sundance

FULL FRONTAL FASHION highlights: Fashion Week edition

Alexander McQueen London Flagship Store Lynn Yaeger remembers fashion icon, Alexander McQueen. Check out our exclusive photo gallery from the launch party of CATWALK COUNTDOWN this week. See the celebrities and designers that stopped by. Kell on Earth is full of bitch fits, crying and dumbfounded interns. See all our coverage of New York Fashion [...]

How not to kiss like a zombie and other helpful kissing tips

Violet Blue has written about a zillion books on the subject of sex, but finally there’s one you can discuss with your grandmother: Seal It with a Kiss: Tips, Tricks, and Techniques for Delivering the Knockout Kiss. Seeing as the national smooch holiday is almost upon us, we thought we’d check in with Violet for some of her best snogging advice.

Top 10 Romantic Movies

Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner in ROMANCING THE STONE.

When I started asking around about what people’s favorite romantic movies were there was a lot of overlapping, but not one person mentioned any – not a single one – from my personal top 10 list, so I felt obliged to share them here (in no particular order) and see if there were any takers.

1. WHEN HARRY MET SALLY (1989)

What’s more lovable than Meg Ryan in her adorable late 80s/early 90s phase? The answer is Meg Ryan side by side in an unexpected romantic duo with Billy Crystal. Who can forget her orgasmic experience at Katz’s Deli? This movie proves that sleeping with your friend doesn’t necessarily mean the end of your relationship.

2. BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S (1961)

Holly Golightly may not have found love in the Truman Capote original, but in the hands of screenwriter George Axelrod (THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH, THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, PARIS WHEN IT SIZZLES, to name a few) she not only finds love but looks fabulous doing it.

Music video directed by Michel Gondry

Mia Doi Todd “Open Your Heart” dir. Michel Gondry from Viewers Like You on Vimeo. Michel Gondry recently directed this neat music video for LA musician Mia Doi Todd’s soulful “Open Your Heart” that features some massively color-coordinated people. It could practically be a commercial for Pantone.

Josef Schulz, “Sign Out”

While driving through the US, artist Josef Schulz photographed the ubiquitous litter of highway billboard signs, and then digitally erased the logos and writing for his series “Sign Out.” As Patrik Metzger explains: Deprived of their message and their function they are turned into empty speech bubbles. At first they seem to be merely surface [...]

Green tech finds (2/11/10)

New skins for old buildings, hybrid race cars, and solar chargers that work inside… your green tech finds for the week.

• Reskinning old buildings: New green buildings are great, but what about older, existing structures? Australia-based Laboratory for Visionary Architecture (LAVA) has conceived of a building “skin” that “which could create a microclimate, cooling the building inside,” and could contain all sorts of sustainable goodies like solar panels and rainwater collection systems. (via Fast Company)
  
  
• Poop to carbon capture: West Virginia chicked farmer Josh Frye is trying to do his part to curb climate change — and make a little extra money — by turning chicken manure into biochar.
  
  

Winter Olympics medals contain e-waste

As with the past several Olympic games, the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics have worked to incorporate elements of sustainability into this massive event. From building a framework for event sustainability to creating greener event venues like the Whistler Sliding Center for bobsled, luge, and skeleton competitions, the Vancouver Organizing Committee has worked hard to lighten the admittedly huge footprint of the upcoming games.

Intersection of math and art

Nikki Graziano, a math and art student at Rochester Institute of Technology, has found a way to merge these two interests into a neat photography project where she “overlays graphs and their corresponding equations onto her carefully composed photos.” Speaking of math, Steven Strogatz has started writing fantasic series of lectures on math concepts within [...]

The Knife’s opera about Darwin. Really?

The Knife, that freaky electro-duo from Sweden consisting of brother and sister Karin Dreijer Andersson and Olof Dreijer, has just released the soundtrack to their opera written about Darwin Tomorrow, in a Year. A Swedish electronic opera about evolution may seem strange to some, but for these guys it seems pretty natural. Their music has always embraced weirdness and oddities. This just seems a natural, um, evolution.

Designing Madonna’s Malawi

New schools, even really nice ones in developing countries, don’t necessarily make headlines without endorsement from celebrities and Academy for Girls in Lilongwe is no exception. While Madonna and her organization, Raising Malawi, haven’t always received praise (her 2006 adoption was infamously criticized as “akin to slavery“), hiring New York-based architectural group Studio MDA to design Academy for Girls is definitely a step in the right direction.

Tracey Emin’s Valentine

Apropos of some holiday called “Valentine’s Day” that people seem to either really love or hate, here’s popular artist Tracey Emin’s red neon piece “I promise to love you.“

The Puma Hardchorus

“They want to be in your arms. You want to be in the stands. What do you do when Valentine’s Day falls on game day?” That’s the tagline for Puma’s genius ad campaign, The Puma Hardchorus, which allows hardcore soccer fans to dedicate and send a video of Savage Garden’s 1997 song “Truly Madly Deeply” [...]

Weir Roundup: Career Highlights

Fresh from his latest win, a bronze metal win at 2010 Nationals, Johnny discusses preparing for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver.

By “normal” standards, Johnny’s foray into figure skating at age 12 is considered to be late. His first venture onto the ice occurred one harsh winter when the corn field behind his house froze over. Johnny was thrilled to receive a second-hand pair of skates for Christmas, and to his parents’ amusement, he used them to skate in between the frozen corn stalks! Considered to be a natural talent, he moved up to the novice division quickly and, at age 16 (only 4 years from his humble beginnings in Pennsylvania), he won the gold metal at the 2001 World Junior Championships.

Currently ranked 13th in the world, his career has come a long way since then and, with the 2010 Winter Olympic Games just days away, who knows what good things are in store for Johnny! To tide you over until the games, here area few videos showcasing competition highlights from Johnny’s career…

From his first win at US Nationals to his first win at the World Championships, don’t miss these career-making moments, after the jump.

Manly Kathryn (Bigelow)

There’s been some chatter in the blogosphere of late regarding Kathryn Bigelow’s Oscar nomination for Best Director (THE HURT LOCKER), some of it pointing toward a sort of remorse that for this ‘first,’ the film content wasn’t more reflectively ‘female.’

Whoa whoa whoa whoa. So all the parenting I witness around Manhattan and hippy-dippy Ohio (current locale) wherein moms/dads slyly push the tractors and robots toward the girls and praise toward the boys when they dare to don a pink tutu … is really all a fiction? We truly want girls to ‘behave like girls’ after all? Tears and love and princesses? Or to carry an obligation to represent on behalf of, you know, our rights??

Naked News: Restaurant bathroom quickies, John Edwards’ sex tape, and tax deductions on sex change ops

• A restaurant in Canada that jokingly (they say) invited diners to have Valentine’s Day sex in its unisex bathroom would now rather forget about the offer. Apparently not everyone got the “joke” part.
• President Jacob Zuma of South Africa acknowledged that he fathered one child out of marriage, which contradicts the government’s HIV/AIDS campaign and is landing him in hot water.

It’s time for TED

Ever since TED nixed the personal invitations and opened its doors to anyone who can afford the $6,000 ticket, the response has been so overwhelming they’ve had to extend the event to a satellite campus in Palm Springs, 100 miles away from the main event in Long Beach. The Palm Springs location, dubbed TEDActive, is also completely sold out, but you can still sign up for the livestream, which entitles you access to the everything the TEDsters in California are seeing for $1,000 (TED encourages you to split it with 10 friends).

Peter Gabriel returns.

I am in Costa Rica this week traveling with a group of 13 gays. While this could sound like a recipe for disaster (13 queens fighting over one iPod dock!) we’ve been having a relaxing, and fun, week. There was a moment on Saturday that got me combing the internet this morning. As we traveled [...]

Online piano

Play the piano online right within this recently posted single YouTube video. There’s been a growth of what I like to think of as dynamic YouTube videos and this piano is a great example of how people are adapting YouTube into a more interactive experience. Have fun, kids, and let me know if you want [...]

Burlesque Still Rules New York’s Clubland!

Nightclub-going New Yorkers owe a giant, heartfelt shout out to Rudy Giuliani. We should belatedly thank Rudy for his crackdown on “smut” and anything else that veered from traditional family values when he was a strict, disciplinarian mayor from 1994 through 2001. After all, it was that very gloss-over that led to an explosion of neo-burlesque sexual posturing in clubs all over town!

As porn shops were shuttered and escorts were driven to the Internet, loft parties and underground boites responded with strippers and other acts catering to everyone’s sex drives by turning genital-related amusement into performance art. For every sex palace that was bulldozed and reopened as a comedy club, there were suddenly a dozen ecdysiasts popping up at the Lower East Side’s hangout the Slipper Room and artful disrobers like Julie Atlas Muz and Dirty Martini were shaking their tatas for applause and dollars all over town. Thanks, Rudy!

But here’s the really shocking thing: In 2010, neo-burlesque still rules the scene.

Pet Shop Boys in your living room

One lucky fan in England received the star treatment last week as my heroes the Pet Shop Boys played a surprise set in her living room. Lorraine Sands of Twickenham, south west London, oh how I hate you! Ms. Sands won a competition put on by the BRIT Awards, the UK’s version of the Grammys. The BRITS turned 30 this year and hosted a competition with the Pet Shop Boys. The winner would receive an in-home show by the iconic techno-poppers.

The lonely whale

I just came across this remarkable albeit slightly depressing story, especially during this upcoming holiday celebrating coupledom, about a lonely solitary whale somewhere out there in the big blue ocean. Tracked since 1992, this whale has been cruising the Pacific ocean emitting a song and call at around 52 hertz, which does not match any [...]

Recyclemania 2010: Over 600 campuses competing to reduce waste

College students just love a good competition, whether between dorm buildings, campus organizations, or rival schools. You probably remember homecoming float contests, intramural sports, and big games with the cross-state team. Since 2001, Recyclemania has tried to capture that spirit of campus competitiveness, and apply it to reducing waste at colleges and universities.

Third-hand Tobacco Smoke Causes Cancer, Study Shows

That stale cigarette smoke smell in hotel rooms and bars is more than annoying – it could be hazardous to your health, according to new research from a team led by scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Infants and toddlers are at greatest risk, the study reveals.

Whistler Enjoys Record Snowfall for Olympics, Lower Slopes Not So Much

With the 2010 Winter Olympic Games opening on Friday in Vancouver, the warmer than usual weather of an El Nino winter is causing headaches for Olympic organizers.

How to communicate with Christoph Niemann

If you read the New York Times blog “Abstract City,” then you know him by name. If you’ve ever looked at a cover of The New Yorker you’ve probably seen his work. And if you’ve done neither then perhaps you can at least appreciate when a bathroom is clearly marked “Men” or “Women;” If you do you share a fundamental principle with designer, illustrator and art director Christoph Niemann. Like a good comedian, Neimann’s deceptively simple designs have a way of presenting common knowledge in a new and interesting way. Of course, an intuitive sense of color and composition don’t hurt.