Wednesday, November 23, 2011

There Are a Lot of Sweet Video Games Out

I'm not exactly a huge gamer, but the recent onslaught of spectacular games might just change that! Batman Arkham City, Halo Anniversary, Skyrim: Elder Scrolls, Battlefield 3, Assassins Creed Revelations, Disney Universe... The list goes on and on!!

Monday, November 21, 2011

Toilet Paper

Note: This post refers to Australian prices and therefore may not be accurate in locations outside The Land Down Under.

When I was a lad, shortly after finishing High School, I moved a fair way away from home to live with my brother and cousin. It was my first experience living away from home, paying expenses, budgeting and whatnot, so naturally I looked to them for guidance (both were around four years older than me and had been out of home for a while).

One day while shopping, we noticed a special on toilet paper and purchased a couple of packs, my cousin stating the Golden Rule by which I live my life (well, at least the part of my life that involves buying toilet paper).

That rule?

Anything Below 50c per roll is cheap.

So, naturally today when I went to the supermarket and saw toilet paper packs of 12 going at 20c per roll, I decided to stock up.



Yep, that right there is close to 90 rolls of T.P. Why? Because toilet paper is the perfect grocery item to buy in bulk while it's cheap. Think about it:

• Toilet paper never goes out of date.
• It will always be used.
• It is soft and light enough to be stored in high places without any safety risks.

It's ingenious!

So next time you see cheap toilet paper (cheap = <50c, as per the Golden Rule), stock up and save, call me crazy, but you'll certainly thank me later.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

How We Do

Have you ever visited a website that somebody uses as a creative outlet of some sort (whether it be art, music, tiny knitted seahorses or whatnot) and wondered how exactly they went about doing what they do?

Yeah, me neither.

But just in case you do, I put together a short screen recording of my general process when it comes to building my stickmen.



The finished masterpiece

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Unicorns

The Unicorn is a magical creature of European Folklore. It was said to be a white horse with a single horn (and occasionally a goats beard). It was a symbol of purity and grace and was still believed to exist up until the 19th century.

Five Things You May Not Have Known About Unicorns

• The original Unicorns were described by Greek scientists as being native to India.

• A Unicorn is so pure that it can only be caught by a "fair virgin".

• If pursued by hunters, a Unicorn would throw itself off a cliff and then turn its head before hitting the ground so that its magical horn would absorb the force of the impact, leaving the Unicorn unscathed and able to escape

• Elizabeth I of England owned a 'Unicorn Horn' (from a Narwhal) which she kept in her Cabinet of Curiosities.

• The royal throne of Denmark was made completely of 'Unicorn Horns'



Today, Unicorns are growing more and more awesome. They have gone from a symbol of purity to a symbol of awesomeness- games like Robot Unicorn Attack are slowly taking Unicorns from the realm of mythology and moving them into a world of radical sweet wonderfulness.

UNICORNS UNITE!!

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Feet Are For What Now?

A couple of months ago, I purchased some feet.



Not real feet, mind you, but convenient covers that slip over my current feet like a glove. They are called Vibram FiveFingers™ and they are built for the sole purpose of letting your foot perform that way it is supposed to perform.



You see, hundreds of years before Nike, Adidas and whomever else started inventing padded, air injected, spring loaded shoes, we got along fine with our feet. It's a brilliant and complex structure built around an arch (an engineering masterpiece in itself). People ran in their bare feet or in crude sandals, and you know what- they replaced their air-foam-padding with healthy legs. Really healthy legs.

In fact, most common knee, ankle and foot injuries have only come about in the last couple of decades, which amazingly enough just happens to coincide with the invention of the modern running shoe.

Back to the point, I bought these new feet and have been taking them on the occasional jog. Most times I get a lot of quirky looks at my feet and the occasional set of raised eyebrows, but for the most part I like to think I'm moving too fast for people to notice. They're a little tricky to get on at first, especially when your feet, (like mine), are so used to being bound in shoes all day long. I remember my pinky toe burning with pain the very first time I put them on, but after a few jogs that pain goes the way of denim overalls.

And what remains? Bliss. It feels odd, like you're not wearing a shoe, but like you can do anything. You can wiggle your toes and then walk on glass, it's awesome.

So why am I doing this?



This is an image of a three year olds feet before they start wearing shoes and a few months after. It's a little daunting that something so everyday and familiar can have such a profound and permanent effect on your body. That's what I'm trying to change. I've done my reading and I've done my research (and I encourage anyone interested to do the same) on this barefoot phenomenon and the science and logic behind it makes sense. Anyone looking for a good read with a good deal of information should definitely check out Chris McDougall's book 'Born to Run'.

Check it out for yourself, better yet, try it out for yourself.

Then tell me I'm wrong =)