MetaFilter posts tagged with U2

The Irony Curtain

jefficator — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:27:56 -0800

Twenty years ago in Berlin a wall came down. But at a free concert last night given by U2 in front of the Brandenburg Gate, MTV Europe decided to put a wall back up.

Fans of Spinal Tap, take note.

albrecht — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 07:25:20 -0800

Fans of U2 have probably already seen concert footage from their current tour of the giant elliptical LED screen that morphs into a 7-story high cone-shaped structure, enveloping the band as it extends. But what you may not know is that it was designed (in collaboration with Barco) by Chuck Hoberman, inventor of the Hoberman Sphere. According to the press release [pdf], the display is made of 888 hexagonal LED screens, with a total of 500,000 pixels encompassing an area of 3,800 square feet. Video about the making of the transformable LED screen here. Other designs by Hoberman: -Expanding Hypar at the California Museum of Science and Industry -The Hoberman Arch, from the medals ceremony at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. -Brain Twist, a tetrahedral puzzle similar to a Rubik's cube.

Flying to the Edge of Space

Effigy2000 — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 02:31:47 -0800

James Mays flies to the edge of space in a U2 spy plane.

I'll Go Crazy if I Don't Go Crazy Tonight

WCityMike — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:26:57 -0800

"I'll Go Crazy if I Don't Go Crazy Tonight," a beautiful little moodful animated Larry Mullen Band music video. It's not so much the song as its combination with a wonderful animated story by David O'Reilly (previously).

Now have you found what you're looking for?

Joe Beese — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 11:04:34 -0800

Only 325 days until Broadway's Hilton Theater hosts the first preview of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, a $40 million musical directed by Juliet Taymor with music and lyrics by Bono and The Edge of U2. Investors hope it will fare better than another big-budget pulp adaptation.

Hiroshi Sugimoto

escabeche — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 20:03:09 -0800

"Developing a low-quality aesthetic is a sign of serious fine art." Hiroshi Sugimoto is a Japanese photographer most famous for blank seascapes and photos of empty theaters that aren't really empty. In a 2005 interview he talks about the relation of his work with Duchamp, Man Ray, and the mathematics faculty of Tokyo university. He won the 2001 Hasselblad prize and his photographs of plaster models of mathematical surfaces have appeared in the New York Times. But his work has never really broken out to a mass audience. Until now.

Bono's Joshua Tree RIP

hortense — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 00:47:16 -0800

Iconic joshua tree has fallen... many fine photographs centering on the national park and lots of information about the trees are included on this fan site. via "Geology is the study of pressure and time. That's all it takes really... pressure... and time..." -- Morgan Freeman's character Red in the movie "The Shawshank Redemption" metaphorically explaining why his friend Andy escaped from prison

U2FU?

markkraft — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 22:54:01 -0800

U2FU? Paul McGuinness, longtime manager of the band U2, has called on governments to compel ISPs to introduce mandatory French-style service disconnections to stop unauthorized downloading. McGuinness criticized Radiohead's "In Rainbows" pay-what-you-want business model, saying that "the majority of downloads were through illegal P2P download services like BitTorrent and LimeWire". He accuses ISPs, telcos, device makers, and numerous specifically named companies such as Apple, Google, Yahoo!, Oracle, and Facebook of building "multi billion dollar industries on the back of our content without paying for it", and of being "makers of burglary kits" who have made "a thieve's charter" to steal money from the music industry. The full text of his speech has been posted on U2's website.

Gollum meets Johnny Cash.

EarBucket — Sun, 06 May 2007 10:43:52 -0800

You've probably seen the video of Kirk and Spock set to "Closer." You might not be familiar with the wider world of fanvids, however. It might be "Lost" set to Warren Zevon or "Heroes" set to Jonathan Coulton. Some are slashy, others are just hilarious. And some are really awesome.

"Window in the Sky", a U2 montage of 137 video clips

stbalbach — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 14:20:28 -0800

"Window in the Sky" is a YouTube style video synch mash-up done on a professional budget with the magic of copyright clearances. "It's a triumph of postmodern reconstruction" says the Washington Post.

U2, Paul McCartney, Pete Townsend Call For New Copyright Law

zouhair — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 17:15:33 -0800

"U2, Kaiser Chiefs, Maximo Park and about 4,000 other bands have taken out a full page newspaper ad calling for the improvement of British copyright law. " wtf

Christian Rock?

blaneyphoto — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 09:59:09 -0800

What do you get when you combine the Jesus and U2? U2-charist, of course!

How to Guest-Edit a Major British Newspaper

bardic — Wed, 17 May 2006 15:06:15 -0800

Bonofilter: Yesterday, May 16, U2 front-man Bono was a guest "editor" for the UK newspaper The Independent. Called the "RED Edition," half of this issue's proceeds went "to help fight HIV and AIDS among women and children in Africa." Highlights included US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice offering her take on "The Ten Best Musical Works" and an interview with Eddie Izzard on immigration in Europe. Is there a downside to celebrity editing, or is it a win-win-win for Bono, The Independent, and some people in need?

Persons of the year

docgonzo — Sun, 18 Dec 2005 08:14:06 -0800

Newsfilter: Bill Gates, Melinda Gates and Paul Hewson named by Time Magazine as their persons of the year in recognition of their efforts against HIV-1, malaria and debt in Africa. "For being shrewd about doing good, for rewiring politics and re-engineering justice, for making mercy smarter and hope strategic and then daring the rest of us to follow, Bill and Melinda Gates and Bono are Time's Persons of the Year." said the mag's editor-in-chief.

Eyes and ears and mouth and nose...

Hot Like Your 12V Wire — Fri, 28 Oct 2005 17:49:13 -0800

U2, the Pope, Bush, Blair and Oprah together -- doing head and shoulders! Yet more Flash Friday fun.

Coldplay Rip Off U2... Again

Saellys — Fri, 05 Aug 2005 12:57:40 -0800

Sometimes You Can't Fix You On Your Own. (Quicktime and Windows Media.) If there has ever been doubt about Coldplay's burning ambition to be U2, let it be put to rest.

The Dragon Lady

NotMyselfRightNow — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 06:55:05 -0800

Built at Lockheed's secret Skunk Works facility for use by the Central Intelligence Agency, and in service since 1950s, the U2 spy plane has seen service all over the world (or, at the very least, 70,000 feet above it). It has shown us what both our friends and enemies were doing, helping us avert wars, and in at least one occasion, almost causing one itself. Today, just over 45 years since Francis Gary Powers fell from the sky into the Soviet Union, the United States Air Force has announced from Baghdad that yet another Dragon Lady has fallen from the sky in an undisclosed location in Southwestern Asia.

"Hey, this is Red Rocks! "

scody — Sun, 05 Jun 2005 13:17:35 -0800

"A number of people I talked to there felt like the Red Rocks show was a religious experience. Nobody was prepared for what the band did. It stunned everybody." 22 years ago today, U2 filmed their "Under a Blood Red Sky" concert at Red Rocks amphitheatre outside Denver, Colorado.

U2 Can B A Rock Star Prez

nakedcodemonkey — Tue, 01 Mar 2005 21:05:44 -0800

U2 Can B A Rock Star Prez. The president of the World Bank is traditionally an American. But in a recent editorial the L.A. Times nominated third-world debt relief activitist and Nobel Peace Prize nominee and--oh yeah--U2 frontman for the soon-to-be-vacant position. With economic tutoring from "probably the most important economist in the world", the singer/activist (and self-confessed egomaniac) has spent the last 5 years lobbying the World Bank and IMF to help African nations break the decades' old cycle of debt by combining debt relief with improved trade and AIDS assistance. After a stint as celebrity spokesmodel for Jubilee2000, then founding a similar DATA Agenda funded by Bill Gates, he's developed cred as "a serious player on Third World debt". "It's about the right to begin again," Bono says. "The right to be free of your past..." President Bono: a chance to reform the World Bank from the inside, or celebrity poser? Readers' response... [BugMeNot for the reg-only sites]

Just in time for X-Mas

JBennett — Wed, 01 Dec 2004 09:36:10 -0800

U2 vs. Negativland IPod "special edition". Totally Unauthorized, but your purchase will help Downhill Battle , and thus, will end the major label monopoly and build a better, fairer music industry. If you are not the high-bidder, you can always make your own by stopping here and here .

Marketing-induced Dizziness

udeups — Fri, 22 Oct 2004 14:09:30 -0800

U2-style Friday Flash Fun. They join the ranks of Flash game marketeers in the promotion of their new single, Vertigo, and upcoming album, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. And by the way, someone found the contents of that briefcase that got stolen in Portland 23 years ago.

Sunday Bloody Sunday

bob sarabia — Wed, 08 Sep 2004 10:16:58 -0800

President Bush - Sunday Bloody Sunday (mp3)

Doctor Bono's Call to Arms

rory — Wed, 02 Jun 2004 03:54:16 -0800

Bono's commencement address to U.Penn. "The world is more malleable than you think and it's waiting for you to hammer it into shape.... That's what this degree of yours is, a blunt instrument. So go forth and build something with it." [via Ed]

Atrocious Cover Songs

MiguelCardoso — Thu, 04 Sep 2003 18:20:17 -0800

When Bad Singers Happen To Good Songs: The Songicides! In today's Spectator Markus Berkmann amusingly raises the deadly spectre of the worst covers ever recorded. We're talking assassins here. I nominate Phil Collins's massacre of Holland/Dozier/Holland's "You Can't Hurry Love", as originally sung by Diana Ross and the Supremes; U2's goring of Cole Porter's "Night and Day", best sung by Sinatra or Ella and, worst of all, though he's my favourite artist, Leonard Cohen's mangling of Irving Berlin's classic "Always". What's the worst cover version you'd like to report to Musical Homicide?

'It's a beautiful day'

Sijeka — Wed, 19 Feb 2003 10:18:07 -0800

"It's a beautiful day..." So i hear U2's singer, the great and charismatic Bono, has just been nominated for nobel peace prize. Of course, we the french, find it very amusing to find Chirac nominated. (Oh, the hysteria if ever he won). Also in the race is ex Gov. George H Ryan, who amongst other achievements declared a moratorium in 2000, before leaving his job a few months ago... with class. Or maybe they'll just choose Bono & Chirac for knowing how to work together on the 'drop the debt' issue? So, what do you say? (i'd have to go with Bono, i'm afraid. Rock n roll but effective and passionate...)