Self building lawn chair (and how it was done)

This is just a little bit ridiculous (in a good way). Firstly, see this stop motion story of a lawn chair getting built (seemingly without any human intervention):


Then, watch the video about how the stop motion video was made:

The woodworking for the chair itself was enough to impress me (I got as far as making a chopping board in my high school manual arts class). The stop motion video presentation of the chair getting made just took it to another level or three... bravo!

he who has ears, let him see

no i haven't gotten my basic human anatomy mixed up, i did really meant to link ears to seeing. for it is with ears that some blind people have learnt to "see" the world around them. echolocation is where it's at.

it was via a post on gizmodo that i came to know about daniel kish, as written about in this article: The Blind Man Who Taught Himself To See | Men’s Journal

it was through the comments on that post that i learnt about another echolocater by the name of ben underwood. watching this documentary on him was just fascinating - it's amazing how the human body is able to adapt in this way - that the loss of one sense (sight) can be replaced, though not perfectly but to such a functional extent, by another (sound). the first part (of 5) of the doco is embedded below.



links for the whole series:
[Part 1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLziFMF4DHA (10:51)
[Part 2] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1QaCeosUmw (10:37)
[Part 3] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikpNZOx5FGk (10:20)
[Part 4] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Px-aPnk4ZU (10:34)
[Part 5] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNkJ1diTxOE (05:12)

TSO Photography

came across these beautiful timelapse videos recently. lovely stuff...


The Arctic Light from TSO Photography on Vimeo.


The Mountain from TSO Photography on Vimeo.


The Aurora from TSO Photography on Vimeo.

updates available on his facebook page at facebook.com/​TSOPhotography

the top 10 most viewed super bowl ads

so i'm a little late to the party (not that i care much for the super bowl itself), but for a bit of fun, this youtube trends blog entry gives you some of the better ads that screened during the event. i'd seen a number of them before via facebook etc but a few were new to me and drew some smiles/chuckles. i guess if a company is going to pay the big bucks to have their ad shown at super bowl, they'd want to make sure their ad is worth watching.

Lego - The Force Unleashed

wow, two star wars related finds in one day. the force must be strong within me ;) this is a lego stop motion video of a lightsaber duel. doesn't quite fit in my current template which i can't be fussed playing with, so click through to watch it on youtube itself.

sand animation by kseniya simonova - talent and artistry i can appreciate

ok so it looks like i'm quite a few months behind the times in terms of finding out about this "news", and i've hit a sustained pause in my planned series on my recent singapore trip, so here's a quick detour:

i came across a video clip of ukraine's kseniya simonova via alaysia, and have to say had a similar reaction: wow. using sand over a light box, her constantly changing images "moved audiences to tears as she won Ukraine’s Got Talent". i'm not familiar enough with the context of ukraine's history, but felt sufficiently touched by the images in any case to want to record this on my blog. hope you enjoy (if that can be an appropriate term for) it:

christmas lights videos

and speaking of christmas light, here are some nice setups you can enjoy without needing to go for a drive. these are houses rigged with a variety of lights that are set to music. enjoy :) you might want to watch them on youtube rather than the via the embedded link - my blog layout is a bit narrow for the clips.

this is from a house not too far from my place... maybe i should go see this live.


another one from the same house.


this is a place in perth. i think it's the best of the lot (at least within this post :p)


and the one that started it all for me, which i first came across in this gizmodo post.


and a PS if you're interested: another gizmodo post on Christmas Lights, The Brief and Strangely Interesting History Of

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related posts: christmas lights tour

Yellow人 (YellowRen) live in concert

a review of sorts about a concert i attended a few weekends ago, performed by "yellowren" at redeemer lutheran college, part of the australian leg of their "destination" (在那一边) tour 2007, linked with the release of the group's second album of the same name.

i only found out about this group and concert via some promotional flyers i spotted at home one night - i supposed that my parents were helping to distribute these amongst some local churches / their network. anyway it sounded interesting, though i didn't really know much about the group, apart from some basics i gleaned from their website (www.yellowren.com, which defaults to chinese; there's also an english version) and myspace page. basically they're a group of 3 christians from singapore. i had never heard of them before, and neither had a few christian friends in singapore whom i asked in passing^[1]. anyways, i decided to go along in the end as i didn't have too much else to do... and arrived amidst drizzling rain to a sea of mostly young asian faces milling about. i had read that the melbourne concert held a few days prior had "sold" out of the free tickets, and wondered if brisbane would also be packed, so made an effort to go a bit earlier. but there were seats available throughout the whole show. there was an english-speaking "interpreter" (who was more saying similar/related things or interacting with the mandarin speaking host/mc than strictly interpreting) before and after the concert proper. i don't know what the point of that was, given that the concert itself was done in about 95% mandarin without any translation. anyways, a few thoughts about the concert itself (bearing in mind that my own level of mandarin is not that great, so i did not understand 100% of what was sung and said):

• there was a lot more talking than i expected, and i expected a bit, knowing this to be a christian concert that would have an element of evangelism...
• the songs themselves were ok, with some catchy tunes and clever arrangements, like the song "creation" (创造), which makes its way through the first 6 days of the genesis account and then comes to a quick and unexpected (but totally logical) stop when the lyrics reach day 7 - the day of rest.
• another song "chasing" (追, 追, 追) had a good theme that sings against the chasing after of things in this world, asking where all this ultimately leads.
  
• the proficiency in mandarin of 2 out of 3 of the artists was lower than i would have thought, for a group that sings in mandarin and seeks to target chinese speaking people. then again, i've met many singaporeans whose chinese is... not so chinese :p
  
• the audio mix was not very well done - the music/instruments in the first few songs was much too loud, overpowering the lyrics. this is probably par for the course when it comes to typical concerts, but i think christian music needs to have a much higher bias for, and focus on, the lyrics that's being sung. a much better balance was reached a few songs into the show.
• partway through the concert (and in the middle of one of the songs) a short static-y buzz/crackle came through the main house speakers and the audio promptly cut out. it sounded like what happens when someone trips over a cable, ripping the jack from its socket. no idea if this is anything like what actually happened, but they were in the midst of turning all the foldback speakers (which were still working) around to face the audience before the problem was rectified... oddness.

these are just minor quibbles/observations. the main issues i had were more theological in nature:

• there was an altar call segment, which itself wasn't unexpected, and which started by asking a variant of the question: if you died now/tonight, are you certain you'll go to heaven? if you you need to listen to this... etc. and there were a good number of youth who responded, after a period of perhaps typical asian reluctance to be the first to move. i have no particular issue with the act of an altar call, but in this instance i struggled to identify what it was that the people were responding to. it sounded like the respondents were accepting a jesus who would help them with their troubles and difficulties in life, which is all well and good, except where is the saviour Christ who died to pay the penalty for their sins?? i'm pretty sure this was not mentioned -- if it was, either it was so fast that i missed it, or once again my language deficiencies failed me. you're not accepted into heaven on the basis of wanting Jesus to be a friend who helps you in this life, but on the basis of receiving him as your saviour and Lord, which then makes you his friend in this life and the next.
  
• following the altar call to accept jesus, was another call for those who were in some way shape or form, sick. come down to the front to be prayed for. again, i don't have a particular issue with doing this, with praying for healing etc. but it's the content and tone of the prayer that didn't quite sit right. it sounded like the pray-er was essentially asking God to heal these people on the basis that he can (because he is all powerful), and expecting that he will, because he can...?? (ditto the qualifier about my language skills, as above) what happened to "if it is your will", or praying for patience, endurance, perseverance, growth in godliness etc should the person not be healed, whether immediately or ever?

anyways...

the concert ended with the trio performing a mandarin cover version of "praise you in the storm", originally sung by casting crowns (a partial clip of this is at the end of this post), and afterwards there was a signing session for those who bought their CDs. i wasn't quite sold on the whole package, so didn't trouble my wallet, but esperance bought some and joined the queue to get the autographs.



[1] i have since discovered (while writing this post) via a bit more digging online, that the group hails from evangel family church, a "pentecostal church under the assemblies of God", which probably answers a few questions... the lead(?) singer/main speaker on the night (chan mong yee / 陈梦义) is an assistant pastor (the worship pastor) at this church, and the other female singer (dayna lim) is the daughter of the current and previous senior pastors of this church. the male singer (zhang zhi gang / 张志刚)) presumably also attends the same church. the musicians on this tour are all from this church.

by request: quop vader

this post is dedicated to mr DT, who is signing up for the briefing, and who came up with the quop vader sugggestion. well there's no mask, but i have wielded a more fancy looking lightsaber in the past. this video is from my trip to KL in september 2005, where i met my high school friend kampung chick, dropped by her house and found that her husband is a huge star wars fan, and had this fancy fancy lightsaber. it lights up and turns off with the appropriate sounds, also when you swing and make contact with something. it was fun :)

NB. original video was taken in portrait mode - i finally figured out how to rotate it but transferring to youtube has squashed it somewhat... nevermind.

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related posts: darth vader's many siblings

buddha birth day festival

went along to the buddha birth day festival at southbank on the weekend. not that i have any inclination to celebrate or remember some dead religious figure's birthday, mind you. i'm happy to admit that my reasons are a lot more shallow - i'm simply drawn by the accompanying food fair :p since first stumbling across this annual festival a few years ago, (it's now in its 10th year), i've made it a point to try to drop by for a meal if i have the chance, though i think i tend to forget that the food is all vegetarian until i get there!

this year i went with a few clay people, watching a somewhat lackluster lion dance performance before searching for options to satisfy our rumbling tummies. there were probably around 20 stalls selling food and drinks, with a lot of signage in chinese which is always helpful for the majority english-speaking population... (though granted the bulk of visitors to the festival itself would probably be chinese). anyways, i always have trouble choosing, never knowing how to separate the good from the bad, or the good from the ordinary, until i hand over my money and taste the food for myself. bumped into an old high school friend who recommended a few items, and i ended up getting some fried dumplings, a drumstick (which was itself a smallish and fairly expensive piece of faux meat), a herbal tea drink, rice (pyramid) dumpling, and a "fresh roll" (like a spring roll, but not fried, and more like a spring roll than a popiah) for a total of $12. i was quite satisfied, at least in terms of quantity. quality wise, the fresh roll and a salt and pepper chicken item (recommended by my friend, and which i tasted thanks to the sharing of my dining buddies) were the yummiest. everything else was fairly average, with the "drumstick" the least value for money.

we stayed around for more performances at the suncorp piazza, including some martial arts demonstrations (which i think involved a certain "chik" i know) and a hip hop / breakdancing routine by planet fresh, from which i was hoping to see more breaking. i wasn't initially intending to record this, but thought that the name of the group sounded familiar (i think i know people who know them) so got out my camera...


after this it was time for the fireworks. we got there early enough to have front row position, which i don't think i've ever done before. good vantage point for more video recording. the ~15 minute footage is split into two parts due to youtube's 10 minute limit.


more photos on my multiply album.

darth vader's many siblings

because we (meaning my workplace) were a state winner last year, we're in the running again for the 2007 ATA (australian teleservices association) awards. the various teams in the call centre have been assigned themes for decorating their work area - this time round movie titles were picked out of a hat, and my current area drew "star wars". one of my colleagues brought in a toy lightsaber (with sound effects) and a darth vader helmet and accompanying gizmo that emits authentic darth vader noises and quotes, as well as modifying your speech to make you sound like the masked heavy breather. another colleague was playing with it, and i happened to bring my camera to work that day, so shot a little clip:

could he be darth vader's long lost brother??!!

for a dose of video fun starring darth vader's "real" brother, check out "chad vader: day shift manager" by blame society productions. it's a fan film series featuring the less well-known brother of darth vader, a guy who works as a day shift manager in a supermarket. the episodes follow his run-ins with colleagues and his boss, and his lacklustre love life. episode 8, which is supposed to bring season 1 to a close, is rumoured to be released this coming week...

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related posts: sorry dr. spin, i'd like a second opinion please

speeding towards redemption and rest

i got a chance to redeem my poor sporting efforts in the last day of competition at the workplace commonwealth games, teaming with a more senior member of my team to take out silver in our pool at the "swimming" - basically a relay race on foot wearing goggles, a swimming cap, and with one of those foam "noodle" flotation devices between our legs. despite a nearly botched changeover (my teammate's glasses got caught up in the headwear when he was taking them off) and a false finish (i forgot to run back to the starting point to complete the last leg of the race), i managed to outdash another team who made the same mistake at the penultimate stop, squeezing in for a silver medal finish.

and while we were waiting for competitors to assemble at the muster point, i had a few more practice throws at the darts ("archery" event from day 3 of competition) and to my chagrin was having much more success landing them (and having them stick) on the scoreboard... maybe with better preparation, we might not have come last overall... maybe we could have been a contender :p

then on saturday night, after a long day out, i was finally headed home after another false start (forgot to take something back with me, so had to double back). looking forward to some much needed sleep, i drove past a speed camera unit on the way. i saw it as i approached, checked my speed, eased off the accelerator (i was a bit over the limit), and cruised by, thinking i was safe, only to notice a flash of light from behind as i passed by. there were no other cars around in either direction that were near enough for me to think that the flash was intended for me - guess i'll have to wait and see if the postman brings me a fine delivery in the next few weeks...

when i got home, i saw this video, a meditation on the speed limit, waiting as a headline on my rss reader. bemused at the apparent irony of the title, i watched it, thinking it was going to further chastise my conscience about obeying the laws of the land etc etc. but it was actually setting out to show how the laws are stupid (not that i necessarily agree on that point), through staging a "stunt" involving having a group of cars bunched up and travelling together, at the speed limit, across the width of a motorway, and seeing the reaction of other motorists. a remark by one of the guys involved in the video was somewhat striking - he said something to the effect of "we were dangerous, but we were dangerous because we were doing the speed limit".

speaks volumes about the rest of the drivers on the road, doesn't it?

super bowl ads

yeah i know i'm a bit behind the times on this topic, but i don't watch or follow the sport so i don't really care. happened to be trawling through the google blog archives recently and came across a listing for the ads shown during super bowl, hosted on google video. couldn't watch all of them (some restriction cos i'm not in the US??) but there were a few picks from the bunch which i found particularly funny/creative (though you'd think that it should be a darn good ad for the amount of money advertisers pay to get their 30-odd second slice of airtime):

• 3 of the bud light commercials (Hidden Bud Light, Save Yourself and Secret Fridge)
• Michelob Amber: Touch Football
  
• FedEx: Stick
• Sierra Mist
  
• Sprint: Locker Room

good for some short term diversionary entertainment :)

lego links

FOM sent me this link via msn... top 10 strangest lego creations. it really boggles the mind that some of the creations listed are actually functional items, like the harpsicord, knitting machine (see a movie clip of it in action), difference engine and pinball machine.

i do recall playing with lego in my younger days, but it was a few worlds away from these efforts - maybe if i had more blocks, and a lot more time! hehe. well i guess God just didn't give me the gift of lego design... if i did have such a gift though, would i use it to make something that helps to bring glory to my name, or to His? without detracting from the skills of these mentioned above creators, i can't help but think that something like the brick testament (using lego to illustrated selected passages from the Bible) is a rather more fruitful application of such gifts, for it points the viewer to, and helps them to know, the Creator who made them.

although it's not quite the same context, this reminds me of a few lines from a song

Knowing you, Jesus, knowing you
There is no greater thing

video goodness

some nice videos on the net that i've come across recently...

• Animusic Sample - Real-time rendered version of Pipe Dream created for the ATI video card line.
  
• The Creation - sand animation sequence performed at the closing ceremony of Seoul SICAF 2003.
• viscount6 - performances from a concert given by this group of four asian (and presumably) christians singers, accompanied by a guitar.

watching the last lot of videos remind me of the simple pleasure and enjoyment of singing with friends. one memory of such an occasion is during my trip to KL last december, where one evening i found myself sitting in room full of (mostly) strangers, and not really minding the fact that there were only two people there i had known/met longer than a few days, since everyone was chilling out and having a good old singalong. having pretty much made their way through the christmas carols by the time i got there, next up were oldies from the 60s. now i thought that i had a passable awareness of english 60s tunes for an asian, but there was one girl there who was younger than me but knew so many more songs than i! below is a video of her and my host, singing "all i have to do is dream", accompanied by a backing chorus and two guitars - it was a very cool feeling to be in the midst of such atmosphere :)

channel surfing

the activity of channel surfing is often associated with the complaint that "there's nothing (good) on". not that i lay any claims as to the quality/value of my posts, but i guess this blog is due for a bit of an update.

well my voice did recover in time for me to be able to sing at the church's chinese new year reunion dinner last weekend. i don't know that i would say i enjoyed the evening - i guess it just felt kinda neutral. it was probably more meaningful for the older folk who were able to catch up with old faces and past acquaintances etc. i was glad in a way to have been asked somewhat last minute to help video parts of the evening - it gave me something to do in between visits to my table, engaging in relatively minimal conversation, and trying to eat some food before it all got gobbled up by the other 7 guys (and 2 girls) there :p

anyways, here's a couple of video clips of some of the performances on the night. the first is a singing family (the wife used to go to my church, but i think that was before i started going there) presenting 'jesus is the answer'.


i'm no vocal talent scout, but i thought the two tween girls had good voices. the older girl also did a solo with 'i still call australia home' accompanied by her father on guitar.

the second video if of 'Generation D' - some uni students doing a choreographed dance thing... don't know enough about dancing styles to use an appropriately descriptive label... hmm... well anyways the youngsters in the audience enjoyed it :)

that "numa numa" song

i recently received this forwarded email with a url pointing to a video clip of what looks to be an ad for 42below. had no idea who 42below is, and didn't really understand why the guys on the video were lip-synching/dancing to this song... anyways the company sells vodka, and the whole reason behind the video became clearer by the end of the clip, and after reading some background info on this whole "numa numa" craze - seems like i've been waaaay out of the loop on this one! talk about parodies and copycats galore... nevermind the back dormitory boys, every man and his dog seems to have their own take on this song/clip :o

anyways, as i listened to the audio in the clip, i couldn't help but be reminded of the same song being played during arpc's new year's eve dinner last month, where a variant of the chicken little dance (performed to this song) was on display - this for me is the definitive numa numa experience ;) maybe it's one of those you-had-to-be-there events, but every time i watch this clip it brings a smile to my face :) the guy dressing up as "chicken little" did the dance numerous times, but this is my favourite clip cos on this iteration they got the four pastors up on stage too to mimic the guy! please excuse me while i go giggle :p

[ arpc dance | 0:46 | 3.2MB ]

the qyc mythbusters

went to QYC on the weekend, not sure if i'll be back cos i'm no longer really fitting the Y part of the name :p it's always good to hear good bible teaching though, and peter lin served us well with 5 talks from the sermon on the mount in matthew's gospel. still chewing through some of the stuff from the talks, but in the meantime i've been playing with videos and have uploaded two clips from the "mythbusters" segments during the camp. don't know if i can get the file sizes much smaller (am just using a free converter i found online) so this is one for the broadband-enabled:

clip 1 | 5:54 | ~19.3MB



clip 2 | 5:04 | ~12.4MB



one note about the food during camp, and i don't really want to complain cos i should be content that i have food to eat, but it was somewhat on the sparse side. i guess i'm used to self-catered camps where there was always enough for seconds. not so here... the first serving portions never looked sufficient, and often seconds weren't available. here's a pic of j.s. posing for the camera to show his dissatisfaction about the amount of meat on his plate :p he did manage to get some seconds, by which time i had already eaten 4 pieces of bread to go with my first serve so i was feeling sufficiently sated. we talked a bit about photography during the weekend, as he's starting to get into it (more so than my pleb point-and-shoot methods), and he's posted up some nice pics taken during the weekend... check them out here.

speaking of kintaro's feet...

following on from my previous post, here's another Q&A:

Q: how does a guy let a girl know that he is interested?
A: walk the length of her country!

that's what tyler macniven aka kintaro did, even making a movie titled 'kintaro walks japan'. ok granted the girl already knew he liked her, but still... it's a pretty cool thing to do and an interesting movie to watch :) you can either pay to buy a dvd, or watch it for free on google video.

on a less facetious note, and somewhat in response to the comment left by 'anonymous' on my previous post, when it comes to letting the girl know of your interest, there's a time for keeping quiet and a time for being direct. the tricky bit can sometimes be in knowing what/which time it is. eg. it may not generally be the most appropriate thing to say to a girl you first meet/hardly know that your intentions are to take her as your wife -- such a scenario would usually be the time to keep quiet (for the time being). conversely, with the fellow she mentioned who dragged three years without resolving the big question mark, the time for being direct sounds like it had long passed.

sometimes though, wisdom dictates that a dose of patience (and waiting on the Lord) is needed. it can be quite frustrating to not be able to freely say what you'd like to say. thus it may not be shyness or fear of rejection that holds someone back from opening their mouth in such a matter, rather the relative silence on the topic may be the result of the testing of one's obedience and trust. well, i'd hope so anyway!

a couple of moves

today was a bit of a day of catching up with people. T&F are moving interstate in a few days' time, and they had a farewell afternoon tea at dome in town, a place that had a nice look, feel and ambience about it. i like their pocket menus too... nice touch, but funny how prices aren't printed on there. cafe prices are often too inflated in my opinion anyway :p

although i'm not one who tends to do the rounds and say hi to everyone at social events (usually just talk to those who are nearby) , it was good to see some old/familiar faces there... maybe because i feel like i've been away for a while too (which i have been, but only for two weekends!)

afterwards i went to visit the nenes at their new and not-quite-yet-moved-into house on my side of town. somehow when i see this pic it doesn't quite look real - more like one of those artist's impression drawings... anyways, it was good to see them too and to be able to lend a hand moving some stuff around. kinda made me wonder whether i'd ever want to set up a home for myself one day. oh well... that's probably a while away if ever. i came back home to find the new flooring dad had purchased to replace the carpet in the rumpus, and i'm already thinking what a hassle it's going to be to shift stuff around (esp. the entertainment unit and the piano!) to enable the replacement to happen... can we do just half a room?? hee...

later at night i saw noodlez and we watched the aardvark'd documentary i mentioned earlier (and subsequently decided to buy) - he's probably the only person i know who would (and was interested to) watch such a show :p

anyways, in keeping with the general topic matter of said earlier post, and a different meaning of the title of this one, check out these moves featured on the google video blog:

• a guy, travelling around the world, who dances at each place he visits
• a face off between an old lady and a guy driving a merc convertible - guess who wins!
  

that last one is too funny!