My first NSFW post!

Today I came across an interesting video on Gizmodo definitely NSFW (not-safe-for-work) aka not for those below age of 18 and beware of who is around you when and if you decide to watch it!!! Well recently I have been watching any and all vimeo / youtube video posts on the blogs I follow to find content for mine. Anyways the video starts off weird (weird even for my standard which is highly weird enough) with an unusual style of animation and then Louisa Bertman (the narrator) proceeds to recount her own youthful obsession with obtaining the "perfect" set of breasts in this frenetic, sometimes explicit but ultimately touching and thought-provoking animated short. I agree with her message at the end of the video.

Duct Tape (DuckTales Theme Parody)

Hilarious and well done parody!

Downton Abbey Series 4

For those who have no watched Downton Abbey, it is a British period drama (drama which elaborates costumes, sets and properties are featured in order to capture the ambience of a particular era) created by Julian Fellowes. The series, set in the Yorkshire country estate of Downton Abbey, depicts the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants in the post-Edwardian era - with the great events in history (such as sinking of the RMS Titanic, the outbreak of World War I, the Spanish influenza pandemic, the Marconi scandal, the Interwar period, and the Irish Free State) having an effect on their lives and on the British social hierarchy.

After 3 successful series and a movie/special, it is said to be coming back on screen on January 5, 2014 - yes it is in quite a while, but nonetheless there is plenty of time to watch the show and be caught up with all its intricacies.

Game of Hearts

(Spoiler alert!) So as to avoid spilling out too many spoilers, the video is a romantic comedy rendition of Sansa Stark and Tyrion Lannister from Game of Thrones, and also staring a special new actor - watch the video to find out who!


Courtesy: The Mary Sue

Alcoholic Stockholm Syndrome

Stockholm Syndrome, or capture-bonding, is a psychological phenomenon in which hostages (non-drinking people) express empathy and sympathy and have positive feelings towards their captors (drinking people), sometimes to the point of defending them.

   
Courtesy: Cyanide and Happiness

Most effective way to deal with people who ignore science facts

No words needed to describe or summarize the video, just watch it.



Courtesy upworthy.

Tesla Model S - The advanced crusher of safety standards

 

Tesla Model S, a car so far advanced in both luxury and technologies that one could say this is from another world entirely! "Introducing a car so advanced it sets the new standard premium performance" - Tesla. While one would expect this to be the typical catch-phrase used to attract buyers, it was a shock for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) when doing the safety testing. Tesla Model S is soo safe that it crushed all the safety standards and earned an overall score of 5.4 out of 5 stars. During the rollover test, the darn car was soo stubborn to rollover nicely via the conventional means that special means had to be introduced. Here is the link containing more details about the pain caused to NHTSA by Tesla Model S. Frankly, I think parts of Nokia 3310 must have been used in building this car.

The features and designs comes at a luxurious pricing north of $60k, depending on the model, additional features, and Federal Tax Credit (Electric vehicle incentives range from $7.5k to $15k depending on your state and offset of the down payment - learn more here). 

Star Drunk

No, it is not Star Trek or Star Wars, and yes it is called Star Drunk. Courtesy of Charlie Jane Anders at io9 who brought this to my awareness, I bring to you Star Drunk - the drunkest science fiction movie in the history to date (currently 28/08/2013 ~10pm PDT).

The writers were drunk while writing the script and the actors were drunk while performing the script, sadly or thankfully (depending on how you wish to perceive this) the rest of the crew was sober.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: Star Drunk, a film by drunk people:


Also a bit of behind the scene chaos with both drunk & sober people:


Don't forget to check out "Do You Love Me", a film by Cleverbot, also from these guys (Star Drunk is supposed to be the sequel to it).

Blog-fever and First Week Anniversary!

So it has been a week since I started this blog and got about 20 posts (prior to this post), and 254 pageviews (though I am not sure how many of that is actual humans and not bots).

But now I got a friend who started a blog: Berries and Spam, and another thinking of starting one. I have now contracted blog-fever and started spreading it. Blogging FTW!

Roman stuff

So Romans... there have been some fascinating people such as Lucius Caecilius Iucundus, Gaius Julius Caesar, Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger, Spartacus, and Leonidas I during the era when Romans ruled over Europe.

And from this era I bring to you:
The Fires of Pompeii (Doctor Who)


Pompeii (Courtesy Berries and Spam for making me aware of this movie)


Spartacus - Beware 3 seasons of highly gory and glorious action and drama, not for those with faint heart and weak stomach.


300


Rome (I have not watched this)

The Doctor and Dance

Ninth Doctor:

Tenth Doctor:
Well this is more of David Tennant dancing :P

Beware... contagious song and some scenes that can never be unseen below:


Eleventh Doctor:


Doctor Who Dance Party:

24/08/2013's Random Collection

Wedding done right - Congrats to lovely couple and go K-9! Oh, I never knew that the phrase "Something Olde, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue, A Sixpence in your Shoe" was part of the wedding norm..., I mean I have heard (spoiler alert!) Amelia Pond (much better than Amy Pond) in Doctor Who ( actual and edited versions) say "Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue" to summon the Doctor into existence for her wedding reception (not the wedding mind you! And the Doctor loves wedding parties - and yes he is a great dancer... ahem!).

The awakening - me stare.

Some amazing Wild Pokemon photos - honestly Ninja-Jamal (Jamal Lee) has stunned me with these pictures..., they are simply amazing.

Things Harry Potter Actors/Actresses say... I miss Dobby and Hedwig :'(

Ferrets-omania - cuteness overloaded.

Worth Sharing - Go people!

Welcome to Arranged Marriage!

What Tree Did You Fall From? - For me its Apple-Fir Tree - which means I am:

         - quite & shy at times (true - well most of the time)

         - lots of charm (hmmm... not really)

         - appeal (nah)

         - attraction (???)

         - pleasant attitude (yup)

         - flirtatious smile (nope, I cannot charm someone by my smile)

         - adventurous (yup)

         - sensitive (yup)

         - loyal in love (never been in love)

         - wants to love and be loved (who doesn't?)

         - faithful and tender partner (never been in a relationship)

         - very generous (yup)

         - many talents (nope, maybe one or two?)

         - loves children (hmm...)

         - needs affectionate partner (yup! lol)

         - extraordinary taste (yup)

         - handles stress poorly (false! I handle stress like a pro)

         - loves anything beautiful (yup)

         - can become depressed at times (yup)

         - stubborn (yup)

         - tends to care for those close to them as well as helping strangers (yup)

         - rather modest (yup)

         - hard worker (definitely!)

         - talented (not really)

         - unselfish (one cannot be 100% unselfish)

         - few sexual relationships (none)

         - many friends (a few)

         - doesn't want foes (true)

         - very reliable (yup!)

looks like they managed to characterize me mostly....

Deathigner

Courtesy of Lauren Davis from io9, I bring to you Deathigner!

Deathigner (pronounced like "designer" but with a lisp) is a delicate short story created by Tzu-Hsuan Fei, Kuan-Tien Chen, ke-Ching Chang, Ya-Chu Hsu, and Li-Ying Fu of the National Taiwan University of Arts' Department of Multimedia and Animation Arts.

It goes over the schooling (the first day basically) of Osiris', Grim Reaper's, and the "avatars of Impermanence"'s (???) children at the Death School. Instead of trying to read my rambling here... I suggest you watch the video and come up with your own interpretation of the video :P

Oh! By the way, there will be some violence since you know it is dealing with soul reapers, souls, bunnies, and (ahem!) death... you have been warned!


Deathigner from Deathigner on Vimeo.
【Facebook Page】
https://www.facebook.com/fashion.deathigner

2D Animation / 720HD / 6'47"
---
一隻極度不幸卻又極度幸運的小骷髏死神；
一次不一定會發生卻非得發生的巧合；
一個在冰冷冥界的溫暖故事。
A warm story about a little grim reaper who is lucky that having great talent for fashion design.
/
小孩的潛力是無限的，
愛他相信他，成全所有可能。
"A lot of mothers will do anything for their children, except let them be themselves."
― Banksy, Wall and Piece

---
國立臺灣藝術大學 多媒體動畫藝術學系
National Taiwan University of Arts , Department of Multimedia and Animation Arts

---
【製作團隊】
費子軒Tzu-Hsuan Fei
陳寬恬Kuan-Tien Chen
張可靚 ke-Ching Chang
徐雅竹Ya-Chu Hsu
傅麗穎 Li-Ying Fu

---
【指導老師】
張維忠Wei-Chung Chang
陳建宏Chieh-Hung Chen
楊東岳Tung-Yueh Yang

---
---
【音樂音效】(Music and sound)
Michele Cheng
flcomposer@gmail.com

---
【Email】
deathigners@gmail.com

【Youtube】
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mptpw8fQ-lw

【Facebook Page】
https://www.facebook.com/fashion.deathigner

Cosmic Holes in the Universe

Black holes, white holes and worm holes are all consistent with Einstein's theory of General Relativity. Of the three, actual existence exists only for black holes. Their behavior is explained. Scientists speculate on whether white holes and worm holes exist and how they would behave.

23/08/2013's Random Collection

Tracking the origin of your email - Ever wondered the path taken by the emails you get?

Finding the best time to book your hotel stay.

For those out there who likes to build their PC from scratch (figuratively speaking) Lifehacker has put together a list of sites you would like to use.

A Comprehensive Map that traces 463 contradictions in the Bible.

Programming a Quantum Computer Conundrum.

New camera thats takes sharpest ever photos of the Universe.

Paradoxes comes naturally with time travel and have been warned in practically in every single story that involves time travel - Doctor Who, Back to the Future, Looper, Continuum, etc.. Here is the research (well after going through io9 site) about the grandfather paradox without going back in time and murdering your grandfather.

Bride's Wedding Music....

And here is a wonderful app to keep track of the time you spend on Facebook.

And finally a gif to lift your heart :)

Oh! How the times have changed!

About 2 decades ago, people actually had to memorize their friend's and relative's phone numbers, then came along the revolutionary device cellphones or mobile phones.... and roughly about 5-10yrs ago ever since smartphones came along people have stopped looking at each other and their surroundings. While this generated tons of funny gifs, serious injuries and deaths in some scenario, people now view the world through the eyes of their phone rather than their own, not to mention less utilization of their brain from not memorizing numbers :P

Here is a video of how today's world is in the eyes of a person who forgot their phone:


Oh! Few words from the Doctor: "Oh and here they come. The human race. See. The end comes as it was always going to: down to a video phone." Video link (spoiler alert - it is in the middle of the episode!) here.

22/08/2013's Random Collection

What happens when you stick your head into a particle accelerator?

Martini glass for children?! - This has the potential for turning a kid into Sterling Archer from Archer.

Zoom in on the birth of a Star from thousands of light years away.

Periodic Table of Alcohol.

Alternate Ending to Pacific Rim - this I highly approve!

How to be a highly productive Night Owl?

Doctor Who - Number of regenerations?

For those who are not watching/following Doctor Who, let me stop you right here and right now and guide you to the amazing world of Doctor Who!

And now for those who do watch/follow Doctor Who, the total number of regenerations the Doctor can undergo has been a crucial question, well not as crucial as the Doctor's true name..., but nonetheless an important question that determines the ending of the show. Well the one quick Google search and a quick wiki reading later (BTW - ton of spoilers in that reading) I am still unclear about the total number of regeneration the Doctor has or can have....

Today on The Mary Sue blog, I came across the article that has Moffat's statement on the Doctor only having 12 regenerations, but then there is this.... Also io9 has their post.... So in the end it is a penny in the air... and till it drops we have no clue what the right answer is.... 

Benedict Cumberbatch

Benedict Cumberbatch... he walked into my field of vision in the production of Sherlock by Steven Moffat & Mark Gatiss (writers for Doctor Who), and then later in Star Trek Into Darkness (spoiler alert!) as the Khan (spoiler alert!). Now he is scheduled to be on the big screen for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, The Hobbit: There and Back Again (Smaug / The Necromancer) and The Fifth Estate (Julian Assange) -- at least the three out of the many I would be waiting for. Meanwhile I am going to check out The Last Enemy.

FYI - Each of the above links leads to a youtube trailer pertaining to the movie/show.

Mac Stuff

For those looking for an alternate for Terminal on Mac I present to you iTerm2.

And for those looking for a way to install new libraries and applications on Mac that usually involves the source code, running configure, make, make install and other crazy linux commands, I bring to you Homebrew. Homebrew is a neat script that helps Mac users to control libraries with minimal effort, not to mention it takes care of dependencies involved!

Sublime Text - The Text Editor

Like many out there, I have been hunting for the perfect text editor that makes programming more simple and fun. I have tried, Xcode, Eclipse, Netbeans, Emacs, Vim, Notepad++, TextMate, and Smultron till I came across Sublime Text. Sublime Text is THE text editor for programmers combined with plugins from Package Control PERIOD.

For those interested here is a link that contains video demonstrations from getting started to snippets, essential plugins and tips, techniques and modifications needed to bring the best in Sublime Text.

Here are some of the plugins I use:

• CUDA C++
• Git
• HttpStatusCode
• IPython Integration
• Mirodark Color Scheme
• Package Control
• PHP Companion
• Python Auto-Complete
• SFTP
• SideBarEnchancements
• SideBarGit
• SublimeAStyleFormatter
• SublimeClang
• SublimeSimpleSync
• TextCommands
• Theme - Phoenix
• WordCount

ABE

ABE - The story of a robot trying to find it's place in the world where no one loves it, and to resolve this issue, it tries to fix the humans thus turning into a serial killer.

This short film is now undergoing the evolution into a full-length feature by MGM, needless to say I cannot wait for the full-length edition!


ABE from Rob McLellan on Vimeo.
Writer/Director - Rob McLellan
Manager - Adam Marshall / Caliber Media 310-786-9210
Agent - Chris Ridenhour / APA 310-888-4209

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/abemovie
Website - http://www.abemovie.com

Interview with the director 30/04/13 youtube.com/watch?v=RM5uUnRmJQI

Copyright Zero-G Productions

Courtesy: io9

Floating Point Arithmetic

As programmers some of us when dealing with floating-point arithmetic comes across the following craziness: 0.1 + 0.2 = 0.30000000000000004 or the weirdness when incrementing by 1/10 for example:

This site goes over this creepiness in detail and explains why it occurs.

Tetris-gasm

I happen to play Tetris from time to time... But this is just mind blowing... Chuck Yeager cleaned out 40 lines of Tetris in 19.68 secs, I mean look at the cat! He/She/It is awestruck literally throughout the game!

Source: Link

Beyond

BEYOND, sci fi short film from Raphael Rogers on Vimeo.
Arya is the last remaining member of her family, a lineage with a unique genetic code that grants the ability to survive the folding of temporal and spatial boundaries... In short, she can teleport. Tasked with exploring new planets, she is in search of something that will explain who exactly she is and where she comes from.

Director: Raphael Rogers
Producers: Raphael Rogers, Bianca Malinowski
Talent: Bianca Malinowski, Andrew Varenhorst, Raphael Rogers
Contact: shortfilmbeyond@gmail.com

Raphael's IMDB: http://imdb.com/name/nm4776738/
Bianca's IMDB: http://imdb.com/name/nm2841629/
Andrew's IMDB: http://imdb.com/name/nm2967554/

18/08/2013's Collections

From the blogs I follow and posts I have come across today(18/08/2013), I bring to you:

Deadpool vs. Comic Con 2013 -- Some hilarious moments involving Deadpool at Comic Con 2013. Here is the link to the youtube that captures Deadpool's.... craziness? And at WonderCon 2013, and at Anime Los Angeles 2013, ... frankly just follow D Piddy on YouTube!!! Also Deadpool's origin is...

Captain Han Solo vs. Wookie -- meh... just hilarious.

Braiding your hair like the ladies in Game of Thrones -- For the GoT fans out there!

Miquel's Theorem -- Geometry never ceases to amaze me!

And lastly the story of Physics:

BBC Science Club - Physics from Asa Lucander on Vimeo.
Physics - Short animation, which was part of the Science Club series on BBC2 hosted by Dara O Briain

Directed by: Åsa Lucander
Art&Design: Åsa Lucander
Additional Art: Marc Moynihan
Stop Motion & Compositing: Julia Bartl
Animation: Kim Alexander, Marc Moynihan, Anna Fyda, Barry Evans, Lucy Izzard, Simon Testro, Phoebe Halstead, Michael Towers
Sound: Laura Coates
Produced by: 12foot6

Yet another heartbreaking video (you have been warned!)

So... I might have a knack for capturing heartbreaking videos despite being a cold mean robot (ahem! friends).... A street rat tries to save its lab rat love from a research robot. Now where have we seen a similar scenario before? I am going with Wall-E. But after watching the video, I would have to agree with Lauren Davis from io9... I'll never look at a bag of Cheetos quite the same way again.


One Rat Short from CHRLX on Vimeo.

A Breakup Beautifully Animated as a Bittersweet Kung Fu Film

A Breakup Beautifully Animated as a Bittersweet Kung Fu Film... well thats a lot of oxymorons in a single title, but nonetheless the video does indeed bring it out! Check it out!


Requiem for Romance from Jonathan Ng on Vimeo.
DVDs and Limited Prints from the film available at:
http://jonjonphenomenon.com/2013/requiem-for-romance-dvds-prints/

@JonNgAnimation
Facebook.com/RequiemForRomance

In this "crouching love, hidden breakup" story, inspired by 50's Shanghai water ink animation & kung fu films, themes of distance, tradition, art and longing dominate a telephonic conversation as a martial arts tango provides the visual backdrop.

Shannon Kook, star of Degrassi the Next Generation and The Conjuring, won the best voice performance at the ACTRA awards for his role on the film. Vid Cousins composed the music based on an original musical theme by Kid Koala.

The film won Best Art Direction Award at Anima Mundi, Best Canadian Shortwork at the Whistler Film Festival, AnimAsian award at the Toronto International Reel Asian Film Festival, Audience Choice Award at the Athens Animation Festival in upstate NY. It was nominated for prizes at Cristal Festival in Switzerland, Golden Reel award at LA Asian Pacific Film Festival. The film was Official Selection in Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film, Melbourne International Film Festival, Palm Springs International Shortfest and was presented as part of the Best of Quebec presentation in the Cannes Market in 2012.

Please add to Tip Jar or watch with ads on Film Annex to help me generate revenue for my next project:
http://www.filmannex.com/webtv/jonathanng/movie/requiem-for-romance/37528

First Post!!!

Greetings! After a couple of days of contemplation I decided to start a blog, unaware of the most important hurdle to cross if I were to start one... naming it. Astroturf, Really Random Ramblings, Mad Man with a Blue Box, Mad Programmer with a Blue Box, Silence Will Fall, Impractical Plausibility, Coding Blink Angel, Stardis Codenomicon, etc. were some of the suggestions.... Needless to say Coder from Gallifrey was the one I decided to go with, just because it includes two of the most important things in my life - well aside from my family, God, friends (ahem! thanks for the suggestions), and the Internet - Doctor Who and Programming.

This blog is and would be filled with really random ramblings - astrophysics, TV shows, technology, programming, memes, etc.. Now fingers crossed and knocking on the wood, I am hoping this blog will be updated on a regular basis :P