Roland Tamayo’s Surreal Paintings: Whales, Squids, & Watchful Televisions

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By day, he creates concept art for computer games; by night, he dons his surrealistic cape and ventures out to paint weirdness and wonder. Roland Tamayo’s surreal acrylic paintings and drawings dip into the inkwell of his recurring motifs and recombine them in new and unexpected arrangements. That’s traditional – Magritte, de Chirico and Dali all used their own icons in much the same way.

Here we’ve got whales, tortoises and squids coexisting with televisions, buildings, microphones and trees. It’s wonderful stuff to look at, by which I mean: you ought to.

Eye of Ra Photography: Architecture, Protest, and Lucky Frogs

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Eye of Ra Photography is the new online photography gallery of my long lost cousin, Katie McCarley. Well. Okay, she’s not lost. Nobody lost her. We’ve just never met. “Long lost” just sounded better, or anyway I thought so, until I saw the end of this paragraph. Now that I’m here, I’m just not sure any more.

Now that we’ve found her, though, we should be interested in seeing these pictures. They range from documentary protest photos, some of which remind me of my San Francisco days, to architectural and animal photographs (including the only zebra that’s made me laugh and leap, simultaneously) to all sorts of miscellany. My favorite’s this trio of three-legged lucky frogs from a New Orleans voodoo shop. There’s also some digital work, mainly photomanipulation, along with fractals.

Katie’s gallery site is new, but some of these are also available as prints in her Deviant Art pages.

“Video 3000” animation from Stuttgart

Filed under Computer Graphics, Found on the Web

Video 3000 is a short animated film by a group of five students from the Hochschule der Medien in Stuttgart. It was shown at Cannes earlier this year.

I’d really like for you to go watch it, but it would be better if I didn’t say much about why – you’ll have a better time, believe me.

What I can say is that the character animation is terrific. You’ll immediately relate to how Our Hero responds to the situation he finds himself in, and the various things he does are wonderfully well observed and animated.

Apache Legend Animated in French Student Film

Filed under Computer Graphics, Found on the Web

HUGH is a fantastic short film by a group of four students from France’s École Supérieure des Métiers Artistiques. We see an Apache shaman telling some children a story about the days when the sky was so low that birds couldn’t fly, trees couldn’t grow, and adults had to walk with their backs bent and their eyes glued to the ground.

The “present day” scene of the storyteller is rendered in a wonderfully realistic but stylized manner – the characters remind me of the successful treatment of human characters in Ice Age – while the story itself appears in a completely different style that’s echoed n the decoration we see on the storyteller’s tent. From those creative decisions, through its execution, and including the animation and the voice and audio work, this is a first rate effort that’s head and shoulders above what you expect to see in a student film.

Here it is, in DIVX format, with English subtitles. Go look!

Ars Technica’s History of the Amiga, Part 4

Filed under Computer Graphics, Found on the Web

After a hiatus – which followed a bit of a letdown in Part 3 – Ars Technica’s History of the Amiga continues in Part 4 – once more in fine form. We get the background on both Jack Tramiel and Irving Gould and follow Amiga Inc. through near-disaster to its apparent salvation at the hands of Commodore.

Some props are given to Carl Sassenrath for the Amiga kernel and his plans for the OS; we see some pushing and shoving in the decision on how much RAM to include in the machine; and we get a vivid description of the Amiga’s launch event, complete with Debby Harry and Andy Warhol.

And perhaps most importantly we see how the world at large received the news. There’s a pointed contrast with the other machines then available and a bit of prescience about how these outlandish features would one day become commonplace. Good reading.

“Shake Ya Boogie” animates Mocean Worker

Filed under Computer Graphics, Found on the Web

This thing just makes me happy. “Shake ya Boogie” is an animation by Czarek Kwaśny set to the song by Mocean Worker, AKA Adam Dorn. It’s got a terrific mix of thirties-style animation, dancing wrenches, and retro industrial madness – all with a good old scratchy film chaser.

The music (from the “Cinco de Mowo” CD) likewise morphs from the present day to the raw, uncontainable jazz of the 20s and 30s. I was glad to discover the CD, which features a guest turn by Herb Alpert.

See the animation here, or go for broke and get the “Cinco de Mowo” CD. Or, you know, do both. You’re unstoppable.

Retro Rocket Thursday – the Space Tub Rocket

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Once again, it’s Retro Rocket Thursday – that holiday of long standing that we get every week, so long as I remember what day it is.

Today’s retro rocket is the Space Tub Rocket by Jeff Brewer. This handsome, bulging cartoon rocket is cast in resin on a weighted base that will keep it flying in almost any situation. Almost, I say, because mine turned out to be a very poor perch for a bird, when it found its way into my house. Don’t try this at home.

But aside from air raids, it’s a great, bulgy, more or less streamlined cartoon rocket that stands proudly on top of its plume of exhaust. Nice one!

Top 10 Ways to Destroy the Earth

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Slow week? Consider your options for the Top Ten Ways to Destroy the Earth at Live Science.

For sheer outrageous foolhardiness, my hat’s off to #4 (“Meticulously and systematically deconstructed“). I’m pretty sure that about the time you’d dug up, say, Australia, and fired the chunks off into the Sun, someone would show up and give you an unreasonably hard time. Though this would obviously not be the Australians.

Anyway if your work week is leading you to waver between plans for world domination and schemes for utter and complete annihilation, this would be the article that might tip the scales.

I mean, each scenario even has its “You Will Need” bullet point. It’s practically a recipe.

Theme Planet “Bunny Situation” short by Michael Sormann

Filed under Computer Graphics, Found on the Web

Here’s the latest short animation from Michael Sormann’s ongoing “Theme Planet” project. “Bunny Situation” is available in three flavors:

• YouTube version
• Windows Video (85 megs)
• Quicktime (120 megs)

“Theme Planet” is a 3D animated planet that is completely covered by a theme park. One attraction after another is piled high and wide, to cover the whole world’s surface. The story centers on a couple of maintenance workers who live there (the Pig and Elephant characters who appear in this short).

It’s exactly the sort of huge ambitious personal project I most admire even though my own H.A.P.P. is likely to consume me. Or maybe because my own is likely to consume me. Very highly recommended.

Do It Yourself “Fraction of an Inch Adding Machine” at Evil Mad Scientist Labs

Filed under Found on the Web

The worthy gadgetophiles of Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories have taken a 1950’s “Fraction of an Inch Adding Machine” and turned it into a do it yourself project.

This reminds me of the proportional scale that I still sometimes use. What this one does is to make it simple for you to add fractional measurements (like 1/16″ + 5/64″). Still a useful, old school device in the workshop.

Note: Always remember to Measure Twice, Cut Once.