Vitajex (A Face in the Crowd)

(video link)

Elia Kazan's 1957 film, A Face in the Crowd explores the arc of media sensation; a trajectory which usually consists of a spike, a (brief) plateau, a descent and a dead drop-- a fall that can pass beyond the zero into the terrain of derision and antipathy. Some manage to jump off the track and find a way to sustain a career of some sort, most seem to burn out, walk away or get booed off the stage.

The cultural references in this film might be lost on some, but the presented themes are eternal and recognizable. One can easily see parallels with the emergence of the media darling, the one-hit wonder and the pop-culture amateurs of Reality Television and the Internet.

Fame, with a capital F, is one of the true enigmas of modern life. Along with the stable of entertainers, public figures and athletes that dominate the halls of Fame, there is an odd branch of the family that consists of a varying assortment of precocious kids, criminals, dead people, hayseed pundits, photogenic victims, average Joes and Joans and outright freaks. These people are the most vulnerable to public opinion. The masses can be merciless and often turn on them, if given proper opportunity. (Even though it's almost certain you will know exactly what I'm saying, this is nothing new, the exact nature of the public and why we act and react the way we do remains at the root of this enigma. Who could have predicted Star Wars Kid?)

Despite director Kazan's capable orchestration of a sprawling ensemble cast, Andy Griffith runs off and shreds his way through the story. He cuts quite a different cast than he did as the sedate and friendly Sheriff Andy Taylor. He almost overshadows the entire film. (I mean that in a good way.)

The production is beautifully supported by the set design, sound and cinematography. It's full of samples, sound-bites and imagery that borders on the surreal, in and out of context. This film is imminently mashable.

It's worth putting in the queue. (Or, you can watch it online via the video link.)

stray bullets

Click to translate It happens all the time: you're registering a free e-mail account or making a purchase online, when up pops a wavy, multicolored word. The system asks you to retype the word - and you roll your eyes, squint a little, and transcribe. This little test is one of the most successful techniques for making sure the person trying to log on is really a human, and not a digital "bot" prying into the site. But now, when you type that word, something else may be happening as well: You may be deciphering a word from a decaying old book, helping to transform a historic text into a new digital file.

also:
10 Plundering Politicians
WW I soldier found, still clutching his gun
How to Survive in the Jungle
Unwanted tattoos can be removed by cream injected into skin - without pain or scarring

viddy:
We Need Engineers (cute)
Hubble Operations Control Room (via)
An examination of Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange A discussion with movie critic William Everson, writer Anthony Burgess and actor Malcolm McDowell... (via)
Marcel Duchamp and John Cage

Terry O'Neill - Elizabeth Taylor and David Bowie (1975)

Terry O'Neill: Celebrity
Terry O'Neill wiki

via vintagephoto
ht: βereníκe

Alfred Wertheimer - Elvis '56

Elvis Listens to a Quick Cut

Alfred Wertheimer - Elvis '56

The Dynamic Duo

warhol + nico + batman + robin

via Quiddity

Bloody Serial Killer Shower Curtain

Things You Never Knew Existed...
via DAVELOG v3

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.

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.

stray bullets

The U.K. bans product placement on TV, hopefully a trend (via); Wired Science asks, Would You Smoke Genetically Modified Marijuana?; just don't smoke any before you read The Art of Simplexity (via); though if you insist, you can zone out on some European Film Treasures (via); but if you really want to go deep, check out Jahsonic's mind-blowing Art and Popular Culture Wiki, good for you.

Links 5-19-08

30 Awesome Websites for Adventurous Urban Explorers

WebUrbanist provides a look into the world of urban exploration. If you read my comment on the post, you'll find that I'm going on an expedition this week.
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Daniel Schorr: Pinching Pennies and Words (audio)

Daniel Schorr, 91 years old and still kicking it! He's one of my inspirations in life. No old folk's home for me. I subscribe to his feed so that I don't miss any of his gems of wisdom. Wherever you stand politically, you'll find that there is a great deal to learn from this man.

Related item: Candidates Need to Clean Up Their Language
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The Extinction Timeline

Looks like we have about 15 more years to get our blog on. Sadly, still 27 more years of spam. Not sure how accurate this is, but it gives one pause.

via The Presurfer
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Evil Disney

Back in 1987, I was at a friend's house and she had a rather large collection of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck comic books. I remember reading them and realizing just how weird they were. They were nothing like the usual Disney fare. They story lines were harsh and brutal, expounding a philosophy best categorized as Social Darwinism.

I remember reading the Letters to the Editor section in one of the Mickey Mouse comics. I was quite shocked by one of the responses to a reader's question.

The question was, essentially, "Why do you make these comics?"

I'll have to give you the answer from memory as I cannot locate a source at this moment. I can assure you that I'm pretty close to the original here, as I must have read that entry about a hundred times. Every time I went to her place, I read it again, just to assure myself that I wasn't hallucinating.

So here goes:

The reason we make these comics is so that we can make more comics so that we can achieve our ultimate goal of making the entire world one big Disneyland where everyone has to go. That's called a benevolent dictatorship, boys and girls. (emphasis their's)

I swear on all that is swearable upon that this is what they said. I was completely flummoxed by that statement. I always wondered if they were just joking, but in the context it was delivered, it didn't seem to be so. Take what you will from this. I have always been a bit wary about Disney since then.

via Dedroidify
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Readings 5-17-08

A 30,000-Volume Window on the World

My library is not a single beast but a composite of many others, a fantastic animal made up of the several libraries built and then abandoned, over and over again, throughout my life. I can’t remember a time in which I didn’t have a library of some sort.

via Bookninja
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Agenbites

But what about jab or fluffy or sneer, each of them true in a way that goes beyond logic? Verbose has always struck me as a strangely verbose word. Peppy has that perky, energetic, spry sound it needs. And was there ever a more supercilious word than supercilious? Or one more lethargic than lethargic?

I would also note the euphonious delight of the curse-word.
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Instant messaging 'a linguistic renaissance' for teens

Nor do teens use abbreviations as much as the stereotype suggests: LOL (laugh out loud), OMG (oh my god), and TTYL (talk to you later) made up just 2.4 per cent of the vocabulary of IM conversations - an "infinitesimally small" proportion, say the researchers. And rumours of the demise of you would appear to have been greatly exaggerated: it was preferred to u a whopping 9 times out of 10.

via KurzweilAI.net
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Obesity contributes to global warming

One more stigma attached to being fat.

And they're eating all the food!

via Laurent Haug
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Pistorius primed for Beijing after overturning ban

Double-amputee Oscar Pistorius won his appeal and can now attempt to qualify for the 2008 Olympics.

hat tip
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Shrimp can see beyond the rainbow

Mantis shrimps, dubbed "thumb splitters" by divers because of their vicious claws, have the most complex eyes in the animal kingdom, capable of seeing colors from the ultraviolet to the infrared, as well as detecting other subtle variations in light.

If we could see one more color in the spectrum, what would it look like?
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New Jellyfish Species Discovered In Aquarium

Marine scientists in Australia have discovered a new species of jellyfish, right under their noses.
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143 Simpsons continuity errors

I wish I had that much spare time.

via A Welsh View
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ends

Sex and the City - Because no man should feel the agony of this film

Get out of the Sex and the City movie Absolution Card

John Kass:

"I don't think SATC is just for girls. I am a reasonably well-adjusted bloke and I am looking forward to seeing the film with my girlfriend. I am then looking forward to poking my eyes out with red-hot pokers, burning my skin off, and rolling around in salt for a while."—Phil Mann, Newcastle upon Tyne.

He's not alone. Millions of men are sick about this movie based on a TV show about four terrifying, rich, aging, elitist women who whine about sex and men and purchase $700 pairs of shoes to feel better about themselves. What guy wouldn't love such a movie?

(...)

"She wants to see the movie. Fine. But I'm not going."

Oh yes, you're going.

"I'm not going! I'm not!"

We'll see.