Sunday, July 26, 2009

Surfing Pinas (sick photos)

Surfing in the Philippines

With the country having over 7,000 islands ... 7,107 to be exact ... there are probably tons of secret and undiscovered surf spots in the Philippines. Check out the slideshow of photos by Zak Noyle taken during typhoon swells. Check how nobody is out there with these guys.... like your Own Private Philippines. Sweet lordy jesus mother of pearl.... looks pretty sick, eh?!

In the photos: Bol, Jason Shibata, Macy Mullen, mikala jones, Rob Patterson, Zak Noyle

*** be on the lookout for a new website all about surfing in the Philippines - www.surfingpinas.com :)

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Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Be like water

Some days, are just blah. There are so many things that need to be done and no time to do it. There are people, objects and circumstances that restrict us from doing what we really want to do. Why can't I just say "no, I don't want to do that" and just be free. It's like being in a fight... with yourself. I must follow these words...

Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way round or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.

Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend.

- Bruce Lee

7

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Autotune... it's gone too far

Daft Punk used Autotune in the 1996 release "Around the World" which I love. Then Cher, yes, Cher used Autotune in the catchy "Believe" in 1997. T Pain, Kanye West, Lil Wayne and other hip hop artists use the heck out of Autotune. You'll never know when you'll hear that distinct Autotune sound next.... country music maybe? Or worse ...

*** on a side note... where can I get a job as just a "home page guy"?

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Monday, July 20, 2009

Visualizations Show What Twitter Can Do

Twitter is the Matrix ... it's not about YOU

Most people think Twitter is useless noise and a soapbox for the self-centered web kiddie generation. Well, what it really is... is voluntary disclosure of personal information and thoughts... not to anyone specific but to the whole world. It is not about YOU. It is bigger than you and you are just participating in this big pool of information that, believe it or not can be deciphered and read by some really cool applications being developed.

Just like in the movie, the Matrix, the dude watching the stream of code on the screen, these aggregators/ bots/ apps are reading and storing all this information at a rate no human could. But tap into the Twitter API and you convert this raw data into usable information and even better if it's in visual form. It is not about conversing with each other... it is not about what happened last week... it is not about ME as a little human in a world of billions... it is about NOW and what people are doing, thinking, and wishing for..... right NOW! look deeply into the Twitter/Matrix streams and you can almost predict the future :)

now... if only plants and animals could Twitter. hmmmmm.

Check these out:

  • Twistori I love this one. Click on the words love, hate, think, believe, feel, wish and see a real-time stream of posts that contain these words in the tweet.
  • WeFeelFine is a visualization of not just tweets, but blog posts and images as well. Explore Murmurs and see a flood of tweets with the words “I feel” in them.
  • Twittervision shows tweets from around the world, overlaid on a world map so you know where the tweet are coming from. Twittervision is even available in 3D.
  • TweetStats lets you enter your Twitter username and see a bunch of statistics about your tweets, including when you tweet, average daily tweets, who you tend to retweet, etc.. Did you know all this about yourself?
  • Twitter Friends Network Browser lets you see your Twitter network and click and drag to do fun things.
  • Hashtags shows you the top hash tags on Twitter right now.
  • MyTweetMap lets you see tweets from the people you are following, overlaid on a map.
  • Dipity lets you explore tweets in a timeline format.

*links courtesy of thematrixfiles.net

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Thursday, July 16, 2009

Rotofugi

I dont wanna grow up. Yeah, I still love toys and the idea of playing. Sometimes, my kids are the ones begging to go home already when we visit Toys R Us. It is the idea of being a kid and being free ... that's the reason why I have never outgrown toys and games. It's just fun and I like fun!

Unfortunately the older you get, the more expensive your "toys" are. I love this store Rotofugi on the near west side of Chicago. They have lots of figurines and stuff that to me, is art. I brought Bella to the store the other day. We had a great time looking at everything. It's like being in a candy store. :)

Go visit when you have a chance.
Rotofugi

1953 W. Chicago Ave.
Chicago, IL 60622


Hey! The image below is a slideshow! Play with it! :)


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