June 16, 2011
Anatomy of a spectacularly bad decision
"Hey guys, drinks are on me! I finally scored that interview with the Dali Llama. My journalism career is finally about to take off." 30 minutes and 3 rounds later..."Phil, you know what you should do? Tell him the Pizza joke. I'm sure he'll get a kick out of it." "Haha! You're right. That's an awesome idea. What could possibly go wrong?"
It's No Longer Friday
The insanely [un]popular Rebecca Black song Friday has been pulled from YouTube following a copyright claim from Rebecca Black!
TMZ reports that the takedown is apparently the latest step in a dispute between Black and Ark Music Factory about rights to the song. [more inside]
He should really consider donating those fish.
accf96 catches a Napoleonfish. He should donate it. accf96 catches a Ray. Will he donate it? accf96 catches a Stringfish It's recommended that he donate it. Cute videogame enjoyment filter. [more inside]
Neither tarnished nor afraid
Rockstar Games/Team Bondi's open world adventure game LA Noire was released last month to near-universal praise. However, several long-form essays have been written exploring it's problems. The Shadows Of LA Noire criticizes its lack of noir feel. Press X For Beer Bottle (some spoilers) uses the game's lack of freedom to explore the nature of gaming. Finally, Kill Screen Daily's review finds a metaphysical explanation for some of its most obvious issues.
It's the first time completely around, eh?
CN Tower EdgeWalk, June 2011; YouTube, 2.00. For CAD175 you can harness up and walk around the five-foot-wide edge of Toronto's CN Tower, 356 metres/1,168 feet above ground level. [more inside]
Death Valley's sliding rocks may actually hitch a ride on ice rafts
The sliding rocks of Racetrack Playa in Death Valley, California have mystified and delighted visitors for decades (previously). Now planetary scientist Ralph Lorenz and colleagues think they've figured out how the rocks get around: ice rafts float the rocks out of the mud, reducing friction enough that modest winds can push them along (PDF of Lorenz et al., American Journal of Physics, Vol. 79, 1 January 2011). [more inside]
Fort Calhoun Nuclear Plant
On June 7th the Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant in Nebraska briefly lost the ability to cool spent fuel rods after a fire at the site. The FAA issued a directive prohibiting aircraft from entering airspace in a two mile radius of the plant. Since last week the plant has been under a "notice of unusual event" because of the Missouri River flooding. Local news reports that the "facility is an island right now". The flight ban remains in effect. [more inside]
Have we reached the era of the post-ironic riot?
Self Referential
"People have always had an ulterior or imaginative life," opines writer Will Self. "There's something about the act of will involved in believing in preposterous things that I believe is the very kind of muscle and key of having an imagination... here, you have an arena that is inherently psychotic." In a series of interviews about the nature of human imagination and violence as they are transformed by the Internet, Self muses on how primal human desires are being satisfied more efficiently and easily by the increasingly connected life, and wonders how this will change us as much as society.
This post made with influences as diverse as Nietzsche and John Cage
Need to make an artist statement but not feeling artisty enough? Use the Arty Bollocks Generator to generate one instantly.
Metaskim
Metaskim: A news aggregator that cuts out a lot of the fat and gives you relevant local and national news.
flippinbelieveit
This site parses the emails sent and received by Sarah Palin while she was governor of Alaska and presents them in a more familiar interface. sarahsinbox.com
A Folk Song A Day
AFSAD: On June 24, 2010 – Midsummer’s Day – the acclaimed British singer Jon Boden launched an ambitious new project – A Folk Song A Day. Every day for (nearly) a year now he's been posting his performance of a traditional song free online or as an audio podcast. He's now got just eight of his 365 songs to go, so now's your chance to catch up before it's too late.
"He also notes that the burgers are extremely low in fat."
Hurtigruten
"People have travelled along the Norwegian coastline with "Hurtigruten" since 1893. The journey is known as "The World's Most Beautiful Sea Voyage". Now everybody can travel along in the world's longest TV program! Spectacular fjords, midnight sun and genuine Norwegian scenery make the setting for a trip from Bergen to Kirkenes. We broadcast the whole trip live minute by minute for 134 hours!" Watch the whole thing live here. [more inside]
Progressive Press
Religion Dispatches: progressive, LGBT-and-atheist friendly, interfaith, non-academic journalism on faith and religious culture. Also of note: Good magazine has limited print distribution but a rich website.
ScriptSource: Pretty much every form of human writing, all documented on one site
Scriptsource: Pretty much every form of human writing, all documented on one site. Simon Ager’s Omniglot.com, which went online circa 1998, documents the many writing systems in use through history and in the present day. Now SIL International’s ScriptSource packs an even more boggling array of information on scripts and writing into one site, drilling all the way down to pages for individual letters.
Barbet Schroeder's "General Idi Amin Dada: A Self Portrait"
Amin's hunger for publicity was so great, in fact, that in 1974 he became the first dictator in history to agree to be the subject of an independent documentary film. The resulting movie, Barbet Schroeder's General Idi Amin Dada... is a devastating look at despotism in action and a riveting, and strangely entertaining, portrait of Amin. [more inside]
Don't Put The Bandleader on the Album Cover
It was music to be heard, not listened to. It was the soundtrack to the relaxed, sophisticated, mature vision of the good life. It was music for lovers. It was upbeat, elaborately arranged, chart-toppingly popular, and yet has been almost written out of the popular music history books, dismissed as “elevator music”; soulless, toned-down, pre-chewed, limp cover-versions of popular songs for old people. So sit back, put aside the politics and angst, slip into something comfortable (preferably with someone of similar description), and allow yourself to experience The Joy of Easy Listening [2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
What is Ferran Adria up to next?
Weiner to resign
Democratic Representative Anthony Weiner, of New York's 9th congressional district, will resign from Congress today at 2 p.m. in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. [more inside]
Superhero casual day
Artists lovingly take on costumed heroes: Gregg Segal follows superhero impersonators home to get some great shots of crime-fighters doing chores (also, here). Mark Newport knits super hero costumes, when he is not trying to be the official knitter of the NFL. Meanwhile, Rafael Bastos creates minimal super hero costumes out of household objects (use a few laser pointers to become Cyclops!).
Russian Video from Russia
Russian Video from Russia does what it says, providing a variety of videos from Russia, presented in English or with English subtitles, and brief descriptions of the videos. You can check out videos as they're posted, or sort through by categories (including customs, musical video, science and technology, and movie for the weekend). This last category ranges from Russian Sherlock Holmes movies to a traditional New Year romantic comedy, a documentary on Yuri Gagarin to a classic Russian children's tale of Old Hottabych, an old genie freed in modern times.
Now the story of a wealthy man who lost everything. And the one son who had no choice but to keep them all together.
The much-beloved Arrested Development was characterized by its complex, multilayered narrative jokes; here the A. V. Club analyzed a 50-second-long clip and tried to map out all its references (including one very subtle three-part joke about eggs). Luckily for you, there’s a very exhaustive web site, The Balboa Observer-Picayune, which documents the show’s obscurest jokes (H. Maddas, Blackstool, GOB’s ice obsession), its cleverest callbacks (Hello’s revenge, ”Mom says”, pilot/finale callbacks), its visual gags (yearbooks, newspapers, cartoons, Amazon), and its longest-running gags (I’ve made a huge mistake”, “Her?”, Cloud Mir, ”Hey, brother!”, and the chicken dance). Complete index of references at the Bluthcyclopedia. Complete transcripts of every episode. Bonus songs! All You Need Is Smiles. Yellow Boat. Big Yellow Joint. Hot Cops. It Ain’t Easy Being White. Discipline Daddy. Motherboy. Balls in the Air. You Here With Me. I Get Up. Finally, Fonzie jumps the shark again. [more inside]
out of her head she sang
And so in Speedy's fancy, Chet Trask was tottering on his throne––
A handful of complete Harold Lloyd films on YouTube:
A Sailor-Made Man (1921)From the splendid F*** Yeah Harold Lloyd
Why Worry? (1923)
Safety Last (1923)
Girl Shy (1924)
The Freshman (1925)
Vancouver Is Burning
Vancouver lost twice last night. Just over a year ago, Vancouver was the pride of Canada during the 2010 Olympics. This morning the people of Vancouver are waking up and wondering what the hell? [more inside]
« Previous day | Next day »