sundance

Invasive species as an economic resource: Lake Victoria’s water hyacinths

Those of us in the developed world may have trouble wrapping our heads around the threats posed by invasive plant species. Sure, those massive patches of kudzu, for instance, aren’t particularly attractive, but we’re generally removed from direct effects on biodiversity.

Not so in places like Kenya. Lake Victoria, Africa’s largest body of fresh water, serves nearby population’s water needs, and provides fish for food. These people are feeling the direct effects of an invasive species: water hyacinths, native to South America, have infested the lake, and created a whole host of problems.

The Franco Lure

As we collectively come down from the Oscars, I am forced to reflect on the Franco-filled universe. I don’t want to reflect, believe me – but as you know, he’s EVERYWHERE. The New York Times this morning greeted me with a Franco cocktail. Entertainment Weekly Entertainer of the Year 2010? Check. Two oversaturation notifications on my husband’s Facebook page? (As in – check these out – it’s just too too too too too much. One of them, just to get you to click, is headlined “James Franco to Teach a Class About Himself.”) Check. And now, I am torturing myself even more … as I sit here and watch a screener of 127 HOURS. His arm just got stuck. Am I ready for all of this?

It Gets Fab

The month of February was really remarkable over at my day job Fab.com. We partnered with gay youth charities GLSEN, The Trevor Project, and It Gets Better Campaign to give a dollar for every new user we signed up. We raised thousands! The video above we made at our office. The concept was to be [...]

Terry Richardson’s Tumblr is everywhere, including the Oscars

If you’re a fan of pop culture, art, photography, or fashion and you don’t have Terry Richardson’s frequently updated Tumblr bookmarked, then do yourself a favor and do so. Whether it’s the recent opening of Ed Ruscha’s new show at Gagosian in LA or chilling out backstage at the Oscars, the man, his glasses and [...]

BFF: Bicycle Film Festival

For some people a bright idea is like a light bulb switching on in their heads; for others it’s like getting hit by a bus. Unfortunately for Brendt Barbur, the latter is literally true. In 2001 he was hit by a bus while riding his bike in NYC. The incident gave him the idea for [...]

Design your own sex toy, win fame and cash!

Remember when we told you guys about a new sex toy called the Sqweel? It’s an oral sex simulator that was launched back in 2009 with all the pomp and hype of a new Apple product — we were sent a free sample in advance only once we were sworn to secrecy, which made us feel kind of like the James Bonds of the sex toy world (but with a better gadget!). And we have to say, despite having a name that sounds like a ride at your local county fair, the toy totally delivered. Well, the Sqweel was the winner of LoveHoney.co.uk’s Design a Sex Toy competition that year. And their 2011 competition is now accepting entries!

The story behind George Nelson’s Bubble Lamps

Apartment Therapy has a great post up featuring of my all-time favorite designs, George Nelson’s collections of bubble lamps. The lamps are timeless, the light quality from then attractive. And the story of how they came to be is a case study in design process.

AT had a great quote from Nelson:

Samurai sword fight against shadows

Check out this samurai performer fighting a horde of shadows. Also: worst audience ever. That is one tough crowd to impress.

Titian’s Venus gets graffiti-clothed

This Minneapolis billboard promoting a traveling exhibition of Titian paintings from the National Gallery of Scotland which opened this month at the Minneapolis Institute of Art demonstrates that graffiti bombers and museum officials both have a sense of humor. The museum staff found it amusing and wanted it left up, but unfortunately the billboard company [...]

Billie Ray vs. Vince Clarke

Sweet suburban disco(vince clarke remix) by billie ray martin Billie Ray Martin is releasing a new single next week, “Sweet Suburban Disco,” and this little blog had something to do with the above collaboration (click on the link to listen!). Billie’s been a friend of mine for a decade now. And Vince Clarke, the legend [...]

London Fashion Week

Photo credit: Gareth Cattermole/GettyImages Shini Park from Park & Cube brings you fashionable characters, backstage and more from London Fashion Week. Yvan Rodic, the man behind FaceHunter captures London Fashion Week nightlife and street style. See what gorgeous creation 83rd Annual Academy Award host Anne Hathaway would wear if FFF could dress the Oscars. Check [...]

ART – looking back at Modigliani

Modigliani’s $69 million sale

Meryle Secrest’s upcoming biography of Modigliani, Modigliani – A Life, coincides fortuitously with a recent “flurry of art market activity.” Nearly 100 years after his death, Modigliani’s work is setting records, first with a ‘totemic limestone head’ that sold for $53 million, the highest price ever paid for any work of art in France, and then with the $69 million sale of “Nu Assis Sur un Divan,” (1917) a personal best for the artist. And let’s not forget the epic robbery last May at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris in which a still unidentified thief made off with six paintings valued at $613 million, including a Picasso, Matisse, Braque, Leger and Modigliani’s “La femme a l’eventail.”

Hoer Board’s DJ table

Hoer Board‘s DJ table is simply delicious. If Apple was a DJ equipment this is what their DJ console would look like. Missing are screws, wires, and general messiness of DJ set ups are replaced with this piece of furniture from the future. It makes me want to learn how to Dj, simply to have a reason to buy it. Which with a price tag of around $2,000 it better be a very good reason.

Sexy period underpants, for reals

Here’s the story of the birth of a business: Two women at Brown University take a class on entrepreneurship, join forces for a class project on writing a business proposal, try to think of a real problem that needs a solution, and come up with panty-accidents during menstruation. They post surveys in the women’s restrooms [...]

Stop-motion bookshelf

Watch this fun stop-motion video of books rearranging and organizing themselves on a bookshelf, and stay for the credits. As one YouTube commenter wrote: Things to do while on house arrest. -> Looking at you Mubarak and Qaddafi.

Jeff Koons and the gray area of intellectual copyrights

A couple of months ago I wrote about La Bolleur, a group of artists who created a series of brightly-colored, large-scale balloon animals I felt verged on a rip-off of Jeff Koons famous “Balloon Animals.” While those pieces didn’t create enough of a buzz to rouse Koons into a battle over intellectual copyrights, no doubt you’ve read about the little bookends that did. Though that lawsuit has ended with the bookends still legally for sale and Koons back where he was when he started, the case has raised plenty of compelling questions like, who, if anyone, owns the rights to popularized images and is Koons just a mean ol’ copyright bully?

In the year 2000

In 1910, a French artist Villemard painted 24 funny illustrations that forecasts what a 21st century Paris might look like.  In the year 2100, there will be people looking back at our predictions and laughing in the same way. [Via]

Green tech finds (2/24/11)

Going off-grid as economic necessity, quiet compostable chip bags, and green beer… your green tech finds for the week.

• Green beer in the Last Frontier: Juneau-based Alaskan Brewing Company faces some relatively unique challenges and costs in making its beer… and has implemented some relatively unique green technology (for a craft brewer, anyway) to keep a lid on both economic and environmental costs. (via Utne Reader)
  
  
• Adjust the thermostat with your phone: ecobee, the makers of the Smart Thermostat, now offer an Android app that allows you to remotely adjust your home’s temperature.
  
  

Just be a queen

The editors of Out Magazine asked me to pen an essay in defense of Lady Gaga, as many within our community are vocally criticizing her new anthem “Born This Way.” That can be read here. But I also thought I’d share it with the SUNfiltered community too. See below.

Cats who look like Ron Swanson

Cats Who Look Like Ron Swanson is a meme that combines two of the Internets favorite things: cats and Ron Swanson. And if you still haven’t watched Parks and Recreation, I suggest you do so immediately unless you enjoy living a life devoid of laughter. Also, here’s one of the show’s breakout stars Aziz Ansari [...]

Something to do this Saturday: repro rights rally in NYC!

The Republicans talk a big game about focusing on getting people more jobs, but as far as actions go, this new Congress seems more intent on limiting people’s freedom, especially women’s. The right wing is going after reproductive rights in general and Planned Parenthood specifically — women’s health care is at greater risk now than it has been years: on February 18, 2011, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to bar Planned Parenthood health centers from all federal funding for birth control, cancer screenings, HIV testing, and other lifesaving care! Just check out this funny but horrifying Daily Show summary.

VALENTINE in close-up

Close to Valentine’s Day, my honey and I went to see BLUE VALENTINE. Not on Valentine’s Day, mind you, that would be called … a bad omen. We walked out of the theatre repeating the phrase, “If you have a choice, take Cupid’s Cove and not the Future Room, for Chrissake sweet Jesus!” But the other phrase we walked out repeating was, “Wow, a whole movie in close-up!”

Flaky typeface

Norwegian designer Veronica Falsen Hiis constructed a n’ice typeface out of snow back in December 2008. It’s very apropos for this particularly snowy winter we’ve been having in the tri-state area this year. [Via]

P.S.1 MoMA’s Young Architects Winner

Just when the winter blues really starts to get me down, MoMA/P.S.1 announces the winner of the Young Architects Program and summer doesn’t seem quite as far away. That’s because the grand prize is the chance to design P.S.1′s outdoor courtyard, used all summer long for their jam-packed Warm Up parties in Long Island City, Queens. This year’s winner is the Brooklyn-based urban design and planning firm, Interboro Partners, who take a decidedly minimalist approach in all their work. Many past winners have wowed the judges with elaborate conceptual pieces or striking visuals, but Interboro snagged the top prize with a simple overhead canopy made of tautly pulled rope that reaches from one end of the courtyard to the other.

Electronic waste recycling via “ATM”

Got old cell phones or other electronic devices laying around because you plan to recycle them… one day? Yep, so do I… There are options out there for recycling electronics past their prime, but none of them are quite as convenient as curbside pick-up of other materials.

The ecoATM is one approach that’s attempting to close that convenience gap… and also to pay users for recycling their old electronics. If you’ve used a Coinstar or Redbox kiosk, you already understand the concept: one machine can not only accept those old cell phones, but also figure out their value, and pay the user with cash, a gift card, a trade-up certificate, or even a charitable donation. The video above demonstrates how the ecoATM works.