[via lifehacker]

72-Hour Party People

How About a Second Date? ... another work in progress.

Then you'll enjoy this quality Eppendorf automated prep handler thingy.

---

Pipetting all those well-plates, baby, sends your thumbs into overdrive
And spending long nights in the lab makes it hard for your love to thrive

What you need is automation, girl, something easy as 1 2 3
So put down that pipette, honey, I got something that will set you free

And it’s called epMotion (whisper: ‘cause you deserve something really great)
Girl you need epMotion (whisper: yeah girl it’s time to automate)
It’s got to be epMotion (whisper: no more pipetting late at night)
Only for you epMotion (whisper: girl this time we got it right)

DNA
RNA
Proteins
Cell Cultures
Less reagents
Faster workflow
Saves you money
Well, well, well

And it’s called epMotion (whisper: ‘cause you deserve something really great)
Girl you need epMotion (whisper: yeah girl it’s time to automate)
It’s got to be epMotion (whisper: no more pipetting late at night)
Only for you epMotion (whisper: girl this time we got it right)

Fresh Meat is a supplement to the Rivet St. Louis recruitment efforts. The microsite will be a point of entry for young, curious creative types yearning for a workplace of gestalt and cannibalism, and will find its way to various online hiring hangouts. The movie(s) will have a home on YouTube, too, and hopefully a life of their own. (More episodes will be up soon, plus other treats as time permits, so keep those lids peeled and ponchos at the ready.)

This is a quiet beta launch for us to do a bit of fine-tuning and momentum-gathering. Imperfections are glaring, but please poke around, enjoy, and drop me a line with any bugs / questions / comments.

category: internet sensation

Our resident Chris Tucker impressionist, drinkspiller, employs his vocal mimicry in an attempt to get Jackie Chan to commit to Rush Hour 4.

• Chris calls Jackie's agent, demanding to speak with Jackie.
• Chris explains that he lost his phone in some ridiculous manner and didn't write down Jackie's number.
• Chris again demands to speak with Jackie, reminding his agent that he's the black Owen Wilson. No, that Owen Wilson is the white Chris Tucker.
• Chris starts to pitch Rush Hour 4 to the reluctant agent.
• Chris is clearly writing the script as he goes along.
• Chris pleads to speak to Jackie, telling his agent how he needs this movie, and describing a ridiculous series of events that now result in his desperation.
• The conversation is documented and published on YouTube.
• Fanboys start a petition to film and release Rush Hour 4 per Chris's rambling creative direction.

Getty images is holding a contest, the winner of which will get a 2 person, 5 day, 4 night trip to Cannes during the Lions. All you have to do is use video, still footage and/or music from Getty to create a message or idea that would make a difference in the world.

Scene: A line of troops are seen boarding a cargo plane. As we see several troops enter the plane, A higher ranking officer is directing the troops through the plane entrance. After all-but-one solider passes thru, the higher ranking officer stops the line. "Hold-on, pal". You see the ranking officer receive some-sort of message from his headset. Listening... Listening. He then tells the last remaining solider in line, "Sorry, but Bush just sent in new orders. Troop withdrawal has been putt on hold. You're going to have to go back." "What!" says the solider. "But, what about the other guys on the plane." "Sorry, they're grandfathered in", says the ranking officer. Solider replies, "I can't believe my luck." The solider turns around to head back to camp when a sniper fires a head-shot and kills him instantly. Scene.

"An invitation:

Earth has issues, and it's time humanity got started on a Plan B. So, starting in 2014, Virgin founder Richard Branson and Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin will be leading hundreds of users on one of the grandest adventures in human history: Project Virgle, the first permanent human colony on Mars."

WHAT IS WEBBY-IN-MOTION?

Webby-in-Motion is a special collaborative contest presented by Adobe and The Webby Awards where we ask motion designers, illustrators, animators and other talented creative minds to design a 20-second category introduction animation/video for The Webby Awards Gala in NYC on June 10, 2008. Since we know that that sort of thing can often be time-consuming, creatively draining, mind-numbing, frustrating and sometimes even dangerous, we offer the grand-prize winner this sweet foursome:

* VIP trip for two to the star-studded Webby Awards in New York City
* $10,000 cash
* Adobe® Creative Suite® 3 Master Collection
* Prize package from Stash, including an interview on Feed

First meeting: Tuesday, April 8th, 7pm, Drinkspiller's place. RSVP.

More Info

Check this site, Ironic Sans. The guy is smart and clever. He posts lots of "what if..." ideas in a way I'd like to start doing more often here.


He even sees some of them through for financial gain. Color me envious.

More nonsense at the end of the maze ...

Bizzleburp proposes the following, and I'm apt to agree with him:

"Capture 30 seconds (after editing) of usable footage every week; assemble the lot into a sketch comedy trailer / promo and distribute online."

Hell, we've got hundreds of greatest hits gags just waiting to be recorded. I propose Monday evenings, starting 02/25 at 630ish. Who's in? Which human-Robot Chicken cluckings do we record first?

I've got two fairly desirable (IMHO) web design gigs pending that I don't have time to accommodate. Takers drop me a line.

"The 48 Hour Film Project will return to St. Louis from June 6th to June 8th, 2008. Filmmakers from all over the St. Louis area will compete to see who can make the best short film in only 48 hours. The winning film will go up against films from around the world for the title "Best 48 Hour Film of 2008".

Registration opens Monday, April 14th."

This is the level of endeavor to which I'd like to see Rituallab experiments rise.

The one thing we have not done is made the commitment to devote the time. What steps can we take to move from pursuit to accomplishment?!

Would love to see this implemented on lounge tables, bedroom ceilings, airport floors and personal conversation wrist watches:

"...real-time data visualization projected on a physical table that aims to augment the developing verbal dialog by displaying a representation of conversation to all people present. the visual graph on the table demonstrates turn-taking, domination, interruption & activity throughout a conversation."

Linkski

It said:

You are a cross-discipline creative communicator with a penchant for conversation. Your fundamental abilities of copywriting and design result in meaningful, compelling messages. Your exposure to theory and method populates a metaphysical Rolodex of possible executions. Your nuanced appreciation of audience bends in your favor the odds of impact.

You consider timeliness a qualitative metric. You believe you can make the world a better place and make money at the same time. You refuse to burn out. You find more value in mistakes than in inaction. You can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear, but you can make a saddle blanket for a hamster. What you lack in experience you make up for in tenacity. You suffer from a chronic case of giving a damn. You are your toughest critic.

A STL Loop-based marketing boutique wants you. Yes you.

You, send us a resume and samples.

He responded:

Hello,

I am interested in applying for the position as advertised on Craigslist. I am quite an original creative person, which is more than I can say for the cliche filled advertisement your company posted. No wonder you are looking for creativity. If you want some creative, humorous work please contact me. If you want to continue with the same cliche filled work that is evident in your Craigslist post, interview the next guy.

Sincerely,

XXXX X. XXXXX

And bolstered his argument with this.

I just had a thought and no where to put it. Forgive me if this ain't the most appropriate place. Here's the thought:

Everything is reducible to politics. Even metaphysics. I know, this already seems obnoxious. But just give me a minute. Why does it matter whether I think the answer to life, the universe and everything is best described by the Tao Te Ching, Bible, Qur'an, Bhagavad Bita, qumran scrolls, Kant, Hegel, Quine, al-Wahhab, Ken Wilber, Stephen Hawking, or Douglas Adams? It matters because it effects my behavior. We all ultimately want other people to do what we want them to do. At the risk of employing Geddy-Lee-esque philosophy, even if all you want is for others to leave you alone, you're still making a political statement. Every question is, at bottom, a question of power. Everything is political.

Poke holes. There is a second thought that is pursuant to this first thought, so I wonder if it stands up to scrutiny. What is human that is apolitical? I have what seem to me solid arguments to respond to anything I've been able to put up to this question. I'm sure y'all can do better.

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! (with apologies to athiests, Jews (except those of the Jews for Jesus stripe), Buddhists, Shintoists, Zoroastrians, members of the Temple of Set, Scientologists, Hindus, Cathars, practitioners of Santaria, Satanists, members of the Society of Thule, Jedis, Sikhs, Baha'is, Confucianists, Animists, Jains, Bene Gesserit, Juche, Rastafarians, Discordians, Thelemists, Taoists, Caodaiists, Subgenii, Cheondoists, Yazdânists, Masai, Zulu, Manichaeists, Feminists, the professoriat of Columbia University, Mitch Furman or anyone else who might want one.)

Can you recall a time when you made an ass of your self and the payoff was so gratifying, so amazing, in the moment you said "I can do anything."

[13:30] Drinkspiller: A radio station where all the broadcasts come from 18 minutes in the future. Only one apartment receives the signal.
[13:31] bizzleburp: huh?
[13:31] Drinkspiller: that's all i got so far
[13:31] bizzleburp: sign me up
[13:31] Drinkspiller: seems like there is a short in there somewhere
[13:33] bizzleburp: well i'm sure you can get plutonium on every street corner in 1985
[13:34] Drinkspiller: ROFL!!!
[13:35] bizzleburp: Radio Of Future Lesbians
[13:35] Drinkspiller: this is how brilliant ideas develop
[13:36] Drinkspiller: unfortunately, it's how shitty ones develop too.
[13:36] bizzleburp: BINGO!
[13:54] tokyocrunch: looks like another artfully lazy RL post to me!

Wanted: Perfectionist HTML / CSS / JS coder to pay it forward, develop gallery microsite for beta iteration of FoundFutures alpha.

Details: 3(ish) total pages, "floating" foreground elements atop static background, Lightbox JS for gallery items. Collaboration and guidance welcome and appreciated. Tokyo to provide all content and graphics support.

Timeline: Yesterday, of course.

Payment terms: Non-monetary but negotiable (alcohol, undying gratitude, future right of first refusal on FF projects)

Contact: tokyocrunch at geemail dot comskis

PSDs available at DivShare for further investigation.

The world needs heroes.

Every morning I do a few "morning paper" things that have become routine. I'm a huge fan of google reader which gets me filtered easy to read rss feeds. Another item is checking some crap aggregates (break, digg, etc.) to wade through the sewage to find 15 seconds of amusement.

I thought of a media player concept that focuses around the crap aggregates. It would be similar to Diggnation (any revision 3 fans out there?) Diggnation is hosted by Kevin Rose and they talk about all the top stories on digg. Not a huge fan of the show, but I like the concept of commenting on the news of the day. What if we put together a similar web-culture/tech show and dropped links into the video feed? It could work like this;

1. Dudes talking about technology or silly web culture on a couch w/ beers a la Diggnation.
2. As stories are brought up a giant title of the story fills the screen for a couple seconds.
3. The title is actually a hyperlink, that when clicked pauses the player and opens the story link in a new window.
4. When the user is done viewing "Flaming Shot Goes Wrong", they can continue to watch clever comments on the link or skip ahead to the next story.
   

This wouldn't really work virally as you need the FLV player w/ actionscript cue points for navigation and links. This whole concept really spawned from coming up with clever ways to bring on the story links, simulated grenade toss, etc.

RitualLab lurker gonegonegone wrote me a compelling missive, which I post below with permission:

I have been thinking about something you said while we were having lunch in Murphys over the summer. You said that one thing that you found unappealing about being a vegetarian is that (by definition) you limit the palate that you experience. This is true. I am thinking about slightly revising my eating ethos. Since I have friends and family scattered around, I get a chance to travel around a little bit and I think one thing that is worth eating is the broad category of "regional specialties." Foods are important and if a region has something that it is known for it's probably for good reason. I think it gives you an insight into the 'vibe' (for lack of a better word) of an area, and shows what ingredients and techniques are local. This idea first started last year when I was in Baja and basically the only thing in restaurants was lobster that are caught right off the coast. It seemed a shame to pass 'em up. Now I'm not talking eating any old swill just because I'm in town. I mean something that an area is known for, from the best place to get it. My first step is to find the best fish tacos in San Diego and scarf them. By my quick estimations, future eating endeavors should include:

New Orleans: Jambalaya
Philadelphia: Philly Cheese Steak
Seattle: Crabs (eating em, not getting em)
Some rural area: antelope or something of the sort
The South: BBQ

International destinations lend themselves to all sorts of possibilities.

This is a slippery slope, but I think it's worth exploring. What else am I missing?

[09:32] Drinkspiller: At the mile-long magazine rack at Borders looking at all these ridiculous niche magazines it occured to me that there is one unfilled: Minivan Magazine. Attractive women posing against (and inside) minivans. I wanted to mock up an issue.
[09:34] Drinkspiller: I know. Mind blowing stuff. Breathe.
[09:34] tokyocrunch *bgca: "Minivan Man"?
[09:35] Drinkspiller: I think the execution is funny. I think people would actually buy the thing too.
[09:35] tokyocrunch *bgca: Maxim for the losers bracket
[09:35] Drinkspiller: exactly
[09:36] tokyocrunch *bgca: shows promise
[09:36] Drinkspiller: that's the subtitle
[09:36] tokyocrunch *bgca: relies on execution, but yes, shows promise
[09:36] Drinkspiller: down for mocking it with me?
[09:36] tokyocrunch *bgca: it depends which punchline(s) you choose, i guess
[09:36] tokyocrunch *bgca: sure
[09:37] Drinkspiller: user photo contest with "what I fit inside"
[09:38] tokyocrunch *bgca: are you considering this a one-off?
[09:38] Drinkspiller: we bought this for a project at CB:
http://page-flip.com/demos.htm

we can make a few pages to mock some feature ideas too
[09:38] Drinkspiller: yeah, a one off
[09:42] tokyocrunch *bgca: i think there's a stronger punchline than the minivan (posing babes, "what i fit inside", etc.) that speaks to the odd blend of self-actualization and self-resignation that comes from a man who drives a minivan. so that the minivan becomes merely a symbol for a lifestyle. or are you proposing something more akin to a gearhead car mag that features only minivans?
[09:54] Drinkspiller: I honestly hadn't thought about it beyond the key ingredients (minivans/babes/magazine) but i think you bring up an obviously good point: "what's the position"?
[09:55] Drinkspiller: I think you might be right that the lifestyle punchline is the stronger big picture
[09:55] tokyocrunch *bgca: i mean, it could be a viable niche magazine, too

Hello fellow rats. While I tend to lurk much more than contribute, I've got something that I'm looking for feedback on. It's a documentary on my father-in-law. This is to be a character driven piece that I envision being about 1-1 1/2 hrs long. He lives on a century farm, is 72 and has given me the verbal ok to tackle this. Time's a-wastin.

I'll post the general concept here and then break the video into its parts in separate posts. Any creative feedback, wordsmithing or general comments are requested. I hope to use this document in obtaining some funds, but also plan to go out-of-pocket for most. Anyone interested in helping (graphics/credits, videogrpahy, editing, distribution, etc.) just give a holler. My first goal is to create a top-notch piece that can go in the family library. My second goal is to enter this into a few film festivals. My third goal is to potentially sell/distribute. Not sure how far I'll get - but away I go....

======

Title: TBD

Timeline: Late 2007 – Summer 2009

Costs to Incur: Labor (3 person crew/3 days each week for 8 hrs for both shooting and post production), Equipment (Camera, hard drives, computer, editing system, lights and microphones) , Duplication and Contest Fees

Concept: A video documentary that follows a century farmer through the four seasons. As the audience will become privy to the cycle of the seasons and the harvest, our farmer will also relay stories that fit with the seasons of his life and will be appropriately matched with activities on the farm. When winter comes he is faced with the realization that as the cold descends on another year, in the winter of his life, he may be the last generation to work this plot of land as a farm. Will one of his children or grandchildren step up and take the wheel of the old green Oliver, or is this place of family and nature destine to be carved up into farmettes like so many of his neighbors have been forced to do?

The video will be broken into 4 parts; spring, summer, fall and winter. The activities of each season will be video taped and chronicled, as well supplemented by the stories of our farmer. It is intended to give the audience a better understanding and appreciation for the agrarian way of life, as well as shine a light on a culture falling by the wayside (in the family farm).

Several interview sessions with our farmer will be scheduled (in late 2007) to help build the chronological storyline, and the producers will log 2-3 days each week in the fields and at home with him over the course of 2008. All footage is intended to be captured in HD (720p or 1080i has yet to be determined). Access to 8mm home movies and family photos is also possible. A short synopsis of each segment follows.

Brief Synopsis: Spring

Winter’s grip begins to unravel in the Driftless area. Seasoned icicles drop from their perches, mountains of snow morph into tiny streams, and the tree sap once again flows freely. Excitement, enthusiasm and optimism fill the air as the animals of Southeastern Minnesota’s bluff country begin to forage and gather after another long, hard winter. Coats are preened, calls perfected and nest materials gathered in preparation for spring.

One farmer in particular has cabin fever. Wayne Olson looks up his valley at his fields, just as his father and grandfather have done before him. 125 years of knowledge reside in him and he is anxious from the promise brought to him on an almost tropical 65 degree March day.

For Wayne has been busy too. He has been readying his equipment, with a plan in his head for this years harvest. Reminiscing about days past - how he has been involved in this cycle for the last 72 years. He remembers fondly moments with his father and grandfather, as well as his children and grandchildren. Life is new again and fills his lungs, brain and heart with hope.