jimko

Nature documentaries: the sound is fake, the scenes are concocted, some of the animals are computer animations, and the music is emotionally manipulative. But that's the only way we will sit through them, says Simon Cade, host and creator of this explainer video.

Warped Perception trained their Phantom Flex 4K Slow Motion Camera on an air balloon popping underwater. The result is wonderfully trippy, especially in high-definition. (via Nerdist)

Brian David Gilbert makes funny videos about millennial bathos, with frequent side orders of yearning. "It's the best bread I've ever had."

You've perhaps already seen this instant classic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h232bilq8eQ

At a Houston apartment complex called Market Square Tower, residents can walk on air (in water) via a glass-bottomed pool suspended 500 feet in the air.

(more…)

This biker starts off at the end of the line, until he puts himself into an acrobatic pose. He then zips ahead without even pedaling, and as he passes his fellow bikers you can see one guy's jaws drop. The funniest bit is at the end, when he passes a guy on a motorbike who decides to try the same stunt.

Microsoft is launching the Minecraft Marketplace, where creators will be able to sell their wares for real money. Minecraft creators can rejoice at the new opportunity to make money, but parents with children should prepare to be incessantly begged for more Minecraft Coins. Minecraft is a phenomenon at this point. Millions of people of all ages love this game, which lets you mine, craft, survive, and explore to your heart’s content. However, there’s one thing missing from this magical equation… microtransactions. A problem Microsoft is keen to remedy. Minecrafters Make Money Minecrafters have always had the option of buying third-party...

Read the full article: Minecraft Is Set to Start Costing You More Money

The guys at RapidNadion must be proud of this bonkers expression of hobby craft awesomeness!

Marvel as they land a model T-28 trainer and model F-22s on their model of the USS Kitty Hawk.

Mark Hamill voices Han Solo in the latest 'Bad Lip Reading' video. pic.twitter.com/PI2pOShTur

— Star Wars Stuff (@starwarstuff) April 6, 2017

Bad Lip Reading, Mark Hamill, and Jessica DiCicco -- what's not to love. May the Farce be with you.

Research scientist Janelle Shane writes: "I’ve been training a neural network (based on this open-source neural network framework from Andrej Karpathy) on datasets from recipes, to lists of Pokemon, to superhero names. I decided to see if it could invent names for new fruit varieties - I fed it a list of apple, peach, pear, plum, and cherry varieties, and asked it to generate more."

Sunbrown
Stanker
Pork Gala
Horspest
Shivercell
Hencough
Moregall
Brown Soften
Ruby Wally
Ruck
Nagtort
Blee Red
Redcells
Zuby Glong
Zeelcher
Hacker Gala
Soften Fuji
Klunk 134
Horking

Archilogic made this interactive 3D model of the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin from The Office.

You can scan over the entire space under "floor plan view," starting off with Pam’s desk and the office of Michael Scott. Then head past the galley kitchen and men’s and women’s bathrooms.

You can zoom in and get up close into all the nooks and crannies. It’s so accurate even the pictures on the walls are the same. And notice how everything is so perfectly placed, like the scattered coffee mugs and boxes of printers stacked on top of the storage cabinets. If you’re a true fan, you’ll recognize the model is based off the show’s final season (hint: the Cornell flag).

When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail; when all you have is clip art of a hooded hacker figure... (more…)

The perfect plot flow fires me up even as Uncanny Valley Leia brings a tear to my eye. (Barre Fong)

An Amtrak train pulls into a station somewhere up east. The only problem? The tracks are already occupied by snow, piled a good six inches higher than the platform itself. Commuter Nick Colvin knows what's about to happen and has his iPhone set to record slow-mo footage, but as he writes, there was "a more spectacular arrival than expected."

Posted on /r/nonononoyes with the headline "Press button 12 times to delete house." The location is Stamford Street, Ashton-under-Lyne, England.

How can a film's 40-minute battle scene hold its tension? Nerdwriter breaks down the Battle of the Hornburg (aka the Helm's Deep battle sequence) into 24 beats to show why it works so well. (more…)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETtFvFDSLys

Futuracha is a successfully crowdfunded typeface that makes use of Open Type's wizardry to switch its ligatures as you type, producing beautiful effects -- before the crowdfunding campaign, Futuracha users had to hand-set those ligatures, but now it's just type and go. $50 for a commercial license, $15 for a personal license. Ships in May. (via Red Ferret)

I have always enjoyed Victory at Sea, but lots of people find it really boring.

Fans of old computer RPGs will doubtless agree that best part of many was the character creation screen, where you get to fool around with portraits, characteristics and classes and all the other little details.

I wondered "what if a whole game took place in a classic 8/16-bit style character creation screen?" So I made a prototype browser game called Character Creation is the Whole Game.

When you spend one of your allocated points, your character ages and automatically experiences the adventures that in life might have resulted in greater strength, wisdom or skill. Random events take place -- dungeon plunges and hauls. Stat choices would lead down different paths of life: with clever balancing to epic jobs and rewards, and mediocrity to those who dumbly max or spreading . And eventually you die or retire or become King. (more…)

Educator/musician Annie Bosler and peak performance coach/author Don Greene provide simple tips to optimize the practice of practicing. (TEDEd)

Why does Who Framed Roger Rabbit seem so much more integrated with live action and animation than anything before it? "Bumping the lamp," slang that YouTuber kaptainkristian says originated from the film for animators who go above and beyond expectations. (more…)

Richard Wiseman, author of 101 Bets You Will Always Win, made a fun video of seven different illusions.

Mark continues his series on designing your own sets, sharing some tips for evaluating your own work.

Fun to see how visual effects have evolved over the years.

Every second, 15,000 aluminum beverage cans are manufactured. This is a terrific video about how beverage cans are made, and why they look the way they do.

8-Bit Philosophy tackles the age-old question: Are We Living in a Simulation? Fittingly, their explanation uses a Minecraft example. (more…)