July 6, 2016
meanwhile in remix art, video and the radio star hi-five
[Soda_Jerk vs The Avalanches] Jerry Seinfeld, Daria, Jay and Silent Bob and many more rub on-screen shoulders in The Was, an eye-and-ear-catching 14 minute collage short. The visual remix splices together scenes and characters from 129 different films and TV shows, and is made by NYC-via-Sydney art collective, Soda_Jerk. Fittingly, the short appears to be soundtracked by audio sampling maestros, The Avalanches, using tracks from The Avalanches' recently-released album Wildflower and alternative mixes. [more inside]
This represents a fundamental failure of CIHR’s primary mandate
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) (previously) administers operating grants to researchers in areas of basic, clinical, and population health research. Recent changes to the way CIHR reviews and awards grants have many scientists warning that "there is little hope that the best ideas and projects will be funded" and calling for a rollback of the changes. [more inside]
When Black Lives Stop Mattering
"I don’t know how to feel that my life matters when there is so much evidence to the contrary." [more inside]
How to cut and paste, Victorian-style: the Macready-Dickens Screen
Sometime in the 1850s, when the legendary Victorian actor William Macready was leasing Sherborne House, his family got together with that of his good friend Charles Dickens to produce a very Victorian craft object: a folding screen. The screen has now been restored and the "over 500 images" on eight panels digitized. (Via VICTORIA.) [more inside]
Elephants create new social networks after mothers are killed
Poaching Leaves Elephant Daughters in Charge. "As illegal hunting thins out the ranks of matriarchs, their daughters are taking over as leaders of their social groups."
“it's the thing they said they wish they'd done more of —”
A Starkly Different Iron Man: Black, Female, And 15 Years Old [NPR.org] Her name is Riri Williams. She reverse-engineered her own version of the Iron Man battlesuit in her MIT dorm room, got kicked out, and struck out on her own to do the superhero thing. Clumsily at first, but she's learning fast. So fast she's impressing Tony Stark, who's questioning his status as the Marvel Universe's go-to, super-powered Campbell's soup can. Readers first met her in the March issue of Invincible Iron Man. [more inside]
Unequal Scenes
What does it mean to be a modern woman?
"What, exactly, is a women’s picture? It’s a genre that lasted from 1930 to 1960 during Hollywood’s golden age. [...] for less than a buck, you could go to a theater and watch Hollywood’s greatest actresses transgress the ever-present social norms that suffocated women in real life. [...] Hollywood’s film industry is no longer interested in producing the sort of films the genre turned into a curious art, or backing stars like Bette Davis, whose prowess and willingness to portray female anger still frightens audiences when they discover her. Instead, a new form of the genre is emerging on television." Including The Good Wife, UnREAL, Jane the Virgin, Outlander, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Scandal, Orphan Black, and more. [more inside]
Going Meta
Metaknowledge is knowledge about knowledge. Metaknowledge means you are aware of what you know or don’t know, and of where your level of knowledge stands in relation to other people’s. [more inside]
A Diamond and a Kiss: The Women of John Hughes
Climate change is already here
Should the United States Save Tangier Island From Oblivion? (New York Times) "...she built the house in a place where the bay was steadily advancing on her backyard every year, usually by about a dozen feet."
One Last Time
At his final Ham4Ham show (for now – we can always hope), Lin-Manuel reads a 1780 letter from Alexander to Eliza. Miranda leaves Hamilton this weekend. Here's what's next for him. [more inside]
The Sun Is Always Shining In Modern Christian Pop
"Contemporary Christian pop music might be taking Psalm 100’s command to 'make a joyful noise unto the Lord' a little too far," writes Leah Libresco at 538. Libresco analyzed the lyrics from Billboard's year-end top 50 Christian songs for the last five years and compares them with traditional American hymns from the shaped-note tradition. Richard Beck at Experimental Theology notes that the psalms themselves contain much more lamentation than the hymnbooks used by contemporary U.S. protestants.
The Eggo waffle is named after a mayonnaise
Why Black Lives Matter stopped the Toronto Pride Parade
“We decided to do an action during the parade because Pride itself is political." (slBuzzfeed) [more inside]
The Addicted Generation
There’s this frustration, this anxiousness, not knowing who I actually am without the medication. When I go off it now, I can’t get through simple chores, errands, tasks, anything. The biggest thing I hate about it is that I’m a drug addict. If I’m being completely honest, I’m dependent on it. There’s a lot of anger and self-loathing that comes with that.
These are the thoughts that plague the medicated, the adults in their twenties who take prescription stimulants for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and have done so since childhood. [more inside]
A song for every tank engine occasion
Thomas the Tank Engine has included dozens of songs over 19 seasons and counting. Express your adoration for Thomas. Have an accident. Enjoy the bustle of the docks. Learn to never, never give up. Be spooked. Be brave.
It’s not all screaming pickles and wind-up teeth.
The Strange Perils of Running a Novelty Item Empire: Seattle’s Archie McPhee is one of the largest and oldest novelty designers and manufacturers in America, providing the average Joe with items that seem like they were designed in some other dimension where the laws of practicality and common sense no longer apply. They have a long, colorful history of bringing weird and unfathomable items to an unsuspecting world. But it’s not all screaming pickles and wind-up teeth. Running one of the most successful novelty operations in the world can lead to some pretty bizarre disasters.
I am a very naughty fountain pen owner.
Zen and the Art of Fountain Pen Maintenance - "Some fountain pen owners are fastidious about cleaning their fountain pens. They keep an ongoing record of which pens are inked, the date of inking, the color, when the pen needs to be cleaned, and the date the pen moved out of rotation. They typically have only a small number of pens inked at any given time. Then, each week or so, on an appointed day, they clean out their inked pens, dry them carefully, and choose a new set of pens to ink and use. I am not one of those people."
The VHS fever dream of early 2000s David Lee Roth [SLYT]
David Lee Roth's No Holds Bar-B-Que, long only available in bootleg form was released on Roth's youtube channel recently. Featuring surreal covers, low rent effects work, Benny Hill-esque skits, and Japanese sword arts. Dive in and get a taste.
2.6 million Words of searing equivocation
Today the long awaited Iraq Enquiry (universally called The Chilcot Enquiry) is released as the cherry on the knickerbocker glory of recent British Politics.
The enquiry is intended to investigate the 2003 invasion of Iraq, to establish the way decisions were made, to determine what happened and to identify lessons to ensure that in a similar situation in future, the British government is equipped to respond in the most effective manner in the best interests of the country.
Here's what we can expect to see. [more inside]
« Previous day | Next day »