today is 4/20 - so act accordingly. especially at 4:20pm. while you are at it, why not read up on 10 Things Every Parent, Teenager, & Teacher Should Know About Marijuana. good information there. attitudes seem to being changing more and more from one of ‘reefer madness’ to one of ‘reefer rad-ness!’ that is a good thing.
it’s friday & i am going to have to hit the gym now after watching this über pumped up video by german electro pop band deichkind (link contains embedded audio). power up! you can do it! touch yourself! please watch ‘Ich betäube mich‘ (links to quicktime) which means ‘you’re doing great!’ directed by Alex&Liane. director of photography by christopher häring. lots of in-your-face beefcake + infomercial + WTF video goodness. seems even better that i can’t understand what is being said - all i get is the raw power! giantmonster wants to know why tim biskup’s helper monster is running around in the background? that seems to make it more strange though, so all is well. thank you claudine for the link!
on april 16th, 1943 a young swiss chemist named albert hoffman accidentally discovered the interesting effects of lysergic acid diethylamide, better known as LSD. it is safe to say that nothing in modern society (from baseball, to the military, to art, to health and science) has been the same since. one small yet big example: francis crick, noble prize winner and geneticist, was under the influence of LSD when he first deduced the structure of human DNA. more? okay: nobel prize winning chemist dr. kary mullis came up with the idea for the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) process used in the amplification of specific DNA sequences from an experience he had while under the influence of LSD. quoting albert hoffman from the wired article:
“I think that in human evolution it has never been as necessary to have this substance LSD,” he said at a symposium in 2006, marking the centennial of his birth. “It is just a tool to turn us into what we are supposed to be.”
so happy birthday LSD! you’re 64 years old today!
like wow man, it’s totally psychedelic republicans trading cards! all colorful and crazy. hilarious website with equally hilarious images and hippied-out bios of george w bush, jesse helms, dick cheney, antonin scalia, laura bush, john ashcroft, and so many others. fun facts like nickname, favorite album, christian coalition rating, and spirit animal for each character card. there’s desktops too! quality funny-ness. cards are limited edition print too (order fast!). they sort of take the edge off how horrible this administration is. actually, no, i take that back - that’s not possible. but at least the cards are funny!
gallery 1988 in san francsico is having an art show titled the indie: an art show celebrating alternative press artists. the indie art show opens april 21st, 2007 - which is also the same weekend as APE (the alternative press expo) in san francsico - and runs through to may 12th. the indie show features art by derek thompson, jerome ranft, sanjay patel, brandon bird, camilla d’errico, attaboy, and many others. looks to be a great show. here’s a map to gallery 1988. maybe i’ll see you there.
greetings to the 11 or 12 readers of giantmonster! a big thanks to all the folks who link to giantmonster through blog-rolls or through referencing/crediting posts on this site! much appreciated! so it’s link exchange request time. got a blog? wanna linky up? this is a giantmonster general hello and/or shout out seeking similar bloggers & blogs for a link exchange. by similar bloggers/blogs, i mean the independant, non-corporate or not corporate/product sponsored, original, environmentally focused, nerd-friendly, geeky, humorous, culture promoting, non-spam, design & art, and generally rad types of blogs. so yeah, if that is you or going to be you, contact the corporate whores at giantmonster with your website/blog information. if it all works out, link up to giantmonster & i’ll link up to you. special!
more advances in science and health with stem cell research and discoveries. Early reports from study conducted in the UK by a joint team of Brazilian and American scientists has found that diabetics with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes have been able to stop taking insulin injections for the first time after their bodies started to produce the hormone naturally again through new stem-cell therapy. quoting Dr. Richard Burt on the study:
“As a research scientist I am always hesitant to speak of a cure, but the initial results have been good and show the importance of conducting more trials.â€
it’s friday - the end of the week. and you’re hungry. well hunger no more! grab your spoons for only the finest: cock flavoured soup! spicy too! yum yum! this is either a really naive choice in wording or a brilliant marketing design. so good! and sure, there is really high sodium content in just 2 tablespoons of this flavorful cock soup. but how else can you get that intense cock flavor? don’t answer that. thank you jim for bringing this in!
the united states is finally getting its priorities in serious order. you know what i’m talking about. and - no - not those silly things like universal health care for every american, a clean & renewable energy policy, diplomacy, restoration of habeus corpus, electric cars for everybody, or open source voting machines. nope. that’s silly. but dude - we’re going to the moon! totally! we are going, then we’ll build a permanent moon base, and then head off to mars too! sure, it will cost 100’s of billions of dollars. but dude - it’s the moon! yes! i am all for advancing scientific discovery - but - i really think we should fix simple things here on earth first, like levees and pollution. seems easier. i believe david cross summarizes this best …
my friend keith is participating in the American Diabetes Association’s donation drive/bike ride called Tour de Cure. keith is very near his personal goal of raising $2,100. so please help out with a monetary donation if you can. click here to sponsor keith and get him to that goal or beyond (beyond is good)! your sponsorship donation is tax deductable too.
it’s a war of the gargantuas! or to be more specific, a very heated shouting match between the gargantuan fox news political assholes bill o’reilly and geraldo rivera. complete with aggressive finger pointing! and grand-standing! wow. i find myself agreeing with geraldo (did i just type that?) though it’s hard to hear him with the loud sounds of bill o’reilly losing his mind throughout the clip. and yes it is a treat to see bill o’reilly wound up as tight as winnebago man. between geraldo & bill, i can’t tell which is the green gargantua or the brown gargantua. luckily, there is video provided below so you can decide for yourself.
Bill O’Reilly Loses His Mind
War of the Gargantuas (1966) - English Trailer
it’s friday, april 6th. and, yes, in two days it’ll be april 8th - easter sunday. but more important than marshmellow peeps and chocolate rabbits, april 8th is biz markie’s birthday. yes! so happy birthday biz markie! the diabolical biz markie was born marcel hall in harlem, new york, way back in 1964. i am a sucker for biz markie’s goofy, ill, silly, real, semi-retarded, happy style, humor, and vocals. makes me smile & dance every time. seriously. if you disagree, then perhaps it is time you had a heavy dose of vitamin biz via a rather swell rendition of ‘benny & the jets‘ or the super silly and equally great ‘just a friend’ video. so good. nobody beats the biz, especially not the easter bunny. so april 8th give a happy birthday shout biz markie! please enjoy the embedded vids and mp3s below.
Biz Markie - Benny & The Jets
Biz Markie - Just A Friend
download:
happy-birthday-biz.zip ( 24.6 megabytes)
ye mighty track list:
Biz Markie - Just A Friend
Biz Markie - Nobody
Biz Markie - Make The Music With Your Mouth Biz
Biz Markie - Benny And The Jets
Biz Markie - Spring Again
amazing sculptures done by artist jennifer maestre. she creates beautiful organic shapes, patterns, and designs using beads, nails, and small colored pencils. thanks derek for the link!
i guess these sort of things just happen when you buy a samurai sword and a high speed camera. slow motion tomato slicing with a super sharp samuri sword at its finest. if you hate tomatoes, this may thrill you to no end.
there is a great timeline listing the facts and events surrounding the latest dishonest dance of alberto gonzales called the purgegate primer. if you are having trouble keeping up with the cover up surrounding the firing of eight U.S. attorneys for political motives, matthew baldwin (author of the article) over on morning news does a great job in summarizing the controversy.
behold a plethora of great graphic design tips! check out the how-to instructions of photoshop methods and step by step tutorials listed on smashing magazine called web 2.0 tutorials round up. styles, effects, logos, badges, banners, patterns, backgrounds, swirly shit - a real nice list. just keep scrolling & you are bound to find something you like and/or want to know how to do. best way to learn is by copying & then improving. this list was inspired by a similar how-to round up over on leonardo’s blog.
over on a blog called sport people there’s an amusing to quite funny photograph collection of assorted athletes action shots and faces in mid-exertion called funny sport. good times.
like most of 11 people that read this blog on a monthly basis, i too am amped and excited to see the rad-as-hell looking double feature flick grindhouse that opens this friday. however, my excitement and anticipation is exactly what worries me. why? i worry that i am falling into another motion picture marketing hype k-hole, consisting of explosions, hot chicks, celebrity cameos, cool cut scenes, grainy film stock, and nostalgia, only to have my dreams of a well crafted movie experience fall flat. are my expectations being raised too high? will i be reminded of that giant cinematic middle finger that i got after waiting in line for matrix 2 and again for matrix 3? luckily, with grindhouse, that’s not going to happen. there a great article on filmwad titled ‘going to see grindhouse? you need to read this.’ the perfect resource for de-hyping the grindhouse hype that may be coursing through your veins. you can properly lower your expectations without completely killing your interest in seeing the movie. thank you filmwad! i feel better already.
here’s a great online tool for choosing colors, selecting a good color palette, and learning about color theory. check out colorjack. design radness! roll over a color swatch to see the associated color pallette. then click on the color swatch to get more detailed information like CMYK, RGB, or HSV values, html color numbers, and other great tools. thank you colorjack!
from 2006 and still very cool. a great animated piece directed and animated by jossie malis at zumbakamera called bendito machine. very well done. dark & a little twisted too. watch it. you will like it.
i’d like to buy steve jobs and the folks at EMI a drink! why? Apple and EMI (the world’s third-biggest record label) have made a deal to sell the entire EMI music catalogue as non-DRM & unrestricted mp3s from the iTunes store! this is really great! no locks! thank you! also read EMI’s great press release with links to a podcast of the event. that means that the EMI track you pay for at the iTunes store will play in your ipod and also on any other mp3 player on the market. previously, a track downloaded from the itunes store would ONLY play on an ipod, (which is like buying a CD or a record that only plays on a particular brand of player - not on all players). that’s one of the things DRM does and that’s just silly! glad to see common sense prevailing. in remembering steve job’s letter about removing DRM from the all of the itunes music store library, i am hopeful that more deals like this will be reached. here’s the breakdown of the price structure with the Apple & EMI non-DRM mp3 deal (from the bbc website):
99¢ single = digital locks and at 128kbps quality (DRM! boo! hiss!)
$1.29 single = no digital locks and 256kbps high quality (non-DRM! yay! hi-five!)
Album prices unchanged with no locks and all at 256kbps (non-DRM! yay! hi-five!)
yes, the non-DRM costs more. but it is a much higher quality mp3. and, removing DRM is definitely a step in the right direction.
from boingboing: itunes store will sell entire EMI catalogue DRM-free!
from wired: thank you, uncle steve!
