sundance

“TheyFit” condoms — first come, first served

TheyFit Condoms were the first sized-to-fit condoms available a few years back. (Before ordering, you actually needed to use their Fit Kit™ to measure “the Johnson in question.”) It was a revolutionary idea, but then they mysteriously disappeared from the market. Now they’re back at Condomania for a limited time, so we asked their CEO Adam Glickman what was up…

Bela Borsodi’s fashion faces

Austrian-born New York based Bela Borsodi is a brilliant photographer whose latest creation (a series of amusing faces constructed from strategically folded clothing) on behalf of Yalook is getting some hype. Here’s also a very interesting interview with the artist. [Via]

Clean Energy Economy a Bright Spot for Job Growth

WASHINGTON, DC, June 12, 2009 (ENS) – The number of jobs in America’s emerging clean energy economy grew about 2.5 times faster than overall jobs between 1998 and 2007, finds a report released Wednesday by The Pew Charitable Trusts. Included in Pew’s definition of the clean energy economy are jobs as diverse as engineers, plumbers, [...]

Banksy announces summer show

With this tasteful image on his website, street art superstar Banksy announced that his summer show will open June 13 with details to follow! [Via]

Hydropower Project Threatens Eco-Jewel of Pakistani Kashmir

Pakistan has initiated a massive hydropower project in its administrative part of Kashmir without fulfilling basic environmental obligations required for such development projects.

Was 30 Rock inspired by The Muppet Show?

In a surprisingly convincing analysis, blogger Brian Lynch points out a number of major structural parallels between 30 Rock and The Muppet Show. The similarities are so great that they almost seem like they were intentional–however unlikely that might be. Liz Lemon is Kermit, Jenna Maroney is Miss Piggy, Kenneth is Scooter, and so forth. [...]

SUNfiltered music videos

For this weekly entry, be sure to plug in your headphones or turn up your speakers. Here are five buzzy music videos circulating around the Internet that I found catchy and visually stimulating. Enjoy.

1. Popular mashup artist DJ Earworm’s latest includes Kanye’s “Heartless” and The Police, “Message in a Bottle,” as well as some others.

All in the family

Cher’s long been an icon to the gay community. She embraced camp from the beginning of her career. She was inappropriately sexy at ages most retire. She embraced disco, and later, house, music originated in gay nightclubs. And there are countless drag queens who owe a bit of inspiration to this lady. Hell, all drag queens have been inspired by her in one way or another.

Summer road trip, 1909 style

More than a decade before women had the right to vote in this country, Alice Ramsey became the first one to drive across it. The car was a 1909 Maxwell Model DA, given to her by Maxwell as a kind of advertising stunt with the idea that women would like the DA when they saw a woman driving it and encourage their husbands to buy one. It’s easy to misconstrue her journey as a statement about women’s rights, but Ramsey, 22 at the time and fresh out of Vassar, wasn’t exactly a suffragette. In fact she only accepted the challenge because it had already been done by a man.

Green tech finds (6/12/09)

It’s time for your weekly green technology fix…

• Charge your car while you’re betting the farm? Las Vegas’ Rampart Casino now offers electric car charging… (via Gas 2.0)
  
  

Loving Day

On this day in 1967, the Supreme Court unanimously decided in Loving v. Virginia that Virginia’s anti-miscegenation law was unconstitutional and violated both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

10 Things Your Father Inadvertently Taught You About Sex

It’s Fathers’s Day on Sunday, June 21st this year — don’t forget to call and thank him for all the wonderful advice. If you refuse to ask for directions, make sure you’ve got a nice, communicative lady (i.e. Garmin) to show you the way. Use headcovers for your woodies. Stand up straight, shake hands firmly [...]

EPA to Test 10,000 Indiana Yards for Lead from Ancient Factories

At least 10,000 more properties in residential neighborhoods of Evansville will be tested for lead and arsenic contamination in the soil of their yards, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 announced today.

Science and the city

Brian Greene, festival co-founder and theoretical physics professor at Columbia University, with the respected Dr. Bunson Honeydew

From June 10-14, New York City will host the second annual World Science Festival, a series of programs and lectures that highlight the big questions in science and how they influenced the big questions in other fields, like philosophy, ethics, and the arts. The festival’s primary mission is “to cultivate and sustain a general public informed by the content of science, inspired by its wonder, convinced of its value, and prepared to engage with its implications for the future,” a reminder that that science part of all of our lives, from the philosophical to the practical, and is worth knowing about.

Hybrid American Chestnut Trees Are Carbon Storage Champions

WEST LAFAYETTE, Indiana, June 11, 2009 (ENS) – A new hybrid of the American chestnut tree could not only revive the nearly extinct species, but also help limit the amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere, according to new research from Purdue University. Douglass Jacobs, an associate professor of forestry and natural resources, found [...]

Boys beware

The short film BOYS BEWARE, made in 1961, is an anti-gay PSA directed by Sid Davis. It is proof that we’ve come such a long way in the struggle for equality. It would also make me angry, that is, if it was not so damn funny. Beware!

Summer activities for the green at heart: sustainable agriculture tours

Got a big trip planned to the beach, mountains, or lake this summer? Maybe not: with our current economic doldrums, you may well have cut back on summer travel plans. If you’re looking for activities closer to home this year that won’t cost big bucks, it just so happens that summer is also the season for sustainable farm tours… and there’s likely one near you coming up. Here are just a few upcoming events that will allow you to see more sustainable agriculture in action, as well as provide you with an education on where your food comes from…

I heart slow film

Recently a friend came over and cooked Kale slowly… so slowly in fact that it seemed like an eternity (maybe 2+ hours) to make a pasta that was… delicious. His wife claims that when she makes it, it’s not nearly as good because she’s impatient and cooks it fast. We talked about the “Slow Food” movement briefly… basically the mission to counteract the fast food and fast life we have today with an emphasis on local food, traditions and a focus on how food is made and how it tastes. I couldn’t help but think that maybe we need to think about film in a similar way… Could there be a slow film movement? Could we counteract the “fast” films we have today with an emphasis on films made locally, focusing on the filmmaking process and how we then experience it?

Want to green your workplace? Danny Seo shows you how…

Most tips and suggestions for living more sustainably focus on your home. That makes sense, as you have the most control over the energy and other resources you use there. But what about the office? Have you noticed practices there that make your inner greenie cringe, or even scream?

The US Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR program has just released a video featuring eco-lifestyle guru Danny Seo discussing ideas for bringing green to work.

Magical remixed “house” of Disney

Aussie “Pogo” is creating a bit of buzz on the Internet with his electronica music video remixes of old classic Disney songs. I’m absolutely loving his most recent effort, “Expialidocious” from MARY POPPINS. Be sure to check out his other remixes at his YouTube page.

Gay animal kingdom

While the issue of same sex relationships ruffles the feathers of various tribes among the supposedly higher brain functioning bipedal primate sub species of homo sapiens, this is barely a controversy in the rest of the animal kingdom who seem to all shrug their collective shoulders or fins or wings at gay and lesbian lifestyles. Scienceray lists ten animals comfortable with same sex partnerships.

Preventing risky teen sex: Father knows best

A friend of ours is fond of telling new dads, “Your most important job is to keep your daughter off the stripper pole.” Well, a new study kind of proves his point, if you’re willing to accept “stripper pole” as a sort of overarching metaphor for everything from early sexual activity to teen pregnancy to self-destructive tendencies in the sack. (Yes, we know not all strippers are young single mothers who’ve made bad choices, and some happily choose stripping as a lucrative career; but we’d bet that any father of a young girl would file random hook-ups, barebacking AND stripping in a category labeled “sex-related shit I hope to god my daughter never engages in.”) This is the stuff that makes fathers want to sit in a rocker on the front porch holding a shotgun. The study found that when it comes to preventing risky teen sex, teenagers whose fathers are more attentive and more involved in their lives are less likely to engage in risky activities like unprotected intercourse. Attentive moms help too, of course — but researchers found that dads have twice the influence.

Without you she’s nothing

Tonight lesbian icon Sandra Bernhard will perform her classic show Without You I’m Nothing at New York City’s Town Hall. The one woman show played off-Broadway as the 80s died down and it was her creative, critical and commercial peak. She’s not danced with mainstream crossover possibilities since. Roseanne doesn’t count.

Spielberg approves of pending robot apocalypse

Why, Steven? WHY?

Remember our post about IBM’s latest supercomputer, Watson, who (or is it which?) will be competing on Jeopardy? Not to be out done, Microsoft announced at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo their latest achievement-to-be : Project Natal. Project Natal aims to be a “controller-free gaming and entertainment experience,” hopefully making the XBox 360 and gaming overall more approachable.

While the prospect of a more immersive entertainment experience is highly appealing to many, this new chapter in technology is opening new doors for human interaction with artificial intelligence that were only possible in science fiction films such as Steven Spielberg‘s A.I. Developed for years at Lionhead Studios under the pseudonym The Dimitri Project, Milo is a new brand of AI that totally blew every attendee at E3 away.

Learn more about Milo and Spielberg’s thoughts on Project Natal and how it relates to technological advancement…

Diane von Furstenberg on the High Line

Diane von Furstenberg with Friends of the High Line co-founders, Joshua David and Robert Hammond

Sundancechannel.com is thrilled to present our guest blogger this week – the beautiful and inspirational Diane von Furstenberg! The designer was an early proponent of the High Line and continues to lend her support to the exciting new elevated park (now open – see New York Times) in Manhattan.

Read more of Diane’s thoughts on the High Line!