sundance

Most Popular Words of 2010

The Global Language Monitor, a service that tracks and analyzes language trends released their list of the most popular words used in 2010. Unsurprisingly one of my favorite memes of 2010 made the cut: Vuvuzela. In case you just woke up from a coma, that was the horn that buzzed in South Africa throughout this [...]

Crowdfunding eco art: United States Artists

Funding the arts seem like something a bit out of your reach? Sure, you can purchase a membership to the local art museum, but beyond that, the real funding comes from wealthy individuals, foundations, and other non-profits… right? Not so fast… a new crowdfunding site by the four-year-old arts advocacy organization United States Artists aims to bring patronage to the masses.

Here comes the most depressing batch of holiday films in history!

Looking to Hollywood to brighten your Christmas season with laughs and good cheer? You’d have a better time renting old Hammer horror flicks.

The last month of the year has become less of a venue to trot out cinematic smiles and eggnog than to appeal to the dark side of the audience while also groveling for awards and recognition.

It’s a bleak time in the movie cycle, and I have no problem with that—in fact, I detest cheap sentiment—but I sometimes find myself dreading the December depressathons, even if they’re admittedly better for you than feelgood rom-coms and cutesy cartoons.

There’s A Lot of Hate in Your Love

(THERE’S A LOT OF HATE IN YOUR LOVE) FAIRYTAIL PUNK -PART 1 THE GIRL WITH THE HORSE IN HER HAIR from THE COUNTESS on Vimeo. I have spotlighted the gorgeous and haunting song “Not Waving But Drowning” by my former West Village tenant Alex Zapak before. Alex, known as The Countess, is a rock and [...]

Do old plays have a place in today’s theatre?

The 1945 film version with Margaret Rutherford, far left.

One would never think that “Blithe Spirit,” the 1941 play by Noel Coward could ever have been considered controversial. Theatrical productions almost always follow the script to the letter, setting the story in an overstuffed living room draped with tasseled shawls and lace doilies. It’s difficult to imagine that this sort of age-worn setting ever shocked censors. But after the play met with overwhelming success in London, setting box office records with nearly 2,000 consecutive performances, director David Lean (LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER RIVER KWAI) took on the film adaptation in 1945, but had to cut one “extremely risque” line for the U.S. release. During an argument with his wife, Ruth, Charles says, “If you’re trying to compile an inventory of my sex life, I feel it only fair to warn you that you’ve omitted several episodes. I shall consult my diary and give you a complete list after lunch.”

The most important invention of the year

Forget green energy and an iron man suit for the military — the most important invention of 2010 is software that detects sarcasm. (Just checking to see if the software is up and running yet.) According to Time magazine, the Semi-Supervised Algorithm for Sarcasm Identification — developed at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem — can pick up on sarcastic sentences in product reviews. The researchers tested it out with 66,000 Amazon reviews and it was right 77% of the time. Which means that — cue the singing angels — the smiley-face and winky emoticons may soon become a thing of the past, at least for people who only resort to them as a desperate means of ensuring their sarcasm is conveyed.

Coolest home offices

I know your guest room-slash-office is pretty sweet, but compare it against these cool home offices highlighted by Inc, such as the one pictured above which is on a freakin’ tree! [Via]

50 Cent’s “In Da Club” translated into the Queen’s English

English 50 Cent – In Da Club from english 50cent on Vimeo. 50 Cent’s classic birthday party club song “In Da Club” goes high brow and gets translated into the Queen’s English. Proper English or not, I can still get into this song 200 thousand listens later.

The ecovillage: a hotbed of conscious capitalism

Ecovillages don’t get a lot of press coverage, so you can probably be forgiven if you automatically associate them with EASY RIDER and the word “commune.” Those associations typically gloss over the diversity present in these communities (which continue to spring up), including their economic diversity. Nope, they’re not all socialist utopias… while sharing is a big part of almost any intentional community, entrepreneurship and commerce also figures into the equation in many cases.

Taschen’s Neo Rauch retrospective

Neo Rauch’s work is at once familiar and slightly off, though slightly off shouldn’t be confused with off-putting; His paintings are huge and bright and difficult to tear your eyes away from. Calling his compositions surreal only barely describes them, and besides, Rauch isn’t too fond of the word. The colors he uses and the imagery are reminiscent of old storybooks. People are dressed in all manner of clothing, from Paul Bunyan to the Revolutionary War-era, think lots of men in waistcoats and britches. His landscapes owe a lot to Dali’s desolate, almost post-apocalyptic fantasy worlds, and his proportions are all over the place. Men and women of various sizes operate together on the same plane without clear distinction as to fore or background.

A mobile app with a higher purpose than iFart

If using your mobile phone to simulate fart noises or fake an incoming call to escape a blind date are beneath you, try this one on for size: Researchers in the UK are working on a technology that would allow you to self-diagnose STDs on your phone. If you think you might have an STD, you’ll be able to pee on a computer chip about the size of a USB key (seriously, you pee on it… saliva will do in a pinch) and then plug that into your phone or computer for insta-diagnosis. The plan is to sell the chips in vending machines in night clubs, right next to the condoms, tampons, and mini sex toys (yep, those forward-thinking Brits already sell sex toys in night club vending machines, bless ‘em).

Marilyn Monroe’s turkey recipe

A couple weeks ago The New York Times reviewed a new book detailing Marilyn Monroe’s life through collected letters and other artifacts of her life, which included this extensive turkey stuffing recipe written on a letterhead from an insurance company. The Times took the recipe for a “laborious” test drive with the following pleasing result: [...]

Maru the cat’s latest box adventures

Maru, the Japanese star of the video LOLcat genre (previously) is back: This time the owner runs an experiment to see just how small of a box is too small for Maru. Just to give you a sense of how popular this cat is, the video was posted on November 11 and it already has [...]

P.S.1 MoMA’s Young Architects Program

From Matter Architecture Practice: “We have yet to effectively update this site.” Emerging indeed!

Earlier this week, P.S.1 MoMA announced the finalists for the 2011 Young Architects Program, their award for emerging architecture firms. The winning firm gets to take over P.S.1′s front outdoor garden space, where the museum hosts a string of events as soon as the weather allows. The five competing firms have the next three months to put the finishing touches on their proposals before the final decision is made in February.

Michael Jackson’s letterhead

Letters of Note has this nice “get well” note sent in 1986 by Michael Jackson to a friend. Note the letterhead and the “BEAT IT” pun.

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS gets animated

Two stills from Reiniger’s THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE ACHMED

Reviews of the second to last film of the Harry Potter empire are mixed. There are the die hard fans who will eat up anything Potter & Co. churn out and then, on the other hand, are the Harry haters whose spiteful critiques of the movies take all the easy hits (too sentimental, not enough magic) and ultimately waste everyone’s time. So say what you will about Harry Potter, THE DEATHLY HALLOWS may carry the markings of a film that’s trying to be more than just transition to a finale, but its post-apocalyptic scenes of Harry, Hermione and Ron moving silently through desolate (and beautifully shot) landscapes and running low on friendly cheer are some of the film’s most captivating moments. There are plenty of super-CG chase scenes and wand-lashing, spell-throwing fights, but its the quiet, tense moments where the trio has run out of ideas and are wallowing aimlessly in a canvas tent in the middle of nowhere that give an otherwise transitional piece some heft.

Manhattan was Brooklyn

Through December 19th Live With Animals is showcasing the artwork of one of my faves, Clinton Van Gemert. Clinton is the creative genius behind the hoodie line HeadHoods, who I recently interviewed. He also makes killer T-shirts too, like this one, “I Can’t Afford to Love New York.” His work is sick, smart, and often [...]

Dubious iPhone app of the week

Fake Calls is an iPhone app that lets you receive a fake call on your phone — you can either tap the icon on your home screen (discreetly labeled FC) and your phone will ring in ten seconds, or else you can schedule a call in advance. Your phone will look and sound exactly like you’re receiving an incoming call — you can select in advance who the caller is, from your mom to your boss to the president — except that nobody’s really there. You can then “answer” the call — or decline it if you’re using the app just to prove you have manners.

Into the looking glass door knob

Hideyuki Nkayama designed this glass doorknob that reflects interior of the room on the other side of the door. This is a great concept, unless you’re the one being spied upon. [Via]

History of stop motion

I love stop motion from chloe fleury on Vimeo. San Francisco based French artist Chloe Fleury created this neat paper-craft stop-motion video about the history of…stop motion video, which is a favorite around these SunFiltered part of the woods.

Three’s Company for Franco

I love James Franco. From his hilarious cover of Candy and stint on 30 Rock to his gay roles in MILK and HOWL, he’s a straight guy (sadly enough) who is unafraid to do some pretty non-mainstream stuff. Hollywood needs more like him. News is out that James is set to star in a remake [...]

What do you do with a used vuvuzela?

Last Summer’s World Cup may seem like a distant memory, but if you really got into the South African soccer-fest, you may still have a vuvuzela laying around the house. You’re not alone: according to Triplepundit, sales of these plastic noise horns reportedly reached 20,000 per day during the football frenzy.

Now that the party’s over, what can you do with that vuvuzela… besides tossing it?

80 unseen photographs by Stephen Shore

What’s more incredible, the fact that the photo above was taken in 1973 and is only being exhibited now, or the fact that Arizona’s Wigwam motel still looks exactly the same to this day? Probably both, but it’s surprising that any of photographer Stephen Shore’s work would be kept a secret for so long. Shore famously got his start when he sold several photographs to the MoMA when he was just 14-years-old. He was unschooled in the medium then and has remained a self-taught photographer ever since. It wasn’t until ten years later that Shore made a real name for himself with American Surfaces, the 1972 series of photographs he took on his first major American road trip. People immediately responded to his deadpan composition and striking use of color. But it’s Uncommon Places, the photographs from his next road trip just one year later that has Shore fans buzzing now.

Train to Hogwarts spotted in Union Square

Recently NYC straphangers spotted this apropos update to our subway service which you can catch from Union Square: the magical 9 3/4 train to Hogwarts. Before you run into the wall for the 9 3/4, let me know first so I can film you…running straight into a wall.

Lelo’s new line of pretty waterproof vibes

Just in time for the holidays, one of our favorite manufacturers has launched a new line of fancy-schmancy vibes: Lelo’s Insignia collection. It’s their first line of completely waterproof products, which makes for easier cleaning and fun in the shower. There’s the oval-shaped external massager, Alia (around $119); the traditional mid-size vibrator, Isla ($159); and [...]