The Friday Links

It is finally Friday and you guys we made it!

Fantastic. Good job everybody.

Let’s go!

AI Portraits ARS

“AI Portraits Ars is able to paint portraits in real time at 4k resolution. You will find yourself in front of a mirror and feel thousands Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Titian portraying you moment after moment.”

Never mind this whole Faceapp thing (especially with its glaring privacy concerns,) this app takes your photo and renders it in the style of a legendary art master.

It definitely takes some time, but the results are pretty startling. It’s also becoming “a thing” and its servers are frequently overwhelmed.

upcomingbinge

“Your Reference For Upcoming Movies, TV Series And Games. Release Dates, Trailers, IMDb, Platforms, Genres, Description, etc.”

As of this writing the TV show “For All Mankind” is the highest rated upcoming TV show. I’m in!

Cleverly designed. I like it.

Lost New York

A gallery of artworks depicting New York restaurants, diners, etc. which have closed.

Created by NYC artist Yen Ha. Some strikingly beautiful work here.

Hexel

This is an odd little “1024”-like game. You move dots within a hexagon until they join together. It’s not immediately obvious how to do this, but it kind of feels natural, and somewhat meditative to play.

Sent in by Karen F.

And that’s that. Friday! Linked!

See you next week everyone.

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Well howdy Friday folks!

It’s link time!

doodle.place

Create a new doodle, draw it, submit it, name it, and it gets animated in a weird vector-graphics 3d landscape.

A weird, joyful little time waster.

Mandelbrot Set Explorer

An in-browser Mandelbrot fractal geometry explorer.

Each time you zoom in, your CPU is performing some pretty excellent mathematics.

50 Facts About the Apollo 11 Moon Landing for Its 50th Anniversary

My favourite: Michael Collins designed the Apollo 11 insignia. I had no idea. Collins remains my favourite unsung astronaut.

Mutilate-A-Doll 2

“Welcome to MAD2, a physics sandbox with over 1500 items for building, destroying, or of course mutilating ragdolls.”

Cathartic. Watch out because it will eat up your computer’s CPU. (Lots of calculations to imitate the physics.)

That, sadly, is that.

Have a fantastic Friday everybody! Whuhoo!

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Hey it’s Friday!

Short week = fast week. Yay!

And now, to the links!

Delicate, Miniature Sculptures Made From Dandelion Seeds by (euglena)

For real. Dandelion seeds. Crazy!

More of euglena’s works here.

Ableton: Learning Synths

“On this website, you’ll learn the basics of using synthesizers (or synths). No prior experience or equipment is required; you’ll do everything right here in your browser.”

I find this extremely cool.

Costello’s 500

“From Abba to Zamballarana, and from Mozart to Eminem, one of rock’s finest talents has identified 500 albums essential to a happy life. It was a long, tortuous undertaking, but the man knows music—and his aim is true”

From 2013, but still relevant.

See also: Christopher Nolan’s favourite movies.

Mix Shapes

“Fit as many shapes as you can”

Sounds easy!

Similar shapes, if they touch, will be removed.

It’s definitely challenging!

And finally there’s this investigative report on the accuracy of the Domino’s Pizza Tracker. It’s funny, but also pretty rigorous.

Have a lovely Friday!

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Welcome to Friday!

And where I live, it’s a long weekend!

And look! I found some Friday Links!!

Nvidia AI Playground

Specifically the “Gaugan” tool.

You draw a basic form of material and this tool creates breathtaking, fairly realistic looking landscapes. Really impressive.

2019 National Geographic Travel Photo Contest

Until I found this I wasn’t even aware this was a category in National Geographic.

Some absolutely stunning work here.

MyNoise

“The idea behind myNoise is to use the noises you most enjoy to mask the noises you don’t want to hear: chatty colleagues, your tinnitus, or even your inner voice when you can’t shut it down!”

Kind of cool. A wide variety of choices too.

I Just Wanna Land

Left and Right arrows = direction

Highly addictive!

Suggested by Laura E.

Good luck!

And since it’s finally warming up, here’s a quick little History of the Air Conditioner which I found interesting.

That’s what I’ve got!

Have a great (long?) weekend and see you next Friday.

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I can’t believe Friday is already here!

So good.

And it’s the solstice! So good!!

Okay let’s go…

Why Time Flies

“Scroll down to see how time flies”

Expertly designed. Nicely done.

An Orbit Map of the Solar System

“This week’s map shows the orbits of more than 18000 asteroids in the solar system. This includes everything we know of that’s over 10km in diameter – about 10000 asteroids – as well as 8000 randomized objects of unknown size. This map shows each asteroid at its exact position on New Years’ Eve 1999.”

Created by Eleanor Lutz.

Includes a link to the code that generated these views.

h/t: kottke.

The Best Road Trips in North America

“From the Canadian Kootenay Rockies to Southwest hot springs, we found the most scenic stretches of road for epic summer adventures”

This is sort of making the rounds. Well researched and beautifully presented, this was suggested by many subscribers. It almost makes me want to get my drivers’ license again. 🙂

Mario Royale

A massively multiplayer Mario Brothers game.

It is crazy. You see the “ghost” image of your fellow players. All done in the browser.

Created by InfernoPlus.

This is actually a pretty impressive achievement.

And there we are. We have become… Friday Linked…

See you next week everybody. Enjoy your solstice weekend.

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Fridayyyyyy!

It’s finally here again!

Awesome. And now: your Friday Links!

Mayank Thammalla: Echoes Of Venice

“I have visited Venice multiple times of the last few years and each time the reflections in the canals have inexplicably enticed me.

“Time became a fragment of the imagination and reality began to question itself.

I found a sense of calmness as the reflections assured me that my reality can be what ever I can imagine, that is not consumed by societies conceptions on the world.”

Some really beautiful work here.

Of course he has an instagram account.

Bea Haines Artworks

Ms. Haines is making news recently because her medium is human ashes.

A very odd choice but her work is spectacular.

City Extremes

“Use CityExtremes to discover the closest and farthest cities to any city.”

Some sites listing this have said it’s like “drilling through the earth” to see where you come out on the other side.

Several North American cities all end up in the ocean. Oh well.

In theory the farthest city from Toronto is Perth, Australia. I should go!

Extra Defense

A 2d / top-down arcade shooter with pretty great graphics and “Asteroids”-like controls.

I like it! (I suck at it, but I like it!)

There we go! We did it! See? Easy!!

See you next Friday everybody.

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Happy Friday everybody!

Ahhh June. I like it! (Finally.)

SatMap.space

View the current position and name of thousands of currently orbiting satellites.

It doesn’t deep link into their function, but it’s pretty cool

ReMake My Day

“In recent years, as many as one in 20 of Hollywood’s highest-grossing movies have been revamped versions of an original. While some remakes go on to be critically acclaimed Academy Award winners, others should have probably been left alone. We analysed the ratings and profitability of remade movies vs their originals to find out which versions are more successful.”

I’ll be honest I am definitely not a fan of the interface for this. You hover over a small dot to see the original film and it’s remake’s data, rankings, favorites, etc. But if you move too fast: where was that film?

Still: interesting. Also: could someone please write more original non-remake films? Thanks.

Rock Stars Eating Breakfast

[self explanatory]

On an entire website devoted to breakfast!

Sent in by Alli M.

Handulum

Suuuuper addictive game.

Click to span a ball and then click again to put it at the end of a pendulum. Let it swing and release. Repeat until you reach the exit.

Challenging and very zen.

Not available on mobile yet but it sure should be.

Sent along by Traci T..

That, as they say, is that.

Enjoy your Friday! See you next week.

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Happy Friday!

And tomorrow is June already. Fast fast fast fast.

Let’s begin!

zzz.dog

“Zdog is a 3D JavaScript engine for canvas and SVG. With Zdog, you can design and render simple 3D models on the Web. Zdog is a pseudo-3D engine. Its geometries exist in 3D space, but are rendered as flat shapes. This makes Zdog special.”

This is fantastic!

It reminds me of the mobile game “Monument Valley“.

Kunit92

“Home barista. Japan. I love birds and coffee, thank you for watching latte art”

Incredibly detailed artwork of nearby birds created in the foam of a cafe latte.

The Incredible Ice Formations of Lake Baikal

“Lake Baikal, in the Russian region of Siberia, is a massive body of water—the world’s deepest and most voluminous freshwater lake. Its location and the surrounding geography can lead to fascinating phenomena in the winter, as ferocious winds and cycles of melting and refreezing build and sculpt works of structural beauty—stones supported on wind-worn pedestals…”

Some fantastic shots here. Beautiful.

Mastermind

An online single player version of this classic boardgame.

You can edit it as well.

Kind of challenging!

That is that!

Just in time for June. Get out there and (hopefully) enjoy the (hopefully) nice weather!

See you next week.

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Welcome my Friday tribe…

And happy Memorial Day weekend to my American friends.

Let’s begin…

Apollo 11 CM

A 3D interactive model of the interior of the Apollo 11 Command Module.

“The Apollo 11 Command Module, “Columbia,” was the living quarters for the three-person crew during most of the first manned lunar landing mission in July 1969. On July 16, 1969, Neil Armstrong, Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin and Michael Collins were launched from Cape Kennedy atop a Saturn V rocket.”

You can also view the exterior.

Nicely done, by the Smithsonian Institution.

This 3D Printed ‘Game Of Thrones’ Lamp Looks Like A Dragon Breathing Fire

Created by Kvant3d.com [whose website is down as of this writing.] These are in extremely limited supply. As of right now their Etsy shop is out of stock. Each dragon fire lamp costs $63.59USD plus shipping.

These are obviously very popular. Well done.

Thibaud Poirier – Sacred Spaces: A series on modernist churches

“The modern church is a delicate institution; under siege from countering theologies, philosophies and the super speed of daily life, it must at once withstand the constant tempest of change while remaining anchored to tradition. The way the most long-standing institutions have done this is by finding a balance: deep roots that touch the core of humanity and yet a flexible reedlike ability to bend and sway with the tensions of modernity.”

There are some really beautiful, thoughtful constructions here.

bloqki

A fairly challenging puzzle game.

Click a tile to turn it until the lines match up to form single lines, shapes, etc. Starts off simple…

Flash is required. (In 2019?!)

10 Fun Facts about the New TWA Hotel at JFK Airport, Open Today

“Today” meaning May 15, 2019

Really beautifully decorated and some great retro architecture.

See also “A Look Inside The Fabulously Retro Hotel Rooms At The TWA Hotel“.

There we go.

Have a happy Friday and a great (long?) weekend.

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Well Hello there Friday people!

At last: Friday again. And where I live it’s another long weekend. Sweet!

Linkaging time…

GB Studio

“A free and easy to use retro adventure game creator for your favourite handheld video game system”

No coding required. This tool allows you to focus on the story you want to tell, and how you want it to look.

It outputs genuine GameBoy roms which you can play in an emulator.

Pretty incredible

BUGA Wood Pavilion 2019

“The BUGA Wood Pavilion celebrates a new approach to digital timber construction. Its segmented wood shell is based on biological principles found in the plate skeleton of sea urchins, which have been studied by the Institute for Computational Design and Construction (ICD) and the Institute for Building Structures and Structural Design (ITKE) at the University of Stuttgart for almost a decade.”

These are beautiful, completely new architectural designs.

Much more information here.

Truebird Micro-Cafe

“The automated micro-cafe we designed for Truebird Coffee. The kiosk brews, pours, and serves delicious cups of coffee, all of which can be ordered from the Truebird app or ordering stand. The kiosk is up and running at NewLab in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.”

The demo video of this kiosk is mesmerizing. Really poetically designed. I love it.

Created by Leadoff Studio, who appear to create a lot of interesting packaging and industrial design.

Missile Tunnel

Basically: Try to get all the way through the tunnel.

I found this extremely challenging. But fun!

This concludes the test! Or uh… the links. For Friday. Friday Links!

See you in seven days, Friday People.

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