I’d like to apologize to our readers for having gone more than a year without an update in our award-winning series cataloging uses of the typeface Chicago in the wild.
I’m pleased to announce that you have to wait no further, because we’ve once again detected Chicago: this time in a television commercial for American Airlines. The word “DINER” on the window visible at the very beginning of the ad is set in this illustrious typeface.
Eight Women, Eight Responses, and One Dead Island Riptide Statue
Did you hear about the torso fiasco of Dead Island: Riptide? If not, consider yourself lucky, because it was just a total disaster reinforcing how poorly women are treated in video games and video game culture.
Patrick Klepek put together an article for Giant Bomb explaining the situation, but more importantly, he reached out to eight women in the video game industry for their thoughts on this whole mess. Elizabeth DeLoria probably had the best quote:
We’re angered and heartbroken when women are violently murdered (and that’s just the cases we hear about.) The news of Jill Meagher, as an example, was devastating to thousands that didn’t even know her. Yet at the same time, we’re sent these messages that sexualize, glamorize and exploit a woman’s decapitated torso. That use violent murder for the purpose of sex appeal and thus profit.
Highly recommended reading.
One of the longest standing open problems in the vast field of science has been the question of what exactly happens to a container of nuts in outer space. Chris Hadfield of the Canadian Space Agency finally has the answer for us all.
U.N. Security Council slams North Korea, expands sanctions
Richard Roth reporting for CNN:
The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted on Tuesday a resolution condemning North Korea’s recent rocket launch and expanding existing U.N. sanctions.
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In December, North Korea angered many in the international community by launching a long-range rocket that appeared to put a satellite in orbit, a breakthrough for the reclusive, nuclear-equipped state.
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Many nations, such as the United States and South Korea, considered the rocket launch to be a cover for testing ballistic missile technology. Pyongyang has insisted its aim was to place a scientific satellite in space “for peaceful purposes.”
Zbigniew Brzezinski, who was President Jimmy Carter’s National Security Advisor, pointed out on yesterday’s episode of PBS Newshour that this resolution and the sanctions are rather noteworthy in that they were passed unanimously by the U.N. Security Council. This means that both China and Russia were in favor of the moves, which are not at all givens when it comes to dealing with North Korea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nbRZB-xqvs
Here’s a demonstration video of the unreleased Virtual Boy game Niko-Chan Battle, a version of MIDI Maze / Faceball 2000.
Finding a prototype of the game had been one of the longstanding goals of the Virtual Boy scene, to the extent that a Virtual Boy scene can be said to exist. A mysterious Japanese person by the name “Mr. G” started posting screenshots and videos on the Planet Virtual Boy forums, and everyone there went bananas. “bigmak,” a member of the forums, later acquired the prototype for over $10,000 and released the ROM for free, which is pretty stupefying, but then these collectors are pretty serious about what they do.
‘Curious’ Cuban net cable has activated, researchers say
BBC News:
A high-speed fibre-optic cable connecting Cuba to the global internet appears to have finally been activated, monitoring experts have said.
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A joint project between the state-owned telecommunications companies of both Venezuela and Cuba, the Alternative Bolivariana para los Pueblos de nuestra America cable – known more succinctly as Alba-1 – had been hit by numerous delays before being completed in 2011.
But users were left in the dark as to why they were unable to get themselves hooked up to the connection, and were forced to make do with the high-latency connections provided by satellite.
But in the past week, much lower latencies – meaning faster connections – have been observed in the country, a strong indicator that the cable was now in use.
I love that we’re spying on Cuba by measuring request latencies.
I stumbled on this weird piece of music the other day. I still haven’t figured out what the heck is happening or what I think about it, but I’m posting it anyway.
“zizz” by Masao Honda, apparently released on MutantBabyLabel in 1998.
It is time for Cello Fortress, a very silly game by Joost van Dongen:
Cello Fortress is a unique combination of a game and a live music performance. A cellist defends a fortress by improvising on his cello. Melodies control the guns, dissonant notes activate the flamethrowers. Players from the audience use game controllers to steer their tanks and attack the fortress.
You can’t download or buy this game; you literally book the author for a performance at your art gallery or concert or whatever, and he brings the gear and plays the cello while attendees get to try to blow him up.
Video games are cool.
It turns out that the entire collection of reaction images on the internet was completely unnecessary and a waste of everyone’s time. Any situation bound by the laws of causality can be responded to by a frame from the 1945 Warner Bros. short “The Great Piggy Bank Robbery.” Classic Cartoons has a great big pile of them, all for you. Anything you’ll need.
Oh, I forgot to mention that every single frame in that post (click the link and go there damn it) comes from a passage that lasts only twelve seconds.
Photo by Ints Kalnins for Reuters, via NBC News’s Photoblog, of… what exactly is this?
Fredrik Hjelmquist shows the CataCoffin in Stockholm Jan. 18. Music and video equipment store owner Hjelmquist said his hi-fi coffin would entertain the dead and provide solace for grieving friends and relatives by making it possible for them to alter the deceased’s playlist online.
Oh, well of course.