September 21, 2013

WIFE: The grey ones

"The Grey Ones," which premiered at TEDx SoCal in Long Beach in July 2011, is a performance piece by LA-based "illusory performance makers" WIFE and features music by Amon Tobin. Its description: "Inspired by ancient myth, organic matter, decay, and transcendence, The Grey Ones explores the use of projection mapping on moving bodies and statuesque and saintly gestures to tell a story of the beginning of time." More videos can be found at WIFE's Vimeo channel.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 9:38 PM PST - 12 comments

Congress Plus

The Hill’s Megan Wilson, based on documents leaked on Monday, reports that the American League of Lobbyists (ALL) is considering dropping "lobbyist" from its name. "The organization confirmed to The Hill it is 'discussing a rebranding,' and is taking 'baby steps' toward that goal. Top choices for a replacement name include The Association of Government Relations Professionals, The National Association of Government Relations Professionals and the Government Relations Professionals Association, 'based on board meetings and emails,' the document says." [more inside]
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 9:19 PM PST - 40 comments

Veteran Suicides

"Why the suicide rate among veterans may be more than 22 a day. Every day, 22 veterans take their own lives. That's a suicide every 65 minutes. As shocking as the number is, it may actually be higher." Additional data by state can be found here.
posted by HuronBob at 8:42 PM PST - 37 comments

THIS OTTER CAN JUGGLE!

I can't hear what you say because THIS OTTER CAN JUGGLE! (via Laughing Squid)
posted by Joe in Australia at 8:02 PM PST - 21 comments

On Charles Mingus

An Argument With Instruments: On Charles Mingus. How a jazz artist’s relationship to black identity gave his music its stormy weather. [Via]
posted by homunculus at 6:16 PM PST - 9 comments

No Obamacare for animals

From September 1, it is illegal in Alabama to rescue raccoons, skunks, foxes, bats, oppossums and other animals. [more inside]
posted by dontjumplarry at 5:50 PM PST - 64 comments

It warped my fragile little mind

Now Showing | 234 episodes, 16 seasons, 95 hours, 1 epic marathon #hellyeah #nosleeptilsouthpark [more inside]
posted by maggieb at 5:35 PM PST - 17 comments

The Problem with Warrior Princesses

Jennifer Sky, a former model/actress, recently published a NYT op-ed about her recurring role as Amarice in Xena: Warrior Princess, stating, "Gender was not relevant in the Xenaverse." Her perspective has been met with some contention.
posted by rcraniac at 4:47 PM PST - 57 comments

NOW IT LIVES ON THE FLOOR, BOOM

Cats Knocking Shit Over
posted by The Whelk at 2:37 PM PST - 137 comments

WJSV Complete Day

Thursday, September 21st, 1939, radio station WJSV in Washington, D.C., recorded their entire broadcast day -- from sign on, to sign off. The entire day is available here.
posted by PHINC at 1:49 PM PST - 46 comments

The World in 2096 According to Paul Krugman in 1996

White Collars Turn Blue: "But computers are proficient at analyzing symbols; it is the messiness of the real world that they have trouble with. Furthermore, symbols can be transmitted easily to Asmara or La Paz and analyzed there for a fraction of the cost in Boston. Therefore, many of the jobs that once required a college degree have been eliminated... So enrollment in colleges and universities has dropped almost two-thirds since its peak at the turn of the century. The prestigious universities coped by reverting to an older role. Today a place like Harvard is, as it was in the 19th century, more of a social institution than a scholarly one -- a place for children of the wealthy to refine their social graces and befriend others of their class... While business gurus were proclaiming the new dominance of creativity and innovation over mere production, the growing ease with which information was transmitted and reproduced made it harder for creators to profit from their creations... How, then, could creativity be made to pay? The answer was already becoming apparent a century ago: creations must make money indirectly by promoting sales of something else."
posted by bookman117 at 1:41 PM PST - 25 comments

Respect to the men in the icecream van

It's the weekend, time to start raving. If you adore hardcore, like it loud, are needed on the dancefloor and keep jumping all over the world (even Maaskantje), then you know there's always the sound above your hair and you're already hyper hyper (shoutout). Now Ramp it up (it's only logical), reach somewhere deep inside, move your ass and go Faster, Harder, Scooter.

By the way, how much is the fish?
posted by MartinWisse at 1:36 PM PST - 18 comments

The Derk Isle

The first translation of The Adventures of Tintin into the Scots leid is now available, and is a joy to read aloud. Give it a shot! It was also recently published in Gaelic and Welsh (Yr Ynys Ddu).
posted by shii at 1:24 PM PST - 22 comments

We have a very extensive knowledge of what is happening in Syria.

The Spies Inside Damascus: The Mossad's secret war on the Syrian WMD machine.
On Aug. 20, 2012, U.S. President Barack Obama declared that if Syrian President Bashar al-Assad began shifting around or using his chemical weapons, Obama would consider that "a red line." The implication was that such a move would lead to American intervention in Syria. Some officials from the Israeli Foreign Ministry believed that Obama drew the line because he believed it would never be crossed. If that was his assumption, he made it based, in part, on assessments received from the Israeli intelligence services, which have waged a multidecade clandestine campaign to strip Assad of his deadliest weapons -- and which also have emerged as the United States' primary partners in collecting information on Middle Eastern regimes.
posted by andoatnp at 1:14 PM PST - 22 comments

Video Killed the Philosophy Star

Incidence of Catastrophe (1987-88) is video artist Gary Hill's adaptation of Maurice Blanchot's short novel Thomas the Obscure (pdf), an "ontological narrative" with being itself as its focus. Why Do Things Get in a Muddle? (Come On Petunia) (1984) is his adaptation of a metalogue from Gregory Bateson's Steps to an Ecology of Mind (pdf).
posted by Monsieur Caution at 12:16 PM PST - 1 comments

The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity

The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity -- Five laws that explain why stupidity will always be with us, dragging us down. [more inside]
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 11:41 AM PST - 55 comments

27 Seconds // Beauty is Boring

Inspired by silent film screen tests of the 1920's, 27 SECONDS is an ongoing video collaboration by BEAUTY IS BORING and THE NEW TOUGH. Working within a set of restrictions (chest to the top of the head, white background, limited time and no sound), the 27 SECONDS series is a moving exploration of the vintage Polaroid format used to create the images for BEAUTY IS BORING.
posted by insectosaurus at 11:10 AM PST - 5 comments

It's Your Fault.

It's Your Fault "Every sexual assault case in India inspires a string of stupid and hateful remarks against women. This is our response to those remarks." (SLYT) From AIB365, an Indian sketch comedy troupe.
posted by sweetkid at 10:56 AM PST - 40 comments

LEAF FROLIC

Nobody loves leaves more than this dog. (SLYT) [more inside]
posted by elizardbits at 9:03 AM PST - 50 comments

There goes Indie Cindy whose sails were black when it was windy.

Following their new release, EP1, the Pixies present a video out for their song "indie Cindy." It's about a woman, two men and a murder.
posted by griphus at 8:56 AM PST - 29 comments

There's a reason stock video doesn't have sound

Getty Dubs (SLYT) (previous)
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 8:26 AM PST - 6 comments

JAWS: The Text Adventure

In 1975, the blockbuster movie Jaws was released. The series culminated in 1987 with a fourth movie, Jaws: The Revenge. The NES game Jaws (online) was released that same year, incorporating elements of both the original and fourth movie. But you probably don't know about the game that Mirrorsoft commissioned in 1984 from the husband-and-wife coding team, Dave & Sara Crud. They made a ZX Spectrum movie tie-in for the original film, only for rights holders to back out and leave it unreleased for nearly three decades ... UNTIL NOW! Or at least that's the backstory MeFite malevolent wrote. [via mefi projects] [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 7:31 AM PST - 17 comments

How to Design a City for Women

In 1999, officials in Vienna, Austria, asked residents of the city's ninth district how often and why they used public transportation. "Most of the men filled out the questionnaire in less than five minutes," says Ursula Bauer, one of the city administrators tasked with carrying out the survey. "But the women couldn't stop writing."
posted by cthuljew at 7:18 AM PST - 38 comments

Telephone

A study [PDF] by CUNY Professor Diana Reiss and Rachel Morrison (Biopsychology and Behavioral Neuroscience Subprogram in Psychology The Graduate Center of CUNY) was published last week in Zoo Biology detailing for the first time a whisper‐like behavior in a non‐human primate, the cotton top tamarin at the Central Park Zoo. [more inside]
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 5:10 AM PST - 10 comments

Why art should be publicly funded

Why Art? Australian ABC Arts critic, theatre blogger and author, Alison Croggon, looks at public funding of the arts - and argues for more of it.


"In a survey that looked at participation in visual arts and crafts, music, dance, theatre and literature – that is, the key art forms supported by the Australia Council – 38 per cent of Australians describe themselves as art lovers, for whom the arts are an integral part of their lives. Only 17 per cent report estrangement, believing that the arts attract pretentious elites, and a tiny 7 per cent feel no connection at all. Overall, 93 per cent of Australians reported engaging with the arts in the previous year. In 2009, more people attended art galleries (11 million) than went to the football (10 million)."
posted by crossoverman at 12:46 AM PST - 40 comments

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