Nails are short, interactive web animations. Little stories about everyday life. Stunning work. Some older projects by the same creative mad man: Modern Living / Neurotica. The interactive music video Flow.

Who remembers Barbapapa? An amorphous pink creature who spawned a family of colourful shape-shifting blobs with the help of his partner Barbamama. The brainchild of Annette Tison, a french architect, and Talus Taylor, an American biology/mathematics teacher, the Barba-family was something of a 70s phenomenon. I can distinctly remember wishing I could become a shape-shifting blob myself or at least find one growing my garden.

The Online Guide to Whistling Records (via Basic Hip) I actually picked up this one at Value Village a while back. Really!

Things Magazine blew my mind with these pencil drawings by Andrew Holmes. Pencil and paper people!

With a pill called modafinil, you can go 40 hours without sleep -- and see into the future.

Love graffiti? (via iconomy)

Another photo gallery of the northern lights.

The Sorrows of Young Werther was published anonymously in 1774 by 24 year old Johann Wolfgang von Goethe; it caused a lot of people in Germany and elsewhere to commit suicide. Philipp Lenssen provides an updated version of the tale presented in near daily blog updates. An addictive read.

What if Christopher Walken was a stick figure? Fatboy Slim's video for weapon of choice might have turned out a little different.
I learnt how to colourize b&w images in photoshop last night. I used a sketch drawn by my friend Tofu Sandwich for practice fodder. The results, (Mushy Mouth), can be seen in the images section.

Oh! I almost forgot: Stungeye turned 1 this month. Happy birthday to bee. Happy birthday to bee...

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I rode my bicycle home in the rain today. Sometimes all it takes is a simple summer storm to make you feel truly alive.

Dark clouds began to fill the sky just before I left the office. One can draw many parallels between my decision to risk the grey-sky-ride-home and the countless other decisions I make on a day-to-day basis.

Once I made my decision to begin the trek home there was no turning back. This idea was solidified when the downpour began.

When you make a decision in life, stick to it. Obstacles and rough patches are no excuse to back down.

Thoroughly soaked to the bone I accepted my soggy state and soaked in the experience. I�m wet now. I�ll be dry later.

Always know that you�ll make it through the rough patches. Don�t deny yourself the ability to learn from the tough parts by acting hard or negative.

My walkman headphones died when the rain hit. That was pretty lame.

Understand that choices you make can led to certain sacrifices. These sacrifices are often avoidable but sometimes they are the only way to move on.

I received many looks of pity from the drivers of the cars I passed. These looks were counter-balanced by the other bikers I met on my journey home. A shared smile between two bikers in a rainstorm is a very motivational and truly honest moment.

I've shared similar secret smiles with breakdancers on crowded dance floors and with friends when we both realize how amazing life can be when we have our shit sorted out.

Once I accepted all the positive aspects of the ride home it became so much easier to accept the negative parts.

The end goal of any decision shouldn't just be the successful completion of a task. The experience gained and the happiness derived from carrying out the task should always figure into the equation.

Maybe next time I see the sky swell with ominous black clouds I�ll take the ride home I was offered. (Or maybe not�)

Know that you can�t possibly make all the "right" decisions and use the knowledge from failed paths to help you better handle future choices. The only bad decision is the one you don�t learn from or the one that you don�t make at all.


If you watch the stungeye cam over the next week you should be able to follow the growth of the grass I planted today. In two weeks time the bunnies are in for a treat.

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Metafilter led me to the following two interesting reads:

Faith in the game - Science vs. Faith. What's the difference between knowing something and just knowing the name of it? A thought provoking read. The rest of the site looks like an interesting place to explore.


The Journal of Mike May - Imagine being blind from age 3 to age 46 and then through the magic of modern science partially regaining your vision. Much like asking an old dog to learn new tricks, Mike's brain has been tasked with integrating a new, and at times overwhelming, sense of perception. Mike's journal is a compelling look at the nature of human perception and the power of a positive attitude.


I'm currently listening to the Weakerthans track Left and Leaving. Why do I always feel like crying when I hear this song? You can read the lyrics here.

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Plep lead to me the following wonderful web comics:

• The gothic world of The Complete Alice


• The suicidal tendencies of Plugin Boy (The evolution of artistic style and complexity is interesting to watch)


• The sepia toned Soul-d (I love the look and style of this one!)


• The mystery of File 49


• The black and white grittiness of Elsie Hooper


• The first page of Paris Burning pulled me into his world.

The complete illustrated Sherlock Holmes. (Via Sugar'n Spice)

Questions and answers - The influencing machine

Check out the paper cut-out animated models over at Flying Pig. (Other paper craft sites via Amberglow: Papercraft Animals - Papercraft Buildings)

The Joy Of Shards features some amazing mosaics from around London. The Hitchcock mosaics are most impressive. (Via Dublog)

Also via Dublog, these links go out to my pal ChefQuix and his quest to find intelligent life in the most unlikely of places: Aurora (AKA The Northern Lights). The sights. The sounds.

The Sun-Earth connections pictures of the day can be quite breathtaking.

120 Years of Electronic Music - Electronic Musical Instrument 1870 - 1990 (Via Speckled paint)


I have new plans for this webpage. The new photos "Blue Buttons" and "Cap" on the images page are a sign of things to come. I'll soon be redesigning this place into a bit of a photo log / word sketch log / rhyme log / music log / etc. I want to focus on using this blog to motivate me to create rather than simply absorbing the works of others. With that said... some more links:

My home town favourites, The Weakerthans, have released their latest slice of indie rock 'n mo. Reconstruction Site is their first release as part of the Epitaph family and it's been getting some very positive reviews.

33RPM poster art.

Old Buck 65's webhaunts have been given a face lift. This comes just in time for the release of his second major label album, Talkin' Honky Blues. Check out the video for Wicked and Weird in the video show and tell section. While your at it check out the video for his beautifully haunting Phil (WMV). I first heard this track live many moons ago and it blew me away emotionally.

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Samples... the staple of hip-hop music. The Breaks is a huge archive of the samples used to construct countless hip hop classics. Search by sampler or samplee. Movies get sampled quiet a bit. Sounds tracks too. Sampling from the perspective of the record collector.

There are organizations like MACOS that encourage sample use but for the most part the legality of samples is often quite a grey area. The Beastie Boys were sued in 2000 for using a 6 second flute sample of James Newton for their track 'Pass the mic'. Turns out they cleared the sample with his record label but failed to ask Mr. Newton for permission. The Beasties won and counter sued Mr. Newton in 2002 for nearly $500,000 in court fees.

Calculate the speed of light using marshmallows and a microwave.

What's the deal with the US pledge of allegiance?

Story Beads: a wearable for distributed and mobile storytelling.

Another fun looking flash game.

News and commentary from the far left. Right on.

Save our short story.

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Do you remember the propellerheads track History Repeating? Check out the song of the week featuring Miss Shirley Bassey. You know you wanna.

Really now.
Lock the front door. Oh boy?

Tambourines and elephants are playing in the band.
Won't you take a ride on the flyin' spoon?
Doo, doo, doo.
Wondrous apparition provided by a magician

- Creedence

Bother me tommorrow, today, I'll buy no sorrows.

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It's just after midnight and the weather network tells me that it "feels like" 35 degrees Celsius, (the actual temp is 28 degrees). I'm sweating. It's way too hot for a proper post so I'll have to do this list style.

The Low Pressure Records 96 reunion tour which passed through town last week was great.

I picked up the Josh Martinez album Buck Up Princess while in Vancouver. Dope Album. Josh is, in my humble opinion, one of Canada's most underated underground hip-hop artist. Listen to one of my favorite tracks here.

Ever wonder what peace looks like?

Speckled Paint is back. Always great. Solipsistic has become an archive site for older Speckled Paint and Solipsistic posts and links.

Terminus 1525 is a great Canadian based online art gallery.They provide an interesting Internet Resource Guide for Artists (pdf).

Mark over at Ping Tiao (who recently picked up a tropical bacterial infection) lead me to the History of Anarcho-syndicalism.

Is our definition of time flawed (pdf)?

Finally, you should all drop by Perceptionalism and join my friend Chef Quix on his own personal chautauqua.

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Backwards in time across the zones we use to section up our world.
So is time really distance through space? Yes and no.

It�s more like the fusion of distance and memory.
Saw some old friends, they asked: "Hey do you remember me?"

Played amongst the wise old cedars.
Fed my mind from the top like old fashion bird feeders.

I�m back and I�m almost at a loss for words.
Almost.

Either this city has changed or else I have: Most likely both.
The only thing permanent is impermanence.

If you suffer, it is not because things are impermanent.
It is because you believe things are not.

We like to make believe that we are individuals.
How dare you choose to blind your third eye when we thrive on the inner visuals?


Cupped hands form an hourglass when filled with sand


More sand falls than can be caught
It passes through fingers, leaving my stomach in knots

A friend comments:

"Those sand grains were once stones, see?
They are now finer for having known thee."

Isn't it amazing how positive spins bring grins?
It isn't all that phasing; now causative sins sting skin

It's the sun's sin that now stings this idle skin

Sitting on a beach made from all these used up memories
This grain's ancestor was granite - That one came from emery

How many years will pass until no one remembers me?
I'll be great-great-grandpa 'what's-his-name' hung from the family tree.

Like a stone pulled down by gravity through the water of a stream
I have certain goals that call me so loudly that I can't see the forest for the screams

You could say that I'm a seeker. You could say I'm building steam.
I see time as man's invention. (Is this really all a dream?)

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