Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Jules Verne gets a Google doodle in honor of '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea'


The illustration features golden portholes in the "Google" logo
and interactive instrumentation that lets you dive, dive, dive to the ocean floor.
(And, if you're precise with the red-knobbed joystick, you can navigate the scene downward
so all the portholes are simultaneously filled with colorful marine life
that approximates the world "Google.")

From TheWashingtonPost / WP

Get your sea legs ready.
Google's latest interactive logo, to go live on Tuesday, celebrates
Jules Verne's 183rd birthday, and it may induce seasickness.

In honor of Verne's most famous novel, "
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," the logo has been transformed into the portholes of a submarine.
A driving panel allows the viewer to take on the vaunted role of
Captian Nemo and dive the submarine to the depths of the digital ocean, where shipwrecks and a giant squid dwell.
The logo duplicates the swaying of the sea so accurately, wooziness may ensue.

Ironically, the first "Twenty Thousand Leagues..." featured no illustrations.
The tentacled adventures of Captain Nemo and the good ship
Nautilus would receive appropriately eye-catching artwork, though, thanks to publisher-editor Pierre-Jules Hetzel.

Verne, born on Feb. 8, 1828 in Nantes, was known for his provocative science-fiction novels.
Happy 183rd, Monsieur Verne.
And to think: That age means you were dreaming up certain submarine functions before they were even a proper reality (reference to major scientific advancements -- such as the submarine, airplanes and the moon landing -- long before they existed in real life.)
In a league of your own, indeed.

The logo is already live in Australia, but should be up around the world by Tuesday morning.

Links :
  • YouTube : "20.000 Leagues Under the Sea" (1954) Trailer

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