sundance

Balloons go Pop!

Last week people around the world were bombarded with news about balloons. The balloon boy and his attention starved parents were on every channel for what seemed like endless hours. It’s quite sad that other balloon folks, those from the Balloon Art World Challenge, were overlooked by most press outlets. Held in Bangkok, the challenge [...]

How people use online communities

The I Can Has Cheezburger online empire was started by Ben Huh and it is from here where 99.9 percent of all those photos your friends and family forward to you of cats and dogs doing “LOL” things originate from. Those laughs have translated into a lot of web traffic and money for Ben. GraphJam [...]

GE to Power World’s Largest Carbon Sequestration Project

The world’s largest carbon dioxide capture and storage project under Barrow Island off Australia’s west coast, will be powered with compression equipment supplied by GE Oil & Gas, the company announced today.

Petition Seeks Protection for 83 Coral Species in U.S. Waters

The Center for Biological Diversity today filed a formal petition asking the federal government to protect 83 imperiled coral species under the Endangered Species Act and to designate critical habitat to ensure their survival and recovery.

Planting hemp seeds on DEA front lawn gets farmers arrested

Industrial hemp may be one of the most versatile and environmentally benign crops out there, but because of its relationship to marijuana, the cultivation of this crop has been banned in the United States since the late thirties. Last week, a group of farmers, along with David Bronner, president of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, staged a protest in front of the Drug Enforcement Agency in Washington, DC, and were promptly arrested for planting hemp seeds on the agency’s front lawn.

Louisville, Kentucky’s hard up for visitors

It would take a lot to get me to agree to go on a vacation to Kentucky. No judgment there, just not my thing. But after seeing the above television ad I just might change my mind. Lampooning the ridiculous ads for erectile dysfunction medications this spot proves that there are some pretty funny people [...]

Naked News (10-20-09)

photo via The U.S. National Archives

• I was going to have sex…and then I got high. New study shows that pot-smoking may cut a man’s sex life short.
  
  
• Speaking of pot-smoking hippies, a federal judge in San Francisco refused to dismiss a constitutional challenge to Proposition 8, ruling that a trial was required to resolve legal and factual disputes over the voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage. Baby steps…
  
  

HALLOWEEN

Photo credit: Linda Simpson

Halloween is terrifying! It brings swarms of normally well behaved adults into the streets, where they stomp around oozing pus and looking like ghouls—and some of them aren’t even in costume.

This year, October 31 falls on a Saturday, so the terror alert will be even higher in scary-enough New York City. That’s the night the bridge-and-tunnel people invade Manhattan every week for low-budget thrill seeking, and anyone sane double bolts himself inside his apartment while ritualistically throwing garlic out the window. As a B-and-T person myself (I’m from Brooklyn), I know just how crass and awful these people can be. And when you add vampire fangs and Sarah Palin drag on them—not mutually exclusive motifs, by the way–the effect is even more chilling than the SAW series.

Beatbox hip hop medley

Brett Domino and Scott Peavis, two of the Brett Domino Trio, nerdify Hip Hop by performing this medley of rap classics such as “Rappers Delight” and “Jump Around.” They are using the Stylophone beatbox, which reproduces sounds that were originally created, not by a computer, but by a MAN, or less dramatically, beatboxing champ, MC [...]

‘Crude,’ the Film, Explores Oil Giants’ Crude Conduct in Ecuador

The acclaimed documentary film “Crude,” which details the 16-year struggle of indigenous peoples in Ecuador’s Amazon to hold Chevron legally accountable for contamination of a huge rainforest area, opens in Washington, DC on Friday during intense scrutiny of a $27 billion liability lawsuit against the oil giant.

Solar Decathlon: The Envelope, Please…

While the 2009 Solar Decathlon officially wrapped up yesterday, the winners of the solar-powered home design competition were announced Friday morning. While sixteen of the twenty student teams hailed from the US, an international competitor took the gold: Team Germany received the highest number of points, and scored a repeat of its ’07 win.

Can you find Liu Bolin?

The Chinese government loves when their citizens seek to fit into society, but Liu Bolin takes it a step further by literally fitting into his everyday surroundings. The government seems to have caught onto the irony and shut down his studio in 2005. That certainly hasn’t stopped Bolin, who continues his work in hopes of [...]

Urban camouflage

LA artist Joshua Callaghan’s comissioned public art project is the inverse of typical street art and graffiti. Rather than painting images that disrupts public spaces, Callaghan takes on unsightly utility boxes littering Los Angeles neighborhoods by covering them with vinyl digital images that resemble their surroundings. The paradoxical result is that these boxes attract more [...]

The softer (and harder) sides of Disney’s heroes, by David Kawena

image: Aladdin from the “Disney Hereos” series by David Kawena Wow. Have you seen these? Especially all you people out there who are into dudes? They’re David Kawena’s digital art series “Disney’s Heroes” — the once-G-rated male leads of the Magic Kingdom re-imagined with a lot fewer clothes. So naughty, yet still kinda sweet. He’s done [...]

50 years of space exploration in a giant poster

National Geographic released an amazing gigantic online infographic depicting our humankind’s exploration of space over the past 50 years. The geekier corners of the Internet, including this one (being a geek is a badge of honor, friends! Or at least that’s what I told myself while growing up) went predictably agog over this. There have [...]

Doc, note I dissent a fatness. I diet on cod.

Popular stand-up comedian and actor Demetri Martin has cornered the palindrome joke market as evidenced by his epic 224 word palindrome poem. Palindrome of course “is a word, phrase, number or other sequence of units that can be read the same way in either direction.” If this tickles your funny bone, then you will probably [...]

Toyota Prius Tops 2010 Vehicle Fuel Economy Guide

The Toyota Prius hybrid leads the 2010 model cars in fuel efficiency with 51 miles per gallon on the highway and 48 mpg in city driving conditions, according to the latest federal government ratings for fuel efficiency.

FULL FRONTAL FASHION roundup

Think of this as your FULL FRONTAL FASHION cliff notes. Our pick this week in Who_What_Where: Molly, who’s street style is painfully sweet. Tim Burton and Tim Walker team up and give you exactly what you think they would: eerie, beautiful fantasy photos. Lynn Yaeger becomes the ultimate party hopper in a tutu.  But when [...]

Portroids: signed polaroid portraits of the famous

Our society’s obsession with celebrity gossip has only become magnified and proliferated in the digital age as celebrity photos du jour appear seemingly simultaneously on countless gossip blogs and websites, where publication turnaround times often lap the mainstream gossip periodicals. Moreover, the rapid dissemination of a single photograph within this cultural echo chamber especially within [...]

Kanye West glows in the dark

Love him or hate him, one thing is for certain: you’ve talked about Kanye West this year. He’s the arrogant buffoon who bullied a teen girl in front of millions. He’s the rap star who at the top of his game turned his back on hip-hop’s school of thought and made a techno-pop album where he sings. He’s remarkably annoying.

Michael Musto to join SUNfiltered next week!

We are happy to announce that Michael Musto will be joining our diverse and talented team of SUNfiltered bloggers next week.  Please welcome him to the mix! We’re sure you know Michael from the Village Voice where he writes and has his blog, Le Daily Musto. For his SUNfiltered column Musto will do what he [...]

Water Polluters Beware: EPA Plans to Enforce Clean Water Act

At a Congressional hearing today held to mark the 37th year since passage of the Clean Water Act, U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced that the agency is stepping up its efforts to enforce the law.

A Sundance Channel Original Documentary : EVENTUAL SALVATION

Founded in 1847 as a home for former African-American slaves, the West African nation of Liberia has welcomed generations of expatriate Americans fleeing racism. One such immigrant was Earnestine “Amma” Smith, who settled in the capital, Monrovia, in 1958. An educator and landowner, Amma fled her new home during the recent deadly civil wars.

Let’s end Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell…finally

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c The Gay After Tomorrow www.thedailyshow.com Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Ron Paul Interview We sure do wish Jon Stewart and “The Daily Show” would address reproductive rights more…ever. Oh, well, nobody’s perfect. At least there’s one sexual issue they tackle well…and often: [...]

Historical tweets

What if everyone’s current favorite micro-blogging service, Twitter was available when various historical notables were around? What would Joan of Arc tweet? Abraham Lincoln? Johannes Gutenberg? Well, Historical Tweets takes a peek into the 140-character limit archives and share snippets from the lives of these historical figures and others. Speaking of Twitter, you can follow [...]