This tune is still good.
The Orb
Monday, June 30, 2008
Rewind Museum
Get your retro-electronic geek on with the Rewind Museum, a collection of images and info on obsolete tech from gramophones to old-timey televisions to brick cell-phones.
via The Presurfer
Carnegie Mellon system estimates geographic location of photos
EurekaAlert:
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have devised the first computerized method that can analyze a single photograph and determine where in the world the image likely was taken. It's a feat made possible by searching through millions of GPS-tagged images in the Flickr online photo collection.
IM2GPS: estimating geographic information from a single image
from Primidi
via Smart Mobs
stray bullets
Preparing the Battlefield - The Bush Administration steps up its secret moves against Iran. Clandestine operations against Iran are not new. United States Special Operations Forces have been conducting cross-border operations from southern Iraq, with Presidential authorization, since last year. These have included seizing members of Al Quds, the commando arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and taking them to Iraq for interrogation, and the pursuit of “high-value targets” in the President’s war on terror, who may be captured or killed. But the scale and the scope of the operations in Iran, which involve the Central Intelligence Agency and the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), have now been significantly expanded, according to the current and former officials. Many of these activities are not specified in the new Finding, and some congressional leaders have had serious questions about their nature.
I have a bad feeling about this. I know this will be all over the web presently and better minds than mine will mull over these words, but I had to put in my piece.
First of all, it seems like we need to learn that trying to destabilize the folks from that part of the world never seems to work out too well, in the long run. The usually re-emerge in a heightened state of anger and resolve. We might have seriously damaged the current terror machine, but if recent history is any gauge, a new one will emerge. Unless of course, you continually brutally blast the shit out of them, one after the other, for all of living eternity. And they'll still keep coming. Maybe a somewhat more cerebral approach is in order.
Secondly, are we due for some sort of surprise from the Bush administration between now and November? These next few months could prove to be very interesting, in a Chinese proverb sort of way.
Finally, after reading the above article and a few others, it seems to me that the military-industrial complex is in the Middle East to stay and won't let anyone like Barack Obama mess up their plans. There could be some strange battles and deals coming up after the election. I'd wager that when we're still in Iraq in 2010 the grumbling and disillusionment will commence. I hope I'm wrong and that this guy will wave his wand and make it all better, but history and personal experience and objective observation are against it. I am an optimist and I believe fervently that we need to shift our priorities from killingry to livingry and I will chip away at this until the day I die, but I have to be realistic.
Baghdad's walls keep peace but feel like prison Rows after rows of barrier walls divide the city into smaller and smaller areas that protect people from bombings, sniper fire and kidnappings. They also lead to gridlock, rising prices for food and homes, and complaints about living in what feels like a prison. (via)
plus 12 Ways to Save Money on Your Electric Bill This Summer (via); The 10 worst property investments ever (via); Free Quizzes, Widgets, Gadgets and other impossibly cool things to stick on your blog (actually cool) (via); Baraka sequel in production. (nice, they're due) (via); Volkswagen- Sized Catfish (we're gonna need a shitload of fryers!)
Morphine - Honey White
I wonder what it's like to die onstage in front of 200,000+ people. That's a way to go out that I could live with.
Morphine
Concerto for TV Cello and Videotapes (1971)
Madeline Charlotte Moorman (1933-1991) & Nam June Paik (1932-2006)
from vintagephoto
via FFFFOUND!
the restless debt of third world beauty
South African based artist faith47 released this video as part of her the restless debt of third world beauty project. It was directed by Rowan Pybus with music by Fletcher.
I sat entranced while I watched this video a half-dozen times or so. The imagery and score seem to capture the vibe of the slums of Cape Town without being gratuitous or pretentious. Her art brings it all together beautifully. The whole thing feels real and accessible.
via Juxtapoz
Sunday, June 29, 2008
AirPiano
The AirPiano is an innovative musical interface which allows playing and controlling software instruments simply by moving hands in the air.
I'm really digging these new musical interfaces. Take this and this, dust this off, add a little of this and some AirPiano and you'd have quite the ensemble.
via today and tomorrow see also Chronotopic Anamorphosis and Yuri Suzuki.
stray bullets
Five Steps to Sustainable Governance in Africa Paul Collier, a professor of economics at Oxford University and the author of The Bottom Billion, discusses policy options for helping the poorest countries in Africa.
Tons of Scrap Metal Removed from Chernobyl Zone Daily New reports indicate that up to 100 tons of scrap metal are removed from the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone every day. Approximately half this amount is legally removed by the government, but the other half is smuggled out to the rest of the world.
Brazil's pigeon drug mules Brazilian prison authorities have discovered carrier pigeons being used to deliver drugs and mobile phones to inmates. (via)
also: How To Survive Without Air-Conditioning; 9 Extraordinary Human Abilities; Dogs Acting Human (temptation from the fluffy side)
Lagniappe: PostPanic + Postman Returns (watch, cool visuals, booming sound) (via)
Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. - Hanlon's Razor (not to be confused with Heinlein's corollary to Murphy's Law - Things will go wrong, even if they can't. Murphy was an optimist.*)
*see
The Ink Spots - Java Jive
Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey!
Nice animation by Kristyna Baczynski
The Ink Spots
via The Stumbling Tumblr
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Astonishing Volcanoes that Cause Death and Destruction
Photo EPA
Life in the Fast Lane takes us on an in-depth and action-packed tour of the world's most violent, destructive and deadly volcanoes. (with notes on volcanoes as alternate energy and volcano vacations)
Coober Pedy - Underground Town
Coober Pedy Hotel
Offbeat Earth:You may be thinking that living underground like this makes no sense, but the harsh summer temperatures in the deserts of South Australia can often times be too much. These underground caves sustain a consistent cool temperature, making it the perfect place to live in a not-so-perfect town.
Looks like a nice place. Odd how there's so few people in the pictures.
via Coudal Partners
A Game At Base Ball
First American picture of a baseball game, 1838:
In the 1820s, a group of men from Philadelphia, prevented by an obscure ordinance from enjoying their favorite pastime in their own city, began playing an early version of baseball in Camden, New Jersey. By the 1830s, other teams had formed along the East Coast, and rules to the game were published in Robin Carver’s Book of Sports (1834). Carver’s book included this woodcut depicting a baseball game played on Boston Common. The same cut was used to illustrate several publications over the next few years, including the first and second editions of The Boy’s Book of Sports (1835 and 1838).
Graphic Arts (interesting offerings from the Graphic Arts Division, Princeton University)
via The Stumbling Tumblr
What We Can Learn From Buckminster Fuller
As you might have noticed, I'm a total geek for Buckminster Fuller. I'm reading Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth again this weekend and I really enjoyed this Wired photo essay.
The above image is one of his wackier ideas:
To construct one of his Lightful Towers, Fuller imagined that one airship would first drop a bomb and create a hole in the ground, then a second airship would drop the building into the hole. The stacked apartment unit would be sealed into the ground with cement and ready for use.
There is a more human, even somewhat darker side to the Fuller mythos that was brought back to mind by the comment on the above post and was hinted at in a recent New York Times article. We'll be exploring this side of dear old Bucky in the offing.
Kings of Convenience - I Don't Know What I Can Save You From (Röyksopp remix)
Kings of Convenience
Röyksopp
images by anemone77
Friday, June 27, 2008
Dizzy Gillespie - Salt Peanuts (1947)
Badass drum solo at the end. This tune is really kinda weird.
Dizzy Gillespie
stray bullets
The Unclear Origins of Oil Crude oil is almost $140 per barrel. By now you'd think we would know where it comes from. No one really knows. The conventional wisdom is that oil descends from algae from eons ago. Lots and lots of algae. Unimaginable mounds of dead algae in quantities no longer found on this planet, pressed, and cooked into hydrocarbon liquids. Thus: fossil fuel. Others, notably the Russians, have an alternative theory that oil comes from non-biological carbon compounds deep in this planet, like the methane oceans we find on other planets. In this scenario oil is a planetary phenomenon. Indeed this abiogenic oil could still be forming in the earth. Thousands of Russian papers supporting this view have still not been translated.
The Rise of Medical Tourism: Shopping the World for Medical Procedure Bargains I hear about this more and more. I wonder when the horror stories will start to surface in the mainstream? Did I miss something? There is an organization known as the Medical Tourism Association that aims to promote, raise awareness and keep an eye on things. I have a feeling that this is only going to become more popular as the farce that is the American medical/insurance apparatus continues to fail to meet the needs of a substantial portion of the population.
Beautiful Messes: A Travel Guide to Man-made Disasters Whether you want to cruise by the floating pile of plastic in the Pacific or throw some trash into the nation’s largest landfill, GOOD has the dirt on where to go to get a close-up look at the most spectacular disasters man has wrought on the environment. Plus: What to do when you visit. Feel GOOD about yourself while you visit god-awful nasty places.
Also, the CIA's latest Studies in Intelligence has a few interesting articles (via); Earth to Aliens: We're a Bunch of Dorks (via); Exaggeration with Maps (via); Michel Gondry Wants You To Watch These 25 Music Videos
Lagniappe - AMNH Picturing the Museum (via); Flickr: The Commons (via); Mr. Picassohead (thx)
Once Upon a Time in the West - Opening Scene
You brought two too many...
Ennio Morricone's score for Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West starts with the first notes of his well-known The Man with the Harmonica. The soundtrack music, in fact, starts with the first water drip you'll hear on this video. Close your eyes or turn away from the monitor and you'll experience a magnificent piece of sound design and composition.
Better to just watch and listen for the full effect, as the imagery is integral.
One interesting twist to this film, which is often overlooked, is in the casting. Charles Bronson, the protagonist, up to that point almost always played the bad guy. Henry Fonda, who plays one of the truly great movie villains, almost always was the good guy. Leone's Westerns often blurred or obliterated the line between hero and villain, but that's the way it draws out in this one. It was a subtle move on the director's part, I suspect to add to the cognitive dissonance and ambiguities that often permeate his films.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
The Paintings of Fred Einaudi
rousseau - oil on canvas - 22 by 28 inches
The Paintings of Fred Einaudi
ht (・∀・)ｲｲ!!
The Book Review's Booty
NYTimes:
Here at the Book Review, we get a ton of mail.
Every once in a while, when we’re pulling the endless books and press releases from publishers out of envelopes, out plops a little item of some sort. In fact, of every sort. From tennis balls to whoopee cushions, we’ve seen it all.
via SlushPile.net
Exorcist Spiderwalk Regan Action Figure
Seems to be a bit limited in the "Action" department.
Product Page (prev)
from Nerd Approved
via ToyCyte
stray bullets
Marines in Afghanistan Weigh In on a Life at War They live in crude mud-wall compounds. There are no sewage system, no telephones, no electricity — these young men have been sleeping in the dirt for weeks. But the Marines have come up with a trick to beat the Afghan heat. Lance Cpl. Brian Archer sticks water bottles in a wet cotton sock. "Piece of cloth, wrap up a hot drink in it, well water over it, let the wind hit it. Be like an hour or two. And it feels like you just pulled it out of the fridge. It's great," he explains.
Online service lets blind surf the Internet from any computer, anywhere New software, called WebAnywhere lets blind and visually impaired people surf the Web on the go. The tool developed at the University of Washington turns screen-reading into an Internet service that reads aloud Web text on any computer with speakers or a headphone connection.
Stoners, Like, Totally Solve Nation's Air Travel Problems Air travel is a total hassle, man, and marijuana advocates in Denver say everyone would find the normally excruciating process a lot more pleasant if they could enjoy a few bong hits before boarding. It might even help solve a few of the problems that airlines have been experiencing lately. The way they see it, if people can knock a few back before a flight, they should be able to spark one up. They're calling on airports nationwide to install marijuana lounges. Not sure where they're going with this by the end, but if it helps alleviate the humiliation of gate-rape, I'm, like, all for it. Seems like they should focus their energy on the legal issues first, man.
How Can I Free My Home of Pests without Harming My Family? I'm fully behind all-natural pesticides. Those chemicals make me feel sick. If I even walk by a house that had been recently sprayed it gives me a headache.
I never knew Google was THIS massive! If you only read one of these, read this one. It will blow your mind. (via)
The World's Ten Dirtiest Cities
Linfen, China: This city of more than four million is in the heart of Shanxi, China’s coal-production hub, and has frequently been deemed the most polluted city in the world; citizens suffer from choking clouds of coal dust as well as drinking water polluted with arsenic. But Linfen is not the only city in the country with environmental woes—the World Bank estimates that 16 of the world’s 20 most polluted cities are found in China’s industrial areas. Photo by Blacksmith Institute/Andreas Haberman
The World's Ten Worst Cities
via /.
Cerca Trocadero
Desiree Dolron's photographs look like paintings. Really good paintings. Granted, there is a great deal of enhancement in many of these images, the effect makes it worthwhile. I was especially moved by the Te Di Todos Mis Suenos, a series of astonishingly beautiful images of Cuba, its places and people. The other galleries on her site are no less remarkable, some a bit discomforting.
via The World's Best Ever
Bucky Fuller notes
John Todd, Jaime Snyder and Hunter Lovins interviewed on Democracy Now
Dr. John Todd was awarded the first annual Buckminster Fuller Challenge prize at a conferring ceremony at the Center for Architecture in New York City on Monday, June 23rd.
(prev)
A model of R. Buckminster Fuller’s “Dymaxion Dwelling Machines” community, about 1946. An exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art will offer a review of some of his grandest designs.
The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller
AS the designer R. Buckminster Fuller liked to tell it, his powerful creative vision was born of a moment of deep despair at the age of 32. A self-described ne’er-do-well, twice ejected from Harvard, a failure in business and a heavy drinker, he trudged to the Chicago lakefront one day in 1927 and stood there, contemplating suicide. But an inner voice interrupted, telling him that he had a mission to discover great truths, all for the good of humankind...
But recent research has shed new light on Fuller’s inner life and what really drove him. In particular, it now appears that the suicide story may have been yet another invention, an elaborate myth that served to cover up a formative period that was far more tumultuous and unstable, for far longer, than Fuller ever revealed.
via roamin
Buckminster Fuller exhibition at the Whitney opens today (prev)
Belle and Sebastian - Piazza, New York Catcher
Belle and Sebastian
well done, bueller4prez
Kristen Kong has a nice website
via Funky Junk Trunk
Sesame Street designer, Kermit Love dies at 91
NYTimes:Kermit Love, the costume designer for some of ballet’s most renowned choreographers whose greatest fame came as a creator, with Jim Henson, of the beloved “Sesame Street” characters Big Bird and Mr. Snuffleupagus, died on Saturday in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. He was 91 and lived in Stanfordville, N.Y.
I saw the very first Sesame Street in 1969. That show has done more for kids and non-English speaking athletes and immigrants than will ever be truly known.
The Snuffleupagus was one of my earliest mind-bending experiences.
The Blind Climber Who "Sees" With His Tongue
Erik Weihenmayer, known as the first blind climber to reach the summit of Mt. Everest, is now climbing with the help of a tool that allows him to see in a new way-- with his tongue.
Discover:
In normal vision, light hitting the retina provokes electrical impulses that the brain translates into images. What the tool, called the BrainPort, does is convert light into electrical impulses that stimulate the tongue instead of the retina. With more tactile nerve endings than any other part of the body except the lips, the tongue can discriminate two points spaced less than a millimeter apart. That degree of resolution is far beyond what the current BrainPort array, with only 611 electrodes, provides. But tests have shown the BrainPort delivers enough information for users like Erik to navigate with.
see also: echolocation
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Explosive Art
image District
Matthew Stromberg uses a wide variety of powerful and volatile substances, including rocket fuel, explosives, gunpowder, propellants and bullets, aka energetic materials, in order to create art rather than destroy. The Savannah College of Art and Design professor utilizes these forceful methods to apply his mark to wood, metal and paper. The results are quite visceral and evocative of the violent patterns of nature-- images seared and impressed in high-energy events. They kick ass, too.
Some might draw comparisons to the work of Cai Guo-Qiang and others, but few, maybe none use such a wide variety of materials and processes. I'm partial to the machine gun work.
Connect Savannah:
Stromberg first began experimenting with energetic materials last year. It’s not something for the faint of heart. “I would say it’s very dangerous,” Stromberg says....
At times, Stromberg must get permission from the U.S. Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to do a project. “No hazardous waste can be associated with my work,” he says....
Stromberg plans to keep doing even more training and research. “I’ll be stepping up the magnitude of the explosives,” he says. “There are so many different types of energetic materials. There is always something else to research and try.”
Here he is at work with an M11/9 submachine gun:
Here he is drawing with solid rocket fuel:
and drawing with some highly explosive ANFO (Ammonium Nitrate/Fuel Oil) With this example you get a small taste of what could go wrong:
mstrombe on YouTube
you can find more images here
Stay tuned...
The Black Ghosts - Repetition Kills You
Who are the black ghosts?
The Black Ghosts' lament through their perverse, personal pop music. Theirs is a peculiarly British noir , where the divorcee next door dreams of nocturnal visitations from predatory incubi, and an awkward boy genius tinkers with forbidden science in the garden shed. Unmanned Casio keyboards left for dead in the loft burst into requiems of their own composition, attractive cousins are murdered for what they know, and an unspeakable horror lurks in the depths of the spare room.
You might be surprised to hear the new album from Simian's Simon Lord and The Wiseguys' Theo Keating, recording together as The Black Ghosts, spun in this melodramatic fashion. But both have some undeniably sinister credentials to back up The Black Ghosts ' tales of modern gothic romance.
Album out July 8th in the US
The Black Ghosts
via Listening Post
stray bullets
Big one today.
Pentagon Spy: Terrorists Ready to Launch Satellite Strikes by 2020 What it should have been called was: China pretty much capable of launching satellite strike right now. My favorite part: Take, for instance, the Defense Department's accusation that Beijing has "developed and tested an ASAT system described as a 'parasitic microsatellite'" - a tiny machine that would attach itself to American orbiters, for nefarious purposes. The claim, which first appeared in the 2003 edition of the Pentagon's annual “Chinese Military Power" (CMP) report, came from a Hong Kong newspaper, and was repeated in several editions. Experts guffawed at the suggestion.
Stakeouts, Lucky Breaks Snare Six More in Citibank ATM Heist The FBI has recently made at least six more arrests in New York -- bringing the total to 10 -- thanks to information from arrested scam suspects, a lucky traffic stop, and an undercover operation that at one point had Eastern European hackers chasing a female FBI agent through the streets of New York, trying to mug her for ATM-card-programming gear.
The Web Time Forgot In 1934, Otlet sketched out plans for a global network of computers (or “electric telescopes,” as he called them) that would allow people to search and browse through millions of interlinked documents, images, audio and video files. He described how people would use the devices to send messages to one another, share files and even congregate in online social networks. He called the whole thing a “réseau,” which might be translated as “network” — or arguably, “web.” (via)
Eyeing tourism, Haiti battles its violent reputation "It's a big myth," says Fred Blaise, spokesman for the UN police force in Haiti. "Port-au-Prince is no more dangerous than any big city. You can go to New York and get pickpocketed and held at gunpoint. The same goes for cities in Mexico or Brazil." Eye opener (via)
How Russian Scientists Kept a Dog’s Severed Head Alive! So wrong. Highly disturbing whether true or not. Video and everything. Environmental Graffiti is no namby-pamby outfit. They post some pretty hardcore stuff.
George Carlin's Last Interview Long interview and it's just the highlights! One of the most extensive interviews I've read. My arm is getting tired here. The crook of my arm. (via)
Maryland plantation attic holds 400 years of documents For four centuries, they were the ultimate pack rats. Now a Maryland family's massive collection of letters, maps and printed bills has surfaced in the attic of a former plantation, providing a firsthand account of life from the 1660s through World War II. (via)
Could treasure hunters have discovered "Nazi Gold"? A recent discovery has renewed world interest in the quest. Have treasure hunters really discovered the famed Nazi gold stash? Some say they have. Some even say they've found the Amber Room.
Shaolin Temple wants to sell its secret Today's Southern Metropolis Daily has an article reporting that Shaolin is now selling a series of books called"Shaolin Kung Fu and Medicine Secret" (少林武功医宗秘笈) for 9,990 yuan a set on its online store, "Shaolin Stage of Joy". I'll hold out for the Shaolin Buddha Finger.
Preserving Your Personal Digital Archives While there is, as of yet, no hard guarantee that your family photos will be around 10,000 years from now, there are a few things that you can do to keep them around long enough for the next generation to enjoy and pass on. We have some basic tips for keeping your personal digital data alive and kicking through your lifetime, and if you want to shoot for the ten thousand year mark, these tips can get you headed in that direction, too. It stands to reason that the Long Now people are as good a source as any for this type on info.
The Wizard of Mauritius An enticing mystery.
Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo. (via)
well locked bike
random dude: Bike sculpture located outside MEC in Vancouver, Canada.
via vhudy6tx4dik9ol
Cheech and Chong - Earache My Eye
This tune rocks. They're not really known for their music, but they were pretty good and it still stands up. I wore this record out when I was a kid.
Read I'm Learning To Share!'s excellent and informative posts on Cheech and Chong and their music.
Rahzel - If your mother only knew
I heard this back in 2000 and it blew me away. I just bumbled upon in on YouTube and it still makes me smile and shake my head. (I did a remix of this back then and I cannot find it. I know someone in New Orleans has a copy and will send it to me... hint hint.)
If if that wasn't incredible enough, here's live version where he adds a bass-line and background vocals. It's a bit rough but you'll get the idea.
Rahzel LIVE @ Prince Bandroom Melbourne Australia 2007
Rahzel
Koop - Koop Island Blues
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Elvis Presley - This Is My Heaven & Drums of the Island
I love Paradise, Hawaiian Style. It's kinda psychedelic. This was his "Groovy Love Elvis" phase.
stray bullets
Why Do You Lie? The Perils of Self-Reporting (everybody lies everyday... mostly at work.)
Potential Plowshare: The 'Magnetic Audio Device' Weapon: A high-powered Magnetic Audio Device that was designed as a non-lethal weapon might have music-related uses, after a demonstration revealed that the music of Queen and Frank Sinatra sounded decent at distances of up to one mile away. Soon: DARPA hits the brown note at Coachella
Practice in front of a bush: Captain Beefheart's rules for guitarists: 1. LISTEN TO THE BIRDS That's where all the music comes from. Birds know everything about how it should sound and where that sound should come from. And watch hummingbirds. They fly really fast, but a lot of times they aren't going anywhere. thanx, Crow
A Goya Tour of Madrid: Hear about the hidden gems of the Spanish master, Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes, in the city where he lived and worked (via)
Neave Television ...telly without context. I kept expecting something horrible to happen. A bit unnerving but I had to pull myself away. I can't be responsible for any trauma you might sustain from watching this. Lots of other goodies on the main site. (via)
Archetypa studiaque patris - Joris Hoefnagel (1592) c
peacay's photostream
BibliOdyssey is beautiful.
Hairy! Prehensile!
Monkey Punch Dinosaur!
A blog with illustrations of monkeys punching dinosaurs. No frills. Just monkeys punching dinosaurs.
via Super Punch
Color Scheme - Gabo
1 x semana:
We are a bunch of colleagues who every week propose a character, concept or idea to be drawn. In this Blog we share the results of our exercise. Thanks for stoping by. Enjoy.
Monday, June 23, 2008
stray bullets
Photo Essay: Revisiting the Most Controversial Olympics of All (1936); Are the Laws of Nature the Same Everywhere in the Universe? (via); Top 10 Most Disgusting Parasites (nasty); Brooklyn Record Riot (“Target is now selling turntables”); Hot Chicks With Douchebags (the blog) (via)
Lagniappe: Daniel Schorr: Why Are There so Many Natural Disasters?
Roadside Architecture
Paradise Gardens, Summerville, GA
Debra Jane Seltzer:
I have been passionate about commercial architecture and roadside related things all my life. I grew up in California but New York City has been my home since 1980. I started this website in 2000 simply as a way to organize my own photos. Since then, it has become a bit of an obsession and grown to well over 1,000 pages.
I could spend hours going through all this stuff. She gives nice write-ups on the subjects, from drive-ins, giant things, diners and restaurants, motels, Tiki and all sorts of other strange and fascinating places.
Debra has a weblog, too, but hasn't been updated for a couple of months. It's seems he only posts while she's traveling. I'm subscribed and looking forward to her next road trip.
I was happy to see that she caught the Thunderbird Inn, here in Savannah, as well as the giant cow at Keller's Flea Market.
via MonkeyFilter
George Carlin: Life is Worth Losing
George Carlin: Life is Worth Losing
If you haven't seen this, watch it. It's the single most important piece of social and human commentary that I've heard since Bill Hicks was doing his thing.
It's also astonishingly relevant to the moment.
Need I say NSFW?
GeorgeCarlin.com
Breaking News: George Carlin dies at age 71
Whoa! This really caught me by surprise. It seemed like he was still going strong.
NYTimes Alert (via email):
George Carlin, the Comedian, Is Dead at 71
George Carlin, the Grammy-Award winning standup comedian and actor who was hailed for his irreverent social commentary, poignant observations of the absurdities of everyday life and language, and groundbreaking routines like "Seven Words You Can Never Use on Television," died in Los Angeles on Sunday according to his publicist Jeff Abraham. He was 71.
More as I find it.
Update via Reuters:
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Comedian George Carlin, a counter-culture hero famed for his routines about drugs and dirty words, died of heart failure at a Los Angeles-area hospital on Sunday, a spokesman said. He was 71.
Carlin, who had a history of heart problems, died at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica about 6 p.m. PDT (2 a.m. British time) after being admitted earlier in the afternoon for chest pains, spokesman Jeff Abraham told Reuters.
Known for his edgy, provocative material, Carlin achieved status as an anti-Establishment icon in the 1970s with stand-up bits full of drug references and a routine about seven dirty words you could not say on television. A regulatory battle over a radio broadcast of his "Filthy Words" routine ultimately reached the U.S. Supreme Court.
Sad. He just made the news last week for being awarded the Mark Twain Prize for lifetime acheivement in comedy.
He will be sorely missed here at Uncertain Times.
When I was a kid, the first 'dirty comedy' you usually listened to was Cheech & Chong. Then, after you'd absorbed, mastered and memorized that, some kid's older brother turned you on to George Carlin. For a lot of us kids of that time, we were attracted to Carlin because he swore. Bottom line.
You have to remember, back in the early '70s there were only five (limited) forms of media: print, i.e. books, magazines and newspapers (cutting edge ascension from MAD to National Lampoon plus Playboy and Kurt Vonnegut), TV (four whole channels of it), radio (mostly AM), movies (that took three years to make it to TV, so if you missed it at the theater, it was a long wait) and records. On next to none of these, except for a handful of records and a few movies, could you hear a real live F-bomb. And the people usually dropping them were Cheech & Chong and George Carlin. In this overly F'ed up and out world, the novelty is long lost and rendered down to a dusty film, but in those days saying "fuck" or even "shit" on some form of mass media was really out there.
The difference with Carlin was, while you were reveling in all the curse-wordage, at some point he started to make you think. Then you started to realize that there was a point to all of this besides exploring forbidden verbiage. We didn't know much about the supreme court battle but we knew all about the "7 dirty words." In the process we learned a thing or two about hypocrisy, lies and taboo. That was the whole cloth from which George Carlin crafted his wares.
Back in 1980, I saw George bomb on Saturday Night Live and felt sad and thought that he might be washed up. Over the years, he continually surprised me. However, he never was so relevant and funny as he was over the last 10 years. A great example is the video I posted titled "Life is Worth Losing." It's almost surreal in its import to the time and the current moment. Take the time to watch it, or bookmark it for later, and be amazed.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
stray bullets
Shortsighted Statecraft: Washington's Muddled Middle East Policy (worthwhile); Journalist 'reported own murders' Police in Macedonia have arrested a journalist on suspicion that he is behind three murders he reported on. (via); Senor Coconut Takes Listeners Around The World
Moodstream by Getty Images (I'm still getting a feel for this, let me know how you like it) (via)
Moodstream is a powerful brainstorming tool designed to help take you in inspiring, unexprected directions. Whether you want images, footage or audio, or just need a stream of fresh ideas, tweak the Moodstream sliders to bring a whole new creative palette straight to you.
Have a marvelous summer Sunday
Secret Motel Art
Next time you check into a motel, look under the drawers and even under the toilet-tank lid. You might find some Secret Motel Art.
via Futurismic
Pain Without Borders
To put an end to endless pain. Make a donation.
www.douleurs-sans-frontiers.org
from Ads of the World
via FFFFOUND!
Duffy Street Garden Studio
Temple of Forgiveness
Eric Wooddell:
These are the paintings from my show at The Sentient Bean. The show was called "Sacred Geography", and influenced by my Love of Mandalas and maps. The wood frames are built from mostly recycled materials, layered in paper, leaves and other natural materials, and painted in acrylic and ink.
Mandala 6
Mandala 11
Joe Byrd & The Field Hippies - Kalyani
Of all the thousands upon thousands of records, tapes, cds and mp3s I've listened to over the last 40 years or so, this one I completely missed. I've never even heard of it. Thanks to UT friendly John Salisbury for sharing.
Fan visualization
This track comes from the 1969 album The American Metaphysical Circus an apparent classic that has the rare distinction of staying in print for nearly 20 years and the even rarer distinction of being a relatively well-known underground record that I totally slept on. I mean, come on, the album has its own MySpace page!
I'm more partial to the instrumental, eastern-influenced ambience of psychedelia over the jangly guitar, vocal harmony variety, and that is totally me. When I heard the instrumentals on The White Album and Dark Side of the Moon, I always wanted to hear an entire record of just that, no vocals, no verse, verse, chorus, I was tired of that all the time. Then I found Jean Michel Jarre, Kraftwerk and side 2 of David Bowie's Heroes and I was well on my way to Eno and from there, the whole wide world of instrumental electronic music.
It's always nice to find or be turned on to obscure music of any kind, so feel free, any of you, to send links to your favorites.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
stray bullets
"Umbrella Assassin" case reopened after 30 years; The Myth of Multitasking (via); "Cannibal Nerd" put to death; Inmates in Philippines get funky (via).
WordSpy: urban caving n. The unauthorized exploration of tunnels, drains, and other features found beneath a city.
Brake Burn Art
Here's a few more
How do you do that? I have no idea how they made some of these.
via Telstar Logistics
Einstein in Color
May 1943. Albert Einstein chilling with friends in the garden of his home in Princeton, N.J.
Here's a BBC news report for a little background (via):
Karen Williams Photography
It's always nice to see local artists showing up in the blogosphere.
Karen Williams is a student here in Savannah working toward her MFA in SCAD's excellent photography department. I'm looking forward to seeing more of her work in the future.
via It's Nice That
Akira Kurosawa's Dreams - Crows
I love all the samurai films by Akira Kurosawa but Dreams stands out as one of my favorites. Released in 1990, when he was 80 years old, Dreams is an autobiography told in stories rendered from a long lifetime of nocturnal adventure, perplexity and suffering. You get a feel for the flow of Kurosawa's life through these stories as the early dreams in the film are obviously from his childhood and move along throughout his life from his love of painting to the weight of World War Two, the specter of nuclear annihilation and on to old age and death. The cinematography is ceaselessly astonishing with lush color and a mood that truly captures the strange sorts of feelings we all know from our own nighttime wanderings.
The above dream, Crows, features Martin Scorsese as Vincent Van Gogh.
Travelers, Islands and Extreme Snow Globes
These will be all over the place within the next 24 hours. The snow globes, i.e. Travelers are cool and getting all the attention, but the Islands are the show.
Walter Martin & Paloma Muñoz
via InventorSpot
ht (・∀・)ｲｲ!!
Friday, June 20, 2008
stray bullets
Cannibal mum fed son's flesh to relatives... bizarre and disturbing; A Jura F90 Coffee Machine can be hacked remotely over the Internet (via); It appears that elusive felines are behind a new bridge being built between two hostile governments. The governments, you ask? That would be Iran and the USA; and, a Palm Frond Used As Weapon In 'Most Bizarre' Central Fla. Store Robbery (via)
Lagniappe: Listen to or download the full audio from the rare LP record First Philadelphia Computer Music Festival, 1979 (via)
Fairlight Robbery Revisited
EMU modular synthesizer, 1977
I found the above image during my usual abrowsal, and as a fan of vintage electronic instruments, I took interest and sourced it back to DJHistory.com. There, I found a remarkable article on sampling from 1987, by one Louise Gray, titled Fairlight Robbery. It appears to be one of the earliest mainstream introductions to sampling and I found it to be dead-on and even a bit prophetic. (I have since sourced the above image to the Old Tech Vintage Sythesizer Site, which is where I think it originated.)
The article brings up a lot of issues still discussed in the music world, though the context has changed:
A synthesiser uses sounds that are located within its circuits, an electric guitar makes noise via vibrations, but a sampler ‘takes’ When the Musicians Union and BPI between them came up with those slogans on a thousand guitar cases – “Home taping is killing music” and “Keep music live” they hadn’t considered the sampler. But the true significance of this development is not so much in what it does, but what it implies. When it’s cheaper to sample than buy a guitar (the SK-1, bought by buskers, parents and the curious as the ultimate coffee-table toy, starts at £69; the Fairlight 3 at £60,000, but there’s a myriad of points between the two) why sweat? Why try to play like Hendrix when you can rip him off?
Samplers didn't kill music and MP3s won't either, but brain wave music technology made available to the consumer might likely be the next industry-destroying bugaboo falling from the sky... why buy music when you can play it from your head anytime you want? (Note that the ones complaining the most are the ones that have the most to lose when they won't be able to fleece the public and the musicians as much as they did in the glory days.) Technology and business models will change, music will remain. More amateurs may be making better music, but the truly gifted will always sway our attention.
What I really found astonishing is how this article foreshadowed the explosion of sampled Hip-Hop and even House by bringing the KLF and Mixmaster Morris into the picture. That's quite early for all that. She was just ahead of the curve. The Second Summer of Love came the next year and shortly thereafter, sampling was no longer strictly the domain of the superstar and the early adopter.
To be fair, however, Fairlight Robbery comes more from the direction of the fan and the industry as opposed to the street. There is a somewhat different version of the story, though it does not invalidate Ms. Gray's observations. This version is oral tradition, largely anecdotal* and sometimes borders on folklore, but is essentially the way it is. Since there are many threads to the tapestry, we'll keep to the main.
To get to the origin of sampling in DJ culture and what ultimately drove it into its place in music today goes back to the early 1970s. Back in those days, block parties were a big part of inner city life. I've been to a number of them growing up and they're a community tradition-- one that can be traced back to the Ragtime days and even beyond. For our purposes we'll stick to the '70s.
Back then, times were harder than ever in the ghetto and finding bands with all the gear to play parties became more and more difficult as time wore on. They also asked for money and probably couldn't play for more than a few hours. Eventually, the music for these parties became the domain of the guy in the neighborhood who had the most records. One of these guys, the most famous and iconic and the one credited with starting hip-hop and DJ culture is the much storied Kool Herc.
Kool Hercimage Wikipedia
Kool Herc was a Jamaican born DJ that played block parties in the Bronx and throughout the New York area. He had a big sound system and all the records. His aspiration was to play reggae like the sound systems back home, but the people in the neighborhood weren't having it, so he played funk and soul. At some point, Herc began to notice that the dancing crowds went nuts during the breakdowns, longer drum and percussion driven sections of songs that you use to release a little tension, build it up again and bang out of it to good effect. Any of us that have listened to popular music in the last 40 years should be aware of this, at least subconsciously. He started extending the breakdowns by moving or knocking the needle back to the beginning of the breakdown or even in the same groove, on and on, back and forth to the delight of the crowd. Use two turntables and you can extend it or even mix two different beats. Others adopted this style, Grandmaster Flash took it to the next level. The breakbeat, scratching and subsequently, Hip-Hop emerged.
Soon, DJs became so good at cutting up records that they found that the crowds would often gather around to watch, transfixed, as opposed to dancing to the music. Since the object of these parties was to get loaded, dance and get laid, they had to find a way to get the booties back on the floor. They brought in "MCs" to steal focus and rile the audience into moving their asses. Thus the rapper was born.
Initially the DJs were the stars of the show and the MCs were along for the ride. Later, when these groups gained the notice of record companies, notably in NYC and Philly, the focus was shifted to the MC. American popular music is vocalist and image driven, so the rapper became the obvious sell.
In the 1980s and even into the early '90s many up-and-coming crews didn't even have turntables and mixers, they made their beats on tape using what became known, retrospectively, as "pause button sampling." This technique requires a dual cassette-tape deck and a lot of patience. You use the playback side of the deck to play the break, rewind, play again, while recording only the desired spots on the other side, controlling it with the pause-button. It takes some skill and some practice, but if you have any rhythm, you can get the hang of it. I did this for many years before I knew there was a name for it. Public Enemy's Rebel Without a Pause is an obvious reference to this.
After all that, when DJs and pause-button samplers realized that there was such a thing as a digital sampler that could do the same thing much easier, cleaner and more high fidelity, the movement began. When affordable sampling workstations and rack-mount units became available, it all blew up, and here we are, twenty years later. Musical movements like Musique Concrète prompted the initial development of the synthesizer and sampler, but it was Hip-Hop that spear-headed the widespread use sampling in popular music.
Fairlight CMI
Fairlight
With early samplers like the Fairlight series being the domain of those that could afford the £60,000+ price-tags, artists like Peter Gabriel, Stevie Wonder and Art of Noise were some of the few using them until right about the time Fairlight Robbery was written.
Since then we've seen sampling dwindle in prominence due to a move back to the drum machine for beats and also because of persistent litigation and stringent court-rulings. MP3s and piracy have stolen the spotlight, but you can still get your ass sued off for using that Zeppelin riff. Samplers are useful, but short of licensing loops, paying artists for the spirit of their work or bootleg mash-ups using phrases, rhythms or entire sections of songs, many artists utilize them as a sonic supplement for things like sweetening vocals, a string section on the cheap or a means to create unique sounds. I'd wager you'd find some sort of sampler in most major or independent recording studios as well as post-production sound facilities in the film industry. They are here to stay alongside banjos, cowbells, electric guitars, compressed music files and eventually mind-music machines.
*Years back, I read a story about Kool Herc that said he had a smaller mobile sound-system that could be powered by a bicycle-driven generator. Tales are told of Herc playing gigs in the parks and squares of New York while one of his dreadlock buddies pedals away furiously to keep the system running.
Kool Herc: The Origin of Hip-Hop:
Found Comics
Seen previously in Uncertain Times, Found Comics is now on hiatus. However, they're still being posted from the archive and, of course, it's all in there and a lot of fun to pick through.
As a refresher, or an introduction:
A small computer app will stream six random photos recently posted on the internet tagged with whatever key word I'm feeling that day. These are put into a nice 3x2 matrix. Just like a comic strip. I don't allow myself to switch out photos or change the order. I have to work with what fortune gives me...
My job as a creator is to then take this randomly generated photo montage and contextualize it with a narrative theme...
I've seen a bunch of these, but not all, and they still surprise me.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Jonathan Harris on Storytelling Platforms
Intrepid storyteller and We Feel Fine co-creator, Jonathan Harris takes us on a ride from his beautiful sketchbooks to the freezing floes of an arctic whale-hunt to the multitudinous tales and expressions of emotion in cyberspace. All of these storytelling platforms draw us in and continually feed our incurable need for yarns, legends, gossip, reports and narrative.
As one fortunate enough to make a modest living as a storyteller, I'm always keenly aware of my customers' needs to be told a good story, to be informed and entertained. I try not to needlessly tinker with what comes natural, but I'm always interested in what others have to say about their processes and experiences.
Pop!Casts
stray bullets
Did the “Hyper” Gene Benefit Our Nomadic Ancestors?; How Sarcasm Works; How to Recycle Electronics and Get Cash Back; Teens use technology to party in strangers' pools. I think they might be doing that near here, too.
Lagniappe: GOOD Guide: to the Shadowy Organizations That Rule the World (keyword: debunk) (reality = rudderless); Check and see who is really linking to you (via); One of the funniest posts I've read in a while.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Giant Toasted Ants
These are the largest species of Ant to be found anywhere in the world.
Hormigas Culonas are harvested in the Colombian Amazon by the Guane Indians, during the short rainy season between March and June. They are then toasted in a mud pot over an open fire by the Indians.
The Guane Indians believe that these Ants have youth giving and Aphrodisiac properties and they are often served as fertility giving marriage food during nuptial ceremonies. Hormigas Culonas taste similar to crisply fried bacon with an earthy taste, and make the perfect alternative party snack instead of nuts or olives!
Mmmm, bacony.
Someday, we might all be eating bugs.
via The World's Best Ever
stray bullets
Malthus v. the Singularity and Malthus Redux (vital); Hofstadter v. the Singularity (via); If you could be any character in literature, who would you choose? (me: Saure Bummer, though that could change within the hour) (via); and the Medieval Settlement Research Group (via).
'Oldest' computer music unveiled
Baby
BBC News:
A scratchy recording of Baa Baa Black Sheep and a truncated version of In the Mood are thought to be the oldest known recordings of computer generated music.
The songs were captured by the BBC in the Autumn of 1951 during a visit to the University of Manchester.
The recording has been unveiled as part of the 60th Anniversary of "Baby", the forerunner of all modern computers.
The tunes were played on a Ferranti Mark 1 computer, a commercial version of the Baby Machine.
video
Drive-In Intermission
Complete Drive-In Intermission Loops
AdamGott2's collection of vintage ads
I miss drive-ins. My most memorable drive-in experience was seeing Night of the Living Dead at a theater north of Pittsburgh, a few miles from where the movie was made. I was about eight years-old and scared out of my wits. We sat outside with all my dad's hippy friends.
The Blue City
roblerner:
Jaipur is meant to be the blue city of India. In reality its hard to get a shot of a decent number of blue buildings without also getting a load of horrible dilapidated houses is the picture. Originally only the priests were allowed blue houses but when they realised the paint was a natural insect repellent everyone started using it!
found on: 4 Amazing Ancient Cities of Color (well worth a look)
The Cramps, live at Napa State Mental Hospital - The Way I Walk
allmovie:
In June 1978, the Cramps, a pioneering New York-based rock band who blend the primitive twangy stomp of rockabilly with the attitude and willful perversity of punk, were touring the West Coast and discovered they'd been lined up with perhaps the most unusual gig of their career. The Cramps were booked to play a show at the Napa State Mental Hospital, a facility for the emotionally challenged, and found themselves facing an audience that was half smuggled-in punk fans and half in-patients whose reaction to the performance was often vocal and demonstrative. A cameraman from the punk-oriented video collective Target Video was on hand with a primitive black-and-white camera, and the results became the infamous The Cramps: Live at the Napa State Mental Hospital. As the band faced a truly unusual audience, it roared through a handful of songs, including "Human Fly," "Love Me," "Domino," "The Way I Walk," "What's Behind the Mask," and "T.V. Set."
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
“Chocolate City” - Africans seek their dreams in China
“巧克力城”——非洲人寻梦中国 trans. by Blogging for China:
Clem quickly cuts through the flow of car traffic, like the fish you can never catch. He hesistated when he saw the Southern Metropolis reporter, but finally crossed the road using the pedestrian bridge nearby. He embarassedly stuck out his tongue, saying: “Sorry, I still don’t have the habit of waiting for traffic lights and crossing at pedestrian bridges.” When he’s warned that “Guangzhou’s public security isn’t very good, be careful with your backpack”, his eyes open wide with shock. “Are you joking? Public security here is the best!”
25 year old Clem comes from Nigeria. Before, he saw Lagos, the largest city in Nigeria, as heaven. But after he arrived in Guangzhou, he felt he truly stood at the gate to heaven; China is the true heaven.
Africans are finding Guangzhou, China to be a new land of opportunity with goods to be moved and fortunes to be gained. They gather in China-Africa commerce malls and load up on inexpensive goods, knock-offs and tails, products that don't pass inspection, sold on the cheap. And the prices are ridiculously cheap: Dolce and Gabbana jeans are 20 RMB (3 USD), Gucci high-heels and purse together for 100 RMB (15 USD)... as long as it has the proper logo, it's good to go back home, regardless of its provenance.
The Africans, predominantly Nigerians, live in village-districts in the city of Guangdong, collectively known as Chocolate City. The conditions are comparatively good and healthy profits are promised to the clever speculator.
However, along with vibrant commerce, there emerge the inevitable problems of racism, language barriers, cultural clashes and annoyances. The Africans are predictably marginalized and long-term visitors find little meaningful social interaction outside of their own social groups. But life is life and business is business, so things move along at their paces and most shrug it off and find a way to make it work. The options, for most, back home, are non-existent.
I thought this was an fascinating shoes-on-the-ground account-- a thin slice of the global economy in action. Things aren't always right or for the best but we always manage to chug along and find our way through it.
They'll get used to each other after a while, for the most part. There will always be incorrigible, subtle and unwitting racists and xenophobes among us, it's hardwired into us on many levels. We have to accept this for what it is and try to find a way to move beyond it, universally. There is too much important work to do to get bogged down in all that business of hate and disdain. Let's keep our disputes personal and amongst politicians.
It happens when each individual person treats each individual person as a fellow human being, every time, every day.
via Danwei
China Life, a short film by Tina Ulevik
spulfilms:
'Filmed on location in Suzhou & Shanghai, China, & accompanied by music from Finland's Since November, China Life explores glimpses of China seen through the eyes of a foreign traveller evoking the surreal landscapes of ancient & modern China. The film also acts as a metaphor for searching & belonging.'
More outstanding experimental films by Tina Ulevik
spulfilms.co.nr
via pHinnWeb
stray bullets
Will Russia Trigger a New Cold War for the Arctic? (and though it takes two to tango, this might turn out to be a mosh pit with Denmark, Norway, Canada and the U.S. all staking claims.); Is information a virus? (via); Why NASA watches out for true UFOs (via); and Diablo Cody, stripper-turned-blogger-turned-screenwriter, best-selling author and Oscar winner joins The Six Thousand.
Metalweaver
Akemi's Clock
8" x 14"
Tom L. DeHoog:
Years ago, I came across a large metal sculpture made with rusted steel banding in a florist shop. The piece, resembling a giant corroding chessboard, had a powerful effect and I wanted to create something similar. It was a mysterious coincidence that not long after that I came across discarded metal banding by the railroad tracks. Years of rain, sun and soil had given their surfaces a naturally deep rust and patina that seemed irresistibly beautiful to me. I made three pieces from that pile of twisted metal and my work in metal sculpture and metal weaving had begun.
via linkfilter.net
People's encounters with wild animals in daily life
Something seems a bit staged about these, but they're still pretty funny.
via Surfnshare: Wacky
Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood - Some Velvet Morning
A few years back, my buddy Nick and I made a couple of "vs." mixes using Acid 3.0, a timeline based music composition program. One would lay down a track or three and the next would follow. It became a good-natured game of surprises and one-upmanship. We always sought to raise the bar and amaze the opponent.
This tune was my secret weapon on one of those mixes.
Then, a few months later Ladytron used the song on their Softcore Jukebox. They ganked my cachet!
Well now, for a moment or two, I'm taking it back.
found on VideoSift
quote:
"When I first ventured out of the South, I was shocked at how strongly Wallace was associated with Alabama and its people. You know, racism is a worldwide problem and it’s been since the beginning of recorded history, and it ain’t just white and black. But thanks to George Wallace, it’s always a little more convenient to play it with a Southern accent." — Drive-By Truckers, “The Three Great Alabama Icons”
via Too Much Awesome
‘Map of the World’ Egg Laid by Hen in China
One very interesting and amazing egg has been laid recently by a hen in Zaozhuang City, China.
The egg looks very similar to a world globe. The patterns on the egg show the seven seas and all four oceans, as well as Greenland and Hainan Islands in China.
Well, kinda sorta.
小鸡有大胸襟 山东一枚鸡蛋上现"世界地图"(图)
XTC - Ball and Chain
Those were much simpler times. The 1980s were the gateway drug to the present day; the '60s for the '80s.
I'm falling in love with XTC again, particularly their 1982 album English Settlement. I was originally trying to find a video of Wake Up, but this one will do.
Monday, June 16, 2008
KK's Library
Kevin Kelly: Books That Changed My Life
Those could be books on avian preening, jungle rot and the history of gelatin and I would still drool.
stray bullets
A great article by Michael Lewis on baseball in Cuba and a sports agent jailed for smuggling athletes (via); Friends turn mental mountains into molehills; Save your own life (via); and how we read online (via).
Lagniappe: Daniel Schorr on Ressurection City, 40 years later; Prison Weapon Improvisation; Take the time to watch this video and read this weblog. In our era of cynicism, irony, rejection, marginalization and isolation, we all need to stop, now and again, and ask, "Who are we and what the hell are we doing?"
