This is one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen. I don’t see how it could have been faked outside of having access to a Hollywood style budget for special effects. Some people are thinking that the elephant is tracing pencil marks too faint for the camera to pick up,  a technique used by kiddie show hosts on television. I would like to see this same elephant drawing again, showing whatever the handler is doing. But I’m pretty damn near convinced that it is for real.

Filed under: Uncategorized- , Nature, Video - by gamma
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I like Monty Python, but this movie completely missed my consciousness. This is a funny clip from Eric the Viking, about when and when not to go berserk.  Though it gets only 30% on Rotten Tomatoes, I just added the movie to my Netflix queue.

More Vikings

Via this post on MeFi

Filed under: Uncategorized- , Amusements, Video - by gamma
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gammablog.com/2005/03/25/triangle-fire-94th-anniversary-m…
“Chalk” a project organized by filmaker Ruth Sergel – streetpictures.com
In 2005 I asked her source on the names etc. She wrote: “The addresses/ages etc. come from a wonderful book Triangle: The Fire that Changed America that just came out a couple of years ago by David Von Drehle. He Chalked this year & spoke at the commemoration. Also Leon Stein (The Triangle Fire) wrote the classic book on the fire in the 1950s. Old school radical he interviewed many of the survivors. It is super-readable & devastating.”

Filed under: Art, Photos, Street Art- , Chalk, Memorial - by gamma
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Tats Cru mural, not there in the morning, there in the afternoon.

Filed under: East Village, Photos, Street Art- , Murals, Tats Cru - by gamma
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billikidbrand says: I need one of them clean rats.

Filed under: East Village, Photos, Street Art- , Banksy, Stencils - by gamma
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Possibly a hawk kill.

I wonder how long it has been wedged like this in the tree. It is just a bit above eye level, I could have yanked on the tail.  You would think someone on that block of East Tenth would have knocked it down with a broom handle or something. The squirrel’s natural camouflage does make it easier to ignore, I guess.  In another shot, where you can see a bit more of the top, it shows either completely hairless skin or painted-on liquid latex. Very creepy, strange. dmansouri says: yoinks. gruesome.

Filed under: East Village, Photos- , Nature - by gamma
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Those locksmith cards are everywhere.

Filed under: East Village, Photos, Street Art- , Laughs - by gamma
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I’ve been using Netflix for the past couple of months, and I’ve got to say that I’ve been impressed. On Monday their website went down, and the video I was expecting yesterday did not show up. This morning they sent out an email apologizing for the outage and offering a 5% rebate for this month’s service. This is the first time a video did not show up on time. In general if I drop my video in the mailbox before noon the next day, I get the next one in my queue two days later. That is: get the movie Tuesday, return it Wednesday, get the next one on Friday. I find this an impressive collaboration with the often maligned US postal service. This is a shout-out to them as well. If I am diligent about returning the videos the next day I can reliably get four videos a week with my two-at-a-time $13.99-a-month plan (working out to roughly 90 cents a rental with the tax). A price increase is planned for June 15th.

There are some negatives. You may have to wait awhile for new releases. I’ve had No Country for Old Men and I Am Legend at the top of my queue since long before their release dates and am being told to expect a long wait for both of them. Also the discs are sometimes a little scratched up, but so far none of them have been unplayable. In general it is a pretty good deal, but you might want to stick with your local shop for the latest videos releases.

By the way, their tip of cleaning glitchy discs with window cleaner is a good one. And their suggestion algorithm is excellent. I’ve found it to be very helpful in finding videos for my queue.

Filed under: Uncategorized- , Amusements, Media - by gamma
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