Their Odd Creations
chaoticutopia | March 11, 2007 Have you ever wondered if it is appropriate to wink at a west-coast squid? Or, perhaps, which of his tentacles is used for deep tissue massage? If you would like to know the answers to these questions, and more, but don't have time to slip through the looking glass and ask the Walrus (who likely wouldn't give an honest answer, anyways,) then this is the book for you. Animals of the Ocean, in Particular the Giant Squid is the latest installment in the How Book Series of the Haggis-on-Whey World of Unbelievable Brilliance, following such informative delights as Giraffes? Giraffes!
Dr. and Mr.…
chaoticutopia | March 3, 2007If you're a fan of puzzles or mystery games, or just happen to enjoy strange montages of Victorian clip art, check out my review of Mystery Case Files: Ravenhearst. I'm afraid it's been far too long since I've done a game review at CasualGameplay.com. Jay and his crew are well known for their reviews of quality games. I thought Ravenhearst was a wonderful addition. You can get most of my thoughts on the game in my review. There was one small bit that bothered me as a fan of science, but it was such a small detail, I let it slide. But, if you download the game and would like a bonus puzzle:…
chaoticutopia | February 26, 2007If you're looking for a late evening distraction,* or just didn't want the last weekend to end, why not unwind with a few casual games? Every year, Jay at CasualGaming.com hosts a flash game competition, drawing out some of the most talented puzzle designers in the business. The deadline for entries into the 2007 contest has passed, and the first games are starting to appear on the site.
All the games are free, and typically can be solved in one sitting. The theme this year is grow. There were no further specifications... so an entry could be about trees, adolescence, evolution, chia pets,…
chaoticutopia | February 23, 2007This might sound familiar: In Domain*, school officials created nonsensical conflicts by placing labels on science textbooks... but to whose benefit?
Note: (*) Domain is a fictional, "furry" world, created by Bill Holbrook for one of my favorite webcomics, Kevin and Kell.
chaoticutopia | January 26, 2007This guy is simply amazing. While my fractal art uses a computer to explore the fuzzy boundaries between a 2nd and 3rd dimension, Peter Callesen's art uses nothing more than standard paper--the very same sort you probably have sitting in your printer tray--and a little glue. From these humble beginnings come fantastic landscapes, like this waterfall:
Water Always Finds Its Way by Peter Callesen
A surreal treat is found at the bottom of the picture, where the paper waterfall spills out of its imaginary landscape onto the frame:
Many of Callesen's works disguise hidden treasures like this.…
chaoticutopia | January 10, 2007Here's a collection of odd things I've run across in the last week or so. A fireball from space here, maps of the future there, general chaos everywhere, and someone riding the waves... just go with the flow.
First, last week, the skies over our head were glowing in the darkest hour, just before dawn. A chunk of Russian spacecraft, an SL-4 rocket body plummeted to earth, flaring into a giant fireball before crashing into the middle of Wyoming. Fun stuff. My husband happened to be outside at the time, taking a break from his assembly of the daily news clips. Although our view to the north is…
chaoticutopia | November 3, 2006The other day, I jokingly suggested that a surplus of red tape might lead to human extinction. Leave it to a brewery to take such a threat seriously. Apparently, beer can generate large amounts of red tape, especially when shipped overseas. (One bottle of Heineken, for instance, requires at least 30 documents to enter the US.) In an effort to reduce the amount of paperwork involved with international shipping, Heineken has begun tracking its beer by satellite:
The Beer Living Lab pilot, designed by IBM and the University of Amsterdam, will see 20 beer containers shipped to Heineken's UK…
chaoticutopia | June 21, 2006Today, the sun is rising to its highest point over the northern hemisphere. It is the longest day of the year--the summer solstice. But do we notice? Outside of a glance at the calendar, marking the official start of summer, it's just another day. Did the residents of Rochester Creek notice the solstice 2000 years ago?
When they carved these elaborate images into the face of the rock, were they considering the passage of time and the rotation of seasons? Were they librarians, recording useful information, such as astronomical or biological details?
Or were they shamans, performing religious…
chaoticutopia | June 20, 2006The trail to the Rochester Creek panel winds through a timeless oasis. After traveling through miles of dry canyons and salt washes, it is easy to see why ancient artists were drawn to the spot. As the trail follows the path of least resistance, it drops into a small, lush valley, filled with shrubs and herbs. It is easy to imagine people here, thousands of years before, dropping juniper berries and rice grass seeds into hand-woven baskets, while others chipped away at the rock wall above.
While the residents of Rochester Creek may have been in contact with others who grew squash and maize,…
chaoticutopia | June 17, 2006Endless miles of canyon stretch across the landscape, cutting deeply through cake-like layers of red and gray stone--the San Rafael Swell. I've always felt this hint of anticipation while traveling west along I-70. As the road drops into Green River, Utah, there's a sign that reads: "NO SERVICES NEXT 110 MILES" That sign always seemed like a taunting dare. Are you willing to enter this rugged, barren land, void of your beloved "services"?
I'm not sure if it is the remoteness or the beauty of the Swell which calls me, or the mysteries that lie within, but I find myself returning, year after…
chaoticutopia | June 15, 2006I'd planned to spend the day discussing ancient rock art, but this isn't how I wanted to start. Earlier this month in Fruita, Colorado (located on the I-70 corridor on the western slope) a group of graduating high school seniors took a can of spray paint and marked their legacy on a couple of rocks outside of town. Kids will be kids, right? The trouble is, they weren't the first to leave a legacy on those rocks. Someone else had left their mark there, about a thousand years before.
Petroglyphs and pictograms, left by a people known collectively as the Fremont Culture, are scattered across…