sundance

New additions to the Oxford English Dictionary

The Internet was thrilled at some of the latest to make the cut in the Oxford English Dictionary, which now include OMG, LOL, and FYI. It feels like our memes are all grown up. Also included however was “la-la land” and I thought the definition was quite amusingly fitting. la-la land n. can refer either [...]

Green tech finds (3/31/11)

LSA In Action from Sticky Advertising on Vimeo.

Plastic made from meat wastes, and “self-charging” cell phones… these and more in this week’s green tech finds.

• Floating solar panels: “Offshore renewables” has generally meant wind or wave power, but an Australian company has developed a prototype for floating solar panels… and Indian company Tata Power is going to give the concept a go. Check out the Liquid Solar Array in action above. (via Calfinder’s Residential Solar blog)
  
  
• Plastic bottle schools: Plastic bottles get recycled into all sorts of consumer products… but the Bottle Schools Project is turning them into literal building blocks for schools in the developing world. (via Springwise and @COSEnergy)
  
  

2011 Buckminster Fuller Challenge

A group shows their literacy certificates.

Before Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller was known the world over for his feats of engineering – most famously for his geodesic domes – he was, at 32, bankrupt and suicidal after the failure of his first business venture and the premature death of his young daughter. But instead of languishing, Fuller decided to embark upon “an experiment to find out what a single individual [could] contribute to changing the world and benefiting humanity.” That was nearly 90 years ago, and The Buckminster Fuller Challenge continues to celebrate Fuller’s pioneering spirit, enthusiasm and ingenuity with their annual $100,000 prize.

A kiss can be ten times more effective than morphine in reducing pain

GOOD put together this fantastic supercut of famous kiss scenes from cinema history along with pop-up scientific facts about one of our favorite activities.

Zions, and Mormons, and polygamists, oh my!

There seems to be Mormonism and polygamy in the air lately (at least for us), so we wanted to spread the love to you and you and you and…:

• Escape — Just finished this crazy page-turner of a memoir from Carolyn Jessop, one of the few women to escape The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints or FLDS (of Warren Jeffs infamy) with her 8 kids (and 8 is a low number for this radical polygamist sect). She recounts how the cult basically imprisons women as sex/baby-making slaves — you’ll boggle over how something like this could exist in America in the 21st century. Katherine Heigl is slated to make the movie version of the book (which, we hate to admit, we’re morbidly excited about).
  
  

Episode Recap – Bad is Better Than Boring

What I Hope They Learned:

“Being bad is better than boring.” I said this to Andre and Liquica in Times Square when we were on our outing getting inspiration and it’s something I truly believe. A friend fought me about this fact just the other day but for me, it’s true. I can find value in the good and the bad. If you think about fashion being your ultimate self-expression, then speak loudly and boldly. There’s no room for anything dull, because boring is exactly that – boring!

Covering Christoph Niemann’s nuclear flowers

The New Yorker has an interesting look behind the process that led to the final design of their recent cover (see above) created by Christoph Niemann (a SUNfiltered favorite) which reflects the delicate ongoing struggle and tragedy in Japan. This assignment was difficult because, as Niemann explained, “A drawing often comes across as lighthearted, and [...]

Thailand’s awe-inspiring soccer team

Why Spielberg hasn’t purchased the rights to the story of the Panyee FC soccer club is beyond me. Twenty-five years ago in Koh Panyee, a teensy-weensy fishing village built entirely on stilts off the coast of Thailand, a group of young boys obsessed with soccer decided to stop watching the games on TV and play it for themselves. The only problem was that Koh Panyee has no soil, no ground to speak of at all beyond the elevated wooden slats that make up the cramped little village. So the boys took a cue from their forefathers and built a soccer pitch from scratch from pieces of scrap wood nailed together atop a network of old fishing boats.

National PB&J Day: lower your lunch’s environmental impact

This Saturday, April 2nd, is National PB&J Day. While such an event seems aimed at our sense of childhood nostalgia, the folks at the PB&J Campaign have latched on to it (they didn’t add it to the calendar… they swear) as an opportunity to get us all thinking about the environmental impact of our lunch choices.

The Amen Break

The above 20 minute documentary was made in 2004 and it’s all about what is likely the most famous sample ever recorded, the “Amen Break,” pulled from a hit, then forgotten, record from the 1960s. That single, the song “Amen, Brother” was performed by the The Winstons. This film honors it.

Photographing art audiences

Jessie Wender touches on one of the truisms about art: sometimes the audience can be just as, if not more interesting. For The New Yorker, she highlights a selection of photographs, including one of my favorites picture above (Elliott Erwitt, “57th Street Gallery, New York City, USA,” 1963) that reflects the lens back at the [...]

World’s greatest film extra

Recently a video circulated around the blogosphere of a highlight reel featuring actor Jesse Heiman. His name may not be familiar to you but you’ve definitely seen his face in a lot of your favorite TV shows (currently a regular extra on Glee and Chuck). His IMDB resume is quite impressive. Impressive enough to currently [...]

Vimeo of the Week: Through The Middle

Through the Middle from Clouded Vision on Vimeo.

Clouded Vision’s Through the Middle is a wonderful and short documentary showing a barber shop and its decline. It is a bittersweet goodbye letter to another time and another place where industry and prosperity once thrived. It’s a perfect snapshot of what it’s like being a small business owner during a recession. Simon James Lane and Tom Sweetland’s film is profound and pint-sized. More on the film:

The Fresh Kills landfill comes to film

A couple of year ago, I took a look at New York City’s 20+ year plan to transform the closed Fresh Kills landfill into the city’s largest park. That plan represents the end of the story: for years, residents and leaders on Staten Island worked to get the landfill closed… with some even threatening “secession” from the city over the health hazards and sensory displeasure created by the US’ largest dump.

Welcome to the Treehouse

The idea for the Treehotel was born when Kent Lindvall, the owner, and three friends went on a fishing trip in Russia. One night, as they drank vodka around a campfire, Kent brought up the idea to his friends, who all happened to be architects. They embraced the idea immediately. Soon after, the group was walking through the woods in Harads, a small village in Northern Sweden. As they scouted for possible locations, it was important to find places where they wouldn’t need to cut down any trees to make room. “We made small paths that fit in perfectly with the forest without taking anything out, so when you come up here it’s absolutely untouched nature,” Kent explains.

The Twisted Art of Mariel Clayton

Mariel Clayton is one f-ed up artist! And I mean that in all the best ways. Mariel is a photographer who specializes in photos of dolls. Now, that’s creepy just in and of itself. But when you add to that statement the fact that Clayton beheads, mutilates, and depicts graphic death scenes with the dolls [...]

7 personality types to avoid when you’re dating

In a world of Facebook “likes” and online dating questionnaires that seem to narrow down the soul-mate search to a simple (and yet oh so witty!) checklist of wants and needs, it’s easy to focus on the superficial ways in which we do or don’t connect with each other. And granted, that stuff can make or break a first date, and can be indicative of a long-term connection. We both love darts! He’s got a flat butt too! Another unabashed Miley Cyrus fan?! Still, superficial connections have a tendency to mask bedsheet-sized red flags. Like, oh, say, the fact that your date is a raging narcissist. So we turned to Gordon Livingston, M.D., author of the book How to Love: Choosing Well at Every Stage of Life, and asked him to weigh on the, well, weightier issues. Specifically, seven personality types that you should avoid in your search for Mr./Ms. Right. Even if said Mr./Ms. performs the best damn air guitar solo you’ve ever seen.

1. The Self-Absorbed Hysteric

These so-called “histrionic” people often describe themselves as “passionate and emotional.” Their primary drive is to be the center of attention. Their self-absorption and superficiality make it hard for them to engage in the give and take of healthy relationships. Danger signals that one is in the presence of a self-absorbed “hysteric” include shallowness and a more or less constant need to be the focus of attention. It is just very hard for them to get beyond their own needs to consider their obligations to others, even their own children.

Around the world in 2,000 pictures

Shot over just 24 days, Alex Profit stitched together 2,000 snapshots for this video which takes the viewer on a journey though Paris, Barcelona, Berlin, St. Petersburg, Shanghai, Tokyo, New York and London aka the best vacation ever. All these cities are on my bucket list of places to visit and I’m embarrassed to say [...]

The Transformation Begins – Radenroro: Tonight at 10p EST!

Most weeks, the mail arrives at my office in large foam cartons, usually filled with lookbooks of every variety: large and spiral-bound; small and stapled, or even loose pictures in an envelope. You can only imagine how many collections I see each year.

Most of these are designers I’ve never heard of, but are begging to be discovered. That could be said of a certain lookbook I saw, one day at my desk, from the label, Radenroro. I was intrigued by – yes, the name – but more the art direction and image of the lookbook and some of the clothes in it, but most of it just looked unmemorable to me. In fact, I remember remarking to Keith Pollock, a good friend and the Editorial Director of Elle.com, that I could see girls shopping and wanting SOME of these clothes but not most of it.

Thirty states now developing U.S. bike routes

While efforts to develop high-speed rail routes in the United States have hit all sorts of political snags, another effort at low-carbon travel is quietly making inroads in a majority of the states. The Adventure Cycling Association reports that its proposed U.S. Bicycling Route System reached a milestone earlier this month: “thirty states are now actively working to implement official U.S. Bike Routes for transportation, recreation, and tourism” — double the number from last year!

Pet Shop Boys go to the ballet

The Pet Shop Boys, the techno-pop duo, have scored their first ballet. Based on Hans Christian Andersen’s story The Most Incredible Thing, the ballet is choreographed by Venezuelan dancer Javier De Frutos. It has opened to mixed reviews that match the reviews the PSBs have received their entire career: dramatic, uneven, fun, unforgettable, and a bit confused. If unable to make it to London to see the show the soundtrack was released last week. More on the show below:

Stefan Sagmeister: art and commerce collide

“Banana Wall” (2008) Click through for the ‘after’ image

Only Stefan Sagmeister could create an exhibition comprised solely of his commercial work and still call it art. “Another Exhibition About Promotion and Sales Material” opened recently at Lausanne’s Museum of Design and Contemporary Appled Arts (MUDAC), showcasing only the designer’s work commissioned by clients (as opposed to personal projects). The exhibition is divided into four parts and includes posters, album covers and advertisements divided into the following categories:

1. The Promotion of Culture

2. The Promotion of Companies

3. The Promotion of Friends

4. Self-Promotion/Promotion of Sagmeister, Inc.

MyBadParent.com

Feeling bad about accidentally dropping your kid on his head? MyBadParent.com will make you feel better immediately. It’s a collection of kid and parent images (culled from various Internet sites as well as submissions) that you won‘t see in Parenting Magazine, ranging from the choreographed-for-a-laugh to someone-call-Social-Services-immediately. It’s like if FAILblog had a baby — and that baby was still in its infancy: MyBadParent has only been around for a few months; it can’t allow comments yet; it can’t spell very well; and it’s still figuring out how to tell a joke.

12 months of neon love

12 Months of Neon Love is an ongoing art installation that started on Valentine’s Day this year by Victoria Lucas and Richard William Wheater. The artists explain: A sequence of twelve quotes will be presented over twelve months in large red neon text. Visible from the railway, the work will be erected on the roof [...]

WENDY AND LUCY and A SINGLE GIRL: Separated at Birth?

I’m gearing up for Kelly Reichardt’s MEEK’S CUTOFF this spring, and in preparation, sought out a film of hers I’d not yet seen, the 2008 release WENDY AND LUCY. It’s such a simple and effective piece, beautifully rendered visually. It’s also driven significantly by sound. Dialogue operates here mostly at the level of basic function (“Where’s the nearest garage?” “I lost my dog.” “How much will that cost?”), allowing the sound design of trains and traffic to enhance the tension in quiet dramatic turning points of epiphany or realization, as Wendy’s situation worsens. As the film basically asks us to linger with the protagonist moment to moment, replicating the feeling of real time, it reminded me of another young-woman-in-trouble-in-slow-motion-film, A SINGLE GIRL (Benoit Jacques, 1995).