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Monday 29 June 2009

Yeah, But Is It Art?

It was a hot night, the kind that makes the air crackle with electricity. Every second that ticks by loaded with possibilities. The sky hangs heavy with menace. Somebody, somewhere is in trouble.

Ok yeah, I can't write bad-ass noir fiction for toffee. But hey, a lot of writers create good stuff without ever having to go down the pulpy noir route, right? I mean, it's not like EVERYTHING is better if it's brooding and faux-40s.



Ok, so I guess I was wrong. Noir-style posters can really sex up an already impressive story.

Need more proof?

Batman.
Transformers.
Watchmen.
The Punisher.

All via This Guy's DeviantArt page.

Ok, point proven. Guess I'll slip back into the poisonous night. Somehow I suspect our paths will cross again. So long, toots.

Friday 26 June 2009

Hugenormous Bangsplosion.

Hello, the following link is a game, but it is also something else that I'm pretty fond of. It's a portmanteau, which is a fancy way of saying that it is a blend of words. I like these a lot. In fact, the very name of this blog is a portmanteau. Plinx is after all, a blending of the word Paul and the word Links. With some bad spelling thrown in.

But I digress. This game is called Spacetacular Voyage and it's jolly good fun. It looks like a convential vertical scrolling space-shooter, but it isn't. There is no shooting to be done. Instead you have to avoid or bash out the way a series of falling blocks. If any of them pushes you to the bottom the screen, it's game over. To give yourself some breathing room, you can hit the space bar to trigger an explosion that'll push all the surrounding blocks away.

So enough from me. Go play Spacetacular Voyage.

Wednesday 24 June 2009

Centre Folds.

Hello, I'm on my second late shift of the week and need cheering up. Or at least I did, until I watched this. It's a fan-made video for a song called 'Zak and Sara' by Ben Folds and it uses a technique called kinetic typography which is really simple in principle but can be super effective.

Hmm, i just wrote a paragraph explaining what it is but then realised there was really no need. You'll see for yourselves!


Youtube Link

Pretty sweet, huh? Yeah, that's what I thought.

Sunday 21 June 2009

Update.

Following on from the last post, a very talented friend of mine named Anne D. McManus has created this frankly astonishing picture for me.



Oh yes, good stuff!

I've had to use the cut down version here so it doesn't stretch the limits of the Plinx layout but you can see the whole shebang Here.

Wednesday 17 June 2009

Oops Upside Your Head.

Hey, turning photos of celebrities upside down is funny right? They're all upside down and stuff. Ha! It doesn't get any better than that.

Hmm, yeah, I'm not convinced either. However that is just what I have for you today. BUT WAIT, before you click away somewhere else... I should probably mention that in these pictures, everything has been turned upside down except the face. Now we're talking! The result is something a little like this:



WAH!

Yeah, freaky. Anyways, it's such a simple formula that I decided to have a go at 'upside-downing' my own face. So I fired up *cough*photoshop*cough* and a few hours later, I had created this masterpiece:



Not bad, eh? Check out the whole archive Here!

Monday 15 June 2009

Post (It) Modern.

Blarg. It's hot where I am. I'm supposed to be hard at work but I can barely muster up the energy to Plink some Linx. However, I have something worthy. A video. A video called Deadline. A video called Deadline that rocks. Hard.

It's stop-motion, which is usually impressive, but the amount of effort that's gone into each frame of this is astonishing. It's enacted on a blank wall using different coloured post-it notes as pixels. Hundreds of them at a time. This dude has PATIENCE.

Anyway, it depicts a cute story about a guy on a deadline and his procrastination and you should totally watch it, then go have a cold drink or something.

Friday 12 June 2009

The Distant Future. The Year 2000.

Got a few minutes? Presumably you have or you wouldn't be here. Well, check out this... well, I hesitate to call it a game as it is more akin to interactive fiction but one thing that I have no doubt about is how great it is. It's a point & click adventure called Little Wheel where you shepherd a little robot who has been awakened after a long period of downtime through his world on an important mission. (There is a wonderful animation that explains all this which I don't want to spoil so apologies for being vague.)

Anyway, the best thing would be to see for yourself. The presentation of this thing is really something so I encourage you to take your time. The course of action is never unclear as you get onscreen prompts and the robot you control is so cute, the way he keeps getting banged about but perseveres. Go see for yourself:

Little Wheel
Play This Game

Wednesday 10 June 2009

Cut It Out.

Evening. I'd apologise for the gap in updates but I've been ill and there's no-one reading this anyway. Anyway, I'm back in fine, philanthropic fettle now and I have some primo internet content for you.

These, below, are the Book Autopsies of american artist Brian Dettmer and they are wholly remarkable. Look.





Not bad, eh? He painstakingly cuts away at books (encyclopedias or any other book with diagrams) and exposes them as if they were vital organs. Hence the name.

It's incredible, and you can find out more and see many more pictures Here. Incidentally, that links to another blog that puts the quality of my writing to shame. Sigh.

Friday 5 June 2009

Ceci N'est Pas Un Halfpipe.

Hello. It's nearly home time so I don't have long but my eye has been caught by some clever website design. It's a Quiksilver site advertising skate wear that seems normal to start with, but Just Keep Watching.

Tuesday 2 June 2009

Fillums.

Do you know your films? Do you like 'rebus' style puzzles? If you answered either or both of these questions with a resounding 'Yes!' then a) you may be getting over excited and b) I have a link for you!

You may have seen something like this before, it's a large image that contains smaller picture clues that represent the names of films. For example, and a free answer for you here, there's a bolt in the lower right corner of the screen. This represents the film 'Bolt'. Clever, eh? Obviously, some are more devious than that. My current total is 31 out of a possible 50.

Do your best. Cryptic Canvas.

Oh, you'll be asked to put in an email address at the beginning. This is so you can return to the puzzle without losing progress. I think.