August 31, 2013
From Folklore to Exotica: Yma Sumac and the Performance of Inca Identity
When the Andean exotica singer Yma Sumac became famous in the United States for her supposed Inca heritage and five-octave voice, her fellow Peruvians called her a sellout. UC Davis professor Zoila Mendoza, however, knew Yma Sumac as her mother’s childhood friend.
"Another One Bites the Dust" also works, but is counterintuitive.
Several years ago, the American Heart Association was looking for a song with 100 beats per minute to help instruct people in Hands-Only CPR. They found their song in the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive". Here is "Community" star (and licensed M.D.) Ken Jeong to show you how its done (Bonus Behind-the-scenes video here).
The Lycurgus Cup
This 1,600-Year-Old Goblet Shows that the Romans Were Nanotechnology Pioneers. The Lycurgus Cup appears opaque green under normal light, but the ancient dichroic glass vessel transforms to a translucent red color when lit from behind. Roman artisans achieved this by impregnating the glass with particles of silver and gold as small as 50 nanometers in diameter. Inspired by the cup, modern researchers have created the world's most sensitive plasmon resonance sensor. [Via]
when you play the game of thrones, you win or you die in infancy
Crusader Kings II is a computer game in which you play as any one of hundreds of feudal lords in Europe in the High to Late Middle Ages. Hoping for your family to become just that little bit more powerful, you scheme against your liege, your vassals, and occasionally even your enemies. Meanwhile, at least half of the game's cast of thousands schemes against you. The game's potential for Shakespearean intrigue has made it ripe for post-game write-ups called after-action reports. With the recent release of The Old Gods, an expansion allowing for play as a pagan ruler, PC Gamer published its own series of after-action reports: Lords of the North. The game's thematic similarities to A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones have not gone unnoticed, either. [more inside]
"He did away with the propaganda machine and did it for all of us"
(MeFi's own) Jacob Appelbaum receives Transparency International's (DE) 2013 Whistleblower Prize on behalf of Edward Snowden (statement from Snowden starts here) joined remotely by Glenn Greenwald.
Public Space
L.A.'s urban parks: for the homeless, too? 'The new small parks include features that homeless advocates say are meant to harass. But managers contend they just want to prevent people from living there.'[LA Times - for access, use private browsing function in your browser]. [more inside]
80 years of electronic music, heard in a selection of 55 tracks by Bleep
A bit over a year ago, Warp Record's digital music shop, Bleep.com, presented their guide to recorded* electronic music, spanning from 1930 to 2010 (also as a Facebook timeline, which apparently kicked the whole thing off). The overview of recorded electronic music was presented as a selection of 55 tracks, almost five and a half hours in full. Part of this presentation was a (now expired) promotional deal to purchase the collection of songs as a lot, but you can still read about each piece of music on Bleep and hear 49 of the tracks in a playlist on Grooveshark. There's more to hear and read below the fold. [more inside]
I Now Pronounce You Man and Man
Why do I get just £1 pocket money a week?
Like a rolling stone...
The proliferation of dashcam videos have given us some amazing material, here's another one to add to the pile
Heroes and Villains
Comics Alliance's Andy Khouri and Betty Felon (curator of Best Cosplay Ever) review SyFy's Heroes of Cosplay and talk about narratives of reality TV, Yaya Han and credit and authenticity in cosplay.
The Only Woman Caricaturist
"Mary Williams adopted the name “Kate Carew” and wrote candid, witty interviews with luminaries of the day, including Mark Twain, Pablo Picasso, and the Wright Brothers. She adorned her interviews with her unique “Carewatures,” and often drew herself into the scene. Imagine Oprah Winfrey as a liberated woman caricaturist-interviewer in 1900 and you have an idea of who Kate Carew was. -- The Comics Journal's Paul Tumey rediscovers a cartooning pioneer in the course of a review of a new book about early US comics. [more inside]
Enhance 224 to 176
Fragments of a hologram rose: Re-seeing Blade Runner - Tears in rain Memories of missing words, stories and concepts; All-seeing eye Entering picture space with the Esper; The city and the city The architecture of Los Angeles, 2019; Painting the future Syd Mead’s production art; Spinner and gun Tools of the job
Sell, Mortimer, Sell!
Pitch Black Heist
Pitch Black Heist. A short film directed by John Maclean and starring Michael Fassbender and Liam Cunningham as two safe crackers who have to open a safe in a pitch black room.
Jake Gyllenhaal's pudendal face
"And so went the next seven years of my life, or my "life", I should say. Because when the pure O exploded, my life grew inverted commas and flew away. All that was left was an effigy of a young woman and a neon pink MySpace profile." What it's like to live with pure-OCD.
The original golden age of fantasy role playing games.
Old School FRP is a tumblr blog with a ton of illustrations and art from the golden age of Dungeons and Dragons and games that were totally not Dungeons and Dragons.
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