs = GREAT SUCCESS!

Back when I, !Xobile, visited the big city of Stockholm, I was surprised and delighted to hear the sound of music beneath my feet. No, I was not stepping on musicians as I walked down the street, I was simply walking down the stairs at the subway station.

How is this possible, you may be wondering? Well, the village shaman told me there was no way of this happening, so I had to investigate further, and this is what I found.

The Musical Stairs

It seems the good people at "The Fun Theory" decided to test the theory that more people would take the stairs if it was simply fun to do. How do you make something fun then? Well, I believe that to make something fun, you have to make it appealing to one or more of the senses. In this case, they utilized music and stairs to tap into our need for physical and auditory stimulation. In other words, when movement and music is combined, good things happen. Look at the other fun thing that people from all over the world (okay, mostly Asia) enjoy, Dance Dance Revolution (ooooo DDR!). To make these stairs musical, workers placed sensors and speakers on each step of the flight of stairs. Then, a covering of either white or black tiles were placed over the steps. After calibrating each step to play a corresponding note, presto, you have musical stairs!

At the end of the day, 66% more people than normal chose to use the stairs rather than the adjacent escalator.
Musical Stairs: decreasing obesity, one note/step at a time.

Black magic creates multiple !Xobiles!!!!

The village Shaman, !Ogidah, used his wizardry to create clones of me, !Xobile. My clones decided to go to the village holy place to give praise for their new life.

Clone Stamp. !Xobile's #1 choice for eliminating unnecessary cows.

Above is the original picture of my uncle Tin!op's farm. On his farm are many cows, which can get very irritating at times, so I decided to eliminate all cows except for the central black cow, as well as removing the poor black cow's oppressive ear tags and collar.

Much more peaceful. This cow is now calm and relaxed, thanks to Clone Stamp.

10 things about me. Because, who doesn't want to learn more about !Xobile????

From top left to right: Morphsuits, Cheering/Painting Myself, Michael Jackson/Music, Football, Drama, Water-Bending, Turtles, Working Out, My Team, My Turf Field.

Play it slow, let it blow.

In my village, the local musician, Kikobina!ot, creates beautiful music on his many instruments. His ballads keep me entranced for hours on end, and I feel like I never want to stop listening. However, even I would get tired of a song that lasts for over 600 years. Yet, the good people in Halberstadt, Germany, aim to make this song a reality. The piece, titled Organ/ASLSP, and composed by John Cage, is scheduled to be played for 639 years. This is real. I'm not making this up. The piece first began on September 5th, 2001, with a two year "rest", lasting until February 5th, 2003. It was then that the first chord was played, lasting for another two years.
The piece will be finished in the year 2640.
Perhaps my great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandson will experience the ending of this song, which gives a new meaning to the phrase "slow and steady."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_Slow_As_Possible

I MADE A MELON HEAD!

Salamu. I, !Xobile, have made a fruit and vegetable head from the fresh crop of my village. Enjoy!