April 9, 2014
I like large parties because they're so intimate
No 1 for quality of life
Rooms within rooms, endless cities and labyrinthine structures
"I hope that a viewer will be able to put themselves in my spaces. To that end I’ve avoided adding any figures of any kind to inhabit the rooms, so the viewer is free to imagine themselves inhabiting them if they choose. Some people find them claustrophobic, others want to linger. The detail draws in the viewer, though I’ve also seen it repel the odd person. I enjoy the combination of the creepy and the whimsical. Perhaps this boils down to wanting my drawings to be haunted in the same way that my dreams locales often feel haunted." Excerpt from an interview with Matthew Borrett, an artist/illustrator who draws black and white rooms, scenes from unreal worlds, and some more realistic settings.
Florida's Shame
"After Florida cut down on protections for children in troubled homes, deaths soared. The children died in ways cruel, outlandish, predictable and preventable." [more inside]
There's No Money Above The Fifth Fret
Target: Wendy’s, Publix, Kroger
The CIW’s Campaign For Fair Food has been very successful at improving conditions in Florida's tomato fields. Even Wal-mart has signed on, agreeing to pay an extra penny per pound. But some large corporate buyers continue to refuse to cooperate, including Wendy’s, Publix, and Kroger. [more inside]
Cats Against Guitars!
Cat vs. Electric Guitar. Two Cats vs. Acoustic Guitar. (Subtitled: Pay Attention to MEEEEEEE!!) Cat plays Electric Guitar. Cat plays Acoustic Guitar. This one just rolls with it. [more inside]
Reviving the Scarab of Ra
Rick Holzgrafe's Scarab of Ra is one of those early Macintosh shareware games that nostalgic players really really wish would be updated for OSX. Would you settle for a javascript version? The key commands and interface are a bit different, but the monkey will still steal your lantern and you can still earn academic credit by banking the gold you find, exploring the mazes, and collecting treasure. Just like real life. [more inside]
Mars Opposition Season 2014: Images From Around the World
The God of Cricket
A photograph of Sachin Tendulkar in his final Test appearance in Mumbai has been named the 2013 Wisden – MCC Cricket Photograph of the Year. Who is Sachin Tendulkar? Why, he's only the God of Cricket. See this photo and the runners-up on Cricket Australia's site. (Right-click on each photo to access the hi-res version of each one) See Mitchell Johnson's 'stache? It was quite useful earlier this year against England during the Ashes.
The Miracle of Bali: Music from the Village of Pliatan (1969)
What "When Do We Eat Already?" sounded like 370 years ago
Back in January, blogger Mississippi Fred Macdowell posted scans of the Rittangel Hagaddah [pdf], a 1644 Hebrew-Latin Haggadah that has the distinction of including musical notations for two of the songs. Last month, high school students at the Tannenbaum Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto performed them in concert. Here's his followup post with video of the performance.
AGOT since the year dot
A Geologic Map for Game of Thrones BASED ON CHARACTER OBSERVATIONS, OFFICIAL MAPS, AND EARTH PRINCIPLES OF THE GEOLOGIC SCIENCE [more inside]
JB and Bobby D, together at last
My head just exploded because the the two epic spiraling vortexes of iconic American pop have met and merged and made my head explode and it's exploded. Like a Rolling Sex Machine.
I'm finally on the right track
Even Ace Frehley Thinks Kiss Is a Circus. Frehley thoughtfully discusses the band's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Love Letter to Libraries
“When a library is open, no matter its size or shape, democracy is open, too.” Maria Popova calls the new book The Public Library: A Photographic Essay, which took eighteen years to photograph and compile, "a wistful yet hopeful reminder of just what’s at stake if we let the greatest bastion of public knowledge humanity has ever known slip into the neglected corner of cultural priorities."
[Warning-Autoplaying Tongue]
You can listen to the new song "Player" by LA dance-pop band Dessert. Or you can just go to Hello-Dessert.net and get the full experience.
So long as you don't sleep, you've nothing to worry about
Moths, spiders, mushrooms, foxes and other Lewis Carroll-ian delights stuffed and mounted for your delight and safety by the self-taught artist Mister Finch
He is tremendously tall and has a wonderful haircut.
It's been over a month since our last Jon Bois post, and longer then that since the end of Breaking Madden, so feast your eyeballs on his newest series, NBA Y2K. In this first installment, he aspires to take the Philadelphia '76ers to an 0-82 season.
"I don’t care what you call it," he says. "I care that we get it right."
About half of countries who attempt to build single-payer systems fail. That’s Hsiao’s estimate after working with about 10 governments in the past two decades. Whether he’s in Taiwan, Cyprus, or Vermont, the process is roughly the same: meet with legislators, draw up a plan, write legislation. Only half of those bills actually become law. The part where it collapses is, inevitably, when the country has to pay for it.Ezra Klein's Vox Media looks at the financial and administrative mechanics of Governor Peter Shumlin's quest to bring single-payer health care to Vermont. Bonus: 12 questions about single-payer.
100 Best Hoosier albums ever
NUVO is an alternative publication based in Indianapolis that released a list of the 100 greatest albums that in some way have roots in the state of Indiana. The list includes everything from hip-hop to punk to the obvious. Contributors include DJs and record store owners from across the state.
In Kyrgyzstan, there was one that was made like a traditional Kyrgyz hat
Photographer Chris Herwig (previously) has successfully kickstarted a photo book on the oddball bus-stops of the former Soviet republics, compiled over 12 years and spanning 12 countries. You can browse many of the photos at Herwig's website. Reporter Alina Simone reported on the project and the bus stops for PRI's The World. The PRI site also has a video slide show of the stops narrated by Herwig.
Teevee Dinner
Teevee Dinner is a femme punk transboy from
Australia who enjoys teen culture and eating outta trashcans. You can read an interview
or two, his tips on dumpster diving, and if you live in Vancouver, see his first full-length film premier tomorrow.
Not in Vancouver? You can watch a music video or read an interview about making it, see a short film about queer skaters learning that girl love is better than girl hate, swoon over a dreamy fairy-tale-inspired photoshoot, or watch his NSFW X-Rated directorial debut. [more inside]
Not in Vancouver? You can watch a music video or read an interview about making it, see a short film about queer skaters learning that girl love is better than girl hate, swoon over a dreamy fairy-tale-inspired photoshoot, or watch his NSFW X-Rated directorial debut. [more inside]
Do Johnny for me
"It looks like a ... "Dragon,” I say. "Artichoke,” says a colleague."
A day late and 23 cents short.
Yesterday was Equal Pay Day. President Obama signed an Executive Order to prevent discrimination and address the gender pay gap.
According to The National Women's Law Center, "In 1963, when the Equal Pay Act was signed into law, a woman was typically paid 59 cents for every dollar paid to her male counterpart — a 41-cent wage gap. In 2011, the most recent year for which data are available, women working full time, year round were typically paid just 77 cents for every dollar paid to their male counterparts. Although women have narrowed the gap by 18 cents over the past five decades, the wage gap today stands at 23 cents." [more inside]
Scanned images of seaweed
Such as Ulva lobata from Josie Iselin's new book An Ocean Garden: The Secret Life of Seaweed.
Feather boa kelp - Egregia menziesii
Sea grapes - Botryocladia pseudodichotoma [more inside]
Feather boa kelp - Egregia menziesii
Sea grapes - Botryocladia pseudodichotoma [more inside]
In the Name of Love
Madness is genius
The final season of Mad Men (which will take place over two half seasons, a la Breaking Bad) begins airing this Sunday. [more inside]
101 Years Have Passed Since I Wrote My Note
101 year old message in a bottle found in the Baltic and that's all there is to it.
In West Philadelphia, Born and Raised
W.B. Saul High School, the largest agricultural farm school in the United States, is part of the Philadelphia School District. This spring, the animal husbandry majors are tending to their latest additions.
For your midweek enjoyment - W.B Saul presents their live streaming of their little lambs, appropriately called Ewe Tube
How the Muppets created Generation X
"We all have our nostalgia. But, at least for me, my love of Henson’s work goes beyond that. I don’t think we love the Muppets simply because they came from our childhood. We love the Muppets because they gave us a worldview – a profoundly idealistic, yet profoundly realistic worldview – that many of us carry into our adulthoods. It is only rarely that we take the time to consider where we picked up such ideas."
This Machine Can Tell Whether You're Liberal or Conservative
John Hibbing and his colleagues are pioneering research on the physiological underpinnings of political ideology. They also eat worms. - via Mother Jones
Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism
David Harvey's latest book looks at the internal contradictions within the flow of capital that have precipitated recent crises and "why this economic engine should be replaced, and with what."
Available online are the Prologue, the last two chapters, and video & audio for his April 2nd talk at the London School of Economics.
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