May 15, 2017
Sulaco has entered a sector claimed by the Union of Progressive Peoples
“Well......bye.”
Powers Boothe, Actor Known for ‘Deadwood’ and Other Dark Roles, Dies at 68 [The New York Times] “Powers Boothe [wiki] [imdb], an actor best known for playing dark characters on television shows like “Deadwood” and in movies like “Sin City,” died on Sunday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 68. The death was confirmed by his publicist, Karen Samfilippo. She did not specify the cause. Mr. Boothe lent his burly frame and Texas drawl to numerous TV series beginning in the late 1970s. In addition to the acclaimed HBO series “Deadwood,” he was seen on shows including “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” “Nashville” and “24,” on which he played the vice president of the United States. Among the movies in which he appeared were “Red Dawn” (1984), “Marvel’s The Avengers” (2012) and Oliver Stone’s “Nixon” (1995), in which he played Alexander Haig.”
As if your day wasn't full enough...
Retro Tech is a thing now. Digital is cheap, digital is easy, digital is everywhere. Perhaps that’s why some people are turning their backs on it. [more inside]
Should we worry about Islamism in Indonesia?
"There is no dominant Islamist group in Indonesia that represents a coherent Islamic community" Interesting article discussing the recent arrest of Jakarta governor Ahok on blasphemy charges, and the broader context of Islam and politics in recent years. Good comment on the article (most are sadly rubbish).
Happy Quokka Monday!
'World's happiest animal', the quokka, becomes the most popular tourist attraction at Australia's Rottnest Island [more inside]
Ian Kasnoff's TrailerCam, a very large DIY camera obscura on wheels
While sitting in a hotel bar, photographer Ian Kasnoff came up with the idea of turning his small box trailer into a working ultra-large format camera. After some cocktail napkin sketches, the idea for Kasnoff’s TrailerCam was born. He turned his 5×5.5×8-foot trailer into a camera obscura with an old enlarging lens as an initial proof of concept. When he saw his property projected with “crystal clarity” on every surface inside his trailer, the TrailerCam passed the first test. Since then, he's upgraded the "camera" lens a number of times, and it now features two lenses: a wide-angle and a telephoto. [more inside]
So, there's a man crawling through the desert
World's longest joke: Nate The Snake
Plantation Mystique
The American landscape is dotted with places that witnessed enormous tragedies, and much like Flossenbürg they have now been absorbed into the everyday landscape. Unlike Flossenbürg, though, many of these American sites clumsily negotiate their dark heritage or simply ignore it in favor of aesthetically pleasant contemporary landscapes.The Aesthetics of Bliss and Trauma in Plantation Weddings: archaeologist Paul Mullins continues his series on "dark tourism".
Beautifying the city one wall at a time
MuralsDC is a project funded by the DC Department of Public Works, in cooperation with the DC Commission on the Arts and the Humanities, and is designed to provide permanent graffiti abatement to those properties that have experienced or are at risk of this type of vandalism. Since its pilot in 2007, MuralsDC has painted more than 50 murals in every ward of the city. [more inside]
The self-induced destruction of PWR BTTM
On the eve of their sophomore album release came numerous accusations of sexual assault and harassment by PWR BTTM's Ben Hopkins. Since the news came out on May 11, PWR BTTM: have been dropped by their management, dropped by their label (which offered full refunds to anyone who had purchased the new album), lost touring band members, have seen their openers drop out of their tour, been dropped as festival headliners, and reportedly canceled their entire tour. (tw: sexual assault) [more inside]
Neoliberalism, corporations, and the LGBTQ movement
The LGBTQ movement is an intersectional fail "One would think that youth homelessness and joblessness, simultaneously affecting the most vulnerable and potentially most dynamic sectors of the LGBTQ movement, would be top priorities of the movement. [...] But we live in a neoliberal age where the only reforms acceptable to the Democrats are those that don’t cost the system any money. [...] Taking its lead from the Democrats, Gay Inc. gives lip service, if that, to the class issues directly bearing on the overwhelming majority of those whom they purport to represent." [more inside]
Makeup Por Vida
"We would lean over the sink in the girls’ room before first period, putting on our war paint and posing with serious pouts in the mirror. Together we would perform this ritual and roll out late for class in a cute, menacing pack like Mexican Heathers (or La Vida Loca, the film that came out not long after). In those early days I drew strength from the ritual. I put my faith in it, in us, and in makeup’s power to transform not just my face but my life." Melissa Mesku, for The Hairpin: "Chola Makeup: An exercise in becoming."
Are Dragons for White Kids with Money???
Daniel Jose Ruiz has a great article on Geekdom and Race. D&D has taken strides toward diversity in its artwork, and some Friendly Local Game Stores are thinking about how to be more welcoming, but the angry white male gamer is an ongoing problem. [more inside]
Feast Your Eyes
Many Indonesian villages are following this trend and the transformation is stunning. Poor villages and slums invest a few thousand dollars to beautify their buildings and the world takes note.
A Load of Old Billhooks
A Load of Old Billhooks is a site dedicated to the history, diversity, and usage of everyone's favorite multi-purpose agricultural and woodcrafting tool, the billhook.
Inside the Gentrification of LA's Grand Central Market
"Ich komme bald"
Norwegian police, in conjunction with public broadcaster NRK, have reopened the case of the Isdal woman, an unidentified burned body found in a remote hiking area in 1970. The BBC and Wikipedia
have more info on Isdalskvinnen. (Content Warning: graphic photo at BBC link)
The Corpse Burner´s Son
Born a cremator: An Indian boy's fight for an education.
The occupation of burning bodies remains an inherited one - passed from father to son. Despite performing this important Hindu ritual, the community is treated as "untouchable" by Hindus from more privileged castes.
Manikarnika Ghat - The tourism of Death.
Children of the Pyre was a film made in 2008.
The occupation of burning bodies remains an inherited one - passed from father to son. Despite performing this important Hindu ritual, the community is treated as "untouchable" by Hindus from more privileged castes.
Manikarnika Ghat - The tourism of Death.
Children of the Pyre was a film made in 2008.
Type numbers and letters on the screen
When the Mattel Intellivision tried to become a real computer.
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