sundance

Party in 1991 with Iranian B-boys

Metafilter shared this amazing video from the time capsule. Recorded way back on December 10, 1991 according the video time stamp, watch a group of Iranian guys step up at what appears to be a wedding, doing their (rather impressive) b-boy thing with popping and locking toprock moves to downrock steps, with some power moves thrown in for good measure. Check out the guy in crutches around the 4:45 mark.

Rollerblading GIRL (ON THE TRAIN)

I came out of André Téchiné’s latest film THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN, haunted by the images of twenty-one-year-old Jeanne (Émilie Dequenne) rollerblading through the streets of Paris. Her beauty and physical strength come towards us in shots that are so close they give us the sensation of being her partner in motion. This power is in contrast to the rest of what we learn about her. She seems, for the most part, intellectually vacant and even her boyfriend, a possessive and aggressive aspiring wrestler (Nicolas Duvauchelle) calls her “an airhead.” Yet the images she occupies give her character weight and the film a level of tension not achieved in any of the dialogue scenes that surround them. By the time Jeanne pretends to be the victim of an anti-Semitic attack, we don’t really mind that we don’t understand. We are fascinated as we watch her speed forward like an empty train hurtling through space. Unable to take our eyes away, we watch with trepidation and awe as she heads for a crash…

Green companies: sustainability may be in the eye of the beholder

Quickly: which company is greener? UPS or DHL? Stonyfield Farm or General Mills? Google or News Corp.? You may think all of these are no-brainers, but, in two of the three cases, your perception may not align with reality… at least in terms of action related to climate change. A new study, MapChange 2010, finds that, in many cases, there’s little alignment between real action by a company, and its “green” public perception.

Time-lapse Richard Serra at MoMA

The MoMA’s digital media team’s initial inchoate forways into producing and sharing content online of their exhibitions involved time-lapse videos of the installations of various pieces. Their first attempt was this recording of the installation of a Richard Serra steel sculpture in the museum’s Sculpture Garden in 2007. [Via]

Spotlight on Meryl Streep

Sundance Channel Spotlight on Meryl Streep, Thursday starting at 8PM

Meryl Streep is one of the busiest working actresses today, starring in 3 films in the last year alone: IT’S COMPLICATED, FANTASTIC MR. FOX and JULIE & JULIA, for which her performance as the much beloved Julia Child has earned her yet another Oscar nomination. In fact, Streep has been nominated for an Academy Award nearly every year since her very first nomination in 1979 for THE DEER HUNTER. And even though her roles in films like THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT’S WOMAN (1981) and POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE (1990) have won her much deserved critical acclaim, she’s only managed to snag two of the golden statues, the first in 1980 for her role opposite Dustin Hoffman in KRAMER VS. KRAMER, which also won in all the big categories that year (Best Actor, Director, Screenplay and Picture), and a second time in 1983 for SOPHIE’S CHOICE.

Streep continues her 17-year nomination streak at next month’s Academy Awards, and in celebration Sundance Channel is showing 3 of her perhaps not lesser-known but recent under-awarded roles all in one night.

The Dragulator!

RuPaul’s Drag Race is back on Logo and I am thrilled. You know whenever anyone asks me what my dream job is I always reply “rock star.” But what I really mean is drag queen. Um, David Bowie. Hello. Anyway. This show is amazing. It takes all the elements of your favorite reality shows and [...]

Sustainable housing for Haitians

Architect Joseph Bellomo’s egg-shaped house.

Even though the average temperature in Haiti seldom dips below 75 degrees, building permanent shelter for survivors is imperative for obvious reasons. You’ve probably seen pictures of the tent cities that the estimated 1.5 million homeless are currently living in. So did San Francisco-based architect Jospeh Bellomo, who was working on a modular structure for a client in Hawaii when the hurricane hit. Built to withstand tropical storms with a foundation of only a few concrete blocks, Bellomo immediately thought his project could be a perfect solution for displaced Haitians.

Pes, KABOOM!

Boing Boing surfaced this impressive colorful stop-motion video KABOOM! from the popular artist PES (previously mentioned here). There’s a disconnect in the experience between the artist’s repurposing of common innocuous items into weapons of war.

New York Fashion Week, here we come!

Doug Keeve shooting DIRTY DENIM for FULL FRONTAL FASHION

Starting February 8, FULL FRONTAL FASHION will celebrate New York Fashion Week with all-new fashion programming — both online and on Sundance Channel!

First up, we will premiere two new series right here online: CATWALK COUNTDOWN and DIRTY DENIM.

Unhappy Hipsters

There are some things that can’t be learned from a book. Unhappy Hipsters is hilarious. And while I take issue with its title (it should be called Unhappy Modernists) I can only chuckle and giggle when I read the captioned pictures pulled from the pages of Dwell and DWR’s catalog. The images are clean, simple, [...]

Peer-to-peer product service systems

Sustainability advocates generally love the product service system model because, in theory, it reduces consumption, and provides the owners of the products with incentives to maintain those items for as long as possible. You may associate this business model with movie rental (Netflix) or car-sharing (Zipcar), but the types of products offered on a “rental” model continues to grow: designer handbags and dresses, for instance, are now available in this manner.

Heart of Astro Boy

I love this x-ray look at the iconic and world famous robot Astro Boy, who first appeared on the scene in 1952 in a Japanese manga created by Osamu Tezuka. Tezuka is an influential artist who some have called the “God of Manga” and has been referred to as the “Japanese Walt Disney.” I can’t [...]

Naked News: Tell-alls, sexless invertabrates & salacious dictionaries

• Not only does Jenny Sandford not stand by her man, she writes a tell-all memoir about his “hiking the Appalachian Trail” that’s due out this Friday.
• One — count ‘em, one — study shows abstinence only programs may delay when kids start having sex, BUT they have no effect on condom use once kids do.

Who is iamamiwhoami?

The internet is abuzz over the videos posted to the YouTube channel “iamamiwhoami.” Released, many think, as a marketing campaign to build buzz about an upcoming music release, the three videos debuted so far are dark and creepy. The music is electronic and pulsing. And the guesses included the obvious, Goldfrapp and Marilyn Manson. However, [...]

Film Forum turns 40

Bruce Weber’s 1988 LET’S GET LOST, one of 30 films in the Film Forum screening at MoMA. When Film Forum opened in 1970 in Manhattan’s Upper West Side it operated with one projector, 50 folding chairs and a $19,000 annual budget, but when Karen Cooper was hired on as director in 1972, things changed. Now, [...]

The Gentrification of Brooklyn

Taking cues from familiar movie poster themes, I love these promotional posters created by street artist Gabriel Reese aka Specter on behalf of the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA) for an upcoming exhibit on the gentrification of Brooklyn. This exhibition, guest curated by Dexter Wimberly, will examine how urban planning, eminent domain, and [...]

Life clock

Bertrand Planes modified a Karlsson clock that takes a decidedly longer outlook on time. Each notch represents a year and the hour hand, which has been slowed down by a factor of 61320, will make a complete revolution over a period of 80 years. Snag one of the 7 limited edition clocks here. [Via]

Hourly car rental exploding on college campuses

Having worked at five different colleges and universities over the past 16 years, I’ve heard a lot of excuses from students who were late to class. The most frequent of those excuses, hands down: “I couldn’t find a place to park.” I’d hazard to guess that personal transportation (i.e. a car driven by a single person) is one of the biggest contributors to college and university greenhouse gas emissions.

The Superbowl ad you WON’T see this weekend

We used to look forward to Superbowl Sunday for the ads (that, and the excuse to over-indulge in junk food). But it looks like CBS is determined to ruin the one sports-related joy in our lives. First of all they went and accepted an anti-choice ad from conservative Christian group Focus on the Family — apparently CBS no longer bans advocacy submissions or controversial ads, as they have claimed in the past. Of course, Focus on the Family claims the ad is not controversial at all, and is simply about “the issue of life.” Riiiight. The ad — which has not yet been released — is expected to feature Pam Tebow (mother of college football star Tim) and her decision to carry Tim to term despite a recommendation from doctors that she have an abortion. Sorry: despite a recommendation from doctors regarding the issue of life.

Unfortunately CBS’s policy on “controversial” ads still holds firm if the ad happens to come from a gay men’s dating site.

The Met and the art of cut and paste

Say a phrase as dangerous as “early female artists” and you’re likely to conjure romantic or pastoral images or perhaps Mary Cassatt’s soft-focus portraits of mother and child. But just before Cassatt and after the formidable female painting talent from the medieval and renaissance periods, the ladies of the Victorian era also dabbled in the [...]

Langhorne Slim, “Be Set Free”

Langhorne Slim – “Be Set Free” from Mog Dotcom on Vimeo. Sami Lill created and directed this awesome quirky animation set to Langhorne Slim’s hopeful song “Be Set Free.” If you’re having a tough day in the office this video and song will throw you a life line.