Year: 2009

Categories
Useful/Useless Info

I’m 16,380,366 Minutes Old

So that makes me a millionaire in a sense. You’re probably one too – check out Paul Sadowski’s Birthday Calculator for fun facts about you and your birthday. I thought I’d share some of mine with you:

You were born on a Tuesday under the astrological sign Cancer. Your Life path number is 4.

I have no clue what life path number 4 actually means but according to numerology, I entered this plane with a natural genius for organizing, fixing, and making things work. I also have the ability to carry out orders with dedication and perseverance, and my will power is often mistaken for sheer stubbornness. I’m loyal and devoted, but can be dogmatic at times, and tend to get caught up in the daily routine of affairs, missing the big picture.

Your fortune cookie reads: It takes more than good memory to have good memories.

No wonder I have totally rubbish memories – I barely remember what happened last week.

Your Native American Zodiac sign is Woodpecker; your plant is Wild Rose.

A wild rose eh? Pretty to look at but prickly if you touch me the wrong way. Yup, that’s about right.

Your lucky day is Monday.

Bullshit. What good has ever come out of a Monday, with the exception being a winner on our Onelargeprawn giveaways? I can’t even enter those.

Your birthstone is Alexandrite.

Alexandrite can assist one in centering the self, reinforcing self-esteem, and augmenting ones ability to experience joy.

So, it’s like Viagra then? I’m happy with that. :yes:

Find out about your birthday at the Birthday Calculator.

[via Hongkiat on Twitter]

Categories
Flash Games

Play This: Spell My Finger

The weather is tragic here in Cape Town. When it’s cold and wet, the only thing that will cheer me up is playing with a well manicured finger. In Spell My Finger, you pilot a rocket-powered digit on a trippy neon grid, your mission being to pick up scattered letters to spell out words.

Use the arrow keys to steer the finger, and once your word is assembled, hit space to submit it. The longer the words, the better the score.

Get fingering at Adult Swim and let us know what you scored.

[via Buzzfeed]

Categories
Awesomeness Cautionary Tales Featured Movies

Aliens Among Us: District 9 Soars to Box Office Glory!

An aliens-among-us story by a first time director has topped the American box office, raking in US$37 million this past weekend!

Helmed by 29-year-old South African born director, Niell Blomkamp, District 9 has no big name stars – in fact, the lead actor (Sharlto Copley) had never acted in a movie before – but that didn’t prevent the film from outgrossing G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra by a whopping USD 14.5 million! District 9 is no slouch in the ratings either, scoring a solid 88% at Rotten Tomatoes.

We South Africans have to wait a bit longer to watch Wikus Van De Merwe and “prawn” friend Christopher Johnson taking the fight to the seedy MNU corporation. District 9 releases officially in local theatres on August 28th, but word is that Joburg will see a premiere screening this Wednesday, August 19th, at the Zone in Rosebank – full details are available at SterKinekor. Canal Walk in Cape Town might be hosting a premiere too, but no details have surfaced as yet. We’ll keep you posted though.

[ Sources: 1 | 2 | 3 ]

BONUS: Vanity Fair had a chat with Sharlto Copley about working on District 9. Read the Q&A HERE.

Categories
Flash Games

Panic Stations! It’s The Great Flu Game!

In recent weeks we’ve come into contact with someone who knows someone who knows someone who has the swine flu. And now the pandemic has spread to the digital world. In an effort to raise more awareness, Dutch researchers and Ranj Serious Games have created The Great Flu, a video game where you play as a member for the fictitious World Pandemic Control Agency desperately trying to control the spread of a deadly virus.

“It is actually what is happening now, what is happening in the real world,” said Albert Osterhaus, head of virology at the Erasmus Medical Center, who designed “The Great Flu” game with colleagues.

Watch the intro video below.

Pick a strain (each colour has its own difficulty rating) and jump straight into the game. The display lets you see how many people are infected, keep tabs on your budget, navigate the world map (20 regions), and react to global events and messages. You have variety of tools available to fight an outbreak, but choosing the appropriate course isn’t necessarily the easiest. Your budget is limited too –  I spent my money with reckless abandon, and that had, um, fatal consequences.

Play the simulator at www.thegreatflu.com.

[via Kotaku]

Categories
Awesomeness Literature Weirdness

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

I can’t say I have ever read a Jane Austen novel, quite frankly if a book doesn’t have photo-pictures, it takes me an age to get through it. That being said, I am totally looking forward to reading Seth Grahame-Smith’s Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, a cannibalisation of the classic 1813 novel penned by Austen. Billed as 85% Austen’s original text and 15 percent brand-new blood and guts, “Zombies” tells of a love story in an alternate universe where the stanky undead roam the English countryside.

Grahame-Smith has this to say on how the original text of the novel was well-suited for use as a zombie horror story:

You have this fiercely independent heroine, you have this dashing heroic gentleman, you have a militia camped out for seemingly no reason whatsoever nearby, and people are always walking here and there and taking carriage rides here and there,” he said. “It was just ripe for gore and senseless violence. From my perspective anyway.

Published earlier this year by Quirk Books, Zombies has already reached bestseller status with 750,000 copies in print. And it seems a feature film will be on its away, after undisclosed major film company purchased the rights earlier this year.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies can easily be imported through your local online retailer. Prices range from R109 to R139, allowing 10-15 days delivery time.

[via LA Times]

BONUS: Riding the wave of mutant offshoots, next month will see Quirk Books releasing Ben H. Winters’ Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters which adds giant lobsters and enraged octopi to another Austen love story. See the book trailer below.

Categories
Competitions Site Announcements

Happy Monday 6: The TOFFIE T-shirt Winners!

Our TOFFIE giveaway has just end and we’re hoping to make Monday a little happier for four lucky people. To stand a chance of winning a TOFFIE t-shirt, we asked you to name one of the Musica stores that stock the TOFFIE range, and we accepted any of the answers available on the The President’s Facebook group.

Enough with the foreplay though, the Randomizer has done its thing and spat out the winners. Could you be one of them? Find out after the jump.

Continue reading “Happy Monday 6: The TOFFIE T-shirt Winners!”

Categories
Arty Eating and Drinking Featured

Shake and Bake: Onelargeprawn Makes a Cake

Shake n’ Bake mix is very convenient for students, amateurs, and harassed soccer moms. It’s usually our M.O. too, but today, Team Onelargeprawn got adventurous on our own  awesome asses, and  decided to make a cake from scratch. And it turned out to be a great looking and delicious piece of confectionery. See the story below.

Using a classic all-in-one sponge cake recipe from domestic goddess dinosaur Delia Smith, Lucy Furr and I set about mixing our ingredients together, poured them into the pans, and after 30 minutes, two cakes emerged from the oven. They looked bland, much like my underwear collection. But all was not lost…

Next up, the icing – butter, icing sugar, a splash of milk, and “crimson red” food colouring. Not exactly the fiery red I was hoping for, but the result was pretty cool.

Breaking free of my kitchen assistant shackles, I decided to ice the cake. It went surprising well, my palette knife blurring as I did my thing.

Finally, the “cherry on top” – we stuck on a Bull Terrier stencil I made several years ago, and sifted icing sugar over the top. I’m pretty pleased with our effort, so pleased I just had to blog about it ;-)

Categories
Arty Awesomeness Cartoons & Comics Movies

LEAP: Travelling Between Worlds

LEAP is a short film by Dan Gaud about a man who can travel between two parallel worlds, and the consequences of his actions. Gaud did pretty much everything on the project – writing, storyboarding, shooting, editing, color correction, and all the visual effects. The only thing he wasn’t responsible for was the sound and music.

He shot the film in two days with a RED One camera, which incidentally was the same type of camera used to film Neil Blomkamp’s film District 9. It took Gaud a year to do all the visual effects, and he has just released a mysterious, compelling teaser. See it below or watch it in high quality at YouTube.

The full 6-minute short should be available next month. Gaud is planning to take his creation to film festivals, hoping for investors to turn it into a full-length feature film.

[via io9]

Categories
Awesomeness Entertainment Useful/Useless Info Video Clips

Google’s Opt Out – Parody Video

Aah yes, The Onion. ONN never fails to make me chuckle, and this video is no exception.

Google has offered internet users the opportunity to “Opt Out” of their services, and live in completely privacy. In order to do so, however, you need to move to a remote village and your home will be destroyed.

Categories
Animal Kingdom Arty

Enchanted Forest

Teodoru Badiu was born in Romania but now makes his living in Vienna, Austria as a freelance artist and creative media designer. His new vector designs are colourful and whimsical, showing otherworldly creatures and plants living together in perfect harmony. The Enchanted Forest totally made me smile. Take a look.

And see more of Badiu’s work at www.theodoru.com.

[via Paintalicious]