Please Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood
Related to stuff we’re talking about.
Bill Maher explains Socialism and the NFL
A short essay animated from the audio recording of ‘The New New Rules: A Funny Look at How Everybody but Me Has Their Head Up Their Ass’.
Directed and Animated by Fraser Davidson.
(thanks, Chris)
“Hit me!”
Moonrise Kingdom
Wes Anderson has a new movie coming out:
Set on an island off the coast of New England in the summer of 1965, MOONRISE KINGDOM tells the story of two twelve-year-olds who fall in love, make a secret pact, and run away together into the wilderness. As various authorities try to hunt them down, a violent storm is brewing off-shore — and the peaceful island community is turned upside down in more ways than anyone can handle.
Sounds like a cross between The Tempest and Blue Lagoon. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Riusuke Fukahori, Goldfish Salvation
Sarah posted Riusuke Fukahori’s freakishly realistic resin goldfish on her tumblr:
Absurdly realistic sculptures of goldfish created by Riusuke Fukahori, one layer of paint & resin at a time.
Watching the meticulous layers applied is stop-motion goodness.
headline of the day
Holy Jesus, look at what this ballerina can do!
Captain Beefheart’s Ten Commandments of Guitar Playing
4. Walk with the devil
Old Delta blues players referred to guitar amplifiers as the “devil box.” And they were right. You have to be an equal opportunity employer in terms of who you’re bringing over from the other side. Electricity attracts devils and demons. Other instruments attract other spirits. An acoustic guitar attracts Casper. A mandolin attracts Wendy. But an electric guitar attracts Beelzebub.
(From WFMU’s Beware of the Blog. Via Brian Beatty.)
Wilco, Nick Lowe & Mavis Staples rehearse “The Weight” backstage at the Chicago Civic Opera
(via Jason Fried via Jim Coudal)
Headline of the day
Super Exciting News on Super Polynomiality of LP Formulations of the TSP Polytope
Fairies of Christmas Passed…Deconstructed
The Blue Fairies laid on the table from the tree en masse. These were created by a former greensman employee three or four years ago. I remember, as he made them, into a box-top in the backroom of the greensman offices, I entered the room he was working in. He said, as he shook the boxtop, “Look, they live! ” He giggled and grinned a grin somewhere between the grinch and the baby jesus. That vision will forever live in my heart.
Brand new island rises from Red Sea depths
Throw away that shiny new atlas you got for Christmas — it’s already out of date.
Volcanic activity in the Red Sea is causing the formation of a new island in the Zubair archipelago as lava is cooled by the surrounding seawater and solidifies. The underwater volcano responsible is located on the Red Sea Rift, where the African and Arabian tectonic plates are slowly pulling apart.
I was feeling all hurt
and helpless and hopeless, then I heard this on the radio, and my heart rose up in spite of me.
Holiday light
This is my front door this year. It stars an artificial ivy wreath from IKEA embellished with LED lights, which are battery-powered and set on a timer. I added a few sprigs of fake holly the other day. Neighbors’ lights also show up, reflected in the glass door. I used a point-and-shoot camera with a mulish flash so you can’t really “see” how the wreath appears to be a circle of light floating in the doorway. But I wanted Rick to see it, and the bad photo gives a hint of the floaty.
I don’t do this, but I understand why people keep up their holiday lights all winter. They help.
clusterflock in a Firefox for Android Tablets Commercial
Well, holy poop, clusterflock showed up in a Firefox for Android tablets commercial.
(thanks, Garrett)
headline of the day
2 women share 1st kiss at US Navy ship’s return
It’s no biggie
It’s no biggie takes the art of the animated gif to another level.
(thanks, Garrett)
headline of the day
Kim Jong Il Did Not Defecate (And Other Weird Facts)
12 Indicted On Hate Crimes Charges For Hair Cutting Assaults Led By Break-Off Amish Group
I think this is my favorite story of 2011.
Smell Them; You’ll Know.
Fade from black to black.
2CELLOS: Welcome to the Jungle
I’m sure these guys could’ve pulled this off without the excellent headbanging hair, but it certainly helps.
Damar, Mon Amour (out of context)
In context: Starlingo ii.
Damar torn from the flock.
What is Damar? Who is Damar? What is Damar?
Toddlers fight to the death!
(thanks, Sarah)
from the comments
Up bright and early for the Starvest. We traveled further each year, hopping from system to system in the rickety ship we’d pieced together. In order to keep needs low, artificial water had been rationed since before I could remember, but most of our days were spent gathering the real kind from the seemingly endless brimming galaxies. It got tough to even see stars for what they were after a few years, large gaseous rounds or small immovable solid objects. You just start calculating, as soon as you land how much you can gather. Bryn asked me the other day if we’d ever return to a star she particularly liked. I had never even thought of that possibility. Stars were simply starvested and we moved on, sending back smaller, heavily guarded vessels with the liquids to be counted and stored. The rich could afford the real stuff, but Bryn, my father and myself were given only a small measure on the anniversary of our birth. Father carefully saved his, hoping someday to trade for better parts or perhaps land on Home Planet. I taste the smallest sip every year, feeling the lightening quick effects of even the lightest drop for days, smooth against the tongue, giving courage to the heart and clarity to the mind, and then put my portion with his. Bryn asked why we tried so hard since more work just meant more star water for others, but she’s too young to understand that there are limits to this universe and there’s only a few more years left to gather. New stars are born to replace the old ones that have been harvested, but not quickly enough and they won’t even be ready when my ten-thousandth granddaughter is born and scraping the skies.
House of the Rising Sun, old technology version
Adrian Younge, 1969 Organ
Adrian Younge did the soundtrack for the blaxploitation spoof Black Dynamite. “1969 Organ” is from Venice Dawn, his soundtrack for a non-existent film.
When it surfaced in 2000, Venice Dawn appeared to be the music from a lost 1969 Italian film, but don’t bother looking for it on Netflix.
Love. It.
