December 31, 2014
An Open Letter To The Girl Scouts
Tonight I'm going to party like it's 1949.
Why ring out 2014, when you can celebrate the end of 1976 with Donny & Marie (along with Tina Turner, Rip Taylor, and Billy Preston). Or try 1961 with Dinah Shore and Nat King Cole. But if television is too modern for you, you can always just sit back and listen to a old-time NYE Radio Show.
A Sword Among Lions
"We all appreciate what you're doing"
"But?"
"But you're LOUD and you say uncomfortable things and it is Victorian times"
"So what makes people uncomfortable in Victorian times?"
"I don't know, being alive?" [more inside]
Terminal Bar: Porters, Bouncers, and Bartenders
Porters, Bouncers, and Bartenders, third installment of the amazing Terminal Bar film series. For ten years, Sheldon Nadelman took thousands of black and white photographs while bartending at the Terminal Bar, Times Square's most notorious watering hole of the 1970s. Murray Goldman, the bar's owner since 1957 was Sheldon's father-in-law as well as the filmmaker's grandfather. The Terminal Bar was featured in Martin Scorsese's film Taxi Driver. [more inside]
How we came to know the first dwarf planet
So if you had been reading about all this 200 years ago, there would have been at least two important differences from now. One is that your Internet connection would have been considerably slower. The other is that you might have learned in school or elsewhere that Ceres was a planet.As the Dawn probe is only months away from reaching Ceres, chief engineer and mission director Marc Rayman provides a brief history of the discovery and study of Ceres. Bonus: The maths behind the discovery of Ceres
Huts with Open Fire Pits and No Chimneys
Shake off that winter chill with some URSULA 1000!
Rid yourself of those winter blues with Ursula 1000's Winter (Mega)Mixes, which are not focused on winter music, but rather an upbeat mix of deep, funky, sleazy, acid tinged delights, as Alex Gimeno, the Brooklyn-based retro-futuristic producer/DJ/multi-instrumentalist labeled his latest mix. Read on for more sampladelic easy listening breakbeat tracks in a style similar to continental popsters from Pizzicato Five to Dimitri from Paris, plus some fuzzy garage rock-influenced tunes! [more inside]
Chicago’s Last Tannery
The Distance has a pretty fascinating read about Chicago's Horween Leather Company [wiki], the city's last tannery and "one of the world’s last remaining producers of shell cordovan, a durable leather derived from horse rumps" as well as a near-exclusive provider of leather for Chicago-based Wilson Sporting Goods Co., which, since 1941, has been the manufacturer of the NFL's official ball ("The Duke"). [more inside]
Cut The Flan
The sword may need to be drawn.
R.I.P. Edward Herrmann
Tony and Emmy winning actor Edward Herrmann, who is perhaps best known for his role as Lorelai's father in "Gilmore Girls", has passed away from brain cancer at the age of 71. His recent role as the voice of Franklin Roosevelt in Ken Burns' documentary "The Roosevelts" ironically brought him full circle to his breakout portrayal of FDR in the miniseries "Eleanor and Franklin" nearly forty years ago.
"We're also thankful for Mississippi"
Throwing Caution to the Wind
In 2004, GrooveLily ("just your typical violin/piano/drums power-pop trio") debuted Striking 12, a musical set on New Year's Eve. The story weaves between the performers putting on the show; a modern-day grumpy guy who doesn't want to go out on New Year's Eve; and "The Little Match Girl," by Hans Christian Andersen. You can listen to the entire thing on Bandcamp. [more inside]
A head full of hot air
The Utsunomiya Museum of Art museum in Japan recently created a gigantic balloon shaped like middle-aged man's head and launched it into the sky as part of an effort to bring art into public spaces. You can view the project's website here and see more pictures of the project here.
"Radio as Music"
Glenn Gould's North is an essay about the radio documentaries composed by Canadian classical pianist Glenn Gould. The most famous are the three "contrapuntal" documentaries which comprise The Solitude Trilogy [available on Spotify and can be purchased on iTunes]. What is contrapuntal radio? The Glenn Gould Foundation explained in series of short podcasts, and a glimpse of Gould's scripts and diagrams may aid understanding, as well as quotes by Gould and others about The Solitude Trilogy. Many have responded to The Solitude Trilogy, from the perspectives of a hermit, mennonite, and a collage artist, whose collage series can be seen here. As the title suggests, The Solitude Trilogy deals with isolation, quietude, loneliness, seclusion and solitude in modern life, but Gould also made documentaries on a variety of musical subjects, such as Richard Strauss and sixties pop singer Petula Clark. Most of his documentaries, including The Solitude Trilogy, are available for listening on the website of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Links below. [more inside]
Plain White Rapper
White men were rapping LONG before Eminem came on the scene!
This is the time. And this is the record of the time.
Over 30 years since it was finally presented in full as a two-night, seven-and-a-half hour multimedia opera only a handful of times in only three cities, Laurie Anderson is revisiting her seminal work United States with United States V. Produced by pomegranate arts, who recently brought back Philip Glass' Einstein On The Beach. [more inside]
Gordon Freeman - it is you, isn't it?
In 2007, Ross Scott began a new video series, Freeman's Mind. "Basically the premise is that in the Half-Life series, the protagonist Gordon Freeman is entirely silent the whole time. So what this series aims to do is fill in the silence with his thoughts."
Seven years and 68 episodes later, the project is complete. [more inside]
✱ | ✱ : Rx in Peace
RxRy ("Rex Ray" / Matthew J. Sage) is an electronic musician who was active from 2010 to 2012. (According to Sage's dreamy goodbye, the persona has "turned to ash.") RxRy specialized in staticky bedroom ambient and rough beats paired with gentle melodies. While it received some acclaim on music blogs (Stadiums & Shrines 2010 albums of the year, No Genre Music 2010 albums of the year, Q&A with Gimme Tinnitus), the project never penetrated the mainstream and has been largely forgotten.
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Fortunately, on the Internet very little ever really goes away! Within, find links to stream and download RxRy's entire discography (six albums, three EPs, two remix EPs, four singles, and one DJ Mix) for a blissful New Year's Eve afternoon. [more inside]
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Fortunately, on the Internet very little ever really goes away! Within, find links to stream and download RxRy's entire discography (six albums, three EPs, two remix EPs, four singles, and one DJ Mix) for a blissful New Year's Eve afternoon. [more inside]
The ten most popular installments of "Ask Smithsonian" in 2014
Here are the ten most popular installments of "Ask Smithsonian" in 2014. Ask Smithsonian video host Eric Schulze takes questions from readers and answers them weekly in a series of one-minute videos. In 2014, they investigated everything from "What's up with willpower and why don't I have it?" to "Can cats really make rats into zombies?" Here are the answers to the Most Burning Questions of 2014.
Ferrets IN Groundhogs OUT
43 ways NYC changed under Mayor de Blaiso (nymag.com)
Next time I’ll be asking where your lap goes when when you stand up.
In Praise of Philomena Cunk. The funniest moments from the funniest person on Charlie Brooker’s Weekly Wipe.
The End of (some) Webcomics
K.C. Green's "Gunshow" has just ended. Christopher Baldwin's second sci-fi tale, "One Way" completed its one-year run today. Dale Mettam and Courtney Huddleston have just completed their tale of a little girl and her guardian angelsdemons, "Lucy Phir's Imps". Ryan Sohmer/Blind Ferret's 'metacomic' about the comic book biz "Gutters" has finished with a fantasy ending. It's been almost a year since David Willis pre-announced that "Shortpacked", the last ongoing tale in his original 'Walkyverse', 'will end on its tenth birthday' (which is next month). Christopher Bird and Davinder Brar's five-year fantasy epic "Al'Rashad: City of Myths" will publish its last page next Monday. And now, Danielle Corsetto has announced she'll be ending "Girls With Slingshots" 'in the next couple months'. It feels like everybody's calling it quits, right? [more inside]
Gordon’s Makes Us Very Very Drunk
Gilbert & George, "Gordon’s Makes Us Drunk" (Tate Modern Video installation, 12 min, 1972). [more inside]
Unfair Competition?
A flight from Baltimore to Cleveland via Atlanta is $83. A flight from Baltimore to Atlanta directly is $112. So if you want to save money, you can buy the ticket to Cleveland, and just not get on the connecting flight. This is called a 'hidden city' fare, a trick used by frequent flyers and travel agents for years. Skiplagged.com lets you search for them. They're being sued by Orbitz and American Airlines.
Work with rocks and cement like John Dunsworth, or drink like Mr. Lahey
You may be searching for some worthwhile New Year's resolutions. Here are two very different ideas from one man. John Dunsworth suggests that you work with rocks and cement and build a lasting legacy. If that sounds like too much work, his alter ego, Mr. Jim Lahey of the Trailer Park Boys, has some drinking suggestions [dlyt].
Gateways
Some nice music
The Üçtelli is a small Turkish string instrument that produces a lovely, delicate, chiming sound. Here is an utterly captivating duo performance by Osman Kirca and Ali Ulutaş. Here is another one. Here is a solo by Ali Ulutaş, and a solo by Osman Kirca. Here is a double neck version, played splendidly by Necati Arslan. And finally, one more solo performance from Ali Ulutaş featuring some very closeup camera work on his fingers as he plays his Üçtelli. Enjoy!
Chilling
Today I Learned Something about My Boyfriend That No Girl Should Ever Have to Discover
Cars: How do they work?
You wonder how your car works, you say? Let the wisdom of the ancients guide you. Start with springs and shock absorbers (1938). [more inside]
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