February 10, 2011
Phantom of the Floppera
The Abridged Scripts
Rod Hilton has been "editing" and abridging movie scripts since 1998 (first script: Godzilla). In all this time, he has given 5 stars to only six movies: Saving Private Ryan; The Matrix; Being John Malkovich; Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back; The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King; and Inception. (Previously)
Walls - scratching the surface
Wall scratching as an art form. Alexandre Farto (aka Vhils) is a Portuguese street artist living in London. This is his art project called “Walls – Scratching the surface”. He makes impressive portraits by scratching the surface of old walls in Moscow, Rome, London, New York and Portugal. [more inside]
Women's Economic Opportunity Index
The Economist Intelligence Unit recently presented a 6 minute animated infographic summary of their global Women’s Economic Opportunity Index as designed by data visualisation agency JESS3. [more inside]
Opposed Piston Opposed Cylinder
The OPOC engine reignites internal combustion. A new engine company from the Detroit area, Ecomotors, has developed a smaller, cooler, quieter, lighter, stronger, and more efficient power plant for the vehicle of your choice, military or civilian. Bill Gates has $23 million invested. [more inside]
Holy Fools
Sou Ootsuki has recently posted a new version of his wildly popular video* for Nujabes'* "Luv(sic) Pt.2". This time, rather than the streets of Japan, he filmed it in the villages of Cambodia. The result is similar, yet very, very different.
Undercover athlete
One of the surprise stories of the NBA season has been the effective play of New York Knicks rookie Landry Fields. After four years at Stanford, his draft selection was at the time mocked, booed, and met with skepticism, but now he has Spike Lee sporting his jersey at nearly every Knicks game.
Non-sports fans may be more interested to know that he appears to be a World of Warcraft fan. [more inside]
Non-sports fans may be more interested to know that he appears to be a World of Warcraft fan. [more inside]
Ramen Music
"Ramen Music hand-picks the best new tracks from independent & underground artists, simmers on low, and delivers beautiful online issues every 2 months." Issue #1 is free, available as a sample.
Christian Hubert Studio
Christian Hubert designs beautiful residential spaces, like this fantastic 10,000 square foot home, and chic commercial projects. He design aesthetics are sensitive to the relation between art and architecture, and he has worked on some wonderful galleries and exhibition spaces. His practice is informed by a thorough knowledge of philosophy, and his site includes a comprehensive and accessibly written encyclopedia on important concepts in art, aesthetics, and critical theory.
Music and Modern Media Archive
The CBC Radio 3 Digital Magazine ran from November 2002 until March 2005, garnering numerous accolades in Canada and abroad with its unique blend of music, journalism, literature and photography. Here is the complete archive of 105 issues. [more inside]
"I Do It for the Hugs Afterward."
Geeks Trading Punches, Captured on Film: Oft-publicized Gentleman's Fight Club endures, and is now captured in a ten-minute film.
Previously on MeFi.
TL;DR? Book Shrink.
Book Shrink tries to pick out the sentences of an input text that are most representative of the text as a whole; that is to say, find the essence of a text. [more inside]
On freeways and byways...
Weezer has recorded a full-length cover version of Barry Manilow's "like a good neighbor" State Farm insurance jingle. [more inside]
Are we having fun yet
Language of Numbers in Nicaraguan Sign Language
Nicaraguan Sign Language is a unique language, created by school children in the late 1970s and early 1980s, who previously had minimal success at being taught to lip-read and speak Spanish. This community has been studied as an example of the birth of a language from its beginning (PDF). A recent study has investigated the ability for those who speak Nicaraguan Sign Language to express exact, large numbers. Unlike the Pirahã people of the Amazon (previously) who may not have the need for specificity in large numbers, the deaf in Nicaragua are surrounded by a culture that interacts in specific numbers, yet it appears they lack accuracy with numbers higher than three or four. [more inside]
Dear Stephen Schwartz.
“Is it possible to talk you out of doing a live action movie adaptation? Would you consider doing a traditionally animated adaptation? In my heart I think the musical needs the medium, and I think the medium needs your musical. I just love them both so much and hopefully that shows through in the story reel.” [more inside]
I'am robbing you sir... Yes I'am sure.
CCTV footage released of 'polite robber' hold up A so called 'polite robber', has been filmed on CCTV holding up a petrol station in Seattle.
The robber, who appears to be armed with a gun, asks the cashier, "Could you do me a favour? Empty the till for me please and put it right here. I am robbing you sir."
Feed me! Feeeeed Me.
Albert Brooks' Famous School for Comedians
A look back at 1971's "Albert Brooks' Famous School for Comedians," a founding document for a generation of humorists. [more inside]
Causal vs. Effectual Thinkers in Business
What distinguishes great entrepreneurs? "Discussions of entrepreneurial psychology typically focus on creativity, tolerance for risk, and the desire for achievement—enviable traits that, unfortunately, are not very teachable." So Professor Saras D. Sarasvathy (Caution, autoplaying video) of the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business created a case study to try to determine how they think, "with the goal of transferring that knowledge to aspiring founders." [more inside]
Separate, Unequal, and Ignored
"In Chicago, we think such racial segregation is normal, but it's not." Why segregation isn't an issue in the mayoral contest in one of the most segregated cities in the US. [more inside]
Who's been discredited again?
A proposal for U.S. defense contractors HBGary Federal, Palantir Technologies, and Berico Technologies to discredit Wikileaks which was pitched to Bank of America on December 3rd has been leaked. Assange had perviously stated that Wikileaks' next mega-leak will "expose an ecosystem of corruption" in a major American bank, which many believe to be Bank of America. [more inside]
Femmes et hommes fatales
Crime movie blog Where Danger Lives ranks the 100 greatest film noir posters. (Posts in countdown order inside.) [more inside]
dodgeball
360-degree video panorama of the world's largest dodgeball game. (Best viewed in fullscreen.) How it was filmed. [Both links via Coudal]
Apollo 14 note
Apollo 14, with Alan Shepard, American's first man in space, as the Commander, Stuart Roosa, Command Module Pilot and Edgar Mitchell, lunar module pilot, splashed down forty years ago today. It was flight of the rookies (total previous time in space was 15 minutes, all by Shepard). There were several odd things about the flight, but no need to worry, the moon trees are doing just fine.
Mubarak To Step Down
Report: Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak is to step down this evening. Vice President Omar Suleiman will take over. He's likely to address the nation tonight.
Newcomers often find that the hardest part about Swedish cuisine is the cleanup!
Epic Meal Time (previously) a little too epic for you? Why not relax with Regular Ordinary Swedish Meal Time. Watch as they prepare the perennial favorite Swedish Meatballs. Yum! (N.B.: you may want to turn down your speakers) [more inside]
Flowers wilt. Chocolates melt. Roaches are forever.
Looking for the perfect Valentine's Day gift for that special someone? Nothing says love like a hissing cockroach! [more inside]
He's "classy"!
House Rep Christopher Lee (R-NY) has suddenly announced his resignation after it broke that the married congressman had been trolling Craigslist for hookups, as well as sending out topless pictures of himself, all while using his real name.
Poems From My Ex
Fifteen years after we broke up, my ex-boyfriend published a book of poetry. ... For months, the slim book sat on my shelf like an awkward houseguest. Then, one quiet night, something nudged me out of my inertia, or dread, and I settled into bed with his book. And there I was.
An Island in the Rising Sun
"... it seems to me that something of the Edo era shimmers just below the surface of modern Japan," Henry Tricks on Japan's return to an increasingly insular society. "Fewer young Japanese are travelling abroad, fewer are studying English (this year, the main English-language school went bust), and fewer are taking places at leading academic institutions overseas such as Harvard Business School. Bosses at Japan’s legendary export businesses complain they cannot find youngsters who are prepared to work abroad."
Surely just one more wafer thin mint
Photographer William Rugen took pictures of everything he ate in 2010. Then he made Consumed, which you can browse by date or by tag, or you can search. His manifesto states "It is just pictures of everything I eat. Really, there is no subtext except what you want to take away from it." [more inside]
Yowayowa Camera Women Diary
Yowayowa Camera Women Diary. An enjoyable photoblog: lots of jumping and rubber rain boots.
Addictive as heck baseball game
The Baseball Club is a game by MetaFilter favorite Taro Ito, best known for Dice Wars. In The Baseball Club you take control of a high school baseball team and attemp to lead them to victory in The World Baseball Tournament. You keep each player for three seasons and train them in batting practice. Warning: Absurdly addictive.
Information Is Soil
Jer Thorp is the New York Times' current Data Artist in Residence. He creates information-rich animations, most recently of the latest Kepler candidate extrasolar planets [previously]; also a global render of people's uses of Twitter.
Lee Byron is a designer, artist, and biker: his work includes visualisations of Facebook breakups over the course of a year and Hollywood box office revenues, 1986 - 2008.
David McCandless is an "information journalist"; his blog, InformationisBeautiful.net, has been linked to plenty of times on the blue, but you might enjoy this overview of his work and others at TED. Similarly, Hans Rosling, also mentioned previously. [more inside]
Lee Byron is a designer, artist, and biker: his work includes visualisations of Facebook breakups over the course of a year and Hollywood box office revenues, 1986 - 2008.
David McCandless is an "information journalist"; his blog, InformationisBeautiful.net, has been linked to plenty of times on the blue, but you might enjoy this overview of his work and others at TED. Similarly, Hans Rosling, also mentioned previously. [more inside]
The Mindful Eye
The Mindful Eye is a photography community: "We are here to help and inspire each other in the pursuit of our passions, happiness and the unlimited potential of our dreams as photographers and as human beings. We believe that the simple act of sharing your joy with your camera can change the world for the better." It developed from its previous incarnation as Radiant Vista into a fuller, richer site including useful teaching tools such as the Daily Critique, Photo of the Week, Digital Darkroom, Foundation Concepts, and much more. I visit the site daily for new content and recommend it to all my photography students as a positive support system as they develop their skills. [more inside]
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