November 18, 2008
Kinetic Illusions in Op Art
Art as Visual Research: Art and neuroscience combine in creating fascinating examples of illusory motion.
“You say?” Apparently they do.
It's not even Thanksgiving yet and already the 2008 "best of" lists have begun. Here's a list of the Top 60 popular Japanese words/phrases of 2008. "Morning banana" doesn't mean what you think it does. Is Sarah Palin an obaka-aidoru - おバカアイドル ? (via)
Drawing No Lines and Making No Distinctions
Fraction is a bi-monthly online photo magazine that promotes work from established artists and emerging artists side by side. In the current issue, I particularly like the work of David Eisenlord and Suzanne Revy. It also features the recently posted Richard Rinaldi piece, Touching Strangers. There are also three archived issues. [A few images nsfw] [more inside]
It happens every year?
Despite the much-maligned economy, people are seemingly starting the holiday season early this year in Loveland, Colorado by "paying it forward" for strangers' coffee at a Starbucks drive-through. This has happened in 2006 and similar events were debated last year on the blue, which led me to believe it was not a real phenomenon. CNN has the video version of the first link with interviews of those involved. Maybe it's not a PR stunt after all.
Neil Gaiman is creepy, but not a doll
FUN FUN FUN
30 seconds over Tokyo is a song that is both unpretentious and epic at the same time. Anticipation mixed up with fear, flying, crashing, burning. Nevermind just give it a listen 30 seconds over Tokyo. Rocket from the Tombs, a nasty bit of rock history. Get out a shovel and exhume it's remains. [more inside]
What's wrong with primary care in the US?
What's wrong with primary care in the US? With a new survey suggesting that nearly half of all primary care physicians would leave medicine if they had a viable alternative, and with American medical schools not generating nearly enough new doctors going into primary care, in this, their first issue to hit doctors' desks since the election, the New England Journal of Medicine has devoted their entire editorial section to exploring yet another challenge that threatens the stability of the US health care system. Video of the roundtable discussion. Individual essays, at times touching, at times hopeful, from various primary care perspectives in the US and Britain. [more inside]
Lube Jokes will be too Obvious
At a cost of $20,000 a pound (google search prices vary). You have to wonder how much this cost. Poor
Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper dropped her tool bag But don't worry, NASA tracks NEOs. And then there is the missing spider. Lastly, throwing in a gratuitous link to APOD (because it's cool and I can't wait to see the tool bag show up).
BIKING + GUITAR HERO
BIKE HERO (slyt)
MLYT: Bach's Toccata and Fugue in Dm on Guitar
California Guitar Trio plays a quiet version of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in Dm. Here is another solo electric version by Sean Conklin. Finally here is a passionate acoustic electric treatment by Michael Fix.
I have found very few women that have not already been beaten down to a flimsy, irrational, empty pulp.
You should contact me if you are a skinny woman. If your words are a meaningful progression of concepts rather than a series of vocalizations induced by your spinal cord for the purpose of complementing my tone of voice.... Are you Libertarian? And Lonely? Is the Atlas in your pants "Shrugging"?
Do we really want that Moon base?
An election of a new President brings forth new ideas on the Vision for Space Exploration. The Planetary Society is lobbying to remove the Moon from the equation, which prompted Apollo astronaut, ex-senator, and geologist Harrison Schmitt to resign from the board in protest. Meanwhile moon-free plans proliferate. What will Obama do? Interesting hints are given in a position paper written by people associated with his transition team. [more inside]
Trouble at' Mill
A Matter of Loaf and Death is the new BBC Christmas short from Nick Park and Aardman. In the mock murder mystery, Wallace and Gromit start a new bakery business, Top Bun. The short, Park's first since 1995, will introduce a new love interest for Wallace, Piella Bakewell, a bread enthusiast.
Heroes
Super Powers, winner of the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival Special Jury Prize for Best Narrative Short (possibly NSFW - a couple of swear words and adult theme)
Last Words
Kaninhoppning
Bunny show jumping, or kaninhoppning, started in Sweden and has spread to Finland, Denmark, Norway and other countries. The rabbit who completes the course with the fewest mistakes or fastest time wins. (previously, mostly YT)
Is that "annals" or "anals?"
Sam Calagione, founder and president of Dogfish Head, spent some time talking to the New Yorker about his experiments in brewing, many of which are considered to be "extreme beers." The article (very briefly) portrays Garrett Oliver, brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery, as waving a dismissive hand at such brews, but Oliver steps in to say that his opinion was misrepresented. [more inside]
Children's Letters to God? Check.
Not Just for Skull T-shirts Anymore
Inspired by the 88-artist exhibition Africa Remix, Juxtapoz magazine's most recent issue is almost entirely dedicated to contemporary African artists. Highlights include Pieter Hugo's Nollywood photo series, Diane Victor's Smoke Portraits, Abu Bakarr Mansarray's crazy machine sketches, Ransome Stanley's oil paintings, Mikhael Subotzky's prison photography, Wangechi Mutu's collages, Cheri Cherin's large-scale political canvases, and Jane Alexander's human/animal sculptures. [more inside]
Say it ain't so, (fire) Joe (morgan)!
#$^$ the heck? Fire Joe Morgan, one of the interwebs' most beloved baseball geekery/Sabermetrics/media-criticism blogs, calls it quits (for now). [more inside]
LIFE photo archive hosted by Google.
LIFE photo archive hosted by Google. Search millions of photographs from the LIFE photo archive, stretching from the 1750s to today. Most were never published and are now available for the first time through the joint work of LIFE and Go.
Michael Myers Beauty Mask Infomercial
This is a really creepy mash up of the Rejuvenique infomercial and Joe Cocker's "You are so Beautiful to Me".
Bridge Loaner? But I hardly know her...
Wow, Boogle. It looks brown and soft and it smells terrible. We’ve just got to get some of that!
Annotated playthrough of Torin's Passage. There are 12 videos so far. See also: Ways to die in the game, including the easter egg message you got if you made a hilarious but stupid choice at the end.
Georgia and Russia: the aftermath
Georgia and Russia: This is the most balanced and informative discussion I've seen since the invasion over three months ago (MeFi thread). If you've been wanting to catch up, this essay and its many useful links are the way to go. The author, Donald Rayfield, is professor of Russian and Georgian and knows both countries well. (Via wood s lot.)
Thomas Kinkade's 16 Guidelines for Making Stuff Suck
Tiny Concerts
Throw like a girl!
The Kobe 9 Cruise, a Japanese professional baseball team, has drafted Eri Yoshida as a pitcher. She's sixteen years old, a high school student, and will be the first female professional player. [more inside]
Mr. President, were you the one who authorized the leak of the classified NIE?
"Yeah, I did." On November 15, Scott McClellan, former white house press secretary to President George W. Bush revealed to an audience at the Miami Book Fair that President Bush had confided in him that he had personally authorized Scooter Libby to leak the classified information in the Plame affair.
The current state of DRM and piracy in casual gaming
You may have heard by now about World of Goo, an independent game which can best be described as a "physics/construction puzzle game" that touches on everything from beauty to consumerism to internet privacy. The developer, 2DBoy who had originally released the game under a "no-DRM, don't screw us" policy now estimates a piracy rate of 82%. [more inside]
Jerry's Guide to the World Wide Web
Jerry Yang, founder and CEO of Yahoo, has stepped down. He recently turned down a $31 a share offer from Microsoft, and with Yahoo shares hovering around $10, some say he was forced out.
A relationship's ephemera captured in needlework
Ginger Anyhow (blog) has embroidered a series of romantic text messages, capturing the 21st century record of the waxing and waning of a relationship in a pre-industrial era form. (via notcot)
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