Simon's Cat "Santa Claws"

Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse

We were lucky enough to be in the right place, at the right time to see a total eclipse of the sun back in August 1999 - we were near Lizard Point in Cornwall and the forecast was bobbins - I vividly remember sitting in a field, above cliffs looking at a grey and over cast sky thinking I should have stayed in London and being generally grumpy, as well as cross for dragging so many people down to the South West for this when, with moments to go, the sky in our area cleared slightly and we all saw this natural wonder - the speed at which it went dark was incredible, the temperature dropped massively, yes, the birds did stop singing - but the moment the sun popped out from behind the moon and blasted us with light and heat once again was simply breathtaking - its power is something we all take for granted. Got it on VHS somewhere, need to convert it to share the experience, but for this, here's Professor Brian Cox talking about it for his fantastic Wonders Of The Solar System for the BBC;


Anyway, those that know me (Ritch) well, will know how much I look forward to the lighter nights / clocks going to BST - and to celebrate this in 2010, we had a lunar eclipse on the Winter Solstice. It's not as spectacular or as rare as a total eclipse of the sun, but a fascinating display all the same - we weren't so lucky with the cloud cover last night, so here's a stunning time lapse from Florida.

Photographic Documentation Of A Space Shuttle Launch

The noisiest noise that man has made other than a nuke I guess - quite a long film, but has some stunning shots of a shuttle launch

Talking Piano

No tricks, it's a grand piano talking - its very eerie - shame about the german narrator.

"You SUCK At Photoshop" Series

By far the funniest and original tutorial series on YouTube - running over several episodes, Donnie Hoyle teaches viewers how to use Photoshop, but it's also an insight into his sad, sad life and how it falls apart. It won several Webby Awards in 2008, the first episode went live almost 3 years ago - so in the words of b3ta.com, its a bit GC - but then again, it deserves to be watched again and again.. full 20 episode playlist available to watch here

In the first tutorial, Donnie pulls a digital end-around on a restraining order and vandalizes a Vanagon.


In the second, Donnie shows you how to fix mistakes you've made.


In the third, Donnie makes a very big mistake go away.


There are 20 glorious episodes to watch, click here to see them all - but you MUST watch them in order!

Transformers 3 Trailer

15 years ago, a bloke I knew at Kingston University called Kevin started talking about something called "conspiracy theories" - in this he claimed that a lot of what we are told isn't the true. In his convincing ramblings, he talked about symbols on US Dollar notes, blood lines, why JFK was shot, free masons and as well as the moon landings being fake. It was interesting to a point, but I can clearly remember the moment he said that Neil Armstrong's first words weren't "One Small Step For Man, One Giant Leap For Mankind" (which as my father will endlessly point out should've been "One small step for A man, one giant leap for mankind, but hey, Neil's mind was probably elsewhere) but were actually "Oh look at all the buildings".

Anyway, many years later, Dan Brown wrote The Da Vinci Code, I wonder if Kevin was involved. Or if he was part of the team behind Transformers 3.

Meet Buck

This is beautifully animated - I'd love to see a music video made with this styling / feel, wouldn't you - or even a video game - anyway find out more about the team behind this here

"Buck is an ordinary guy. Well...if you except the "deer head" thing. And today, Buck is gonna spend this cool Sunday afternoon with his girlfriend who's so happy to see him (she's pretty much always happy). But when Buck find out that her father is not the sympathic and tolerant guy he excpected, the Sunday afternoon turns really bad"

Meet Buck from TeamCerf on Vimeo.

Thanks to taters on b3ta.com for spotting it

Making The Invisible Visible

Love creative advertising like this - so simple, clever but highly effective - how could you walk past this and not stop to look? No doubt be used by other larger brands very soon, but this is the work of Brothers and Sisters creative team Lisa Jelliffe and Kirsten Rutherford who teamed up with an anonymous German street art collective Mentalgassi, to create art installations called "Making the invisible visible" for Amnesty International.
This highlights the case of Troy Davis, a man who has been on death row for 19 years in the USA. Displayed on fence railings you see nothing but bars, his face only becomes visible from an angle. To find out more and to help Troy click here.



Thanks to The Cool Hunter

BBC: Woman Dials 999 To Report Snowman Theft

Absolutely amazing. "It's made of snow, I made it myself"


"A woman who dialled 999 to report the theft of a snowman from outside her home has been branded "completely irresponsible" by Kent Police.

The force said the woman, from Chatham, thought the incident required their involvement because she used pound coins for eyes and teaspoons for arms.

During the call the woman said: "It ain't a nice road but you don't expect someone to nick your snowman."

Click here to visit the BBC News Website to read more and listen to this fantastic phone call.