February 13, 2018
52
One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do, and 42 is the meaning of life, the universe, and everything, but 52 is...well... [more inside]
Hey, maybe it's time, maybe it's time to live your life today
Pump the audio through your big speaker system and let DJ Rap give you a strong female [I seem to be posting these a lot right now!] album experience that starts out from dance electronica but ventures far afield through her 1999 (3rd) album Learning Curve: Cassette Side A: Bad Girl, Good To Be Alive, Fuck With Your Head, Bad Behavior[OMG THE PRESENTATION IN THIS BUT IT'S THE ONLY VERSION OF THIS SONG I FOUND I AM SO SORRY NSFW], Everyday Girl [missing], You Get Around [more inside]
Early Jazz in Europe; Old Foik ; Hot R&B
We'll start with the Harlem Hellfighters band at the end of WW I helping Europe celebrate. Then we've got an article about the Harlem Hellfighters Regiment, serving in WW I Europe and the hero's welcome they got in New York City from whites and blacks: Harlem Hellfighters.
Then the awesome musician Elizabeth Cotton: Folk Singer, who almost faded into obscurity.
And finally, a great photo of Wilson Pickett onstage with Jimi Hendrix playing backup: Pickett & Hendrix
Vile Valentines
Aloha, mutants! It’s that time of year once again when couples are forced to spend lots of money on each other while the single folk get to laugh manically whilst eating alone in their dark, empty studio apartments. (More of a laugh-cry, really.) In either case, Valentine’s Day is clearly a holiday for losers. To help make the day a little more bearable, I’ve whipped up some free valentines [here and here] for you to share, email, print out, burn, and curse.
Breaking a 650-Year-Old Glass Ceiling with a Slim Black Rod
Sarah Clarke, the first Lady Usher of the Black Rod, today was given by Queen Elizabeth II her ceremonial black rod. [more inside]
Romantical-type music from Dickie Valentine
Almost 70 years ago, UK teen heart throb Dickie Valentine was made, from the chap born with the name Richard Maxwell. Dickie was named the Top UK Male Vocalist in 1952 while singing with the Ted Heath Orchestra, the greatest post-war British big band, and again after going solo in 1954, the same year that his first wedding drew throngs of fans. Valentine had two hits on the charts in 1955: The Finger of Suspicion in January, then Christmas Alphabet in December, when it unseated (and was then replaced by) an early rock'n'roll single, Rock Around the Clock, which gives you a hint at why Valentine faded from popularity. [more inside]
You think Google is a freedom fighter? Or Twitter?
Digital is killing democracy. Renegade Inc. interviews political scientist André Krouwel about his contrarian views on how technology is hindering rather than helping democracies. [more inside]
If You're Not Watching, You'll Soon Be Part of the Blockchain
In the course of its 23 years of operation, the website Salon sought to bolster its earnings through a variety of means, including the acquisition of THE WELL in 1999 along with the unveiling of a "premium" version of its main site for paying subscribers.
In further pursuit of revenue Salon has now announced it will warn users of ad-blocking software to either enable banner ads on its site, or partition part of their computers for "Salon to use your unused computing power" to mine cryptocurrency. [more inside]
Montani Semper Liberi!
"A West Virginia resident and House of Delegates candidate was physically removed from a public hearing at the West Virginia House of Delegates shortly after she began reading a list of donations made to delegates by the energy industry, during discussion of a bill aimed at easing restrictions on gas and oil-related drilling on private land." She has posted the remarks she had prepared but did not get to finish on her website. [more inside]
Punk is that which gnaws at the roots of Yggdrasil
Logan Paul: A Brief Meditation. "They made a kind of monster machine, with every possible lever thrown towards a caustic narcissism, and then they pretend to be fucking surprised when an unbroken stream of monsters emerge."
One Minute Art History
"Filmmaker and educator Cao Shu captures the history of art in an experimental short film that lasts for less than one minute. Throughout the film, the central character goes through the small motions of everyday movements like checking the time and having a drink, with each frame rendered in a different art historical style."
...turning knobs and hitting buttons. Not on a controller, on a screen.
Damn, I Really Like Pressing Buttons In Video Games [Waypoint] “UI games, when done well, are really great at immersion. So, the term “UI Game” isn’t exactly a real, precise thing, so, let me explain: I’m talking about a class of game where your primary means of interaction with the worlds is through an in-game UI. Like pressing buttons or hitting switches on the onscreen HUD, as if going through two layers of obstruction between you and the “physical” world of the game. Think of desktop simulators: like Cibele or Her Story, where all of the action is happening on the other side of the screen, but in this context, in a more sci-fi or mechanical setting. It's as if you are seeing this universe through a ship’s cockpit, or a viewscreen, or a helmet,”
$$$ ... $$ ... $ ... ?
Donald Trump wants to raise the gas tax, previously unthinkable from a Republican, to increase the Highway Trust Fund which is chronically underfunded. As cars and truck become more efficient, what's the best way to fund road maintenance, repair and construction? Make Every Road A Toll Road [more inside]
The Action Is Go
Fuzzy, overdriven, bass heavy, driving kick drums and bluesy riffs - 90s stoner rock bands are back, baby!
Fu Manchu - Clone of the Universe
Corrosion of Conformity (w/ Pepper Keenan!) - No Cross No Crown
Monster Magnet - Mindfucker, out March 23
Fireball Ministry (w/Scott Reeder of Kyuss!) - The Answer [more inside]
Fu Manchu - Clone of the Universe
Corrosion of Conformity (w/ Pepper Keenan!) - No Cross No Crown
Monster Magnet - Mindfucker, out March 23
Fireball Ministry (w/Scott Reeder of Kyuss!) - The Answer [more inside]
#boilingAnalChemicals
Never try to eat a bombardier beetle. Because if the little shit feels threatened is will squirt boiling chemicals from its asshole right in your mouth to make you kindly vomit it back up you beetle eating weirdo.
Neighborhood submits official needs & priorities plan as a comic book
Each of St. Paul's 17 districts is required to submit a "Small Area Plan" about once every 10 years to communicate what their needs and priorities are in regards to housing, transportation, arts, education and land use. These are typically dry, jargon-laden affairs, but the Frogtown Neighborhood Association wanted to do something to get the attention of city leaders and bring more neighborhood residents into conversations about urban development. [more inside]
and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt
Prehistoric wine discovered in inaccessible caves forces a rethink of ancient Sicilian culture. Exploration of intolerably hot and humid caves in Monte Kronio in Sicily revealed several Copper Age storage jars containing organic residue. In one, the residue indicated the presence of pure grape wine from 5,000 years ago, the oldest wine found in the Europe and the Mediterranean. The author speculates that ancient Sicilians may have traded wine with people of the Aegean to obtain metals.
Fuuuuuuuuuck
Windows of San Francisco
"Looking out the window is an underrated activity. Each one is like a never-ending movie about a small, specific place in the world. You never know what kind of characters you’ll see, or what kind of plots will unfold. I tried to capture this feeling with Windows of San Francisco, which features views from 100 different windows around the city. San Francisco is a magical place, enjoy the journey." Windows of San Francisco, made by Jon Murray, Matthew Pullen, Andrew Pullen & Pete Blaszkiewicz
Earthquake-Proof Climbable Bookshelf!
You had me at earthquake proof, climbable floor to ceiling bookcase.
Maybe there's a use for this annoyingly endearing creature
From the Kentish Town post office murder to haunted Tulse Hill Station
Grim London - An interactive map of the historical dark side of the Old Smoke.
DEEP IN YOUR HEART YOU ARE A PIGEON ON A JOURNEY
You created Salt Bae, and now you have to eat his nasty food
Turkish restaurateur Nusret Gökçe, known as Salt Bae for a 2017 viral video which featured him slicing and salting a tomahawk steak in a somewhat unconventional manner, has a spendy new location in midtown Manhattan. Some early diners have not been impressed, but Salt Bae dgaf; he's sprinkled salt for Simone Biles and David Beckham and posed with Diddy. [more inside]
Is it future or is it past?
"Twin Peaks: The Return, or What Isn't Cinema?" - a four-part essay by Nick Pinkerton at Reverse Shot: 1: Where You Find It, 2: Myth Makers, 3: The Art/The Artist, 4: Life Lessons.
"After you." "Oh no, I insist..."
♪ ♫ “This means nothing to me...” ♬♪
“It was too slow, too long and there was a violin solo - the antithesis of a commercial single.” Vienna (alternate, lyrics, extended version), by Ultravox and their replacement lead singer Midge Ure/Father Benny Cake, was created in 1980 and released the following year, being kept from #1 in the UK by Joe Dolce's Shaddap You Face. Inspired by the Walker Brothers, eternally popular and admired by Gary Numan, Ultravox performed it at Live Aid, the song becoming the title track (nearly didn't) of their Kraftwerkesque 4th album. The video - “We invented the music video clichés - cropping the top and bottom to make it look like CinemaScope...” - was allegedly based on Carol Reed’s 1949 film “The Third Man” but was filmed mostly in London. [more inside]
Come for the culture shock, stay for the attention to detail
A long and ongoing thread of (mostly design and UX-related) observations from Japan, by design observer Marcin Wichary (previously: 1, 2, 3).
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