Bienvenidos a Colonia, Welcome & Alaaf,
on the First Holy Day of Carnival: Weiberfastnacht (untranslatable) there will Beer & Champagne: Come here and sing along:

I will be spinning some Bastardpop and trashy 90s tunes.
You are not in Cologne? Shame on you!

I am captivated by stuff like that: Large chunks of data, sorted, chewn, displayed and arranged in a flexible way to make it understandable for our pea-sized minds. This is why I love the lecture and videos of Hans Rosling (via Kosmar), who managed to digest the entire data of the past 50 years’ UNO studies in one single faszinating flash tool: Gapminder.

Here is something different:
Dietmar Offenhuber (Austria & Cambridge) and Gerhard Dirmoser (EnergieAG) created the Network Context Visualizer Semaspace. It’s made easy to understand by this video:

SemaSpace is a fast and easy to use graph editor for large knowledge networks, specially designed for the application in non technical sciences and the arts. It creates interactive graph layouts in 2d and 3d by means of a flexible algorithm. The system is powerful enough for the calculation of complex networks and can incorporate additional data such as images, sounds and full texts.

Get a grip here: Two examples to try out for yourself (it’s fun to move around data in 3-dimensional space). You need to install Virtools 3D plugin in order to view this:

• 25 years of ars electronica
• Gedankenraum

Well, in 2009, the music service Musicovery might switch it’s interface to 3D with tech like that.

…now this is a gem in todays media landscape. Souvenirsfromtheearth.com offers a 24/7 program of art and ambient videos for being displayed at bars, clubs, hipster shops and other mind-soozing venues. At the current Passagen exhibit, I stumbled upon a broadcast in Hallmackenreuther Cafe in Cologne, where my friend and I were dazzled by a video of four black guys standing topless for minutes and minutes in front of a gas station. Relaxing soulfood, goes well with some minmal techno music and a creamed corn soup with Chorizo. Check it out:

It’s already available on the german cable networks (unitymedia and kabelBW). They will soon offer a flash stream and distrubution via satellite.
A web stream is scheduled, but unfortunately so far not ready.

It’s Passagen time in Cologne once more… Passagen 2008 is a not-so-alternative-anymore alternative parallel furniture exhibit during IMM Cologne.

We were strayin’ around the streets of Belgisches Viertel in Cologne and I was annoying my friends by taking pics all the time. But, hm, one night is just not enough…

Here are some unordered impressions - including:

• Screw Clamp rack by Daniel Rohr
• A Kaarsemaker chair
• Poster from Nachlux competition (Rocky - Lamp & Barbell combined)
• Pillow Talk cushions by Lichel & Menzlewski
• …and some casual friend shots.

Decisons made easy: I was pregnant with thoughts of switching my blog to english language for half a year. There is a german post on this, too). So after 6 month of not being able to make my mind of I came back home realizing that it’s just about time to do it.

I hope the teutonic scent on my english smells sexy to you. So enjoy my blog telling wordbits of Cologne, Germany and whatever is happening on that Top Level Domain.

Wenn überhaupt, dann hat die Nanotechnologie jetzt den gesellschaftlichen Breakeven erreicht. Die Blogs dieser Welt rätseln noch, woraus diese kleinen Plastikschweine gemacht sind: Halb Quecksilber, halb Polypropylen, enthalten Sie vor allem zu 100% das Element, was das Herz der geistig 11jährigen schon seit Jahrzehnten begeistert. Seien es ‘Uaaahhh’, Gummi-Jojos oder Jawbreakers: Sinnfreiheit. Giftig? Das auch! Aber THC macht ja auch gleichgültig…

Ein Material, das sich fast wie Flüssigkeit verformen lässt, sich aber seiner ursprünglichen Form erinnert. Wozu braucht man es? bestimmt macht es Sinn im Flugzeugbau oder der Textilindustrie. Ganz bestimmt. Und das kann eben nur Nano, weil keiner weiss, wie es geht.

In Japan kosten die läppischen Wirbellosen nur etwa 2,20 Euro. Wer japanisch spricht, findet vielleicht auf der Herstellerseite heraus, aus welchem Teufelszeug sie gegossen wurden: lokuloku.com

via ODK

Habe gestern festgestellt, dass für mehrere meiner Lieblingsvideos der Franzose Michel Gondry verantwortlich ist. Da sind zum einen Das Lego-Video zu Fell in Love With a Girl der White Stripes (komplett im Stop Motion Vefahren) und Star Guitar der Chemical Brothers ) Besonders zu empfehlen in der folgenden Reihe sind die beiden MakingOf’s: