sundance

Pitchfork’s top 500 tracks of the 2000s

As the first decade of the 2000s quickly approaches curtains, Pitchfork, an influential if not at times controversial online music review, is counting down this entire week to their top 500 tracks (accompanied by streaming versions for your immediate listening gratification) of this decade. Ladies, gents, hipsters, and music snobs, begin your snarking debate now! [...]

Las Vegas betting on green

As a former resident of Las Vegas, I can attest to the obvious: with its air conditioned high-rise hotel/casinos, massive water features, and cookie-cutter gated developments as far as the eye can see, Sin City isn’t exactly a model of resource efficiency. Of course, many places aren’t… but Vegas’ unique combination of resource scarcity and [...]

First Ladies showing some skin

This morning’s Today Show had Matt Lauer discussing Michelle Obama’s legs and the appropriateness of the First Lady wearing shorts. Yes, sadly, this is news. But wait a minute Mr. Newscaster. Mrs. Obama is not the first First Lady to show some skin. Some have shown even more.

You gotta fight for your right to go topless.

In most places in America, men are free to walk around in public without a shirt on–while women who attempt to do so risk harassment, fines, and even arrest. While some might see that as a natural difference between the sexes, others see it as a cruel double standard. And they’re planning on fighting it…by [...]

Window dressing storefronts for the times

As the economy is forcing many businesses to close leaving storefronts shuttered, artist James Reynolds came upon this genius solution that addresses the unsightliness of the boarded up and empty stores.

Rediscovering Neneh Cherry

Andreas Kleerup’s just released eponymous album is remarkable. He out-Röyksopps Röyksopp on the release, which features haunting and bubbling synths and those emotional, yet detached, Swedish ingénue voices: Robyn, Titiyo, and, surprisingly, Neneh Cherry.

Color in motion

This three part video series by Quintessenz Creation, apparently a German art collective, depicting different colored paint crawl, streak, and spread like veins across a room is quite spectacular. Their latest (see third video below) is especially fantastic.

See more color in motion…

Bat/Boy love

Thanks to the folks over at World of Wonder we finally have proof of what most gays have presumed for years. Now if only someone somewhere would make this movie.

Green music festivals throw parties with a purpose

What’s the environmental footprint of the average music festival? Add up the following factors:

• Transportation energy: all of those fans, bands and vendors have to get there.
• On-site energy: from stage lights to refrigeration, many elements of a festival require electricity… sometimes a lot of it.
• Trash: just feeding hundreds, or thousands, of people can send literally tons of waste to the landfill
• Water: Lots of people generally means lots of toilets flushing… and hands being washed… and thirsts being quenched.
  
  

OK, we don’t have exact numbers, but you can see that 2-4 days of music and fun can create quite an impact. A number of festivals around the world have decided to address that impact; others have built their events around ecological awareness. In both cases, organizers are addressing resource use and efficiency, and trying lighten the load of these events on the planet.

Naked news (08-18-09)

photo by babasteve

• In horrifying international news: A new Afghan bill allows a man to withhold food from his wife if she refuses his sexual demands.
  
  
• In no-duh news: Kids use the web to look up “sex.”
  
  

Tom’s Diner and other rock landmarks uncovered

Spin recently tracked down the Top 10 Rock’n'Roll Landmarks and I was shocked to find out that places like Tom’s Diner and Fountains of Wayne actually exist. Each of the ten locations listed feature the musical reference (there really is a Sound Garden) and also interesting facts (Springsteen’s Cadillac Ranch cars are planted at 52 degree angles –the same as Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Giza).

Spices that kill

Killer spices: Rosemary, Mint, and Thyme

If you like to cook, or just enjoy a good meal, than you’re probably a fan of spices such as rosemary, thyme, clove, and mint. Turns out these seasonings can be deadly… to bugs. A group of Canadian scientists are researching the insecticidal value of these spices, and that could be good news for farmers looking to meet growing demand for organic fruits and vegetables.

Hercules and Love Affair

Before he found a home in disco, Andy Butler DJ’d at a leather bar in Denver called Chocolate Thunder Pussy. He was 15 years old. Now he’s the ringleader of a rotating collective of singers, dancers and DJ’s called Hercules and Love Affair. The name came from a childhood interest in Greek mythology. “I just loved the notion that this myriad group of gods and goddesses could come down at any moment and interrupt your life or point you in a certain direction, or give you some kind of tool to use in order to help you achieve something.” And for a group that crosses every gender and orientation, Hercules, a powerful and outspoken bisexual, is a fitting hero.

Kurt Cobain’s F bomb

The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday on the 15th anniversary of Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain’s suicide. His hometown of Aberdeen, Washington has seen some controversy lately concerning a makeshift park situated under a bridge in which the rocker hung out and once wrote songs. Recently, granite plaques have appeared around the area featuring Cobain [...]

Bonn Climate Talks Move at Glacial Pace

Negotiations toward a new agreement to limit global warming ended today in Bonn with little progress, United Nations officials and conservationists said.

Australian Senate Kills Carbon Emissions Trading Scheme

The Australian Senate Thursday defeated the Rudd Government’s attempt to limit climate change with a carbon emissions trading scheme and 10 related bills.

Sunday nights with Don Draper

A scene from the first of episode of season 3

After waiting ten months to see their witheringly cynical faces again, MAD MEN is back in all its wife cheating, sharp suit wearing, cocktail sipping glory. To amp up for the premier of season three, AMC sponsored a variety of Mad Men themed happenings around NYC last week, like free fedoras at Friday night’s Met’s game, old timey cocktails at the Hilton (which any good bar should be able to make, Mad Men fever or not) and the costume contest prior to the Times Square screening last night. Going to Times Square, especially in costume, has never been my idea of a fun night out, so instead of sweating side by side with strangers on another sweltering summer night, I was perfectly content to watch the first episode of season three on my couch.

Pac-Man live: Patrick Runte’s Photography

I don’t speak German so I cannot tell you much about the photographer Patrick Runte. But I did stumble upon his website via Meta Filter and I’m smitten. His live model photographs depicting old video games, like Pac-Man and Tetris, are remarkable and smart. I found a quote of his online discussing the images: The work is [...]

5 second films

YMMV or “your mileage may vary” with some of the efforts, but 5 Second Films is a website collection of various original independent (very independent) shorts that are, yup you guessed it, exactly 5 seconds long with a couple seconds additional for title and credits. I like this pun-titled one and this short made me [...]

Candie’s “sexes up” abstinence campaign

We guess it was only a matter of time before the true-love-waits crew decided to use sex to sell abstinence. After all, if sex can sell anything — even, ew, toilet paper — why shouldn’t it be used to promote the very absence of sex? That’s so po-mo our heads hurt. But here’s what really [...]

Human skateboard

Created for a shoe company by PES, this stop motion animated video of a skateboarders riding a “human skateboard” is very pretty sweet, although I can’t help but think how uncomfortable the “skateboard” was during the shoot of it. Also, check out these previous skateboarding-centric entries here. Lastly, here’s a wall shelf made from a [...]

Evolution of the Squirt Gun

Jason Polan illustrated for GOOD Magazine a great infographic, a comprehensive graphic depicting the evolution of the preferred nonlethal playground weapon of the summer: the squirt or water gun. It’s amazing how much the Super Soakers dominated the Nineties. For good reason because they absolutely dominated. Click here to enlarge. Relatedly, check out this guy’s [...]

Trashy fashion

Posted on DeviantArt, a popular online community for a wide range of artists to showcase and share their art, a talented user posted an impressive dress made from recycled materials as her final piece for college. It’s made from newspapers, plastic bags, bin liners, curtains, and old fake fur. She also made this small matching [...]

Clean Energy Manufacturers Eligible for $2.3B in Recovery Act Tax Credits

As part of the economic stimulus package, $2.3 billion in tax credits will go to manufacturers of advanced clean energy equipment, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the U.S. Department of Energy jointly announced Thursday.

Ammonia Spills in Nebraska, Kansas Cost Pipeline Firms $3.65M

pipeline company and two of its former operating firms will jointly pay a civil penalty of $3.65 million to settle violations of the Clean Water Act resulting from anhydrous ammonia spills in Nebraska and Kansas, the Justice Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today.