the super fun and super exciting maker faire is fast approaching! how fast? well, the maker faire is this weekend! saturday may 3rd and sunday may 4th at the san mateo county fairgrounds (map)! the maker faire is a metric ton of fun! you should definitely go! here are some pics from 2007’s makers faire to entice you. see you there!
Author Archive for giantmonster
if you have just shy of 7 minutes to spare you may enjoy watching this amazing youtube clip titled Ants! and that’s what it’s about - ants. more specifically, the vast subterranean ventilation system and structure of an ant colony. it’s very fascinating. the researchers poured cement into the openings of the ant colony to create a casting of how the ant tunnels looked. that process took 3 days and over 10 tons of cement! excavation of the casting took over a month! now as a former ant, i can say that having cement poured into one’s home is really jacked up. but the end result is quite amazing.
it’s friday and list-of-the-day has an excellent post archiving the fine art of photobombing - the act of inserting yourself into someone else’s picture. very good stuff. i can only hope to see more of these. much much more.
the swiss chemist most noted for discovering LSD albert hoffman died this last tuesday, april 28th, of heart failure at his home in switzerland at the ripe old age of 102. seems like only yesterday we were celebrating LSD’s birthday. albert hoffman was born january 11th, 1906. rest in peace, mr hoffman!
the makers of the fantastic & inspiring film One Giant Leap are coming out with a new film titled What About Me? the first chapter of the movie is titled Bombardment. the entire chapter (spanning 15 minutes) is available to view on the whataboutme website & even better at dailymotion as well. this movie looks to be as moving and as powerful as their first project, with a wonderful message that we all have & share many more similarities than we do differences. the project creators use music & song as a common thread to connect artists & musicians from around the world along with interviews with people like eckhart tolle, noam choamsky, timothy “speed” levich, and more. take a look when you get a chance & thanks claudine for the link!
… just launched his new website featuring new art, paintings, photos, & past art too. congrats ethos! nice site!
brain scientist and neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor spoke recently at the TED conference. the speech she gave is available on the TED talks site. what she talks about it is very fascinating, beautiful, and moving. from the TED talks website: One morning, Jill Bolte Taylor realized she was having a massive stroke. As it happened — as she felt her brain functions slip away one by one, speech, movement, understanding — she studied and remembered every moment. it’s friday and it’s time to enhance your brain and perspective on your life, your mind, and your world. please enjoy Jill Bolte Taylor: My stroke of insight. it’s great!
something to be said for taking the stairs. here’s a nightmare of a story about a man named nicholas white who was trapped in an elevator for 41 hours. no joke! 41 continuous hours!!! damn! poor guy! the elevator security cameras captured the entire ordeal. watch the time lapse video below and see almost 2 days pass before your eyes in under a few minutes.
introduced by representative barney frank (democrat - maryland) and co-sponsored by ron paul (republican - texas), maurice hinchey (democrat - new york), sam farr (democrat - california), and dana rohrabacher (republican - california), the bill HR 5842 - the Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act - has been introduced in congress. the bill proposes to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I drug (which cannot be prescribed) to a Schedule II drug, recognize the medical value of marjiuana, and bolster states rights by protecting state run medical marijuana dispensaries from DEA raids & federal prosecution. NORML has a web page submission form where you can email your representative in support of this legislation.
time to fight cancer! how? well, oddly enough through the power of jacking off. no really. researchers in australia have concluded that men could reduce their risk of developing prostate cancer through regular masturbation. wow, who knew? & giantmonster is happy to report we are cancer free! set aside some special time & help fight cancer today - you deserve it!
the crucible in oakland, california is hosting its amazing fundraiser & fire ballet for 2008 titled Firebird (a more intense take on stravinsky’s firebird)! it looks fantastic! tickets generally sell out. performances on Wednesday April 16th & Thursday April 17th are $55 and the gala performances on Friday April 18th and Saturday 19th are $150 (though saturday’s show is now waitlist only) . it’s a great way to support a non-profit, the arts, an amazing creative community, and see a great performance! here’s a link to the event flyer. see you there!
neato! this slow motion vid clip totally makes me wanna slap someones face! oy! i had no idea getting slapped could look so cool. squaaaash!!! thanks jamie!
if this track below by the transcended cool cat from san rafael named astarius doesn’t stir something up inside you, then you’re probably very sleepy or perhaps dead. ‘i invoke and dream awake the full current of ascension in every cell of my being …‘ that’s good stuff. press play below & listen to the sound of your mind cracking open. i dig it!
i dream awake by astarius
just letting you know: if you like bluegrass music, atlas cafe in san francisco has bluegrass thursdays every thursday night from 8-10pm. so there!
sexy is so many things.: security - with just a dash of daring, confidence - with a just brief hint of vulnerability, raw power - with a scant wiff of innocence, sharing, eye contact, charm, interesting hobbies, music, and yes, perhaps black speedos too? is that possible? yes, all of those things! it’s friday and we know sexy when we see it. yup. extra additional hotness on the fail blog too.
the cardboard institute of technology presents welcome to cardburg. welcome indeed! cardburg is an amazing art installation going on at cellspace in san francisco. an entire city - built all in cardboard - with magic, myth, and lore all its own. amazing! and you should see it! opening night was April 3rd, 2008. There’s another opening/show tonight, April 10th at 7pm, and a final show next week on friday April 18th at 8pm. you can read the hype on sfgate or read the great post on extreme craft (& flickr set too!) but go! good art can be hard to find (but actually, in SF, not lately. lotsa goodness out there!). is SF ready for a ducksquatch? yes!
the bright minds over at luxim have created an incredible new light bulb that is the size of a small pill and turns out 140 lumens per watt. that’s pretty damn amazing!!! quoting the post on treehugger about the luxin plasma bulbs: “At 140 lumens/watt, these pill-sized plasma light bulbs by Luxim are a pretty awesome contender for “light of the future”. They are almost 10 times more efficient than traditional incandescent light bulbs, twice as efficient as current high-end LEDs, and they also beat CFLs, most of which are around 50-80 lumens/watt.” that is great! mass produce them now please!
sometimes reading a good/funny review of an incredibly bad & god-awful movie can actually make you want to take time out of your life and watch that aforementioned awful movie. case in point, the wretched movie roadhouse is reviewed by iamsheamus in such a way that i now find myself bumping up Roadhouse to the top of my netflix que. having seen roadhouse once too many times before, i remember this being a less than pivotal role for patrick swayze. i also distinctly remember mentally labeling roadhouse with the phrase ‘never ever again.’ yet thanks to iamsheamus, i’m ready to immerse myself in the mullet-fueled lameness that is Roadhouse. ugh! read the magic and find out for yourself. trailer below for your, um, horror. thanks iamsheamus!
my friend james cotner is no stranger to awesomeness. in keeping with this trend, mr. cotner, channeling the awkward power of garey busey, has landed the coveted role of FBI agent Angelo Pappas in the mighty play Point Break Live. according to sfgate, point break live is not to be missed! so check it, brah! now! it’s playing at Xenodrome in san francisco this April 11th, 12th, 18th, 19th, 25th, & 26th. buy tickets via theatermania, dude! surf’s totally up! way to go james!
excuse the lack of a post & comments on comments. just got back from a lil’ road trip to santa monica/LA/hollywood. very good to be away from a computer though. anyway, i got some dumb posts to spew out, so let’s do this.
mr t hasn’t got time for comas. actually he does, in the sense that he once brought a kid out of coma. true! quoting the news article titled Mr T brought boy out of coma: Former The A-Team star Mr. T once stunned a sick child’s family by bringing him out of a coma - after doctors begged the actor for help. The poorly kid fell unconscious in Detroit, Michigan in the mid-1980s - and the only physical movement he made was in response to hearing Mr. T’s name. rad!
this is how i’m feeling right now: my loony bun is fine benny lava. yeah, you know it. i hope your sunday is half as awesome as this video clip and it’s phonics based subtitles! just keep dancing …
dean kamen along with his company DEKA has been busy developing an advanced prosthetic robot arm modeled after on the replacement robot hand for luke skywalker from the science fiction movie the empire strikes back. watch the clip Dean Kamen’s Robotic “Luke” Arm to see something nothing short of amazing. the robot prosthetic arm was developed for iraq war veterans who lost limbs in the war. such an advancement in robotics to ease the struggle of other is just spectacular!
it’s friday, and this weekend you may be heading out on a lukewarm to semi-hot date. need advice? no problem! that funny fella dan clark is here to help you with the conceptual art that is dating. first, please watch and learn with dan clark’s 10 reasons not to take drugs on a date.
next, to make sure you arrive okay, here’s 10 ways not to arrive for a date …
good advice!! last but not least, & this is very important: 10 things you should not say after sex.
seems that NASA’s mighty Cassini–Huygens spacecraft has discovered - even tasted! - organic matter on one of Saturn’s moons, Enceladus! quoting the sciencedaily article:
“Enceladus has got warmth, water and organic chemicals, some of the essential building blocks needed for life,” said Dennis Matson, Cassini project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. “We have quite a recipe for life on our hands, but we have yet to find the final ingredient, liquid water, but Enceladus is only whetting our appetites for more.”
for spring break week, it’s taxidermy gone wild! yes, monday morning bringeth the beaver jokes with the most awesome beaver case mod ever (maybe the only beaver case mod ever). built by kasey mcmahon. for steaming PC action, check out the specs on that hot beaver too! a very nice beaver at that! some pics of the amazing project below. awesome job kasey! i think i love you!
it’s friday, and with our fingers on the pulse of celebrity gossip, apparently will arnett is getting hella busy with ashley olsen. wow! i didn’t know he drove a prius either. please watch for yourself (ps - turn it up loud so all your co-workers can hear the gratuitous swearing). thanks fecalface for the humor!
my friend sasha is having a party to celebrate the 3rd issue release of her magazine meatpaper. meatpaper (nominated for utne’s best independent press award in 2007) is a print magazine of art and ideas about meat. so come celebrate with meatpaper! the meatpaper 3rd issue release party is sunday, march 30th, from 6pm to 9pm and will be held at serpentine in san francisco. $10 - $15 sliding scale entrance includes drinks and dee-licious snacks (of the meat & non-meat variety). congrats on your hard work sasha!
dis·in·gen·u·ous - [dis-in-jen-yoo-uhs] - adjective.
1. lacking in frankness, candor, or sincerity; falsely or hypocritically ingenuous; insincere.
2. not straightforward or candid; insincere or calculating.
3. pretending to be unaware or unsophisticated; faux-naïf.
4. giving a false appearance of frankness.
mask - [mahsk] - noun
1. a grotesque or humorous false face worn at a carnival, masquerade, etc.
2. a covering for all or part of the face, worn to conceal one’s identity.
3. verb : to conceal one’s real personality, character, or intentions.
4. anything that disguises or conceals; disguise; pretense: Her politeness is a mask for her fundamentally malicious personality.
the luggage store is hosting feral, an art show featuring works by swoon and monica canilao. the show opens tomorrow (friday 6pm - 8pm) march 21st and runs through april 26th. the highly rad fecalface dot com has a great sneak preview of the feral show which i highly recommend if you can’t make the actual show.