December 7, 2015
The Least Essential Albums of 2015
The (Onion) A. V. Club continues its annual tradition by announcing the least essential albums of the year. While many of them are bad, the purpose is not to highlight the most awful music but the music which has the flimsiest justification for being made. [more inside]
Classic Art with a Modern Twist
2015 marks the 400th anniversary of the famous Rinpa School painting of the Wind God and Thunder God (Fujin-Raijin-zu). This has led a modern painter of the Rinpa School to add his own twists on the iconic painting, first in a collaboration with Nintendo to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. and, shortly thereafter, to celebrate the new Star Wars movie's release. In addition to these, the artist, Yamamoto Taro, has quite a history of producing traditionally-styled Japanese paintings with a modern sensibility and a touch of humor.
Nethack 3.6.0 released
Twelve years after its last update (3.4.3), Nethack 3.6.0 has been released. [previously] [previously]
גם זו לטובה
Judaism's core texts grew out of millennia-long conversations and arguments across generations, with interconnected dialogues, source citing and (re)interpretation. Now, it's all going digital: Sefaria is creating a massive public domain, interactive "living library of Jewish texts and their interconnections, in Hebrew and translations." Their goal is to build a reference resource and community that "gives a better learning experience than anything that comes before it," from ancient to modern texts and "all the volumes of commentary in between." Read texts, browse submitted public source sheets on dozens of topics or visualize associations between texts.
2015 Dataviz Roundup
Information is Beautiful Awards 2015 showcases the best of the year in data visualization, data journalism, and infographics. The first two are particularly striking: Introduction of the Measles Vaccine and A World of Languages
Dag That Is A Lot of Music
At spin.com, They Might Be Giants Look Back on Every Album They've Ever Made.
All watched over by machines of loving grace
Creating the Tamagotchi Singularity. 13 emulated Tamagotchis, with custom made AI to meet their every want, inspired by an XKCD comic. The Tamagotchi Hive. Youtube video of a talk about the hive.
Life after Death Star
Chris Donovan, an unlikely high fashion shoe designer
Chris Donovan was a telephone technician for 25 years, when in his early 50s, he decided to change careers rather drastically. He sent his designs to Polimoda in Italy to enroll in fashion design, specifically shoe design. He was accepted, and graduated at 55, and now designs high fashion women's shoes, inspired by everything from gnarled trees to hip replacements, architectural features and plumbing fixtures, as seen on his Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest accounts.
Tang Blue
As announced by Ellen deGeneres in 2013, there's a sequel planned to Finding Nemo, it's called Finding Dory, and here's the first trailer.
25 Best Films of 2015
Rolling Stone writer David Ehrlich's video countdown of the best films of 2015... [Vimeo] (Note: May contain spoilers for PHOENIX.) [more inside]
My other lawn, its shredded
One great rock show can change the world
Indie auteur Richard Linklater pleasantly surprised audiences with his charming 2003 comedy School of Rock, in which a struggling musician (High Fidelity co-star and Tenacious D frontman Jack Black) hijacks a 4th grade prep school class and inspires them to become a killer rock band. Buoyed by likeable characters, a great soundtrack, remarkably talented kid musicians, and Black's lengthy, irrepressible, almost improvisational classroom scenes, the film earned rave reviews and inspired scads of copycat programs around the world (as featured in the '05 documentary and reality series Rock School). But while the cast kicked ass at their ten-year reunion concert in 2013, plans for a sequel fell through. Everyone loves an encore, though. And so this weekend saw the Broadway debut of the Andrew Lloyd Webber stage musical starring Alex Brightman, with a TV adaptation to air on Nickelodeon next year. Because there's no way you can stop... the School of Rock. [more inside]
Buzzfeed Mental Health Week
"We’re launching Mental Health Week at BuzzFeed today because media can play a huge role — for good or for ill — in how people see themselves and understand their mental illnesses. We see it around the globe: a shift from seeing depression, anxiety, and other disorders as shameful personality flaws, and toward understanding them as the illnesses they are."
I'll do this until the election.
One man is replacing guns with sex toys in photos of GOP politicians. That man is Matt Haughey.
Ten cookies that [allegedly] make all other cookies irrelevant
"On top of the mountain, people are too close to God."
The planned Thirty Meter Telescope will be a $1.4 billion observatory that can look 13 billion light years away and see the biosignatures of planets outside our solar system. Or at least, it might be -- its construction has been delayed and further work is not certain to happen, due to indigenous Hawaiian concerns about the site desecrating Mauna Kea. [more inside]
no one suffers from avoidable heart disease like gaston
Art, Art Baby
Art Baby Gallery is an online platform looking to represent and expose young artists "[a]mid an environment that is often hostile to budding creatives." [more inside]
This new discriminatory policy cannot be God.
Light pollution will not be a factor.
Live in North America? Do you have binoculars or, at the very least, eyes? Well then, you might be able to see Venus during the day today. That is, until the jerk Moon gets in front of it. [more inside]
vers le bas avec Tor!
The French government mulls laws to block Tor and public WiFi. Is this what happens when police ask Santa for presents ("liste au Père Noël", according to Le Monde)?.
(via)
Holly's Walk On The Wild Side Has Ended
This man has an actual black hole devouring his jawline.
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