Kraquehaus Productions

How to Poop

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:16:23 GMT

I had to watch this twice. I was crying from the pure awesome.

Presented by the number 2 and the letter Sparkle-Sparkle GO!

Cat in the Box

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 18:51:25 GMT

Cat in the Box
Originally uploaded by kraquehaus.

Nico took a liking to the empty box for tequila that Bevmo gave me to carry my scotch back home in.

The Magic Castle

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:22:27 GMT

group_photo.jpg
Originally uploaded by kraquehaus.

Last Saturday I was able to get me and 5 friends into the Magic Castle for a wonderful evening of magic, drinks, dinner, giggles, music, great wine, some cheesy 70's illusion routines, and great friends.

Check out the set for more pics.

Best sushi of my life

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 07:05:45 GMT

IMG_0307
Originally uploaded by kraquehaus.

I just want to get this up, but I had the best sushi meal of my life in the Valley in LA. Total hole in the wall with NO decore. As my friends said, "They spend all their money on the food."

OMG STEAK: Oh yea!

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:11:47 GMT

OMG STEAK: Oh yea!
Originally uploaded by kraquehaus.

I just had one of the best meals.

I...wow. Where do I start?

I start by posting these pics and you reading the tags. That is where I start.

Wow.

Spicy Sea Snail with Vegetabiles @ The Prince: Los Angeles, Korea Town

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 09:29:32 GMT

Spicey Sea Snail with Vegetabiles @ The Prince: Los Angeles, Korea Town
Originally uploaded by kraquehaus.

Got back from The Prince in LA where the goal was to obtain and fight to eat living octopus tentacles. Octopus was not had, but sea snails (pictured at right), chicken gizzards, and others were.

The Spicy Sea Snails with Vegetables, pictured here, was a truly amazing dish. I've never had sea snails before, but I had a pretty good idea of what to expect. Perfectly cooked and perfectly paired with the crispy pickled zuchini and other veg'n' sauce.

Be sure to check out the full Flickr set. More details in the individual picture notes.

BTW, having fun in LA. I just got out of a hot tub and am laying around posting pics on my laptop. Tomorrow shall be more adventures in eating and cooking with my chef pal. I am definitely excited!

Tuna Tar Tar a la T.bias

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 08:08:39 GMT

Edit: My friend's bday was yestarday, so I can now make this public. Enjoy world!

~~I have to keep this friends locked so a certain someone does see it. It is part of a birthday gift to him, but he is not on LJ so I'd like to share my recipe for Tuna Tar Tar a la T.bias.~~

I have never written a recipe, and I only ever read them for guidelines. I never measure anything and always cook like Basquiat painted. I get my paints out and see where they take me.

With that said, enjoy!

Tuna Tar Tar a la T.bias

All measurements are not exact, but instead rough guesses. Make sure
to taste as you mix to ensure proper flavour and texture.

Ingredients

Tar Tar:

-Sashimi grade tuna (~1-2lb)
-Fennel (half bulb, halved and very thinly sliced)
-Shallots (one medium to large, finely diced)
-Green onion/scallion (1, finely chopped)
-Wasabi tobiko (~2-4 table spoons)
-Japanese mayonnaise (~1-3 tablespoons)
-Olive oil (Just a few dashes to go with the mayonaise)
-Wasabi (~1 teaspoon)
-Sesame oil (~1/2 teaspoon at most)
-Quail eggs (one per serving)
-Rice wine vinegar (~1/2 a teaspoon)
-Soy sauce (~1/2 a teaspoon)
-White pepper (~1/2 a teaspoon)
-Black pepper (~1/2 teaspoon)
-Raw Ginger (either minced or "shaved"/grated, roughly ~1/2 a teaspoon to taste)
-Pickled Ginger (depending on preference; chiffonade or dice of a few
pieces. You may want to stick to pickled OR raw, but not both.)

Quick pickle:

-Sugar (~1-3 table spoons)
-Salt (~1 table spoon)
-Oregano (~1 tablespoon)
-Red wine vinegar (~2 cups)
-Red onion (halved and thinly sliced)
-Fennel bulb (use other half from above, very thinly sliced)

Salad:

-Your favourite micro greens (pick ones that aren't too bitter)

Preparation

Tar Tar:

Dice the tuna into very small pieces. Try to use single swipes of the
blade rather than a sawing motion. Do not pulverise the fish;
maintain very small cube forms. Mix all of the ingredients together.
The texture goal is to balance the soft texture of the fish with the
popping of the tobiko, the crunch of the shallots, the crunch &
fibrous binding that the fennel provides while being held together by
the very slight creaminess of the mayo and olive oil. Make sure that
the star upon your palette is the flavour of the fish and not of the
other ingredients. The fennel has a very strong flavour, so start
small and work your way up. You most likely won't use the entire half
bulb depending on how much fish you use. Make sure to slice the
fennel as thinly as possible. If you have a mandolin, this would be
ideal.

The soy sauce, vinegar, and pickled ginger are sweet and salty and
should only be used enough to accent the fish which is already mildly
salty. You probably won't use much vinegar, less so if you use
pickled ginger. The vinegar should be mixed in thimble-fulls rather
than measured doses. Ease it in. You absolutely don't want the fish
to be cooked by the vinegar, so make sure it is not added directly
onto the raw fish surface (e.g., adding it last may be ideal).

If you can't get wasabi tobiko, normal tobiko will do just fine.

Since you are using shallots, I tend to only use the green portion of
the scallions.

Be careful with the sesame oil! A few drops might be enough as it can
easily over power the entire dish. Add with caution.

Quick Pickle:

Take your sliced onion and fennel and put them in a (microwave safe)
shallow pan or dish. Add salt, sugar, pepper, and oregano and add
enough vinegar to cover them. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave
for ~1min. All you want to do is warm up the liquid such that it
helps dissolve the salt and sugar and penetrates the fennel and onion.
Again, slice thinly. The thinner the easier it is to quickly pickle
them!

Presentation:

Place the micro greens on a plate which will serve as a base. A small
handfull should suffice. Place a small amount of the quick pickled
fennel and onion on top of the greens. Scoop out a generous portion
of the Tar Tar and place on top. Divot the Tar Tar with the back of a
spoon on top. Crack open quail egg (you may need to use your knife to
do this, but absolutely do not crack the yolk) and separate the yolk
from the white. Place yolk into divot.

Lastly:

NOM NOM NOM!!!!

Variations:

You can add avocado on the side to be mixed by your diner or placed
ontop of the quick pickle. Since the avocado is fatty, you should use
a little less mayo and olive oil in the mix. Also capers can be added
if you are into that sort of thing, but make sure to lower any acidic
content to compensate. Also, the Tar Tar can be served on top of
toasties instead of a salad. Another spot of tobiko on top makes for
a good presentation as well. Hell, don't be afraid to add actual
caviar to the top, but I would save this for the hours devours version
on toasties. (Note: for toasties I actually like the "cheap"
buttermilk sliced bread sliced into triangles. It is almost like
white bread, but perfect to deliver the Tar Tar since it is fluffy and
lacks a lot of body to make sure the focus is on the topping rather
than the bread.)

WALL•E

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 07:30:37 GMT

I would love to review the wonderful movie I just saw, but I don't want to ruin it for anyone with spoilers.

This is a real gem. Go see it.

I am going to see it again on opening night in LA (Friday, 27th).
(If you are in LA then and want to meet up, drop me a line.)

Oh, one thing I will say: There are some interesting ties to Portal in both the short before the film and the film itself. I know there was no intentional influence (I asked my brother), but there are some interesting similarities.

Venture Bros. Season 3 Premiere

Fri, 30 May 2008 23:34:33 GMT

This Sunday evening at 11:30pm the new Venture Brothers shall premiere. I have been awaiting this for quite some time.

You are invited to come over for pre show drinks and possibly dinner or such. Let me know if you'd like to come by.

I also have Eyes Wide Shut, The Jerk, and Dawn of the Dead (new version, I think) all in HD DVD. Will be watching at various points during the weekend, but happy to plan events accordingly.

Batcave Tour Update: CANCELED

Tue, 27 May 2008 03:40:01 GMT

From Alien Sex Fiend's MySpace page and submitted without comment:

U.S. TOUR CANCELLED - DATELINE 26th MAY 2008

JOINT STATEMENT FROM ALIEN SEX FIEND, SPECIMEN AND
DEATHROCK MAGAZINE

Due to unforeseen circumstances the planned "The Batcave Returns" U.S.
Tour dates in June have had to be cancelled. We are very sorry but it is a
situation that is totally beyond our control. We are all extremely
disappointed, we have all tried our utmost to make this tour happen, but
we find ourselves in an unworkable position due to immigration,
transportation & other logistic & legal issues.

Ticket refunds will be available via Ticketmaster.
For VIP Package refunds you will be contacted by Deathrock Magazine as
soon as is possible, alternatively please email
alex@deathrockmagazine.com

The DMV are Douchebags

Fri, 23 May 2008 21:28:19 GMT

I know the DMV sucks, but I didn't realize that they are full blown douchebags. New Media Douchebags™ no less!

Check out the similarities:

From their site minutes ago:

And my design:

[from my recent post]

Who knew?!

Brisbane Fire

Tue, 20 May 2008 21:24:37 GMT

IMG00014ii.jpg
Originally uploaded by kraquehaus.

As I drove to work I got to witness an impressive fire on a hillside next to the 101 in Brisbane.

I had a hard time photographing with my Sidekick while I drove and didn't get any good shots of the helicopters swooping in with water and the two fire fighting planes that were dumping red powder.

New Media Douchebag: The Shirt(s)

Tue, 20 May 2008 08:13:28 GMT

For quite some time I have declared that I would be making New Media Douchebag shirts. I have now completed said task.

If you do not know what a New Media Douchebag is, please watch this video. You or your friends may be one, and would thus be in dire need of a shirt.

[Click to go to the Zazzle store and check out the various shirts and sweater.]

You will notice that I applied full New Media Douchebaggery Design™ principals to the design. A gradient background, a "gloss line", a star burst (sadly, it does not say "beta" here), a classic Douchebag 2.0 font (VAG Rounded), and a subtle Douchebaggery reflection of the main words.

Also check out the new Sparkle-Sparkle GO! shirt. [Click here for the Sparkle-Sparkle GO! shirt.] (I also made a Kraquehaus Productions shirt, but I figure this is mostly just for my own procurement.)

Enjoy!

Optical Illusions: I declare SHENANIGANS

Sat, 17 May 2008 08:12:46 GMT

I was checking out a site with some of the Best Visual Illusions of the Year, and one of them caught my attention. It caught my attention because it seemed to be full of bullshit.

Below is the illusion and explanation off the site. I took it from here. Be sure to check this out before reading my explanation of why I think it is bullshit.

How do we tell where other people are looking? Conventional wisdom says the dark parts of their eyes give it away. But the Ghostly Gaze illusion reveals a more subtle process. From a distance, the sisters seem to stare at each other, but as you bring them closer to you with the slider, they turn their eyes to you! This is not a computer trick - to convince yourself set the slider to 'close' and walk away from your computer screen while looking at the image: notice that when you are sitting in front of the monitor the sisters are looking at you, but when you are about 3-4 meters away they look at each other! he illusion is based on the hybrid image technique, developed by Schyns and Oliva. Gaze direction is an extremely important social cue. The Ghostly Gaze illusion shows that details such as the outline of the iris can override larger patches of darkness.

I put my images and explanation behind a cut so it does no affect your viewing of the above demo and explanation they provide.

To me, this is clearly a resolution issue. The eyes are purposely lightened to the point of being unnatural. Their faces are given shadows to darken the the side portion of their eyes. When you reduce the resolution (either due to the actual pixels or by distancing yourself from the image) then your brain automatically assumes that the dark portion is most likely the pupil. This makes a lot of sense. Not to mention this would almost never happen in a real life situation.

Let me provide some examples:

Note: I took the head images and swapped their positions, so the effect will be that they are looking away from each other rather than at each other. I wanted to see how the effect held up when it was swapped.

First, here is a screen snap shot of the image reduced in size. They appear to be looking away from each other as expected:

Here is the normal large version. They appear to be looking straight ahead. Of course this is because you have the resolution to see a well defined pupil and are not tricked by odd shadows:

Now here is where I demonstrate what the problem is. I took the very very small image and enlarged it effectively reducing it's resolution. I purposely used bicubic rather than nearest neighbor to expand the image. The aliasing probably more closely resembles the lack of resolution our eye has at greater distances:

As you can tell, the eyes are very hard to distinguish where the pupil is because of how the image was manufactured. An unnaturally light pupil competing against a shadow at low resolution does not provide our eyes and brain with enough detail to make an effective decision.

I also made an image that is at medium resolution so you can see how it creeps into the middle of recognizability:

To me this is not much of a "visual illusion". It is just a case of a manipulated image taking advantage of the lack of resolution to force feed us a different interpretation of the image. Just like a commercial I recall seeing where a beautiful woman is running at the camera from afar only to reveil that she is actually an elderly woman who is not as attractive as you were lead to believe. I wouldn't consider this much of a "visual illusion", let alone "One of the Best Visual Illusions of the Year".

The Bet: Panda Furry on the Red Carpet

Sat, 17 May 2008 00:38:37 GMT

I was just pointed to this by a friend of mine who is now in possession of the knowledge of The Bet. tongodeon continues to lose:

A Cannes first: Festgoer in 'Panda' suit

Costumed man breaks dress code, climbs Palais steps

By PAMELA MCCLINTOCK

A panda joins Angelina Jolie and Jack Black.

The Palais red-carpet has seen countless stars and film fans in eye-catching costumes over the years, but Thursday saw a first: a festgoer in a panda suit.

Ever the showman, DreamWorks Animation's Jeffrey Katzenberg arranged for the costumed man to climb the Palais steps, without giving a heads-up to festival bigwigs.

The fest has strict rules and regulations on its dress code, but Katzenberg broke decades of tradition for the "Kung Fu Panda" world premiere.

It's pretty hard to get the hordes of photographers to stop (even momentarily) from focusing on reigning Queen of Cannes Angelina Jolie, but she, Jack Black and Dustin Hoffman happily yielded the spotlight. Katzenberg was glad to have the film's English-language voice stars there, but wanted the movie itself to be represented, too.

Fest organizers didn't flip, with one attendee saying film festival director Thierry Fremaux even smiled.

Of course, it also helped that DreamWorks Animation and Paramount made sure the panda was off the red carpet fairly quickly

Twitter: A Catch 22

Wed, 14 May 2008 23:54:29 GMT

What does one do when you want to complain about Twitter being down?

I guess the answer is to post something on LJ in 140 characters or less:

"OMG. Twitter down!! MEDIC!!1!!1!"

There ya go.

I wonder how many advertising dollars Twitter has drained out of LJ by a vast portion of their user base pumping out multitudes of 140 char twitter entries instead of actual blog posts.

Video Assistance: How to shoot mobile phones

Wed, 14 May 2008 23:34:59 GMT

Dear readers who have video, photography, or other relevant experience:

I have been shooting some video to demo mobile web content and I'm running into problems. I'm not finding much online to help me out.

First off, I don't have the right gear. That is a known issue. I flat out have NO pro video gear. Been using my still camera's video function. But what IS the right gear? I'm working on creating a list of gear I should get to do this.

I need to be able to get really close to the handset to make sure that the screen is readable (I need dual use for HD presentations and YouTube). This probably means I need a macro lens, but correct me if I'm wrong. Also, I need to deal with getting the proper angle. If I use a tripod when I shoot them on a table top, then I can only get it at a slight angle since you can't exactly point directly down. I am shooting with the phones on a table top, but am experimenting with shooting them on a platform.

The problem with shooting the handset in a vertical position is that it easily moves when you interact with it (looks bad and makes editing difficult). My last video I made I placed a piece of paper on a music stand such that it bent at the joint that the phone rested on giving it a nice "seamless" backing. Helped, but the phone still jostled about while I interacted with it. Aside from that, it was nice to get the image head on with no odd angle (since I can put the camera on a tripod facing forward rather than down).

The other problem I am running into is lighting. You still photographers will probably have a lot of grey matter (oh, and don't forget the connective white bits!) to help me here.

With the phone head on, I basically have a nice glass surface just asking to be a mirror. Most phone displays don't get bright enough to compete with heavy lighting which really complicates things since you need to get the phone itself well lit. Lighting up the phone usually means that the camera gets well lit as well, and thus shows up as a reflection on the phone (especially during darker screens).

Watching the iPhone videos I realize that they are on a black background. Is this the key? Shoot with them on a black mount at a distance from a black background?

I realize that the high end production video is probably a fake screen edited onto the real screen in post production. I don't think this is an option for me since I am going to need to do these videos across at very least a few handsets. Oh, and I lack the actual skill to do the compositing.

I have to do this on a bit of a budget, but any suggestions more than welcomed. Camera recommendations, lens suggestions, accessories, techniques, etc.

MacBook Pro on the Hate Train™

Wed, 14 May 2008 06:04:22 GMT

My work laptop is on the fritz (lang?).

Over the past few days it randomly decided that I had two fingers on the trackpad. In addition, I would not be able to use the keyboard. Odd, but would only happen for a short while, then come back to normal.

This behaviour then upgraded it self to a pure lack of keyboard and trackpad functionality. Would usually last a few seconds intermittently, but regain normality.

This has now upgraded to full lack of keyboard and trackpad for extended periods of time. I have needed to plug in an external keyboard and mouse to regain control of the flailing beast. Once I decided it was hopeless, it started working again. It lasted for many hours, but now is back to being Tommy the Laptop. I sometimes think I hear See me, feel me, touch me, heal me coming from the speakers, but I'm not sure.

I have tried singing to it.

Laptop can you hear me?
Can you feel me near you?

Lappy can you see me?
Can I help to cheer you.

...but to no avail.

I have a feeling that this is some odd internal USB bus issue, but that is just a guess. I will probably have to take it into an Apple store to get it prodded, but maybe the Lazy LJ can help.

I have yet to upgrade to Leopard, but may do so soon. (My laptop is going to be my test case for a Leopard upgrade so I can test all my audio software and see how stable it is.)

It Makes Bambie Cry

Tue, 13 May 2008 10:05:56 GMT

I am realizing that tongodeon's bet with rwx, aka The Bet, will officially end upon Jan. 12th 2009. This is quickly approaching and makes me sad.

On the other hand, I find it uplifting to also realize that the official end of The Bet will not stop us from keeping our fingers on the pulse of the world of Furries in the Mainstream, regardless of the outcome due to nothing else if not habit. In other words, no matter who wins or loses The Bet I feel that it shall live on in eternity.

If nothing else, "The Bet" has become a part of this group of friends' lexicon and shall live on long after The Bet has ended.

Furries in Iraq

Tue, 13 May 2008 09:41:37 GMT

I'm not sure if tongodeon is losing the bet due to this, but something is going on when you see a random fury in Iraq. It may indeed be a sign that tongodeon is losing the bet if the extremists point to "...the horrible western influence of blue jeans and furries," as a source of the degradation of their society.

Regardless of his bet, this video is just... I don't have the words:

Trust me. Watch the video. There is a lot of Whiskey, Tangos, and Foxtrots involved.

Two of my songs on BoingBoing TV

Sun, 11 May 2008 03:53:15 GMT

Links to blog page, not directly to video.

A rough song I am working on for Hooks'n'Heels along with probably my oldest electronic track I ever wrote, "White Light", under the 5000 Fingers moniker. Both used as BoingBoing TV Maker Faire coverage music.

Video starts with a short bit with sfslim showing off his BoingBoing T-shirt.

The Dude does NOT abide.

Wed, 07 May 2008 07:12:59 GMT

The Dude does NOT abide.
Originally uploaded by kraquehaus.

Here is my review of Iron Man in pictures.

I don't know why I found this funny

Thu, 01 May 2008 07:18:54 GMT

tjcrowley's recent post for some reason compelled me to make this BAD LOLCAT. I don't know why I find it to be hilarious. Maybe in a day or two I'll rethink my stance on it, but for now it tickles me for absolutely NO good reason.

Mushroom Ice-cream

Thu, 01 May 2008 04:23:03 GMT

tongodeon, do they make mushroom ice cream?

Expensive Santa Cruz Mountains search finds stoned teen
[SF Gate]

(04-30) 05:28 PDT Santa Cruz, CA (AP) --
A mother's frantic 911 plea for help finding her injured teen son lost in the Santa Cruz Mountains led to an expensive search that ended with rescuers locating the youth stoned on drugs.

Eighteen-year-old Matthew Rosenberg had used his cellular telephone Monday night to call his mom and tell her he tripped, broke his leg and was lost.

But Cal Fire Capt. Bill Finch says the Los Gatos High School senior didn't break his leg, adding the teen had apparently swallowed hallucinogenic mushrooms, possibly dropped some acid and just "thought" his leg was broken.

Finch says the teen "was really gorked" when rescuers found him standing at the bottom of a ravine. The cost of the search was estimated at up to $10,000.

The teen's father Mark Rosenberg says the boy will be punished, adding "he probably won't get to use the car for a while."

I can only assume that his restriction of car use is to limit his ability to acquire ice cream.

Watching American Dad

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 10:20:05 GMT

Watching the new American Dad and I see this in the opening shot:

That is directed at me, I think.