MetaFilter posts tagged with recycle

SkeleCANS

flapjax at midnite — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 05:34:46 -0800

Enrich your Halloween experience with some seasonally appropriate art: the whimsical and charming SkeleCANS (flapjax recommends: slideshow viewing) from New Orleans' indefatigable Skeleton Krewe.

Reuse, Recycle, and ROCK

ocherdraco — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:07:59 -0800

Electric Junkyard Gamelan is the brainchild of bandleader and composer Terry Dame, and fuses Dame's passions of composing, inventing and building. Originally inspired by traditional Gamelan music from Bali, the group recycles and repurposes everyday objects into musical instruments. While some of their songs do indeed resemble the hypnotic percussive melodies of a Balinese/Javanese gamelan orchestra (The Nutbutter Challenge), other tunes strike out into new, distinctly urban American directions (Ode to Fred Beans). Following the band's motto, "Reuse, Recycle and ROCK," instruments are fashioned from coat hangers and rubber bands, bed frames, old farm equipment, turntable platters, clay pots, saw blades and truck springs. The "Big Barp" rubber-band harp makes a particularly unusual sound. Watching the band play is a fundamental part of enjoying their music:

At the Cleveland Bridge Project (Part 2, Part 3)
"Cark Nogg" and "Big Barp" in Baltimore at the Metro Gallery
At the Chicago World Music Festival in Daley Plaza

Brooklyn Independent Television interviewed the band, with lots of great description about how they play; there's another great interview (with lots of great music) with David Garland on WNYC's Spinning on Air (where I first heard of the band). You can find photos of the band on Flickr to get a closer look at their instruments. Electric Junkyard Gamelan has three albums (Life on Marz, Live from HERE, and the self-titled Electric Junkyard Gamelan). Live in New York? They're performing tonight at Joe's Pub. Sources for the descriptions in the main part of this post: EJG's about the band page, this post on Music for Maniacs, and yesterday's epsiode description at Spinning On Air.

A Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich of a Computer Case

filthy light thief — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:49:55 -0800

The use of cardboard for things other than packaging is not new to the blue, from detailed artwork to furnature (and even re-making the Tron light cycle scene), and now computer cases. Brenden Macaluso's design is not the first, with a Japanese design from 2005 (the original site is down, but Archive.org has a backup, with more versions archived), and other kludged fixes for an existing case missing parts. Recompute wasn't the only cardboard case in the 2009 Greener Gadgets design competition. The other was Cardboardcase, by Francesco Biasci and Martina Becattini, which is a more of a traditional computer case form. On the DIY side, Instructables provides plans for a DIY cardboard laptop case. Recompute is inspired by the amount of computer hardware being recycled at the end of the product's lifecycle. The video section of the related website has additional associated clips. According to an interview with Macaluso, the design wasn't initially limited to cardboard as a material, but as he researched the components he found that cardboard had some bonus features, such as a greater tolerance for heat (cardboard has a higher fire and ignition point -- 258°C and 427°C, respectively -- where plastics begin to melt at about 120°C - source), and the corrugation ventilates the entire structure. The processor has its own cooling fan built in and the power supply and mother board are isolated from each other to keep heat from one affecting the other (source).

Dumpster diving: one man's trash recepticle is another's pool

filthy light thief — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 10:35:53 -0800

Inspired by the creative re-use of dumpsters in Athens, Georgia by Curtis Crowe of the band Pylon, the Macro|Sea collective have taken the idea further, and have their first dumpster pool space prototype up and active in Brooklyn (via). The group's big idea is to revitalize strip malls across America. On the smaller scale, British artist Oliver Bishop-Young has "turned skips into gold," by refurbishing small skips into little ponds, parks, skate ramps, and micro meeting areas (more details). On the more personal level, Michel de Broin created "Blue Monochrom," a dumpster hot tub.

Be Kind, Recycle (Film Footage)

filthy light thief — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 22:12:00 -0800

Sex Galaxy (trailer 1, trailer 2, NSFW) is a new film that claims to be the first "green film," as it is made of 100% recycled material. In an Wired article, director/producer Mike Davis discloses his film sources. "Boarded-up libraries, abandoned schools, decaying drive-in movie theaters…. These are the realms in which I unearth my wares," he said. "And actually, many of these films are available on the internet. You can find amazing collections through the Library of Congress." The Wired article notes that the recycled material isn't itself wholly original, and Bad Lit expands the history of film plunder further. Sex Galaxy is sourced from Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women, which relied on footage from Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet, which in turn is sampled from the Russian film Planeta Bur. The history of film reuse is long and storied, and continues after the jump. Roger Corman, known for his frugal use of props and footage, was the mentor to Peter Bogdanovich, director of Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (which Corman produced). Then there's Sandy Frank possibly best known for bringing live-action Japanese film to the United States, but reworked through editing and dubbing. 10 of his films received the MST3000 treatment. Additional fun: Internet Archive hosts Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (1967), Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (1965), and Google Video hosts Planeta Bur (1962) in it's original Russian form, without subtitles. Fugitive Alien and Star Force: Fugitive Alien II, Sandy Frank creations, were based on the 1978 Japanese series Sutâurufu (often called Star Wolf in the US). You can watch 4 of the original episodes online: Ep 1, Ep 2, Ep 3, Ep 4 The group These United States only used public domain footage for their video "Get Yourself Home."

メリー・クリスマス with ふろしき

armage — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 20:53:18 -0800

The Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP), a not-for-profit company sponsored by the UK government, urges you to cut down on waste paper this holiday season and wrap your presents with furoshiki, the traditional Japanese wrapping cloth. Furoshiki (風呂敷, literally "bath-spread") date back at least to the Edo period, and continue to be used for all occasions to this day. The Japanese government has also been encouraging the use of furoshiki through its recent "Mottainai Furoshiki" campaign. There are many ways to fold a furoshiki, and if you don't have one you can use a bandana or other square cloth instead of a proper furoshiki -- or simply make your own. Furoshiki are a great opportunity to be both creative and green this holiday season.

It's Easy Being Green

netbros — Thu, 01 May 2008 06:33:32 -0800

Simple, with icons. 50 Ways to Help the Planet. See also: Global Warming Facts ThinkQuest Ways to Help the Environment 21 Practical Ways to Help the Environment BTW, the Practical Environmentalist is a blog that tries to keep you updated with news and tips about the practical aspect of being green. Included is a rich list of environmental resources.

Rawrrr!

serazin — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 09:30:20 -0800

Joshua Allen Harris makes inflatable sculptures out of found trash bags: bear, creatures, monster. via wooster collective.

I Want To Say One Word To You: Plastics Recycling... Okay, That's Two Words.

amyms — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 00:00:55 -0800

A Visual Guide To Recycling Plastics. Most recycling programs only accept plastics #1 and #2, so being able to quickly identify them can be a time saver when sorting your recycling. In the future, we should be able to recycle plastics #3 through #7 — but for now these outcasts must be banished to the landfill (that’s too bad, because a lot of stuff is made from plastic #5).

Book Scavenging in Manhatten

stbalbach — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 09:11:34 -0800

Book Scavenging. Hundreds of homeless people eke out a living scavenging books from dumpsters and sidewalk trash in Manhattan. Sidewalk is a book about the subculture of sidewalk book scavengers and vendors.

Excuse me, were you going to art that?

artifarce — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 19:47:56 -0800

Superuse: Reusing can be beautiful, unusual, functional, and even illustrative of our culture of excess. (all links lead to the same site).

Trash or Art or Both?

fenriq — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 07:05:42 -0800

The SF Dump's Artist in Residence Program currently features Sudhu Tewari and Nome Edonna but will be welcoming Ellen Babcock and Nathaniel Tookey shortly. Its an idea that's been around for a little while. "Many artists find and recycle materials in their art, but no one else has this much material to pick from," says Program Director Paul Fresina. The 2,000-square-foot art studio is located at SF Recycling & Disposal, Inc.'s Solid Waste Transfer and Recycling Center. The 44-acre site is where most of San Francisco's garbage and recyclables are temporarily dumped before going to a landfill or recycling plant. Throughout a residency, each artist talks to young students and adult tour groups about the experience of turning trash into treasures. Previously and via.

Reduce, Reuse,...

santiagogo — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 10:46:10 -0800

Where do your recycleables go? Minneapolis' Star Tribune has created a very interesting, informative, interactive feature, describing where your recycling goes after it is picked up from your curb. An educational way to spend your afternoon!

Cardboard domes

Mitheral — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 14:03:23 -0800

Cardboard Geodesic Dome. A how-to on building a geodesic dome out of cardboard, a bit of wood, some duct tape and paint. Plus some rebar if you don't want the finished dome to fly like a kite. If you like the concept but not the size calculate your own then apply the concept.

from guns to art

amberglow — Sat, 25 Dec 2004 19:32:08 -0800

Peace Art Project Cambodia --turning the detrius of war into art, in hopes of a more peaceful future. More info here, and here. "You can't help but think about what this machine has done to affect so many lives." And that is really the point. These sculptures are political art at its most powerful - relics of a violent past transformed into expressions of hope for a more peaceful future.

The World's Shortest Comprehensive Recycling Guide

nthdegx — Mon, 29 Nov 2004 01:56:22 -0800

The World's Shortest Comprehensive Recycling Guide.

what is trash to you might be treasure to another ...

grabbingsand — Tue, 18 Nov 2003 08:55:46 -0800

Freecycling. Reducing the amount of trash we generate by connecting people who have things that they no longer want with people who want those same things. The only rule: Every item posted must be free.