Year: 2009

Categories
Arty

The Big Picture: China Prepares For Its 60th Anniversary

October 1st marks 60 years of communist rule in China, and the population has been hard at work preparing for the grand occasion that is “National Day”. Elaborate military parade and performances involving 200,000 people are to be expected in the city of Beijing, with 60 floats on show, and fireworks, lots of fireworks.

The Big Picture takes a look at the preparations and we sampled a few images.

The National Grand Theatre stands surrounded by water in central Beijing September 17, 2009. The theatre is lit by coloured lights in preparation to celebrate China’s National Day in October.

Chinese military vehicles are parked on Changan Ave. near Tiananmen Square during a rehearsal for a ceremony marking China’s 60th anniversary in Beijing, China, on Friday, Sept. 18, 2009.

Participants stand in form in a boulevard leading to Tiananmen Square in Beijing during a rehearsal for the 60th anniversary parade August 29, 2009.

Chinese hairdresser Huang Xin works on his latest art piece, a replica of The National museum of China, made from human hair, at his barbershop in Beijing September 9, 2009.

Policewomen on horseback stand guard in a line outside the World Expo Center, in China’s port city Dalian September 11, 2009.

See the full set (37 photos) at The Big Picture.

FYI: the sale of knives has been banned for October 1st, so take care not to lose it. You won’t find a replacement at the local hypermarket, not even Wal-Mart.

Update: And here is The Big Picture’s piece on the celebration itself.

Categories
Awesomeness Movies Video Clips

Raiders of the Lost Ark Circa 1951

YouTube user whosieyevan wondered what Steven Spielberg’s rollicking adventure flick, Raiders of the Lost Ark, would look like if it were made in the 1950s.

He did a little more than just ponder about it – mashing together footage from a variety of films, he created this most awesome “pre-make” that stars Charlton Heston as everyone’s favourite archaeologist. Take a look at the 1951 version of Raiders of the Lost Ark below.

See two more of whosieyevan’s pre-makes after the jump.

Continue reading “Raiders of the Lost Ark Circa 1951”
Categories
Cartoons & Comics Music

No Homer: 10 Rap Icons Get Simpson-ized

Urban art mag, Format Magazine, have teamed up with Moxy Creative to create “No Homer”, a quirky collection of hip hop icons who have been given the Simpson-ized makeover.

Thinking back, I’d have to thank hip hop for waking me up to the fascinating world that is thug-life swearing. I had the rudimentary words down pat, but Snoop’s lyrical realism in his ’93 album “Doggystyle” expanded my vocab to the next level. My mother claims I have never been the same since :eek:

See more after the jump.

Continue reading “No Homer: 10 Rap Icons Get Simpson-ized”
Categories
Competitions Site Announcements

The Mystery PS3 Prize Hamper Winner!

I usually do the winner announcements on Monday, but I’m awake earlier than usual today, and I even have pants on!

Our one-day only mysterious PS3 prize hamper giveaway has just ended and I must say it’s the most popular competition we have had on the blog thus far! Thanks for the utterly fantastic response – my inbox hasn’t been this full since I accidentally signed up for a “menopause anonymous” newsletter. But I digress…

To enter our draw, we simply asked to you send your details to our competition mail box. The Randomizer had its way with the entries and spat out a lucky winner. Could it be ? Find out after the jump ;-)

Continue reading “The Mystery PS3 Prize Hamper Winner!”
Categories
Flash Games

Scope: First Blood

Ever since I was a child I wanted to be a gangster doctor philatelist sniper. Yes, that’s it, a sniper. Why? Because that conveniently brings me to the first episode of a dark new series of sniper games.

In Scope: First Blood, you are tasked with causing a lot of “accidents” that will result in the death of your stick-figure targets. You will need skills, tactics, and an odd sense of humor to complete the game.

Play Scope: First Blood at Kongregate.

[via Slackerjack]

Categories
Awesomeness Science & Technology

The Milky Way Panorama

I’m told the universe is big and I’m not the centre of it. I thought it was really jealousy on the part of my detractors, but the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO) has proved them right. Bugger.

The ESO’s Gigagalaxy Zoom project has managed to condense the entire Milky Way Galaxy into one cosmically awesome image. Over 1200 raw photographs taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 120 hours of collective exposure resulted in a stunning 800-million-pixel composite panorama of the Milky Way, as seen from Earth. Serge Brunier and Frédéric Tapissier were the two French photographers that took the photos from the Atacama Desert in Chile and on La Palma, one of the Canary Islands.

This starscape is one of three high resolution images that make up the GigaGalaxy Zoom project. The other images are slated for release this month.

Take a drive through the Milk Way using GigaGalaxy Zoom.

[via Popular Science]

Categories
Competitions Site Announcements

Fantastic Friday: Win A Mystery PS3 Prize Hamper!

Note: This competition has ended. The winner will be announced soon.

Do you like pleasant surprises? Of course you do, and we here at Onelargeprawn take great pleasure in bringing you this one-day only promotion at the bargain basement price of…ZERO. You’re probably shocked, maybe awed, but I assure you it’s good and it’s true.

We’ve been on the blower with our friends at Megarom who are busy putting together a fantastic PS3 prize hamper. No word on the actual contents of the hamper, the secret is kept from us, but what we can tell you is it will consist of a few of the titles that have already been released this year PLUS some other great goodies! The only catch – this competition is valid for one day, today.

Entry into the competition couldn’t be simpler – send an email to win@onelargeprawn.co.za with the subject line “Megarom” and the following details:

  • Name
  • Daytime delivery address (no postal addresses)
  • Contact telephone number

Note some of the legal details:

  • Only one entry per person.
  • Open to South African residents only.
  • Competition will close at midnight, Friday, September 18th, 2009.
  • All titles in the hamper are white labels, and as such  these titles cannot be sold.
  • No employees or families of employees of Megarom Interactive or Onelargeprawn are eligible to win this prize.

Don’t delay, act now! Sheer gaming joy awaits one lucky person! :-D

A big shout out to Megarom for sponsoring the mystery hamper.

BONUS: If you want to increase your chances of winning, our friends at PS3Blog, el33tonline, and LazyGamer are running the same competition.

Categories
Arty Featured Music Video Clips

Beethoven Symphony No.5 (Graphical Score Animation)

Grumpy-looking Ludwig van Beethoven is one of the most acclaimed composers of all time, and YouTube user smalin has put the composer’s Symphony No. 5 through a Music Animation Machine MIDI file player to produce a video where you can actually see the music. The different colours in the graphical score represent the instruments that are playing. Have a look at the video below, not only is it fantastically done, it is also 7 minutes of pleasant listening.

See more bar-graph scores at Music Animation Machine.

[via The Presurfer]

Categories
Featured Movies Video Clips Weirdness

Three Frames

The idea behind Three Frames is to deconstruct a movie into a three-framed animated GIF that is on an endless loop. The results are bizarre, retro, and strangely cool.

It’s a basic concept, but if simple things amuse simple minds, then it’s got me hypnotized. Have a look at some of them below – a 1000 points to anyone who guesses which movies the animations are from.

See more at the Three Frames tumblelog. Note that some of the animations are NSFW and could induce seizures.

[via We Heart Stuff]

Categories
Mindlessness Video Clips

1980s Video Dating Montage Is Creepy, Supremely Cheesy

Life is a playground and these men need someone to play with. From muscle-bound dudes, to vikings, to men who are interested in all phases of data processing, these clips show how awesomely creepy/cheesy 80’s video dating really was.

[via A Welsh View]