The Momentus Project
Visualizations of some of the most important moments in history. I have only one question: where are they selling prints? (via It’s Nice That)
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the sound of a calf being born was created by dropping an object (forget now – probably a dead sheep or something) and a bucket of equal parts yoghurt and 1/4″ tape (unwound off its spool) simultaneously onto a bed of hay
On the redemption of physical reality
“This is, of course, what (film theorist) Siegfried Kracauer meant when he spoke of the ‘redemption of physical reality.’ It’s also at the heart of Werner Herzog’s new documentary, The Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2011), in which he attempts to retrieve the ‘now’ of prehistoric cave painters flickering into life – the analogy often used to explain the psychological power of film.”
In the same way that cutting ourselves off from any older aspect of our culture diminishes us by dimming our awareness of who we were and how that made us who we are, there is something lost when we turn away from the gray ones.
It’s quite a long piece, but it is worth reading. Bill Mesce’s The “Gray Ones” Fade To Black, brought to attention by Ebert.
Elmer food beat – Le plastique c’est fantastique
There’s a whole playlist on youtube. (via La Blogotheque)
from the moderated comments
I want a huge pint of Guinness. Now. Loved this post.
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There was always something of the hunter in him.
Chris Burden, Metropolis II
You may recall the kinetic sculpture Metropolis II by Chris Burden. The work, which took four years to complete, features 1,500 Hot Wheels diecast cars and a host of electric trains all bustling around a matrix of steel and plastic. If that sounds like a snapshot of your morning commute, you’re not alone.
Burden recently sat down with directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman for a quick chat on what’s behind Metropolis II and what it means to the artist. Those of you in Southern California may be able to see the exhibit in person at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in the fall of 2011.
Jason’s been tracking Chris Burden projects for a while now.
from the spam
I will in a jiffy snatch your rss fodder to dwell abreast of any updates. Esteemed moil and much outcome in your profession efforts!
from the comments
Pam:
Not to put too fine a point on it, but I think that’s a vulva tattoo.
What Happened to Obama?
This NYT Op-Ed by Drew Westen is being passed around today and for good reason:
Like most Americans, at this point, I have no idea what Barack Obama — and by extension the party he leads — believes on virtually any issue. The president tells us he prefers a “balanced” approach to deficit reduction, one that weds “revenue enhancements” (a weak way of describing popular taxes on the rich and big corporations that are evading them) with “entitlement cuts” (an equally poor choice of words that implies that people who’ve worked their whole lives are looking for handouts). But the law he just signed includes only the cuts. This pattern of presenting inconsistent positions with no apparent recognition of their incoherence is another hallmark of this president’s storytelling. He announces in a speech on energy and climate change that we need to expand offshore oil drilling and coal production — two methods of obtaining fuels that contribute to the extreme weather Americans are now seeing. He supports a health care law that will use Medicaid to insure about 15 million more Americans and then endorses a budget plan that, through cuts to state budgets, will most likely decimate Medicaid and other essential programs for children, senior citizens and people who are vulnerable by virtue of disabilities or an economy that is getting weaker by the day. He gives a major speech on immigration reform after deporting a million immigrants in two years, breaking up families at a pace George W. Bush could never rival in all his years as president.
The idea is to be able to collect one copy of every book ever published.
Brewster Kahle, 50, founded the nonprofit Internet Archive in 1996 to save a copy of every web page ever posted. Now the MIT-trained computer scientist and entrepreneur is expanding his effort to safeguard and share knowledge by trying to preserve a physical copy of every book ever published.
“There is always going to be a role for books,” said Kahle as he perched on the edge of a shipping container. Each container can hold about 40,000 volumes, the size of a branch library. “We want to see books live forever.”
So far, he’s collected about 500,000 of what Google estimates are 130 million books worldwide.
pregnancy tourism for a master race
In the film, the lady tells us how she isn’t the first, and “definitely not the last” to travel this far to have an Aryan child, one who, she imagined, would grow up grateful for the gift of racially superior intelligence. She speaks of an organised system behind such pregnancy tourism, but refuses to elaborate. “It’s not wrong, what I’m doing,” she says, “I’m paying for what I want.”
The movie is called Achtung Baby: In Search of Purity, and is about German women travelling to Indian villages to get knocked up by men they believe are the last of the pure Aryans.
(via the browser)
spam name
Antonetta Beulah.
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(thanks, Lex)
”You got to have your very own broom!”
Betty Wright, just a few years back, performing her 1972 hit, The Clean-Up Woman.
tweet of the day
Wendy MacNaughton’s snacks of the scribblers
Wendy MacNaughton:
When I sit down to work, I keep a small bowl of garlic croutons on my desk. These are little rewards for good ideas and strong lines, Pavlovian pellets to keep my spirits up. Recently, I began to wonder what fuel writers have relied on, and the answers turned out to be all over the culinary map.
(via, @tcarmody)
headline of the day
Rick Perry’s Campaign Slogan: ‘What Harm Could a Governor of Texas Do?’
tweet of the day
from the comments
This is fantastic. I’d like to add Miss Nell’s Skillet Flip Cornbread. I’ve talked about this. She bakes it in an iron skillet, takes it out midway, holds the skillet by the handle and FLIP!
She is 91. A piece of work. When I was driving her back from the lake over twisty country roads a couple of weeks ago, she tapped me on the knee and said, “Hey, how about speeding it up. I’ve got things to do.” I said, “I am not going over the speed limit. The law is always hiding back here.” She said, “Well, it is NOT 45, you can go faster.” We argued a while. Finally we saw a sign, 45. We got home. Brother-in-law got home later with sister and Mr. B. He had gotten pulled over for speeding.
Just a Quick Postcard…
Danny has the most accepting, loving family in the world. (I’m convinced, prove me wrong.) We’re in Rockton, on the Wisconsin/Illinois border half-way between Chicago (East edge of Northern Illinois) and Galena (West edge. Sheila might lead you to believe Galena is a suburb of Chicago, and in many respects, it is, but it could be counted an outlier.)
I was born near here, in Rockford. Today there was a celebration of Holly’s birthday and Uncle Doug’s (Holly is Danny’s niece, a 29 year-old Danish beauty, Doug is Danny’s 60-year-old brother–with a beauty that can’t be matched in song.) Today while celebrating, Danny and I also got notice for our having been together 24 years, today.
Y’all I hope I’m not being too sappy. But I’m so happy I could bust. Y’all, this family Loves.
Did you see what he had on?
This guy is really good at standing on a speeding motorcycle and firing his gun.
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We’re being irresponsible to the children out there who might go and get vagina tattoos, expecting to walk normally the next day.
