September 1, 2008
Links 32
1. 35 Greatest Works of Reverse Graffiti
2. Remember 'go outside and play?' - As children, my siblings and I spent countless hours playing outside, unsupervised. In retrospect, there were many times when we could have been injured or gotten into some other serious trouble. Had my rather nervous mother really known what we were sometimes up to, she would never have let us go outside again. But luckily she did let us go out, and I can say those hours were perhaps the happiest in my life. From the editorial:
Reader, if you're much over 30, you probably remember what it used to be like for the typical American kid. Remember how there used to be this thing called "going out to play"?
For younger readers, I'll explain this archaic concept. It worked like this: The child or children in the house -- as long as they were over age 4 or so -- went to the door, opened it, and ... went outside. They braved the neighborhood pedophile just waiting to pounce, the rusty nails just waiting to be stepped on, the trees just waiting to be fallen out of, and they "played."
"Play," incidentally, is a mysterious activity children engage in when not compelled to spend every hour under adult supervision, taking soccer or piano lessons or practicing vocabulary words with computerized flashcards.
An article from the Daily Mail explores the trend over four generations and maps the decrease in roaming area. Having said all of this, I'm completely sure I would not let my own children wander very far unsupervised! I wouldn't even give them the same freedom I enjoyed as a child. So, have the risks really changed, or have our perceptions simply changed? Is it a little of both? This issue fascinates me.
3. The Critics Need a Reboot. The Internet Hasn't Led Us Into a New Dark Age - One perspective among many, but worth sharing (mainly because you don't encounter it very often).
4. Some E-Cards - 'For when you care enough to hit send':
5. On the Limits of Memory - another strange and lovely photo gallery from the wonderful Square America. Take some time to browse through the whole site. There are lots of gems, many quite hidden. (Definitely check out Square America and In The Booth.)
01 Sep 10:22 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Link Dump '08, Photography
August 28, 2008
Links 30
1. Jamie Livingston's Polaroid a Day - Jamie Livingston took a polaroid nearly every day for eighteen years. It's not so much that he took a photo every day -- many people these days take multiple photos each day -- but that he took a good photo almost every day. Or maybe it's just that there's something about a polaroid. I don't know. Anyway, take a look at this mental_floss article. The Wikipedia entry provides links to more information, too.
2. Lawrence Lessig on McCain on Technology - I'm a big fan of Larry Lessig. Check out his critique of John McCain's technology policy. (These issues are a big deal, folks.)
3. I drove past a number of wind farms, in a number of states, on my trip from Utah to Texas. The enormous alien-looking machines spinning slowly in the air can be a strange sight. It struck me that even a clean, renewable energy source like wind power has tradeoffs. Don't get me wrong; it beats a coal or nuclear power plant. However, I can understand why some people might take issue with living next to them. It's worse if you're a bird or bat. For example, wind turbines make bat lungs explode. Ech.
4. Fleshmap: Musical Genres - I've seen lots of links to this lately, but I'll share it because a few of you probably missed it. It's a chart of how often a part of the body is sung about, sorted by musical genre (from a sample of 1000 songs). It's interesting how hip hop stands out from the rest. Oh, there are actual photos of body parts, so it's NSFW. If you go to the main site there are a couple of other odd little 'studies'.
5. Radiohead's 'House of Cards' video - 'House of Cards' might be my favorite cut from In Rainbows. The video is worth mention, too. (If you have a fast connection, it's worth downloading the high res version from Radiohead's site.) Instead of using lights and cameras, they used "just data" (from Geometric Informatics for the closeups and Velodyne LIDAR for the landscapes). The effect is pretty cool. Plus, you can get the data from Google Code to do with as you please. The site also has a making-of video, viewer, and more.
28 Aug 19:10 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Link Dump '08, Music, Photography, Politics, Technology & Computing, Video
July 4, 2008
Happy Birthday
Happy birthday, U.S.A. 232 ain't so bad. (Actually, it's amazingly young if you really think about it). I wonder what you might look like in another 232. Anyway, here's a memory from your psychedelic 200th birthday. In some ways, I'm sad I missed the '70s.
(And, may I add: Could it be any more perfect that Jesse Helms dies and America throws a national party?)
04 Jul 23:51 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Video
June 25, 2008
Carlin (again)
In his NYT eulogy for George Carlin, Jerry Seinfeld writes:
As a kid it seemed like the whole world was funny because of George Carlin. His performing voice, even laced with profanity, always sounded as if he were trying to amuse a child. It was like the naughtiest, most fun grown-up you ever met was reading you a bedtime story.
Here's a clip of Carlin actually performing for children. Not all that different from his normal style:
25 Jun 19:04 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Humor, Video
June 23, 2008
George Carlin Video Clips
George Carlin will be sorely missed. Here are several of the many clips you can find online:
- Modern Man
- Airline Announcements, Part 1
- Airline Announcements, Part 2
- It's Bad for Ya! (Part 6 of 7)
- Mike Douglas Show 1971 w/ Lennon & Ono, Part 1
- Mike Douglas Show 1971, Part 2
- Seven Words
23 Jun 16:50 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Humor, Video
May 1, 2008
Links 8 (Vonnegut)
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., one of my favorite writers and a fine human being, died last year. I had lots of related bookmarks saved up (I guess in the expectation of weaving them into some sort of tribute). Here are a few of them...
1. 15 Things Kurt Vonnegut Said Better Than Anyone Else Ever Has Or Will. Things like these:
"I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, 'If this isn't nice, I don't know what is.'"
"She was a fool, and so am I, and so is anyone who thinks he sees what God is doing."
"Since Alice had never received any religious instruction, and since she had led a blameless life, she never thought of her awful luck as being anything but accidents in a very busy place. Good for her."
2. The Art of Fiction No. 64 - a great interview from 1977.
3. Harrison Bergeron - a short story. I have no idea why the link was in my bookmarks list.
4. NOW - A Tribute To Kurt Vonnegut - one of his last public interviews, from the PBS program. To see all 20+ minutes of the interview (which you really should because the last half is better than the first), you'll need to go to the PBS page, but you can see part of it on YouTube:
5. Original Kilgore Trout Stories - someone went through Vonnegut's books, located all the excerpts from Kilgore Trout stories, and put them online. Wonderful.
6. Dear Mr. Vonnegut, - Vonnegut wrote lots of articles recently that can be found online. I had bookmarks to quite a few of them, but I most enjoyed his short answers to e-mails (sent in response to his interview Kurt Vonnegut vs. the !&#*!@) in Dear Mr. Vonnegut. There's also a part two and a part three.
7. For a few more links, check out one of my old Vonnegut posts.
01 May 22:44 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Link Dump '08
March 19, 2008
Natural Fashion Show
From the Daily Mail:
With colourful make-up of bright yellows, startling whites and rich earth-reds, flamboyant accessories and extraordinarily elaborate decorations, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the designs in these images originated in the fevered mind of some leading fashionista.
Yet far from the catwalks of New York, London or Paris, these looks are the sole creation of the Surma and Mursi tribes of East Africa's Omo Valley.
19 Mar 21:15 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Photography
February 29, 2008
3 a.m. ("Now then, Dmitri...")
You've probably heard about Hillary Clinton's latest ad, 3 a.m.. (I wish they had picked a different time for Hillary to be fully dressed and working at her desk in the middle of the night, because every time I hear "it's 3 a.m." I have flashbacks to that obnoxious Matchbox 20 song from the '90s.)
The pundits and blogs are all atwitter ("it's the new Daisy" etc. etc.). It's certainly not the most original ad, considering that Mondale ran a very similar one against Gary Hart back in '84 and LBJ ran one twenty years before that.
The Obama campaign has already put together a response, but Coudal Partners took Clinton's ad and did something simply brilliant with it (click for video):
(I love Dr. Strangelove, as I've mentioned once or twice before, so this was right up my alley.)
29 Feb 23:37 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Humor, Politics, Video
February 9, 2008
The Music of "The Omega Man"
I received an e-mail about yesterday's post, reminding me of something I should've mentioned: the music in The Omega Man. I cannot believe I didn't mention it! The film's soundtrack is certainly notable. It was probably considered very cutting-edge for its time, with little blips of synthesizer and drums mixed in with more traditional elements (i.e., strings and horns) and some jazz and rock. It's a weird soundtrack that could only have come from the early '70s, but in most ways that's not such a bad thing. It's certainly an interesting and memorable mix, from the melancholy warble of the horns when Neville's alone, to the organs that play during scenes featuring "the family".
Ron Grainer wrote and arranged the film's music. His Wikipedia entry calls The Omega Man "one of his most eclectic film works," which contains "a mix of symphonic, jazz, avant garde and electronic music."
One of the things I remember from the movie is that Neville (Heston) has a taste for mellow lounge jazz. Even if you consider it 'elevator' music, his taste is pretty good. In the opening scene where he's driving through the empty streets in his convertible, he listens to a version of Max Steiner's "Theme From 'A Summer Place'" on 8-track. Later on, we hear versions of Cole Porter's "All Through the Night" and Cootie Williams' & Thelonious Monk's "'Round Midnight". They're all arranged (by Grainer, I presume) in an early '70s lounge style. There's also a little tune composed by Grainer called "Swinging at Neville's" that's pretty cool. (It's the one Neville listens to when he dresses up for Sunday dinner in his green crushed-velvet suit. Heh.)
According to Grainer's Wikipedia entry: "The soundtrack was not released on CD until 2002 in a limited run of 3000 copies through FilmScoreMonthly. Copies appear on eBay from time to time, but it is now considered a rarity."
Luckily for you, I was able to track down a copy on the web! What a terrific find. Download while it's still there. (The files are hosted by a download service so you'll have to jump through a few hoops to download.)
You can also grab a couple of the tracks from eccentric-cinema.net (but they're not totally representative so I still recommend downloading the whole thing from the link above):
On The Tumbril / Motorcycle Escape
Surprise Party
For a while, I'll host the mellow lounge jazz tunes, for your sophisticated 1970s cocktail parties:
Swinging At Neville's
All Through The Night
'Round Midnight
Theme From 'A Summer Place'
Here are the tracks that open and close the film, too:
The Omega Man
Dutch Takes Over (edit)
09 Feb 23:54 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Music
February 8, 2008
The Last Man on Earth
I have yet to see I Am Legend (and I suspect it will be a while before I get around to it), but for some reason I've always had a soft spot for The Omega Man. (Both are loosely based on the same Richard Matheson novel.) I'm not sure why. The Omega Man is pretty awful. The confused message, the mediocre effects, the influence of early '70s blaxploitation films, the fake blood, Charlton Heston wandering around shooting anything that moves ... well, actually, I can see why it's strangely enjoyable. In fact, if you've never seen it, rent a copy and have fun. (Pay attention to the motorcycle scene where the stunt double barely resembles Heston... heh.)
I recently learned of an earlier film adaptation of Matheson's novel, from 1964. It's called The Last Man on Earth and stars Vincent Price. It has entered the public domain, which means you can download a free copy from the The Internet Archive (a site I've mentioned before).
I just watched it and... I dunno. It's completely different from 'The Omega Man'. In some respects this could be considered a good thing, and the film does have its moments. But unless you like Vincent Price or enjoy old low-budget horror flicks (neither of which apply to me), it probably won't be your cup of tea.
(Do rent 'The Omega Man', though. And let me know if I should bother with 'I Am Legend'.)
08 Feb 23:33 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment
January 7, 2008
Memories
What a great find. Do any of you remember this?
(via Centripetal Notion)
07 Jan 12:36 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Music, Video
December 2, 2007
The Real Voice of Darth Vader
Sounds more like Rick Moranis in 'Spaceballs':
02 Dec 15:49 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Humor, Video
November 8, 2007
Mythbusters (or Science on the Boob Tube)
About a year ago, the NY Times ran this story: Is Mythbusters the Best Science Show on Television? (The link is still in my bookmarks list, which is now to 622 items, thank you very much.)
If you have cable or satellite, you've probably chanced across Mythbusters (since Discovery airs it constantly). Basically, a team led by Adam Savage and the crazily mustached Jamie Hyneman test various urban legends and popular myths. It's definitely meant as entertainment. Every show invariably involves an explosion, crash, or some sort of mayhem or gross-out. But what's really cool about the goofy program (to a science nerd like me) is the scientific methodology they employ to test their hypotheses (folk myths, Hollywood conventions, and the like). The questions they explore are usually completely trivial (though entertaining), but their methods are usually solid. It's getting harder and harder to find decent science-related programming anywhere on TV (with the exception of the Science Channel and the occasional PBS, Discovery, or Animal Planet show), so I say hats off to the Mythbusters.
Here's a clip of them testing whether it's possible to drive a car into a moving semi-trailer like Hasselhoff did in Knight Rider (and there are many more YouTube; this is just the first that came up):
According to a more recent story, this season the Mythbusters will be tackling the famous question about the airplane taking off on a conveyor belt. Should be interesting.
For a complete list of their results (confirmed, plausible, or busted?), check out mythbustersresults.com.
There - I got rid of three bookmarks in one post. Only 619 to go!
08 Nov 18:25 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Science, Video
October 11, 2007
British accents by Peter Sellers
This video, shot between takes on Dr. Strangelove, features Peter Sellers running through a variety of British accents (and of course the American Midwestern accent he used for President Muffley) -- all in less than ninety seconds. Pretty cool.
While I'm on the topic of accents, have you ever heard of Foreign Accent Syndrome? Very rarely, after stroke or brain injury, a subject will suddenly speak with a foreign accent. What actually happens is that certain aspects of speech (like pronunciation, pitch, and rhythm) are altered in such a way that it sounds to others as if the subject has an accent. From this article on FAS: "For instance, one of our patients, a native New Yorker, was so often mistaken for being Swedish that her doctor jokingly suggested she call herself 'Olga.'"
Here's a BBC story (and video) about an English woman who had a stroke and now sounds like she's Jamaican or maybe French Canadian.
11 Oct 23:36 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Misc. Tidbits, Science, Video
October 1, 2007
"I'm trippin' too"
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. (Or as I call him, The Iranian W.) Plenty of his statements indicate that he, like so many other world leaders, is blinded by ideology - or just batshit insane. The Holocaust denials, the claim of being "surrounded by light" during a speech, and so much more. Like this:
The most remarkable aspect of Mr Ahmadinejad's piety is his devotion to the Hidden Imam, the Messiah-like figure of Shia Islam, and the president's belief that his government must prepare the country for his return.
But I'll admit that he occasionally makes a good point (rhetorically, at least). And sometimes he can even be funny (albeit inadvertently). Like last week at Columbia University when he claimed there are no gays in Iran. Which prompted Andy Samberg's Mahmoud love song, "Iran So Far" (which was the whole reason I posted anything about Ahmadinejad's visit since it's been hashed and rehashed by everyone). The official clip at nbc.com doesn't work for some reason (typical), so enjoy it on YouTube. (If the clip below doesn't work, try searching for other copies.)
01 Oct 19:33 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Current Events, Humor, Politics, Video
September 21, 2007
The Stray Shopping Cart Project
Artist Julian Montague classifies and documents stray shopping carts in strangely intriguing photographs. There's even a book.
In Australia and the UK, abandoned shopping "trolleys" are apparently considered a significant problem... the Aussies have declared war on them. (And, as Gomez fans may know, there are often hotlines you can call to have the things picked up.)
Back in another lifetime, I even documented a few stray carts myself:
(click to enlarge)
21 Sep 20:12 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Photography
September 11, 2007
"Yes."
Salvador Dalí on "What's My Line":
11 Sep 20:45 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Humor, Video
August 3, 2006
Solla Solla Enna Perumai
Umm... I don't really know what the hell this is, but I'm compelled to share it for some reason:
Apparently it originates from this site, where you can find other similarly odd videos.
03 Aug 0:02 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Humor, Video
July 6, 2006
Creationism and evolution tackled on 'The Simpsons'
I came across a brilliant clip from an episode of 'The Simpsons' that ran a few months ago. Sadly, only about 13 minutes of the show are included in the clip... but there are still some classic moments:
- Lisa's clandestine meeting in the school's "Single Purpose Room" where she has written 'Viva La Evolución' on the blackboard
- Homer, upon hearing that according to creationism, there were no cavemen: "Good riddance! Their drawings suck and they look like hippies."
- Ned Flanders declaring under oath that he is as sure that man and ape are not related as he is that "Jesus hates hip-hop"
- Ralph Wiggum saying "The George Will?!"
My favorite moment of all, though, is when Reverend Lovejoy and Ned Flanders tell Principal Skinner they want the school to teach alternatives to Darwinian evolution. Skinner replies, "You mean, Lamarckian evolution?" Classic.
[The biology geek in me would like to note that Darwin himself never ruled out Lamarckism since he was unaware of Mendel's work (or was he?) and its significance... but when most people talk about "Darwinian evolution", they're referring to the modern synthesis.] Just as a sidenote while I'm talking about Lamarckian evolution (something I never thought I'd be doing on this blog), some scientists feel that cultural evolution is very Lamarckian... that is, in species with culture (a group whose size is heavily debated), cultural changes are acquired during an organism's lifetime and passed on to offspring -- Lamarckism (of a sort)! In fact, I just finished reading a recent book by Eric Chaisson ("Epic of Evolution") in which he writes:
. . . in the recent history of humankind, Lamarckian evolution has clearly dominated Darwinian evolution. Cultural acquisitions spread much faster than genetic modifications. Our gene pool differs little from that of the Cro-Magnons some twenty thousand years ago, yet our cultural heritage is a good deal more robust in the knowledge, arts, traditions, beliefs, and technologies acquired and transmitted during the past thousand or so generations.
If you have trouble getting the Simpsons video from the site I linked to, try here (11.3 MB QuickTime).
For another very cool Simpsons video, check out the best Simpsons couch gag ever (10.3 MB QuickTime).
06 Jul 23:44 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Current Events, Human/Primate Evolution & Behavior, Humor, Science, Video
June 8, 2006
They are made out of meat
Check out this video: They are made out of meat. It's a nicely done short film based on a story by Terry Bisson first published in OMNI about fifteen years ago. (Reminiscent of old Twilight Zone episodes.)
(via Centripetal Notion)
08 Jun 20:48 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Video
May 11, 2006
Space Colony Art
As a kid, I spent altogether too much time reading anything in the library that had to do with space. My favorite books were the ones that included ideas and predictions about the future of space exploration (like 'Spacefarers' and 'Starbound' from the 'Voyage Through the Universe' series). I loved sci-fi and I was sure I'd be living in space by the time I was an adult, so this stuff completely sucked me in.
I was excited to recently find a link to a page at NASA with space colony artwork from the 70s. I spent lots of childhood moments looking at images like this one and this one, imagining how cool life in the future would be.
11 May 20:01 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Science
April 8, 2006
Stanford on iTunes
Stanford University is using iTunes to deliver digital content. Part of the project is a completely free public site from which you can download lectures, music, and other stuff. Check it out here. You'll need iTunes, but I'm not sure whether or not you need an account to download.
There are lots of interesting lectures. All the audio I listen to tends to be music, but I think I'm going to forgo the music once in a while to listen to some of these. Some recommended downloads (even though I've only listened to a few of them so far):
- Daniel Dennett: Intelligent Design
- Peter Godfrey-Smith: Philosophy of Science
- Robert Sapolsky: Stress and Coping: What Baboons Can Teach Us
- Denise Clark Pope: Getting Ahead in School: How We Are Creating a Generation of Stressed-Out, Materialistic, and Miseducated Students
- David Laitin and James Fearon: Postmodern Imperialism
- Laura Carstensen: Aging and the Perception of Time
- Robert Dunbar: Is Global Warming Real? Climate Change and Our Energy Future
- Steve Jobs: 2005 Commencement Address (or video)
While I'm on the topic of iTunes downloads, episodes of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report can now be downloaded. They're expensive at $1.99 a pop, but you can also purchase a 'multi-pass' that gets you sixteen episodes for $9.99. (They download automatically the day after they air on TV.) It's still not the cheapest way to get your Daily Show or Colbert Report fix (at about 60¢ an episode), but it's very convenient. I got a pass for The Daily Show just out of curiosity, and once the sixteen episodes were up, I really missed being able to watch The Daily Show - commercial-free - whenever it was most convenient for me.
08 Apr 1:00 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Cool Links, Libraries & Digital Information, Technology & Computing
February 2, 2006
More First Lines
A few people have commented on the 100 First Best Lines from Novels link I posted in Quick Links the other day.
Last year (or was it two years ago?), I was on a J.M. Coetzee kick. One of his novels (Elizabeth Costello) centers around a fictional novelist. Its opening line offers this take on opening lines:
There is first of all the problem of the opening, namely, how to get us from where we are, which is, as yet, nowhere, to the far bank.
Below are a few more 'first lines' pages (two in quiz format):
- Novel Quiz: Famous First Lines
- Famous First Lines of Novels and Poems
- First Lines: A Sort of Literacy Test
- First Lines from Famous Books
02 Feb 0:58 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Interactive, Misc. Tidbits
January 13, 2006
More Music Videos
As a followup to yesterday's post, here are a few videos I found in my bookmarks list (most from Transbuddha).
- Jose Gonzalez - "Stay in the Shade"
- The Album Leaf - "On Your Way"
- Jimi Hendrix playing "The Wind Cries Mary"
- Bo Diddley on Ed Sullivan
And, finally, a clip of John Lennon playing "Yer Blues" with Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, and Mitch Mitchell (plus an odd little intro chat with Mick Jagger). Courtesy of Google Video.
13 Jan 23:46 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Music, Video
January 12, 2006
Video for Dealership's 'Forest'
Last February, I included 'Forest' by Dealership in one of my monthly playlists.
Recently, I ran across a video for the song, created by Aaron Novak. I had a completely different vision of the song, but I still think the video is pretty cool.
12 Jan 19:10 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Music, Video
December 23, 2005
'Lazy Sunday' free from iTunes
A few days ago, I linked to a funny SNL short called 'Lazy Sunday' in the Quick Links section. Now Apple is giving it away as a free video download (for how long I don't know). If you use iTunes, grab it while you can.
23 Dec 11:31 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Video
December 2, 2005
Tranquility Base
The site design of Tranquility Base isn't easy on the eyes, but some of Robert Magginetti's collages are hypnotizing (and some not so hypnotizing). I liked Cretaceous Ocean, Sedan De Ville, Star Soup, and Television.
(via Jaf Project)
02 Dec 15:13 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment
November 27, 2005
'Star Wars Auditions' sketch
Kevin Spacey as Christopher Walken as Han Solo in this SNL clip. (Spacey also plays Walter Mathau auditioning for Obi Wan Kenobi, and Darrell Hammond plays Richard Dreyfuss auditioning for C-3PO.)
(via Steel White Table)
27 Nov 11:40 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Humor
November 20, 2005
Japanese Gallery of Psychiatric Art
The Japanese Gallery of Psychiatric Art is a strange and interesting collection of images from Japanese psychiatric medicine advertisements. (Sadly, the American Gallery of Psychiatric Art is no longer online and the archive doesn't display images.)
20 Nov 14:45 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment
October 21, 2005
"Neanderthals" CG-animated feature
Apparently, actor/director Jon Favreau (Elf, Swingers) is now working on a CG-animated feature, Neanderthals, based on his original story.
Like every other Hollywood portrayal of Neanderthals (or even generic "cavemen"), it will probably portray them as stupid brutes. Even many people who know enough about Neanderthals to know roughly when & where they lived tend to assume they disappeared simply because they weren't as "smart" as humans. It's certainly much more complicated than that. But anyway... The popular notions of Neanderthals and "cave men" as humorously dim-witted is unfortunate.
Still, Favreau usually chooses good stuff to star in or direct, so maybe it won't be so bad. As John Hawks says, "I guess it has to be better than Spielberg's 'Neanderthal' would have been."
21 Oct 18:14 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Human/Primate Evolution & Behavior
The Colbert Report: Grippy and Lincolnish
I've watched The Colbert Report twice now. It's not too bad... So far, the satire has been really on-the-mark and I've been enjoying it. I do think it might grow tired with time, but we'll see. The wonderful thing is that where I live, at least, The Colbert Report is on at the exact same time as The O'Reilly Factor. During commercials, I flip to Fox and watch a couple minutes of The Factor. It makes Colbert's impression of self-important blowhards all the more funny.
Tune in next week if you haven't seen it yet (and try to watch a bit of O'Reilly, Nancy Grace, Joe Scarborough, Sean Hannity, or any of the rest beforehand). Neil deGrasse Tyson is scheduled as a guest, which might be interesting.
21 Oct 16:01 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Humor
September 18, 2005
Caricatures
For some excellent celebrity caricatures, check out Sebastian Kruger's work.
18 Sep 19:35 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment
August 24, 2005
Woolly Rockers
For some reason, I thought these were pretty cool and funny: knitted rock stars. The Morrissey one cracks me up. It's also funny that the different Beatles eras are so recognizable.
24 Aug 18:35 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Misc. Tidbits, Music
August 18, 2005
Artistic Miscellany
Some odds and ends I found while cleaning out my bookmarks:
- Atomic Postcards (from BGSU's Browne Popular Culture Library)
- Tetsuo Ikeda - check out the two painting galleries
- Tara Donovan installations - toothpicks, styrofoam cups, paper plates, pins. Very cool.
18 Aug 21:28 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment
August 16, 2005
Illustrations
Magic Group is a professional illustration company based out of the Czech Republic. Check out some of their work. I was particularly impressed with the various drawings/illustrations of animals, from invertebrates and the underwater world to mammals and birds. Definitely check out the hominids, too.
16 Aug 20:24 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment
August 15, 2005
Christopher Walken for President
I don't know if this a joke or if it's for real... regardless, let me say this: I would so totally vote for Christopher Walken (mirror). Speeches and press conferences would never be the same. He would easily be one of the oddest and coolest actors-turned-politicians, and compared to the likes of Reagan and Schwarzenegger would totally kick ass. Walken 2008!
15 Aug 17:44 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Humor
Cuban Posters
There's some really nice graphic design and artwork to be found in this collection of Cuban posters, mostly among the selections from 1967-1971.
15 Aug 13:20 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Misc. Tidbits
June 12, 2005
May The Force Please Go Away
I saw the final Star Wars movie last week. It was definitely the best of the prequels... not that that says much. (Sorry, I'm not going to bother with a review.) Sadly, I think most people have been as entertained with the Vader YTMNDs as with the movies, especially the coaster and Vader vs. Luke.
Read Mark Morford's column May The Force Please Go Away. Here's the #5 reason you should be glad Star Wars is finally over (if you really believe that, suckers):
Darth Vader choking a giant red M&M candy. Darth Vader staring down that creepy Burger King mascot thing. Darth Vader hawking cell phones and Energizer batteries and floor cleaner and breakfast cereal and who the hell knows what else. Good riddance, odious sea of SW product tie-ins. Like the goddamn franchise needs more cash? Like seeing Darth Vader hawking tampons and aspirin and Darth Vader-branded bunion pads is in any way necessary? Please.
12 Jun 23:01 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment
March 30, 2005
The Eyes of Nye
Bill Nye has a new science show, called The Eyes of Nye. This time, his show is for adults and "takes on hard-hitting adult topics like addiction, cloning, and climate change." You can get a basic description and brief interview from Wired.
And, of course, it doesn't look like the show will air where I live.
(via Blankbaby)
30 Mar 12:16 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Science
March 22, 2005
Experimental Gameplay Project
The goal of Canergie Mellon's Experimental Gameplay Project is to create 50 to 100 games in 1 semester. Each game must be made in less than 7 days by one person. Visit the site to try the games ("some good, some crappy, all experimental") and vote on them.
22 Mar 12:08 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Technology & Computing
March 13, 2005
"I ♥ PowerPoint"
Way back in August of '03, I linked to an article about David Byrne's PowerPoint art (and later the Gettysburg PowerPoint Presentation).
This report from a recent lecture at Berkeley would seem to indicate he's still in love with it.
13 Mar 23:14 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Technology & Computing
March 6, 2005
Hotel Rwanda
Last week, I was reading this article about the film Hotel Rwanda when I noticed the hotel name - Hotel des Mille Collines - and realized I stayed there a couple of nights when I visited Rwanda a few years ago. (I'm completely embarrassed and ashamed that I had no clue about the hotel's history when I was visiting.)
I saw the movie a few nights ago. Unfortunately, it was filmed in South Africa, so they didn't use the actual hotel. (Indeed, the actual hotel is not nearly as fancy as the one in the movie.) The outside grounds and the inside of the lobby were decent facsimiles, though (and their little transport vans looked identical).
Aside from my slight disappointment over the filming location, I was pretty impressed with the film. Many reviewers have complained that it sanitizes or washes over the brutality of what happened. This is certainly true (the film is only rated PG-13) but I don't think it diminishes the impact of the film as much as some reviewers say. I'm not sure if the filmmakers were more concerned with taking the focus away from bloody killing (perhaps to prevent an R rating and open it to a potentially wider audience) or trying to focus mainly on the personal, human side of the story (as any good film set in a time of crisis does). In other words, it would be more of an issue if the film presented itself as a documentary-like effort rather than a drama (though I will admit that can be a thin line when it's a factual drama).
It was a bit sanitized, but in the end I think the film is still nearly as powerful and moving as it might be with a few more scenes of innocent people being hacked to death with machetes.
I would definitely recommend the film to anyone... both those who are familiar with what happened and those who aren't. The most nagging thought I have is that in ten years, someone will probably be making a similar film about Sudan (or any number of other conflicts and incidents in Africa and around the world, both present and past). Or that people will think animosity between Hutus and Tutsis is a thing of the past. They're still fighting in the Congo and Burundi is only now getting back to a semblance of order. Conflict in Rwanda, Burundi, and DR Congo is estimated to have caused the deaths of five million people in just over a decade.
06 Mar 12:48 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Travel
March 4, 2005
Frozen Mermaids, Scary Sirens
Maureen Dowd's columns sometimes annoy me, but I enjoyed her latest, Frozen Mermaids, Scary Sirens:
Sometimes in affluent settings, like the Oscars or the shoe department at Bergdorf's, you see a bunch of eerily similar women with oddly off-track features - Botox-smoothed Formica foreheads, collagen-protruding lips, surgically narrowed noses, taut jaws - who look like sisters from another planet.
...
In the future, there will be only one face. And if the Oscars are predictive, there will be only one body - big chest, skinny body - and one style. It was bizarre how actress after actress came out in the same mermaid silhouette: a strapless sheath with a trumpet-flared or ruffled skirt.
Where are the good old wardrobe malfunctions of Cher and Barbra?
In decades past, each top glamour girl aimed for a signature face and measurements, a trademark voice, a unique walk. You never saw Katharine Hepburn and Ava Gardner showing up in the same dress, or Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe looking like a pair of matching candles.
In some wacky, self-defeating conspiracy, stylists have joined forces with surgeons to homogenize today's actresses so it's hard to tell one from another; the Oscars had a safe, boring, generic look. Top female stars who have had a lot of work done start looking like one another on magazine covers, and being confused for one another at publicity events.
Chris Rock was right: star power is in short supply in a town where women would rather be conventional than individual. It's the same problem Hollywood has making movies: too much cloning, not enough originality.
04 Mar 17:06 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment
February 10, 2005
What happened to sci-fi films?
I just caught part of Red Planet on TV... reminded me what an awful film it was. The fiction part was bad - screwy plot, awkward dialogue, etc. The science part was even worse. The Pathfinder radio, the artificial gravity, the radiation burst, the "nematodes"... I could go on and on. How about when the geneticist PhD talks about A, G, T, and... P. (Maybe he got one of those Internet doctorate degrees, or maybe cytosine will be renamed in the coming decades.) It's not that sci-fi films must be accurate, but if set 50 years in the future, it's probably a good idea to consult with someone. (Maybe they figure the moviegoing public is so scientifically illiterate as not to notice it or be annoyed by it. Maybe they're right.) But even the glaring goofs and errors could be overlooked if the rest of the film was worth watching. Anyway... if you haven't seen that one, don't.
It got me thinking: Have there been any decent sci-fi movies in this decade? We're halfway through, and I can't think of one. (Feel free to e-mail me if I'm overlooking one... it's late and I should be sleeping.) The last good sci-fi movies were probably The Matrix and Gattaca... and that's going back eight years. Plus, during those eight years we suffered through a long list of painful films... even the remakes were bad (Planet of the Apes, Solaris, etc.). A few were promising, but ultimately disappointing (A.I., Minority Report).
I'm hoping - begging - for someone to come along and save the genre by making a stunning masterpiece. Is that really so much to ask?
10 Feb 23:14 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment
Artist at The End of The World
I would love to visit Michael Heizer's "City" in the Nevada desert (but Heizer won't let anyone visit until the work is completed, whenever that is). A couple of articles for you to read: A Sculptor's Colossus of the Desert and Art's Last, Lonely Cowboy. (Look at both slide shows.) The news about Yucca Mountain rail line and other developments is distressing:
And in the end the work, which possesses him and drives him and other people crazy, is the only thing that will count -- if it isn't spoiled by the nuclear rail line or if Heizer doesn't blow it up first.
10 Feb 18:16 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment
February 8, 2005
Vintage Vandals
From The Wurst Gallery comes Vintage Vandals. "Each artist was asked to find a framed piece of artwork at their local thrift store and manipulate it into a piece of their own."
08 Feb 18:53 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment
January 5, 2005
Accidental Hipsters
I had a good laugh at this Slowpoke strip: Accidental Hipsters.
05 Jan 19:17 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Humor
December 11, 2004
Cheesiest film lines
About three weeks ago, I mentioned the AFI's poll of top 100 quotes from U.S. movies. On a related note, I noticed a story today at BBC containing a list of the top 10 cheesiest film lines.
11 Dec 15:37 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment
December 8, 2004
What horrible Edward Gorey Death will you die?
Fans of Edward Gorey's The Gashlycrumb Tinies might enjoy this quiz: What horrible Edward Gorey Death will you die?
I'm George, Smothered Under a Rug. ("You will be smothered under a rug. You're a little anti-social, and may want to start gaining new social skills by making prank phone calls.")
08 Dec 23:28 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Humor, Interactive
November 28, 2004
No more Trio
It's true. DirecTV is dropping the Trio channel. Bastards. It was only a year and a half ago that I was praising Trio for its quirky programming and cool documentaries. Thank you, DirecTV (and American viewers) for making television even less interesting than it already was.
28 Nov 23:29 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment
November 22, 2004
Top 100 quotes from the movies
From CNN:
"The American Film Institute is surveying Hollywood types for the top 100 quotes from U.S. movies, with contenders including Bogart's 'Here's looking at you, kid' from 'Casablanca,' Schwarzenegger's 'I'll be back' from 'The Terminator' and Nicholson's 'You can't handle the truth!' from 'A Few Good Men.'"
100 lines will be chosen from 400 nominees (.pdf).
I usually dislike lists like these, and I'm not a "Hollywood type," but if I had to choose my favorite line? Off the top of my head it would be from Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Peter Sellers as the President says "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!"
Come to think of it, there are many other fine quotes from that film (though not too many one-liners). The President's telephone chats with the Soviet Premier ("Hello, Dimitri?") are classic, as are all the moments in which Peter Sellers plays Dr. Strangelove.
Both the War Room quote and Dr. Strangelove saying "Mein Führer! I can walk!" are on AFI's list of nominees. Hopefully at least one of them makes the top 100.
22 Nov 19:38 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment
Electronic Game Scrapbook, 1980-1990
I realized the other day that kids who were born at the time my siblings and I got our Atari game console are now over 21 years old. The realization had two effects on me. The first was to shock and depress me at my 'advanced age.' The second was to give me the desire to revisit some of my favorite games from days gone by. (Thanks to emulator / simulator software that lets you run your old favorites on your PC or Mac, it's an easy task.) I've never actually been a huge gamer (despite what this page might make you think), but like so many people my age, I have fond memories of the video games I grew up with. Here's a scrapbook of graphics:
My first experience with computers was with my family's TI-99/4A:
It was a trip back in time to fire up the simulator software and see the cyan startup screen with 16 colors:
My favorite game was Hunt The Wumpus:
I also liked Alpiner:
I've had the best luck with the Win994a-TI-99/4A Simulator, but there are others.
We later had an Atari 2600:
My favorite games:
Atlantis:
Surround:
There were lots of other good ones, too. I liked Pac-Man, Combat, Fire Fighter, Human Cannonball, and Video Pinball. The only game I never learned to love was Space War. I remember thinking the picture on the cartridge made it look much cooler than it was:
I've been using the Stella emulator for these games.
My school had lots of Apple II machines with green monochrome screens on which we played games like Oregon Trail. I was never a big fan of Oregon Trail, however. What I did like was playing Lode Runner on the Macintosh at my uncle's house:
(Happily, the original Lode Runner works under OS X on my Power Mac.) My cousin and I would also play around with the Mac's built-in speech synthesizer, making it curse at maximum volume until his mom would yell at us from upstairs.
At some point, my parents were convinced into buying a Nintendo Entertainment System. Compared to the Atari, this was some advanced shit. I loved Super Mario Bros.. I also liked a number of other games, including Ice Hockey, Double Dragon, Contra, and these:
Gauntlet
1942
Metroid
Interestingly enough, the NES was the last game console my family (or I) ever owned.
I've been using the OS X NEStopia emulator with great success. (A good GameBoy emulator is KiGB.)
My friend's family had an IBM PS/2, and I thought Space Quest II was really cool:
When my family got a PC (a 286 running MS-DOS 3 at a whopping 10 MHz with a gigantic 40 MB hard drive) it didn't have anything from the Space Quest series, but it did have King's Quest IV, which was pretty fun:
Another memorable DOS game was given to me by the same friend who had Space Quest at home. It was called Future Wars and took me ages to solve:
Many of these games will still work using current operating systems. (Future Wars ran fine on my Mac using Virtual PC with Windows 95's "Prevent MS-DOS programs from detecting Windows" setting.) For some of the older Sierra games, you might need to use something like Sarien.
I have fond memories of post-1990 games, but I can't say I feel nostalgic about them yet. So it'll probably be a few years before I feel like revisiting those ones. (There are quite a few, though... among them Doom, Myst, TIE Fighter, Wing Commander, and many others.)
I haven't really played any new games in the last three or four years (the last was Jedi Knight II). Does that mean I'm finally a boring adult? Hmmm. Something to think about.
22 Nov 12:00 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Technology & Computing
October 30, 2004
Farewell, Kilgore Trout
Somebody linked to Requiem for a Dreamer, a piece written by Kurt Vonnegut. I enjoyed it, so I did a quick scan through the archives of In These Times, and I found more articles by Vonnegut that I thought were worth sharing:
- False Advertising
- State of the Asylum
- I Love You, Madame Librarian
- Cold Turkey (I linked to this back in May)
30 Oct 0:05 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment
October 27, 2004
Double Lives Gallery
Check out the Double Lives Gallery for a very entertaining collection of celebrities who look like famous works of art.
(via J-Walk)
27 Oct 1:02 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment
September 29, 2004
"Stoned Slackers" and The Daily Show
Earlier this month, Jon Stewart appeared on The O'Reilly Factor. Bill O'Reilly told Stewart that it was "frightening" that The Daily Show actually has "an influence on this presidential election." He continued, "That is scary, but it's true. You've got stoned slackers watching your dopey show every night and they can vote." He claimed that eighty-seven percent of viewers are intoxicated when they watch the show. You can read the transcript of the interview here. (Stewart's comebacks are pretty funny.)
It was all supposedly in jest, but it's still sort of an annoying jab because The Daily Show is such intelligent television (not to mention, all the people I know who enjoy watching it are smart and well-informed).
Anyway, the research is in. According to Nielsen, viewers of The Daily Show are more likely to have completed four years of college than people who watch The O'Reilly Factor. And a study by U. Penn's Annenberg Public Policy Center shows that viewers of The Daily Show were more likely to answer questions about politics correctly than those who don't - or who watch Leno or Letterman. From their report (PDF):
"People who watch The Daily Show are more interested in the presidential campaign, more educated, younger, and more liberal than the average American or than Leno or Letterman viewers," said Dannagal Goldthwaite Young, a senior analyst at the Annenberg Public Policy Center, who conducted the research for this report. "However, these factors do not explain the difference in levels of campaign knowledge between people who watch The Daily Show and people who do not. In fact, Daily Show viewers have higher campaign knowledge than national news viewers and newspaper readers - even when education, party identification, following politics, watching cable news, receiving campaign information online, age, and gender are taken into consideration."
Rock on, Daily Show.
29 Sep 0:36 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment
September 20, 2004
Goodbye Romania
Interesting idea:
"Warning - by visiting this site you will destroy it. Each visit will remove one pixel from these photographs. However, we will tell you a story. It's a story about Romania, which is to say, it's a story about change."
20 Sep 21:24 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment
September 10, 2004
Apes in The Twilight Zone
I've always loved the old black & white Twilight Zone episodes. Most people are unaware that Rod Serling (creator of The Twilight Zone) was one of the writers for Planet of the Apes. So... what would Planet of the Apes be like if it were "re-imagined" as an episode of The Twilight Zone? Roger Alford used iMovie to edit the film into a three-act, 30-minute Twilight Zone episode complete with music, Rod Serling narration, and the rest. It's very well done. (My only complaint is that while we get the fine "You bloody Baboon!" line, we don't get the better "You damned dirty ape!" line.) Note: The site has exceeded bandwidth limits, but you can still download from mirrors or torrent. Catch it before Alford gets hit for copyright violation by Fox and Viacom.)
10 Sep 0:16 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment
August 13, 2004
The Museum of Bad Art
Very entertaining: MOBA - the Museum of Bad Art - is the world's only museum dedicated to the collection, preservation, exhibition and celebration of bad art in all its forms.
13 Aug 0:04 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment
June 10, 2004
Old Films
If you have broadband, you should head over to the Prelinger Archives (part of the wonderful archive.org) to check out some of the old films housed there.
A Case of Spring Fever is one of the strangest technology films I've ever seen. "Coily" is, uh, quite the character. Quite bizarre, but very entertaining.
You might also want to check out a 1927 instructional film on usage of dial telephones. A film about early atom bomb testing is also quite interesting.
If you're in the mood for an actual feature film, may I suggest 1938's Reefer Madness? (As a side note, you should also check out Eric Schlosser's excellent book of the same name.)
(via Incoming Signals)
Update: Check out Boing Boing's Prelinger Archive gems
10 Jun 0:44 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Libraries & Digital Information
June 3, 2004
Mannequin Gallery
John pointed me to a mannequin photo gallery. Is it just me, or is the gallery oddly fascinating as well as somewhat creepy?
03 Jun 0:55 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment
The Complete Dalí
I finished reading a short book on Salvador Dalí last night. This morning I noticed a link at Incoming Signals to a complete listing (I assume) of Dalí's work. It's odd how that happens. Anyway, you can sort alphabetically or chronologically. (The images aren't very large, but it's still fun to find these comprehensive listings.)
03 Jun 0:47 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment
May 21, 2004
1968 TV Highlights
You can watch online clips of the April 4, 1968 CBS Evening News -- the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., concerns over the war in Vietnam, second Saturn V test, and more. On the same page you can watch clips of the ABC News coverage of the '68 Democratic Convention. The most entertaining moment is when Gore Vidal calls William F. Buckley a 'crypto-Nazi'. Buckley responds by calling Vidal a 'queer' and threatening to punch him. It's nice to know punditry has always been comically contemptible.
(via J-Walk)
21 May 0:29 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Politics
May 14, 2004
God Bless You, Mr. Vonnegut
Many thanks to John for pointing me to an excellent essay by a writer among my favorites, Kurt Vonnegut. (If you haven't read Slaughterhouse-Five or Cat's Cradle or God Bless You Mr. Rosewater or Mother Night or Galápagos or The Sirens of Titan or - get my drift by now? - you really should.) It's called Cold Turkey, a title that will make sense if you read the whole thing.
While I'm at it, I guess I should mention an interview John also linked to, Kurt Vonnegut vs. the !&#*!@
14 May 1:03 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Current Events
May 11, 2004
Frontline online
You can view selected Frontline programs online, in full. (RealPlayer or Windows Media only.) If you need a place to start, I would suggest Merchants of Cool, an episode that freaked me out when I first saw it a few years ago.
11 May 22:32 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Misc. Tidbits
October 3, 2003
American Masters
PBS is running a series called American Masters. It's on when I come home from work on Saturdays, so once in a while I find myself watching it. (It may be on at a different time in other areas.) You can check out the full list for brief biographies. (Here's hoping they keep the show going, if only to even out their lists a bit to add some oddly absent names. I see George Lucas, but no Orson Welles, which seems wrong. No Jimi Hendrix. They've done Paul Simon and Lou Reed, but not Bob Dylan? What's up with that?) Anyway, it's an interesting series. This week's episode is on Muddy Waters.
03 Oct 0:48 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment
September 16, 2003
Disney 'n' Dali
In 1946, surrealist Salvador Dalí teamed up with Walt Disney (oddly enough) on a short film called Destino. It was later shelved (mainly for financial reasons). Now, a team of Disney animators finished it!
16 Sep 20:06 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment
Bar code art
Check out Scott Blake's Bar Code Art site.
16 Sep 15:53 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment
August 21, 2003
Elevator Moods
Today's bit of odd entertainment: elevator moods, a collection of thirteen short movie clips, all taking place in elevators.
21 Aug 0:17 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment
August 20, 2003
PowerPoint: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Edward Tufte believes PowerPoint is evil. David Byrne has learned to love it.
20 Aug 14:28 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment
August 16, 2003
All The Presidents' Films
This is an odd tidbit: White House projectionist Paul Fisher kept a log of films requested by presidents and has created a documentary entitled "All the Presidents' Films." The BBC has published a short writeup.
16 Aug 0:31 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment
June 26, 2003
An extraterrestrial visits Earth...
An extraterrestrial visits Earth, then heads home to report his findings. (From the same folks who brought you Paper Sky.)
26 Jun 11:50 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment
May 6, 2003
Trio documentary
For the last few months, I've gotten back into the habit of watching TV for an hour or so at night (on the "news + comedy" schedule of such a long time ago). I was about to abandon this practice again until I found something to keep me interested in the television. That something is the Trio documentary. Every night they air obscure documentaries. If you have access to the channel, by all means tune in for the documentary every night.
One was the British documentary Boys Alone in which a group of 10 and 11 year old boys were left unsupervised in a house for a week and filmed (sort of a "lord of the flies"-esque experiment). It had a lot of flaws but was very interesting regardless. Another night it was a documentary about modern-day Jewish matchmakers (that reminds me, there was also one about the last Jewish bath houses in New York). Most nights you can count on something oddly, fascinatingly interesting and entertaining.
Tonight's was easily the best I've seen so far, a documentary by Wolfgang Hastert entitled Click Me. It follows a group of quirky people who are looking for (or have found) love online. It was brilliantly odd.
06 May 0:14 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment
March 4, 2003
Goodbye, Mr. Rogers
Goodbye, Mr. Rogers. As Charles Taylor says, he "wouldn't lie to us, but he wanted us to have a happy childhood anyway. Through it all, he talked to us like people." Two other good articles are here and here.
04 Mar 0:30 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Current Events
December 21, 2002
Androgynous centerfolds
According to a study by Martin Voracek at the University of Vienna and Maryanne Fisher at York University in Canada, centerfold models have become more androgynous over the past 50 years, challenging the idea that the type of female figure that men find most attractive remains the same over time. Voracek and Fisher found that over time, the bust and hip size of the models decreased, while waist size increased. Although weight remained fairly stable, height increased.
It's an interesting study that raises questions about (among other things) the role culture and media might play in the popular perception of what makes a woman sexually attractive to a man. (I can, however, see many holes in their methods. For example, a study of one publication, shaped by editors, photographers, etc., seems extremely limited - how much could that really tell us? I think it might actually tell us relatively little.)
But mostly, my inner adolescent couldn't help snickering at the line, "The pair scrutinised 577 consecutive monthly issues of Playboy, from the first ever edition in December 1953 to December 2001." I picture researchers with stacks of Playboys on their desks and in their cars, endlessly having to explain that "it's part of my research!"
21 Dec 0:28 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Human/Primate Evolution & Behavior, Science
December 5, 2002
Hubcap creatures
Discarded hubcaps become artistic creations. Check it out at Hubcap Creatures.
05 Dec 18:38 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment
December 2, 2002
Mountain monograms
Those of you from the West / Southwest may be familiar with the peculiar practice of placing enormous letters on the sides of mountains. The rest of you can learn all about it at Mountain Monograms (where readers explore the burning question: WHY do they do it?).
02 Dec 15:00 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment
March 4, 2002
22 very short stories
Courtesy of Mat (of honan.net), it's 22 very short stories.
04 Mar 23:52 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Misc. Tidbits