November 1, 2008
living the high life
High Peaks: aerial panoramas of 18 famous Himalayan mountains, from the Digital Himalayas Collections, which include all kinds of interesting things: old and new photographs, short films from the 1930's, maps, rare books and manuscripts, songs and stories in the languages of the locals in these remote parts of the world at high altitudes.
Got a crafting urge all bottled up?
Even though you recycle the plastic you discard, you sometimes feel guilty about how much you throw out and worry about where it's going. Would you like to be a little more hands on and proactive and recycle some of your plastics yourself? If so, I've got some ideas for you. [more inside]
Goodnight Opus
The final Opus comic strip appeared online a couple hours ago, but the final reveal of the beloved penguin's 'final paradise' had to wait for the Humane Society to update its website. (An interesting strategy for Berkeley Breathed, who started the eponymous Sunday Funnie as absolutely-paper-only... I'm sure Opus fans who acquired newsstand "Saturday Preview" editions of their Sunday papers are especially pissed) Well, the waiting is finally over because here he is... [more inside]
Famous Balloon Movies
From the Reichenbaugh Library's collection of rare balloon movies.
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Malted battery acid
Hello, Governor Palin?
Governor Palin gets prank called. "Like we say in France, [we could go kill some baby seals]." Governor Palin is mildly amused.
Colbert will love you, baby!
Wilco perform "The Wilco Song" on The Colbert Report... and Tweedy even manages to work Colbert's name into the lyrics. Apparently, the band are tight with a certain candidate.
This Has Nothing to Do With Volkswagen.
Tuaregian band, Tinariwen, are members of a nomadic tribe in the Northwest of Africa which still practises slavery.
Drawn Together
The anime series The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya has some pretty devoted fans. OK, very devoted fans. One such fan has started a petition to allow people to legally marry anime characters. The object of his affection is Asahina Mikuru. His goal is 1,000,000 signatures, and is making slow progress. One blogger cites two legal snags: Japan doesn't allow polygamy, which means one human per anime character, and Japan gives tax breaks to married couples, so those with a strictly 3D arrangment might view the otaku as getting an unfair deal. Yet another blogger has cited a third, perhaps more obvious snag.
James Ellroy's Crib Sheet
Real L.A. Noir. (Video/audio auto-plays). Los Angeles Times reporter Paul Lieberman has been chronicling the era of the LAPD Gangster Squad, a secret division of the department that tried to combat the mobs of Jack Dragna and Mickey Cohen in the 1940s and '50s. (Keep the cast of characters straight with this handy chart.)
The true conservative in this race: Barack Obama
One bloody thing after another.
One bloody thing after another is a serialized horror story written by Joey Comeau and illustrated by Emily Horne, creators of A Softer World. Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.
A three minute fairy tail
Boy meets girl, you know how it goes. The catch? They're made from Myriad Pro. This short TED talk by someone called Rives was cute, and whimsical enough to make me smile. [more inside]
Types of people through 14 years
Tableaux: In 1994 Ari Versluis and Ellie Uyttenbroek made a series of 12 photographs of have gabbers and put the pictures in a tableau. They've been making tableaus of types of people for 14 years now and it's all on their site. Some random examples: gabber bitches Rotterdam 1996, football supporters Rotterdam 1997, smas Rotterdam 1997, scream Beijing 1999, bundaboys Rio de Janeiro 2000, skins Rotterdam 2002, girls on their first communion Maastricht 2006, retired Dutch men, proper girls Rotterdam 2006, yupsterboys New York 2006, yupstergirls New York 2006, pin-ups London 2008, city girls London 2008, hipsters Rotterdam 2008, flexmanagers Rotterdam/Paris 2008, the girls of the affluent 7th district of Paris 2008, geeks in London 2008 [more inside]
The Lost Years & Last Days of David Foster Wallace
The Lost Years & Last Days of David Foster Wallace, Rolling Stone (warning: long article; could make you cry)
The Lost Synthesizer Classics of Ursula Bogner
It seems almost incredible that Ursula Bogner's musical talents should have remained undiscovered until now.
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