November 9, 2010
The Nine Circles of Dell
A fine way to remove unwanted hair is to wrench it violently from your scalp. To facilitate this, try reading Dell Hell (Part 2), in which a sad soul descends into madness at the virtual hands of Dell's customer service. It's a companion piece to a 2005 series of Dell Hell deranged scribblings.
a novel in five lectures, like 24, but more in less
Karen, Rick, Luke and Rachel are four people marooned in an airport lounge sometime in the very near future. The price of oil goes through the roof, and a kind of apocalypse takes over the world- or at least the world that they can see through the windows of the bar and on the crackling, intermittent news reports. Thick ash falls from the sky. The taps are dry. Cellphones don't work. Sealed in, the four can only talk to each other, examine their lives and the meaning of love, and try to confront their own demons. There is no turning back, they realise. [more inside]
"I realized that I was in probably in the greatest sweets shop I shall ever find."
"It had a sign outside it saying Museum of the Americas, but no one ever visited it. Anyway, so he opened this door, turned on the lights one by one, and the sight that met my eyes is something I shall never, ever forget because instead of a congregation of people in this disused church, it was a congregation of portraits." Philip Mould, an art expert and a host of the British version of Antiques Roadshow, describes an early business trip where he met Earle Newton. Newton's home grown Museum of the Americas, a collection of over 300 rare 17th- and 18th-century English and American portraits, was housed in a nondescript church on the side of a road in rural Vermont. The collection, later valued at over nine million dollars, became the Earle W. Newton Center for British and American Studies at the Savannah College of Art and Design upon Newton's death. [via]
"The result was horrible, so I put it on YouTube."
YouTube user Pallomember loves scary European death metal. But sometimes he wonders, wouldn't scary European death metal be improved with a dash of Lady Gaga?
Yes. Yes it would.
vs Meshuggah: Bleed-A-Razzi | vs Behemoth: Ov Fire and Bad Romance | vs Soilwork: Bricklover [more inside]
Yes. Yes it would.
vs Meshuggah: Bleed-A-Razzi | vs Behemoth: Ov Fire and Bad Romance | vs Soilwork: Bricklover [more inside]
We have always been here
This might not be the best named Tumblr blog ever, but the content, vintage photographs of gay and lesbian couples, makes up for it. Some photos mark the extraordinary events in life, such as these reunited WW2 sailors, while others present a slice of everyday life.
whither US action on climate change?
With half of the new GOP Congressmen affirmed climate science deniers,and facing opposition even within his own party, President Obama has acknowledged that "cap and trade" legislation on US carbon emissions is dead. Regulation of emissions by the EPA appears to be the only way forward. Republicans are seeking to nobble that option, while Karl Rove thinks that "climate is gone" from the political landscape. Thankfully, according to John Shimkus, God has promised no more climate change, so we're all right then.
Keeping up with the Joneses
The Bateses of Tennessee are just behind the Duggars of Arkansas. Not even close to the 18th century Vassilyevs though.
"I knew that tuna-eating lizard was useless."
"You can get here by bus!?"
Want to get to that town in the next state on the cheap? Sure, there's Greyhound, but it's hardly a bargain at $32 for a journey from Seattle to Portland. When you really need to save the cash, use Epic Transit Journeys wiki to plot your route entirely on local transit carriers, allowing you to get to Stumptown for only $11.50 and a paltry five transfers. For a truly epic journey, cross international borders for the trip to Vancouver, BC, which includes a lovely 2.9 mi stroll across the border. Oran Viriyincy's travelogue of this trip includes lots of photos of buses and trains, and the border official's shocked reaction.
This is my favourite part!!
I got your preorder bonus right here!
Pikachu pans? Xbox boxers? Metal Gear Mountain Dew? Stranger things have happened! It's still new, but Game Swag may soon be the definitive source for info on weird video game crap. [more inside]
“When you look at a cupcake, you've got to smile.”
"When celebrities inflict their hobby"
2002: Conan O'Brien disses former talk show host Alan Thicke for playing guitar with the house band on the first "Thicke of the Night" show: [more inside]
Here There Be a Tyger
Deep in the forests of Russia’s Far East, the last Siberian tigers are under siege by runaway logging and poachers who get paid $30,000 per carcass. One tiger decided to fight back. [more inside]
"Suddenly, I'm relevant again"
Jack Levine, Realist Artist, Dies at 95. Mr. Levine burst onto the American art scene in 1937 with a scathing triple portrait remarkable for its bravura brushwork and gleeful vitriol. Titled “The Feast of Pure Reason,” it depicted a police officer, a capitalist and a politician seated at a table, their bloated faces oozing malice and evil intent. His painting Cain and Abel hangs in the Vatican. Upon his discharge from service he painted Welcome Home, a lampoon of the arrogance of military power; years later the painting would engender political controversy when it was included in a show of art in Moscow, and along with works by other American artists, raised suspicions in the House Un-American Activities Committee of pro-Communist sympathies. You can see some of The Complete Graphic Work of Jack Levine (1984) via Google books. Online gallery.
Wild plants of Japan
Various Japanese plants (and fungi) spring to life in Omni/ScienceNet's "Action Plant" series of time-lapse videos shot in Kōchi prefecture.
"The whole world turns upside-down in 10 years, but you turn upside-down with it." -- Spider Robinson, 1977.
The Power of the Internet : Flash Mob Gone Wrong... a story about how the cool things we love about the internet, combined, can go horribly, horribly wrong, by Tom Scott. From Ignite. (via (via)) [more inside]
The Canonical List of Weird Band Names
Elvis and the Shitheads From A Box of Fish with Tartar Sauce to Zulu Leprechauns, the list you know and love
New England Webcomics Weekend
New England Webcomics Weekend was this past weekend in Easthampton, MA. It brought together many top names in the art of webcomics -- a form that may have at last grown distinct from its print-comics progenitor. A fine excuse to introduce you to (or remind you about) the sites of these hilarious, daring and innovative artists. Hyperlink omnibus enclosed... [more inside]
98 year old refrigerator
"Nobody wants your pumpernickel bread." Kool Keith dispenses some kitchen wisdom.
A Leisurely Stroll To The End Zone
The Driscoll Middle School team was down 6-0 near the end of the third quarter of a championship game when the quarterback pretended that the officials mis-marked the ball that it needed to go five yards further down field. So he picked up the ball and calmly walked through the defense. Then he ran 67 yards for the touchdown. [more inside]
HIT POST AND FLAME OUT
FREAK OUT AND BREAK THINGS A poster-maker toy for you.
The Realist Archive Project completed
The Realist Archive Project (previously) is now complete. The Realist, edited and published by Paul Krassner, was a pioneering magazine of "social-political-religious criticism and satire" in the American countercultural press of the mid-20th century. Although The Realist is often regarded as a major milestone in the underground press, it was a nationally-distributed newsstand publication as early as 1959. Publication was discontinued in 2001.
DRUNK SCIENCE!
DRUNK SCIENCE! Or, a short story about time travel, evolution, and ska. (SLYT, NSFW language, brief pedobear imagery) [more inside]
CQ DE H2O
Liquid antenna turns sea water into signal. "The US Navy has created a device which turns a jet of sea water into an impromptu liquid antenna, creating a powerful, high frequency broadcast tower for ships, emergency situations and easy transportation." [more inside]
Andrew Shirvell Fired
Underwater Human Reef
The camera comes upon an artificial coral reef of human bodies, surrounded by fish Jason deCaires Taylor is an artist who makes life size sculptures of people out of materials designed to encourage the growth of coral reefs. Then he sinks them. Then the fish arrive. His project "La Evolucion Silenciosa", located off of Isla Mujeres, Mexico is a striking combination of the eerie with the serene.
LA Missle
OK, was it one of you guys? An unknown somebody apparently launched a missile in LA last night. It wasn't me. Ideas on who did it or how we can figure out who did it?
Diceman at the dollar store
Harmonious Society
Random Acts of Culture
The Hallelujah Chorus at Macy's in Philadelphia on October 30, 2010 was the latest Random Act of Culture [more inside]
A Runaway Slave
Freedom Works, a non-profit conservative organization lead by Dick Armey, is producing a documentary entitled A Runaway Slave, aimed at exposing "the economic slavery of the Black community to the Progressive policies of the US government and how Black Conservatives are leading the fight so all Americans can be 'free at last.'" This is on the heels of their last documentary, Tea Party: The Documentary Film. [more inside]
"Look, im not going to debate the issue, man."
"Look, I'm not going to debate the issue, man." - George W. Bush [Press play for the quite embarrassing interview] "I said some stupid things... Here's one of the worst. So I'm drunk at the dinner table at Mother and Dad's house in Maine. And I said to her, what is sex like after fifty?"" - George W. Bush
Is it the worst thing you'll read all year?
A description of the CIA's waterboarding techniques and the practical applications of other physical interrogation practices to enhance its effectiveness.
Modernist treasures from a bombed-out cellar
Rediscovered in Berlin: Eleven modernist sculptures branded as "degenerate art" by the Nazis and thought to have been destroyed during WWII. The sculptures include works by Otto Freundlich, who was murdered at Majdanek; Naum Slutzky, a craftsman of both the Wiener Werkstätte and the Bauhaus; and Margarete Moll, who studied with Matisse.
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