sundance

Actors re-enact iconic roles

Empire Magazine celebrated their 20th birthday with a special photo collection of leading actors re-creating some of their more famous and iconic roles. This Mel Gibson one is pretty great. [Via]

AVN releases awards nominations.

Come this January, a who’s who of adult entertainment talent will descend upon Las Vegas, first for the Adult Entertainment Expo–the largest US adult industry trade show–and then for the AVN Awards, the awards show commonly referred to as the Oscars of porn.

Green tech finds (12/4/09)

Something a little different this time around: I’ve been in Helsinki, Finland this week checking out cleantech developments with a group of other bloggers ( and many thanks to FinnFacts for bringing us here!). While I’ve been a little slow to get posting on the stories I’ve heard (stay tuned here and at sustainablog for those posts), several of my colleagues fought off the jet lag well enough to get started. A few posts from Finland:

• Karl Burkart at MNN and Ian Thomson at Cleantechies.com provide a bit of background on the Finnish cleantech sector.
  
  
• Jen Boynton at Triple Pundit gives us five fast facts about Finland, and offers some advice to Metso Corporation about sustainability and biomass as a fuel source.
  
  
• Hendrick Morkel at Arctic Start Up takes a look at Eniram’s efforts to cut shipping fuel use and emissions.

Giant gummy bear

I just today started looking for Christmas gifts. Recently I stumbled upon Papabubble’s pop-up shop in Cappellini and I was all set to get my friends and family avant-garde candy confections for Christmas. And I most likely still will. However, this gorgeous, sugary mammal was just brought to my attention. And I am smitten. Some [...]

Zeger Reyers’ Rotating kitchen

Zeger Reyers “Rotating Kitchen” recently went on display at the “Eating the Universe” exhibition at Germany’s Kunsthalle Düsseldorf. It will continue rotating through February 28th of next year. An alternative title for this installation could have been “What My Kitchen Looks Like After I attempt to Cook.” rotating kitchen from Zeger Reyers on Vimeo. [Via]

Revolutionary new PS-spot toy

You’ve heard of the G-spot, and hopefully the P-spot, but what about the PS-Spot? We’ve written about it before on our advice site and in our book, SEX: How to Do Everything: Just beneath a woman’s perineum (that short bridge of tissue between the vaginal opening and the anus) is a tightly packed tangle of blood vessels alternately known as the perineal sponge, the perineal body, or — you guessed it! — the PS-spot. Like other erectile tissue, this mass fills with blood upon arousal and can be sensitive to massage and pressure via the perineum, via the lower back wall of the vagina (opposite the G-spot), or via the anus. Just because every women’s magazine hasn’t written a million articles on it (like they have on the G-spot) doesn’t mean it’s not deserving of your love and attention. Who knows, it could be your magic button.

Obama’s 400-pound gingerbread house

As I posted earlier this week Simon Doonan did venture down to DC this week to assist and oversee the holiday decorating at the White House. The Washington Post has some photos of what Doonan and the Obamas did, and I must say, they’re pretty safe and traditional. Which I guess is appropriate for the [...]

Schwarzenegger Issues California Climate Adaptation Strategy

California’s Climate Adaptation Strategy, the nation’s first comprehensive, multi-sector analysis of its kind, was released Wednesday. Developed in response to a 2008 executive order from Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the strategy is intended to strengthen the state’s management of global warming impacts such as sea level rise, increased temperatures, shifting precipitation and extreme natural events.

Less and More: The Design Ethos of Dieter Rams

Over the last 40 years Dieter Rams has established himself as one of the most influential designers of our time. His work at Braun alone has solidified his legacy, not to mention his accomplishments at Vitsœ and his company sdr+. “His elegantly clear visual language not only defined product design for decades, but also our [...]

Vertical axis wind turbine catches eyes in Kansas

Wind power opponents often cite aesthetics, noise, and bird kills as reasons for not wanting wind farms or turbines nearby… call it renewable NIMBYism. General contractor (and past installer of Christo projects) A.L. Huber has installing a next-generation vertical axis wind turbine at its Overland Park, KS headquarters that designers claim addresses all of these complaints lodged against wind installations.

“Eko,” the green traffic light

They say we spend a combined 6 months of our lives waiting at red lights. To make that time a little easier to sit through is this year’s winner of the Red Dot Design Award, Eko, Damjan Stankovic’s “ecological and economic traffic light concept.” An easy to install circular time keeping device surrounds the red light [...]

David Hockney paints with iPhone

Andrew Hearst previously talked about David Hockey’s iPhone paintings here. His Daily Mail link appears to be dead now, but I came across another article about the prolific artist and his new painting medium. Using the Brushes application he’s created gorgeous iPhone paintings that look like watercolors. The New York Review of Books’ Lawrence Weschler documents [...]

Jonathan Littell beats off stiff competition at Bad Sex Awards

Turns out we were wrong in our Roth prediction — this year’s Bad Sex Award ended up going to Jonathan Littell for his novel The Kindly Ones. Other fancy-pants runners up included Paul Theroux, Nick Cave, Amos Oz, and John Banville. The judges said very nice things about Littell’s novel — which was originally published in French — calling it “in part a work of genius.” However, lines such as “I came suddenly, a jolt that emptied my head like a spoon scraping the inside of a soft-boiled egg” clinched the award for The Kindly Ones. Perhaps it came off better in the original French? The award was presented at the — chortle chortle — In & Out (Naval & Military) Club in St James’s Square, London, where 400 guests congratulated themselves on being both highbrow and hilarious on the topic of sex.

In the winning passage (below), Littell is inspired by ancient mythology, to somewhat disastrous results.

Poker Face spoof: Neutra Face!

The intersection of two current popular topics, Lady Gaga and at least among the design bloggerati, typeface art (previously) resulted in “Neutra Face,” a brilliant spoof of Lady Gaga’s hit song “Poker Face” that’s making the rounds on the Internet. Insert pun here using “Comic Sans.”

Toxic Toys Test High for Lead, Cadmium, Arsenic, or Mercury

One-third of the nearly 700 children’s toys tested by a nonprofit organization this holiday season contained one or more toxic chemicals, including lead, cadmium, arsenic, and mercury.

Michael Jackson vs. Mr. Bean

I previously featured Patrick Boivin’s entertaining stop-motion toy figure fight between Bruce Lee and Iron Man. Boivin is back with another installment that animates a twirling Michael Jackson in a dance off against Mr. Bean, who’s got his own trick up his sleeve. Boivin perfectly captures the inane imaginative battles I used to conjure up [...]

That fox is foxy!

THE FANTASTIC MR. FOX is Wes Anderson’s best movie since BOTTLE ROCKET. (Read Perrin Drumm’s previous coverage of this film.) And boy is that fox foxy. Scoring George Clooney and Meryl Streep was truly a coup, as their interactions subtly and richly mine the dynamics of marriage, life expectations, and negotiating “bad” behavior in a relationship.

How did Wes arrive at this place? My response to most of his films has been that they certainly are fun to look at, but waaaaaaay less satisfying story-wise, a cotton-candy sugary disappearance from the consciousness almost instantly after viewing. (My husband always says, “He should have been a graphic designer.” Ouch.) The magic bullet here, the big difference, seems to be Noah Baumbach, co-writer, who is clearly bringing additional nuance to the table.

Corduroy skirts are a sin

It is hard being a homo these days. Every time I turn on the TV I see more crimes against us and more laws passed limiting gay marriage and then, on top of all that, we have to put up with hateful protesters. One of my gay brothers, Chris Pesto, a student at Syracuse, had [...]

THE ROAD

Don’t let the action-packed trailer lead you astray; THE ROAD is true to the book. All the details of Cormac McCarthy’s barren, burnt out landscape are fully realized by director John Hillcoat (THE PROPOSITION), who you can tell took great pains to do right by the author. Instead of creating a street of abandoned, weather-beaten houses in a studio, for example, or hiring a big team of CGI experts to imagine what a decaying, post-apocalyptic shipyard would look like, Hillcoat and his crew actually sought out those environments, mainly in post-Katrina New Orleans.

Planned Parenthood’s “Blogger Bee” about the Stupak Amendment

Today, Planned Parenthood is organizing a “National Day of Action” to inform people about the Stupak Amendment and to lobby the Senate for health care reform that ensures women’s access to reproductive health care. Their bullet points below very clearly (finally!) outline how exactly the Stupak Amendment would affect women’s lives and health (because let’s face it, when you hear “The Exchange” and “affordability credits” and “subsidies” mentioned vaguely in the news, it goes in one ear and out the other). So if you’re a woman or you care about one (i.e. everyone) then take a minute to familiarize yourself with this important — and frightening — info.

Human on/off accessory

If controlling our lives was so easy as slapping an “on/off” switch to our heads like artist Dominic Wilcox did for an entire month. ‘The switch was worn day and night for close to a month. I remember after leaving the place where it was done I had to overtake some people on the path. [...]

The Algonquin Round Table is still dead!

There are only two things I know for sure — it’s social death to wear white after Labor Day and no one should ever attempt to recreate the legendary Algonquin Round Table.

I recently found out the latter when I was asked to join a panel trying to attain just that vainglorious feat. It was the 90th anniversary of the “vicious circle” consisting of Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, Alexander Woollcott, and company—writers and actors who on a daily basis throughout the 1920s had bon mots for lunch and each other for dessert. These people put the “it” in witty–and they wanted little old me from south Brooklyn to recreate their legend?

Naked News: office party nookie, numb penises & deadly Ben Wa balls

photo by TheNaughtyAmerican.com

• Have we succeeded in scaring you off? According to the latest research by 60 Minutes and Vanity Fair mag, zero percent of people aged 18-44 are likely to kiss a co-worker at their office holiday party.
  
  
• A study finds that a penis-numbing spray can help prevent premature ejaculation and may hit the marketplace soon. There is currently no FDA-approved prescription treatment for this condition, which affects up to a third of U.S. men aged 18-59. Great news, so long as this numbing spray doesn’t have a knock-on effect on the vagina…

Cap and trade: more of the same?

The Story of Cap & Trade from Story of Stuff Project on Vimeo.

With the Copenhagen Climate Conference just around the corner, world leaders, environmentalists, and economists are all debating the best mechanisms by which we can combat global climate change while continuing to grow the world economy. Most of these discussions (though not all) center on the concept of “cap and trade.” If you’re a little fuzzy on the idea, or know it but have a tough time explaining it to others, you’re not alone: it’s fairly complex on its face, and presents policy makers with a range of choices for harnessing market forces to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The White House goes gay

Great gay news is being reported over at Towleroad today. The lovable Simon Doonan, legendary Barneys window dresser, celebrated author, and hubbie to Jonathan Adler, will be decorating the White House this Christmas. This could be really good for the gays. Or it could be utter disaster.  While, personally, I adore Doonan’s style it is a [...]