sundance

Fighting that beer belly with… beer

The discussion surrounding the obesity epidemic has centered on dietary norms, school lunches, processed foods, and agricultural subsidies. Beer drinking hasn’t received a ton of attention in this discussion, but if a student at Denver’s Regis University has his way, the battle against the beer gut may be waged with an intriguing weapon… more beer. [...]

3 weeks left to see Yoshitomo Nara’s “Nobody’s Fool”

Yoshitomo Nara moved to Germany in the late 80s in an attempt to isolate himself and focus his work. With the language barrier and his obvious outsider status, he became more alone than he bargained for. But it wasn’t all for naught. It was his extreme solitude that made him realize that “each painting needs only to speak to one thing,” and it was during this period that Nara’s style changed drastically from loose and Expressionistic to the stylized, “cartoon” portraits he’s become famous for.

In the past twenty years of his work, there are three themes that occur again and again: isolation, rebellion and music, or at least that’s how the Asia Society Museum sees it. There’s still time to “Nobody’s Fool” before it closes on January 2, and if you check in on Foursquare at the museum you can get 2 for 1 admission.

Theatre reviewers on the Verge

It angers me a great deal to hear the rumors the that play “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown” is awful and will close sooner than its January 23rd final date. It makes me so, so, so mad! I have a confession. I am a gay man who really does not like musicals. They’re typically schlocky and overblown and full of false emotion. There is nothing real about them. They’re cartoons for grown-ups. Cheesy cartoons.

So of course I had low expectations to see this play, based on the frenetically energized 1988 film by Pedro Almodovar. I love that film and all it captures: the beauty, drama, color, and sorrow of Spanish women’s lives and dramas. But guess what? The play was wonderful! Marvelous! Magnifico!

Kilian Martin in “A Skate Regeneration”

Brett Novak directed “A Skate Regeneration,” a fantastic video of Kilian Martin displaying some remarkable skateboarding tricks. Novak adds a layer of expressiveness that gives it a more “meaningful” quality.

Utah Approves a Mine Next to Bryce Canyon for Coal America Doesn’t Need

Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah. (Photo credit: AFP/Getty Images)

Imagine: A massive open-pit coal mine next to a wilderness jewel. A scenario like that might have been routine in the past, but this is the 21st century, when many cleaner, more sustainable ways to power our economy abound. We no longer have to sacrifice an iconic landscape in order to burn some dirty rocks.

And yet a mining company got approval last month to open Utah’s first-ever strip mine for coal in the small community of Alton. Few new coal mines have opened in the West in the past decade since most developers focus on expanding existing mines, not reaching into untouched wilderness. And that’s what makes this mine so troubling: it will be located 10 miles from Bryce Canyon National Park.

The truth is we don’t need this coal. The developers claim they have a contract with a Utah utility, but they won’t disclose which one. It’s questionable whether local utilities even have the need for such sizeable quantities of coal. Instead, rumors indicate that a lot of the coal will be hauled to a West Coast port for shipping, possibly overseas. If the company is so confident there is a market for its product, it should name its buyers.

The West has a long history of outside companies extracting local resources, selling them elsewhere, and leaving nearby communities to clean up the mess often at taxpayer expense. No matter what they might tell you, there is no reclamation plan that can return an open pit mine to a natural, wild state. Once that untamed spirit is gone, it’s gone for good.

Some places are simply too special to industrialize. Bryce country is one of them.

Twitter’s top 10 most powerful tweets of 2010

Twitter rounded up their list of the top 10 most influential and powerful tweets this year. Although they might not be world leaders, nationally recognized reporters, or celebrities, here is my recommended short list of must-follow people on Twitter due to their excellent linkage or humor (or both!): jennydeluxe (memes, news, and lolz), CardiffGarcia (financial), [...]

Casey Weldon’s freak factory

Ok yeah, Casey Weldon’s paintings tend to veer dangerously close to territory long-conquered by Mark Ryden, a style that has influenced, nay dominated, hordes of Art Center alums (Ryden’s alma mater) ever since he graduated in the late 80s. Weldon graduated from Art Center in 2004, almost 20 years later, and it seems that Ryden is still a heavy presence on campus. If you can get past the portraits of the genre’s trademark dark, doe-eyed sylphs, Weldon’s work offers a lot of humor, like “As All Murrary,” a series of six portraits of the cast of THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS as Bill Murray. (For more of Weldon’s Murrary/Wes Anderson obsession, see his website).

Searching for sustainable community… by bike

It might be tempting to label the “journey across America in search of ______” motif a cliché… except it still resonates powerfully. From 19th-century travelogues to Kerouac’s On the Road to Albert Brooks’ Lost in America, the idea of traveling the US as a quest for meaning captures out imaginations, and gives us space for a bit of introspection.

Ryan Mlynarczyk and Mandy Creighton went beyond the dreaming about such adventures most of us do, and decided to set out on their own quest across the country… this time in search of sustainable community. In 2008, they ditched almost everything, and set off across the US on bikes to explore ecovillages, communes, collectives… every form of simpler, more sustainable communities they could find. They’ve visited over 100 communities across the country, and are now pulling footage of their journey into a feature-length film titled WITHIN REACH.

How to be a TV talking head

I’ve spent half my adult life appearing as a talking head on various TV channels, so by now I have the art of on-camera gabbing down to a T and know just what to do, what to avoid, and whether to watch the clip afterwards with one eye covered.

Live appearances on cable news are way different than pre-taped ones (like “101 Celebrity Meltdowns” or “The Fab Times of Lindsay”), so I’ll separate them in offering my unsolicited but extremely useful advice to anyone brazen enough to want to join the unpaid talking head population.

For live shows:

*Have your first answer ready. The worst thing imaginable on live TV is dead air, so you want to avoid ever pausing to think or stammering stuff like “Um, uh…” If your first answer doesn’t match the first question, then say it anyway—and make it match the question.

*Speak in four or five sentences at a time, trailing off when you’ve sensed that you’ve had your say on that particular subject and it’s time for someone—anyone–else to speak. Don’t be a monosyllabic caveman, but don’t monopolize the whole show either. Find a happy medium.

Daft Punk vs. Tron

DAFT PUNK – DEREZZED (From the Tron Legacy Soundtrack) from Warren Fu on Vimeo. As a boy in the 1980s I adored TRON. This weekend the remake comes out. Shot with the same cameras as AVATAR and costing the $170 million, I sure hope it’s good. Things are looking likely methinks. If this awesome music [...]

High speed camera freezes the world

This person pointed his high speed camera at travelers waiting on the platform while his train sped by. The result is neat, and what’s cool is that anyone can do this with a relatively cheap camera. Read more details behind this video from the creator. The recap also explains how if at first you don’t [...]

The best sex and love news of 2010

Yesterday we told you about the sex and love news from 2010 that most pissed us off and/or depressed us — dubious studies, dubious reporting, and rampant STDs, et al. Today we hope to put a smile back on your face with some of the love and sex news that most inspired us. You’re welcome.

1. A kink study finds that the majority of men are open to fetishes once you get them behind closed doors. Just don’t expect them to dish about it over Monday Night Football.
   
   
2. College gals finally close the marriage gap — new research shows that white women with college degrees are just as likely to marry as those who didn’t graduate from college.
   
   
3. Okay, so yesterday we told you that the web is “luring” more women into porn addiction — but there’s a silver lining. We finally have proof that women are visual creatures too!
   
   

Steve Jobs’ business card

From the Internet time capsule, here is an early business card of our Dear Leader.

Vimeo of the Week: Felicity and Serenity

Kurz und Schön opener from errorone on Vimeo. If you’re anything like me than I’m betting that December is a pretty stressful month for you. I have party upon party obligations stacked next to this list of gifts to buy. I have a stack of holiday cards to be addressed and stamped and I have [...]

Yak wool: the conscious cashmere?

At the Source – Yaks, Nomads and the Himalayas from Khunu on Vimeo.

As the temperatures drop, you may be reaching for sweaters, jackets, and other garments made from some kind of wool… maybe lambswool, merino, or cashmere. If Julian Wilson and Aaron Pattillo have their way, yak wool may soon be a part of your cold weather fashion mix.

Wilson and Pattillo founded Khunu, a company that makes apparel from this unique material, in 2009. The two discovered yak wool while trekking on the Tibetan plateau, and recognized an opportunity both to introduce this soft, warm fiber to a larger market, and to create a business that supports the impoverished people of Tibet and Mongolia (their main sourcing areas). Launched as a social enterprise, the company purchases the wool at fair trade prices, and returns 2 percent of sales to the communities that supply the raw material.

Mad Magazine’s Top 20 Dumbest People, Events, and Things for 2010

Yep, it’s that time of year, folks.  The final weeks of 2010 are winding down and we’re all wondering: “Another year has flown by.  Where did it go!” Fear not, citizens.  This week Mad Magazine releases its annual “Top 20 Dumbest People, Events, and Things for 2010” to remind us of… well, every stupid person, [...]

Sit on a Poet

I don’t often give props to products, but I have a deep and sincere love of chair design, and the story-lover in me can’t resist “The Poets,” a series of chairs from Dutch design studio Nieuwe Heren. Erik de Nijs and Tim Smit are known for their handcrafted look and playful, narrative-driven approach to lighting and furniture. “The Poets” initially began as a portable chair with its own light to encourage reading bedtime stories to children, but can be used by anyone who needs a little literary respite. Equipped with a lamp that’s flat on one side so it can be folded up against a wall, the chairs are available in two styles, right-handed and left-handed. The lefty is the ‘J.W. Goethe,’ named after the famous left-handed poet, and the righty is the ‘W. Blake.’ Even when it’s leaning against a wall it can still be used a lamp – brilliant!

Create your own Tumblr crash message

Bloggers had a conniption earlier this week when Tumblr experienced an EPIC outage for over 23 hours. It was a tough period for anyone wanting to blog about meaningful typography and minimalist movie posters or post their hipstamatic iPhone photos. Well, you can relive those dark hours with your own customizable Tumblr error page.

The worst sex and love news of 2010

Every week, all year long, we tell you all about what’s going on in the world of sex and love. Well, not quite all — you might notice that we steer clear of stories about sex crimes (because that’s not the kind of sex this site is about) and stories about teachers sleeping with their students (because we’re not Fox). But everything else, you’ll find here. Not everything we report on pleases us — in fact, some of it straight-up pisses us off. Here are the headlines and studies that depressed us most in the past year. Tune in tomorrow for the news that put a smile back on our faces.

1. Economically dependent men are more likely to cheat on their female partners. We remain unconvinced that this is actual proven fact rather than just dubious study, but either way: boo!
   
   
2. That “six-feet-tall” hottie you’re corresponding with online? Yeah, he’s totally lying.
   
   
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Erasure’s Respect

Erasure, arguably the gayest band on the planet, have re-recorded their seminal hit “A Little Respect.” According to Mute Records: Proceeds from the track will be donated to The Hetrick-Martin Institute, the home of the Harvey Milk High School, in New York, and the True Colors Fund. The Hetrick-Martin Institute, the nation’s oldest and largest [...]

F* You If You Don’t Like Christmas

Cartoonist and writer Drew has this heart-warming nonsensical song for the holidays that can be enjoyed by people of all religious persuasions. (Ed. note: salty language alert!)

Meat Zine

When in London last week I ventured into a gay shop, you know one of those places that sells awful jewelry, tight bathing suits, lube, chains, and porn. One stop shopping. Like a gay 7-11. I was tagging along with other friends who ventured in. Seriously. No, really. What? You don’t believe me? Anyway, I [...]

Sundance Film Festival follow up: ENTER THE VOID

To say that Gasper Noe’s “psychedelic melodrama” ENTER THE VOID premiered to a divisive audience is putting it lightly. Reactions to the film when it first screened at Cannes in 2009 were polarized, but the nomination for the Palm d’Or gave Noe the energy to continue editing and release a final, shorter, version at Sundance [...]

Sundance Film Festival follow up: ANIMAL KINGDOM

When you say the words, crime family, I doubt if anything besides THE GODFATHER springs to mind. That’s why when writer/director David Michôd made ANIMAL KINGDOM, his film about the downfall of an Australian crime family, he wisely avoided the epic romance of the Corleones and veered sharply towards the naturalistic. While there’s a lot at [...]

The Smithsonian Snapshot

With over 137 million items in its collection, it should come as no surprise that some of the Smithsonian’s treasures have incredible stories behind them. In order to share some of these stories, they’ve launched “Smithsonian Snapshot, ” a weekly peek into the collection, one item at a time. The Smithsonian’s collection is so huge that most of it remains in storage during the year, so Snapshot is a way to give some of the items that seldom or never make it into an exhibition their own moment in the sun.