April 13, 2009
The Trombone
Last week was International Trombone Week. But what is a trombone? Can you recognize the many types of trombone? [more inside]
Why bubble when you can insert?
"Architecture is my delight, and putting up and pulling down one of my favorite amusements."
Happy birthday, Mr. Jefferson! Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd US president, was born on this day in 1743 (actually, April 2nd, but then the calendar changed in 1752). Certainly celebrations and examinations of his leadership and politics and philosophy and inventions are warranted, but-damn, that man was amazing with a drafting compass. TJ's greatest hits: Monticello, Poplar Forest, The University
Snow rollers
"There are the various were-cockroaches and wrigglies"
Artist Stephen R. Bissette dissects the making of Saga of the Swamp Thing #20, the first American comics appearance of writer Alan Moore (um...previously), in a series of blog posts that feature much original artwork (by Bissette and others), as well as a sampling of Moore's apparently absolutely ginormous script for the issue. (Warning: Parts of Bissette's site are NSFW.) Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6.
Grand Unification may be occurring near your vital organs.
Date with a Devil
Bird, Bird, Bird is the word!
Mark "The Bird" Fidrych RIP. They really do come in threes. In '76, Bird was the word. Fidrych captivated baseball fans with his antics, talking to the ball, patting the mound, running off to talk to everyone. The Bird 1954-2009.
"The Internet is a web of networks."
Sunday, February 28, 1993. A new word -- Internet -- makes its first appearance in The New York Times.
The Spy is in the Refridgerator!
Bad Crazy in Internet Space
There is a jagged fissure of insanity which runs through the heart of the EVE playerbase, a kind of feverish bad crazy that you simply don't find in other online games. Oh, sure, everyone knows a tale or two about the Starcraft player who stayed awake for 50 hours and died from exhaustion because he wouldn't stop gaming, or the legions of relatively mundane overweight basement-dwelling nerds that populate the other MMOs that have a lack of perspective that comes from playing in virtual worlds too much. Some people like to point to South Korea's Starcraft tournaments as a sign of abnormality, but sporting leagues are a 'healthy' expression of hobby activity by most standards. No, if you want utter madness, you have to look to EVE.The Mitanni, head of the Goonswarm Intelligence Agency, tells some tales from the dark underbelly of Eve Online. (previously)
Mike Tyson's Intergalactic Power Punch
99 and 44/00 Percent Pure NOT
RIP: Marilyn Chambers, star of the first widely distributed hard core porn film, "Behind the Green Door. NSFW
Neil Young's new album and car
Neil Young has a new album out. Ever innovative, Neil has written his new album about his electric car.
[via]
"I played at August Wilson's funeral. You know what he wanted me to play? Danny Boy."
Wynton Marsalis waxes poetic (and music) at the Kennedy Center about art, freedom, jazz, the minstrel shows of yesterday and today, Walt Whitman, American history, the similarities between the Battle Hymn of the Republic and the Mickey Mouse Club March, rock and roll, and how it all ties together. [more inside]
Harry Kalas, 1936-2009
Hall of Fame member, Phillies broadcaster, and NFL Films announcer Harry Kalas passed away today. At least he got to make his World Series victory call.
Not everyone is Magic Johnson
Renaldi's "Fall River Boys"
Richard Renaldi is doing some pretty wonderful photography. For several years, he’s been using a large format 8x10 camera (with the hood and everything), profiling people in ways that feel both intimate and authentic.
His first book, “Figure and Ground,” is a collection of portraits and landscapes that capture, with a quiet intensity, a diverse cross-section of the country.
His newest book, “Fall River Boys,” is a sort of chronicle of a decaying American town, and the (mostly) young inhabitants who are either unable or unwilling to leave. (He and his partner even launched their own press to get it published.) [more inside]
A hundred words of awesome
Name Your Tale. Submit a title, and and one of the authors of Name Your Tale will write a 100-word short story based on the submitted title. For example, "Andrew Received Cancer."[via mefi projects]
Dork Yearbook
Dork Yearbook - vintage tech pr0n, now with thicker glasses and footsier pajamas!
Mario och Luigi
A Coney Island of the Mind? Nah. Just Coney Island.
Here's a wonderful and visually creative document (complete with a curious and elaborate musical soundtrack and voices of actual barkers) of one full day in the life of Coney Island USA 1952. A fascinating glimpse of a bygone era! See also: Coney Island of the 1940s, and this color amateur film (with some surprisingly arty shots), Springtime at Coney Island 1944.
オオカミはブタを食べようと思った。
These bankers are Hoares
The separation of the ownership of a business from its management is one of the defining characteristics of the modern capitalist system. But ongoing failures of corporate governance, particularly in banking, have called into question these structures. Is there a better way? Secretive UK private bank C. Hoare & Co. has a solution that works for those customers it chooses to accept. [more inside]
The Noah
In 1975, Greek film executive Daniel Bourla completed work on his sole directorial effort, The Noah. Inspiration for the film stemmed from a meeting Bourla had with scenarist Carl Foreman, in which Bourla observed that “if one really had something to say in a film, he could do it with one man and a fly in a room”. Bourla wrote a postapocalyptic script about the last man to survive a nuclear war. [more inside]
they come out the butt, stupid!
Kinda sutra - a charmingly animated short in which people talk about childhood misconceptions about sex and childbirth. More on childhood sex misconceptions from Dan Savage 1, 2, 3. (pretty tame clip, but possibly NSFW) [more inside]
I will make you fishers of men
"What began as a defensive movement by local fishermen has evolved into a complex amalgamation of banditry, organized crime, freebooting, and insurgency targeting all types of vessels from fishing trawlers to oil tankers." Somali pirates holding an American captain hostage were killed during a rescue yesterday. The lack of effective governance in Somalia allows massive vessels from Europe and Asia to decimate the local fish population, which may have forced Somali fisherman into piracy. Other ships use the Somali coast as a toxic waste dump. [previously]
Clowns make me cry.
The Guardian has taken the unusual step of publishing the same article in English & in Italian because the Italian media will not tell the truth about Berlusconi.
The tainted clown that heads Italy has accused newspapers and television stations of slandering him and damaging the country’s reputation by highlighting his alleged faux pas.
Silvio's Shadow an interesting article from the Colombia Journal of Review cached archives shows how Berlusconi uses Journalism as a political weapon. [more inside]
Silvio's Shadow an interesting article from the Colombia Journal of Review cached archives shows how Berlusconi uses Journalism as a political weapon. [more inside]
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