June 18, 2006, 3:07 PM CT

Art Meets Donkeykong

This project is being exhibited at Fabbrica del Vapore during Salone.

xBlocks is a convergence between video games & sculpture - liberating play from the screen. It is a mixed reality installation inspired by traditional platform games of the late 1980s such as Super Mario Brothers or Pitfall. Using standard game controllers, two opposing players must help their characters navigate in and around a three dimensional maze. The real challenge comes, not from traditional game mechanics but rather from moving with your character as he sprints around corners and jumps between the installation's two play surfaces.........

Posted by: Gina      Permalink         Source

June 18, 2006, 2:59 PM CT

Report From A Concert By A Serbian War-criminal

Serbian writer Jasmina Tesanovic has just written a new piece called "Ideally Bad, or, The Banality of Her Badness." It tells the story of last night's concert by Serbian turbo-folk star Ceca. Ceca is the widow of the Milosevic-era war-criminal Raznatovic, and she goes about in public adorned in kewelry looted from the victims of war atrocities. She is a Serbian ultra-nationalist whose fame is both nauseating and ill-deserved, and Tesanovic's account of her concerts is scathing, brutal, and brilliant:.

Ideally Bad, or, The Banality of Her Badness.

Belgrade 17 June, 2005.

There is no excuse for going to Ceca's concert ("Ideally Bad") but I found one: I took a foreigner with me. I am trembling with shame while the local crowd of Ceca fans is flooding down to the confluence of the rivers of Danube and Sava. The concert is occurring next to the big, ugly monument that Mira Markovic built to celebrate the NATO raids. In the name of the Serbian people, this monument is inscribed. Well, NOT IN MY NAME.

I am glumly studying this host of young people merrily walking to see their evil pop-idol. They are SO young, our children from some years ago, the so called war children. These war kids are high school kids today. Do they remember anything of the wars, of the crimes and massive looting done in their names by their turbo folk icon? Do they know that Ceca robbed them of their future?.........

Posted by: Gina      Permalink         Source

June 18, 2006, 11:20 AM CT

Zapatero Facing Crucial Test

Catalans went to the polls in a referendum on giving their region increased autonomy, in a crucial test for Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero as he seeks to rally support for peace talks with Basque separatists.

The referendum enjoys wide support among Catalans and is expected to pass easily, with a recent survey indicating that close to 75 percent of Catalonia's more than 5.3 million voters are in favour of a greater say in the coastal region's affairs.

Zapatero has weighed in heavily in support and became personally involved in working out a compromise in the Spanish parliament and in the subsequent political campaigning. Together with the Basque question, the vote has become one of the most perilous political issues of his time in power.

The only opposition to the referendum comes from separatists in the wealthy northeastern territory, for whom the text does not go far enough, and from conservatives fearing a violent breakup of Spain.

Polling stations opened at 0700 GMT and were to close at 1800 GMT. The first official results are expected 90 minutes after the polls close.

Turnout shortly after 1:00 pm was 20.84 percent of the 5.2 million eligible voters, with polls predicting a final participation figure of 50-55 percent.........

Posted by: Tom      Permalink         Source

June 18, 2006, 11:16 AM CT

Japan warns N.Korea over any missile 'attack'

Japan warned North Korea it would regard any test-fired missile that landed on Japanese soil as an attack, after reports the secretive nation was preparing to jangle international nerves with a new missile launch.

Foreign Minister Taro Aso said Tokyo was ready to slap sanctions on the North, which surprised the world by firing a missile over Japan in 1998 without warning. He said any repeat launch would lead immediately to the UN Security Council.

"If they failed and the missile dropped on. Japan, things would be complicated," Aso said on Japanese television. "It will be regarded as an attack".

He also said that the legal procedures were already in place to impose economic sanctions against North Korea.

"The next step is to put that in motion," Aso said.

Reports of the imminent test of a long-range missile with the range to hit parts of the United States have drawn stiff warnings from Washington as well as from Japan and South Korea.........

Posted by: Tom      Permalink         Source

June 17, 2006, 3:09 PM CT

2007 Saturn Sky

Hooray for another American Miata beater! This is the 2007 Saturn Sky, which is essentially the Saturn version of the new Pontiac Solstice. Like the Solstice, the new Sky will be priced at under $25,000, and will have a 2.4 liter, 170hp four cylinder engine.

I have to say I really like the styling of the Saturn Sky, far more than the Solstice. The cutesy rounded nose of the Solstice has been replaced with a much more aggressive looking piece, with a nice big air dam. Kind of looks like a tiny Ferrari from the back. That's just me.

Personally I'd still take the Miata for its handling, but it should be fun to see if GM can make a dent in the cheap, fun roadster market.........

Posted by: Jim      Permalink         Source

June 17, 2006, 3:06 PM CT

Astin Martin Rapide

This is just a beautiful car! Set for an actual launch date in 2007 (who knows when in 2007). The car is the same size a Mercedez Benz S-Class and a Maserati Quattroporte and the Porsche Panamera, (and most probably the same price). Nothing has been confirmed, but it is very possible that the car will be available to the rich and wealthy here in Australia.

The Rapide's V12 engine pumps out a massive 480 horsepower getting the car to 100 in less than 5 seconds and all the way up to almost 300km/hour!........

Posted by: Jim      Permalink         Source

June 17, 2006, 1:58 PM CT

Peugeot debuts its 907 high-powered coupe

When I stop and think about some of those European brands that we never get to enjoy here in North America -- like Citroen and Renault -- I get conflicted. On the one hand, I can envision the fuel-sipping, slow-as-mud city dwellers doing their daily rounds. Conversely, images of off-road rally driving come to mind, with wild jumps and all-wheel-drive. The new 907 coupe concept fits neither of these stereotypes.

"Peugeot's swoopy coupe concept", as Top Gear put it, bears a closer resemblance to some of the highest powered roadsters and coupes on the market, getting right in line with the likes of AMG'd out Mercedes and the like. The 6.0-litre V12 found in the Peugeot 907 is capable of developing 500 horsepower. That extra juice will come in handy when it makes its debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the UK, where it will be participating in the Supercar hillclimb Run.........

Posted by: Jim      Permalink         Source

June 17, 2006, 1:49 PM CT

Philips HTS9800, system of cinema in house

Philips HTS9800 is a system of cinema in house that the company offers us by 900 dollars.

Design is simply impeccable, and if we united that it leaves to him from the equipment acts of wireless form, is the ideal candidate to share with a good Plasma or LCD of Loewe, for example.

The equipment has connectivity HDMI and sound Ex- Digital Dolby 6,1. with six wireless loudspeakers, tweeters and to subwoofer dedicated.........

Posted by: Gina      Permalink         Source

June 17, 2006, 1:40 PM CT

iGroove HG, black loudspeakers

The Klipsch manufacturer has presented/displayed the black version shining of his system of loudspeakers iGroove, that takes the HG last name now.

Initially thought to satisfy the demand of accessories of this type in black color before the sale of iPods of this color, he can also be used with any source of audio thanks to the auxiliary entrance, eventhough it is clear that the idea is to connect iPod to him of 3ª, 4ª or even 5ª generation of the reproducer of Apple. By the way, he is able also to load them.

He will have a price of 250 dollars as of this same month.........

Posted by: Gina      Permalink         Source

June 17, 2006, 1:35 PM CT

Hot Wheels For Wheelchair Users

Style has rarely been a priority in industrial design for the disabled - until now that is. Designed in Hungary, the Kenguru is a car specially designed for wheelchair users. The car's interior space has no front seat - just a space built to house the driver's own wheelchair so all he/she has to do is simply roll in through the extra large car doors and into position.

The wheelchair locks into place, within easy reach of the car's controls which are centred around a joystick. It's light years away from the current options for disabled drivers, which involve having to hoist themselves into the driver's seat of standard cars.

by Billy T........

Posted by: Jim      Permalink         Source

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