Beckstar's Unquenchable Republic of Disco Sparkle

I'm in ur computer, breakin' it wit Arrested Development gifz

2008-08-20T12:31:00.003-07:00

So it was fake-nounced today on imdb that they are moving forward with the Arrested Development movie. I'm waiting until I hear this from a more credible source, but in the meantime, check out this amazing gallery of Arrested Development gif's.

I lol'd all over the place when I found these on oh no they didn't.

Santogolden shower!

2008-08-13T19:49:00.003-07:00

The video for LSGHLS just came out, which is just one of the great songs on Santogold's eponymous album.

It and another cut, appear below. Yay!

Lights Out

L.E.S. Artistes

Weezy is totally the new R Kelly

2008-08-05T11:23:00.003-07:00

Beckstar blog lovin' Lil' Wayne.

Beckstar blog what the hell is he talking about at 0:55?

Beckstar blog Weezy invented a new style of talking.

Beckstar blog I am seriously considering replacing R Kelly with Wayne in my heart.

Beckstar blog Weezy considers good sex to be a job.

Beckstar blog how do I become one of Weezy's goons?

Beckstar blog WOW WOW WOW.

Beckstar blog watching this video over and over while hungover from Pride fun.

Beckstar blog you will love this.

Realty Board Action Team!

2008-08-01T11:36:00.000-07:00

Hello Becca.

I am concerned you may be missing and if I don't hear from you within 24-48 hours I will have to consider you missing and will report you to the Police and our Realty Watch network which fans out to all members of the Real Estate Boards in Canada.

Alan the building manager and I have discussed that this seems very un-characteristic of you therefore we must follow our suspicions.

Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

Speaking of "fat" chicks...

2008-07-25T14:25:00.003-07:00

Okay, seriously now people. The only way 15-year old Miley Cyrus lost 44 lbs this year is if she cut all of her limbs off.

Facebook ads suck sometimes. I mainly get ones about tightening my abs and reminding me that I'm '29 and still single'. Well you know what, Facebook? I'd rather be single than married to someone and trolling the service below...

No fat chicks.

2008-07-25T12:14:00.004-07:00

Now this is real nice.

This ad is massively offensive, mainly in that it entirely equates 'the wrong woman' with 'the wrong-sized woman' (not to mention that, judging by the wedding photo in the ad, the wife LOOKED LIKE THAT WHEN HE MARRIED HER).

But let's talk about the website - ashleymadison.com, which describes itself as the world’s #1 Married Dating service specifically for ATTACHED men and women who are looking to have an Extra-marital Affair. Ummmmm... ick.

At the end of the day, I am a believer in live and let live when it comes to consenting adults. It just strikes me that the time and energy spent 'winking' at sexy marrieds on this site could be much better spent either:

a) talking to/shagging one's spouse
b) filing for divorce

The site's excellent press room features a ton of articles in support of the site, and while I certainly am not surprised this Canadian venture has become moderately successful (from 50,000 to 350,000 users over the last 5 years) it kind of seems like the refuge for the pathetic.

What happened to hotel bars, anyway?

We're looking for stopping power...

2008-07-24T11:40:00.003-07:00

This is so good.

Anyone with experience in the agency world will relate to this. Brilliant!

The best movie of 2008...

2008-07-21T13:42:00.003-07:00

This trailer made me laugh really hard.

It looks like a cinematic experience on the level with Crossroads, Glitter and Baby Geniuses. All of which I saw in the theatre. Don't judge me.

Dr. Horrible makes me want to stalk Joss Whedon.

2008-07-16T19:28:00.006-07:00

But just to hang out. Maybe drink lemonade. Certainly not to write and act hours of Buffy/Dr. Horrible slash fanfic.

Oh Joss, you make me want to do evil.

So, anyhow - Joss Whedon created and wrote/produced Buffy - the best television show of all time, period. What Tarantino is to action film, Joss is to genre television - deep fans of their medium, their projects are a blend of homage and original creation, playing to a populist audience but with rich payoff for smarter/deeper viewers, and done with so much fun they make it look easy. Love the Joss.

So, during last year's writer strike, instead of getting bloated and lying around the California coastline, he wrote, produced and directed (with collaboration from his brother and some others) a three-part supervillian musical miniseries called Dr. Horrible, starring Neil Patrick Harris. Love the Joss.

It was broadcast online only, for free (although after this weekend it is supposed to be only on iTunes - $4) as an experiment in alternate distribution and, as Joss describes in a LA Times interview, to create an Internet event for the fans (and others) to enjoy because we enjoyed it so much Mission accomplished. The first installment was successful enough to crash the servers and, most importantly, is an amazing, compelling, hella fun little bit of cinema.

In the same interview, Joss mentions that he is doing a musical commentary for this, which is pretty much the best idea ever. LOVE THE JOSS.

You should go watch it right now.

All videos should be this good...

2008-06-23T12:18:00.002-07:00

Björk - All Is Full Of Love
by Bjork

Hell to the yes.

Some beef is big and some beef is small...

2008-06-22T17:55:00.004-07:00

...but what y'all call beef is not beef at all.

I don't know if you're following the old skool versus new skool beef between Ice-T and Soulja Boy, but if not, the Beckstar provides.

The play by play goes as follows: Ice-T disses Soulja Boy on the MixTape, Soulja Boy responds with video, Ice-T answers in kind. Kanye chimes in. Enjoy:

Ice-T --> "Soulja Boy - let me talk about Soulja Boy. I know you're young enough to be my kid, but you singlehandedly killed hip hop"

Soulja Boy --> "Real talk though. Mr T. you gots to- you must understand, shit is different now. When you was born, niggas was still driving in wood cars, god-damn Walmart wasn't made yet, you know. There wasn't no internet, there wasn't no video cameras to record this, to diss your whole ass on."

Ice-T --> "If any war, it's going to be good hip hop versus bad hip hop, you understand what I'm saying? And if there has to be a war on that battlefield, then' I'm proud to be the general, nigga. And I will never shoot a round off."

BTW, I'm on team Soulja Boy. Ice-T's comments are solid, but he's about twenty years past his best-before date, and should probably stick to acting and doing whatever it is he does with the frightening Amazon he's married to. I don't really want to know.

Beckstar reviews animated gifs of dragons

2008-06-12T23:45:00.000-07:00

So I was reminiscing on one of my most popular posts - reviews of animated gifs of cats, and was inspired to log a similar entry. This time dragons.

This was an interesting project, because it highlighted a clear lack of understanding in our culture of what exactly a dragon is. Let's start with

Dragons are:

Yes. Dragons are flying, fire-breathing badasses. If this gif included some burning villagers, it would be pretty much perfect.

Dragons are not:

Turds with faces.

Sexy alligators.

Interested in world events, sports, editorials or comics. In fact, I'm pretty sure that dragons can't read. Period.

Bats with pants.

Now that we're on the topic, can we talk about cartoons and animals in pants?

I get that illustrators don't really want to draw the creepy loin region of these asexual subjects, and thus just toss on an oversized t-shirt or a pair of tight jeans. But for the viewers, this just begs the question of what exactly lives under these garments, which is infinitely more disturbing.

This is a gyrating freak show.

Not only does the creator of this gif imagine dragons to be obese, overly friendly try-hards, but the left hand is perpetually locked in a moment of obscene self-gratification. Can you imagine if this dragon was wearing pants?

My guess is that the dragon in this case is a thinly-veiled metaphor for the creator's "Fun Uncle Touch-a-lot". Sometimes the subconscious comes out in unexpected ways.

And then we have my personal favourite. Again... WTF?

America's Next Top MILF

2008-06-12T22:47:00.003-07:00

Where has this show been all my life?

It's called She's Got the Look, and is totally Top Model for the MILF set. What else do you need to know?

a) it's hilarious - a woman talks, in her audition, about her lifelong dream of posing with a lion styled like a siamese twin. And she's definitely not kidding.

b) it's proof that age does not equal maturity - one of the women freaks out after losing a competition and rants "I know why you won, and it's SUPERFICIAL". In a modelling competition. Brillance.

c) beyond belief MILF-iness. One of the women, when asked to share her 'darkest secret', admits that she likes younger guys... eighteen year old guys, and another says that she made her sons sign a contract never to love anyone as much as her.

d) hot, hot, hot ladies. Seriously - these women are smoking. Check it:

You can watch the whole business online on the TV Land 'She's got the Look' site, and I highly recommend that you check you at least the first episode.

Or check out the 'best moments' compilation prepared by one of my favourite bloggers - Tracie Egan.

MILFs for life!

Collaborative Low-Energy Cardboard Performance Art... and More Stuff about Cats

2008-06-11T13:21:00.005-07:00

This went viral a while back, so you've likely seen it, but I've got to repost as it's hella funny, and really, really worth the six minutes.

It's a video entitled An Engineer's Guide to Cats, and while it is certainly that, it is also a perfect example of how engaging a low budget and an engaging personality can be.

Corporal cuddling is seriously an amazing concept

I've written before about the unique magic of cat owners, and this is a prime example.

Best Moments from the R Kelly Trial!

2008-05-28T15:37:00.003-07:00

...But her testimony quickly turned into a play-by-play of a fantasy basketball game in which Kelly was the star player. Kelly had a hit with "I Believe I Can Fly," from the soundtrack to the animated movie "Space Jam." According to Guerrero, Kelly also believed he could play ball.

Guerrero described--and prosecutors provided photos of--a mural on the wall of a half basketball court in the lower level of the home. In it, Kelly is a Michael Jordan doppelganger, bald, shiny, muscles rippling, committing a flagrant foul against the Tasmanian Devil. Jordan himself is the referee. And the audience? A cast of Looney Tunes characters, from Elmer Fudd to Sylvester, cheering on the one-on-one game and holding signs that read "Go R. Kelly!" and "Go Taz!"

- source

Are you kidding me? This is unprecedented.

Jamison also got a few laughs out of the court, such as when Adam asked her about the possibility of the tape having been altered with special effects. Had she seen the Wayans brothers movie "Little Man"? "It looked real, didn't it?" Adam asked. "Not really," Jamison replied with some sarcasm.

- source

The Wayan Brothers defense?

Kelly's attorneys suggest that a prayer group called "Midnight Missionaries" often came to the studio in the wee hours to pray about topics such as "sin and adultery."

- source

It's a hard time to be an R Kelly fan. Don't get me wrong, it's never been all that easy to be an R Kelly fan. But the infamous urination video seems a lot less funny in the cold light of the courtroom.

I, like the rest of society it seems, have inconsistent opinions about both the criminally famous and the sexualization of children. I only need to cite some first names - Britney, Miley, Jon-Benet - to make the point. Let's be clear - sexual activity with young teenagers, as a forty-year old man, is repugnant and appropriately criminal.

But my R Kelly love has never been about reason or ethics. It's a lawless love born of ego and delusion. And thus, I follow the trial. R Kelly, you never cease to amaze.

Heroes in a Half Shell...

2008-05-26T19:01:00.004-07:00

TURTLE POWER!

You will watch this video because:

a) you were with me when I was one toe over the line outside of the Astoria after the completely amazing Clips/Woodhands show, yelling this Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle theme line and having people call back the Turtle Power! part;

b) you've ever seen the original version;

c) you wish to finally settle the question of whether any words can sound soulful and sincere with the right delivery;

d) you deserve a mellow, turtle-powered jazz break (which, obviously, you do);

e) you are willing to indulge me in a musing on media;

Quod erat demonstrandum - you press play now.

0:54 to 1:20 will blow your mind and break your heart simultaneously

Friends, meet David Choi. He's a moderately talented aspiring singer from LA playing mainly acoustic covers of popular songs, and his own saccharine ballads. But what strikes me is that David Choi is so 2.0 it's 2.econd nature.

Witness davidchoimusic.com - re-launched recently, it includes a member's community, links to multiple networks (he has about 15,000 myspace friends) an active text blog, video blog and Twitter feed, a (currently empty) store and even a LIVE DAVID CAM. Yes, you read that right. He even accepted my friend request on Facebook within twelve minutes of sending.

Hidden Website Secret! You can softly caress David's pet hamster in real time by pressing control-shift-e repeatedly on his homepage!

I've recently the pleasure of hearing two of today's most relevant digital thought leaders speak: Chris Anderson at this year's Vidfest keynote, and Richard Edelman at our offices (full disclosure - both Vidfest and Richard Edelman are connected to my current place of employ.)

Both made speeches which included an identical statement: If you're under 25, you know this already.

The need for this sentence is interesting. It isn't necessarily generational, but the gap between those who are using the digital space and those who are learning from slideshows about it has never been more important.

Social media is so specifically about interaction, I wonder if it's possible to understand it without actually participating in it.

Long-time readers will remember that this site used to have a '10 reasons why this blog is better than your myspace page' sidebar. Then I registered an account for personal reasons. I loved it, and am now active there and on Facebook as well as peripherally on some other sites. Being open to new social networking ideas helps create smart strategies, organize life, and have a lot of fun.

But, if you're under 25, you knew that already.

Skanks!!!!

2008-05-09T14:52:00.004-07:00

Yet another awesome comedy vid inspired by the world of social networking.

If nothing else, the popularity of vids like this is a clear indication that the social net. phenomenon has reached critical mass, and that we're all trying to figure out what it means.

Don't Copy that Floppy!

2008-05-08T10:51:00.002-07:00

'cause it's gonna get sloppy!

1992 was amazing.

I love this line in particular:

By the time you add up all the people who are involved in creating an application, you'll end up with as many as 20 or 30 people.

iTunes by the Numbas

2008-05-08T10:15:00.005-07:00

This little iTunes questionnaire comes to me by way of Sean Klassen via Kevin Broome, and is a cute little 'why not' meme.

This is my work iTunes library, which is fairly different from the one on my home laptop. I will repeat this exercise from home, and use it to draw over-stated conclusions about the difference between homeBeckstar and workBeckstar.

Here goes:

TOTAL LENGTH: 814 items, 2.2 days, 3.42 GB

FIRST AND LAST SONGS (BY TITLE):
-Abaixa E Pega :: Brazilian Funk Compilation [noted: the Alta Vista translator translates this as 'It Lowers and it Catches'. My hunch is that it translates more accurately to 'Drop that Booty and Get Yo' Man']
- 3030 :: Deltron

SHORTEST AND LONGEST SONGS:
- Vault Character :: Calvin Harris - 0.08
- Avalanches Mix for the BBC - 1:04:18

FIRST AND LAST ALBUMS (BY TITLE):
- The Action Packed Mentallist Brings You the Fucking Jams :: Kid 606
- 6 Feet Deep :: Gravediggaz
- (Z by Gonzales if we go by alphabet only)

FIRST AND LAST ARTIST (BY TITLE):
- Aesop Rock
- 1337 G33K B3AT
- (Zookeeper if we're going by alphabet only)

TOP FIVE MOST PLAYED SONGS:
Follow the Light :: Dungeon Family
Paper Planes :: MIA
I'm a Slave 4 U :: Britney Spears
Sweet Jane :: Cowboy Junkies
Tribulations :: LCD Soundsystem

SEARCH FOR THE FOLLOWING WORDS. HOW MANY SONGS SHOW UP?
Sex: 5
Death: 3
Love: 31
You: 76
Home: 4
Boy: 16
Girl: 55
Robot : 4
Nerd: 23

FIRST FIVE SONGS THAT COME UP IN PARTY SHUFFLE:
- Side Effects (featuring Young Jeezy) :: Mariah Carey
- Solstice :: Pit Er Pat
- Civilization Day :: Quasimodo
- The Undercover (Remix) :: Encore & G Luv
- Crazy On You :: Heart

Have I told you about my newish co-worker Kevin Broome? Yes, check him out, but please don't leave me for his articulate, interesting, insightful and amazing blog. I loved you first readers! I LOVED YOU FIRST!!!!

Betweein Kevin and the other new playa on the work scene, Leigh Peterson, the digital/interactive department is off the hizzy with talent. Makes it fun to come to work in the mornings. Awwwww...

If life was like facebook...

2008-05-02T10:16:00.003-07:00

Idiots of Ants are a UK based comedy troupe. These particular ones are based on the premise of Facebook-style interaction in the real world. Enjoy the LOL's.

It's funny to watch, as obviously Facebook communication is stilted and strange when done in person. The hundred or so comments added since the video was uploaded four days ago are quick to crow about how it

This is great, now I can send this to my friends when they ask why I'm not on Facebook.

brilliant.. i dont understand why anyone would want the world to see what the frick they are doing...frikin hate facebook...

Great...that's why a Removed my account from Facebook lol

HA thats so funny i guess its realy like that when u think about it'

Not that YouTube comment streams are really worth serious response, but it seems rather self-evident that different modes of communication will not be transferable.

I would love to do a parody video of these parody videos with older and more accepted communication forms. I'm thinking:

a fax party

two people meeting on the street and talking in long form letter

a morse code date

Older, but in a similar vein, we have the Comment Stream business meeting, which is pretty lol'sy...

... and the all-time greatest 'internet in real life' video ever - Cracked's Internet Party- what happens when google's parents go out of town

As other bloggers have said about this...

2008-04-22T13:37:00.002-07:00

You wish, Microsoft.

Memories of this video, which I blogged about earlier, but which definitely deserves a second look. The video was pulled for a while, but it's back, and.... uh... wow.

McMarketing 2.0

2008-04-22T11:47:00.005-07:00

You likely know David Armano's exemplary blog 'Logic + Emotion', which is most definitely a go-to site for business and user interface design and all things 2.0.

The cowboy-hatted one grates my nerves a little sometimes, mainly due to his inability to take off his cowboy hat. I know, however, that the mark of a successful brand is often the nausea due to over-exposure I feel when I think of that hat, so go David.

In any case, the graphic above is a reminder that we need to be thoughtful and insightful in generating marketing programs in the digital space, and not just throw some buzzwords in a happy meal bag.

Don't eat the gas station sushi!

2008-04-15T16:59:00.000-07:00

Even if it is free with a fill-up.

Hooked on Phonics and Strategery

2008-04-15T16:26:00.002-07:00

Well, it's not quite Stephen Colbert's sublime White House Correspondent's Dinner keynote, but Tim Robbins had some interesting things to say at the National Association of Broadcasters confab.

Check them out here.

Monster attack!

2008-04-15T12:33:00.004-07:00

My friend Rhya, who I've blogged about before, is profiled (with her fantabulous company - Monster Factory) on CityNews, as part of their 'Toys in Toronto' series.

Why would you purchase one of those cheap, tacky, made-in-China Ugly Dolls, when they can have a lovable, completely Canadian-made creation?

Go Rhy go!

Do some ho shit.

2008-04-15T12:32:00.001-07:00

I love me some Erykah Badu.

Rat on a Wheel...

2008-02-07T22:28:00.000-08:00

Yes, gentle readers, it's me.

I am in a state of flux, pure and simple. On one hand, yes, I am working on the blog facelift and a billion new posts, and ain't no lie, things are going to get good. Here's a little tease of good things to come.

I won't set a deadline, for fear of harassment from neighbourhood bloggers who put me to shame with eloquent, intelligent and frequent posting. But things are happening friends, don't you worry.

But for now, a state of flux. Working too much, looking for an apartment and running out of time, legal battles far too harried to relay here.

And thus the lack of posting. But I have plans. So I figured, if y'all are itching for me to talk to you so badly, how about showing some love back? Huh? Let me know what you think of the following ideas and I'll love you for always.

1. More thoughts and insights about my professional passion - interactive/digital marketing/communications.

2. More frequent but much shorter posts about things that catch my eye.

3. Dance videos. Do you know my male alterego Daily Dancer? All I can say is... I could really see it working out.

4. Better navigation system.

5. More Beckstar photos.

If you've been here for a while or a new visitor, it would be really cool to know more about what you like to read about here in Beckstarland.

Okay. Back to work. Into hour 13, with end far from sight.

Le sigh.

Oh and Happy Chinese New Year. I'm feeling like the Year of the Rat is all too appropriate right now...

Merry non-denominational holiday y'all!

2007-12-15T02:59:00.000-08:00

If any of you are still out there reading this forgotten closet of my oldest, dearest, most bloggy of friends, I wish you all the best this holiday season. Haaa-aay!

I'm off to a cruise for a week, so... you'll be hearing about that before the year's out. In the meantime, I've been feeling, what with all the seasonal parties, five years of overdue taxes, preparation for the trip, a bit like this...

Stay tuned for the 'after' photo!

Beckstar and her somewhat broken blog...

2007-12-02T23:22:00.000-08:00

Greetings dear friends.

Yes, clearly the blog is having some issues. Like a teen starlet on a meth binge, we're calling it 'exhaustion' and just trying to get ourselves back to our normal narcissistic selves.

I had an issue with the hosting provider that I host most of my content with (hence the broken header), and I'm just getting everything back together now. Things should look normal here soon.

In fact, like aforementioned starlet, I will even do some nipping and tucking, and come back looking sparklier than ever. Yay!

In the meantime, I give you this incredible gift from on high:

Why I need a video editing program:

2007-12-02T23:21:00.000-08:00

Failed Mario Liveblogging Experiment Part 6!

2007-11-14T12:41:00.001-08:00

OMG! Total Mario Liveblog Action!!!!

2007-11-14T09:34:00.000-08:00

Three Important Questions:

2007-11-05T22:06:00.000-08:00

1. Should I cut my hair short?

Just think of it with only the bangs.

2. Two-parter: a) Don't I look adorable in glasses; and b) is it too douche-y to wear glasses with blank lenses?

3. Do I look like Zac Efron?

Another Mindblowing Pop Culture Mashup!

2007-09-17T23:20:00.000-07:00

"He's in his wiiiiiide stance! with his hammer pants down!" Hats off to you Jon Stewart.

My Two Guiltiest Pop Culture Pleasures...

2007-09-14T09:49:00.000-07:00

Together in one amazing user-created vid. Seriously - this rules.

Pour ma jolie Quebeçoise...

2007-08-29T23:49:00.000-07:00

Flight of the Conchords. New Zealand's fourth most popular digi-folk paradists. If you don't know - now you know.

This video is obviously the theme song for anyone who's recently moved to Montreal.

Or check out this amazing rap battle between Hiphopopotamus and Rhymenoceros. You might want to say those out loud for maximum effect. Word.

My rhymes are so potent, that in this small segment
I made all of the ladies in the area pregnant

Recent polls have shown...

2007-08-26T20:57:00.000-07:00

... a fifty-first of Miss Teen USA 2007 delegates is jawdroppingly stupid.

This is either a moment of nerves taking over a brain, or an amazing insight into the world view of the extreme idiot.

You know, I always found the whole 'pageants are about academic scholarship' angle a bit dubious...

Marina's Stagette

2007-08-19T20:09:00.001-07:00

Daaaaamn. Was Marina's stagette on Saturday night some ridiculous good times? Witness the following:

You want to touch the bride? Nobody touches the bride.

Megan and I emit alien light vectors.

Rhy, Rhy, Rhy. How can you be so very awesome?

Meena works the crown. Note the careful placement of capuchin monkey and green pepper. All Beckstar, baby.

If it were anyone but KT, I would be all 'Greatest! Photo! Ever!'. Instead, I'm all 'What's that? Katie took another totally amazing party photo? Cool, now who wants toast?'

Gorgeous D, displayed by gorgeous M.

Lady E and the Bridesmaid Power Squad. represent. whut.

Beckstar and Bridestar. Woot!

August in Vancouver - raining cupcakes

2007-08-19T20:07:00.000-07:00

Cupcake addiction? Let's not go there.

My girl Marina is getting married next weekend and, as one of the bridesmaids, my job this weekend was to send her off in a drunken, hedonistic fever. Obviously, to the Beckstar, this means a cupcakestravaganza.

For you, woeful readers... I document it all in a photo essay.

The all-important 'pretend the fructose is a huge pile of cocaine' stage.

The setup for candying edible flowers - lazy variation: use of feather in place of paintbrush. Hey - whatever works, right?

The beautiful end result of project flower candy.

Mixmaster Beckstar.

Tasting of batter is extremely important at regular intervals. This is all entirely standard, and should not be questioned.

Enjoying a fresh warm batch of cupcakes. Is there any finer pleasure?

My signature recipe - cheesecake cupcakes. Drooooooool.

Batch 2 - Pineapple Coconut Cream Cheese Cupcakes. Fuck yeah!

And the gorgeous vanilla sisters. Can I get an amen?

Magical Cats!

2007-08-10T10:48:00.000-07:00

A quick disclaimer: I am a dog person. Although I have known the odd cat who seemed a content, affectionate and cute-ish pet, they're just really not my thing.

Still, while there are many extreme examples of dog fanaticism, nobody does it like the cat folk.

You've seen stuffonmycat.com.

Omigod. Like, remember Construx?

You might have even spent some time on Flippy's Cat Page, gleaning such beautiful user-submitted prose as:

Happiness is:
... Sparkplug following me into the bathroom and watching me shave my legs.
... Brahms carefully watching the smaller kittens as they play.
... Walking into my mother’s house and having seventeen cats pounce on me and purr.
... Waking up to find a multitude of meowing fuzz balls sleeping with me.
... Having an "intelligent conversation" with a group of cats.

Did you read that? SEVENTEEN CATS. Daaamn man, maybe crazy cat lady is genetic. Moving right along, if you aaare the kind of person who enjoys the aforementioned, you've probably already seen this. For the others, I present to you: Cats. In. Bowls.

Related: The World's First Website for Cats, which is, in my opinion, of dubious appeal to both cats and humans.

No, I don't get it either...

2007-08-03T11:52:00.001-07:00

But this is insanely viral right now, and I thought, out of service to my readers, you should be ahead of the curve on this madness:

If someone says 'Youtube? Isn't that all just autistic kids with keyboards these days?', you'll know to what they refer.

Random Robot Content Hour!

2007-07-30T10:42:00.000-07:00

It's the anthem of the summer. It's the video of the year. It's the cutest robot ever.

Lupe Fiasco has been quietly ruling for a while, so stop sleeping and bear witness:

Praise due also to Jill Scott, who brings the vocals.

And this... is the weirdest commercial of the year. It's extremely disturbing and creepy, but hey - when you're trying to sell Slurpee's to kids, you do what you can. Noting, of course, that one of the more successful Slurpee flavours/promos in recent history was the Bloody Zit. Yeah. Maybe this works.

What, exactly, is he supposed to be drinking?

Harry Potter! The end of an epic...

2007-07-21T17:50:00.000-07:00

So last night we went to the Harry Potter book seven launch! Woohoo!!

I've just finished the book - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - and witnessed memorable characters and worlds find their fate written, their destiny sealed. I'm going to discuss it in full, spoiler-y detail right now - but I'll mask the text. Highlight it with your cursor if you're sure you want to read it:

Loved it! The resolution of many of the plotlines happened along the lines I expected, but wasn't sure. Some key points:

1. That Snape betrayed Voldemort out of love for Lily. Plausible. Awesome. As we saw in Book Five, his worst memory may not have been the day he was humiliated by James and the boys, but rather the time he called Lily a mudblood. And this explains why Dumbledore trusted him so deeply. And his death was pretty much a given. Poor, poor Snape. In many ways, I'd consider him the real hero. And the epilogue? When Harry admonishes his son (Albus Severus Potter!) for speaking against Slytherin? So good.

2. That Harry was a horcrux. How you like that? This one was ultra-controversial. The pottercasters were sharply divided over this question, although the scarcrux theory, as it had been called, explained so many things it seemed like the right fit. To whit:

Harry's psychic connection to Voldy

Harry being able to open the Chamber of Secrets, when it was restricted only to the Heir of Slytherin; Harry being, of course, the "Gryffindoriest Gryffindor who ever Gryffindored"

Harry getting some of V's powers - parseltongue for example

The sorting hat's ambivalence about putting Harry in Gryffindor versus Slytherin

3. Harry Lives! Of course he does. Puffaw. Seriously.

Good book, poor Snape, yay Harry. I also liked it when Neville kicked ass at the end. Woot! I did think it would be cool to know more about their lives at the end - like what jobs they had - but it was pretty awesome overall, most definitely.

The launch party, at Vandusen Gardens, was pretty fun to. A long lineup, but well-organized event with great energy.

The crowd. Evidently something like 4,000 people were expected to show. That's over $125, 000 in book sales from attendees alone.

Here I am! Rock you like a Pottercane!

LJ believes that the movies are as good as the books. I say books win no question.

Marina, almost as excited as I was.

Clau, another old school Potter fan.

LJ examines our key to Grimmauld Place.

When the book tents open, the crowd is suddenly dense, swaying, reeking of teenager.

Eventually we approach book flaps number nine and ten.

Victory! We have the tome!

Victory yes! Sweet victory!

Cupcashimi time!!!

2007-07-09T23:07:00.000-07:00

Who rules the cupcake kingdom? I do, and this is the evidence of my mega-dominance.

BOW BEFORE ME AND EAT DELICIOUS CUPCAKES!!!

It all started with Teletubbies...

2007-07-09T14:18:00.001-07:00

... like so many great things.

I love the new viral 2.0 paradise in which we find ourselves. Exhibit A:

Like woah. As I said, it all started with a Teletubbies video that did the same thing, and which is only slightly less awesome than the video above.

Good times... good times.

And for those that want to know - the song is by Unk, who is also pretty awesome, in a somewhat ironic sense.

A Confused Vegetation*

2007-07-04T22:25:00.000-07:00

So today, the Beckstar turned a Wednesday into Wednfunsday!!!! Let's pretend that wordplay worked nicely and move on.

While in Portland over the weekend, I had the distinct pleasure of visiting Powell's Books, which was just as comprehensive, enormous and treasure-filled as its reputation suggested.

If you get a chance to go, be sure to visit the Technical Books Store around the corner. It's full of scientific/applied/instructional/awesome things of all sorts. Like this Magic Garden I bought. I enjoyed its growth all through my workday!

9:15am - Where it all goes down.

9:25am - Secret solution added. Muah ha ha!

9:55am - Baby crystals are the cutest. Look at their miniature little geometries! Awwwwwwww!

11:40am - If I'm ever fired, I think I will meditate on this photo for a little while.

3:20pm - Or maybe this one.

5:00pm - The view from day's end. Sweet!

If I've learned anything in the years I've walked this Earth - it's that this was totally awesome.

*

I will never forget the sight. The crystallisation vessel in which it (the chemical garden) exhibited itself, was three quarters filled with slightly slimey water, namely dilute water glass, and out of the sandy bottom sprung a grotesque small landscape of differently coloured growths, a confused vegetation composed of blue, green and brown spikes, reminiscent of algae, fungi, sessile polyps, but also mosses, then shells, fruit, treelets or branches of trees, here and there even limbs – the strangest thing I had ever seen: strange, not so much because of the, albeit wonderful and confusing sight, but because of its deeply melancholy nature.

So goes the description of a chemical crystal garden from Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus, in a scene which I want to read. According to my coworker, it is a horrifying scene in which the father torments his children by demanding they define the difference between the crystals and a living thing.

Canada Day in the U.S.A!

2007-07-04T11:50:00.000-07:00

No real story here. We went to Portland, we had good times.

These pictures are from a fantastic little diner in Olympia. Milkshake for the road? Yes!

Greatest Sport Ever...

2007-07-03T17:39:00.000-07:00

Why oh why are the Japanese so good at television?

While we here in the West are giggling our remotes off over such mundane game show fodder as Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?, they are re-inventing this whole business, making humans into Tetris pieces, and generally making me question why one would watch anything but Japanese television, ever.

An Apple Ate My Brain!

2007-07-03T13:53:00.000-07:00

Okay now seriously.

How am I not supposed to feel like a techno-prescient oracle, considering the following:

1. I have long said that I would only get a cell-phone when a device was developed that met all of my portable digital needs:

- Phone
- Music
- PDA
- Web Browser/Email
- Nintendo Hand-held Gaming System

2. NINTENDO IS DEVELOPING GAMES FOR THE IPHONE!!.

Okay, so the evidence is paltry. But seriously... how amazing if it were true?

And why not really - I've also long said that Macintosh and Nintendo are very similar in their business approach and company personality. To whit:

- long-lasting in highly-competitive tech industries, without majority market share

- highly entrepreneurial/innovative development model - track record of inventing revolutionary products (iPod, Wii, Macintosh 128K, GameBoy etc.)

- some high profile failures (GameCube, Macintosh TV)

- clean, minimalist design aesthetic, with tendencies toward 'cute' imagery

- etc. etc.

In other cool links, check out the Evolution of Apple Products:

And while you're at it - PC World's initial response to the iPhone points to 10 things they did well, and 10 things that need improvement for the next generation. Which is when I'd better have one of these in my hot little hands...

Cupcake Porn!

2007-06-27T18:47:00.000-07:00

Okay, so maybe that's a tad sensational. But what else can you call these photos of amazing, droolworthy, over-the-top creations, which could keep a girl up aaaall night?

And, check out these cupcakes, done by a girl from Seattle. Pretty much the best ever.

See more of her amazing stuff on her flickr site - including a Nintendo DS cake! She's everything I would like to be.

See more at:

Cupcakes Takes the Cake :: fantastic cupcake blog

Realising Nuala :: cupcake/bakery blog from Singapore

Cupcake Momma :: a flickr set of amazing cupcakes

Kylie Lambert :: another flickr set of - you guessed it - amazing cupcakes

You're welcome!

The most dangerous animal...

2007-06-26T23:02:00.000-07:00

You can tell by his soundtrack.

MixPlay Mixmaster!

2007-06-25T11:31:00.000-07:00

Why can't all advertising be this clean, engaging, compelling, fun and stylish?

This is Uniqlo's campaign for it's new series of coloured parkas. My sense is that they are a Japanese company, pretty similar to the Gap here in N.A., but daaaaaamn this is a nice series.

The accompanying interactive website is intuitive and a complete blast to play with.

They also did a series of in-store demos, like the one below.

Simple, eye-catching, cool, in-brand... awesome.

UNICORN VIDEO POWER DECK!!!

2007-06-04T23:08:00.001-07:00

No no. Don't speak. Just sit down, shut up and enjoy the sweet sweet candy!!!

You've probably already met Charlie the Unicorn, as it went viral like crazy, but if not...

I dare you: 1. Not to get this theme song stuck in your head; 2. Not to agree that Feathers, Cadillac and Tom Cruise are the three greatest unicorn names you've ever heard.

Methinks cartoonist James Thurber had a couple of relationship issues.

Philip K. Droid

2007-06-04T20:59:00.000-07:00

Now this project is dead and gone, but I keep meaning to blog about it anyways.

Philip K. Dick (1928 -1982), as many of you know, wrote dark, paranoid science fiction that's been the source for many of your favourite sci-fi movies [Blade Runner, Minority Report, Total Recall, A Scanner Darkly], and possibly some of your favourite sci-fi literature as well [The Three Stigmata of Palmer Elddrich, Ubik, The Man in the High Castle, Flow my Tears the Policeman Said, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?].

One thing I love about his work is its handling of robots and computers. Deeply concerned with the nature of consciousness, PKD's world is one where manipulation of memories, moods and personalities, and androids exhibiting emotion, inspiration and free will, blur the lines between man and machine.

So what better tribute to Philip K. than an android in his likeness?

Aw, don't you just want to go cuddle up and discuss the nature of reality?

Android head with stoned-looking kid.

From the FedEx Institute of Technology, Hanson Robotics, and the Automation and Robotics Research Institute, the project seems to have been pretty active back in 2005, but now has died out. No news as to why.

Here is the PKD android interacting with someone at 2005 NextFest in Chicago:

And here are some more links if you want to learn more about Philip K. Dick. Hey! Check out my major blogger journalistic diligence!

The Relationship Between Humans and Machines: Through the Eyes of Philip K. Dick - An analysis by Eli Eisenberger.

Official Site - if for no other reason alone, visit to see the cover art gallery, including the Japanese 'Do Androids Dream...' cover on the right.

The Most Brilliant Sci-Fi Mind on Any Planet - a Rolling Stone article from 1975, this was the first major article about the author.

Running the Numbers...

2007-05-31T02:42:00.000-07:00

Chris Jordan is a Seattle-based lawyer-cum-photographer whose latest series is definitely worth checking out.

Translating real data about consumption of objects and resources into oversized, beautiful photographs really conveys the massive quantity of waste we produce, without feeling pushy or pedantic. The messaging is simple, but the impact is strong.

Check em!

Toothpicks :: Depicts 8 million toothpicks, equal to the number of trees harvested in the US every month to make the paper for mail order catalogs.

Cell Phones :: Depicts 426,000 cell phones, equal to the number of cell phones retired in the US every day.

Prison Uniforms. :: Depicts 2.3 million folded prison uniforms, equal to the number of Americans incarcerated in 2005.

All in all a great exhibit. Check the touring schedule on his site.

Double Up Hits Stores!

2007-05-29T11:24:00.000-07:00

Don't front. R. Kelly is the man.

Check out the song to the right, and enjoy the delicious goodness.

"Don't trip - I got a giant rocket
Gliding through just hitting your pocket"

If that's not enough, he drops a Uranus reference. AND it means just what you're afraid it does.

Amazing.

I wanna meet that dad!

2007-05-23T16:38:00.000-07:00

I know, the Beckstar's been a bit remiss in the posting as of late.

What can I say? Springtime, sunshine, romance and... Trauma Center for the wii have kept me off the old computational device.

But...

How can you be mad at me when I bring incredible gems like that into your life?

Avian Bird Bots!

2007-04-24T13:45:00.001-07:00

So you're a town in England. You've got a problem with massive, freakish, bloated pigeons ranking up your streets with shit, and generally making a hideous nuisance of themselves.

You have a choice.

You can either:

a) Do nothing, and let your city degenerate into a vile, festering pigeon paradise (Venice anyone?)

b) Contnue spending $320,000 a year on employing 8 full-time workers solely dedicated to washing pigeon shit off your streets

or...

c) INSTALL TEN ROBOTIC PEREGRINE FALCONS TO SCARE THOSE PARASITES THE FUCK AWAY (into the neighbouring towns presumably, but let's keep that to ourselves).

Fear the falcon's robot gaze! FEAR IT!!!

Yes, Liverpool is doing exactly that, and it couldn't happen soon enough, considering their status next year as European Capital of Culture.

These little birdbots, titled strangely as Robops by the company that invented them, sit in static locations (which will change to ensure that the birds don't get used to their presence) and engage in a series of behaviours that imitate Peregrine Falcons - one of the species that preys on pigeons.

The range of motion/behaviour of the Robop.

The website for the Robops is as inexplicable as their names, and is a labrynthian garbage pile twelve-thousand bytes deep, but let's ignore that and give mad props to a great idea.

Y'all know the Beckstar loves to see robots helping their organic earthmates. Just another harbinger of an awesome, awesome future, where robots help man, man builds more robots, and we realize that the Raelians were right all along. I for one am looking forward to it.

Alice Wang's techno-socio experiments.

2007-04-24T13:43:00.001-07:00

Alice Wang is from Taipei, Taiwan. She recently graduated with a First Class degree from Central St. Martins College of Art and Design BA (hons) Product Design and is now studying MA Design Interactions at the Royal College of Art.

She often uses products to illustrate various human behaviours, social taboos and social trends. Her products question why people do what they do and how it will evolve over time leading onto other possible behaviours.

- alice-wang.com

Alice Wang's commercial product prototypes seem found from the future, and are very clever technological thought exercises. They all demonstrate a great deal of insight into technology's relationship with human society. And while some of her projects are very much art experiments, others are prescient and very possible.

How about the audio sticks project, where she "aims to discuss how digital music will change our values towards music and explore possible future music scenarios"?

Tracey Morgan: I'm gonna make you a mixtape. Do you like Phil Collins?
Alec Baldwin: I have two ears and a heart, don't I?
[from the excellent show 30 Rock

Another thought-provoking, and very funny, project is her Pet Plus+ project, which is all about how people use pets as social surrogates (for boyfriends, girlfriends, children, etc.).

It's sad that I can really see this in use.

How brilliant is that leash?

She also has several other project on the go, including her latest, Nanoweapons, a scary and thought-provoking look at weaponized nanotechnology that is much too disturbing visually to post here. Or Peer Pressure, below, which is all about technology catered to social insecurities.

These headphones are multidirectional. Your music plays to your ears, and popular top 40 music plays to the outside world. Other proejcts include a phone that text-messages itself, and a printer that outputs fabricated complimentary emails about oneself for co-workers to 'accidentally' see.

The spirit of hip hop just keeled over and died

2007-04-23T23:11:00.000-07:00

This is wrong on so many levels it may as well come over in a gimp suit and make out with your mom.

MC KARL ROVE?!?!? Have mercy. This is from the recent Radio and Television Correspondents' Association dinner.

The fact that Karl Rove, evil old white dude and living embodiment of "the man", thought that it was acceptable to clutch himself awkwardly and gyrate with a cellphone while a cheap mc drops embarassingly bad corporate rhymes about him, like

He can't be beat because he's so white from his head to his feet but he will rap it when you give him a chance.

Look at him move, doing the rapping dance. That's true, he's a dancing resident. He is a sidekick to the president.

is unequivocal proof that hip hop has become completely divorced from the political context it was born from.

I mean... DOING THE RAPPING DANCE?!? What on earth is the rapping dance???

I had to watch this twice in order to blog it effectively. I am going to cry in the shower now

Human Clock

2007-04-12T16:09:00.001-07:00

This site is very cool - a live clock which tells the time with user-submitted clock photos. Continually pulling new sets of photos, and coordinating with your computer's clock, Craig Giffen's site is a very cool digital art project.

Here are some of the best from a half hour period.

7:57 - San Francisco CA
7:59 - Avon Beach, England
8:01 - Marhamchurch, UK
8:08 - Waukesha, Wisonsin
8:20 - Pleasant Hill CA
8:26 - On Clinton Street, Portland OR

And check out this awesome hometown contribution - from Maple Ridge, BC.

...and by 8:07 Fluffy was licking the electrical socket again, yearning for it all to stop

Amazing Futurama Quotes

2007-04-12T15:38:00.000-07:00

I'm bored. Futurama rules.

If you're not yet a fan, perhaps a brief break for funny quotes will cure both my insomnia and your extreme ignorance.

Nibblonian: You are the last hope of the universe.

Fry: So I really am important? How I feel when I'm drunk is correct?

Nibblonian: Yes - except the Dave Matthews Band doesn't rock.

Professor Hubert Farnsworth: Oh, dear, I should have shown him "Electrogonorrhea: the noisy killer" instead.

Fry: All right. It's Saturday night, I have no date, a two-liter bottle of Shasta and my all-Rush mix-tape... Let's rock.

Amy Wong: You just have to give guys a chance. Sometimes you meet a guy and think he's a pig, but then later on you realize he actually has a really good body.

Bender: Shut up and pay attention to me, Bender! Look, I love life and it's pleasures as much as anyone here, except perhaps you, Hedonism Bot. But we need to be shut off! Especially you, Hedonism Bot.

Hedonism Bot: I apologize for nothing!

Leela: Bees communicate by dancing.
Fry: Just like my parents! Oh wait, that was hitting.

[Fry is in a Captain Pike-style life-support machine]
Captain Zapp Brannigan: Do you understand the charges?
Kif Kroker: One beep for yes, two beeps for no.
[Fry beeps once]
Captain Zapp Brannigan: Yes, so noted. Do you plead guilty?
[Fry beeps twice]
Captain Zapp Brannigan: Double yes. Guilty.

That's not why people watch TV. Clever things make people feel stupid and unexpected things make them feel scared."

God: Bender, being God isn't easy. If you do too much, people get dependent on you. And if you do nothing, they lose hope. You have to use a light touch, like a safecracker or a pickpocket.

Bender: Or a guy who burns down a bar for the insurance money.

God: Yes, if he makes it look like an electrical thing.

Bender: Come on, universe, you big, mostly empty wuss! Give me all the juice you got!

Whenever you're in Cody, Wyoming, just ask for Wild Bob

2007-04-12T10:35:00.000-07:00

RIP Kurt Vonnegut. A great writer; a great thinker; a great humanist; a great man.

Chicago Robot Attack!

2007-04-09T15:08:00.000-07:00

The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago is a fantastic storehouse of all kinds of awesome.

But let's skip the handshakes and get right to the robot exhibit!

Robots Like Us is a fantastic collection of twentieth century toy robots, mainly retrofuturistic ones from Japan in the 1960's!

Way more amazing photos in my album. I don't know why it's okay to take photographs in museums but not galleries, but hey - don't mind if I do!

Yes. Yes. Yes. Dancing Robot Baby Love.

2007-04-09T14:41:00.000-07:00

I'll post more on this amazing robot, designed for non-verbal interaction and play with infants and children, later.

In the meantime... I can't stop watching this incredible, wonderful video:

Alanis humps Fergie...

2007-04-07T00:25:00.000-07:00

First of all: on this post's title. Ewwwwww and sorry. I couldn't resist.

So who knew I would be writing a pro-Alanis post?

Yes, this is probably one of the twenty-seven harbingers of coming apocalypse, but seriously - can you tell me her parody of The Black Eyed Peas insipid and asinine My Humps song isn't totally amazing?

I think I just forgave her for this song.

EDIT: There is also (thanks Nikki!) a great Peaches cover of this song, called My Dumps that she was performing long before Alanis did this version. That last one is live footage from a burlesque performance for SXSW, and so it's definitely a nsfw kind of link. In an even more meta kind of move, Peaches recently did an Alanis-style cover of My Dumps, which really isn't all that funny.

Nintendo Power!

2007-04-06T23:13:00.000-07:00

Okay, there's so much awesome Super Mario stuff happening right now that I might as well start punching bricks and waiting for the coins to come out.
Let's start with the games:

1. Super Paper Mario for the Wii comes out THIS WEEK!

Paper Mario is an incredible series - Paper Mario - Thousand Year Door for the GameCube was the best Mario game since Super Mario World.

So can the build for the wii be anything but awesome? If you answered yes - come over here and say that. I will throw a turtle at you.

Next week's voicemail message: I'm sorry, but The Beckstar can't come to the phone this month. She's too busy smoking weed and playing Paper Mario in her underwear. If this is the Medical Supply centre calling, yes I do still need that tensor bandage in size: thumb.

2. The trailer just launched for Super Mario Galaxy!!!

The Game Developers Conference happened about a month ago, so yes, I know I'm a bit slow to the game, but daaaamn.

As usual, Nintendo stole the show and showed those platforms which will not be named the real meaning of gigaflop.

Super Mario in outer space. You know, it's a good thing I adore nerds, or I'd never have sex again.

3. Shigeru Miyamoto did his first GDC keynote speech in 8 years.

Okay, so Shigeru Miyamoto is, straight up, a king among men.

Haven't heard of him? Well, this legend created what I consider the definitive A-List of video game heroes: Mario. Zelda. Donkey Kong. He's designed pretty much every game featuring these characters, as well as tons more. He's been a creative leader on basically every system/console Nintendo has put out.

If you don't know - now you know.

This man is seriously my hero. Below is the first of nine components of his fascinating keynote address at the Game Developer's Conference. Gamers - welcome to your post-graduate school.

My favourite line: "Do they have cats in Guatemala?" - that one's in part 2.

4. Koji Kondo tickles ivories

Okay, so this isn't quite as mind-altering as the last three, but Koji Kondo has basically scored all the games that Miyamoto has created, and you've got to give some respect to the man responsible for probably the most ubiquitous video game soundtrack ever.

What human born after 1970 can't hum the entire Mario theme at the drop of a wrench?

He performed a bunch of these songs at GDC, and the performance is worth watching just to see the master in action.

Midi music has never sounded so beautiful.

And besides, if it wasn't for Kondo, we wouldn't have this remarkable moment:

This guy is totally playing at my unlikely fictional future wedding

On physics and elephants...

2007-03-29T09:46:00.000-07:00

We've all been there. Taking an exam or test, and running into a question that we just had no intelligent answer for.

I used to be upfront about it, and reflect my ignorance with a funny fake answer. And I'm clearly not the only one.

This is from a series entitled They Didn't Study, a collection of ridiculous answers submitted for tests.

Okay, who's going to tell this kid he doesn't deserve full marks?

This kid is either an unrecognized genius or an undiagnosed psychotic. Or he'll make a million dollars in Hollywood.

More elegant and interesting than the actual answer.

Index Card Magic!

2007-03-27T13:39:00.001-07:00

Jessica Hagy is a writer out of Columbus, Ohio, who basically blew my mind with her amazing Venn diagramed social critiques, which she does daily on her indexed blog.

I think it's probably better to let the images speak for themselves, so with no further ado...

This last one is of such epic mind-bending proportions that I pretty much started a "Marry Me Jessica Hagy" campaign the moment I read it.

R. Kelly wants you to Double Up!

2007-03-23T19:14:00.000-07:00

Best scene here? The last one, where he is crowned.

Oh, R. Kelly. Why must you be so very enigmatic and ghettofabulous?

This has been posted several times as a MySpace bulletin (yes, R. Kelly is one of my 79 dearest friends), always asking people to call him at 'The Chocolate Factory'.

Reason 9162 that he is the greatest creature in the world of entertainment.

And yes, dear listeners, I do plan to call him.

I will adopt the tobacco-voice of Selma Bouvier and the accent of a pregnant Southern teen. I will ask him to come take a tour of my Chocolate Factory. Then I will pause and say 'By which I mean my lady part'. Then I will again pause and say 'By which I mean my cooter'.

I will spend every single long distance minute of my calling plan on him. Such is the depth of my love.

Addendum: Oh, so so awesome. They have the calls actually playable from his myspace page. I am currently losing my mind. I will try to audio capture them and share them with you all.

Federally Mandated Beckstar Photo Break

2007-03-22T23:36:00.000-07:00

Today's episode will be particularly fruitful, as I haven't been posting photos regularly.

So without further ado...

Erin and Dale got married!

More fun at the ErinDale wedding.

Damn I'm a beautiful bride. This one from the out of control stagette.

A week later? It's the inestimable Blondicorn (Sam)'s birthday!

And we developed the power to astrally project.

An art party occurred. Randy (artist) is on right. His stuff is really good.

Springtiiime... and the living is easy.

My brother got grills. He's the coolest. If you don't know, now you know.

My good friend Kermit rules. Here he is stuffed to the grills with my sushi pillows.

Koreagraphy

2007-03-22T23:33:00.000-07:00

The song? Extremely forgettable.
The video? Well played Faithless, well played.

If you like hundreds of matching Korean acrobats dancing to techno interspersed with communist imagery, you will love this.

If you don't... seriously, do I even have to finish that sentence?

Random Faux-German Amazingness

2007-03-22T23:29:00.000-07:00

Seriously though... wow.

Rube Goldberg meets Nintendo

2007-03-22T23:28:00.000-07:00

If you love something set it free...

2007-03-13T18:28:00.000-07:00

...if it returns its yours forever, if not it was never yours to begin with.

So the blog and I have been on a bit of a break. Mainly for reasons entirely logistic. Check it:

1. I moved!

And just hooked up the internet.

Lots of room for jumping-related fun!

Marina checks out the digs

Ladies and gentlemen, my bed. Brought to you by Clinton McDougall, master craftsman.

Obviously drunken good times are the perfect way to break in a new pad.

2. Busy at work!

Which means obviously there's no way I'd be blogging from work.

I should probably have posted a notice, but I didn't want to start one of those moon-landing-type-situations where everyone leaves work simultaneously to watch a major world event on the day I re-post.

So I'm back, blog. I guess that makes it forever. And I missed you. So come here and kiss me. Seriously . Come here. I fucking love you Dahling!

Donatella Versace never looked so lovely!

Teaching the machine...

2007-03-13T18:24:00.000-07:00

I can't think of any better way to explain Web 2.0 than this video. Made by Michael Wesch, Associate Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State, it is a fantastic piece.

Is it me... or did it just get ugly in here?

2007-02-22T12:15:00.000-08:00

My dear readers, sitting sweaty and pasty at your computer monitors, may be noticing a distinct lack of sparkly rainbow delight, and, in its place, a pile of whiteness matched only by your sun-starved torso a site that, although reminiscent of the old Beckstar, lacks the tight layout and easy navigation that it used to.

I know - it's gross. But I finally saw this site on IE last night, and not only was it ugly, as people had reported, but it was a completely unreadable mess.

I'd rather have things look boring than have you miss one moment of action in The Beckstar's exciting and magical life.

I'll be fixin' er up over the next couple of days - promise.

The sexiest thing I saw on the internet today...

2007-02-19T23:22:00.000-08:00

Atari to Beckstar: Honey, you wouldn't know what to do with me if you had me. Un huh!

Beckstar to Atari: Drooooooooool. Attempt to touch joysticks.

Wolf Man! Cai Guo-Qiang lays down some wicked art.

2007-02-19T22:24:00.000-08:00

I love discovering artists I didn't know before, or, frankly were too ignorant to know about and thus attend the show they did in my city six years ago cough-cough. In this particular case, it took the madhouse that is MySpace to find this stuff.

How great is this piece in particular - done with 99 replicas of wolves, made from painted sheepskins?

I got 99 problems but a bitch ain't one. Unless you mean these 99 wolf bitches up in here!

Daaaamn. There's so much commentary about 'the rat race' in here, he should just have hung up a Dilbert cartoon.

Aw shit guys, sorry we're late. I heard this group leap was going to be off the hook! Wait... what the?

Cai Guo-Qiang is a Chinese artist who has been working for decades, making a whole lot of awesome.

He does much of his work in gunpowder, which is cool for two reasons:

1. Both a symbol of man's violent tendencies, and, as one of the Four Great Inventions of Ancient China, a cultural symbol, gunpowder adds layers of meaning to his pieces.

2. EXPLOSIONS RULE!

Check this one, where an unsuspecting viewer's random step triggers an explosion in the gigantic circuit board.

This piece is called I am the Y2K bug.

Cute! He made a cloud!

Or these, part of a series called Inopportune, and executed in two seperate shows:

Inopportune: Stage One, where cars are pierced with tubes of light.

Toured in 2004. Kit from Knight Rider sent to secret underground base... just in case.

and Inopportune: Stage Two, where tigers are pierced with arrows.

Toured in 2006. Tony the Tiger also sent to secret underground base... hilarity ensues.

Not to nitpick, but it must be said: Cai Guo-Qiang's website is kind of crappy. Visually it's fine, but from a user-interaction perspective, the main nav system is pretty much blind, jumpy and impossible to navigate intelligently.

There are a couple ways around the site, thank goodness, but I constantly find myself amazed at how many sites are designed without proper thought to repeat visitors, wayfinding systems and content accessibility.

[-sound of wrestling-] "Get away you nerd!" "Never!! People need to know!!!!" [-more wrestling-] "Seriously! Urgh-Ow! [loud-THUNK-]

Three. Point. One. Four. One. Five. Nine. Two. Six. Five...

2007-02-18T15:48:00.000-08:00

Ooookay, so could this be any more awesome? A music video about the number pi, with a singing robot, done in the style of a PBS kids show and dropping the amazing line: '514 was the area code / Quebec, Canada my winter abode'.

What's the name of that emotion again? The one where, upon realizing other people think exactly the same way you do, you're torn between traumatic identity crisis and jubillant excitement?

Extra nerdy bonuses: 1. The second verse weaves the first nine digits of pi forwards and backwards; 2. This song is as close to pi minutes in length - 3 minutes 14 seconds... although actually pi minutes would be more like 3 min. 8 sec.

Why, oh why, are all things nerdcore so amazing?

Valentine's Day 2007...

2007-02-16T14:34:00.000-08:00

More details, and more funny, to follow...

I'll just leave these ambiguous and odd photos for now.

So I just "turn the page"?

2007-02-16T10:45:00.000-08:00

This is a great send-up of ludditry. Enjoy!

Oh YKK zipper ads, how do I hate thee...

2007-02-13T13:32:00.000-08:00

Let me count the ways:

1. Fashionable by nature? Did the agency phone that one in or what? Talk about thinking up a tagline while driving to the meeting.

2. Spiders. Gross.

3. Conceptually, what the hell does this have to do with the product? What does it even say? IT DOESN'T COMPUTE!

4. Spiders. My personal nemeses.

Gee, I can't imagine how this image would be alarming to users of this product

Beautiful typography - with candles!

2007-02-08T13:50:00.000-08:00

Most people will just find this beautiful and lovely.

Designers and typophiles will find it especially so. I don't love the 'e' at the end, but the ligature is nice and, well... it's type with light. What more do you want people!?!

Temporary Technical Alert - hideous ugliness!

2007-02-07T23:41:00.000-08:00

This blog looks ugly on Internet Explorer for PC, and possibly other browsers.

This is because of stupid New Blogger quirkiness.

I will be debugging soon.

I would complain more, but... off to strip search the code! Rubber glove on - SNAP! Let's get in there!

In the meantime - enjoy this brief moment of musical delight, courtesy of my great, musical, father.

Pretty, pretty macs - just sit back and watch the video. Yes, Justin Long, I know you could handle New Blogger. Just lay off okay! I'm a cross-platform kind of girl! I think you should leave!

Happy birthday dear blog... *and an apology to my readers...

2007-02-05T00:00:00.000-08:00

HOLY CRAP FRIENDS!!! THE BECKSTAR HAS OFFICIALLY BEEN BLOGGING FOR A YEAR!!!!

Artist's depiction of the Beckstar and her loyal fan base

Wow. The memories...

... let's think back to the highlights, lowlights, and greatest moments that led you, my lonely and hapless readers to your current point of desperate obsession with The Beckstar and her Magical Republic of Unquenchability.

Speaking of which...

A MEA CULPA

So Blogger's been riding my jock for like three months now to switch to new, Google-run Blogger. Those bitches.

Last night they put The Beckstar in a headlock and forced me to do it. It was an ugly scene, dear readers, but The Beckstar finally consented and will not be pressing charges.

Moving on, upon my first login, New Blogger showed me the many, many comments that were sitting, awaiting approval. I forgot I had changed the settings to require that.

The vast majority were for cheap Cialis, but some were from you! Dear readers, desperate to suckle at the teat of fame that is The Beckstar, I shant let you down again!

So, they're all posted, the comments are now good to go. It won't happen again, I assure you. The Republic's legal team is far too inept for me to break promises.

One love! Stay tuned for more liberally applied disco sparkles.

I think it all might be going to my head! The Metro write-ups! The street-cred! The free designer handbags! Someone stage an intervention! This is not a cry for help! This is the real thing!

Dancing is dreaming with your feet...

2007-02-04T23:53:00.000-08:00

Dance is the world's most famous metaphor. You know, that's probably true. And it's oldest.

Okay, so this is a little bit Chariots of Fire: Electric Boogaloo, but seriously - can anyone say they haven't had a religious experience on a dance floor or two in their lives?

An inspirational moment...

2007-02-04T21:13:00.000-08:00

Because seriously - if these guys can do... going out in public wearing really bad homemade Star Wars costumes, you can obviously do whatever it is is you secretly dream about.

Just look at the helmet on the right. What kind of person makes this? My suspicion: a blind woman with delusions of artistic competence, obsessed with her ballad-singing stalker.

"a pic of Orvie and friend (who appears to be a bear with a lipstick belt!)"
- Room of Doom website, source for all these amazing photos.

I want to meet this kid!

Room of Doom , from their website:

StarWarsHelmets.com features the VERY BEST helmets and costumes that have ever been created - from all over the World. However where there is Light, there is Dark. Wherever there is Beauty............
..There is sheer unadulterated pain, flatulence and ugliness!!!

Blog be Ballin!

2007-02-01T22:34:00.000-08:00

You know, the blog's first birthday on Monday, and I am just beaming with maternal pride. It's no longer breastfeeding although its sleep cycle is still erratic, it weighs a healthy 202 posts, and it is growing robustly.

How can a glowing mommy not gaze on her rosy-cheeked cherub and reminisce about how far we've come? And what better proof than the following email, which I received this morning?

Dear blog author:

We recently came across your site, beccatronic.blogspot.com , while searching for bloggers who blog about Lamborghini issues.

A small group of us have started a new site called Lamborghini Bloggers . Our intent is to bring Lamborghini bloggers closer together, and make a positive contribution to the Internet community.

Would you be interested in joining Lamborghini Bloggers ? Please take a few minutes to have a look at what we are trying to do, and if you are interested, there is a sign up page to get the ball rolling. We would greatly appreciate your support in this endeavour.

If you do not feel that your blog would be a good fit for Lamborghini Bloggers , but enjoy this subject area, come visit us and one of our member bloggers. You can also check our FAQ Section to learn more about Lamborghini Bloggers .

We look forward to hearing from you and seeing you on Lamborghini Bloggers.

Their site is down at the moment, but I'm sure it's a compendium of hot wheels.

TRAGIC NEWS UPDATE!!! There is no lamborghini-bloggers.com. I repeat - there is no lamborghini bloggging group! The "site" is live and it is a spam blog used to exploit Google Adsense and gullible Lamborghini afficionados. Won't someone please think about the Lamborghini people for once?!?

Skittles goes to the Weird Side...

2007-01-31T13:51:00.000-08:00

Holy crap - amazing and weird! I like it. A lot.

Uh...mazing.

I want one of those singing rabbits daddy! I want it NOOOOOWWWW!!!!

Hee hee! He pulls him out of a bag!

These are all TBWA/Chiat/Day productions. And, like... woah.

Canada is the new Estonia...

2007-01-31T10:46:00.000-08:00

So you know how people are always saying that beef is the new chicken, white bras are the new tank tops and yeast infections are the new irritable bowel syndrome?

Yup, it's an annoying little phrasing that is so overused it's pretty much meaningless, but which we're all guilty of using once or twice.

You've got to love Leisure Art's contribution to The Diagram magazine, where they mapped every occurance of the phrase in various sources over the course of 2005. The resulting diagram is funny, nostalgic, and a good illustration of how an idiom reaches critical mass and becomes meaningless (see 'bling' circa 2003).

Check the full diagram here

My personal favourites? Space travel is the new HIV; cheese is the new morphine; and thug shooting is the new lovemaking.

Clearly.

Julie Dermansky: Adventures in Natural History Museums..

2007-01-31T00:05:00.000-08:00

One thing that makes photography such an interesting medium is that it documents and captures something real. Whether the subject is found accidentally or constructed artifically (see the amazing Cindy Sherman), it happened.

So how great is it to find a photographer who is not only making beautiful images, but is also documenting something important and fascinating?

Enter Julie Dermansky, an artist across a range of media, but best by far at photography. Some of her photo sets interest me more than others, but just take a moment to enjoy my personal favourite - Natural History Museums around the World.

Clockwise from top left:
Elephant Fetus - Kruger National Park's Elephant Museum In South Africa
Ethiopian Hyena: Natural History Museum in Addis Ababa
Giant Squid: Capetown's natural history museum
Desert Landscape: Former display in Las Vegas' Natural History Museum
Bird with nut in mouth: Pretoria's Transval Museum
Ape: Capetown’s NH Museum

Not impressed? Well how about when she explored the storage rooms at the Everhart Museum of Science and Art in Scranton PA , and found a muthafucking BOX OF WEASELS. Yes, you heard that right - A BOX OF WEASELS PEOPLE. Have mercy.

Holy crap! It's a box of weasels! Insert joke about lawyers at a baseball game here.

Or how about you get ready for your head to blow off, when you see what she found in Pretoria, South Africa. Only maybe the greatest piece of taxidermy ever performed. The creativity! The artist's touch! Manifique!

Leopard, Transval Museum. Eating the... eyes... of a... seriously though, the eyes?!?

She has a lot of great stuff on her site, including a series called Mankind’s Monuments to Barbaric Act and Other Unusual Vacation Destinations, in which she visits and documents places like genocide museums in Rwanda and Apartheid museums in South Africa.

Amazing, amazing stuff.

Only funny to designers...

2007-01-30T15:20:00.000-08:00

Hey, it's a cartoon that will be lost on 95% of the general public, and hi-LARIOUS to nerds in the design/advertising/branding world.

Perfect!

Holy crap! It's like Dilbert got a job at DDB!

Lots more similar funny on skydeckcartoons.com, where Tom Fishburne cartoons about branding, business, parenting, and a million other things I'll deny being into if we meet at a party.

Instead, you'll meet my alter-ego Muffy McBeav, a nightclubbing euro-skank with a badger-like love of cocaine, tanning beds and Lamborghini Gallardos.

Circle Circle Dot Dot

2007-01-29T23:41:00.000-08:00

Jamie Kennedy and Stu Stone made this. I think Jamie Kennedy is played here by the African Legonian actor.

This is pretty random, but infectious and funny.

Gangsta lego guys? Obviously awesome!

It took me a second to figure out the title. Then I was all 'ohhhhhhhhh, I get it'.

Gold Pants Lullaby

2007-01-24T18:45:00.000-08:00

Leslie Hall, gem sweater collector and conceptual/media artist. Such goodness!

I can promise one thing:

when the day comes that I spawn mini-Beckstars to dominate the multiverse with their inestimable radness...

...this will be the song that lulls them to sleep every night.

I work mainly in kittens...

2007-01-23T23:18:00.000-08:00

I dare you. Watch these paper-cut-out-style animations of adorable kittens rocking out to classic hits, and deny that we're living in a wonderful age.

The kittens cover Emerge by Fischerspooner.

Chinchillas. DMX. Consider that this video, and the genus mammal, are likely the only links between these two creatures.

And the amazing continues - Joan Jett as played by a kitten. You know which song.

This is all the work of UK artist/experimenter Joel Veitch from rathergood.com. He also does commercial work [see below] much in the same vein, as well as some interesting experiments which can be seen on the site. He's also a member of the ska band 7 seconds of love. He also... what... can breathe underwater?

I'm not sure what they're selling... but I'll take three cases.

Let's Get Em. Let's Party.

2007-01-21T16:29:00.000-08:00

So so so amazing. Just enjoy it.

You've probably seen this, as it's been passed around like crazy, but if not... it rules!

Erin + Dale: Argyle Extravaganza!

2007-01-21T16:18:00.000-08:00

Saturday night saw us toasting Erin and Dale's engagement, an event which happened about a year ago, but which is obviously worth celebrating at any time!

Awww... such a lovely couple!

A small part of the infamous Argyle Gang, repping their pattern.

Eileen and Brandi share a laugh.

Eileen and Robin share a moment.

Here I am fearing Erin's alleged giant head.

Their wedding is going to be be even more fun, so... yay! Any event with a cupcake-pyramid cake is obviously tops.

How Friday Nights Get Out of Control Part III: Tickle Trunk!

2007-01-21T14:48:00.000-08:00

So... what can you say about the spontaneous costume party that occured later back at the townhouse?

So cute.

So debaucherous.

So weird.

So adorable.

So Nickelback Roadie.

And a shout-out to K-Dizzle, the man on a mission to make the blog, and someone who clearly earned the title of Party MVP. So fun to have him in town!

What other photo could round out the evening?

So disurbingly hot and yet so very wrong.

How Friday Nights Get Out of Control Part II: Chill Winston

2007-01-21T13:46:00.000-08:00

Watch closely now. The leather pants are stowed away tidily in their pant-cave BUT a large disco phallus and a dozen drunk friends have arrived. Witness the mayhem:

Bride-to-be Jelena wears disco phallus with luminescent pride.

For real though, WTF is up with this photo?

During this night, I found a camera setting that looks way better for clubs and night shots. Score!

KT and D getting their shine on.

KT and The Beckstar, roommates, friends, sister-wives.

Miss Moore (as her students, whom we ran into later, call her) and I work weekends as professional bangs models.

Brandon and Ken! Ninjas of obscure pop cultural knowledge!

Party MVP K-Dizzle, faced with the complicated situation of having a best friend's wife's tongue in his ear.