sundance

342 movies of 2009 in 7 minutes

If you were too busy or too broke (17 dollars per movie ticket can really add up!) this year to go to the movie theater, then watch this fantastic mashup video of 342 movies from 2009 crammed into 7 minutes to get caught up. The transitions between the various films were rather well done. If [...]

Manual digital clock

This wooden clock mimicking the appearance of a digital display over a 24-hour period was actually changed manually by hand by a team of 36 workers. Artist Mark Formanek constructed this clock installation-performance, which was displayed at Rotterdam’s Central Station from November 27 through the 28th. The recorded footage in sync with the actual time [...]

What does it mean to be an artist today?

What does it mean to be an artist today — and what can artists look forward to in the next decade? Will we be overwhelmed with information, stymied by Tweets and status updates, emails and IMs and an ever-faster news cycle? Will we throw up our hands (and put down our paintbrushes and mouses) in the face of economic woes? Or will we find inspiration in it all, a renewed sense of art’s importance and role in our lives — as well as distribution opportunities we never thought possible?

SPECTACLE REPORT: Elvis Costello’s Favorite Songs

Taking questions from Mary Louise Parker, Elvis Costello takes the hot seats on SPECTACLE.

As reported elsewhere, passengers on NYC’s “F” Train have been fleeing in terror after being confronted by a frightening countenance leering from every poster along subway platforms. Some say he’s akin to Spencer Tracy’s “Mr. Hyde.”

At times like this, I feel as if I may have missed my vocation. Perhaps I should have been an Albanian Politburo Chairman or Millennial Cult Leader. Nothing else could possibly justify the kind of coverage SPECTACLE has enjoyed among the advertising space of the five boroughs.

Perhaps these graphic enticements may have even worked, or you might not be reading this now, except to avert your eyes from other horrors.

This episode of SPECTACLE was to have been hosted by our Executive Producer, Sir Elton John, a chance to mirror his Season One “guest host” appearance with my wife, Diana Krall.

Unfortunately, ill health intervened, and at very short notice we were extremely fortunate and grateful to have Mary-Louise Parker take part in an utterly different, but equally enjoyable, conversation.

This is the column in which I have, up until now, listed a few of my favorite cuts by our SPECTACLE guests. In this instance, however, it seems immodest and absurd to propose my own songs.

Thankfully, television is something less grand and permanent than an inscription on a marble slab, and something slightly in advance of, in the words of Winston Churchill, “a tuppenha’ penny Punch and Judy show.”

Meanwhile, “Favorite Records” change like alibis.

So, here are five records you may enjoy. I’ll write quickly before they change again.

Green tech finds (12/31/09)

Your last green tech finds of ’09… enjoy!

• The obligatory New Year prediction: 2010 will be a banner year for clean technology, according to investment bank Jeffries, and Greentech Media. Places to watch include Finland and South Korea.
  
  
• Tetris meets SimCity meets urban planning: That’s the basic idea between new strategy game City Rain (and that’s a screenshot above). (via sustainablog)
  
  

Tell me a story, Sandy

Sandra Bernhard is performing at Joe’s Pub in New York City this week, and if you’ve never had a chance to check out her work, either RUN to The Public or grab one of her many performance DVDs, asap. She’s brilliant – and as I was sipping my Chardonnay shoulder to shoulder with fawning New Yorkers in the jam-packed club last night, I pondered a point she was making about live storytelling.

SPECTACLE REPORT: ELVIS COSTELLO WITH…
Unsung Heroes: Richard Thompson, Nick Lowe, and Jesse Winchester

Elvis Costello shares a moment with Richard Thompson. In addition to using the platform of SPECTACLE as a way to champion some of his favorite young musicians, Elvis Costello has also turned the show’s spotlight to several underappreciated veteran artists. This season, a trio of singer-songwriters whose names might not be familiar to all viewers [...]

“Picturing the Past 10 Years” by Phillip Niemeyer

It doesn’t have much to do with love or sex, but it being New Year’s Eve and all we couldn’t resist pointing out art director Phillip Niemeyer’s “op-chart” from Sunday’s New York Times called “Picturing the Past 10 Years” (especially if you missed fellow Sunfiltered blogger Matthew Rodriguez’s post about it a few days ago). Read [...]

Is that a broomstick in your pocket, or are you trying to sell pants with sexual innuendo?

Today in wacky vintage sexual innuendo: this ad for Broomsticks (apparently a brand of pants), which informs the reader that there’s more than meets the eye to this product…and, presumably, to the male pelvic regions hovering by the head of the young lass in the advertisement. How much more there is to either of these [...]

Sundance Film Festival’s Top 10 Lessons in Young Love

Last week we covered the best love lessons that people could learn from Sundance Festival movies. But kids are people, too — people with raging hormones and tendencies toward the melodramatic and a whole hell of a lot of ignorance thanks to abstinence-only education. So this week we’re looking at the best movies for romantic advice for the after-school-special set:

1. Adventureland: Sex in a car is never as private as you think it is. Neither is sex with a married man.
   
   
2. American Teen: When you’re in the cool clique in high school, life is totally like a chick flick. Even when you’re not cool, life is still sometimes like a chick flick. But in real life, the jock is always going to dump the rebel punk filmmaker for the ditzy cheerleader. Bring on college!
   
   

David Bowie’s response to his first American fan mail

The unearthing of gems like this is why the Internet was created: Read David Bowie’s eager and heartfelt response dated September 25, 1967 to 14-year-old Sandra Adams who apparently sent the first piece of fan mail he received from the United States. Talk about being a trend setter, Sandra! [Via]

The green holiday aftermath

If you’ve looked for suggestions on greening your holiday celebrations, you’ve likely had no trouble finding information on gifts, food, wine… many ideas out there for lowering your impact while still having a great time.

The day after the celebration, though, you’re probably tired, maybe a little (or a lot) hung over, and perhaps cranky… and simply tossing the detritus of the holidays may seem like a really good idea. Nurse the hangover, give yourself some time to wake up, and then put some of these ideas into practice for disposing of the wreckage without undermining all of those earlier green efforts:

How things work: artists in conversation at the Guggenheim

Before Frederic Franklin worked with Josephine Baker at the Casino de Paris, and later with some of the best ballerinas of the 20th century, before his work earned him the Laurence Olivier Award for dance, he started out with just a few steps. Before Philip Glass composed a single song, he began with just a few notes. And before theoretical physicist Lisa Randall delved into the extra dimensions of space, she started out just looking up at the sky. But how did they make the initial connections that led to such rewarding careers?

Underwater paint explosion

Australian photographer Mark Mawson drops colorful paint into water and then photographs it. Yeah, it sounds simple but the result works. As Core77 pointed out, they act as like a sort of a 3D Rohrschach tests. What do you see? [Via]

The Sexiest New Party in New York

Photo by Brian Christopher Cummings

BonBon is by far the sexiest new club event in town and there’s no sex at all at it. I didn’t even see any light frottage!

But there’s pure sex appeal in the air at the Tuesday night bash (at the supper club Juliet) because of the distinct absence of boredom from the guest list in favor of possibility, opportunity, and very high fashion. The every-night-is-Halloween crowd finds their way there, all dolled up to the nine-inch heels and ready to party till gay marriage is approved—or at least till 3 a.m. Factor in all the corsets, bodices, and facial masks in the room, and you’ll realize that these fractured fairy tale creatures can’t get it on because it would hurt too much—but no one’s ever looked hotter while indulging in such (temporary) chastity.

Need help with food resolutions? Go to Facebook…

With the new year quickly approaching, you may be thinking about changes you’ll want to make in 2010… and food issues may be high on your resolution priority list. Eat more fruits and vegetables… stay away from junk food… cook more… the list goes on and on…

2009: The Year in Pictures

Two were killed from the explosion of a homemade bomb in Helman Province, Afghanistan.

These last few days of 2009 seem jam packed with “Top Ten” lists. The Top Ten best movies and the Top Ten worst. The Top Ten breakout designs and their designers. The Top Ten most shocking celebrity moments. The Top Ten best commercials, best albums, best nose jobs – the lists only gets more inane. Who decided on ten anyway? When we’re talking about the year in general, ten just doesn’t cut it. To spare you yet another numbered list, the New York Times recently published “2009: The Year in Pictures,” because sometimes words just aren’t enough. Take a minute to scroll through the significant moments from this past year.

Year of the Tiger Dawns With Just 3,200 Wild Tigers Left

To mark 2010 as Year of the Tiger, the government of Nepal has announced the expansion of Bardia National Park in the Terai Arc landscape by 900 square kilometers (347 square miles), which will increase critical habitat for wild tigers.

Top 10 “science”-based new year’s resolutions

Orgasm diagram by Daquella Manera

We’ll be the first to admit that “science” is a generous word to use when it comes to some of the sex research out there — and that if a sex study sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t kernels of truth to be found in even the flimsiest of surveys. So here are our top 10 new year’s resolutions inspired by the year in sex research.

1. Do more housework — both of you.
2. Do your homework and buy decent condoms.
3. Take up yoga.
4. Invest in a better mattress.

Picturing the past 10 years

Brilliant graphic designer and artist Phillip Niemeyer contributes to the pile of end of the decade lists with his unique style. Niemeyer breaks down and distills the past ten years to a graphical chart. It’s interesting how much can be conveyed in just a simple icon or phrase.

Ottawa River Cleanup Started After Months of Delay

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Ottawa River Group and the state of Ohio began construction on phase one of a $49 million cleanup of the Ottawa River and Sibley Creek in Toledo on December 19. The work was supposed to begin this past summer, but was held up by delays in government bidding procedures.

Army sustainability efforts highlighted at Fort Bragg

The phrase “military sustainability” may strike you as an oxymoron: these guys are known for tanks, not treehugging. Over the past decade, though, the US armed forces have recognized the necessity of resource management to military readiness: various branches have tested out renewable energy, and the Army even released a sustainability report in 2007.

New Banksy

Flickr user RomanyWG snapped photos of new street art by Banksy “taken along the Regents Canal in Camden Town.” And in related breaking news, art blogger C-Monster found this awesome mash up of Banksy with the Dramatic Chipmunk, a popular Internet meme. [Via]

It’s not complicated, just boring

We should have known from Daphne Merkin’s NY Times Sunday magazine cover story last week on Nancy Meyers and her new film IT’S COMPLICATED not to have high expectations: she never really came out and called it a winner. Still, we were so inspired by Meryl Streep’s recent exclamations about over-fifty sex scenes (“The whole idea that you have to look a certain way and be a certain age to earn love is ridiculous. We love what we love. It doesn’t matter what shape it is. It’s thrilling to see real people on screen”), we got hopeful. And how could we not root for a movie made by that rare species — the female director — that casts a beautiful, successful, funny, desirable middle-aged woman without plastic surgery (another rare species in Hollywood) as the protagonist? And so we found ourselves watching IT’S COMPLICATED over the long holiday weekend . . . only to be deeply disappointed.

THE YOUNG VICTORIA

The old Queen Victoria may have led the more eventful life, but it’s THE YOUNG VICTORIA audiences want to see. However, before we can get to the good stuff, we have to lay the groundwork and, like so many British period dramas, we are first run through a brief history lesson: Victoria (Emily Blunt) is sick (for reasons not included in the lesson) and her mother and her advisor are trying unsuccessfully to get her to sign a Regency. Victoria, however, is determined to be Queen, and as soon as she recovers the suitors come rolling in.