Will Knott

I will admit that the idea hit me while watching the video below. Disney has its Disney Princesses line. Well what about those little girls and boys not interested in being kind and nice (and trust me, its a lot of people). Those girls will eventually grow out (mostly at least) of their princess stage. Boys grow out of their Power Ranger phase (says the guy still in his Transformers phase from childhood). Can we have the Disney Bad Girls.

Think about it. Some girls want more spice with their sugar.

I’m not talking about the Tinkerbell and the Disney Fairies franchise, (darker, but not black) I’m talking about the bad girls. Dr Agnes Nairn pointed out in a 2005 study for Bath University that most girls will torture their dolls as they get older. Maybe things should get dark.

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Essentially a sub set of the Disney Villains grouping (rarely used as a group). Name-checking Queen Grimhilde (the Queen in Snow White), Anastasia Tremaine (the kinder of the Ugly Sisters from Cinderella in the video), Maleficent (the wicked fairy godmother in Sleeping Beauty), Ursula (the Sea Witch in The Little Mermaid), Cruella de Vil (from The Hundred and One Dalmatians) and Madame Medusa (from The Rescuers).

The main problem with the female villains in the Disney movies is that they are almost all fully grown women. Compare this to the young princesses or the fairies. Is it hard for little girls to cast themselves as fully grown? Probably not. Admittedly in the case of stepmothers (the Queen or Lady Tremaine) it makes sense, Cruella is a well known character, and Maleficent is a major character in the Disney parades. But small changes can be made, just as happened with the princesses.

A shape changing Ursula could look like the queen she is in a black gown (with 6 frills or pleats on the way down the black dress to hide the fact that she is actually an octopus). Come to think of it, octopi can change shape themselves, as does the character. The major change for the character would be to have her walking out of water. Madame Medusa could easily be changed (she isn’t that well known) but a more flattering dress and stockings is all that’s needed. As for the Ugly Sister, she is already the same age as Cinderella if not a bit younger.

I’m sure that most of the princess stock could be adapted to the colour scheme of the “bad girls”, and Grimhilde or Maleficent would be good halloween costumes. Imagine a Ursula duvet cover or bedspread available with matching tentacle beanbags. And given the span of time-lines available (medieval witch queens and other magic users (yes, young Miss Tremaine gets a wand at some point) jumping to the 1930s and 1960s) there are more options available.

Unlike the princesses (who never really seem to acknowledge each other) have the bad girls working together. Maybe in a modern setting. Yes its a little bit Fables, but being bad can be just as much fun in the now, as well as in the past.

Just an idea.
Will Knott

What happens when you mix footage of news anchors with the voice track of old B-movies? (with a bit of “stunt mouth” action thrown in to avoid lip syncing problems)?

Well you get this.

Bryan Boyce created this mash-up back in 1999, and it works.

Sort of.

Worryingly the “I’m an alien” line does not seem faked.

take care out there,

Will

Part of this post is for a Tuesday Push that is, namely Decisions for Heroes, and partly for a push that should be, Kildare Street.

Decisions for Heroes is a project that Robin Blandford has been working on for a while. And talking about it. In fact I assumed that the product has been launched a few months back. I was wrong; today is launch day.

And he’s built something amazing – technology that will help rescue teams save more lives. Its essentially a project management tool combined with an incident reporting mechanism that’s able to monitor team histories and readiness and raise alarms for expiration or under manning conditions.

What makes it different is that it is designed for a particular niche; rescue teams. Are the exercises and training reflecting the actual calls? Or the actually locations? Are there enough cliff climbers on-call this weekend? Are there certifications that are about to run out? This kind of thing actually saves lives. Its been studied, over 1,800 rescuers from Ireland, UK, USA, Greece, and Australia helped to trial and shape the development of the software. But one stands out. Robin is a volunteer member of the Irish Coast Guard (a cliff rescue climber to be precise) so he has seen first hand what is needed, and what is the most useful way to get that information across.

I’m sure that the basis of D4H can be used in more business-like settings, or indeed in logistic based industries.

And from saving lives, we move to a performance management technology that may cost the careers of a few politicians.

Created by John Handelaar Kildare Street is, almost simply a database. A database of what is being said in both Houses of the Oireachtas, by whom, when, how often and the complete text of what they say so it can be parsed for content. Based off the UK project, theyworkforyou.com, you can keep an eye on your favourite politician, or all the politicians in a constituency, or even when a particular word or phrase is spoken in the Dáil or Seanad Éireann debates or in written answers or questions to the Dáil.

There are a few bugs still in the system (it is a beta and since Irish addresses are vague it can misidentify a constituency, particularly when one side of a road is in one constituency, and the other side is in another constituency. It happens), and there is up to a 24 hour delay between the speech in the chambers and the text of the speech hitting the system (not a fault with the system but with the source; debates.oireachtas.ie.

Its useful to find out which TD or Senator has stayed quite all along (the records go back to 2004), and finding out how they actually voted on subjects of concern to you. Then you can challenge them when they call around asking for your vote.

Do challenge them. Right now, I’m wondering if there is a version for the MEPs.

Two people who should be praised for being heroes and making a difference.

Will Knott

I’m waiting for Ikea Dublin to open. OK, not waiting, but making some plans. So I keep an eye on the Ikea Hacker blog.

And today, this shows up.

The Good Vibrations table was created by Tim G Taylor as part of an art exhibition.

• Materials:
• one Lack side-table top,
• four ‘ultra-smooth lite-up multi-speed simulators”,
• one book ‘Great Railway Journeys of the World’.

The idea would be to have a traveling table at the exhibition, but it stayed in place. Rattling.

Obviously the choice of dildo is important. It has to be rather hard (ahem) to hold up the the weight of the table. But somehow the sight of the flexible ones, flapping about, trying to go around the floor would be amusing. Maybe tongues would be better (a telephone table to get tongues wagging!). Also the table being considered a “Lack” despite its clear endowment means that the artist is a very happy man. Something like this should win the “Filthy Butt Fun Award” from Maxi.

But I think I could go one better (even if I get weird looks from the TOG guys).

You see, one of the most popular hacks for Ikea products, is to make a multi-station charger for your phone, MP3 player, laptop etc.

Well why not a battery recharger.

After all the legs need something to keep going.

Maybe I should apply for a business idea grant. Is there a business to be made designing furniture like this? After all I can see an excellent horizontal Saint Andrew’s Cross being made out of four Norden benches and an Oddvar stool. Or would something like that be considered blasphemy?

take care,
and insert the batteries correctly,
Will Knott

If you are looking for me tomorrow, I’ll be at the OSS Bar Camp in Kevin Street, Dublin (with my badge bag, makes me easy to spot I suppose)

Lets see if I can brighten Monday mornings a little bit, by adding some music to your day.

Lady Gaga has created quite a stir in the charts (and on radio waves) but there was a little talk about how 80s her song “Just Dance” sounded.

So lets make it sound even more 80s; add some original pop to the mix.

This is Divide and Kreate’s mix of Lady GaGa;s “Just Dance” vs The Eurythmics “Sweet Dreams”. Its a very simple A + B style mash, but it sounds very good.

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How about a dance?

Will Knott

At the moment, I’m too tired. I had a long drive last night.

Driving in sub-zero temperatures, freezing fog forming overhead, hanging under road lights like dew filled money spiders webs; it felt like hidden, fragile beauty forming overhead, only to last until the dawn.

I feel tired. I feel that you’ll be interested in “we feel fine“. Jonathan Harris’ We Feel Fine is an exploration of human emotion on a global scale. Simply, it parses blog posts for the words “I’m feeling” or “I feel”. It seeks emotions using cold technology.

I’ll let this TED video explain what he means.

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I feel I can leave it right here. Good night,

Will

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• We Feel Fine

It’s that time of the year. DJ Earworm has released the  “United State of Pop” for 2008.

OK, he’s only done it twice, here is a link for the first time, but it does take some effort to mix together 25 different songs and make them sound good together. Then throw in a video.

Its a lot more mellow that last year. Are things calming down, or slowing down economically?

Una makes her predictions for 2009 based on 2008. Personally I know quite a few friends going down under for work.

Hey, I’m moving too.

Will Knott

p.s. The track list used to make the video/track is…

Flo Rida Featuring T-Pain – Low
Leona Lewis – Bleeding Love
Alicia Keys – No One
Lil Wayne Featuring Static Major – Lollipop
Timbaland Featuring OneRepublic – Apologize
Jordin Sparks Duet With Chris Brown – No Air
Sara Bareilles – Love Song
Usher Featuring Young Jeezy – Love in This Club
Chris Brown – With You
Chris Brown – Forever
Ray J & Yung Berg – Sexy Can I
Rihanna – Take a Bow
Coldplay – Viva La Vida (The base song in all this)
Katy Perry – I Kissed a Girl
T.I. – Whatever You Like
Rihanna – Disturbia
Rihanna – Don’t Stop the Music
Natasha Bedingfield – Pocketful of Sunshine
Chris Brown Featuring T-Pain – Kiss Kiss
Ne-Yo – Closer
Colbie Caillat – Bubbly
Mariah Carey – Touch My Body
Madonna Featuring Justin Timberlake – 4 Minutes
Pink – So What
Finger Eleven – Paralyzer

Go Home Productions 2008 Christmas offering.
Combines Blondie’s “Tide Is High” with Paul McCartney’s “Pipes Of Peace” / “Wonderful Christmastime” and J-Lo’s “Jenny From The Block”

I give it 24 hours before its taken down, but enjoy it while you can.
Will Knott

I found out via Darragh that Raptureponies is asking people what their theme song is?

I don’t really have one.

I have three.

I suppose me ring tone should be a theme, and it follows me around. However I can’t find the right aria form Handel’s Orestes on youTube, so I’ll make do with my message tone. Lovage – Stroker Ace (technically the audio may not be work safe, but it’s all implied). The Munroe samples give you an idea as what to expect.

Next up, is an anthem from my childhood. I came across this purely by accident in a compilation and to be honest I’m surprised it was a hit in the states (number one in the dance chart, if that counts for anything). It never got any radio play over here. Blue Pearl – (Can you) Feel The Passion. I did go hunting for something else by them, and came across the far more dancable Fire of Love – Jungle High Featuring Blue Pearl but I’ll remain loyal to my first brush with a fearsome song.

Some times you just need to sing the blues (amazingly cathartic after a bad day) and I’ve moved from the smooth “Baby Plays Around” to the more heartfelt Its Not Easy Letting go by Candi Staton. That song probably sums up my greatest weakness once I have a working idea (or prototype, or code). I came across this song when I was going music reviews. Just the single meant for radio play. I hunted down the album “His Hands”. Sometimes you feel you are listening to the beating of a broken heart with this collection of songs.

And finally, just to get things a little happier again, I’m giving you one of my beloved mash-ups. Its not an theme or an anthem as such, but the skill involved in mashing up 11 different songs in to a manageable and aurally correct (and political too) track is one heck of a skill. DJ Earworm with No More Gas.

Shall we dance?
Will Knott