Mike's Blog

Pretty amazing...

Monday, April 14, 2008 6:27 PM


Apparently, elephants have been known to be capable of painting since at least the early 80's.

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1. Posted by
I saw this clip a week or so ago as a feature on MSN.  It made me so happy, I must have been grinning like an idiot for half an hour.  I don't know if I believe it entirely, but I really, really want to believe! 
4/14/2008 6:34 PM
 
2. Posted by
Wow, that really is amazing...I think I did know they were capable of making abstract art (i.e. splashing paint on a canvas), but the fact that they can actually reproduce concrete images is pretty mindblowing...
4/14/2008 6:34 PM
 
3. Posted by
Boo...I just found this link that kind of debunks this.  Apparently the elephants were trained to paint these images and may not understand what they actually represent.
4/14/2008 6:41 PM
 
4. Posted by
I wasn't convinced it was a self-portrait...but rather a hot nude female the elephant was inspired by.
4/14/2008 6:54 PM
 
5. Posted by
I saw that, too!  That's better than the cat who can play piano.
4/14/2008 7:41 PM
 
6. Posted by
damn... they sell elephant paintings at the WPZ, but they look like shit compared to these elephants' paintings! 

even if the elephant was trained... it's still pretty amazing.  as good as an 7 or 8 year old human, wouldn't you think?  and we humans definitely have lots of training...
4/15/2008 12:12 AM
 
7. Posted by
Yes, it's interesting to note that the first recognizable images children draw are very generic--the classic daisy or zinnia structure, the round sun with straight-lined rays, and zig-zag grass along the bottom of the page.  At the point when they draw them, I think children clearly understand what these images represent, although I would agree that their depictions of flowers and suns are more the product of training than of their own perception of nature.
4/15/2008 7:44 AM
 
8. Posted by
What, you mean the sun really doesn't have a smiley face and rays of light coming out of it? :)
4/15/2008 1:17 PM
 
9. Posted by
Only in your emoticon-spangled world, Kevin!
4/15/2008 5:55 PM
 
10. Posted by
:P
4/15/2008 6:03 PM
 

Mongol, the movie

Sunday, February 24, 2008 7:51 PM

Looks pretty good.  Got an Oscar nomination for best foreign-language film.  This was actually a collaboration between Kazakhstan, China, and Mongolia, with a Russian cinematographer.

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Inverted stars on RNC logo, Hillary's flag

Sunday, February 3, 2008 11:33 AM
Check out this pic of Hillary's campaign rally the day before the NH primaries.



Then look at the Republican National Committee logo now vs. 1988.



WTF, mate?
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Morrissey concert ends abruptly

Friday, January 25, 2008 2:15 PM
Nancy and I were watching Morrissey perform at tbe Camden Roundhouse in London just now, and suddenly after four songs he left the stage and quit for the night. Some speculation about him feeling like his voice wasn't up to it...guess it'll be on the news soon enough.



Quite an experience, though. Now I know how dozens were killed in that stampede at a UK soccer game back in the 90's. As soon as Morrissey got up on stage, the entire crowd pushed forward, and then started pushing unpredictably in all directions. Then they were singing every verse for him--it was like being amidst a ship of drunken sailors. Gotta love 'em Brits!
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The shy genius of New Order

Sunday, January 20, 2008 6:02 AM
Nancy and I are visiting London next week, so I've been getting back to my 80's new-wave roots. Came across this music video of New Order recording their song "Perfect Kiss". It's amazing how such a stage-shy group of four could have had such lasting impact on new wave, electro and synthpop.



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