Escape from City 17 is a short film series based on the popular computer game, Half Life. It is directed by The Purchase Brothers.

From the youtube description:

The Escape From City 17 short film series is an adaptation based on the Half Life computer game saga by Valve Corporation. Originally envisioned as a project to test out numerous post production techniques, as well as a spec commercial, it ballooned into a multi part series. Filmed guerilla style with no money, no time, no crew, no script, the first two episodes were made from beginning to end on a budget of $500.

For the amount of resources they had to work with, this is amazing! You can see more of their work at their youtube channel.

Springfield Punx is a little project of Dean Fraser. He takes characters from other shows and movies and Simpsonizes them. There are a crapload of super heroes, Dwight from the office, characters from Arrested Development and more.

Check em out here.

Woah, this is a weird looking camera. It’s a Polaroid Camera capable of shooting 4 in 1 Polaroid pictures. It’s available at Polapremium for $155.

I've been noticing the moving art between Dekalb Ave. and Canal Street but I have never gotten the chance record it. The way it works is that there are a bunch of pictures behind these little slits on the wall, so as the train is moving, you see the next picture and it almosts seems as if it's in motion. It's almost like the concept of a flip book. Here's a clearer video that I found.

I did some research and the one right after Dekalb Ave. and before Canal Street is named "Masstrasiscope" by Bill Brand.

Masstransiscope was an animated painting placed on the abandoned northbound platform of the Myrtle Avenue station, just prior to crossing the Manhattan Bridge. The animation was based on the zoetrope, essentially a series of single frames viewed through slits as the train moved past the station. The brief glimpses of the frames appeared to animate the artwork. The work has been in disrepair for many years but apparently some work is being done to it in September, 2006.

Apparently they use this form of subway art in other countries, such as Canada, as advertisements. The video below is a subway motion art in Russia. It must have taken a CRAP load of time to do that!

Clifford Stoll is a scientist, astronomer, and computer expert. He once caught some KGB hackers trying to hack into his lab. Here he is talking at TED about I don’t even know what. But it was one of the most entertaining lectures I’ve seen. The way Cliff Stoll talks is so peculiar and it seems like he has so much in his head that he wants to get out. He jumps and runs around all over the place.

He reminds me of Doc Brown from Back to the Future but with crazier hair.

[NEATORAMA]

I was at the 14th Street Union Square Station yesterday and I decided to stand by a girl and a guy playing music. The first thing I noticed about her was that she was funky. She dressed funky. She played funky music. She had a funky guitar. She was just...Funky! She told the people to go to her website so I did.

Turned out she is a pretty funky character! Her name is Andriana Santiago and she's a musician (obviously). I don't know how someone could be so happy all the time! Her music is pretty cute (I don't know how else to explain it). Check out this song she sang named "He Did It". HOW CUTE!

I was just at the Otafuku restaurant (click link for directions) located by St. Marks last night and ordered what they're known for...Their octopus balls! Not too shabby for $5. It's quite filling and it's a pretty popular place for a hole-in-the-wall. It's cramped inside and it's not meant to be eaten there because there are no seats other than a bench outside (as seen above) that can fit no more than three people.

This takoyaki was awesome! For you readers who don't know what that is, it's a japanese dumpling fried and made of batter. In this case there was octopus in it! It was so delicious and it exploded with flavor. It was covered in bonito flakes (fish flakes). At first I confused the bonito flakes for onion peels, but sweet dang this was definately worth the $5 (that my girlfriend paid).