momusradar

Giles Turnbull pokes holes in the genius of iTunes Genius:

Using “Fingertips” as my source results in a mix full of more They Might Be Giants songs. Some R.E.M. Some B-52s. Pixies. Devo. They Might Be Giants. Jonathan Coulton. Elvis Costello. So dull.

I am triumphant, because my point is proven. Genius isn’t a genius at all, merely a regurgitator of other people’s opinions. And too many people who listen to They Might Be Giants also listen to that other lot.

That’s no mix. A mix considers the songs themselves, not just the genre. It listens to the possible combinations, it has moments of drama and moments of peace, and it has two very precise end points. The end of side one, and the end of side two. iTunes Genius provides none of these.

Spot on.

Destino is a short animated film released by Disney Studios in 2003 that started out as a collaboration between Walt Disney & Salvador Dali in 1946.

John Canemaker notes, in his article titled When Dali Met Disney, that Dali worked at the animation studio for a few months in 1946 before the project was shelved. By that time only a brief animation test of two tortoise shells draped in cloth depicting facial apparitions was made.

When Roy E. Disney (Walt’s nephew) sought to use the test in the feature film, Fantasia 2000, the Disney Legal Department pointed out:

Dali’s contract stipulated that his original artwork for Destino would not become Disney property until after the movie was made.

This revelation was key to resuming production & ultimately the reconstruction of Destino was completed.

The original animation test (starting at the 5:20 mark of the linked video) is the most impressive part—at least to me that is. There is a clear difference with it as compared to the rest of the short which lacks its vibrant feel & appearance.

Notwithstanding, it is an interesting piece of work from Disney Studios.

One aspect of Polaroid’s instant films that simply can not be replaced by any digital medium is its completely self-contained mechanics. No external batteries, no transfer cables, no medium readers; Polaroid’s instant film requires none of these. All that is needed are three steps: exposure to light, exposure to chemistry & about a minute of your time. Yet with everything needing to be digital now-a-days, I suppose it was inevitable. Polaroid plans to discontinue manufacturing its instant film.

Fortunately they are willing to license the technology to other manufacturers.

addendum January 21, 2009

The Impossible Project’s aim is to re-start production of analog INTEGRAL FILM for vintage Polaroid cameras in 2010. They have acquired Polaroid’s old equipment, factory and seek your support.

While the main characters are only eight pixels high by eight pixels wide and game play lasts just five minutes, Jason Rohrer’s Passage is quite possibly the finest video game I have had the fortune of playing to date.

As he so eloquently notes on the download page:

If you don’t get the point at first, please keep playing.

I “got it” about three minutes in. It is simply touching.

What Barry Says, is a thoughtful short film about the United States’ regular use of military force since the 1950s, including the War on Terror & the invasion of Iraq. The film was designed & animated by Simon Robson; narration was provided by Barry McNamara.