sundance

Protest signs: sad or funny?

As health care reform is debated in the Congress and the media, more and more protesters are taking to the streets. From town hall meetings to last week’s Tea Party march on Washington, anti-Obama protests are gaining in number and occurrence. While I am thankful that this country promotes free thought and encourages and protects [...]

A CHEMICAL REACTION comes to the film festival circuit

When dermatologist June Irwin first stood up in 1985 to speak at a Hudson, Quebec, town council meeting about the potential link between synthetic lawn pesticide and herbicide use and human and animal illnesses, she was written off as a flake. Irwin persisted, though, attending “every single town meeting in Hudson for six consecutive years [...]

NY Post: Today more phony than normal

As I walked south on Sixth Avenue this morning, like any thinking person, I declined two different people’s attempts to give me a free copy of the New York Post. Not really my kind of paper. It wasn’t until I got comfortable at my desk and read the day’s news, online natch, that I realized [...]

Golden age of pop ups

The latest issue of New York Magazine highlighted the recent trend of “pop up” shops and mobile food trucks, suggesting that we may be entering “some kind of a pop-up golden age.” For those unfamiliar, designers and retailers, big and small, have lately opened shops in temporary locations for a limited time. The food truck [...]

A love letter from Washington

How novel is this? A politician sends out an email to his supporters and doesn’t ask for money…he doesn’t ask you to write letters about policy…or to volunteer your time to some campaign. He simply asks you to “remember a funny story about someone you love, smile, and be thankful.”

We heart Al Franken. Thank goodness he’s one of the Minnesota senators now.

This past Saturday, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the night he met Franni, his wife, he emailed all of his supporters basically an open love letter to her, acknowledging that he wouldn’t be where he is today — the United States Congress — without her. Those with a block of ice for a heart might find this a little too precious, or perhaps even inappropriate for a man in public office, but we think it’s comforting to know that at least one politician in Washington is actually a human being. Even better, a human being with a romantic streak. Here’s the letter:

Animated amigurumi ukulele duo

This video for Japanese ukulele duo, U900′s cover of “Walk, Don’t Run” originally by The Ventures features the cutest animated amigurumis or crocheted creatures ever. This is an improvement on the instrument which my sixth grade elementary school teacher used to strum while forcing, I mean leading us in a singalong. Also, check out this [...]

They Might Be Giants teach science

Science class is in session with Grammy award winning band They Might Be Giants as they teach the periodic table elements in this animated music video for “Meet the Elements” which debuted on Boing Boing. This song is from their new album Here Comes Science, which is aimed at entertaining and educating (or “edumataining”) children [...]

The world’s largest swimming pool

Summer’s moved on from NYC and Autumn has arrived early. This is saddening as summer just does not seem to last as long these days (maybe it is because NYC has become the new Seattle). So when I stumbled upon these pictures in the Los Angeles Times of the world’s largest swimming pool I immediately [...]

ASIA EXTREME: J-Quirk and The New Surrealism

If one were to survey Japanese films that have been distributed in America over the last thirty to forty years, certain patterns would form. Works from the great masters, historical epics, dramas, monster movies and of course horror have certainly been well represented for decades. But one genre that’s severely lacking is comedy. In 1985, Juzo Itami’s noodle-western TAMPOPO became a smash hit, playing to sell-out crowds for months. However, since that time there haven’t been many Japanese comedies to find their way into the cultural zeitgeist, but that’s not for lack of material.

Brasstronaut, “Old World Lies” music video

“Motion picture collective focusing on music videos and narrative films,” Salazar and band Brasstronaut took to the open water for three days to create this neat aquatic video for “Old World Lies.” Brasstronaut – Old World Lies from Salazar on Vimeo. [Via]

Art and sour cream on the High Line

The High Line continues to be a hit here in NYC. This summer the park’s popularity has been enormous and will only continue to grow if these guys keep doing fun, innovative things with the space. Case in point was yesterday’s launch of High Line Art, which is a series of commissions and creative partnerships [...]

Buy Ingmar Bergman’s life

“This is my wish and no discussion or emotional tumult must come as a result.” Those are words from Ingmar Bergman’s will regarding his wish to sell all of his possessions after his death. If you never thought you could own the desk where Bergman wrote many of his scripts or the bed he slept [...]

Jeffersonville, Indiana Must Minimize Sewage Overflows to Ohio River

The city of Jeffersonville has agreed to make extensive improvements to its sewer systems to reduce the city’s long-standing sewage overflows into the Ohio River at a cost that is estimated to run between $100 and $150 million.

FULL FRONTAL FASHION Roundup

For those of you who don’t know, we kicked off a new style destination called FULL FRONTAL FASHION. It’s full of blog posts, videos and photos from the the world of contemporary fashion. Think of this as your FULL FRONTAL FASHION cliff notes. Rodarte went Tribal during their New York Fashion Week show. Patrick McMullan [...]

Breathe Easy, Bush Smog Standards to Be Reviewed by EPA

The 2008 national smog standards adopted by the Bush administration will be reconsidered to ensure they are “scientifically sound and protective of human health,” the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday.

Korean Air ad lays it on thick

This ad from Korean Air called “The Color of Perfection” has been around for a while, but it’s making the rounds again on some of the news networks (just accidentally saw it during a commercial break of the awesome “Rachel Maddow Show” after an amateur forwarding maneuver on TiVo). Some have referred to it as [...]

Interview with Invader

Parisian street artist Invader’s instantly recognizable colorful mosaics have invaded urban landscapes in over 40 cities from around the world from Bangkok to Kenya to Tokyo. Using the classic 1978 Atari video game Space Invaders as an early point of reference, Invader starting in 1996 began installing pixelized mosaics of Space Invaders as well as [...]

Investors Worth $13 Trillion Urge Strong Global Climate Treaty

The world’s largest global investors today issued a joint call for strong action this year from U.S. and international policy makers to control global warming. Signed by 181 investors, who collectively manage more than $13 trillion in assets worldwide, the statement on the “urgent need for global agreement on climate change” was released at the International Investor Forum on Climate Change in New York.

Wild Thing: Spike Jonze

Usually in Hollywood we hear stories about how a director’s vision is compromised and corrupted by the influence of big business, movie heads, and focus groups. The New York Times Magazine ran a story about Spike Jonze’s journey of bringing Maurice Sendak’s brilliant, iconic Where the Wild Things Are to life. It seems in this case, art, and the good guy, have won.

UK government apologies to Alan Turing

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown last week issued a postmortem formal apology to Alan Turing for its “appalling” and “utterly unfair” treatment of Turing because he was gay. Turing was a brilliant English “mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst” whose work led to the breaking of World War II Germany’s Enigma codes as well as developing theories which [...]

Green tech finds (9/17/09)

Things that go “zoom”… plus online tomato swapping, bike power harnessing, and another good reason to upgrade to Snow Leopard. Green tech finds galore…

• Online vegetable trading: Got more tomatoes from your garden then you could possibly eat? Really want some homegrown watermelon? Veggie Trader is a new site that allow you to “…trade, buy or sell local homegrown produce.” (via Planet Green)
  
  
• EVs hit prime time: Prime time television, that is: Jay Leno plans to host a “Green Car Challenge” regularly on his new show that will feature “…celebrities who will take turns trying to best one another’s track times in a specially prepared Ford Focus-based battery car.” (via Examiner.com)
  
  

Stanley Tucci’s BLIND DATE

After Dutch director Theo Van Gogh (yes, he’s related to Vincent) was murdered in 2004 as a result of making SUBMISSION (many Muslims thought it was overly critical of Islam), American actors have been practically queuing up to direct English-language versions of his films. Steve Buscemi was first with INTERVIEW (2007), and up next to pay homage is Stanley Tucci, whose remake of Van Gogh’s 1996 BLIND DATE premiered at Sundance last year.

Take a bow, or not

As Fashion Week winds down here in the Big Apple and the dust settles many a gay are left talking about what’s happening in fashion. Yes, we gays discuss fashion. I know, shocking.

The press is picking up on a new trend that even I, one of the biggest gays in this oh-so gay town, could not possibly pull off. Bows. Yes, those bows. The ones on Minnie Mouse’s head and your Prom date’s satin pink dress. Those bows.

Alabama Supreme Court upholds sex toy ban

photo by steakpinball

We have a special place in our hearts for Sherri Williams: the owner of a sex toy store called Love Stuff in Hoover, Alabama, she has been fighting her state’s ban on sex toys since the law was enacted in 1998. Yep, you read right, 1998: this isn’t an antiquated law Williams is trying to scrape off the books, it’s a shiny new law to keep all good vibrations out of Alabama. Sadly, her 11-year legal battle just hit a dead-end in the state’s Supreme Court: They voted 7-2 to reject a challenge to the state law that bans the sale of sex toys except for limited purposes.

United Steaks of America

New Jersey commercial photographer Dominic Episcipo’s red meat photograph series “United Steaks of America” is currently on display as part of The Museum of Pennsylvania’s competitive, juried group art exhibition, “Art of the State.” This show is open through September 20.