December 13, 2010
The Futurological Congress
We would drain out Lake Michigan and have butterscotch ripple dropped from airplanes on our heads.
Enrique Morente, gigante de flamenco, fallece a 67
Enrique Morente, a controversial, influential giant among flamenco singer-songwriters, died today in the Madrid clinic La Luz, where he had been in an induced coma for the last several days. He was said to have been suffering from stomach cancer, and last week had entered the hospital for surgical intervention for hemorrhaging. [more inside]
"Serge Daney was the end of criticism as I understood it."
Serge Daney (1944 - 1992) is often cited as one of the greatest film critics. After joining the legendary film magazine Cahiers du cinéma (which he would eventually edit) at age 20, Daney wrote extensively on the changing place of movies in culture, on directors new and old and on television, war and even sports. He founded the film magazine Trafic before dying of AIDS in 1992.
Though some of his essays have been officially translated and a small book of his writings has been published in English, the vast majority of his work remains untranslated into English. That hasn't stopped a devoted group of cinephiles from taking matters into their own hands. [more inside]
Though some of his essays have been officially translated and a small book of his writings has been published in English, the vast majority of his work remains untranslated into English. That hasn't stopped a devoted group of cinephiles from taking matters into their own hands. [more inside]
Tech support for your parents (so you don't have to)
Google presents: TeachParentsTech.org (via the official Google blog). You'll never have to teach your parents how to copy and paste, attach a file to their email or transfer files again.
Giving What We Can
Giving What We Can is a movement founded by Toby Ord , a 31 year old Oxford academic on slightly more than average income who plans to give away a million pounds during his lifetime. [more inside]
Application of first sale doctrine to foreign-made products called into question by Supreme Court
A very bad day for libraries: Today's Supreme Court deadlock casts Doctrine of First Sale into doubt for products made abroad. The Supreme Court today deadlocked on the question of whether Costco committed copyright infringement by selling Omega watches produced and purchased overseas. In effect, this deadlock upholds the 9th Circuit appeals court ruling that the First Sale doctrine does not apply to products produced outside the United States. Thinking of selling, lending, or transferring ownership of something originally produced overseas -- like, say, a book? This ruling calls the legality of such sales into question. [more inside]
You Are A Big Winner!
You'd better get the robot those letters so he can be awesome. One of the most technically challenging banner games JayIsGames has developed, Robot Wants Jig is a metroid-ish platformer in which you acquire upgrades by collecting the letters of JAYISGAMES and unlock new areas of the map. A map of the game world is below in case you get hopelessly lost. [more inside]
The Imagination Diet
Saving Youth Centres = Terrorism
12-year-old Nicky Wishart wanted to save his youth centre from being shut down due to funding cuts. This gets him questioned and tracked on Facebook by British anti-terror police.
Two gays run the Tough Mudder gauntlet
“A member of the armed forced wrote our bib numbers on our foreheads and arms in permanent marker, presumably to facilitate the identification of our dead bodies.” What happens when a gay man in his 40s and his boyfriend decide to run the nearly insane Tough Mudder obstacle course amid a sea of generally shirtless “non-homosexuals.” Tasks include manhandling lubed-up monkey bars, fording ice-cold lakes, and conquering steep mud hills. (It almost – but doesn’t quite – include falling into a burning ring of fire.) [more inside]
Hamid Karzai had heard enough
The New Yorker profiles Shigeru Miyamoto
There are generally two approaches to thinking about games: narratology and ludology. The first emphasizes story, the second play. The next time I played Super Mario, on the Wii (you can order all the vintage games), I found myself in a narratological mode. Mario reminded me of K. and his pursuit of the barmaid Frieda, in Kafka’s “The Castle,” and of the kind of lost-loved-one dreams that “The Castle” both mimics and instigates.
The New Yorker profiles the father of modern video games, Shigeru Miyamoto. (via Kotaku)
The New Yorker profiles the father of modern video games, Shigeru Miyamoto. (via Kotaku)
Apple Pie
Merry Christmas music from the North Point iBand, using borrowed iPhones and iPads
Life's a pic-a-nic
Excited for the 3D Yogi Bear movie this holiday season? Me too. Here's an alternate ending! (Possibly NSFW.)
A Vacation Spot With An Afterglow
Looking for a winter vacation get-away? How about going to Chernobyl? "Tours to Chernobyl are extreme tourism, plenty of curious people are looking for extreme adventures," he said. previously
The Black List was published today...
Zombie Baby, Fucking Jane Austen, The Last Witch Hunter, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, American Bullshit, Better Living Through Chemistry... just some of the titles that made this year's Black List, a list of the best unproduced screenplays of the year as voted on by industry insiders. LA Times and Deadline Hollywood have pieces on it and here's an October audio interview with Franklin Leonard, creator of the Black List. In past years, aspiring screenwriters could find PDFs of the scripts online. It's gonna be a lot harder now.
LGBT Books At Harvard Vandalized
Approximately 40 books dealing with LGBT issues were vandalized with what appeared to be urine in Lamont Library on the Harvard campus on November 24, according to a report filed Friday by the library security staff to the Harvard University Police Department. Something similar (minus the peepee) happen in San Francisco, where they took the books and made Art!
DJ Assault offers hours of ghetto-tech, for free
DJ Assault (born Craig De Sean Adams, aka Craig Diamonds "The Street Narrator") is a Detroit-based music producer, who was part of a movement to bring ghetto-tech, aka booty house, from the urban streets of Detroit to the suburban club circuit. With his Jefferson Ave. label, he's bringing it directly to you, via the internet, for free. Four albums, 22 EPs, 11 DJ mixes, and three bonus collections of rap and "accelerated funk", all streaming and downloadable. [Warning: most music is NSFW or those sensitive to repetitive, crude lyrics]
BMJ Christmas Edition
BMJ Christmas Edition Every year the British Medical Journal publishes a series of tongue-in-cheek papers for Christmas.
- Reflections of Father Christmas’s GP
- Mozart’s 140 causes of death and 27 mental disorders
- Pie sharing in complex clinical collaborations: a piece of cake?
- Primary Care: A modest proposal
- The IKEA pencil: a surprising find in the NHS
- Dr Watson: a regular reader of the British Medical Journal
- Red for danger: the effects of red hair in surgical practice
- A Christmas tree cataract
- Can he fix it? Yes, he can!
- Integrative medicine and the point of credulity
Wot's... Uh the Deal?
Astronomy Domine[more inside]
See Emily Play
Lucifer Sam
Matilda Mother
Flaming
Pow R. Toc H.
Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk
Interstellar Overdrive
The Gnome
Chapter 24
Scarecrow
Bike
The English Mountain Bike
Geoff Apps has been building and riding his own distinctive cross country cycles since the late 1960s. Unlike the members of the Rough Stuff Fellowship, who traditionally used touring or road bikes, Geoff's designs come from his background in motorbike trials (previously). After more than twenty years off the market, his latest design will soon go into production: the Cleland AventuraTT.
Otakupocalypse
Localfilter: Today in Tokyo, legislation passed that will further restrict manga and animation "glorifying or exaggerating illegal sexual acts." Ten of the biggest comics companies are protesting the Tokyo International Anime Fair, sponsored by the city, responding that a focus on their mode of expression is unfair. Blogger Dan Kanemitsu reports.
Beethoveniana
You win some, you still lose some
A Federal Judge in Virginia has ruled the mandate in the recently passed Affordable Health Care Act unconstitutional. This unlikely result means that the Supreme Court will be in the position to decide whether or not all or part of the health care reform remains intact. Some argue this development may reflect the success of broad-reaching Republican efforts in recent years to tilt the political alignment of the Federal judiciary. Others, naturally, disagree.
Geeky Bibliopegy
Geeky Bibliopegy. Custom hand-bound journals and albums, featuring Buffy, Firefly, Doctor Who, etc. Check the blog for additional details on many of the volumes.
It is acceptable for a man of action to break some rules.
Max Spaiser of The Suits of James Bond presents: The Template for 007. More on Dr. No costuming: 2-eyelet derby, 2-button turnback cuff, trilby.(Clothes on Film previously)
Son of a Birch!
250-year-old birch bark canoe found in barn to be returned to Canada. While we are on the subject, you could do worse than to spend an hour today watching this fascinating 1971 documentary on a Birch Bark Canoe builder. (Not terribly often you come across a video captioned in Cree.) More YouTube Birch Bark Canoe building goodness.
Grammar rodeo at the Sheraton Hotel in Afghanistan
"Hann sells his Afghanistan tours as a chance to see the country's rugged outback while sleeping on dirty teahouse floors and tackling the country's roads in minibuses that buck like mechanical bulls... Obviously, Hann's tours attract adventurous travelers, but they're not adrenaline freaks or war junkies. Most are past middle age, unmarried, fairly mild-mannered, and childless," Damon Tabor on tourism in Afghanistan.
Single sentence animations
Magnificent Obsession
The Magnificent Ambersons, Orson Welles' second film, has inspired a legend around the lost footage excised by the studio to make it more appealing to audiences. The film's making is a cautionary tale in letting the studio have creative control, and the finished product pained Welles to his dying day. The mythical status of the lost footage has inspired a few to try and track it down. [more inside]
Zarjaz!
Prog 1 to Prog 1500- Every cover of the British science fiction comic 2000AD from the years '77 to '06 in 3 and a half minutes. (SLYT)
Is Your Life Really That Bad, Julie Powell?
The soothing sound of Shop Teacher Voice
"Tubal Cain" was the name of a Christian version of the Roman Vulcan. It's also the nick of YouTube user and retired shop teacher mrpete222 in his many videos covering machine shop tips and procedures. [more inside]
Tired of bunga-bunga
Italy’s government teeters on the brink: tomorrow (Tuesday) a no-confidence vote should decide whether we have another three years of bunga-bunga partying, "escort" (= prostitute) scandals and international gaffes from the leader of this NATO partner and founding EU member, or whether Silvio Berlusconi will be sent home. Some think it’s a hilariously stupid (SLYT) to suggest he might step down. [more inside]
Tango with Tabby
Dancing with Cats is one of the strangest sites I've seen in some time. I have no idea how these people got their cats to dance with them, or why. [more inside]
A Top Hat and Wild Hair
Audio slideshow: Photography of Sir Wilfred Thesiger
Sir Wilfred Thesiger took nearly 40,000 photographs during his eight decades of travels throughout Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Now, to mark 100 years since his birth, Oxford's Pitt Rivers Museum is displaying some of his most striking images.
Put It On Or Something. Something.
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