January 31, 2008
Nader Nader Nader
Tell me how to do this dance.
The Wonder Girls a Korean pop girl-group, got people in Korea wanting to learn themoves for their hit song "Tell Me." Everyone's doing it, girls (in the snow and in classrooms), boys (at a wedding, and, er...abandoned auditorium?)... [more inside]
Are we there yet?
The Gough, or Bodleian map is surprisingly accurate considering it dates from the 14th century. The Map is considered the first true map of Britain. Some say the red lines cris-crossing the map are roads, however, some disagree. You be the judge, because the map is available for interractive viewing at Queens University Belfast.
Baobab!
A World Awaits Inside Your Computer
Second Skin [is a documentary that] takes an intimate look at computer gamers whose lives have been transformed by the emerging genre of Massively Multiplayer Online games (MMOs). [more inside]
Mark Liu's Fly Fishing Art
Mark Liu's Fly Fishing Art.....Mark is both an artist and a photographer, with a love of the outdoors, and of fly fishing.
In addition to his paintings linked in the title, Mark also has a blog dedicated to his fishing related photography.
One of the neat aspects of Mark's site is his offer to send you free art if you take a kid fishing!
If, like me, you're stuck in a long winter of ice and snow, these paintings and photos will provide a few moments of vicarious fishing! Enjoy!
Elegant Pelicans
The Pelican Project - six decades of Pelican book covers.
Jeremy Beadle, RIP
Erstwhile British TV star Jeremy Beadle died yesterday from pneumonia, aged 59, having just recently fought off kidney cancer then leukaemia. While most famous for hidden camera pranks, stunts and general cruelty, and subject of undoubtedly the funniest joke in the world (due to a birth defect), his lesser known activities included knowing just about everything, euthanasia and raising millions for charity. Love him or hate him, RIP.
FCC, I have a complaint!
The talk show host, Miss Oprah Winfrey is illegally invading my privacy to promote show ideas on the Oprah Winfrey Show. Further, each time I gather evidence of proof, she pays people with her talk show earnings money to bribe them to destroy evidence. Many more complaints to the FCC about selected tv shows here.
Keyboards Back from the Dead
Dead musical instruments... brought back to life by YouTube? Check out this mellotron demo film, a rare trautonium keyboard in some guy's garage, trautonium music by composer Oskar Sala, an original Ondes Martenot, a documentary on the telharmonium (parts 1, 2, and 3), and the Sonovox (used to funny but not-suitable-for-work effect in this parody of Sparky's Magic Piano). Meanwhile, avant-gardists have revived the art of prepared piano, but more mainstream acts such as Tori Amos and Ferrante & Teicher have also experimented with it. Last but not least, another performer of prepared piano is Margaret Leng Tan, but I think she should get more accolades as the best virtuoso of the toy piano since Schroeder from Peanuts.
Uh... who's idea was this?
Should you be attending this year's carnival in Rio, you probably won't be seeing a huge float rolling down the parade route depicting an enormous pile of emaciated corpses and a samba-dancing Hitler. But that's only thanks to a Brazilian judge's decision.
Panopticons
The Panopticons are a series of 21st-century landmarks erected across East Lancashire, England, as symbols of the renaissance of the area (not to be confused with Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon).
Desert Sands Reclaim a Ghost Town
Exploring Fame and the Personal in Art
There have been a few husband/wife teams in the art world. Nothing has impressed me as much as the work of Jorge Rodriguez Gerada and Ana Alvarez-Errecalde. Their work stands alone, but complements each other. Check out Ana's video of some of Jorge's work. Or some of her own work (NSFW). Or read an interview and see some of Jorge's work.
Tassili Rock Art
The rock art of the Tassili culture is found throughout North African mountains, the Tassili n'Ajjer. The rock art of Europe is well known around the world. Lesser known but just as amazing and less well-understood is the rock art of North Africa. (prev.,prev.) This tradition is thought to have developed independently of European rock art although researchers agree about very little else about it. This art hearkens back to a time when the Sahara's climate was milder and more wet. This rock art has often been compared to the pre-Nguni San rock art of Southern Africa. There are of course people who believe that aliens did it. The more research that is done about this area and its archaeology, the more we may have to rethink our ideas about the Sahara. . Sadly enough, like many archaeological sites it is becoming endangered.
Who's that ugly dwarf with his hand in your mouth?
Los Angeles! he walks again by night... ...out of the smog, into the fog. Relentlessly -- ruthlessly -- ("I wonder where Ruth is?") -- doggedly! ("Woof woof!" *)
For the past 42 years the Firesign Theatre, the best comedy group of the 1960's, has been putting their art in cans from Canada to Kashmir. Up for the Grammy in 1998 and 2001, Firesign at their best combined clever, multilayered writing with pitch-perfect satirical performances as Rocky Rococco, Ralph Spoilsport, Art Holeflaffer, Hemlock Stones, Uh Clem and Barney, and many more. Back in the day, it would have been astonishing if at least one of your peers couldn't recite all of The Further Adventures of Nick Danger, Third Eye, including the sound effects. [more inside]
Two popes, two
"Ratzinger is an Evolutionist, which by definition makes one an athiest", is one of the reasons that this website, in which the "true" catholic faith (different [?] from the other catholic faith) is promoted, gives as to claiming Benedict XVI isn't the true pope. And to make their point they have elected a "real" pope themselves: Pope Pius XIII His real name? Lucian Pulvermacher (wikipedia)
(previously) [more inside]
WSJ - Thinking About Tomorrow
Predicting the Future WSJ - "We look ahead 10 years, and imagine a whole different world." Plus, review of predictions from 1998 -
Edward Samuel's Illustrated History of Copyright
Edward Samuel's Illustrated History of Copyright A fascinating illustrated historical tour, looking at how different technologies have shaped how we think about copyright and intellectual property.
If you like a ukulele lady, a ukulele lady like-a you
Also starring: several telephones, puddles, scarecrows, saxophones, orchestrated cities and motors.
Its animated-type opening credits set the tone - and when, soon after, Jonas Mekas stumbles in, explaining his version of the butterfly-wing theory, you know this is a different kind of rock-movie. Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel's 1990 music film "Step Across the Border" matches 35mm black&white cinema direct to several seasons of poly-instrumentalist Fred Frith's round-the-globe improvisational jams (with the likes of Joey Baron, Iva Bitová, Arto Lindsay, John Zorn and others). A big-wig at Cahiers du Cinema has it in his top-ten - now you can watch this masterpiece of visual jazz online (or do yourself a favour and get the DVD).
(Thanks to Vincent Moon for the heads-up.)
Back to the Future
excuuuuuse me!
Well, excuse me, princess. Youtube one-link, but very much a catch-phrase.
Love at first smell, and what stinky t-shirts tell us about attraction
"There's no Brad Pitt of smell," Herz says. "Body odor is an external manifestation of the immune system, and the smells we think are attractive come from the people who are most genetically compatible with us." [more inside]
Don't you know I'm loco?
The Final Frontier
something for everyone
Club Little Gun, a bunch of tiny guns built into things from rings to crosses. Eat your heart out, Indiana Jones, the whip pistol. via [more inside]
We're friends now!
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