Video games and real life

You know how after playing Grand Theft Auto for a while, you start to just want to knock people off their motorbikes and jack them out of their cars while walking along the street? Surely it isn't just me...

Anyway, I only ask because in the past week I've come across a couple of cute examples of video games crossing over into real life. The first is a pic of Donkey Kong from this selection of images inspired by games.



And then I saw this on BoingBoing - a cartoon about Katamari Damacy, probably the most out-of-leftfield game of the past three years. And yes, I've also wanted to roll up some crap on the street after a few hours of Katamari and its absurdly catchy tunes.

For your temporary amusement

We begin with "The Muppet Matrix" - dig Gonzo and Beeker as Agents. Spotted by my man Dothead.



Next up, a version of the classic (to me, anyway) Monty Python sketch "How Not To Be Seen" done as Halo machinima. Jolly good.

9/11/06

Sixth Avenue and Grand, 7:22pm.

The Tribute in Lights is the only 9/11 memorial I need.

Thompson between Grand and Broome, 7:26pm.

Sullivan and Spring, 7:19pm.

Brazilian 'pirates' aaaarrghticle

Some geezer with a weird hyphenated name has written an article for openDemocracy about music in Brazil. I noticed that his experiences there share some similarities with key events from my recent mission to that country. A counter-spy, possibly?

"Crackdowns on "pirates" in São Paulo and Rio may benefit the multinational music industry, but they defy the logic of Brazil's own distinctive music culture and trade, says some geezer with a weird hyphenated name." (Photo by Agent Calé)

A good start to the week, this is

The Force is strong in this one...



From thingsthatmakeyougoaahh, some punk kids trying to take on the cuteoverlords.

5 years

Nobody tells the truth like The Onion. This week's cover story is a work of bittersweet genius, satire as art.


NYC Unveils 9/11 Memorial Hole
September 6, 2006 | Issue 42•36

NEW YORK—Days before the fifth anniversary of the destruction of New York's World Trade Center by terrorists, city officials gathered on the site where the Twin Towers once stood to dedicate the newly completed 9/11 Memorial Hole.

"From the wreckage and ashes of the World Trade Center, we have created a recess in the ground befitting the American spirit," said New York Governor George Pataki from a cinderblock-and-plastic-bucket-supported plywood platform near the Hole's precipice. "This vast chasm, dug at the very spot where the gleaming Twin Towers once rose to the sky, is a symbol of what we can accomplish if we work together."

Pataki then cut a ceremonial ribbon to release a giant blue plastic tarpaulin, reportedly the largest of its kind, which fluttered and snapped while slowly settling into the detritus and mud at the bottom of the 70-foot Hole, drawing a long, tired sigh of resignation from the estimated crowd of 50,000 who had assembled to watch and shake their heads.

Begun only days after the 2001 attacks, the Hole covers almost the entire footprint of the original World Trade Center, contains over 16 acres of empty space, and is visible as far away as Hoboken, NJ. Over $175 million has been spent on the Hole's development, and thousands of pages of proposals and designs concerning the site in which the Hole was excavated were reviewed in over 2,800 hours of meetings. Work crews comprising more than 7,500 welders, equipment operators, excavators, and other construction specialists spent long, often unpaid shifts in its depths.

"These five years have been admittedly difficult," Pataki said. "Inevitably, we heard from the naysayers who said we would never accomplish anything on this site. To those people, I invite them to gaze down at this magnificent pit if they want proof of New Yorkers' dedication to this project."

...

"Let this circle of flowers—brief, beautiful, and too soon gone—symbolize the respect we have shown for the memories of those innocents who lost their lives on that sorrowful morning by creating this great hole," said the Reverend Charles Bourne of Lower Manhattan's Trinity Chapel as the flowers sank into the brown, debris-strewn runoff at the bottom of the cavity. "I firmly believe, as does every person here, that this deep, empty hole has come to stand not only for the New York City of today, but also for the transformation of the entire United States since Sept. 11, 2001."

Critters

This photo gave me a chuckle...



It's from a series by The Editors to do with the whole kerfuffle over this ABC/Disney TV movie/propaganda film being shown next week. Six hours long, cost $40m and it's being shown commercial-free. There is, apparently, a line below the bottom line.

So those critters got me thinking about these South Park critters, who are clearly from the same neck of the woods. The strictly relevant part is at 8:20.

So sit yo showt ass down!

Sorry shortarses, but hard data now indicates a relationship between height and intelligence. Lanky bastards win the day. Let's all move on.




This picture is one of a set of photos shown here. Apparently, "During the first half of the 20th century, it was a common novelty among fighting men of both sides to get the shortest man in the regiment and stand him next to the tallest man and take a photograph to illustrate the contrast." How'bout-dat?

Even Stephen

From the good old days, when Carell and Colbert were both on The Daily Show. Simpler times.

Kitten vs Computer

Hey hey we're the monkeys

Check this for a headline, followed by some cracking monkey-derived insights and philosophical enquiries.

"The Two Apes Within Us: Hippy Sex Fiends and Brutal Machiavellians"
"So if humans evolved from apes, which ones are our closest relatives? Dutch primate researcher Frans de Waal spoke with SPIEGEL about bloodthirsty chimpanzees, sex-crazed bonobos, the origin of the family and the nature of human beings."

We're like chimpanzees because: they're territorial and violent, but they co-operate and make up quickly; they keep women down (but this may have been literally in the interest of preventing a full-on 'Planet of the Apes' scenario - apparently protecting females and babies in the savanna meant we had more of them and is thus "...one of the reasons why we dominate the world today, and not the apes".)

We're like bonobos because: they use sex for reasons beyond reproduction, such as "pleasure and relaxation", "repairing damaged relationships", and preventing infanticide "because bonobo males have sex with all bonobo females, [so] they have no idea which children could be theirs. We call this paternity concealment"; they foster survival techniques through group cohesion; the females dominate but hold grudges.

We're like primates in general because: they display reciprocity and empathy, revealing the possibility of a simian categorical imperative (it has something to do with watermelons and sharing, it's about halfway down).

So we're a mashup, and this is before we even get to thousands of years of social constructivism. A nice summation:
"Imagine if we didn't even know that chimpanzees existed. We would be forced to conclude that our closest relative is a friendly, sex-obsessed hippie, and we would probably come up with all kinds of theories as to where our aggressiveness comes from. It looks as though we have lots in common with both. On the one hand, we're good at making peace and perhaps even more empathetic than bonobos. We certainly have more sex than chimpanzees. On the other hand, we are territorial, power-hungry and even more brutal than chimpanzees."

Flat Daddies

This bit of news from the heartland is one of the most oddly saddening stories I've seen on the domestic front in a while.

Guard families cope in two dimensions
'Flat Daddy' cutouts ease longing
By Brian MacQuarrie, Globe Staff | August 30, 2006
Maine National Guard members in Iraq and Afghanistan are never far from the thoughts of their loved ones.
But now, thanks to a popular family-support program, they're even closer.
Welcome to the "Flat Daddy" and "Flat Mommy" phenomenon, in which life-size cutouts of deployed service members are given by the Maine National Guard to spouses, children, and relatives back home.
The Flat Daddies ride in cars, sit at the dinner table, visit the dentist, and even are brought to confession, according to their significant others on the home front.
"I prop him up in a chair, or sometimes put him on the couch and cover him up with a blanket," said Kay Judkins of Caribou, whose husband, Jim, is a minesweeper mechanic in Afghanistan. "The cat will curl up on the blanket, and it looks kind of weird. I've tricked several people by that. They think he's home again."

One of my all-time blogging heroes, General JC Christian, extrapolates to good effect.