sundance

THE INVENTION OF LYING

In Mark’s (Ricky Gervais) world, people are genetically incapable of lying, and since no one lies, no one is suspicious or questions anything. If you told these people you were freezing when you just meant you were cold they would take you literally. Same thing goes for Santa and the Tooth Fairy. Basically everyone operates [...]

This Must Be It: Röyksopp’s odd new video

It is no secret that I adore Swedish electro-pop. I have since I first discovered ABBA. Then Roxette. Neneh Cherry. Robyn. And of course Röyksopp. Last month I posted a link to a free download for “This Must Be It,” their new single featuring the vocals of Karin Dreijer Andersson. The video for that song [...]

Naked News (10-06-09)

photo by Brian_L_Romig

• One step forward in Texas: A judge in Dallas just ruled that it would hear a divorce suit by a gay couple who were married outside of Texas, even though same-sex marriages are banned in the state. (Perhaps they heard our recent suggestion to the state of Indiana that it’s Good Family Values to dissolve a marriage you didn’t think should exist in the first place.)
• …and one step back: The University of North Texas student senate voted down a proposal allowing same-sex couples to run for homecoming king and queen.

Only existing video of Anne Frank

The only known film recording of Anne Frank was posted by the Anne Frank Museum recently on their official YouTube channel, where it has since been viewed over 1.6 million times. The grainy home video recorded on July 22, 1941 briefly captures a curious 13-year-old Anne leaning out the window to observe a neighbor’s wedding. [...]

Sneaker souls

Last week NPR’s show All Things Considered reported about the on-going feud between Adidas and Puma, two German shoe makers and mega brands, that put their differences aside for one day in honor of peace. The companies were founded by brothers Adolf and Rudolf Dassler, who after a falling out after World War II, went separate [...]

Too Good: Studio TooGood’s egg shop

I am obsessed and eggstatic about Studio TooGood’s and Arabeschi di Latte’s new collaboration. The Hatch is a conceptual art space created for London Design Festival that scrambles together pop art and eggs. Yes, an art installation that serves egg dishes to designeratti? Brilliant.

Green theatre comes to Berkeley

If you take a look at the current season for Berkeley’s Aurora Theatre Company, none of the plays should strike you as particularly “green.” Yet on September 29, Aurora became the first professional residential theater company in the Bay Area to be certified as a green business by the Alameda County Green Business Program and the Bay Area Green Business Program. The Company accomplished this not by staging plays on climate change and recycling, but by implementing some major changes in operations, including:

More FANTASTIC MR. FOX

While it’s not out until November 13th, there have been plenty of teasers and trailers and behind-the-scenes sneak peaks to keep us satiated until the much-aniticpated release of FANTASTIC MR. FOX. This one, courtesy of Wired, is appropriately tech-heavy and shows the intricate system of cameras and computers that allow production units in various locations to [...]

Depeche Mode remaining relevant with videos

Depeche Mode “Hole To Feed” from Eric Wareheim on Vimeo.

Depeche Mode, relics of techno-pop, survivors of the 1980s are still crafting fantastic, and relevant, music. While surfing, of all places, Kanye West’s blog, I came across their video for “Hole To Feed” from their most recent album Sounds of the Universe. It says something that Kanye is citing the band as an inspiration.

Mechanical tumor

Looking like something out a bio-mechanical experiment run amok, interactive media artist Mio I-zawa’s lifelike “mechanical tumor” is one of the more grotesque things I’ve seen. The pulsating tumor, “equipped with a series of motors and pneumatic actuators” responds accordingly to the stress experienced by the computer to which it is connected. View the must-watch [...]

Art Forum Berlin

Despite an overall tightening of belts, the 14th annual Art Forum Berlin reported a good turn out after wrapping last week. It’s no wonder, though, with its reputation for exhibiting some of the best and exciting new talent around, with a few big names thrown in for good measure. This year seasoned photographers like Ryan [...]

ASIA EXTREME: Scary Cell Phones, Computers, Trees, Apartments, etc.

Of the many popular genres in contemporary Asian cinema, none has experienced the kind of growth and success like horror, and over the last decade or so it’s grown into an impressive phenomenon that has racked up dedicated and loyal followers worldwide. Yet even outside of the fanboy crowd, the Japanese horror film, or J-Horror (and its Korean equivalent K-Horror), has become the subject of serious critical study, and multiple volumes have been written on the subject.

Crazy Vegas billboard

Sometimes what happens in Vegas simply can’t stay in Vegas. While driving through Sin City this past weekend, Lo saw the crazy-ass billboard above — so crazy-ass that she had to pull the car over and take a picture. Now, we’re no prudes. Okay, we’re kinda prudes. But we’re happy to talk openly and honestly [...]

Music video: Firefly Effect, “All The Jokes Are On Me”

I enjoyed the un-distilled and amateurish flickering animation in the video for Firefly Escape’s “All the jokes are on me.” It took a very dedicated and patient director David Mahler four months to illustrate the 1,640 hand drawn and water-colored frames used in the video. Firefly Effect – All The Jokes Are On Me from [...]

Salazar Signs Decision on Navajo-Gallup Water Supply

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today joined New Mexico’s congressional delegation to advance a vital water supply project that will provide clean, safe and reliable water to a quarter of a million people in the Navajo Nation, the Jicarilla Apache Nation and the city of Gallup, New Mexico.

Governors’ Global Climate Summit Backs Treaty With Teeth

At the Governors’ Global Climate Summit today, 30 governors, premiers, mayors and senior officials from around the world and the United Nations declared that workable solutions to global warming exist and they want a strong climate deal to emerge from negotiations in Copenhagen this December.

Obama Administration Backs Overhaul of Toxic Chemicals Law

Principles to guide Congress in writing a new chemical risk management law that will fix weaknesses in the current law, were announced by U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson on Tuesday.

FULL FRONTAL FASHION roundup

Think of this as your FULL FRONTAL FASHION cliff notes. Looks designed by threeASFOUR ThreeASFOUR connects the dots at New York Fashion Week. Body puppets from WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE will be the number #1 costume this year. Go behind the scenes with FASHION IN PROGRESS.  It just goes to show that a fashion [...]

How to write a love letter, by Georgia O’Keeffe

Blue Flower, 1918

We’re not surprised in the slightest to discover that Georgia a-flower-is-never-just-a-flower O’Keeffe was quite the steamy letter writer. Her love letters to the (ahem, married at the time) photographer and modern art promoter Alfred Stieglitz have just been published as part of a new exhibit at the Whitney Museum of American Art. The two married eventually, and Stieglitz cheated on O’Keeffe eventually, too, so we guess karma already did all the judging for us. Which means that we can just read the letters as inspiration — look what happens when you don’t let Hallmark do all the drudge work for you:

California Launches Largest Energy-Efficiency Effort in U.S. History

The California Public Utilities Commission says it wants to make energy efficiency a way of life in California, and on Thursday, the commisson put its money where its mouth is by approving the largest energy-efficiency program in American history.

Poor Nations’ Climate Adaptation Could Cost $100 Billion a Year

Helping developing countries adapt to climate change will cost the world between US$75 and $100 billion per year for the period 2010 to 2050, the World Bank said today. The figures are detailed in the most in-depth analysis of the economics of climate change adaptation published to date.

Music video: Kings of Convenience, “Boat Behind”

The video for popularly indie (no paradox there) duo Kings of Convenience’s soothing single “Boat Behind” from their new album Declaration of Dependence plays like the ultimate stereotypical hipster guy’s fantasy: Erlend and Eirik with their shaggy hair styles and requisite big frame glasses go on a road trip in an old unsexy car, a [...]

Hybrid chopsticks

Stereotypes be damned: I love me some sushi. Before you can even finish asking me what my favorite kind of cuisine is, I’m not only already answering “sushi,” but most likely on my way to the nearest sushi restaurant. I’m a fan of all things sushi and its accessories, which is why I really like these hybrid chopsticks designed by Aïssa Logerot.

Jimmy Carter’s an ass and other political tattoos

As someone who is both politically outspoken and tattooed, you’d think I’d be more accepting of political tattoos. Oh, no, dear. As Huffington Post has found out, by collecting many of these images, ink and politics just don’t seem to mix. Sarah Palin and Jimmy Carter may belong in many a joke. The ones on [...]

Green tech finds (10/1/09)

Where do climate change and Sudoku come together? At your weekly green tech finds, of course… What’s the best computer out there for a student in Cambodia? One that sips energy… and the Open Institute has installed 400 such computers for Cambodian students and teachers. Water heats and cools new classroom building: Michigan’s Saginaw Valley [...]