"Pew Pew" is the new "Bang Bang"

We're in the futrue people! The US Navy has just revealed footage of a new laser ray gun mounted on one of their warships. This is one of the few technological breakthroughs I'd been anticipating to witness along with flying vehicles and invisibility-cloaking suits.

I mean, just LOOK at this thing!

Just a few days ago was the first successful test where the laser was able inflict damage onto an empty (thank God!) motorboat.

The navy released one video of the boat setting ablaze with seconds.

 It's not as impressive as it first sounds only because the laser gun isn't actually shown but large baseball sized glint is shown hitting it, a successive number of times, and creates a steadily growing flame.

What is impressive is how accurate the laser can continuously pinpoint its target and the fact that the distance that it was said to be fired could be measured in miles not feet.

Though it is only effective enough to be used as a warning shot for other ships or sinking kayaks, it's a fair next step, but... not good enough Navy! Lasers weren't designed in science fiction just to set things on fire, let's see some explosions!

Article and vid: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/04/navy-laser-weapon-fire-.html

Wierd but Cool

I found these too web created tools that play with user inter-actable tools to create different sound and visual patterns. They're sort of strange but really simple and fun to toy around with.

http://www.zefrank.com/byokal/kal2.html

www.grotrian.de/spiel/d/spiel_win.html

It makes me appreciate the kinds of tools people are able to design on a simple web page and how innovative they can be for such a basic idea.

Rube Goldberg vs OK Go

This video went viral precisely one year ago but it still surprises me that some haven't been privileged to witness it yet. You'd know OK Go from their treadmill music video, but this one is perhaps their best where they set up a complicated contraption and synchronize it with their music. If there was an award for most dedication  and/or time-consuming effort in a music video this one would go to them. Even if you've seen this one or two times before, it never gets old.

Rube Goldberg Machine: A Rube Goldberg machine, device, or apparatus is a deliberately over-engineered machine that performs a very simple task in a very complex fashion, usually including a chain reaction. The expression is named after American cartoonist and inventor Rube Goldberg.

Tarboy

Short animated flash videos, impressive as they are, are just simply for our amusement and don't always have much in terms of a story line. However one video in particular has a great artistic and narrative style that I believe rivals some of Pixar's animated shorts. That means a lot to me since Pixar has always been one of my few muses for becoming an computer animator or graphical artist ergo I hold equally high standards towards the following piece of work...

I'm not a violent person but...

Sometimes I just feel like need to watch a video of random, messed-up, nonsensical, fantasy cartoon violence once and a while. I can usually count on stickpage.com to do just this. This one always gives me a big stupid smile.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N54tMDeink

(frame rate probably to choppy handle watching on the small video viewer that blogspot provides)

Anyway, I was always told that stick figures were the most amateurish form of amateur animating anywhere, but something about this debunks everything I've ever heard on that regard. Also... why not add a hard-rocking soundtrack to accompany it?

...Stalling...

While trying to manage my post-a-week-quota, I'm realizing... this is actually quite difficult. Certainly a lot harder than I originally thought.
I had a few idea posts in reserve that I thought were worth sharing, but I didn't want to use all of them up before I'd have to more frantically search for some new and interesting videos out there in the Interwebs. It's a challenge enough to just sorta squeeze them in with an overall theme.

But I have come to that point. (Almost)

You can tell I'm stalling because I just posted an entire bit about my realization of myself having backed into a corner... in a shrinking room... being lowered into a volcano...

But I seriously did digress there, I have found a short video from a few years back that I dug up from my memory. The concept behind this video is a style of animation called "typography" and it accompanies the lyrics from a song while the music is playing.

For as minimalist of a technique I find it has a strong ability to communicate the essence of the song through some creative imagery. Also the song rocks. Enjoy!

Real Life Fake Warfare

Special effects guys are seen far and wide in Hollywood but never on youtube. I've always kinda liked special effect's ability to mess with visual sense and poke fun at reality as opposed to just rendering a cool looking 3-D model. I find this one particularly interesting considering it's on youtube but beyond typical youtube quality and also the fact of it being a video game parody. Even more impressive is that he drops a new video once a week. I feel like the idea of someone bringing their talent out to a very publicly open media such as youtube ties into the idea of these blogs and them sharing ideas in a non-mainstream model. While it's not quite Hollywood quality this and his collection of other work is a bold start for some special effects for today's action movies. But more things can be said with pictures than words, so here it is...