It’s Friday, and I’m still here! DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS?!
That’s right! I’m back from TCAF (which was, suffice to say, awesome), and I’ve had more than enough time to gather some more tasty internet links for all of you! I mean, really, I spoil you guys. I know it. But that won’t stop me. Here we go.
Drowning in Problems
Game jams are, in my mind, the most exciting of video game events. They charge artists and developers to come up with a game – any game – in a very limited time frame. The format encourages creators to think outside of the norm and come up with creative and unique ideas that can be fleshed out into something raw and earnest. The Ludum Dare challenges game developers to make a game fitting a particular theme in only 48 hours. One recent submission was developed by Markus Persson, aka Notch, aka the-guy-who-made-Minecraft. It’s called Drowning in Problems, and I can’t really find the proper way to describe it. Cynical? Desparative? Realistic? Optimistic?
I’m convinced there is no right or wrong way of looking at it. The game is an incredibly simple Candy Box-styled game, but its implications are mute and reflective of the player.
Simple concepts can return the deepest meaning, and I think that’s true here. Life is a moebius strip. What will you do before you’re back where you started?
The Infinite Jukebox
I really do love this thing. If you’re a musical purist, you might not feel the same way. The Infinite Jukebox‘s intention is to extend any song you select (you can upload your own MP3s if you want) though a very clever algorithm. It forms rhythmic and harmonic pathways between sections of the song and remixes them automatically. When it reaches a path, it’ll randomly either take it or play on as normal. The result is a remix that maintains (as best as possible) the beat and structure of the song while extending its length for, conceivably, an eternity. It isn’t perfect, but if you’re like me, you might just smile gleefully when you see it skip from one section of a song to another without any noticeable blip.
Here, for instance, is how it treats Pavement’s Unfair. It can get repetitive, but hey, now you can have Stephen Malkmus screaming for really long time. I call that a good thing.
WhatsApplebee’s
An iPhone chatting app that only activates for those whom it detects (using location services) are at an Applebee’s. From the site:
We enforce this strictly, unlike other chain restaurant-based messaging services such as T.G.I. Friendster or Olive Grindr.
Yep. This exists. Enjoy.
Someone Ate This
There are enough Tumblr blogs out there showcasing good food. Someone Ate This isn’t one of those blogs. It instead showcases what happens when food porn goes bad. And I mean really bad.
Sure, a lot of it is super gross, but there’s something hilarious about the whole thing. There are carefully-framed pictures of absolutely unpalatable garbage delicately placed on fanciful plates. People actually took care to make these things, and made the conscious decision to share them with the world. There’s something tragically earnest about the whole thing, and, looking the results, laughing is really the only appropriate response (aside from dry heaving, of course).
Line Segments Space
Line Segments Space is an animated art piece by Korean design studio Kimchi and Chips. Hundreds of nylon strings are affixed at hundreds of locations, crossing, tangling and intertwining with others. They’re then illuminated individually and dynamically by a projector, resulting in a pretty damn hypnotic presentation of space, both light and negative.
That’s all for now, I’ll catch you next week for more internet goodies!