March 11, 2009
Cramer vs. Cramer
Good grief!
Good grief! Described as "arguably the longest story ever told by one human being", the entire run -- just shy of 50 years -- of Charles Schulz's Peanuts can now, legally, be read online. [more inside]
Narendra Modi
India’s New Face. "Meet Narendra Modi, chief minister of Gujarat and the brightest star in the Hindu-chauvinist Bharatiya Janata Party. Under Modi, Gujarat has become an economic dynamo. But he also presided over India’s worst communal riots in decades, a 2002 slaughter that left almost 2,000 Muslims dead. Exploiting the insecurities and tensions stoked by India’s opening to the world, Modi has turned his state into a stronghold of Hindu extremism, shredding Gandhi’s vision of secular coexistence in the process. One day, he could be governing the world’s largest democracy." [Via]
"I Look Straight into Linus' Weasel Eyes..."
quirky vintage catalogs
A Crooked Gambling Supplies catalog from 1960, a 1914 Cyclopedia of 5,000 Puzzles, dozens of magic posters from the '20s to the '40s, and more fun ephemera from Old Catalog's flickr sets.
Yippie-ki-yay, motherfire.
Die Hardererer by Nicholas Chatfield-Taylor.
Die Hard, Die Hard 2: Die Harder, Die Hard with a Vengeance and Live Free or Die Hard edited down to only the frames containing fire. NSFW.
Tilt-shift video fun!
Tilt-shift video fun! Timelapse video of the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras by Keith Loutit. [previously]
"The flood of fire flowed with the speed of a great river swollen with meltwater on a spring day"
On June 8, 1783, the volcano Laki in south Iceland tore open a 16-mile fissure that erupted over nine cubic miles of lava. Not only would this eruption kill over 50% of Iceland's livestock population, leading to famine which killed approximately 25% of the population; its effects were felt the world over, with flourine, sulfur dioxide, ash, sand and drastically cooled tempertaures from the blotted-out sun reaching as far afield as North America and Africa. The eruption lasted for nearly eight months. And from the day the eruption began, a humble priest named Jón Steingrímsson would make his mark in history. [more inside]
Because bigger is always better.
Goodnight, Ricky. Goodnight, Julian. Goodnight, Bubbles.
[NSFW] It's almost time to Say Goodnight to the Bad Guys -- the final episode of the Trailer Park Boys aired in December, 2008. (As Bubbles says, "It's a dirty, sassy liquor. So sassy.") Producer Mike Clattenburg says that there will be a second movie, "Countdown to Liquor Day", to be released late in 2009. After that, though, the TPB franchise will buy the great double-wide in the sky. [pervyously, preevisilly or however th' fuck you say it.] [more inside]
France or Hilton
Kristol Clear Conservative
Ross Douthat, senior editor of The Atlantic and co-author of Grand New Party [nyt review], has been chosen as a new opinion columnist for the New York Times, replacing William Kristol and joining David Brooks as one of the paper's conservative voices.
All aboard!
Jordan Mechner's way-ahead-of-its-time PC game "The Last Express," revered for its animation and innovative storytelling, has been recut into a single 75-minute animated narrative playthrough. Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. [more inside]
The Baedeker Blitz
"Loot the Baedeker I did, all the details of a time and place I had never been to, right down to the names of the diplomatic corps." - Thomas Pynchon from Slow Learner.
Baedeker's were the de facto travel guide for international men of leisure: "Baedeker’s publications, which covered most of Europe, became so popular that Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany was quoted as saying that he stationed himself at a particular palace window each noon because “It’s written in Baedeker that I watch the changing of the guard from that window, and the people have come to expect it.” Baedeker maps online. Baedeker books online.
Are the old ones the best ones?
Baedeker's were the de facto travel guide for international men of leisure: "Baedeker’s publications, which covered most of Europe, became so popular that Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany was quoted as saying that he stationed himself at a particular palace window each noon because “It’s written in Baedeker that I watch the changing of the guard from that window, and the people have come to expect it.” Baedeker maps online. Baedeker books online.
Are the old ones the best ones?
"I'll be glad when I'm not still the only one."
Alice Randall is best known, perhaps, for her novel The Wind Done Gone, a parody of Gone With the Wind that tackles the earlier book's treatment of race. But Randall, a Vanderbilt professor and Harvard graduate, isn't just a novelist: she's a country music songwriter, the first black woman to have a No. 1 song on the country music charts. [more inside]
The Neo Nazi From Maine
On December 9, 2008, Maine resident Amber Cummings shot and killed her husband. James Cummings was an abusive neo-nazi millionaire who was furious over Obama's election, and appears to have been making a dirty bomb. [more inside]
Beware of Internet Overshares
"Meet Officer Vaughan Ettienne, the bodybuilder who learned the hard way you shouldn't write like a thug online, or a jury might just suspect you of mistreating a suspect." Ettienne arrested Gary Waters for gun possession. At trial "the defense found things Ettienne said online and turned them against him." "Mr. Waters, on parole from a burglary conviction when he was arrested, beat the most serious charge, the felony possession of a 9 millimeter Beretta and a bagful of ammunition. He was convicted of resisting arrest, a misdemeanor."
THAT'S NOT FAIR!
Moops Grawfucks and Interaccidents
We've very much enjoyed the beautiful work of the NYT graphic and infovisual design staff before, but what about when those glorious graphs and interactive adventures don't turn out as expected? Still pretty neat.
The Technorati Attention Index: 50 web sites blogs link to the most
The Technorati Attention Index. The 50 web sites blogs link to the most. #1: YouTube. #2. NYT etc.. updated monthly.
Snip City!
Need an Excuse to Stay Home to Watch March Madness? You can always get your souviners, your your junkfood tie-ins, even your Facebook tie-ins, but an enterprising urology practice has a tie-in which promises the gift that keeps on giving, and an excuse to be on the couch, albeit gingerly, for at least part of the tourney.
"The butchers never speak, and if they do, their words are hollow."
Shockingly, a novel about a Nazi officer who abets murder squads, transports Jews to Auschwitz, has sex with his twin sister, possibly kills his parents and then dies rich, old and reflective has caused a trans-Atlantic controversy among literary critics. Published in the original French three years ago, the English translation of Jonathan Littell's The Kindly Ones hit American bookstores this week. [more inside]
Sixth Sense: wearable tech
The Future of Capitalism
"For me, capitalism has never been an abstract concept. It is a real, concrete part of everyday life." President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, on the future of capitalism.
I like tuttles
Mindless SLYT Post! A turtle celebrates Hump Day!
Marketing Gone Bad?
The videogames industry's not known for its subtlety when promoting its wares. Controversy has often been a successful part of their marketing campaigns. But is this a step too far? They'll have to go some way to cause more chaos than these guys
Reforming the Lorton Reformatory
“There is nothing like this in the United States," said Leone. "We’ve looked." The Workhouse Arts Center near Occoquan, VA opened in September 2008 on the grounds of a former prison that was founded by President Theodore Roosevelt as a rehabilitation facility for Washington, DC criminals. Its extensive agrarian projects were intended to put them in touch with nature, but by 1917 security tightened and suffragettes protesting before the White House endured harsh treatment there. The city continued sending inmates to the overcrowded facility until Congress ordered the prison to be shuttered. For years it stood empty, but now the historic buildings are being transformed into studios for local artists (previously).
That's a lot of parallel universes.
Movie posters that are just one letter off.
Sociological Images
Sociological Images. A branch of the journal Contexts from the American Sociological Association. What does "organic" look like? What happens after the oil boom dries up in a town? There are many discussions about the way bodies are shown. Privilege and Poverty in Vogue India. They also go behind your back and add content to previous posts. [more inside]
The interest-free bank
The Swedish JAK bank (site in Swedish) is, in effect, a strongly ethics-driven co-operative bank which has declined to have any external commercial interests. It lends money to its approx 30,000 members free of charge, and has managed to stay in business doing so since 1965. Wikipedia has more.
Also; Documentary about JAK on YouTube (part 2, part 3, part 4)
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