According to the Urban Dictionary, a Paradoxymoron is “a person who argues in circles, often contradicting themselves”. By contrast, and according to fine artist Patrick Hughes, this is what a Paradoxymoron looks like:

Not that there’s anything so contradictory or redundant about this 1996 piece of fine art, mind you… well, except for the fact that it seems to change when you watch it from different standpoints. In fact, there’s a rather interesting optical illusion lurking right over the surface of the painting. Check it out:

As you can see, this is a “trompe d’oeil” type of painting (that’s “trick the eye” in French), that relies on a three-dimensional canvas to deliver a different image depending on the perspective of the viewer… or maybe I should say it depends on the “Reverspective”? Well, it’s plain to see this is a unique painting – and just in case you want to know more about Patrick Hughes Read the rest of this entry »

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I remember when I was  a teenager, dear reader: I was utterly fascinated with the whole cyberpunk movement, and as I grew older I always thought the technological-bound predictions of cyberpunk literature were indeed drawing forth to the real world.  You know what I’m talking, right? The kind of books such as Neuromancer and Blade Runner, where the relationship between human and machines tends to be closely scrutinized and stretched to the last consequences.

In this kind of literature depicting the regular sort of grim hopeless future, neural implants are usually pretty common as a way to interact with computers. And this is something I’ve always wondered about: how awesome it would be, communicating with a computer using nothing but the power of thought? Granted, the whole idea of getting a neural jack implanted in the back of my head never seemed particularly alluring… but you know what? It sure looks like reality has outperformed fiction, this time around:

Enter the Emotiv brain computer Interface, an apparently simple headset that allows the computer to pick up on brain activity and patterns, and to interpret commands directly from the brain of the user. And the best part? It seems to work like a charm, and personally I cannot wait to try this amazing interface. If this thing words as well as it seems, you can bet the next generation of videogames will start using this technology as a way of interfacing with the game’s virtual world.

It certainly looks awesome. And the best part is how it doesn’t require some kind of implants or robotic surgery. Using this technology, communicating with a computer looks as simple as wearing a headset and learning how to focus the mind appropriately. Rest assured, these Emotiv Brain Computer Interfaces will not read your mind; from what I’ve seen it looks like it just learns to pick up on specific brain patterns, not unlike the way that speech recognition works.

In practical terms, it means that you have to train the Interface to recognize your brain patterns. But from what I’m seeing in these videos, it looks as though it’s not so complicated. Maybe I’ll get one of these Emotiv headsets to make a detailed review… so if you’re interested in this topic stay tuned!

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“The night Max wore his wolf suit, and made mischief of one kind and another

– his mother called him “WILD THING”, and Max said “I’ll eat you UP!!!” so he was sent to bed without eating anything.”

And that’ s how it begins – all at once, the incredible journey to where the wild things are, as well as one of the most incredibly famous children’s stories in existence. I’m talking of course about Maurice Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things are”, a reading of which you can watch in the video up there.

Let the wild rumpus start!

With around 20 million copies sold since its original publication in 1963, “Where the Wild Things Are” is one of the most dean picture books in America (maybe even the world), and there are good reasons why. This is an offbeat kind of children’s story, and it’s unlike your run of the mill type of infantile tales.

In the end of 2009, and after 10 years of production, Where the Wild things are was released as a live-action movie. Directed by Spike Jonze and praised by people of all age groups, this movie is in my opinion a great accomplishment of story-telling and movie-making alike. It’s a very special movie indeed, which will be cherished both by people who love the original story as well as newcomers.

The entire story is around 300 words, yet surprisingly the movie adaptation manages to be quite faithful to the original book – impressively so, actually! Even Maurice Sendak (the original author) has reportedly expressed his satisfaction with what Jonze achieved in the movie version – a very unlikely feat, especially considering the difficulty involved in such adaptation.

I highly recommend watching this movie, and bringing your kids along if you’ve got any. Also, for starters you may want to read the original story (check here for a pdf version) which goes like this:

“The night Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind and another.

His mother called him “WILD THING!” and Max said: “I’ll eat you UP!” so he was sent to bed without eating anything.

That very night in Max’s room a forest grew, and grew, and grew until his ceiling hung with vines and the walls became the world all around and an ocean tumbled by with a private boat for Max and he sailed off through night and day, and in and out of weeks and almost over a year, to where the wild things are.

And when he came to the place where the wild things are they roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws till Max said “BE STILL!” and tamed them with the magic trick of staring into all their yellow eyes without blinking once and they were frightened and called him the most wild thing of all and made him king of all wild thing.

“And now,” cried Max, “let the wild rumpus start!”

“Now stop!” Max said and send the wild things off to bed without their supper. And Max the king of all wild whings was lonely and wanted to be where someone loved him best of all.

Then all around from far away across the world he smelled good things to eat, so he gave up being kind of where the wild things are.

But the wild things cried, “Oh please don’t go – we’ll eat you up – we love you so!” And Max said, “No!”. The wild things roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws but Max stepped into his private boat and waved good-bye.

And sailed back over year, and in and out of weeks and through a day, and into the night of his very own room – where he found his supper waiting for him, and it was still hot. “

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If you want to see Tiger Woods Latest Girlfriend, you’ve come to the right place! Like millions of other Americans, I bet you’re probably itching to find out who is the latest girlfriend of the national golf prodigy, following the latest scandal on his infidelity and break-up. Well, without further due, I present you:

Tiger Woods latest girlfriend!!

Are you ready?!?! Well, first we need to get in the right mindset, so let’s sing the national anthem.

Oh, Tiger Woods can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the Latest Girlfriend,
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave……….

ok, enough of that, and enough with the suspense. Just take a look at his latest girlfriend:

Happy? I hope not! Now go ahead and LEAVE TIGER WOODS ALONE. There’s nothing to see here! Go out and play some golf why dont’cha!

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I’ve always wanted to learn how to play the piano, and I’ve just found what may be one of the best – and most enjoyable – ways of doing so. Simply put, it’s a software called Synthesia. It might just be called Piano Hero, but they’d probably get in trouble over copyright infringement issues. Besides, despite being insanely popular (let’s face it), that game Guitar Hero is child’s play. What is that, five colors? Can you seriously equate that with the kind of skill that’s required to play an actual guitar? Get serious.

Now, Synthesia is a whole different ball game. Despite showcasing a similar system to the aforementioned lackluster-blockbuster music game, this is a sophisticated software that can actually be used to learn and master the piano… as well has having lots fun! If you own a midi keyboard, you’ll have a blast playing this genuine music game with your friends. And the best part is that you can download for free at the Synthesia Game website. Just check out this video to see this innovative way to teach yourself keyboard:

Neat, uh? And the best thing about this software is that you can import just about any midi file you want! There are hundreds of videos on Youtube showing all kinds of musics you can imagine, getting played with Synthesia. In fact, I suspect Read the rest of this entry »

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