The slit-scan effect is a cool technique in photography and video where a slide with a slit is moved across the imaging device. Basically, you can do weird effects that treats each row of the image in an independent manner. For example, in the image of a hammer thrower above, the slit was moved across the film instead of a shutter, and produces an image whose rows slice the thrower at different points in time. It’s a startling effect.

In the video below, the same effect is used in video. A woman turns around in place, but, instead of seeing it all happen at once, we see her body impossibly contort as the slit scan is performed. In this case, it’s a digital version called the “time displacement” effect.

And of course, this effect has been used in various other media, like this music video from the Belgian band Goose below (effect start at 1:53). Also, they have a giant version of the rotating window optical illusion. Fun stuff.

I’m going to start blogging about some of the new music I’m discovering each week. Recently, I’ve been stuck in a rut with my music, and haven’t been seeking much new stuff out. Perhaps this will get me motivated to keep looking. Because, there’s always a new track worth loving.

ISAN

First this week is ISAN, an analogue electronic band on the morr music label. They’re a British duo that collaborates via the web on their music. Most of their stuff is pretty calming and minimalistic. Great for those long drives.

ISAN - Look and Yes [m4a]

Do Make Say Think

Do Make Say Think is a Toronto band that is focused on instrumental and improvisation music. They combine jazz, distorted guitar, bass guitar, and other instruments that end up with a very lush atmosphere.

Do Make Say Think - Soul and Onward [mp3]

There’s a whole subgenre of videos online focused on showing people making difficult or awkward basketball shots. Usually, these make the serious basketball aficianados whince, since many of these shots are usually practiced over and over simply for the sake of the shock value when they finally do make the shot. But nevertheless, they are entertaining to watch (and quite viral).

5. Behind the Head

This one is a bunch of people making shots at around half court while facing the opposite direction on their knees.

4. Compilation Around the House

A compilation of various shots from an awkward looking kid at his house. A lot of them are quite amazing.

3. Compilation Around the Indoor Skate Park

There have been many claims that this video of a bunch of skaters making ridiculous shots around a skating rink is fake. I think they just have a lot of time on their hands.

2. Over the House

A kid shoots a basket over his entire house.

1. From a Jeep

A guy shoots from the back of a speeding open air jeep. Simply amazing.

Coolest Basketball Shot Ever - Watch more free videos

You may have seen the Microsoft Surface teaser video, which introduces Microsoft’s multi-touch research. It’s going to be interesting to watch Microsoft and Apple battle it out for the title of superior touch interfaces.

In the mean time, SarcasticGamer has made a great parody of the teaser vid, complete with a voice over that is just spot on to the original.

This goes into the inane category: Jeremy Harper is counting to one million and broadcasting the entire thing live. He’s also blogging about the whole experience. To make money, they’re letting advertisers sponsor blocks of one thousand numbers, using eBay to auction off each block. Basically, it’s similar to the one million dollar homepage idea, except this time, it’s a boring video of a guy counting.

However, as we’ve learned from the internet before, viral media can be both boring in principle and successful. He’s currently on the 29000 block, and they’ve gotten around 30 sponsors.

Below is a YouTube vid of Jeremy starting his count:

I attended the June NewTeeVee Pier Screenings tonight, which had a great turnout. The heat lamps were burning bright, and the crowds gathered around the big screen. The theme of the night was parodies, and many of the videos were pretty funny. My favorite of the night was The Real World IKEA.

Of course, I spent most of the night taking photos. Enjoy the set!

Now you too can track how much electricity Google is generating using their solar panels. And, they use the same graphing interface as Google Analytics.

In his latest book, “The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet is Killing Our Culture”, Andrew Keen argues that Web 2.0 and the cult of the amateur is dumbing down our culture. I haven’t yet read the book, but it seems like he’s taking the conservative view with respect to social media and its positive effects on culture. There is one interesting quote from MSNBC, which states:

What scares Keen is that some Web 2.0 enthusiasts argue that we no longer need traditional media companies — the Internet provides artists and writers their own means of distribution and promotion. But publishers and record labels provide more than just distribution and promotion. In a sense, they’re the venture capitalists of culture, advancing money so that a writer can take years to research a great book or a band can concentrate on creating a strong body of music. Sure, there are lots of writers and bands who keep their day jobs and still create good work — but most of them wouldn’t mind an upfront check and some uninterrupted time. Even the most faithful bunch of MySpace friends will probably never be able to offer them that.

I’ve never thought of publishers and record labels as VCs, but, it does make sense. They’re betting on pretty risky investments — some of which are even more risky than the typical web startup.

This is probably one of the clearest explanations of the double slit experiment I’ve ever seen, done in a 3D animation. Remember, observing the universe collapses the probabilities. Enjoy!

Final Fantasy, a fantastic one man band with a violin, does a cool cover of Mariah Carey.

One of my favorite songs from him is “Song Song Song”. I couldn’t find a good quality video of it, but here’s one that will do:

The title song from his newest album is “He Poos Clouds”. I love the dense layering that he uses in his songs, drawing on his classical roots but with a new pop twist. I can’t really think of too many other bands doing what he’s doing.