May 12, 2008
We're all blue from projection tubes
UK band The Get Out Clause made their newest video by performing in front of 80 of London's approximately 13 million CCTV cameras, and then requesting the footage via the Data Protection Act. The footage was then edited together into this music video. [more inside]
Look Out Below
Airphoto North America ― Jim Wark is an aerial photographer who specializes in capturing unusual landscape and cultural images of North and Central America. The plane used is a small high-wing, bush type (an Aviat Husky) with a large side opening for unobstructed shooting, and with the capability of operating out of small rough areas. A full complement of camping gear and provisions are always on board so that remote sites can be used as operating bases.
Microsoft's WorldWide Telescope
Microsoft's much anticipated WorldWide Telescope was released today (in the past hour actually). Article in New York Times and TED speech.
Martha's Daughters
A supportive blogging community of mainly women cross-linked on each other's blogrolls and leading an increasingly compelling marketplace of small-scale goods and handmade lives , green-living ideas , product promotion , and lifestyle-making suggest that the internet may be able to foster a localized economy model of living on an international scale--or at least gain the attention of that other idyllic-life icon. [more inside]
The name's Ronson, Jon Ronson.
"I want to recreate a great Bond journey," I say. "I want to take a passage from one of the novels and assiduously match Bond car for car, road for road, meal for meal, drink for drink, hotel for hotel." [more inside]
Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Calligraphy
Selections of Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Calligraphy from the collection of The Library of Congress. 373 individual pieces from ranging in time from the 9th to the 19th Century, all explained and some translated. A few personal favorites (note that very high quality scans can be viewed by clicking the appropriate link after clicking thumbnail): marriage decree, verses on tragic love, practice sheet, verses 10-11 of the 48th chapter of the Qur'an, poetic verses offering advice, frontispiece of Qur'anic exegesis and quatrain by Rumi. There are also four special presentations: Calligraphers of the Persian Tradition, Ottoman Calligraphers and Their Works, Qur’anic Fragments and Noteworthy Items. This last presentation also features representational art, for instance images of The battle of Mazandaran and the Persian king Bahram Gur hunting.
Feudal Crime Lords of Japan
Among industrialized nations, Japan has a pretty low rate of violent crime, a relatively high number of police, and a virtually non-existent acquittal rate. Yet, somehow the Yakuza persists.
Phil Schaap, jazz aficionado
Phil Schaap has hosted a jazz program for the past twenty-seven years on WKCR, Columbia University’s radio station with unapologetic passion and a depth of familiarity that comes, in part, from the personal relationships he had with the musicians themselves.
The current talent pool is too small (get it?)
Looking for relatively-secure employment, decent wages, and the satisfaction of helping Planet Earth? There's a coming shortage of workers in the Waste Water Treatment industry! (via) [more inside]
Žižek!
"Žižek!" is a feature documentary exploring the eccentric personality and esoteric work of the "wild man of theory": the eminent Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek. Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7. [more inside]
The Comic Book Script Archive
A collection of comic book scripts from writers such as Brian Michael Bendis, Warren Ellis, Garth Ennis, Mark Millar, Grant Morrison and Alan Moore.
Flower art
The Origins of Cybex Space
The Origins of Cybex Space
Just in case you are in need of ...." a preventative against the evils engendered by a sedentary life and the seclusion of the office."
The Something Store
Why don't you get yourself a little something? It's only $10!
In bed with Captain Kirk
"We were treated like rock stars. I was told there were female Trekkies who kept lists of all the cast members with whom they'd slept. I was told this!" Extracts from 'Up To Now', the autobiography of William Shatner... from his time on Star Trek, where he comes over as the colossal jerk of legend, to his poignant recollections of the death of his third wife.
The most perfect specimen of a North American tree
The last standing member of the Council Oaks, a group of 14 oak trees located in what is now downtown Austin, Texas, the Treaty Oak has stood for more than 500 years. The Treaty Oak got its name from the (probably apocryphal) story of how Stephen F. Austin signed a boundary treaty with local tribes under its branches. In 1927 the Treaty Oak was called "The most perfect specimen of a North American tree". In 1937 the City of Austin (prodded by the Campfire Girls of Port Arthur and other schoolchildren) purchased the quarter acre of land upon which the Treaty Oak stood and believed that this ancient tree, and its 128 foot canopy, was safe. Of course, the did not know that in 1989 someone would dump enough of the herbicide Velpar around its roots to kill 100 trees. [more inside]
Off the Rails.
Is life on Mars a good sign for us?
The "Great Filter" is a hypothetical barrier to explain why civilisations are so unlikely to progress to the point of inter-stellar colonisation that we have not encountered any in 40 years of looking. Maybe humanity has already negotiated the filter - as some massive evolutionary improbability - or perhaps it lies in our future as an almost-certain threat to our existence? We should hold our breath as we look for evidence of life on Mars.
'I make it look like they died in their sleep'
Death's Midwife: Jon Ronson meets the Reverend George Exoo, controversial right-to-die activist. [more inside]
Writer, musician, polymath
Stan Kelly-Bootle began his career as a member of the earliest wave of computer programmers, who wrote prolifically about a wide range of computing issues. Back in his home town though, he's probably best known for his contributions to a lexicon of local slang, Lern Yerself Scouse, and for his canonical and not-so-canonical contributions to the British folk repertoire. [more inside]
Cliff Richard and General Franco: the 1968 Eurovision mystery
It's the story that has Britain in uproar*: Cliff Richard and General Franco: the 1968 Eurovision mystery. Did General Franco scupper the judging? Exhibit A: Cliff's UK entry, Congratulations. Exhibit 2: Spain's winning entry by Massiel, La la la. For added measure, exhibit iv: here's Cliff's 1973 entry, which believe it or not also did not win, Power to all our Friends (though Cliff's spectacular moves should not sway your opinion on the controversy* in any way).
[*not really].
Animal Rights History - source documents and more
Animal Rights History collects quotes and original source documents from historical figures concerned with animal welfare, animal rights and vegetarianism throughout history, including John Locke on kids' cruelty to animals, Voltaire on vivisecting dogs, the author of history's first protected species list, lots about Pythagoras, timelines, a survey of anti-cruelty laws and more.
Madonna (Not Was)
The story goes like this:
In the early 80's Madonna sat in with Was (Not Was) to record backing vocals (to Ozzy Osbourne's main vox) for their track Shake Your Head (Let's Go To Bed). Everything was peachy until Madonna's record label, Sire, refused to grant ZE Records permission to publish her recording. So other voices sang of things that cannot be done. Fast-forward ten years and the hits collection Hello Dad, I'm In Jail included the track and, again, the Madonna vocal was not released for use. (This time Kim Basinger's new backing track got the spot.) The new Basinger-backed single peaked at #4 on the UK charts and featured a b-side remix by producer Steve 'Silk' Hurley. However, a glorious blunder resulted in a recall of the single: ZE had sent Hurley Madonna's background vocals. The mistake wasn't caught until after pressing and lo! a very few copies of the record made it out into the world. And so, music fans, for a cool G you can lay hands on your own copy of Shake Your Head (Let's Go to Bed), featuring the b-side dub, the rarest of Madonna recordings. [Mouse over links for descriptions.]
The American Look, 1958
If you can make it through the glacially paced intro and can put up with the typically clunky, often laughable and jingoistic fifties-style narration, this 1958 film from Chevrolet, The American Look is worth viewing. Chock full of futuristic telephones, toasters, blenders, office machines, architecture and more, it's a mid-century design lover's dream. The film is visually striking and elegant, and presented in widescreen format. Here's part 2 and part 3. Or see it here in its entirety. [more inside]
Wasn't That Good?
Bop Bop a Doo Bop. Please Give Me Something. Mellow Saxophone. Let's Have a Ball. Ubangi Stomp. Jeannie, Jeannie, Jeannie. Be Bop a Lula. My One Desire. Wasn't That Good. What do these songs, of varying levels of obscurity and fame, have in common? The Stray Cats. In order: Fishnet Stockings. Crawl Up and Die. Wild Saxophone. Gonna Ball. Ubangi Stomp. Jeanie Jeanie Jeanie. Be Bop a Lula. My One Desire. Wasn't That Good. Thirty years since they formed, the Cats' farewell tour begins in August.
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