OnelargeprawnCollegeHumour parodies a popular maker of ready-to-assemble furniture in their series of DIY manuals. In addition to the to Ikea beds, tables, and shelves, College Humour creates instructions for putting together some rather interesting products that we truly wish were real. Hit the jump to see the Ikea manuals for the DJILORIANN, LITSABBUR, TJARDIIS, and DINDASUR.
You may recall an earlier post on Watson (refresh your memory), IBM’s artificial intelligence system that is part of their DeepQA, a research project that aims to understand and answer questions that are asked in everyday natural language.
During a warm-up match shot in early January 2011, Watson competed against two of the all-time greats of the popular American quiz show, “Jeopardy!” Watson was pitted against Ken Jennings, who has won over USD 3,000,000 and Brad Rutter, the biggest all-time money earner on the show. At the end of the round, Watson came out the clear winner. Now the time for the IBM Challenge has come, and during the period from February 14th to the 16th Watson will officially face the two champions in two matches. The winner of the matches will pocket the USD 1,000,000 prize. Here is day one of the IBM Challenge where the show introduces Watson and takes a look at its innards and history before proceeding to the contest.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PSPvHcLnN0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtHlxzOXgYs
So, were you surprised at the results?
[via Aki Anastasiou on Twitter]
We live in an age of wonder where people are able to communicate with each other instantly. Using cell phones, computers, and gaming consoles, to name but a few. We have become so reliant upon these marvels, that to envision living life without them is down-right scary. It has integrated into our very fabric of existence, and it is funny to see how we have evolved with it.
I’m sure all of you, me included, have had a discussion along these very same lines at some point in the recent past. How would life have turned out differently without cell phones? I personally cannot imagine a life without mine. But it’s not just cell phones that shape the way we live; we depend on televisions, refrigerators, microwaves and coffeemakers (who can function without coffee these days?).
Let’s take a look at the comical aspect of how we as humans have evolved along with technology and where inevitably it might lead. Read more after the jump.
I used to have business cards until the austerity measures hit. But if I ever were to get them again, I’d certainly like designer Fernando Reza to design mine. In a similar vein to Mikko Vartio’s mock websites, Reza creates fantastic business cards for employees of fictional businesses from popular movies, TV series, and video games. There are business cards for the discerning guy selling Quentin Tarantino’s preferred brand of cigarettes, a memory retrieval expert from Massive Dynamic, and even one for a Dharma Initiative account exec, although I’d be worried about his job security.
See Reza’s “Day Jobs” series of business cards after the jump.
36-year-old cartoonist/illustrator Dave Perillo draws inspiration from the retro stylings from the 50s and 60s. From cartoons and comics to TV and film, Perillo’s pop art character designs are drawn with simple lines and flat colours. He goes under the name of Montygog on DeviantART, have a look at some of his work after the jump.
You may remember Pogo and his earlier creation Skynet Symphonic. He is back, and commissioned by Showtime, has created a fantastic music video for everyone’s favourite serial killer, Dexter. As is custom with Pogo, the piece is made up entirely of samples and footage from the show. Check out Pogo Does Dexter below.
[via The Awesomer]
In this clip, notorious U.K. grafitti artist Banksy makes an appearance in the hugely popular animated TV series, The Simpsons. For the opening title sequence for the third episode of the twenty-second (wow!) season, Banksy sprays his mark all over Springfield and it all ends with the couch gag that shows the audience what goes on behind-the-scenes to create and market The Simpsons. It’s controversial and dark, and altogether in typical Banksy style. Check it out below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AA8gEokOhU
If you find that the suits at FOX have pulled the video, try here – hopefully all the Spanish words will flummox them. And click here to read a Q&A that the ArtsBeat Blog had with an executive producer on the show.
[via Boing Boing | Wezzo (Twitter)]
As a tribute to George Lucas, illustrator Joseph Senior from New Zealand decided to combine his love of Star Wars with an insanely popular bobtail cat from Japan. It was a genius idea and has led to him creating more Hello Kitty crossovers with icons from TV, movies, comics, and video games. Have a look at some of his work after the jump.
On each Friday of 2010, illustrator Adam Sidwell creates a portrait of a baddie be they from TV, film, or video games. It’s part of his Bad Dudes project and by our reckoning he should have amassed an army of the pop culture’s evilest maafakas by the end of the year.
Have a look at some of Sidwell’s original portraits after the jump.
The A-Team may have come and gone in parts of the civilized world. The jibba jabba on Rotten Tomatoes rates Joe Carnahan’s big screen re-imagining/regurgitation at a mediocre 49%. South Africans still have to wait until August 20th to watch Hannibal, Face, B.A. and our local guy Sharlto Copley as the nutter Murdock. To pass away the time, I’m listening to an great compilation of A-Team theme tune remixes.
There are four tracks in the explosive A-Team Remixes package, one for each member of the team. The tracks were created by awesome people with equally awesome names like MSTRKRFT, Rye Rye, Dan the Automator, and Just Blaze. Have a listen to the compilation below.
The Murdock Mix is my favourite. Drop us a comment and let us know which one you liked the most.
[via MOSAIC]