January 20, 2010
JunkStoreCameras.com
JunkStoreCameras : A piece of work, in more ways than one.
Reaching for the Sublime
Aleksandra Rdest's art uses a language drawn from weather patterns; inspired by sound waves, clouds, particles and cells on a microscopic level. The point of departure for these works is growth and decay; cellular division and multiplication, weather patterns biological colonization. Rdest’s love affair with colour gives rise to these paintings which are created by richly layering veils of paint to form a deep surface.
Because sometimes you have to wonder if advertising copywriters have ever even met a woman
Ever made fun of a commercial, a TV show, or a romantic comedy? Of course you have. It’s like shooting fish in a barrel. But even shooting fish in a barrel can be done with style. Check out Info Mania’s Sarah Haskins’ Target Women spots in which Haskins dissects how the media types depicts we women types, especially when it comes to those matters so dear to the lady brain, like Botox, birth control, chick flicks, female political candidates, number two, cleaning, jewelry, diets, aging, skin care, the Oscars, Disney Princesses, vampires, The View, Michelle Obama’s arms, Lifetime programming, chocolate, lady parts, laundry, security, weddings, and of course that official food of women, yogurt. You can find a complete listing of Target Women spots here.
Fragments of La Traviata
Mom's First Nude Shoot
This isn't one of those stories about how empowering it was to pose naked for a magazine.
Twilight of the Giants
Last chance to see: Video of Mexico's Naica Cave of Crystals (Previously, and previously.) [more inside]
Not quite labour
The 46 Dumpling Picture, and other photography from Damon Winter
Damon Winter is a photojournalist who has worked for The Dallas Morning News, The Los Angeles Times and now works for The New York Times. His work on a more sports-focused beat in Dallas lead to his update on athletes from the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics as part of the 2008 Olympics coverage. As a photographer with The New York Times, he won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography, for his first time out on the road, covering campaigns (narrated slideshow, 3min 19sec). Currently, he is sharing his photos and writing from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, which are included in NY Times Lens Blog (prev. Lens Blog features: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). If that's a bit heavy, check his photographers journal (narrated slide show, 2min 34sec) and his article on creating double-exposure juxtapositions from days or weeks of shooting large-form film. [more inside]
This youth, it bulges?
More than 15 years again Robert Kaplan wrote in his occasionally prescient essay, "Though Islam is spreading in West Africa, it is being hobbled by syncretization with animism: this makes new converts less apt to become anti-Western extremists...." Glossing over the omission that Islam has been in West Africa for centuries, the recent exploding underpants incident has cemented the idea that a form of violent religious extremism has found root in West Africa, leaving many to wonder why and how. Some argue it's the inevitable result of dangerous demographics.
Well, it's sort of real, isn't it?
The 2009 winner of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition (also covered here in 2007 and 2008) has been stripped of his title after it emerged that his winning photo was not what it seemed. The judges decided that it was highly likely the picture was not of a wild Iberian wolf, but rather that it was of Ossian, a tame animal kept at Cañada Real Open Center near Madrid. [more inside]
Canadians are supposed to put on their Made in China red mitts and are told to "believe."
A Shameful Track Record. The Olympic movement plays fast and loose with basic democratic values. [more inside]
it from bit
Emergent Gravity - Erik Verlinde has a theory that "gravitational attraction could be the result of the way information about material objects is organised in space..." Here's some related weblog discussions and follow along on twitter! (via /. & bruces ;)
Ladies and gentlemen.
So, Nathan has left the tape recorder on, and he says if I want to say fascinating things while he’s gone, I can. Well guess what I’m gonna do. While he’s gone, I’m taking his glass of beer and I’m putting it under the table and I’m gonna stick my fuckin’ dick in it. I’m gonna open up my zipper, and I’m gonna rub the tip of my fuckin’ cock around the mouth of his glass. Now I’m putting it back there. He’s gonna be drinkin’, but he ain’t gonna know until he plays this back the trick I pulled on him. The AV Club interviews Tony Clifton.
Two videos of helarity
Werner Herzog Reads Curious George and William Shatner and Henry Winkler have a complicated gay relationship. Are these videos related? Watch them and find out!
Enemy at the Gates
The Gates Notes is Bill Gate's new website containing his writings and ideas. Featuring such things as hist thoughts on why 0% emissions should be our real goal, why the Teaching Company is so great, and our progress on an AIDS vaccine.
Infernal beasties
The art of monsters with Guy Davis.
Gunsights' biblical references concern US and UK forces
Coded references to biblical passages are inscribed on gunsights widely used by the US and British military in Iraq and Afghanistan, it has emerged. The markings include "2COR4:6" and "JN8:12", relating to verses in the books of II Corinthians and John.
Trijicon, the US-based manufacturer, was founded by a devout Christian, and says it runs to "Biblical standards".
But military officials in the US and UK have expressed concern over the way the markings will be perceived.
The company had been adding the references to its sights for many years, but the issue surfaced only recently when soldiers complained to an advocacy group, an ABC News investigation found. [more inside]
Posters
Reimagined movie posters from Claudia Varosio. (Eg., Fight Club, The Shining, The Man Who Fell to Earth) Also, Ross Berens's nine posters of the planets.
Kinder, Küche, Kirche
In Germany, a Tradition Falls, and Women Rise. The half-day school system survived feudalism, the rise and demise of Hitler’s mother cult, the women’s movement of the 1970s and reunification with East Germany. Now, in the face of economic necessity, it is crumbling: one of the lowest birthrates in the world, the specter of labor shortages and slipping education standards have prompted a rethink.
Gödel, Escher, Bach, blogged
Gödel, Escher, Bach, Tumblr Gödel, Escher, Bach, Tumblr is an online book group. We're reading one chapter a week of Douglas Hofstadter’s 1979 masterpiece book about artificial intelligence, mathematics, consciousness, puzzles, music, and language. They've been reading since the start of the month, so start in the archive. [Previously, More Previously, Event more previously, Previously in the future]
SING TO ME MUSE, OF VELOUR AND THE MAN
No relation to the Damon Dash reality TV show, the Ultimate Hustler is master of the dozens, leaping through time and space to slam weak bustas. At the very height of his powers, he joined the battle in book XX of the Iliad.
The other exit strategy
With quantitative easing on everyone's minds, pundits of all sorts talk about Central Bank exit strategies. But in The Treaty of Lisbon, which came into force across the EU on December 1st, 2009, it turns out European member states have put forward an exit strategy of a completely different kind [.pdf] . [more inside]
The United States of Whatever
Christopher Hitchens analyses the use of "like" as a filler word (single link Vanity Fair). Short version: "Clueless" started it, and the general Californication of the American spoken language. African American kids say "nome sane" instead of "like". Hitchens compares the use of "like" to intoning declarative sentences as questions, also called uptalk. Like, "I go to Columbia? The University?" [more inside]
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