sundance

Red Carpet Green Dress: green designers’ shot at Oscar-level exposure

Suzy Amis Cameron for Red Carpet Green Dress from Red Carpet Green Dress on Vimeo. If you’re an aspiring green fashion designer, and didn’t get picked for Franca Sozzani’s workshop in Biella, Italy, fear not: Suzy Amis Cameron — model, activist, and wife of some guy named James — is offering you a shot at [...]

It’s the (next) holiday season: Valentine’s Day gift ideas for kinksters

Since we’ve got the post holiday blues, we’re just going to jump right into the next holiday season: Valentine’s Day! (Stop your groaning — we’re helping make sure it doesn’t sneak up on you like it always does so you’re not stuck without a decent token of affection for your sweetie come Feb 14th.) The [...]

Smoking Guns’ top mugshots of 2009

The Smoking Gun curates their top mugshots of 2009. I look at some of these photos and question whether we all belong to the same species. You may not want to believe, but I’m thinking the aliens have already landed and are doing a rather bad job of fitting into our society as law-abiding citizens.

Penelope Umbrico’s 5,537,594 Suns

What do we think about pulling information from the Internet, organizing it by subject and calling it art? Penelope Umbrico‘s text-based piece, “All Catalogs (A-Z), 2002-03,” is a list of every single mail-order catalog in existence at the time the piece was created, totaling more than 15,000.

Model versus “plus sized” model

This item might be more appropriate for the Full Frontal Fashion blog, but the blogosphere collectively struggles with body image issues which is sparked by things like this: Terry Richardson photographed models Jacquelyn Jablonski and Crystal Renn, a leading lady among plus size models, wearing the same clothes for V Magazine’s ‘Plus Size’ January 2010 [...]

Six States Chosen for Building Efficiency Retrofit Academy

To help states develop strategies that will improve the energy efficiency of existing buildings and reduce costs and emissions, the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices today announced that six states have been selected to participate in the Policy Academy on State Building Efficiency Retrofit Programs.

2010 Year of Biodiversity Tries to Rein in Runaway Extinctions

Due to human activities, the world’s animal and plant species are disappearing at a rate some experts put at 1,000 times the natural progression, the United Nations said January 1, marking 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity – the variety of life on Earth.

Somali Militants Force UN Agency to Suspend Food Distribution

Attacks on humanitarian operations and a string of threats and unacceptable demands from armed groups have made it impossible for the world’s largest food aid agency to continue feeding up to one million hungry people in southern Somalia.

Michigan solar power farm not your typical father-son project…

Solar power in Michigan? Really?

While it’s probably not the last state you’d associate with solar power (that’s Alaska), Michigan likely appears far down on your list of places ideal for a large-scale solar power installation. Attorney Sam Fields, his son Connor, and two other partners hope to prove you wrong with their 700-panel array in Galesburg.

Professional pictionary

Oliver Uberti, the design editor at National Geographic, provides a bit of an insight into the process behind the often neat graphics and charts found in its magazine. The secret: sharpie markers. He writes: If you want to be a designer or art director, master Pictionary. Seriously, play it ALL THE TIME. Even if you [...]

Sundance environmental films: energy

CAN YOU DO THIS WITH YOUR TAP WATER? from JOSHFOX on Vimeo.

Imagine receiving a lucrative offer from an energy company to drill for natural gas on property you own. Would you take it? What would that drilling mean in terms of environmental quality for the land itself and the surrounding community? Filmmaker Josh Fox received such an offer, and his documentary GASLAND, which has its world premiere at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, explores the impact of gas extraction, especially the process of “fracking,” and the environmental consequences that can come from the quest for this “clean” energy source.

Our top 10 predictions for sex and love in 2010

John William Waterhouse painting via freeparking

1. Sarah Palin will “accidentally” release a sex tape to boost her career.
   
   
2. The PS-spot will become the new G-spot.
   
   

MoMA: The New Typography

Graphic design has undergone many incarnations in the last century, but before even Alexey Brodovitch’s name rang any bells in the United States, the so-called New Typography movement was taking hold in countries like Germany, Russia and Czechoslovakia. Modernist designers rejected the traditional two or three column layout for text and instead of working from a grid, they began instead from the blank page. Free from constraints, images moved across the plane, often with little adherence to spatial relationships. But before image and line came into play, typography was at the forefront of the design revolution, and leading the pack was designer and author of the seminal book, “Die Neue Typographie” (1928), Jan Tschichold.

Ferris wheel comparison chart

Neat graphical chart comparing the world’s largest Ferris wheels, a topic which I’ve become infatuated with ever since finishing the thrilling Eric Larson’s The Devil in The White City a few months ago. One of the tidbits I learned from the book: Did you know that the first ever Ferris wheel was built for the [...]

9/11 Responders Left With Lung Problems, Asthma, Cancer

Research conducted during 2009 shows that first responders to the 9/11 World Trade Center terrorist attacks suffer from asthma at more than twice the rate of the general U.S. population. They also suffer other ongoing lung problems and may have a higher risk of cancer.

Judge Revokes Approval of Pesticide That Could Harm Bees

A pesticide approved just 18 months ago must be taken off the market because it could be toxic to America’s honey bees, already in steep decline.

Real Good movie

Blu Dot Real Good Experiment from Real Good Chair on Vimeo. Full confession: by day I work for the furniture manufacturer Blu Dot. The film above that documents the Real Good Experiment is wonderful. And I am not just saying that because I worked on it! Blu Dot (me included) dropped 25 Real Good chairs [...]

Naked News: Skinny jeans better than sex? Also, sex doesn’t sell in Hollywood.

photo by paalia A new study making headlines found that 29% of British women think fitting into their old jeans is better than sex. But we prefer to think of it this way: 71% of women think that sex is better than getting into their skinny jeans. See? The body image police aren’t exactly winning this [...]