The Alamo Venus
Based on Velazquez’s “The Toilet of Venus” (aka “The Rokeby Venus”).
Raymond’s Chinese Takeaway
The girls behind the counter doing their college work.
Dodge Ram Commercial
A parody of the parody it is parodying.
It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s…
… kind of like a car but infinitely long & super fast & comes every three minutes, always on time & not once derailed…faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive… it’s the Japanse Shinkansen …
Clusterbook #2: Lolita
So a few months back, a bunch of us got together on skype and talked about Lolita. There were all sorts of network difficulties and the sheer strangeness of a bunch of disembodied voices speaking out into the ether, but we got talking, and we talked a lot. I boiled all that down to about 20 minutes, which you can hear below, largely sound snippets of various opinions about the book, rather than a single argument or theme.
(Quality note: There’s some background noise, mostly around the start of the recording, and a general sense of echo throughout.)
[http://www.clusterflock.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/lolita-group-1.mp3|http://www.clusterflock.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/lolita-group-2.mp3|http://www.clusterflock.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/lolita-group-3.mp3|http://www.clusterflock.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/lolita-group-4.mp3|http://www.clusterflock.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/lolita-group-5.mp3]
Then a few days ago, Sheila and I had another chat about Lolita, and I think that some things we discussed in that conversation would be useful to include in this edition of Clusterbook, so you can hear an edited 15 minute version of our conversation below.
[http://www.clusterflock.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Lolita-Sheila-and-Lucy-1.mp3|http://www.clusterflock.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Lolita-Sheila-and-Lucy-2.mp3|http://www.clusterflock.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Lolita-Sheila-and-Lucy-3.mp3|http://www.clusterflock.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/lolita-sheila-and-lucy-4.mp3]
Feel free to get involved in this discussion. I still feel we have barely scratched the surface. If you’ve read the book, or you have a response to anything we’ve said in either conversation, you are very welcome to contribute your opinion in the comments. I would love to hear more diverse voices.
So without further ado, I hereby declare Clusterbook #2: Lolita to be…. open! The clusterflock book club rides again!
You’re not going to tell me anything I don’t already know and I’m not going to see anything I haven’t seen a hundred times before
[Because of the Strength]
A Half would Have worked
empty doesn’t
Empty
Suck ASS
Issue: Hairy back and hairy chest show through shirts.
Solution: Wear an undershirt, tank or sleeveless. However, it’s important to note that hairy chests have now become acceptable and no longer need to be waxed away or hidden. Some chest hair showing at the neckline is now acceptable.
(I found this site while trying to get an answer to the question, “Does anyone make sized men’s underwear without elastic?” (i.e. boxer shorts that fit at the waist [which of course means a button at the waist and a fly], like in the old days)
(Another question: When did hairy chests become unacceptable?)
Mark Sink – Wet Plates
Mark Sink is a busy guy – I don’t like all that he does, but I love his wet plates.
Add Batteries, Aim, Fire
I’m 16 years old and have an awkward dilemma. I’m thinking about buying a vibrator because I am very curious, but the thing is, I want to talk to my mom about it first.
A conversation in my household
Sarah: Will you curl my hair for me?
Amy: Get a perm.
Sarah: That’s permanent!
Songs: Ohia – John Henry Split My Heart
I found this groovy footage of a 1951 night rodeo in Gallup, NM. The music seemed to work for me and yet oddly, it wasn’t until after I had put it together that I realised Gallup is on route 66 and he sings about the 66 highway!
Licklider the Seed-planting Antichrist and yOUR Privacy
Maybe you’ve seen it already, but there’s an ever-insightful musing by David Byrne on the internet, the death of books & other antiquated media, psychoacoustics & silence, the continual rebirth & research into new technologies, and the implications on our personal lives, amongst other things, in that clever way that Byrne manages to make it all seem inter-related. These things have been weighing heavily on my mind lately, in particular the proliferation of “social-networking” technology.
“Privacy and security, as much as we might strive for them, are phantoms that we chase but can never truly catch. As much as we love getting information, data, media and connections, so we ourselves become available as data. Social websites like MySpace, Facebook and Twitter seem to use these conflicting urges — the urge to reveal oneself to the world, in all one’s intimate details, and yet simultaneously maintain some kind of privacy. Good luck with that.”
It seems to me this inevitable “creative destruction” is transferring creativity from the art objects themselves to the technological framework in which they exist, all driven by capitalistic urge. The privacy issues of facebook, twitter, etc. are not really what concern me, so much as content ownership issues. Or not so much ownership as artistic control. Thoughts?
the making of a soldier — a pictorial
(via kottke)
islands seen from space
the novel as chess
All plots, as Don DeLillo memorably put it, end in death. Moreover, en route to their respective endgames, both chess and the novel offer powerful arenas in which to investigate the question of questions: the ever-vexatious issue of the relationship between fate and agency, between necessity and freedom. Every move is our own, except when it’s not. Either way, the board thins, the sheaf of paper in the right hand dwindles, sifting left as if blown by an inexorable wind—though of course, we turn every page. Chess, in this sense, is the opposite of dice, just as the novel is the opposite of Scripture (the exact difference between chance and providence has never been clear, but they share an antithesis in deliberative subjectivity, and this may be a clue).
And that’s just the intro. D. Graham Burnett and W. J. Walter have, actually, devised a program that allows players to pit novels against novels in games of chess.
(via marginal revolution)
South Korean woman finally passes written portion of her driving test
After 950 tries, a South Korean woman passed the written portion of her driving test.
Now she must pass a driving test before getting her license, Choi said.
search terms that brought people to clusterflock
adults photos
victorian porn
letterpress
clusterflock
adults
kowloon walled city
victorian pornography
importance of moon
reading poetry is a waste of time
map of nyc
Which miniature animals make good pets?
Micro pigs are the new must-have pets.
See more micro pets.
Must. Draw. Mo!
More drawing. Less storking. More posting.
unusual ad for renewable energy
There is literally no good noun form for people who use twitter and it’s driving me batty.
Most tweeps probably noticed that lists went live last week:
We’re putting the finishing touches on our new Lists feature and we’re really excited about the folks who have already taken a lot of time creating awesome lists. From the @time list of funny people to your own list of people who make you laugh—it’s easy to see how this feature increases discovery and adds value in lots of ways.
Lists also make it easier to curate tweets into meaningful real-time experiences on your own sites via the Lists API. Media companies are already taking advantage: for example, check out @huffingtonpost‘s use of the Lists API in their World Series coverage.
They are pretty nifty and the tweople seem to love it. So, I decided to make this list of all the clusterflock twits.
Play Within A Play By Play
My fellow film critic Nate Bell wrote an email to our school’s movies folder, and took a screenshot of said email posted within the email, and took a video of himself writing it. Technological overkill, but the short film struck me as beautiful.
The staccato chirp of keys being struck as sunlight filters in the window is my favourite bit. And the only bit.
the 11/3 project
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| The 11/3 Project | ||||
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Woman calls 911 to report herself for drunk driving
“I am them,” Strey said.
