Detroit Unbound

As a former Michigander and lover of urban decay I find James D. Griffioen's images, "Detroit Unbound", beautiful and compelling. For those of you not familiar with what's going on in Detroit, the combination or riots, white flight, and the dying American auto industry has left what was once the the fourth largest city in the country a veritable ghost town. The Detroit News has reported that "According to the U.S. Postal Service, there are 62,000 uninhabited buildings and vacant lots throughout Detroit." ("Empty Monuments", August 17, 2009). Entire blocks stand deserted and there is a growing urban farming trend to make use of all this empty real estate.

If you enjoy Detroit unbound, check out more images from Smashing Magazine.

Friday Drive In: Combo

COMBO a collaborative animation by Blu and David Ellis (2 times loop) from blu on Vimeo.

Curveball

Curveball is basically just a 3D version of Pong. But like many of the simplest games it's highly addictive.

Odosketch

Dust off your beret and get to work. Odosketch is an online tool that let's you create very natural sketches that look like they were done with colored pencils. It tracks your movements as you draw, so when you're done you can watch a video of your sketch being created.

Some of the featured sketches are truly amazing. Especially as someone who isn't an artist it's fascinating to me to watch the process people use to create these amazing images.

Friday Drive In: American Retirement

The British comedy duo French and Saunders bring you a hilarious look at what the British think of us Yanks.

Incredibox

For you long time readers you may remember the signing horses from way back in June 2007. It's remained one of my favorite posts and today's site is a similar but more developed concept.

On Incredibox mix a song by selecting up to 7 loops from the 14 available. When you've used a certain combination of loops it opens "bonuses" which are basically musical break downs with an accompanying visual.

Keep in mind when playing with Incredibox: the order in which you select loops effects how the loops that come after it sound. To get rid of a loop just tap on the guy performing it.

Radiolab Podcast: Parasites!

The WNYC show Radiolab delivers up fascinating tidbits about science, presented in compelling narratives. You can subscribe to their podcasts via iTunes or at the Radiolab website.

Tonight they are having a live event at Water Taxi Beach here in New York. Unfortunately it's sold out so I won't be attending but if any video of it surfaces don't be surprised to find it here.

Here's an mp3 of their latest episode, Parasites. Just so you're warned: there are some kind of gross parts in this episode.