Here's a lovely tilt-shift music video for the band Codebreaker, featuring vocalist Kathy Diamond. The piece was shot, directed, and edited by Erik West, who says, "None of the snow in this piece is simulated. I went out and show on the snowiest days of winter. The last scenes in the video were shot during a blizzard. This was shot on a Canon Powershot SD630 Point & Shoot. Additional footage was shot on a Sony EX1 by Jeff Thomas. Posted using Final Cut, Photoshop, Motion and Color." (via Aaron Wahle via Matt Kirsch)
Tilt-shift music video: "Fire," by Codebreaker
Listen to the original version of "Superman," the 1969 pop-psych song that REM covered
I've been a fan of REM since the early 1980s, and Lifes Rich Pageant (1986) is my favorite of their albums. That's why I'm surprised that somehow I slept on the fact that "Superman" is actually a cover of a 1969 song by Houston pop-psych band The Clique! I learned about this last night reading… READ THE REST
14-string guitar in action
Ichika Nito shows how to play the 14-string guitar made for them by 10sguitars. Here's Ichika with a slightly less extremist 9-string axe: READ THE REST
Neural net turns music from YouTube into cursed choral and string renditions
Via Waxy, GAN.STYLE is a "cursed generator [that] resynthesizes audio from YouTube using a neural net trained on choral and strings recordings." Enter the YouTube URL of a music video and "enjoy" the result. Several of my attempts remind me of the 20th century classical/avant-garde LPs in my own collection that I spin when the mood strikes, and sometimes… READ THE REST
This Vankyo mini projector displays images up to 200 inches across
Here's an entirely uncontroversial statement: the convenience of smartphones and tablets is amazing. At no point in human history has so much information, communication, and entertainment been available in such a tiny package. But, that minuscule size is one of the only downsides of a smartphone, a tablet, or even a laptop. If you want to… READ THE REST
ScholarshipOwl streamlines the scholarship process – and scores more money for students
No one needs to tell you that the cost of higher education is astronomical. A year of tuition and fees at the average American private university will cost over $37,000, while even a public school option for in-state students will likely set you back over $10,000 a year. Heap on housing, food, and utilities, as… READ THE REST
Pawp is true pet protection — with an instant $3,000 safety shield from crippling vet bills.
The excitement of bringing a new pet into your home, particularly an indescribably cute kitten or puppy, is intoxicating. Between welcoming the new family member and enjoying all that youthful energy around your house, it's easy not to think about some of the other immediate considerations surrounding pet ownership. But those realities will appear, likely… READ THE REST