September 5, 2010

Vérités et mensonges

F for Fake (French: Vérités et mensonges) is the last major film completed by Orson Welles, who directed, co-wrote, and starred in the film. Initially released in 1974, it focuses on Elmyr de Hory's recounting of his career as a professional art forger; de Hory's story serves as the backdrop for a fast-paced, meandering investigation of the natures of authorship and authenticity, as well as the basis of the value of art. Loosely a documentary, the film operates in several different genres and has been described as a kind of film essay. [more inside]
posted by KokuRyu at 10:32 PM PST - 26 comments

How Many Fingers Am I Holding Up?

The Rolling Shutter Effect: a mobile phone camera is fairly quick, but when the objects you are recording move faster than the scan rate, cool things happen. Mucho previously at MeFi.
posted by bwg at 6:29 PM PST - 39 comments

An ancestor story

đẹp khoe, xấu che, or “show the good, hide the bad” - from the inaugural issue of the Trans Asia Photography Review. [more inside]
posted by unliteral at 5:52 PM PST - 12 comments

But do they have any bottlecaps?

"Places like Picher are why Congress passed the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980—better known as the Superfund bill." - Wired Magazine on the most toxic town in America, Picher, OK , and the people who still live there
posted by The Whelk at 5:26 PM PST - 21 comments

The Island

The Island by Peter Watts (previously), winner of this years Hugo Award for Best Novelette. An audio version is available over at StarShipSofa (previously), itself a Hugo recipient.
posted by Artw at 5:07 PM PST - 31 comments

Learning Science in a video game

In a 19th century village called River City, the people are suffering from a mysterious illness. Many believe that there are bad spirits in the air or water causing the disease. Those suffering are shunned, but the plague worsens. In desperation, they turn to a group of experts in the new "Germ Theory": 21st century middle school science students. [Quicktime movie] [more inside]
posted by Made of Star Stuff at 4:39 PM PST - 16 comments

Tree Climbing Snake Robot

Modular Snake Robot Climbs a Tree. [Via]
posted by homunculus at 3:00 PM PST - 54 comments

Mr. and Mrs. Davis

Betty Mabry better known as Betty Davis was the muse of her husband Miles, who she introduced to the influences of Jimmy Hendrix, Sly Stone, James Brown and Carlos Santana among others.
However she should more righteously be better known as the Queen of Funk with some of the hardest, driving, rawest sound ever then heard in 1973. (The Music is after the fold) [more inside]
posted by adamvasco at 1:25 PM PST - 32 comments

The geek stranglehold on cinema

Fawned over by the studios, the geek contingent has never been more influential in shaping movies. But are the fanboys in danger of killing the thing they love? The geek stranglehold on cinema.
posted by jonesor at 1:24 PM PST - 116 comments

Psychedelic Information Theory

Psychedelic Information Theory: Shamanism in the Age of Reason, readable online, is an analysis of the physical mechanisms of hallucination, shamanic ritual, and expanded states of consciousness. By presenting these methods in physical terms, Psychedelic Information Theory offers a rational and objective model for shamanic transformation and therapy in modern clinical practice. [more inside]
posted by nickyskye at 12:49 PM PST - 18 comments

The centre will not hold?

The Economist ponders the future of the internet.
posted by bardophile at 10:54 AM PST - 36 comments

"And with a flip of the switch I can turn her off if she starts to nag me!"

Only in Japan, Real Men Go to a Hotel With Virtual Girlfriends: Dating-Simulation Game a Last Resort For Honeymoon Town and Its Lonely Guests. "Some devoted fans will go so far as to pay twice the rate—most hotels in Japan charge per guest not per room—to indulge the fantasy that they are not there alone. A night's stay, at most, can cost $500 though many rooms are cheaper. In Atami, the Love Plus+ fans—mostly men in their twenties and thirties—stand out. Unlike the deeply tanned beach crowd wearing very little, they are often pasty and overdressed for the heat in heavy jeans and button-down shirts." [more inside]
posted by Fizz at 10:23 AM PST - 49 comments

Blooper reel pweez

Young Caucasian Jackie Chan wannabes jumping around like they can't afford skateboards. Their multiple compound fractures and lifelong disabilities and pain conditions (not pictured) are your two minutes of reasonable amusement. [СЛЙТ]
posted by dgaicun at 8:44 AM PST - 89 comments

The Power of Music

A 90-year-old WWII vet recounts a remarkable experience. (SLYT)
posted by gman at 8:39 AM PST - 27 comments

Charity game "Chime" launched for PC, featuring guest vocals by GLaDOS

While controversy erupts again over the corrupting influence of video games, some developers are working on projects it is very hard to get angry about. Chime, an XBox game to be released for PC tomorrow, is one such project. [more inside]
posted by DNye at 7:44 AM PST - 18 comments

Visualizing data: scientific sculptural weaving

Nathalie Miebach translates scientific data related to meteorology and ecology into woven sculptures and musical scores. She discusses her work in an interview with the Peabody Essex Museum. (via Mira y Calla)
posted by madamjujujive at 7:24 AM PST - 4 comments

We've come full circle people

PediaPress has long allowed logged in users of Wikipedia to create printed-on-demand books of one or more Wikipedia articles, but now Wikipedia has integrated into their interface the ability to make a book. No, not like that. Of course, the value of printing an ever-changing information resource can be debated, and some think it's a waste of time. Previously. [more inside]
posted by malapropist at 6:34 AM PST - 5 comments

Nukes, schmukes

How Business Can Lead us Beyond Fossil Fuels: a Techonomy presentation by Amory Lovins, followed by comments from Chevron CTO John McDonald and audience questions.
posted by flabdablet at 5:22 AM PST - 18 comments

Old? You think you're old?

The oldest living things in the world are over 2000 years old. Some are hundreds of thousands of years old and still going. Rachel Sussman explains.
posted by twoleftfeet at 4:18 AM PST - 19 comments

Another Development in the Immigration Debate

Hawaiian leaders speak out over farmers convicted of human trafficking.
posted by parmanparman at 2:28 AM PST - 36 comments

Meet Mutt and Jeff, the Trenchcoat Robbers...

A simple tale of the biggest bank heist in U.S. history.
posted by artof.mulata at 1:56 AM PST - 24 comments

Sunday Surreality

Surreal Web Art: Duncan Alexander's hypnotic Freakin' Cats and Cursor Vortex, Nicholas O'Brien's tranquil GrassWalk, Thorne Brandt's Animated Gif of the Day July 2010, Pixelfucks' Untitled #4, A. Bill Miller's grid-portraits, Michael Manning's epilepsy-inducing information technology is the gateway to the infinite and much more at the 2010 Virtual Art Fair
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 12:43 AM PST - 6 comments

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