From the Columbia Journalism Review: Four dailies that have produced inspiring international coverage in the past — The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Boston Globe, Newsday, and the Baltimore Sun — closed their remaining overseas bureaus. In TV, as veteran correspondent Tom Fenton has observed, a quarter century ago CBS News had twenty-four foreign bureaus and stringers in forty-four countries; today, there are six bureaus, none of them in Africa or Latin America. Time Inc., owner of the largest circulation newsweekly magazine, Time, eliminated 650 jobs in early 2006, including those of Don Barlett and Jim Steele, two of the nation’s preeminent investigative journalists, in May. The following week, it was reported that Time Inc. had just paid $4 million for exclusive photographs of Shiloh, the newborn baby of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. — Future of Journalism - Achenblog
The Idiocracy will be televised. Go ahead, scream.
via WRECK & SALVAGE
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
reasons to be cheerful #459
Monday, December 8, 2008
Khmer dancers
A Nook of Photos:
Photographer: Leon Busy, Angkor, Cambodia 1918 or 1921.
“Near the moat encircling Angkor Wat are the dancers who perform in the Khmer ballet. They are the living embodiments of Angkor’s apsaras, the exquisite dancing nymphs that are carved on stone pillars and adorn the temple walls. Classical Khmer dance was almost eradicated during the genocidal rule of the Khmer Rouge, but the tradition has enjoyed a renaissance in recent years.”
Source: Okuefuna, D., (2008), The Dawn of the Colour Photograph, Albert Kahn’s archives of the Planet, Princeton University Press.
stray bullets
Foreign Policy: The Top 10 Stories You Missed in 2008 Don't miss them this time.
Briton saved dozens in hotel A millionaire private equity broker from London has emerged as a hero who stopped Islamic terrorists from massacring Britons and Americans in their attack on Mumbai.
LAX Tops Nation In Stolen, Missing Luggage Items "Easy pickings?" "Easy pickings." "I wouldn't put anything valuable in LAX" These two LAX employees would only talk if we concealed their identities. "I saw thefts within the first few weeks of working there." They both say there are organized rings of thieves, who identify valuables in your checked luggage by looking at the TSA x-ray screens, then communicate with baggage handlers by text or cell phone, telling them exactly what to look for. (via)
What is truth serum? Indian officials plan to inject captured Mumbai terrorist with the "truth serum," sodium pentothal, but history tells us that the technique isn't up to the task
Particulate Emissions From Laser Printers Do laser printers emit pathogenic toner particles into the air? Some people are convinced that they do. As a result, this topic is the subject of public controversy. Researchers have now investigated what particles the printers really do release into the air.
Black Garlic Introducing a simple food with a wonderfully complex flavor. Black garlic is sweet meets savory, a perfect mix of molasses-like richness and tangy garlic undertones. It has a tender, almost jelly-like texture with a melt-in-your-mouth consistency similar to a soft dried fruit. Hard to believe, but true. It’s as delicious as it is unique. (via)
also:
Two cases of compulsive swearing - in sign language
A Fragment Theory Of Deja Vu
Academics invent a mathematical equation for why people procrastinate (when they were supposed to be writing papers)
Ancient city discovered deep in Amazonian rainforest linked to the legendary white-skinned Cloud People of Peru
Prized sculpture destroyed on trip to Art Basel Miami
How to Stretch a Canvas
don't miss:
The ultimate fate of Mr. Pink in Reservoir Dogs (via)
viddy:
William Eggleston: I am at war with the obvious
Muge
Chinese photographer, Muge has a remarkable set of portraits of strangers in his series Silent.
I find photography to be one of the more mysterious art forms. What makes the difference between an image like this and the garden variety crap photo is obvious and visible and yet, in many ways, completely beyond my comprehension. I suppose that's why I post a lot of photos on this blog.
via Asian Photography Blog
Ingmar Bergman interview (excerpt)
(video link)
Ingmar Bergman on the Dick Cavett Show in an interview that originally aired August 2, 1971. Cavett went to Sweden to do this interview on a borrowed set.*
more
Sunday, December 7, 2008
correspondence
The funny thing about technology (in this case blogging, web 2.0 etc.), is that the early adopters are always looking to bail and find something new when the everyone else starts to catch on. In reality, sometimes a technology or a process works so well that it doesn't need to go much further.
That's why we don't have jet-packs and rocket ships and flying cars. Modern automobiles, airplanes and ships serve transportation needs just fine. Sure, we can make them cleaner and more efficient with better design, but in the end, they will still be cars and boats and planes.
Blogging is like the automobile. You can only tweak it. It's here to stay and no amount of Facebooks or Twitters will change that.
- Johny Zhivago in an email to The Mad Hillbilly
Roy Doty - Season's Greetings Machine
These are a lot of fun. Roy Doty has been sending his Christmas cards to friends a associates since 1946. This year, he'll be hand-addressing upwards of 500.
The Christmas Card Art of Roy Doty
via Mike Lynch Cartoons
Saturday, December 6, 2008
This Is Where We Live
4th Estate:
Welcome to our city - to our world - of books. This is where we live.
A film for 4th Estate Publishers' 25th Anniversary. Produced by Apt Studio
I don't know much about the publishing house, but I thought the video was great.
via 40fakes
diatom
Best Pictures of Microscopic Life, 2008:
This micrograph by Montana psychiatrist Stephen Nagy magnifies, by 40 times, a 20-million-year-old fossil of an extinct breed of algae.
Nagy dug up samples of this microscopic diatom in Maryland, then carefully sliced one open like a tiny pomegranate. Using a specialized microscope that uses different colors to represent depth and density, Nagy took five images and stacked them atop one another.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
a break in the action
I'll be away for a couple of days, celebrating a friend's birthday. Be seeing you all, bright and early on Saturday morning.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Picasso's Bulls
picasso_bull.gif
via Tacky Raccoons (slipped that one in while I was off)
by way of everlasting blört
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
The Outpost War
Peter van Agtmael:
Dawn breaks over a village in Eastern Afghanistan occupied by U.S. soldiers searching for a man suspected of launching rockets at a nearby American base. The previous night, as the soldiers approached, the village dogs began barking, and by the time soldiers arrived the suspect was long gone.
via Magnum Blog
Jack Leigh
The late Jack Leigh was best known for his photograph of the Bird Girl - a ubiquitous image here in Savannah and possibly one of the most powerful book cover photos in history. His careful and sensitive eye chronicled the American Southeast in a way that defied popular conception and cliché.
I was sad to see that the Jack Leigh Gallery closed a few months back, but it still maintains an online presence.
Parasites
The Alien Lives of Parasites:
Cymothoa exigua, a Crustacean, is the only known parasite that effectively replaces a body part. It makes its home in the mouth of a fish, where it feeds on blood until the tongue withers and dies. Attaching its body to the remaining stub, the parasite can now be manipulated by the fish as a functional new tongue.
hat tip: wtf_nature
Monday, December 1, 2008
Cannonball Adderley - Brother John (1963)
(video link)
Cannonball Adderley - alto sax
Nat Adderley - cornet
Yusef Lateef - tenor sax, oboe, flute
Joe Zawinul - piano
Sam Jones - bass
Louis Hayes - drums
via Youtube hunting
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