sundance

FULL FRONTAL FASHION highlights

SUNO Resort 2011 collection Prepare to be wowed by SUNO’s stunning prints, check out Oscar de la Renta’s tweed dresses and silk caftans, and preview other inspiring new collections featured in the Resort 2011 Lookbook gallery. Resort lines will be hitting stores this October, but that doesn’t mean you can’t start dreaming of that perfect [...]

Books: Every Rose Has Its Thorn

We really should have some kind of back-stabbing, cat-fighting (or at least pillow-fighting) relationship with Erin Bradley — author of the new book Every Rose Has Its Thorn: The Rock ‘n’ Roll Field Guide to Guys – seeing as she picked up where we left off at Nerve.com. She’s been their advice lady now for five years. But we’re bigger people than that. Okay, we’re not, but she’s really sweet and very funny and gives solid advice — what’s not to like?

The book examines ten different types of guys, based on rock stars you know and love-slash-hate, as a means of giving straight women advice about their dating and sex lives. In other words, there’s a lot to be learned from trying to figure out if Morrissey would make a better boyfriend or booty call. If we were to judge a book by its cover, we’d never have picked this one up. But fortunately we’re not that superficial (and fortunately it’s much cooler-looking inside). Here are some of our favorite quotes about the ten different types covered in the book:

Johnny Weir to perform June 19 in Columbus, Ohio

Johnny with coach Galina Zmievskaya. Just a quick update for Johnny fans. Johnny will be performing this weekend at Skate for Hope in Columbus, Ohio.  The event is tomorrow (June 19) at the Nationwide Arena at 5pm. Johnny will be on the ice with Olympian Rachael Flatt, Emily Hughes and many more! Proceeds from the [...]

Guggenheim teams up with YouTube

You probably never thought you’d live to see the day when those little white museum placards would list YouTube as a material. That day has finally arrived and it might not be such a bad thing. The Guggenheim recently announced a partnership with YouTube for their first Biennial of Creative Video, a collaboration that embraces [...]

37 or so ingredients: what’s in a Twinkie?

Professional photographer Dwight Eschliman did an interesting side photo project where he focused his lens on the 37 or so ingredients used to make that all-American snack, Twinkies. Soy lecithin and cornstarch are particularly photogenic, doncha think? [Via]

Veronika Wildgruber chairs

I love the trompe l’oeil effect of these chairs by designer Veronika Wildgruber from her “soft wood” series that appear to be made of soft cushiony fabric. [In] reality they are sculpted in solid wood. The chairs trick the mind because the surface and texture connotes the opposite of what we think and know about [...]

Johnny Weir to blog for SUNfiltered – so gear up for season finale on June 27!

Johnny Weir at the Independent Spirit Awards On behalf of Johnny… Guess who’s going to be dropping by SUNfiltered the next few weeks? Our very own Johnny Weir! So all you Johnny fans be sure to check back and hear what’s on his mind. What will he be writing about? Well, we don’t have a [...]

Green tech finds (6/17/10)

From low-tech lawn mowing to high-speed rail, we’ve got your run-down of some of the cool green tech stories from the week.

• Industrial-strength rainwater harvesting: Seattle-area healthcare laundry service Sterile Surgical Systems has cut their massive water footprint significantly with a combination of rainwater harvesting and water treatment and recycling. (via Seattle Times)
  
  
• Low-tech trike mower: PrintCollection uncovered a 1984 patent for a pedal-powered lawn mower… perhaps it’s time to bring this one into production (via Buck’s Weird News Blog)
  

Yep, That’s Right… My Ass is an Oil Painting

Glorious, no? To bare or not to bare, THAT is the question! Ha. So, I did it. I posed naked. My pride made me! My ex, Les Rogers, has a huge show at Haunch of Venison, July 7, and as we are besties (and I don’t have an office job), I always go see him [...]

The Sketchbook Project

We all have one. Whether it’s in our purse or our back pocket, whether we use it to sketch in or jot down brilliant ideas, we all have our notebook. But what to do when it’s full? Shelve it, store it or toss it? The Sketchbook Project is offering the opportunity to take your next sketchbook on tour – along with hundreds of others – in six cities in the US, winding up in New York at The Brooklyn Art Library where it will receive its very own barcode and be made available for public viewing. The barcode is nifty new idea that lets you track your sketchbook and see who reads it and where. You can even set it up so you receive a text every time your book is opened by someone new. It’s a clever idea, and a great way to stay connected to your sketchbook after it leaves your hands, and lessen the inevitable pangs of sketchbook separation.

The documentary “The Nature of Existence”

There’s a new documentary out this summer from the director of TREKKIES  called THE NATURE OF EXISTENCE (it opens tomorrow in NY at The Quad Cinemas), in which various philosophers, history scholars, religious leaders and fanatics from all over the world are asked tough questions about the purpose of human beings on Earth. The filmmaker [...]

Expanding table

British furniture designer David Fletcher shows off his radially expanding table in this YouTube video. Spin it one way to expand it, and the other direction to contract the table. I wonder if the David listened to this song while he was constructing it…

CRUDE Legal Defense Fundraiser at IFC Center: Tuesday, June 22 at 8pm

CRUDE (Legal Defense Fundraiser) Tues, June 22 @ 8 pm IFC CENTER Q&A w/ director Joe Berlinger, attorney Maura Wogan, Morgan Spurlock, Michael Winship (WGA East) Tickets are $16 (all proceeds go to Berlinger’s legal defense fund) Tickets now on sale | More info To support Berlinger’s legal defense fund and shine additional light on [...]

Art light projection: Night Lights

night lights from thesystemis on Vimeo. Art collective YesYesNo was commissioned to create and project an interactive light experience onto the Auckland Ferry Building. They explain: Our job was to create an installation that would go beyond merely projection on buildings and allow viewers to become performers, by taking their body movements and amplifying them [...]

The Art of the Fund

We know times are drastically different in the world of film financing when suddenly fiction filmmakers are creating and mastering a new nifty little form: the fundraising video. For years in documentary, one first shot some footage and then crafted a “trailer,” used really as a funding pitch reel for both grant and private equity opportunities. In fiction, of course, this was never needed (“Let’s wait for the studio to cut a trailer once we sell this thing for a MAJOR profit!”), but times they have a-changed. Some of those studios don’t even … exist anymore.

Best condom tagline ever: “You can’t wait to get it on”

Trojan Fire & Ice – Kinda Like a Thrill Ride from Raymond Forbes on Vimeo. We just saw this awesome condom TV commercial from Trojan the other day. We’re not necessarily endorsing the product, just the ad. First of all, the tagline “You can’t wait to get it on”? Genius. How has this not been [...]

Community organizing meets weatherization: WeatherizeDC

Critics from both right and left have pounced on President Obama’s Oval Office address last night as lacking in substance, and even purpose. But David Roberts at Grist noted that weatherization, an important element of any energy and climate plan, was one of the specifics Obama did mention as means of lessening the country’s reliance on fossil fuels (and also lessening the potential for disasters like the Gulf oil spill).

Why Screenwriters Deserve Your Pity

The more I learn about the richly textured lives of big-time Hollywood screenwriters, the more I want to stay a trashy little gossip wretch in Murray Hill. Even if you get your screenplay green-lit, the studio will surely change it from a quirky romantic comedy to a superhero prequel in 3D, though the star will inevitably take charge at the last minute and instead make it a futuristic rock musical set in an oil spill. They’ll fire you, hire you back,then kick you out of the premiere party. If they call you for another meeting after it bombs, it’ll only be to pick your brain so they can rip off your ideas and give them to a more “commercial” writer who’ll make that one bomb too. And even if you still manage to make a hit of yourself, like multi-million man Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, The Last Boy Scout), you’ll have to go into hiding for years to avoid the hideous backlash and nagging self doubts that accompanied your whopping paycheck.

Japan’s first Passive House

In the last 10 years more than 15,000 buildings in Europe, from single family residences to entire factories, have been built or remodeled to the passive house standard. This means that, among other factors, these structures use 90% less energy, and it’s done, for the most part, by simply better utilizing the natural resources of the surrounding environment. To begin with, a passive house is virtually airtight. It’s also equipped with an energy recovery ventilator that provides a constant, balanced fresh air supply, minimizing energy losses and providing top rate indoor air quality. Furthermore, instead of relying on active systems to bring a building to zero energy, passive houses use natural resources like sunlight, for example, and apply them efficiently.

Buildings that meet the passive house standard are popping up all over the world, but only recently has Japan finally built their very first passive house in Kamakura, a small city 30 miles from Tokyo.

The Boys of Bushwick

I am loving Richard Haines these days. Via This is Fyf I stumbled upon the illustrator’s work. I immediately reached out to the artist to set up a portrait session at his NYC apartment, an experience I will document on Full Frontal Fashion in the coming weeks. I am beyond excited for my sitting. If [...]

Best Batman comic ever

As a bookend to my recent Batman entry, Metafilter unearthed what may be the best campy issue of Batman ever thanks to its (intentional? unintentional?) over-usage of the double entendre “boners.” One blogger (bless him) scanned and posted every page of Batman number 66, titled “The Joker’s Comedy of Errors.” This is admittedly a bit [...]

Free Fall: base jumping in the ocean

Free Fall is a breathtaking video, described as a “fiction and an artistic project” by the creators. French freediver champion Julie Gautier filmed the world freediving champion Guillaume Nery diving without any oxygen tanks or anything else into the Dean’s Blue Hole. It is located near the Bahamas and is the world’s second deepest hole [...]

Gay Pride: things we Love Love

To celebrate Gay Pride all month this June, we’ve assembled a great collection of films, documentaries and series that celebrate the diversity that makes our world a better place.  We call it LOVE LOVE – and we hope you have as much fun celebrating love in all its forms, shapes and colors as we do. [...]

NYC MTA FML

An Internet meme crossed into everyday real life when New York City’s beloved (note sarcasm) transit agency MTA updated a sign at a subway station at 14th Street and Sixth Avenue to reflect some service changes. The sign for train lines, F, V, and L was changed to F, M, and L. LOL! Bloggers quickly [...]

Great green vacations: volunteer on an organic farm

About this time last year, I took note of sustainable agriculture tours that provided great learning and getaway experiences. Want to go a step further, and actually get your hands dirty? Turns out there are lots of opportunities all over the world to exchange your labor for meals, sleeping quarters, and a great hands-on education in organic farming.