Saw the trailer for "V for Vendetta" last night, and it looks like an awesome film. It appears to be an adventure set in an alternate history with a fascist Britian, with the main character attempting to free the people by overthrowing the government. The many elements of the film relate to Guy Fawes, a man who tried to blow up Parliament with barrels of gunpowder in 1605, and is still burned in effigy every year on the 5th of November.

Its based on a set of 10 comic books from DC in the early 80's, written by Alan Moore (who also wrote the comic books for League of Extraordinary Gentlemen).

I'm memeing what seems to be the main fan site about the comic books and other media

Some cool pictures and blog by the same guy who runs the fan site. here

Trailer (in Quicktime) is here

Offical site is here

For those who are interested in this English Fascism theme, the obvious work to read is Orwell's 1984. There is an excellent movie remake of Shakespeare's Richard III staring Ian McKellen set in a Nazi-like Britian in the 1940s.

Remember Remember the 5th of November...

Julian Beever is an English artist who is famous for his art on the pavements of England, France, Germany, USA, Australia and Belgium. It's peculiarity? Beever gives his drawings an anamorphosis view, his images are drawn in such a way which gives them three dimensionality when viewing from the correct angle.

It really is pretty amazing.

3D street drawings. Too cool!

I present to you a blatant violation of copyright

The full-text to the book the curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon.

As the book is one of my favorites, I notified the publisher about three months or so ago. Apparently they don’t care that someone just posted the entire content to their books, complete with copied illustrations.

I present to you a blatant violation of copyright

] LA NOUBA
]
] The show name La Nouba originates from the French phrase
] "faire la nouba," which means to party, to live it up.
] This creation is an unforgettable journey through our
] universe%u2014at once threatening and exhilarating,
] frightening and familiar. La Nouba is the story of all
] stories, the site of all mysteries, where dreams and
] nightmares sleep side by side. La Nouba is memory,
] individual and universal. It beckons to us, challenges us
] to uncover passions we thought we'd lost long ago. Here,
] anything is possible.

I was able to see this show while on vacation last week, and it was incredible. Live orchestra with opera singers, plus the acrobats on tightrope, trapeze, trampoline, BMX bikes, giant wheel thingys, human pyramids and more.

If you are in Orlando, you need to see this show.

Cirque du Soleil - La Nouba

] The images above - exclusive to the Wooster site and
] provided by Banksy - are of Banksy installing four pieces
] in New York's most prestigious museums - The Brooklyn
] Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of
] Modern Art, and the Museum of Natural History.
]
] Dressed as a British pensioner, over the last few days
] Banksy entered each of the galleries and attached one of
] his own works, complete with authorative name plaque and
] explanation.

Artist installs work without museum's knowledge

] Brilliant "console cowboy" Bobby (David Holcomb)
] persuades his reluctant partner Automatic Jack (Adam
] Bitterman) to rip off Chrome (Tenny Priebe), a mobster
] queen with vast financial holdings and a lethal
] reputation.
] Chrome's cash is hidden deep in the Matrix, a glorified
] Internet where world commerce, legal and non, is
] conducted. First, the partners must hack through the
] "black ice"--the deadly countermeasures--protecting the
] dough. The scam is complicated when both guys get a yen
] for Rikki Wildside (Piper Henry), a free spirit who has
] come to town hoping to star in "simstim"--a virtual
] reality medium in which the actors replace their eyes
] with cameras. Although Jack's love for Rikki is true,
] he's destined to download the blues.

More like inspired by Gibson's novel: 2/3 of the characters don't exist, and the story/roles of the remaining ones is pretty different. Cool attempt though.

Update: Whoops! Bobby, The Finn, and Automatic Jack also are in Count Zero. This does follow Gibson's short story, Burning Chrome.

Gibson's Burning Chrome: The Play

Its so true.

Strongbad: Japanese Cartoons!

Arthur Ganson

MACHINES

That about says it all. Amazing video of knife throwing machine, atrichoke leaf walking... complicated and beautiful machines that express the creator's fascination with motion and engineering.

As seen on Nova Science Now.

Arthur Ganson's Machines / Kinetic Sculpture

] The Condition of the Working Class in England

Online version of the Book. Needed this in my "Evolution and the Industrial Age" English class

Conditions of the Working-Class in England

A very good song about confronting and dealing with cancer

Now I could lie by your side
All serrated for you
Down below cancer grows
Weeping waits inside you too
All our rage begs a stage
It's a waste of time though
And you style seems worthwhile
But this lonely road has turned
And you faded there
They pretend to care
Vultures waiting
If you don't like me
Certify Me
Yeah, I don't know
Yeah, I won't go
Yeah, save it I'm okay

And in the sun, a loaded gun
Makes for conversation
All the while in denial
It's too late for me to change

And you were unchained
Nothing more had changed
I could fake it
If you still hate me
Confiscate me

Oh we're jaded - I don't know
Overrated - I won't go
All serrated - Save it I'm okay
Yeah, I won't play
Yeah, go away
Yeah, save it I'm okay

The Offspring - Vultures