Tilt Shift Photography

I was doing a bit of browsing around the net last night and came across the websites of a bunch of different type of artists...some photographers, a lot of installation artists, and some performance artists. As I was hopping around, I came across this photo from the exhibit Smallplanet. The photographer is Naoki Honjo.

I had never seen a photograph like this before - the tiny objects made the the photograph look as if it were straight out of a storybook! After doing a bit of research, I found out that Naoki Honjo (the photographer) uses a photography technique called Tilt-Shift Photography. This may be a technique very familiar to most photographers, but it was definitely new to me! If you're curious, here is how it works:

"A tilt-shift lens allows the photographer very exacting control over the
depth-of-field in an image, much more than any regular lens could provide.
Focus can be restricted to a single, narrow band, with everything else
rapidly blurring away. This distorts the appearance and makes the eye think
that distances are a lot smaller than they typically are. When applied to a
large scene like a city or a museum, everything appears miniature. " (Cheapshooter.com)

The picture that results from this technique is truly incredible. You must look below and check out some of the links to examples of this work. I promise that you won't be disappointed!

Vincent LaForet Slideshow
Olivo Barbieri ModelWorld
It's A Small World After All

Gamercising

For those of you who have ever played Dance Dance Revolution, you know that it can make you work up quite a sweat. I played DDR for the first time a few summers ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was fun to interact with a game that forced you to get up and move around! After playing it a few times, the thought crossed my mind that it might be possible to use DDR as exercise. What was the point in going to the gym for an hour when I could stay at home and do the same thing with a video game? Plus, I would become a totally advanced DDR player (like this guy!)...and that would be totally awesome. Of course, this plan fell through when I came to the realization that I do not own DDR or any type of gaming system in which I could play DDR. Bummer.

However...a few days ago I came across a post entitled "Gamercising" on BuzzFeed and I was super excited! Turns out that there is a whole community out there who is devoted to getting fit and losing weight through the use of video games. They use games such as DDR, the EyeToy, and Wii Sports to create an exercise plan. Some people have even lost up to 50 pounds! Nintendo's Wii is even coming out with a series entitled Wii Fit, which is specifically designed to help people get in shape.

I thought the whole idea of Gamercising was pretty cool. I have included a bunch of links and videos below that correspond to this subject. Please enjoy!!

The Better Way to Get In Shape
Wii Fitness: Electronic Yoga
Gamercising FAQ

Wii Fit Trailer

Winter Games

I was super excited yesterday to see my first snowfall of the winter season! As I was driving on the PA turnpike, I thought "Wow - snow is so beautiful!" I then began daydreaming about playing in the snow as a little girl, making snowmen, going sledding, and SNOW DAYS! ...and then I realized that I was driving and that maybe I should keep my eyes on the road!

Anyway, in honor of the beginning of snow season, I have posted Snow Line, a game from Miniclip for your enjoyment.



Check out some links to even more winter games below:

Best of the Best: QVC Mishaps

Since it's been a while since my last post, I wanted to make a big comeback with another installment of the Best of the Best series.

I have always been a big fan of the QVC network - I always know I can turn to that channel for some quality entertainment. I came across the following videos on YouTube a while back. I think they are quite funny and knew they would be great for this blog. Please enjoy!

Samurai Sword Screw-Up


Ladder Fall (not for the faint heart)


Digital Camera "Horse"

Wedgie Proof Underwear

Jared and Justin Serovich, 8 year old twin boys from Columbus, recently invented wedgie-proof underwear. The child geniuses call their invention the Rip Away 1000, the undergarment simply rips away. Bullies beware.

I am quite envious of Jared and Justin; the only invention I came up with at 8 years old was a plastic, life-sized hand that would be used to hang coffee mugs. You would sit this hand on your kitchen counter and would be able to hang up to 5 mugs at a time on the hand - one on each finger!! I thought it would be a big hit at Spencers.

Check out an article and video below for more information about the Rip Away 1000!! a video of the boys describing their invention below.

Twins Invent Wedgie-proof Underwear

Rip Away 1000

Games for Good Causes

A friend introduced me to the Jayisgames blog about a week ago. This blog highlights a bunch of fun and free internet games. As I was looking through his archives, I came across a game called Free Rice that I found very interesting. It is a simple game that asks you to identify the definitions of various words. For every definition you guess correctly, 10 grains of rice is donated to the United Nations to help end world hunger.

This got me thinking... I began to wonder about other games out there which are dedicated to some type of social change. I did a bit of searching and came across a few games that I find to be very interesting and devoted to a good cause. A lot of these games come from the website, Games for Change, which is entirely dedicated to these so called "serious" web games. Check below for a few of the games that really caught my eye.

WFP FoodForce
A game sponsored by the United Nation's World Food Programme which raises awareness about chronic hunger in the world.


Recycle City
A game sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency which promotes recycling!


I-95 Virtual Incident Management
The CATT lab at the University of Maryland is working with the I-95 Corridor Coalition to create a game that will train emergency personnel how to handle an accident situation on Interstate 95. Find out more about the project here and click the image below to download a demo of the game.

Best of the Best: Model Falls

Welcome to the first Best of the Best blog post! The Best of the Best series will come around every so often, highlighting the best of the best videos in one particular category.

I'd like to start off the series with a bang. These videos need no introduction - they are really quite brilliant. Please, enjoy.

AMATEUR MODEL SPILLS

HIGH HEELS SLIP UP

HAZARDOUS RUNWAYS

Stop Motion Videos

As I was doing a bit of net surfin' a few days ago, I stumbled across some stop motion movies on YouTube. After watching a few different pieces, I was blown away by the time and work that went into all of these videos. I have always marveled at folks like Tim Burton (Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride) and Steve Box (Wallace & Gromit) who make full length stop motion animation movies. Their work never ceases to amaze me.

As a tribute to this art (an art that I would never have the skill nor the patience to even attempt!), I am going to post a few of the stop motion videos I found. Enjoy!

DRUMS AND PIANO


HUMAN SKATEBOARD


PROCESS ENACTED (this one was made entirely out of 987 polaroid shots - no computer compositing was involved)

and my last is from the folks at Human Flipbook. They do some pretty neat stuff.

HUMAN FLIPBOOK

Classic TV Theme Songs

Was visiting some friends over the weekend and had a nice little chat about some of our favorite 90's TV shows. This conversation inevitably led to us trying to remember (and sing!) the theme songs of these shows. I did a little searching when I got on home and found a bunch of them on good ol' YouTube. They brought back some great memories of tight-rolled jeans, braces and teased bangs. Thought I would post a few of my faves on here - enjoy!

Also...a big thank you to Match for helping to design this site. Make sure you pop on over to his site and blog as well!

FULL HOUSE


STEP BY STEP


DINOSAURS


and last but not least...

FAMILY MATTERS

Hotel Chevalier

Wes Anderson is one of my favorite artists. He has directed and produced a lot of fantastic movies - I'm sure you are familiar with most of them...The Royal Tennenbaums, The Life Aquatic, and Rushmore to name a few. I had been eagerly awaiting his newest movie, The Darjeeling Limited (which is in theaters now), for a long time. Shortly before it came out, Wes Anderson released a short film entitled Hotel Chevalier which is supposed to act as a prologue for The Darjeeling Limited. He made it completely free to download on itunes, which I think is totally awesome!

Although I haven't gotten the chance to see his newest big screen film yet, I did download Hotel Chevalier a bit ago. Jason Schwartzman and Natalie Portman give great performances and the movie is beautifully shot. Make sure to click the picture below to download the movie - you won't be disappointed!

HOTEL CHEVALIER

The Mullet Strategy

I was perusing some blogs this morning when I came across a link to a previous post on one of my favorite sites, BuzzFeed. The link immediately caught my eye simply because it was entitled THE MULLET STRATEGY. Now, I love mullets. And I also really enjoy strategy. What could be better than combining the two, right? Well, that's what a lot of commonly frequented websites have been thinking too! Some of the most common sites on the web have adopted this approach to web design in order to make a more user-friendly site.

As we know, the mullet is all about "business in the front, party in the back". Sites like CNN, YouTube, and MySpace are embracing the Mullet Strategy by lettting users comment, quarrel, and party on secondary pages while editors keep the front pages looking very business professional. The advertisers stay happy since they have a professional looking front page to promote AND the users stay happy because they still have a place to rant and rave. Looks like The Mullet is doing good all over the world!

Check out some links below for more info about the Mullet Strategy. Also, if you have some time, check out some of the above mentioned sites to see if you can detect the Mullet Strategy in action.

The Mullet: Making A Comeback?

The Double-Tongued Dictionary - The Mullet Strategy

And of course, some mullet photos for your enjoyment:

Stairway to Stardom

When thinking about writing my first ever blog post (dun, dun, DUN!!), I got a bit anxious. I knew I wanted to come out with something really dynamite, something that would capture the pure, raw, unadulterated essence of Skiddy. After doing a bit of research on the net, I came across a few videos that really spoke to me. I feel confident that these gems really fit the bill. Please enjoy...





And remember to stop in again for your Daily Dose of the Skidmeister!