Chopstork

Go here—BeatBots: Socially Rhythmic Robots.
Watch “Keepon dancing to a drum,” see how he works.
Watch “Keepon dancing to Spoon.” Dance.

His eyes are cameras, his nose is a mic. He reacts real-time to the music. I want one.

(Sorry, I can’t figure out how to embed the movies.)

It comes across pretty corny at first and then the fancy midi music and blinking text subtly draw you in. In any case, I wish I could type like that. Also, you will need your reading glasses for this one.

Love these guys! Actually, this is somewhat ironic. On one hand They (Fox News) try to scare us and on the other They (Cartoon Network) try to sell us. Somewhere along the way Their plans collided and emptied Boston.

And what of us plebeians? We’ve grown so immune and impervious to marketing that add campaigns have to resort to these types of gorilla stunts just to get our attention. In stark contrast, we’ve become so utterly hyper sensitive to terrorist attack that we evacuated a city over some trivially obvious and meaningless publicity stunt.

Are we merely aimless bipolar consumers caught in the cross-fire between fear-mongering and marketing spam? What to do!? What to do!? Should I remain glued to the TV in sensational alarm or be drawn to it by stupid humor?

Perhaps, Off is the best channel or a good DVR with fast-forward or even better YouTube and an iPod. Dammit! I guess They still have me.

Get more background on the Laughing Squid.

I expect you guys in SF to participate and take pictures and bring back stories:

Pillow Fight, Web Feb 14, the plaza at Embarcadero and Market.

Pillow Fight Returns

SF Chronicle - Hundreds attend mass pillow fight

Twisted Sister has a Christmas album out. As ridiculous as it sounds it’s probably the best Christmas music you’ll hear. Well, if you’re a diehard hair metal fan stuck in the 80’s. Their version of 12 Days Of Christmas goes

12 Silver crosses
11 Black mascaras
10 Pairs of platforms
9 Tattered t-shirts
8 Pentagrams
7 Leather jackets
6 Cans of hairspray
5 Skull earrings
4 Quarts of Jack
3 Studded belts
2 Pairs of spandex pants
And a tattoo of Ozzy

Here’s the video for “Oh Come All Ye Faithful” which fits eerily well over “We’re Not Gonna Take It”:

My brother is visiting this weekend. We rented a Go Car.

The Next OK GO?

Love the Japanese…

Someone had way too much time on their hands…

Check out Linerider to draw your own course.

Went to the Download Festival at Shoreline this weekend. It was alright. Rocked out to Coheed and Cambria on the second stage. Never heard Muse before, but they were pretty good. That was my overall impression of the show—just pretty good. We lay in the grass watching the bands on the screens the whole time.

Until Beck played. I wasn’t particularly excited about Beck playing before the show, but his set was ingenious. They had look-alike puppets performing the entire concert on a replica stage. We’re not talking stuffed band members bobbing up and down to the music. These puppets had all the details down. They were moving their mouths in sync to the music. They were strumming their guitars realistically. They were scratching the tiny turntables. The puppet token-dancing-guy was getting his groove on as he shook the tambourine. The puppet drummer was hitting his puppet high hats. And the puppet stage even had a miniature puppet stage on it.

For a couple songs four or five band members sat around a kitchen table and played only cups, plates, utensils, wine glasses, the table, salt shakers, etc. And of course the puppets all sat around a miniature kitchen table and played the dishes too. Mesmerizing.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have a camera on me (shocking, I know). Oh look, here’s a clip on YouTube…how convenient. Though in this clip the music is recorded for most of it and only the puppets are live (they use Loser as their entrance theme).

That first part was the puppet mini-movie before the encore that features the area they’re playing that night. Couldn’t find the Shoreline episode, but here’s another one from Yahoo! the night before.

Mommy, I want one!!! The new Tickle Me Elmo.

I gotta admit, it made me laugh. On a dorky note, that’s pretty cool how he can roll around and get up on his own.

Death Cab at the Greek.