sundance

$1.5 million wedding dress

A wedding dress recently debuted in China that is decorated with 2009 peacock tail feathers which took over 2 months to create. It’s available for a cool $1.5 million. What recession? The dress is without doubt an impressive artistic exercise. However, brides beware, because seeing this, I can’t help but think of Oscar Wilde’s wicked [...]

The waiting room is alive with the sound of music

While the New York-based group ImprovEverywhere has been creating seemingly spontaneous yet meticulously planned public “scenes” for years (including this musical in a mall food court and the “frozen” Grand Central Terminal), the video below from a Belgian train station is the most impressive example of this kind of thing we’ve seen from overseas. Keep [...]

Climate change complicates ozone recovery

BALTIMORE, Maryland, April 10, 2009 (ENS) – Increasing greenhouse gases would delay or even postpone the recovery of ozone levels in the lower stratosphere over some parts of the planet, according to new research by scientists from NASA and Johns Hopkins University. Earth’s ozone layer is predicted to recover from the destruction caused by the [...]

THE BASTER: Eugenides takes on the rom-com

The story, which was first printed in The New Yorker in 1996, began like this: “Mix semen of three men. Stir vigorously. Fill turkey baster. Recline. Insert nozzle. Squeeze.” I can’t say how faithful the film adaptation will be. It stars Jason Bateman and Jennifer Aniston and is directed by the two men responsible for BLADES OF [...]

Colorado officials celebrate Rocky Mtn. National Park wilderness

ESTES PARK, Colorado, April 10, 2009 (ENS) – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar joined members of the Colorado congressional delegation and local officials Thursday to dedicate the Rocky Mountain National Park Wilderness Area, nearly 250,000 acres within the park that will be permanently protected from human impacts under the newly enacted Omnibus Public Lands [...]

EPA reconsiders Bush-era move to ease clean air rule in Alabama

ATLANTA, Georgia, April 10, 2009 (ENS) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today asked a federal appeals court to return to the agency a Bush administration decision that had weakened an Alabama air pollution regulation, in order to allow the current administration to reconsider. EPA’s action reflects a decision by the Obama administration not to [...]

Tilt-shift music video – real life in miniature

Bathtub IV from Keith Loutit on Vimeo. A whimsical simulated stop-motion, tilt-shift video that’s been making the rounds through the Internet. Created by Keith Loutit and set to the tune of Megan Washington’s song “Clementine.” I’m pretty much a sap for anything stop-motion or tilt-shift, so the fact that this video combines both techniques means [...]

Decoding Love with Andrew Trees

photo via DecodingLove.com If your Magic 8 Ball is a less-than-reliable dating guide, then author Andrew Trees has a better idea: Why not turn to the latest studies in economics, neurochemistry and game theory instead? We chatted with him about his latest book, Decoding Love: Why It Takes Twelve Frogs to Find a Prince and [...]

100 ways to kill a Peep

Marshmallow Peeps are like a pair of of Crocs sandals; you either love ‘em or hate ‘em. I belong to the latter group. Nothing against Peeps on a personal level, but I just prefer my Easter candy to be in the shape of a chocolate creme-filled egg (no, this is not a “viral” post sponsored [...]

Siftables: artificially intelligent toys

In this excellent short TED talk, an MIT grad student named David Merrill demonstrates the capabilities of Siftables, biscuit-size toy blocks that interact with each other using complex sensors. Siftables can be used to solve math problems, generate electronic music, create art, and tell stories: The technology used in Siftables is interesting on its own [...]

Project P.U.M.A: a greener solution for urban mobility?

With two seats, two wheels, and a maximum range of 25-35 miles (at 25-35 mph), the P.U.M.A. (which stands for Personal Urban Mobility & Accessibility) won’t work for your next road trip. But this new concept vehicle, a joint project of GM and Segway, may be just the ticket for the driving most of us [...]

Artist Karl Grandin

Let’s all raise a fist for Karl Grandin’s deliciously subversive art.

Gay marriage — all the cool kids are doing it

photo by Maxintosh Love must really be in the spring air this week: not one, but two states have legalized gay marriage in less than 7 days! Last Friday it was Iowa, and just this past Tuesday it was Vermont.  That brings the grand total of cool states dedicated to marriage equality up to four, [...]

Pet garbage

Once again proving the adage that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, Justin Gignac collects New York City garbage and carefully packages it in plastic cubes, which are then signed, dated, numbered, sealed and of course, available for purchase. [Via]

Salvaging the reputation of Howard the Duck (the comic book, not the film)

Jero the enka star

Jero aka Jerome Wright Jr, 27, is an African American singer from Pennsylvania who won the Best New Artist award at the Japan Record Awards show, the Japanese version of the Grammys. His style is “a melodramatic genre of Japanese music called enka” a form typically more popular with older generations. Jero was first exposed [...]

Said In Bed: as awkward as the act

Photo: camiodefractal In our fantasies, dirty talk is always perfectly executed–suave, sexy, and just the right amount of funny. In the real world, though… not so much. And don’t even get us started on the things people say after they’ve done the deed. Said In Bed peers into the awkward, horrifying, and occasionally endearing world [...]

Enter Sandman: simple filter could provide a safe water solution for millions

World Water Week has just ended; the need for clean, safe drinking water in many parts of the developing world hasn’t, however. While some scientists and engineers have focused on high-tech solutions to this crisis, Dr. Jeffrey Amburgey and his students at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte ground their water purification research in [...]

Nine Lives: LA artists at the Hammer

How could this not be a good idea? Let’s take nine of the world’s most ambitious, prolific, talented, and hard working artists (all from LA, in this case) and invite them to come together and bring whatever work they want to show. This is one of those shows I could rant on about, like Victoria [...]

The graffiti culture of Brazil

An interesting tour of Sao Paulo’s streets and buildings led by Joao Wainer, who explains pixação, a form of graffiti unique to this region. The night vision shots of locals climbing buildings to leave their paint marks are particularly hair-raising. [Via]

Wii graffiti

A German guy named Martin Lihs turned a Wii controller into a can of virtual spray paint. Here’s video of a recent WiiSpray demo: WiiSpray Teaser from Martin Lihs on Vimeo. [via Daring Fireball.]

Balancing renewable energy projects & public lands stewardship

America is on the verge of a renewable energy gold rush. Hundreds of applications for wind and solar projects have been filed on public lands. I think this is long overdue. We need sustainable energy to help us reduce global warming pollution, and we need it fast. But if we don’t handle this boom carefully, [...]

Music Video Spotlight: Amadou & Mariam, Sabali

Watch a quietly captivating unofficial music video concept for the catchy single, Sabali from Malian duo Amadou & Mariam. Their hotly anticipated album Welcome to Mali was recently released stateside on March 24. You can stream the entire album on their website. I’ll never look at two empty chairs the same way again! And here’s [...]

10 things you probably didn’t know about asexuality

photo by davidgljay A recent article by the director of a new documentary about asexuality reminded us that “asexual” is one of those terms that gets thrown around in casual conversation so much that it’s easy to forget what it really means (kind of like “passive-aggressive”). So here’s a brief primer for you. Asexuality is [...]

Juxtaposition

I hope this entry juxtaposing two art pieces, the former by Belgian commercial photographer and artist Koen Demuynck doesn’t “jump the shark.” See what I did there? Pun! Kudos to whoever can name the photographer behind the second photo, which I snapped at the 2009 Armory Show in New York City. vs. [Demuynck image via [...]