Stilgherrian » trinn suwannapha

Cats work in mysterious ways…

Stilgherrian — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 07:58:14 +0000

… like sitting in high vantage points around ’Pong’s desk while he’s working.

That’s Artemis on the left and Apollo on the right. Artemis had spent all afternoon asleep on my jacket, near where I was working. Apollo had been sleeping on my other jacket on the office floor. I think they now expect to be fed or something.

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Safely home in Sydney

Stilgherrian — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 12:57:06 +0000

’Pong and I have returned home safely from Cowra, a 655km round trip, thanks to the wonders of Matthew Hall and the Success Whale. All hail the Success Whale! (Except Stephen Stockwell, unbeliever.)

The journey home was enlivened with an interesting experiment. Instead of me broadcasting Stilgherrian Live — bright TV lights in a moving car at night would be a plan full of FAIL — we created an inside-out radio station. Some of my followers on Twitter took up the offer to send us links to music — which we streamed live from YouTube. The audience chose the music and we listened to it.

This experiment in crowdsourcing a playlist was remarkably successful. I’ll publish the music later. But even more remarkable was the power of the hyperconnectivity. Even though we were driving through rural New South Wales, we were still in touch with our friends — wherever they were too — doing the usual things we do of an evening, like swap links and tell each other bad jokes.

I’ll have much more to say about this soon. But for now I must rest.

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Success Whale protects us in Cowra

Stilgherrian — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 13:15:25 +0000

We’re made is safely to Cowra, thanks to our driver Matthew Hall and our trusty new mascot, Success Whale — but I think I’m going colour-blind.

The photo above shows Success Whale sitting on the bed at the luxurious Alabaster Motel. As you may see, all three and a half stars of colour are certainly on display! The clash of styles almost makes me vomit — but at least that proves we’re arrived. Somewhere.

So many things happened along the way. We saw cows. And sheep. And crows. And currawongs. The Navman satellite navigation toy told us to “Go to nearest road”, despite being on a rather fine highway. We did the world’s slowest lap of Mount Panorama race track (thankfully I forgot to press “record”). And much more I’ll tell you soon, I promise.

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Off to Cowra!

Stilgherrian — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 02:50:18 +0000

Road Trip! ’Pong and I are about to leave for Cowra for his OLPC video shoot and my “interpretation” of the journey in words and pictures. Our driver is Matthew Hall.

You can follow our adventures on Twitter by searching for all tweets containing the hashtag #rtcowra. Wish us luck! More soon.

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Driver needed for OLPC Cowra road trip!

Stilgherrian — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 01:55:25 +0000

’Pong and I need a driver ~~this Monday lunchtime 13 October through to the night of Tuesday 14~~ this Wednesday lunchtime 15 October through to the night of Thursday 16 for our “road trip” to Cowra to film a project related to One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) (pictured) which is happening nearby.

This is a paid gig, although you probably won’t make enough to retire just yet. You’ll need a driver’s license that’ll satisfy our hire car company, and we’ll cover all food and refreshments, plus overnight accommodation at the delightfully named and oh-so-luxurious Alabaster Motel.

We’ll also have mobile broadband Internet access along the way, testing out our Telstra NextG card. I’ll also be taking advantage of that to produce a special edition of Stilgherrian Live. May the gods have mercy upon our souls. And yours.

The shooting schedule is pretty relaxed, so you’ll probably have time to explore the wonders of Cowra while we’re filming at the school. This gig might well suit a photographer. But I will admit that everything’s rather… um… flexible at the moment.

If you’re interested, please email stil@stilgherrian.com or phone +61 407 623 600. If you get voicemail it just means I’m at the ~~gym~~ pub or the goddam battery has run out again.

[Update Sunday 12 October: The dates have just been changed. This is turning into a... fascinating project. I am not stressed at all, no Sir!]

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Episode 26 tonight!

Stilgherrian — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 02:10:08 +0000

Oops, I almost forgot! Stilgherrian Live is on again tonight from 9.30pm Sydney time. That means I need nominations for “Cnut of the Week”.

It’s the same rules as usual. We’re after people who’ve been in the news this week, futilely trying to hold back the tide of digital change.

Maybe journalist Mark Day is a contender for regurgitating the journalists versus bloggers “debate” in The Australian today with Blogs can’t match probing reports. No, Mark, they can’t, no more than cheese on toast can “match” an 11-course degustation menu. “A does not equal B” is hardly an insight.

But who do you nominate?

P.S. I may be “on air” slightly late, as ’Pong and I are going to the launch of the Marrickville Contemporary Art Prize exhibition. We’ve been told that we should be there, so it sounds like he’s won something.

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Links for 23 August 2008

del.icio.us — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 23:09:52 +0000

Here are the web links I’ve found for 23 August 2008, posted automatically with mirth and cabbage.

Boston Dynamics’ BigDog | YouTube: An amazing video showing of the capabilities of a 4-legged robot. Impressed.
Liu Xiang Sent to Olympic Death by China’s £1 Billion Image-Building Exercise | China Digital Times: An example of how China’s Internet users avoid the censorship of the Great Firewall of China: using the words “Surrender Liu” (刘降 vs 翔) to avoid censorship of any negative comments about athlete Liu Xiang’s withdrawal from the Olympics. The words are pronounced the same, but different in writing.
Stingray TV intro (1964) | YouTube: “Standby for action! We’re about to launch Stingray!” Another opening theme from another Gerry Anderson favourite.
Putting A/B Testing in Its Place | Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox: While the A/B testing of website design changes can be important, this article from 2005 points out its limitations as well as its strengths.
The Avengers intro 1960s | YouTube: I’m on a bit of a 1960s bender at the moment. Here’s another superb opening sequence for a fine TV program starring Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg.
Olympic Medal Count by Population and GDP | A Stubborn Mule’s Perspective: Sean Carmody’s done another fine bit of data mining, this time seeing how Olympic nations rate when compared in the basis of their population of GDP.
Marine Boy (1968) | YouTube: Opening theme for one of my favourite childhood TV programs, Marine Boy.
Sticky Tuk Tuk | Out To Space: My partner Trinn ('Pong) Suwannapha’s video Sticky Tuk Tuk has been shortlisted for this year’s Marrickville Contemporary Art Prize.

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Finally, “The Shave”

Stilgherrian — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 13:15:32 +0000

Yes, it’s finally complete! Our short film, The Shave. Enjoy. It runs for 3 minutes 35 seconds.

If the embedded video doesn’t work for you, try here.

We decided on the desaturated look rather than going all the way to black and white — though you can see that version in Stilgherrian Live Alpha episode 8.

For those interested in the technicals, it was shot using the built-in iSight camera on my MacBook Pro. We sat the computer on books piled on a milk crate sitting on the kitchen table, and used desk lamps for lighting. We recorded it using Apple’s Photo Booth software. ’Pong edited it using iMovie. Whaddyareckon?

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Episode 8 online

Stilgherrian — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:56:59 +0000

And episode 8 of Stilgherrian Live Alpha, the final in the Alpha series, is now online. This special edition (an hour!) included our short film The Shave.

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Coming soon: “The Shave”

Stilgherrian — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 11:01:18 +0000

“Certain people” have been complaining about my facial hair. I must admit, I hate the feeling of my face after two weeks without shaving. So, there’s only one thing to do. We’re making a movie.

This afternoon the normally simple act of shaving turned into a 4-hour video shoot. With two cameras. ’Pong is currently assembling the rough edit and, even I say so myself, I think it’s going to come together rather well.

We won’t rush it. We both have plenty to do this week. But rest assured, the 3.5-minute epic The Shave will be ready when it’s ready.

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Wooden Anniversary

Stilgherrian — Mon, 05 May 2008 22:27:04 +0000

Today ’Pong and I celebrate 7 years together. As these photographs show, he’s found his own way of coping.

I haven’t been writing here for all that time, but the posts tagged Trinn Suwannapha will give you an interesting if unrepresentative overview.

And now, since I was inside all day yesterday staying warm fighting a cold, where the hell can I find a suitable wooden gift before he wakes up? I guess there’s always that broken chair leg in the cellar…

Pom rak kun maak krub, Khun ’Pong! ขอโทษน่ะครับ! ขอให้โชคดครับี ห้องน้ำอยู่ที่ไหนน่ะครับ?

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ผัดพริกแกงจิงโจ้อร่อยมากๆ!

Stilgherrian — Sun, 04 May 2008 11:37:18 +0000

Or, as we say in English, “Kangaroo red curry stir-fry is very yummy!” And it is. Kangaroo goes so well with curry you’d almost think they were Thai beasts to begin with.

The Marrickville Organic Food Market provided both the kangaroo rump and most of the vegetables this morning — snow peas, capsicum, Swiss brown mushrooms and green pepper.

The Chinese greengrocer told us that kangaroo meat smells too strongly. She feeds it to her dogs. She has no idea what she’s missing. Still, her fresh vegetables are one of the bonuses of the Markets, as are the fresh steamed dumplings from Chinese Dim Sum King. The King will do your catering, too: chinese_dim_sum@hotmail.com or 0411 456 750.

Now I’m wondering whether I should get ’Pong to write up the recipe. Maybe it should stay our secret.

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Mardi Gras: The Slide Show 2008

Stilgherrian — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 00:19:35 +0000

I’ve just discovered that ’Pong and I are going to the showing of Mardi Gras: The Slide Show tonight. Presumably like last year it’ll also be an awards night. Maybe like last year one of his photos will win an award. I guess he hopes there won’t be a repeat of The Rowdy Boys Incident. It’s at Midnight Shift nightclub on Oxford Street from 8pm — ho hum, Oxford Street on a Saturday night. I guess it can’t be avoided. And which twit scheduled a slide show during Earth Hour?

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A recursive photo from Bangkok

Stilgherrian — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 10:03:24 +0000

This is my photo of ’Pong taking this photo in Bangkok. Recursion is always an interesting phenomenon.

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A “new” portrait?

Stilgherrian — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 14:01:41 +0000

I just found this photo of me which ’Pong took in July 2002. I’m now using a version on my Twitter profile. Should it be my permanent image?