Glider 4.0 for Mac
Wow – I have fond memories of playing this game as a teenager.
AI Snow White better than the remake?
The very controversial and firebrand issues/actors behind the Snow White remake has turned into a box office disaster and resulted in an apocalyptical round of firing at Disney (and rightly so).
It should tell you something when a decades old IP powerhouse like Disney and all their marketing efforts could only generate 18M views in 4 months on it’s official trailer, and an AI generated parody done by a likely single person YouTube channel gets 1.4M views in 12 days. And the AI content is honestly better.
Personally, I think Wicked AI‘s live version of the Little Mermaid with Danny DeVito is even funnier
A message for Lent – from Alice Cooper
Take a dip in the world’s largest gold tub
If you’re ever in Sasebo, Japan (outside Nagasaki), you might want to stop into Huis Ten Bosch theme park for a unique experience. (1-1 Huis Ten Bosch Machi, Sasebo, Nagasaki 859-3243, Japan)
Besides enjoying the strangely anachronistic Dutch themed amusement park, for about $50 you can spend an hour in the world’s largest solid gold tub.
Articles:
Magical Tokyo Cocktails
The bartender at Bar Centifolia (Japan, 〒106-0045 Tokyo, Minato City, Azabujuban, 1 Chome−6−5 ラミュウーズ十番ビル ラミューズ麻布十番ビル6F) located near Azabujuban Station in Tokyo definitely puts on a great show while making his coctails. Reservations recommended.
Animating characters 100x faster with AI
Game development is currently on a race to the bottom. It’s an industry of brutal competition – which creates some of the most innovative ways to bring ideas to the market faster and cheaper.
A new method of using low-poly meshes to generate higher quality facial and character animation is looking to replace standard character modelers and animators.
Free RV camping with utilities in Portland
City of Portland just announced the opening of it’s 10th alternative shelter site – this one provides free parking for RV/campers. It’s located at 10505 N Portland Road. It has 90 tiny home pods and 70 RV parking spaces for individuals living in their RV/campers. It provides free onsite laundry, showers, and food.
Articles:
- https://www.portland.gov/wheeler/locations-city-shelters-and-culturally-specific-villages/n-portland-rd-10505-n-portland
- https://www.portland.gov/wheeler/news/2024/10/28/mayor-wheeler-announces-opening-tenth-city-shelter-new-north-portland-0
- https://www.reddit.com/r/Portland/comments/1i9ztuf/nopo_rv_and_tiny_home_site/
Rent Transparency with RentZed
Want to know how much the unit you’re looking at has gone up in price? Want to know if the rental company that owns where you’re moving likes to raise rents every year, check out RentZed to see the rental history of an address or apartment.
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Survival Research Laboratories
Before Battlebots, in the 80’s, there was a group called Survival Research Laboratories (wiki). I remember seeing a video clip of them back in the 80’s on an episode of Ripley’s Believe It or Not hosted by Jack Palance (long before YouTube kids). It showed clips of frightening, dangerous machines that destroyed and ambled around with the most disturbing movements.
The mechanical creations made horrendously loud noises, shot things, exploded, emitted huge flame plumes, electricity, and projectiles. They played disturbing music with screams and dialog from horror movies. The machines had huge metal arms, gears, and blades that smashed and sliced everything as they destroyed each other and everything in their paths.
It was kind of like watching the mechanical version of death metal – or Einstürzende Neubauten. None of it looked safe for the bystanders. Many onlookers appeared to be genuinely afraid. Injuries to the crew and bystanders did occur.
This group was (and is) called Survival Research Laboratories – a mechanical performance art group. They have a YouTube channel and still seem to be doing shows.
Here’s a pseudo-documentary about the group:
Turns out – they’re not gone. I just recently saw this video from Greg E. Leyh at Lightning on Demand who resurrected his old Plasma Cannon.
Great little retro adventure game
UFO 50 is a great little collection of 50 old-style computer games of standard genres (platformers, puzzle, adventure, survival horror), but modernized with a bit better mechanics and gameplay. It’s gotten quite popular and some of the games are really good.
I particularly like Night Manor. It has interesting mechanics like a flashlight that follows your cursor and a cursor that wiggles and jiggles in fear when the killer is on the screen. Neat!