May 1, 2016
Betty Boop's got more metamorphing going on than Ovid!
Turtle Torque & Tippe Tops
Totally NOT Off the Rails
Last week, Berlin hosted the 5th Annual TRAM-EM European TramDriver Chanpionship (in English) (in German), with the best drivers from 27 cities competing and Budapest becoming the first two-time winner. In addition to the main competition for smoothness in starting and stopping and precision in stopping, they ran a side contest: TRAM BOWLING (longer videos).
home forever
Retro Roadmap
With Retro Roadmap, Mod Betty makes it easy for you to find Cool Vintage Places - (grand)mom & (grand)pop places that have stood the test of time while still retaining their authentic charm.
Life finds a way...
Jurassic Parkour. Also American Ninja-Saurus. And T-Rex doesn't want to be fed; T-Rex wants to dance. Yes, T-Rex is a pretty ballerina. [more inside]
On thin ice
Every winter in Russia's east, the rivers that vein the enormous open spaces of siberia freeze solid. Photographer Amos Chappel joins one group of men who make a living on these frozen highways.
Welcome, iPad users, to Zombocom.
We don't see the fairy tale from this side of the stage.
Dance of the Little Swans - auditions and the first years at the Vaganova Ballet Academy. [more inside]
Their own personal Jesuses
In the northern Romanian region of Maramureș, roadside crucifixes are part of the countryside landscape and a symbol of people’s spiritual views. Traditionally, they were handcrafted locally and so they were also visual displays of local art. But local handcrafting skills are quickly disappearing and their preservation hardly encouraged. And so the locals switch to representations of Jesus mass produced somewhere in the world. The new plastic Jesus does not reflect the old spirit of the villages but a new trend instead, a mix of consumerist practicality and kitsch. In an ongoing series, photographer Vasile Dorolti tries to capture these People and Crosses, before they disappear. [more inside]
Indistinguishable from magic
20+ drones; 16,500 LEDs; 3 shamisen players; 1 Mt. Fuji: Filmmaker Tsuyoshi Takashiro orchestrates a performance combining drones and the Oyamakai shamisen ensemble.
An endless series of interchangeable party anthems and syrupy love songs
What Happened to Country Music? Lyrical themes of Billboard #1 Country hits, 1965-2015. [via mefi projects]
A man and his botfly
Parasites Are Us: How biological invaders challenge our idea of self and other
The maggot was never invited into Coyne’s head. For those weeks it lived there, however, wasn’t the maggot in many ways literally Coyne? After all, other than the tip of its breathing tube, the maggot existed completely inside his body. Besides, the maggot was flesh-and-blood Coyne in the most literal sense: Almost the entirety of its physical bulk consisted of Coyne’s tissue. [more inside]
The maggot was never invited into Coyne’s head. For those weeks it lived there, however, wasn’t the maggot in many ways literally Coyne? After all, other than the tip of its breathing tube, the maggot existed completely inside his body. Besides, the maggot was flesh-and-blood Coyne in the most literal sense: Almost the entirety of its physical bulk consisted of Coyne’s tissue. [more inside]
Burnistoun, twinned with Quimper, Verona, R'lyeh
Bosch Work Memes: Typing bird-god words per minute
The feverish apocalyptic stylings of Hieronymous Bosch are detailed, and oddly fitting of various workplace. To better appreciate the individual characters in his pieces, and how they may provide a mirror to office life, gaze upon the Bosch work memes tumblr. Also available via Twitter and Facebook [via mefi projects]
How are you, Sir?
The Most Enthusiastic Dads
The Increasing Problem With the Misinformed
“The rise of the misinformed is now the largest obstacle for success for journalists today (outside the concerns that relate to publishing). If people don't trust the news, you don't have a news business.” Thomas Baekdal writes a strategic analysis for media companies to earn their readers’ trust, looking at data from PolitiFact to understand how misinformation spreads and what journalists can do to stop it.
Obama Out
Satan is an individualist
Every movement needs it's Magician and Surrealism had Kurt Seligmann, a painter who was heavily into the Occult.
Gallery owner Rowland Weinstein was surprised that Seligmann's works was largely forgotten or unknown.
Here you can explore his prints and his written Magnus opus is still available.
A Biography and the full title quote and a couple more.
Gallery owner Rowland Weinstein was surprised that Seligmann's works was largely forgotten or unknown.
Here you can explore his prints and his written Magnus opus is still available.
A Biography and the full title quote and a couple more.
World Penguin Day Week
Did you observe World Penguin Day? Opus did, and then managed to stretch it to a full week*. [more inside]
The robust tuberous begonia lends beauty and freshness to the carpet.
Every two years in Brussels, they build a huge carpet out of flower petals and sod grass in the main square. The Flower Carpet is 75 m long x 24 m wide and is typically made out of 600,000 flowers. Why do they do it? Why not! It's pretty. [more inside]
Dance around a flowery pole, or topple the capitalist war machine!
"May Day: America's Traditional, Radical, Complicated Holiday," from the Smithsonian NMAH blog. Part One, Part Two.
please enter your phone number in the most excruciating way
I have a story to tell.
Ron Mael at the Tropicana Motel
We got each other, and that's a lot
Fan Jeremy Fry dances to Bon Jovi at a 2009 Celtics game. Via this Aeon link: How being awesome became the currency of our time.
Why Spinoza still matters
At a time of religious zealotry, Spinoza’s fearless defence of intellectual freedom is more timely than ever Steven Adler, professor of Jewish Studies, in Aeon.
Bitter Taste in My Mouth / Spit it Out With a Rhyme
Riz MC has just dropped his new mixtape Englistan. Released on St George's Day, it turns out that as a second generation immigrant he has some thoughts about identity and nationality. [more inside]
My potions aren't fit for a BEAST, let alone a MAN!
On September 22, 2011, Justin Kuritzkes posted a short video called Potion Seller, in which he takes advantage of a distortion filter on his camera to act out both roles of a dialogue between a magnificently coiffed knight and an impish potion seller. This video inspired a small but dedicated fandom that persists even today. [more inside]
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