artwork | xirdalium

wet nellie redux

Posted on Wednesday, 14th December 2022 by zephyrin_xirdalDecember 14, 2022

It is my conviction that all of us who ever saw the 1977 James Bond film “The spy who loved me” were fascinated by “Wet Nellie,” Bond’s (Roger Moore) Lotus Esprit S1 sportscar able to transform into a submarine. And subsequently we fantasized about Bond using the Lotus not only in the Mediterranean near Sardinia, but elsewhere, too – or, even better, owning it ourselves, exploring all kinds of waters. With these fantasies we not only strive to relive, but to augment what we felt when first watching the movie. And that is the point of the virtual photography pictures … Continue reading →

the congo dandies

Posted on Saturday, 29th July 2017 by zephyrin_xirdalMarch 17, 2019

Description by RT Documentaries: ““La Sape” is a unique movement based in Congo that unites fashion-conscious men who are ready to splurge money they don’t really have on designer clothes. Dressing in stark contrast with their surroundings, these elegant ambiance-makers become true local celebrities… but this fame comes at a price. The Republic of the Congo in Central Africa can’t boast of high standards of living. Yet, there are men here who are prepared to spend a fortune on designer suits. They call themselves “sapeurs” – members of the “La Sape” movement. “La Sape” comes from French and stands … Continue reading →

minecraft photo realism

Posted on Sunday, 30th November 2014 by zephyrin_xirdalNovember 30, 2014

Look at what you can make out of ‘Minecraft.’ Just look at it. Neither the idea nor the mods necessary are by me—I just went some lengths in order to get it to run with ‘Minecraft 1.8.1,’ the latest version. Actually two nights ago I was browsing videos of photorealistic mods for GTA4 when YouTube suggested AnonimusSVer’s video called ‘↑Photorealistic Minecraft! Shaders + HD Texture Pack + Physics Mod (GTX 760).’ It completely stunned me. Instantly I loved the absurd idea of a 3D-world completely made of cubes, but clad in photorealism, and the strange atmosphere it creates. … Continue reading →

quantification prescribing interaction

Posted on Tuesday, 11th November 2014 by zephyrin_xirdalNovember 11, 2014

Artist and composer ↑Ben[jamin] Grosser, currently teaching at the School of Art & Design, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, two days ago has published his fine article “↓What do metrics want? How quantification prescribes social interaction on Facebook.” Here’s the abstract: Abstract The Facebook interface is filled with numbers that count users’ friends, comments, and “likes.” By combining theories of agency in artworks and materials with a software studies analysis of quantifications in the Facebook interface, this paper examines how these metrics prescribe sociality within the site’s online social network. That prescription starts with the transformation of the human need … Continue reading →

there’s flight MH370

Posted on Friday, 4th April 2014 by zephyrin_xirdalApril 4, 2014

Here’s my idea of what happened to ↑Malaysia Airlines Flight 370—from top to bottom the panels are taken from pages 15, 16, and 20 respectively of ‘Flight 714’ (Hergé 1968 [1966-1968]). HERGÉ (aka REMI, GEORGES [PROSPER]). 1968 [1966-1968]. ↑Flight 714 [comic]. London: Methuen Publishing Limited. Originally published as ↓Vol 714 pour Sydney. Le Journal de Tintin 836-997. … Continue reading →

there’s a glow

Posted on Thursday, 3rd April 2014 by zephyrin_xirdalApril 3, 2014

This is the music video for the song ‘There’s a glow’ by the band NO, a Los Angeles-, respectively Echo-Park-based Indie sextet, which just published its debut album ‘El Prado.’ Filmmaker Johnny Agnew almost entirely filmed the video within the computer game ‘Grand Theft Auto V’ (GTA V | Rockstar North 2013)—my, my, how ↵machinima has developed since I first posted about it in 2005 or so. I especially do like the ironic, humoresque ambience and narrative of the video, very gamer-like. And as we are already at it: not that I’d have time for it, but where are … Continue reading →

watterson on comics

Posted on Monday, 21st October 2013 by zephyrin_xirdalOctober 21, 2013

[Jake Rossen:] Where do you think the comic strip fits in today’s culture? [↑Bill Watterson:] Personally, I like paper and ink better than glowing pixels, but to each his own. Obviously the role of comics is changing very fast. On the one hand, I don’t think comics have ever been more widely accepted or taken as seriously as they are now. On the other hand, the mass media is disintegrating, and audiences are atomizing. I suspect comics will have less widespread cultural impact and make a lot less money. I’m old enough to find all this unsettling, but the world … Continue reading →

futuristic user interfaces

Posted on Monday, 15th April 2013 by zephyrin_xirdalApril 14, 2013

An interface from ‘Prometheus’ (Scott 2012) The head-up display (↑HUD) of ‘The Terminator’ (Cameron 1984) VisualPunker has amassed a ↑nice collection [containing a lot of animated gifs] of futuristic and retrofuturistic interfaces and HUDs from anime, other motion pictures, and computer games. In this respect I fullheartedly recommend ‘↑Make it so: Interaction design lessons from science fiction‘ (Shedroff & Noessel 2012): Many designers enjoy the interfaces seen in science fiction films and television shows. Freed from the rigorous constraints of designing for real users, sci-fi production designers develop blue-sky interfaces that are inspiring, humorous, and even instructive. By carefully studying … Continue reading →

the daily levitation

Posted on Saturday, 6th April 2013 by zephyrin_xirdalApril 6, 2013

↑Natsumi Hayashi lives in Tokyo and mainly photographs levitating self-portraits, sometimes even in 3D—see her ↑how-to. Her blog ↑yowayowa camera woman diary almost exclusively consists of the mentioned levitating pictures (with some cats interspersed) which for quite some time appeared on a daily basis. To my eye the pictures have a poetic quality. The sheer mass of them, no comments whatsoever, the somewhat distanced facial expression—all adds to it. Natsumi had an ↑exhibition of her pictures in 2012, ↑another one took place in late March 2013 in the Spiral Garden. Also in 2012 her first photo book, naturally titled ‘Today’s … Continue reading →

damascus it is

Posted on Monday, 11th March 2013 by zephyrin_xirdalMarch 11, 2013

On 26 February 2013 TV2 of Denmark needed a backdrop for a report on the current conflict in Syria. As it seems someone at the station searched the web for a suitable picture and hit upon a beautiful vista of the old city of Damascus. But the picture shows Damascus as it most probably has looked during the time of the ↑third crusade (1189-1192). Above that the picture doesn’t depict anything from the empirical world, but is a still from the computer game ‘↵Assassin’s Creed‘ (Ubisoft Montreal 2007). Quite tell-tale is the wooden beam attached to the minarett at the … Continue reading →

xirdalium

Blog by Zephyrin Xirdal (since 2001)

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