Give this app a link to a YouTube video and click “Run.”
Using a neural network with reinforcement learning, the app will select “the most interesting frames” from the video, and generate a sort of comic book / storyboard output.
It reminds me very much of A Scanner Darkly. Just beautiful.
Hello again, and welcome to your December Friday Links!
It’s time for the Friday Links Xmas Gift and Giving Guide for 2018! As such, this is a longer than usual email.
As with every December, I can’t believe it’s already here. The year felt like it went by super quickly. Maybe not for you, in which case: congratulations.
ThinkGeek has a pretty good list of overall “gifts” but otherwise has everything broken into categories like “techies”, “Her universe”, etc., which they define as “interests”. Worth a look. Definitely some unique items there.
Now Magazine: Toronto’s best holiday markets, street fairs and fleas 2018
Now Magazine has a list of the best Christmas markets, flea markets and street fairs in Toronto.
And of course there are a lot of good lists of charities to give to, as there are every year.
I’d personally like to highlight the ongoing crisis in Syria, which has for many years required financial support to protect their citizens from further strife during what appears to be an endless war there.
The UN Refugee Agency
The UN Refugee Agency has a donation page which I recommend.
Canada took in a large number of Syrian refugees over the past year, and they also need our help. You can donate to the Canadian Council for Refugees. That organization does important work to help these people settle and survive.
And then besides that there are these charitable efforts:
Or maybe you know a family that needs some help this holiday season. Or maybe you don’t, but want to help in any way you can.
In Toronto, Holiday Helpers has a goal this year of “delivering Christmas to 600 GTA families”. That’s a tall order, and they could used our help.
Similar “adopt a family” efforts are available for Hamilton, Calgary, and Vancouver. Guaranteed you can find one in your own community no matter where you live.
And of course I wish you a happy holiday, a Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah, and a wonderful Kwanzaa. However you celebrate this season, I hope it’s awesome.
“Some organic lines and waves, thought on computer, then patiently drawn by a hand-made drawing machine. Here, the computer and the machine do not involve any generative process, but are used only as performing tools in the creative process.”
“In this post-apocalyptic hellscape, feeding citizens to giant robots is the only way to generate electricity for the rich.”
I mean… yeah, duh!
This is a challenging little game. You drag individual things on to the screen in order to guide the “citizens” into the chomping jaws of the giant robot. It definitely takes some trial and error.
“Ryan L Foote has set out to create chocolates that are both visually engaging and are reflective of contemporary design, while also discussing our multicultural world.”
I mean I’ve never bought or eaten a chocolate so I can “discuss” anything before. But these look amazing. Extremely intricately designed.
There is a shop of course, and (just a warning) they are quite, quite expensive.
And this concludes this week’s Friday Links!
Only 17 shopping days left until feasting day everybody.
A self-described “paper engineer”, Mr. Shlihan’s paper sculptures evoke a sense of motion I don’t think I’ve seen anywhere before. Really beautiful work. Extremely detailed.
“Beginning with an initial fold, a single action causes a transfer of energy to subsequent folds, which ultimately manifest in drawing and three dimensional forms. I use my engineering skills to create kinetic sculpture which have led to collaborations with scientists at University of Michigan. We work on the nanoscale, translating paper structures to micro folds. Our investigations extend to visualizing cellular division and solar cell development. Researchers see paper engineering as a metaphor for scientific principles; I see their inquiry as a basis for artistic inspiration. In my studio I am a collaborator, explorer and inventor.”
This is a story about Roman Fedortsov, who is a deep-sea-trawling fisherman. This story has made international news in the past week. The pictures he takes are really incredible but it’s an controversial line he’s walking. The deep trawling method is considered damaging to the ocean ecosystem.
Based in Brighton, England, Mr. Williams creates intricate large-scale dragons and other sculptures out of steel, copper and glass, but also using found objects.
“Jigsaw puzzle companies tend to use the same cut patterns for multiple puzzles. This makes the pieces interchangeable, and I sometimes find that I can combine portions from two or more puzzles to make a surreal picture that the publisher never imagined.”
These are fantastic.
Created by imaginative artist Tim Klein. You’re welcome.
I am late to the game on this one. Redditor CarlosDanger100 created a gallery of every Game of Thrones character as portrayed by Nicholas Cage back in 2015.
You take a carefully prepared photo of your face, upload it to the site, choose the patterns you like, and order a few rolls of your now custom wrapping paper.
Note: it is strongly recommended that you use the Firefox browser for this. I ran into numerous issues with Chrome. (Weirdly.)
A super challenging and addictive game. You focus the tip of a laser / line on a small approaching red ball that will avoid it. Eliminate the red ball. Repeat.
It’s a simple, pretty intense little game.
Ta daaaaa! Friday Links: Sorted!
I hope your Friday is great, and your weekend is relaxing and calm. (And not too cold.)
“John A. Peralta is a self-taught artist whose unconventional style of sculpture incorporates iconic mechanical objects and high-tech materials to produce astonishingly beautiful and complex representations. His interpretation of what is known in engineering terms as the exploded diagram, is truly original and demonstrates his extraordinary imagination, technical expertise, and inventiveness.”
This is some complicated work right here. Wow! So beautifully achieved as well. I like it a lot.
“This timeline describes Hubble’s history from the first proposal of a space telescope by Lyman Spitzer in 1946, through the completion of Hubble’s five servicing missions in the 1990s and 2000s, and to many of the significant observations and discoveries Hubble has made during its years in orbit.”
The user interface is a little weird but it’s a great, great resource for fans of space photography.
“Kazu is a self-taught pioneer in the craft of using contemporary materials to create the illusion of life. Having discovered the art of special effects makeup for himself while perusing American magazines as a teenager, he developed skills through mimicry, trial and error.”
These things are huge! They must be very impressive up close, for sure.
