One Small Step

This is Ambam, a bachelor Western Lowland gorilla at Port Lympne Wild Animal Park in Kent, England. He loves to walk around like this!
The video was taken by Johanna Watson whilst she was working for a project on great ape locomotion.

[IN THE NEWS] Automated Flying Construction Robots

When I saw this, I knew they were something I need to scale up and bring into some role playing game.

Watch as a group of automated quadrotor robots autonomously build several cubical structures. Quadrotor researcher Daniel Mellinger notes, "We tell the quadrotors what structure to build and they figure out the assembly plan and then build it."

These structures beams are held together with magnets, but there's no reason if this were scaled up that you couldn't have a team of welding robots securing larger metal beams while the lifters recharged their batteries.



This reminds me of the 80s sci-fi movie Runaway

2019: A Future Imagined

2019: A Future Imagined from Flat-12 on Vimeo.

Visual Futurist Syd Mead ("Blade Runner," "Aliens," "Tron") reflects upon the nature of creativity and how it drives the future. Photographed in P2 High Definition, this featurette provides insight into the fascinating mind of one of the most influential artists of modern cinema and automotive design.

Post Apocalyptic Survival Video

Ducked and Covered: A Survival Guide to the Post Apocalypse from Nathaniel Lindsay on Vimeo.

Ducked and Covered: A Survival Guide to the Post Apocalypse is an instructional public information film designed to assist the general population with surviving life in Australia after a nuclear war. Produced by the Australian Board of Civil Defence during the early 1980s, this previously unseen, dusty print was uncovered deep within a university film archive.

Broken into four chapters, the film guides wary survivors through the trials that will await them in the post apocalypse. From post-apocalyptic fashion and unique uses for surplus human skulls, to becoming a local warlord and avoiding radioactive mutants, there is something for all dwellers of the wastelands. With its dry methodical narration, brooding synthesizer, minimalist animation and erroneous guidance, Ducked and Covered is a dark humored parody/loving homage to the late cold war era, early 1980’s public information films, as well as a reminder… OF WHAT STILL COULD BE.


WINNER - Audience Award - Best Animated Film - MAELSTROM INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Seattle, WA, USA 2010.

OFFICIAL SELECTION

CINEQUEST 20 FILM FESTIVAL, San Jose, California, USA 2010.

THE WILLIAMSBURG INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Brooklyn, NY, USA 2010.

MAELSTROM INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Seattle, WA, USA 2010.

DOOMSDAY FILM FESTIVAL & SYMPOSIUM, Brooklyn, NY, USA 2010.

NEWFILMMAKERS NY, FALL SERIES, New York City, NY, USA 2010.

STATE OF DESIGN FESTIVAL, Melbourne, Australia 2009.

PRESS
http://www.macguffinpodcast.com/macguffin-content/m-i-f-f-f-2010-animation-shorts-review/3/
http://www.thesanjoseblog.com/2010/03/cinequest-comedy-short-films.html
http://www.fanboyplanet.com/movies/cg-cinequest2010.php

Mutated Animal Found In Ditch

Okay, it's actually a video short by Neil (District 9) Blomkamp. IO9 tracked down some information on the AGM Heartland logo on the side of the creature and found this info:

Entertainment services by way of an online website with video, audio and textual content and images featuring characters and storylines about a fictional genetic engineering company that produces genetically engineered and altered organisms.