Monthly Archives: December 2010

tripods

Posted on by March 8, 2011
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Polish illustrator and graphics designer Robert ‘TroC‘ Czarnyr (his website is a treasure trove for everybody seriously interested in 3D-visualization) has done two illustrations for H. G. Wells’ classic ‘The War of the Worlds’ (1898), which to my eye perfectly catch the atmosphere and ambience of the original text. You can judge for yourself, as the high resolution versions at Renderosity are accompanied with the matching excerpts from the novel: Thunder Child attacking Martian tripod war machines [Hi-Res] and Martian tripod war machines attacking London [Hi-Res]. WELLS, HERBERT GEORGE. 1898. The War of the Worlds. London: William Heinemann. via entry … Continue reading →

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industrial tribal art

Posted on by July 14, 2011
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It is a common cliché that anthropologists are fascinated by masks, even obsessed sometimes. Hence it was high time to post something on masks in here. If the two above pictured specimen from Steve ‘Radio-Guy’ Erenberg‘s collection seem vaguely familiar to you, then read Steve’s fine article at ‘Collectors Weekly’ to hear about an astounding theory. About the origin of his collection Steve says: More than 30 years ago, my wife, Helene, and I started collecting. She loved tribal masks—African, Oceanic, Indonesian, etc.—while I focused on medical, scientific, and industrial artifacts.     I’ve spent my career as a creative … Continue reading →

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arms race

Posted on by November 4, 2011
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‘Arms Race’ is a steampunk short film by Nigel Clegg. It’s alternate hi/story is set in 1855, during a Crimean War (1853-1856) spiced up with steampunk machinery and gadgetry … for example, you will witness the charging of a not-so-light brigade. The behind-the-scenes & background of this micro-budget independent movie are really worthwhile, too. CLEGG, NIGEL. 2010. Arms Race [motion picture]. UK: It’s A Trap! via entry at brass goggles … Continue reading →

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vaporpunk

Posted on by February 23, 2012
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Beyond Victoriana offers an exclusive sneak peek into the steampunk-anthology ‘Vaporpunk,’ featuring stories from Brazil and Portugal, which of course are all in Portuguese. But the sneak-peek teasers are in English, together with their Portuguese originals. If you need more secondary information—Fabio Fernandes has written a review of ‘Vaporpunk’ (in English). Obviously there is not only Latin-American cyberpunk (Toledano Redondo 2005), but steampunk, too.     The blog Beyond Victoriana, where the excerpts have been published, in itself is interesting for literature-buffs and anthropologists alike, and perfect for anthropologists interested in literature: Beyond Victoriana is a blog about multicultural steampunk … Continue reading →

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elements

Posted on by March 1, 2011
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This site supports a course and a textbook that guide students through the construction of a modern, full-scale computer system (hardware and software) from first principles. In the process, the students practice many major computer science (CS) abstractions studied in typical CS courses and make them concrete through 12 guided implementation projects. The lectures, book chapters and projects are highly modular and one can pursue subsets of them in any order and scope. SCHOCKEN, SHIMON AND NOAM NISAN. 2005. The elements of computing systems: Building a modern computer from first principles. Cambridge: MIT Press. … Continue reading →

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turbo

Posted on by March 1, 2011
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TURBO is a high adrenaline short film in the tradition of the Karate Kid and Tron. It tells the story of Hugo Park (Justin Chon, Twilight) a troubled youth whose only outlet for angst is a 4D fighting videogame called “Super Turbo Arena”. When Pharaoh King (Jocko Sims, Crash the Series), the Michael Jordan of cyber-sports, announces a tournament to determine who will join his pro-team, Hugo’s sets his eyes on the prize. But, Hugo isn’t the only gamer who wants fame and glory. If Hugo wants to win he’s going to have to beat Shamus (David Lehre, Epic Movie), … Continue reading →

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african roads

Posted on by November 4, 2011
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Motor roads, together with their rules and conventions for using them, are quite literally cultural constructions. In this sense, the road regime in large parts of the African continent is still under construction. Road-making and road use draw from North Atlantic models but observation of the African road makes clear that beyond the surface of adaptation to the North Atlantic model lie large spaces of creative reinterpretations and modifications …     For an anthropological research project on roads, transport and traffic in Africa, we offer a position for one doctoral student (E13/2), funded initially for two years by the … Continue reading →

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lego antikythera

Posted on by March 1, 2011
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Andrew Carol’s hobby is building complex machines using LEGO [note the design of the site, and where it’s hosted]. After recreating Charles Babbage‘s difference engine, he now did the Antikythera mechanism. Have a look behind the scenes and watch the video at vimeo (in HD there, too), or at YouTube. MARCHANT, JO. 2010. Mechanical inspiration. Nature 468: 496-498. initially via tweet @ jimeh—lsfcil! [btw, congrats for making it to the top 100 in just two months :-] … Continue reading →

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