Harry Potter! The end of an epic...

So last night we went to the Harry Potter book seven launch! Woohoo!!

I've just finished the book - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - and witnessed memorable characters and worlds find their fate written, their destiny sealed. I'm going to discuss it in full, spoiler-y detail right now - but I'll mask the text. Highlight it with your cursor if you're sure you want to read it:

Loved it! The resolution of many of the plotlines happened along the lines I expected, but wasn't sure. Some key points:


1. That Snape betrayed Voldemort out of love for Lily. Plausible. Awesome. As we saw in Book Five, his worst memory may not have been the day he was humiliated by James and the boys, but rather the time he called Lily a mudblood. And this explains why Dumbledore trusted him so deeply. And his death was pretty much a given. Poor, poor Snape. In many ways, I'd consider him the real hero. And the epilogue? When Harry admonishes his son (Albus Severus Potter!) for speaking against Slytherin? So good.


2. That Harry was a horcrux. How you like that? This one was ultra-controversial. The pottercasters were sharply divided over this question, although the scarcrux theory, as it had been called, explained so many things it seemed like the right fit. To whit:

• Harry's psychic connection to Voldy


• Harry being able to open the Chamber of Secrets, when it was restricted only to the Heir of Slytherin; Harry being, of course, the "Gryffindoriest Gryffindor who ever Gryffindored"


• Harry getting some of V's powers - parseltongue for example


• The sorting hat's ambivalence about putting Harry in Gryffindor versus Slytherin

3. Harry Lives! Of course he does. Puffaw. Seriously.


Good book, poor Snape, yay Harry. I also liked it when Neville kicked ass at the end. Woot! I did think it would be cool to know more about their lives at the end - like what jobs they had - but it was pretty awesome overall, most definitely.

The launch party, at Vandusen Gardens, was pretty fun to. A long lineup, but well-organized event with great energy.


The crowd. Evidently something like 4,000 people were expected to show. That's over $125, 000 in book sales from attendees alone.


Here I am! Rock you like a Pottercane!


LJ believes that the movies are as good as the books. I say books win no question.


Marina, almost as excited as I was.


Clau, another old school Potter fan.


LJ examines our key to Grimmauld Place.


When the book tents open, the crowd is suddenly dense, swaying, reeking of teenager.


Eventually we approach book flaps number nine and ten.


Victory! We have the tome!


Victory yes! Sweet victory!

Cupcashimi time!!!

Who rules the cupcake kingdom? I do, and this is the evidence of my mega-dominance.







BOW BEFORE ME AND EAT DELICIOUS CUPCAKES!!!

It all started with Teletubbies...

... like so many great things.

I love the new viral 2.0 paradise in which we find ourselves. Exhibit A:



Like woah. As I said, it all started with a Teletubbies video that did the same thing, and which is only slightly less awesome than the video above.

Good times... good times.

And for those that want to know - the song is by Unk, who is also pretty awesome, in a somewhat ironic sense.

A Confused Vegetation*

So today, the Beckstar turned a Wednesday into Wednfunsday!!!! Let's pretend that wordplay worked nicely and move on.

While in Portland over the weekend, I had the distinct pleasure of visiting Powell's Books, which was just as comprehensive, enormous and treasure-filled as its reputation suggested.

If you get a chance to go, be sure to visit the Technical Books Store around the corner. It's full of scientific/applied/instructional/awesome things of all sorts. Like this Magic Garden I bought. I enjoyed its growth all through my workday!


9:15am - Where it all goes down.


9:25am - Secret solution added. Muah ha ha!


9:55am - Baby crystals are the cutest. Look at their miniature little geometries! Awwwwwwww!


11:40am - If I'm ever fired, I think I will meditate on this photo for a little while.


3:20pm - Or maybe this one.


5:00pm - The view from day's end. Sweet!

If I've learned anything in the years I've walked this Earth - it's that this was totally awesome.

*

I will never forget the sight. The crystallisation vessel in which it (the chemical garden) exhibited itself, was three quarters filled with slightly slimey water, namely dilute water glass, and out of the sandy bottom sprung a grotesque small landscape of differently coloured growths, a confused vegetation composed of blue, green and brown spikes, reminiscent of algae, fungi, sessile polyps, but also mosses, then shells, fruit, treelets or branches of trees, here and there even limbs – the strangest thing I had ever seen: strange, not so much because of the, albeit wonderful and confusing sight, but because of its deeply melancholy nature.

So goes the description of a chemical crystal garden from Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus, in a scene which I want to read. According to my coworker, it is a horrifying scene in which the father torments his children by demanding they define the difference between the crystals and a living thing.

Canada Day in the U.S.A!

No real story here. We went to Portland, we had good times.

These pictures are from a fantastic little diner in Olympia. Milkshake for the road? Yes!

Greatest Sport Ever...

Why oh why are the Japanese so good at television?

While we here in the West are giggling our remotes off over such mundane game show fodder as Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?, they are re-inventing this whole business, making humans into Tetris pieces, and generally making me question why one would watch anything but Japanese television, ever.

An Apple Ate My Brain!

Okay now seriously.

How am I not supposed to feel like a techno-prescient oracle, considering the following:

1. I have long said that I would only get a cell-phone when a device was developed that met all of my portable digital needs:

- Phone
- Music
- PDA
- Web Browser/Email
- Nintendo Hand-held Gaming System

2. NINTENDO IS DEVELOPING GAMES FOR THE IPHONE!!.

Okay, so the evidence is paltry. But seriously... how amazing if it were true?

And why not really - I've also long said that Macintosh and Nintendo are very similar in their business approach and company personality. To whit:

- long-lasting in highly-competitive tech industries, without majority market share

- highly entrepreneurial/innovative development model - track record of inventing revolutionary products (iPod, Wii, Macintosh 128K, GameBoy etc.)

- some high profile failures (GameCube, Macintosh TV)

- clean, minimalist design aesthetic, with tendencies toward 'cute' imagery

- etc. etc.

In other cool links, check out the Evolution of Apple Products:



And while you're at it - PC World's initial response to the iPhone points to 10 things they did well, and 10 things that need improvement for the next generation. Which is when I'd better have one of these in my hot little hands...

Cupcake Porn!

Okay, so maybe that's a tad sensational. But what else can you call these photos of amazing, droolworthy, over-the-top creations, which could keep a girl up aaaall night?



And, check out these cupcakes, done by a girl from Seattle. Pretty much the best ever.



See more of her amazing stuff on her flickr site - including a Nintendo DS cake! She's everything I would like to be.

See more at:

Cupcakes Takes the Cake :: fantastic cupcake blog

Realising Nuala :: cupcake/bakery blog from Singapore

Cupcake Momma :: a flickr set of amazing cupcakes

Kylie Lambert :: another flickr set of - you guessed it - amazing cupcakes

You're welcome!

The most dangerous animal...

You can tell by his soundtrack.

MixPlay Mixmaster!

Why can't all advertising be this clean, engaging, compelling, fun and stylish?

This is Uniqlo's campaign for it's new series of coloured parkas. My sense is that they are a Japanese company, pretty similar to the Gap here in N.A., but daaaaaamn this is a nice series.



The accompanying interactive website is intuitive and a complete blast to play with.



They also did a series of in-store demos, like the one below.



Simple, eye-catching, cool, in-brand... awesome.

UNICORN VIDEO POWER DECK!!!

No no. Don't speak. Just sit down, shut up and enjoy the sweet sweet candy!!!


You've probably already met Charlie the Unicorn, as it went viral like crazy, but if not...


I dare you: 1. Not to get this theme song stuck in your head; 2. Not to agree that Feathers, Cadillac and Tom Cruise are the three greatest unicorn names you've ever heard.


Methinks cartoonist James Thurber had a couple of relationship issues.

Philip K. Droid

Now this project is dead and gone, but I keep meaning to blog about it anyways.

Philip K. Dick (1928 -1982), as many of you know, wrote dark, paranoid science fiction that's been the source for many of your favourite sci-fi movies [Blade Runner, Minority Report, Total Recall, A Scanner Darkly], and possibly some of your favourite sci-fi literature as well [The Three Stigmata of Palmer Elddrich, Ubik, The Man in the High Castle, Flow my Tears the Policeman Said, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?].

One thing I love about his work is its handling of robots and computers. Deeply concerned with the nature of consciousness, PKD's world is one where manipulation of memories, moods and personalities, and androids exhibiting emotion, inspiration and free will, blur the lines between man and machine.

So what better tribute to Philip K. than an android in his likeness?


Aw, don't you just want to go cuddle up and discuss the nature of reality?


Android head with stoned-looking kid.

From the FedEx Institute of Technology, Hanson Robotics, and the Automation and Robotics Research Institute, the project seems to have been pretty active back in 2005, but now has died out. No news as to why.

Here is the PKD android interacting with someone at 2005 NextFest in Chicago:



And here are some more links if you want to learn more about Philip K. Dick. Hey! Check out my major blogger journalistic diligence!

The Relationship Between Humans and Machines: Through the Eyes of Philip K. Dick - An analysis by Eli Eisenberger.

Official Site - if for no other reason alone, visit to see the cover art gallery, including the Japanese 'Do Androids Dream...' cover on the right.

The Most Brilliant Sci-Fi Mind on Any Planet - a Rolling Stone article from 1975, this was the first major article about the author.

Running the Numbers...

Chris Jordan is a Seattle-based lawyer-cum-photographer whose latest series is definitely worth checking out.

Translating real data about consumption of objects and resources into oversized, beautiful photographs really conveys the massive quantity of waste we produce, without feeling pushy or pedantic. The messaging is simple, but the impact is strong.

Check em!


Toothpicks :: Depicts 8 million toothpicks, equal to the number of trees harvested in the US every month to make the paper for mail order catalogs.


Cell Phones :: Depicts 426,000 cell phones, equal to the number of cell phones retired in the US every day.


Prison Uniforms. :: Depicts 2.3 million folded prison uniforms, equal to the number of Americans incarcerated in 2005.

All in all a great exhibit. Check the touring schedule on his site.

Double Up Hits Stores!

Don't front. R. Kelly is the man.

Check out the song to the right, and enjoy the delicious goodness.

"Don't trip - I got a giant rocket
Gliding through just hitting your pocket"

If that's not enough, he drops a Uranus reference. AND it means just what you're afraid it does.

Amazing.