stephen-turner.net

DCP_1882
Originally uploaded by StephenATurner.

I get to show you all for the first time, my first…

Really, really, proper grownup haircut!

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Originally uploaded by StephenATurner.

I really wasn’t planning to hold still for a picture… and I got a bit frantic

A fascinating, though kind of odd and experimental site, is Retrievr. It lets you do a rudimentary paintbox style sketch on the computer, then tries to match up the sketch to an image from the massive Flickr photo database.

For instance, this sketch:

Produced hits including these:

It would be interesting to know what technology goes into matching this, but otherwise, it’s just one of those interesting things. It did strike me as a possibly useful tool for artists looking for photo references (especially for comics?), but I’d say it needs more refining.

Nice work here from the Culture Bully Blog, a site that I got a link to from somewhere that I swear I can’t remember now

A list of their top ten mashups of the year. Good list too, and despite the fact that I’ve downloaded a whole bunch this year, it was all new to me. Especially liked the MIA mashup and the remarkably bizarre Pink Floyd one.

We discovered an interesting thing on New Year’s Eve – my son is terrified of fireworks. I’m sure it will pass, but we really didn’t expect him to go from awe to hysterics in just a few minutes at the 9pm fireworks show.

For the night, instead of heading into the big city (which would be madness with a one and a half year old in a pram), we drove up to Gosford and the Central Coast region to see our friend Cathy, who had just returned to the area after a year in WA. We didn’t get there until mid afternoon, we spent a few hours at the large Erina Fair shopping centre (almost entirely for the air conditioning – it was 35 degrees plus, but just a dress rehearsal for the next day’s heat!) and then headed to The Entrance, where the fireworks were on at 9.30pm. Drinks, picnic dinner, the whole thing.

We got a great position near the water, and the crowd got bigger and bigger until we were hemmed right in. Will was quite amusing, trying to escape every five minutes, and desperately wanting to get on the nearby jumping castle. But then the fireworks…

He went from fascinated and interested…

To about two minutes later, downright terrified! He was very, very upset…

Another ten minutes after they were all over and he was fine of course… but by then it was past 10pm and he was upset for a whole lot of other reasons, mostly just being tired.

We headed back to Sydney then, and interestingly were able to get down the freeway in just an hour, and made it as far as Pomona Street Pennant Hills, just off the main road, and that gave us a perfect long distance view of the main Sydney fireworks at midnight. Interesting way to finish things…

Happy New Year again, and all that

As we get into the new year, the various roundups of 2005 continue. The one linked above is from the BBC, with the title “100 Things We Didn’t Know Last Year.” For instance:

5. Nicole Kidman is scared of butterflies. “I jump out of planes, I could be covered in cockroaches, I do all sorts of things, but I just don’t like the feel of butterflies’ bodies,” she says.

11. One in 10 Europeans is allegedly conceived in an Ikea bed.

19. The = sign was invented by 16th Century Welsh mathematician Robert Recorde, who was fed up with writing “is equal to” in his equations. He chose the two lines because “noe 2 thynges can be moare equalle”.

78. One in 18 people has a third nipple.

And so on…

Also Nature magazine, an often interesting science journal, has another article called “13 Things That Do Not Make Sense”. As per that title, it’s an article about known scientific phenomenon that no one can explain. Downright fascinating stuff, something that shows that science knows it’s own limitations (which is actually the reason they win), and also just puts a little bit more magic in the universe (well, in a way that is still consistent with science, but just damn fun )

Sure we all love “explosion” science, and we think Adam and Jamie are wacky, but we all know why most of us watch Mythbusters…

That’s right – Kari Byron is damn fine, but also a great part of the team and a great artist in her own right. Click the link for an interesting interview with her, where she goes into her art career and her involvement with the show.

There’s even more pictures at the link

From US TV Guide online, a column by the almighty Joss Whedon (of Buffy, and Firefly and so on…), where he explains the future of TV as he sees it. And I suspect he’s only kind of joking…

“Many people have asked me, “Joss, what is the future of television? What will we watch? And how will we watch it? Surely you must know, for you are wise, and slender.” I usually smile and say nothing, because I wasn’t actually listening to the question. But it’s a good one, and I think it’s time I let you in on a few highlights of Television-to-Be.”

“HBO’s Westminster will continue the trend pioneered by Deadwood and Rome by making 19th-century England really dirty and weird, like Jane Austen with Tourette’s. (Actually, I can’t wait for that one.)”

“That’s all I can tell you, except for one last thing: Veronica Mars will still be on. Veronica Mars will still be on. We clear about that?”

A little after midnight now on the first day of the year, and it’s finally not quite as stinking hot as it’s been all day. We (as in most of Australia’s south east coast) had a bit of a record heat wave today – at home in Westmead it peaked at 44 degrees celcius (that’s over 111 fahrenheit for those of you who think that way).

So after midnight is about the best time to get anything done now… but by now all you really want to do is sleep. Thank goodness Monday is a holiday…

And just for a happier new year, Natalie Portman is starring in the movie of “V for Vendetta” soon. Love the graphic novel, not sure how much in common the movie will have for it, but it could be okay. But Miss Portman, well…