May 26, 2015
More items from Shaun Tan's federal department of odds and ends
Shaun Tan (previously, twice) is most identified with his distinctly surreal style of 2D still art, but he has also worked in sculpted and animated forms, as seen in his pieces inspired by recently revised stories of the Brothers Grimm, and The Lost Thing, a short film based on his book of the same name.
FIFA officials arrested on corruption charges
FIFA officials, in Zurich for their annual meeting, were arrested this morning by Swiss authorities. They will be extradited to the United States to face charges of wire fraud, racketeering, and money laundering.
It's true because pictures
Now Something for the Ladies: Feminine Pictorialities
Feminine Pictorialities is "British Pathé's classic 'special selection for the ladies' from the 1930s [and] covers bathing and hat fashions, hairstyles, and women's sport." Among the 55 short films from 1934 and 1935: Woollies! Handbags! Cartoon fashions! And my favorite, a forerunner of 100 Years of Beauty (previously), Whirly, Curly Girls! [more inside]
Mary Ellen Mark (March 20, 1940 – May 25, 2015)
Documentary photographer Mary Ellen Mark died on May 25, 2015 at the age of 75. Perhaps her most famous project is the documentation of the lives of homeless people in Seattle in the early 1980s, specifically Erin "Tiny" Blackwell, a 13-year-old sex worker. This Life Magazine editorial was then turned into a documentary film called Streetwise in 1984. Mary and her husband, Mark Bell, have more recently followed up with Tiny 30 years later for a successful Kickstarter campaign for a book and film to be released this later this year.
Everything you didn't want to know about Unicode
"The map began as just a doodle."
In the summer of 1963 Jerry Gretzinger began drawing a map of an imaginary city. You can now use Jerry's Map to zoom in on any of the over 3,200 eight by ten inch panels of the original paper map, executed in acrylic, marker, colored pencil, ink, collage, and inkjet print. This short film by Greg Whitmore takes a fascinating look at the project and the artist's process, which "is dictated by the interplay between an elaborate set of rules and randomly generated instructions." [via]
The Real No-Go Zone
"When you imagine France and its scenic countryside, you might think of the picturesque villages, vineyards a plenty and endless rolling green hills to drive through on a blissful summer road trip. But there’s one corner of this scenic country that no one has been allowed to enter for nearly a century, known as the 'Zone Rouge'."
I’m a woman who writes about rock and roll
"The record store, the guitar shop, and now social media: when it comes to popular music, these places become stages for the display of male prowess. Female expertise, when it appears, is repeatedly dismissed as fraudulent. Every woman who has ever ventured an opinion on popular music could give you some variation (or a hundred) on my school corridor run-in, and becoming a recognized 'expert' (a musician, a critic) will not save you from accusations of fakery." The World Needs Female Rock Critics, by Anwen Crawford for the New Yorker. Discussed in the piece is Jessica Hopper's new collection of essays, The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic, which has been greeted with glowing praise. Here's an interview she did with Hazlitt: 'Am I Womansplaining To You?' And here she speaks to Meredith Graves of Perfect Pussy: "Being a fangirl is all the qualification you need. And don't wait for anyone to give you permission. They won't. And you should do it anyways." [more inside]
"Dylan told us he would call us on Monday."
Bob Dylan sang The Night We Called It a Day on David Letterman's next-to-last Late Show episode. This was the third time he appeared on Letterman show. He played at the 10th Anniversary show in 1992 backed by an all-star band assembled by Dylan fan Paul Shaffer. But perhaps the most significant was in 1984, when Dylan's star was at a low ebb. He played three songs accompanied by LA Latino punk band The Plugz, Don't Stop Talking (Sonny Boy Williamson cover), and two tracks off Dylan's album Infidels, License to Kill and Jokerman. Two videos from the rehearsal also exist, featuring songs Treat Her Right (Roy Head cover) and I Once Knew a Man, which is probably a Dylan original, but nobody knows for sure. New York Magazine's Vulture blog interviewed The Plugz and told the story of the performance.
What does one bring to Jupiter's neighborhood?
Well, if you're going to Europa, you definitely want to pack a magnetometer, among other neat tools.
Ive Got A Secret
Stephen Fry announces in an exclusive interview that Jony Ive has been promoted to Apple's Chief Design Officer (CDO). Ive becomes the third C-level executive at the company, a step up from his former position as Senior Vice President of Design. Tim Cook followed up on Fry's announcement with a company-wide email detailing all of the changes to the management structure of the design department.
No wood in the wood stock
Sony's 2011 contract with Spotify has leaked. The Verge's calculations have Sony making a pretty sizable sum off the deal, without much of it trickling down to artists. Meanwhile, Sony has begun pulling all of its artists' music from Soundcloud.
[more inside]
“It’s disheartening. They should have known better.”
Loaded with Lead. America has an estimated 10,000 gun ranges and 40 million annual recreational shooters. But when guns are fired with lead-based ammunition, they spread a toxin: lead vapor and dust. A year-long Seattle Times investigation shows that due to poor ventilation and contact with lead-coated surfaces, thousands of workers, shooters and their family members have been contaminated and been made sick at shooting ranges nationwide. Reckless range owners/operators, unenforced regulations as well as a lack of oversight and inspections are to blame. [more inside]
Like it or not, folks, those things are payloads of history
A great place to visit.
But is it fools' gold?
The Golden Ratio or the Golden Mean is touted as universal principle of mathematics, aesthetics, and architecture. Its natural occurrences are often associated with beauty and health. But naysayers think the Golden Ratio is myth or even a scam. Golden ratio previously and previouslier.
Breaking The Game For Fun And Profit
Hoverboards actually do work on water
Hoverboard inventor breaks world record for flight distance. Catalin Alexandru Duru sets a new world record by flying his homemade hoverboard 276m along Lake Ouareau in Quebec, Canada. [more inside]
First Federal Monument Honoring LGBT Veterans Dedicated on Memorial Day
The first federally approved monument honoring LGBT veterans in a national cemetery was unveiled and dedicated in a grove at the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood, Illinois on Memorial Day.
Who are you?
Answer the following questions in any language(s), formats, or paradigmatic expressions with which you are comfortable. Videographers are available for those most comfortable in physical languages. If you need further support to fully actualize your responses, do not hesitate to ask the Proctor for any materials or mediums you require. When you have finished, virtually or physically attach all answers to this questionnaire."Application for the Delegation of First Contact: Questionnaire Part B," a short story by Kathrin Köhler. Additionally: Köhler on the inspirations and influences for this piece.
Losing a bet should hurt
After his city's team lost a playoff round, the crowned top mayor in the world puts on a floor show to fulfill the terms of a bet with a rival politician. An alternative link (with possibly marginally better audio) has the mayor explaining why he took this particular approach and allows him to credit the performers. (Warning: Frozen music.)
The Human Toll of Quiverfull
Quiverfull of shit: a Guide to the Duggars' Scary Brand of Christianity - Gawker, Jennifer C. Martin
"In 1985, a writer named Mary Pride published a book called The Way Home: Beyond Feminism, Back to Reality, which detailed her journey away from the second-wave feminism of the '70s and into what she perceived was a woman’s Biblical place in the home, and the commandment to fill the house with as many of her husband’s children as possible.
"Pride insisted that no woman could possibly find true happiness without submitting to her vision of Christianity: Relinquish control of your womb to God, and exist only to please your husband, give birth, feed everyone, and educate your children in the home—almost certainly without having received any formal higher education yourself."
Tanith Lee 19 September 1947 - 24 May 2015
Lee was the author of over 90 books and 300 short stories, as well as four BBC Radio plays, and two highly-regarded episodes of the BBC’s SF series Blake’s 7 (Sand and Sarcophagus). She was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton in 2013 and the Horror Writers Lifetime Achievement Award this year, which joined her British Fantasy Award from 1980 for Death’s Master, and her World Fantasy Award for her short story “The Gorgon”.The Sci-Fi Bulletin reports the passing away of Tanith Lee, who had been ill for some time. [more inside]
In nekoatsume something like this would cost at least 40 gold sardines.
Catgrid. A grid of cats.
What's in a name?
The Dom-Ino Effect
In 1914 Le Corbusier designed, but never built, an open-plan slab concrete house he caled Dom-Ino, combining domus and innovation. One was built to match the plans at the Vienna Biennial in 2014, but you can see the dom-ino philosophy in the skeletons of buildings all over: The Radical Le Corbusier Design That Shaped Italy [more inside]
“They bent over backwards to take care of me.”
A Nice Afternoon With The Women Of New Orleans’ Trans Veterans Support Group (SL Buzzfeed longform)
I'm afraid you're just too darn loud.
“Jesus Christ, it jumps out of the speakers,” he said. "Only in hindsight did 1985’s Back To The Future seem destined to be a hit. At the time, it wasn’t entirely obvious the movie would be any different than the rest of the sci-fi tilting teen comedies of the era, even if it was directed by Robert Zemeckis (who was fresh off Romancing The Stone), starred Michael J. Fox (Alex P. Keaton of TV’s Family Ties) and was produced by Steven Spielberg. However, Back To The Future had a trick up its sleeve that eventually gave it bulletproof leverage: Huey Lewis And The News’ “The Power Of Love.” "
The Late Greats
A Pinot Noir
“Diamonds are easier to trace than wine,” says Jason Hernandez, a former U.S. attorney who prosecuted one of the largest wine counterfeiting cases in 2013. “Even if you’re looking at something like a 1982 Château Lafite,” he says, referring to what oenophiles consider one of the best wines in the world from one of the best years, “they made 20,000 cases of that wine. How do you tell one bottle from the next?”
« Previous day | Next day »