July 2008
27 posts
Each and every time I hear the PS3 start up sound, I expect it to be Arcade Fire’s “Keep The Car Running” and ponder how I could change it to be so.
After a quick Google search, it looks like I’m not alone.
“Of course the very first step, as you can imagine, was a giant first step.”
– Gothamist posted a great interview with Philippe Petit, the subject of the upcoming film Man on Wire, about his famous walk between the Twin Towers in 1974.
The movie begins playing across the nation August 8.
The Other Lonely Sandwich
This past weekend in the Dallas suburb of Flower Mound three teenagers beat up a 14-year old Subway employee working in a “giant sandwich” costume. They then stole his costume and fled the scene only to be caught a short time later.
Police caught the trio after a witness took down the license plate of the Nissan fleeing the shop around lunchtime in the 2200 block of Justin Road in...
Rex Sorgatz of Fimoculous initiated a fascinating discussion regarding the legal differences between pornography and prostitution.
It seems an obvious paradox that both acts are essentially the same: sex in exchange for money. However, there is of course one key difference: a camera.
Culturally speaking, this appears to be an extremely revealing detail of the modern psychology. Sex for money is...
“Arrogant,” after all, is the new “uppity.”
Obama’s expert design team recently designed a poster for his Berlin visit, which shows a heavy influence of 1920s-era German “industrial design.” [Quipsologies]
Republicians call it “arrogant” and say it reinforces a “messiah complex.” I call it awesome and extremely smart.
Nathan Myhrvold continues his tales of travelling through the Nordic countries with a stop in Greenland. Myhrvold talks about the nation’s efforts for independence from Denmark, how ice — which covers 84% of the country — prevents economical development and what it’s like to eat… polar bear. [WhatILearnedToday]
However, this case was a bit different. Polar bears...
3 tags
Los Angeles photographer Jen Gotch created an interesting project called “Defaced”. [DigitalCrushes]
Using a permanent marker she captions her polaroids, adding her thoughts to remember that moment by.
Keeping the comma
Dear TV on the Radio,
Let me preface this by saying I’m really looking forward to your new record. I’ve enjoyed your past releases and believe the band members are smart and effective musicians.
That being said, I feel the use of the comma in the album title, Dear Science,, is asking for unnecessary trouble.
Journalists need so very little to distract them from the substance of a...
Complimentary Coupling
I’d like to see someone use a tool like Idée’s Multicolr Search Lab to create diptychs or triptychs that also work to explain basic concepts of color theory. [MareenFischinger]
I assume it’s already out there. Photographers are pretty smart and this idea surely isn’t new or unique.
I think there should be something similar to Muphry’s Law for complexion or physical appearance.
Reid’s Law: Allowing yourself to fixate on the blemish(es) of another is asking for some of your own.
“You can guess all day as to what other people would like, but you know what you...”
– New York Times’ T Magazine has a great series of short interviews with actors Seth Rogen, James Franco and others. [Mark]
They are shot in black and white so you can tell they’re serious.
I also really love Rogen’s explanation of the root for all male actions.
There needs to be a word to define this: forgetting to update your Netflix queue before they ship you an unwanted movie.
"You can never learn enough."
Dr. Michael DeBakey, the man whose research and surgical efforts forever changed many processes related to heart surgery, passed away last Friday at the age of 99.
In March, Dr. DeBakey was interviewed by Esquire for their “State of the American Man” feature, in which they interviewed men born each decade.
In addition, he contruibuted to Esquire’s “What I’ve...
3 tags
Rock Port, Missouri has become the first 100 percent wind-powered community in America. [DesignInfo]
“We’re farming the wind, which is something that we have up here,” Crawford said. “The payback on a per-acre basis is generally quite good when compared to a lot of other crops, and it’s as simple as getting a cup of coffee and watching the blades spin.”
Muphry’s Law
After he corrected their already correct usage of the word ‘pasty’ last week, Stephen Dubner of the Freakonomics blog recieved a special and edible gift from The Economist in his mailbox. [WaxyLinks]
And news to him and me, this situation is defined as Muphry’s Law.
Muphry’s law states that “if you write anything criticizing editing or proofreading, there will be a fault of...
1 tag
WatchErica Cho and Xana Kudrjavcev-DeMilner have been posting a beautiful series of “video poems” named “Are You Me?” to Vimeo. The above “03 Hangul” was done by Cho. [HeadingEast]
These experimental video poems explore that mysterious haze that separates people from one another. I make the odd videos; hers are the even.
Such a great idea and so beautifully...
Belgian-born photographer Branislav Kropilak snaps amazing photographs of billboards as seen from below. [Snarkmarket]
Their precise metal shapes, bright lighting and the space-like night sky make me see billboards a little differently.
BXVI
What I Learned Today posted about Pope Benedict XVI’s text messaging. Today he sent an additional text blast to thousands of Australian youth that looked like this:
Young friend, God and his people expect much from u because u have within you the Fathers supreme gift: the Spirit of Jesus - BXVI
At this time it’s required you be a Telstra subscriber to sign up for his daily...
3 tags
In addition to our energy and financial crises, the New York Times reports that America is current dealing with another crisis: a shortage of 4s. [H&FJ]
When prices passed $4, many stations ran out of 4s, and managers improvised by photocopying signs or stenciling numbers by hand. The makeshift digits are legal as long as they are similar to the neighboring numbers, said John Browne, the...
"Not to overwhelm the ear too much."
NPR’s All Songs Considered posted a live concert podcast of Fleet Foxes’ D.C. performance, which includes a pretty fascinating interview about the band’s development, their approach to live performance and the sharing of music within the band. [AustinKleon]
3 tags
Michael Bierut and a few designers in Pentagram’s NY office recently redesigned the logo of the joint venture MillerCoors. [BrandNew]
The logo, as is standard for Pentagram’s work, exhibits conceptual brilliance and visual crispness. They’ve posted a video that illustrates the idea clearly.
The idea of the beer glass came from a couple of remarks about the new company being...
4 tags
Merlin Mann wrote one of the most sincere and positive product reviews that I’ve ever read about the Flip Ultra camera.
After hearing and reading tons of other great reviews, I bought the Mino version about a month ago, and I’ve had a lot of fun playing with it too.
Though my videos don’t have nearly the same “memory value” as those of new parents and their child,...
Guardian’s Laura Barton reviewed the new self-titled Fleet Foxes record — which is rapidly becoming one of my favorite records this year — and explains how the music became “entangled” in her environment.
It came to me one week in May, at the end of seven curious days in which I had both sailed on an airboat through the Atchafalaya Basin in Louisiana, and walked from...