Happy Pi Day

Today, March 14, is Pi Day.

Pi, according to Wikipedia:

… is a mathematical constant whose value is the ratio of any Euclidean plane circle’s circumference to its diameter; this is the same value as the ratio of a circle’s area to the square of its radius. It is approximately equal to 3.14159265 in the usual decimal notation. Many formulae from mathematics, science, and engineering, involve π, which makes it one of the most important mathematical constants.

π is an irrational number and cannot be expressed in a fraction.

Now we’re done with the geek bit. And we’re on to the fun stuff.

Pi Day was created by Larry Shaw in 1989. According to Wikipedia:

The holiday was celebrated at the San Francisco Exploratorium, where Shaw worked as physicist, with staff and public marching around one of its circular spaces, then consuming fruit pies. The Exploratorium continues to hold Pi Day celebrations.

In celebration, here is a bit of Pi for your enjoyment.

Pi r square.  No Pi r round
Pi r square. No Pi r round
Pi_monumentum
Pi sculpture Sculpture at Harbor Steps in Seattle, Washington

A little music…

No, we didn’t forget the kitties.


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“The cats of Mirikitani”: persistence of vision

“The cats of Mirikitani” – (2006, USA, 74 minutes – documentary)

Sometime around the summer of 2001, film editor Linda Hattendorf develops an interest in 80 year old homeless artist Tsutomu “Jimmy” Mirikitani who accepts to become the subject of her documentary project.
Jimmy’s subjects are mainly cats, tigers and the internment camps where he spent three and a half years, at Tule Lake, California during WWII.

Watch the trailer here:

After the September 11th attacks, which brought forth images reminiscent of the Hiroshima bombing with a city covered in ashes and dust, Hattendorf convinces Jimmy to leave behind his shopping cart and multiple layers of clothing, and move into her apartment.
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Caturday: The Boys are Back

Since they didn’t get their chance to shine yesterday, the boys are back today.

Tito
Tito
Kitsy
Kitsy in his Harley Davidson t-shirt

I’m about to run off and watch a zombie film.  I think we’ll have some good snacks to go with the movie.

Cheesy poots


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Midnight Movie Madness: tentacle difficulties and uncivil serpents

This week, two films which can be broadly characterized as creature features: Mystery Science Theater 3000’s skewering of Lamberto Bava’s “Devil Fish” and Larry Cohen’s “Q: the winged serpent”.
Bava’s “Devil Fish” was ‘remade’ in 2010 for the SyFy channel as “Sharktopus”.
Interestingly, many elements of “Q: the winged serpent” were ‘borrowed’ in 1998’s “Godzilla” as well, but not credited to Cohen…
Doing a review of an MST3K is like reviewing a review, in a way, but “Devil Fish” is so bad that this “commented” version made it much, much more palatable.

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Caturday cat blogging

It’s time again for our boys to shine. They do have lessons to teach about love and affection..!

The Boober and Tito
Tito actually tucking in Kitsune


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Spoofing old horror: “creatures of the Pink lagoon”

“Creatures of the Pink lagoon” – (2006, USA, 71 minutes – NR)

Sometimes trying to decide on a good movie to review doesn’t mean the movie has to be all that great. I think there should be something interesting about it which doesn’t necessarily figure in the budget number, cast or other factor, since the review is always going to be subjective after all.

It’s black & white, not in color!

And since I’ve been fighting the flu most of the week, with cocktails of Sudafed and Vodka, I got in the mood for some silliness.

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Art in Nature

Ephemeral art can be found everywhere, but in natural settings, the inspiration and effect does seem more meditative. Using stones, bark, pine cones, twigs and whatever else may be readily available, people assemble compositions ranging from intriguing to wistful or even amusing.

Lands End
Labyrinth at Lands End created by Eduardo Aguilera

This labyrinth created (and recreated several times) by Eduardo Aguilera at Land’s End is a meditative piece, changing as it does from dawn until dusk. In this particular setting, Aguilera’s “shrine” invites contemplation.

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