sundance

Introducing Garo, the next big thing on Sundance Channel

If you don’t already know Garo, then you’re in for a real treat next Friday night when we premiere our new series UNLEASHED BY GARO. A fashion designer and skilled artisan (think complicated corsetry and lace work), Garo creates outfits for everything from runway to one-of-kind, personal transformation, occasion pieces. And let’s not forget his delightfully outlandish costume pieces for drag; Watching Hedda Lettuce’s cameo in episode one is the most fun I’ve had watching TV in a long time.

A picture tells a thousand puns

As a lover of puns (an unfortunate quality of mine for my pun-hating friends), I love this entry at Lenscratch, which compiled this ode to puns, intentional and otherwise, snapped by various photographers with a sense of humor. I especially like the 50 Cent image (above), taken “on the mean streets of Portland by Neil DaCosta. The painting elevates it to the realm of “art,” but it does remind me a lot of the “sleeveface” phenomenon a while ago, where people photographed themselves holding record cover sleeves in a similar manner.

A German nuclear plant converted into a rollercoaster “Wonderland”

In the mid ’70s, Germany was hell bent on limiting its energy import and began constructing giant, expensive reactors to maximize its limited resources. It was during this time that the “SNR-300,” Germany’s first fast-breeder nuclear reactor, came into being: a tremendous facility in Kalkar over 80 football fields in length designed to convert plutonium into usable energy. Alas, after the disaster at Chernobyl in ’86, Germans became (understandably) freaked about opening new power plants, and the project was officially canceled.

Philadelphia ready to start on its own High Line project?

A couple of years ago, when we were all a-flutter over the opening of Manhattan’s High Line park, we may have mentioned that other US cities were bouncing around similar plans (though I’m having trouble finding it!). Even out here in flyover country, the concept of converting Old North St. Louis’ Ironhorse Trestle into an elevated green space is (slowly) taking shape. But Philadelphia may well be the next city to implement such a development: according to The Philadelphia Daily News, “The city is in talks with Reading International Co. to take control of the larger section of the [Reading Viaduct],” and plans are going forward on another section already owned by the city’s transit agency.

Why is sex fun?

The Discovery Channel is in the middle of airing a series called Curiosity. Current and upcoming episodes include “What Sank the Titanic” and “Is There a Parallel Universe?” Not sure how we missed the last one, “Why Is Sex Fun?” hosted by Maggie Gyllenhaal.

What’s on Sundance Channel next?

The last day of August means two things: the official end of Summer (boo) and the beginning of Fall (yay) – and with it, a whole month chockfull of specially chosen films on Sundance Channel (double yay!). We’ve got blocks of sexy films, environmental films, foreign films, independent films and festival premiers. You’re bound to see some old favorites, some big screen hits and plenty of new classics just waiting to make their way onto your Best Films of All Time list.

HAPPY, HAPPY: Crazy couple swapping on a snowy Norweigan hillside

Set on a snowy, Norwegian mountainside, HAPPY, HAPPY – a World Cinema Jury Prize winner at this year’s festival – tells the story of Kaja, a wife and mother who eagerly seeks friendship in Elisabeth and Sigve, the exciting (they adopted an Ethiopian boy!) and precariously tall couple coming to live in their guest house. Kaja’s obvious longing for affection is due in large part to the negligence of her husband, a latent homosexual whose “hunting excursions” and weird, outdoor Tee-Pee of Solitude – called a “lavoo” in Norwegian – ain’t fooling nobody. Soon, Kaja’s need to please bumps up (literally) against Sigve’s desire to be taken seriously by his wife, whose dalliances back in the city instigated their move to the mountain in the first place. A few sweaty rolls on the floor later and a couple-swap has taken place. Oh, and there’s some really messed up stuff going on with the kids, one of whom tries to “enslave” the other by beating him with a wet dish towel.

The Plant: Chicago meatpacking facility turned vertical farm

What’s the Hog Butcher of the World to do when it’s no longer butchering hogs? How about grow vegetables? That’s the concept behind The Plant, a planned vertical farm in Chicago’s Back of the Yard neighborhood (which is also home to Testa Produce’s new – and very green – distribution center). When complete, the 93,500 square foot facility will house aquaponic growing facilities, and even help sprout numerous sustainable food businesses.

Naked news: Jim Carrey confesses his love to Emma Stone

• Kind of funny but mostly creepy: Jim Carrey confesses his love to Emma Stone via online video.
  
  
• Speaking of weird celebrity confessions of love, Sinead O’Connor is apparently into anal and on the prowl. (Is this just some weird performance art project of hers? One hopes.)
  
  

Sundance in the news: everyone’s talking ’bout Quirky

The first episode of Quirky hasn’t even aired yet (that all changes tonight at 9P), and already the Tweeters and bloggers of the Inter-webs have united, and for once it seems like everyone online has only good things to say – about Quirky, at least. Though really, I’m not surprised. I’ve already seen the first two episodes (yeah, I gotta hook-up) and not only is it about one of my dearest loves – design – but it’s one of those shows that you aren’t going to mess around on during the commercial break lest you miss any of the excitement Ben Kaufman and his team of pros is cooking up at the Quirky lab. Seriously, in the first five minutes we see someone send in an idea they had for a product they probably thought up while they were just hanging out on their couch at home and Bam! It gets selected by the Quirky kids and at the end of the episode it’s a real, live and extremely good-looking product you can actually go into a store and buy. And yeah, I’m willing to risk sound like a dork here, but that’s pretty cool, right? The Associated Press thought so, too. Check it:

313 patents of Steve Jobs

I was stunned when news of Steve Jobs resignation as head of Apple reverberated across the news and social wires last Wednesday. The deterioration of his health was one of the worst kept secrets over the past few years, in contrast to the notoriously tight-lipped Apple culture, and I hope that relinquishing the controls will allow him to focus on his health. As someone who grew up in a Mac-only household, the genius of Steve Jobs had a daily impact on my life. This New York Times infographic of the 313 patents that Steve Jobs was involved with gives an insight into just the influence he’s had “…ranging from from the company’s iconic computer cases to the glass staircases that are featured in many Apple stores.”

Los Angeles community garden tangles with City Hall – and wins

Food gardening seems like a pretty innocuous activity. Even “radical” acts like guerrilla gardening are pretty tame in the overall scheme of things. But we’ve already seen one instance in which a gardener faced jail time – simply for gardening (and, no, there weren’t any illegal plants involved).

You might be tempted to argue “Oh, but that was small town Michigan. Of course they’re going to respond negatively to something different.” But before you hang your hat on that argument, consider the case of Ron Finley, a fashion designer and Los Angeles resident. After taking a gardening course at the Natural History Museum, Ron decided to turn the 10 x 150-foot parkway in front of his home – the whole thing – into a food garden. Living in the Crenshaw neighborhood, Ron had taken his instructor’s words about edible food gardens in urban “food deserts” to heart, and began to share produce with his neighbors once it began to ripen.

Best of Kickstarter, 8/29/11

We’re starting off the week with an update on all the great Kickstarter projects we’ve featured so far. What am I talking about, you ask? What’s this Best of Kickstarter thing we’ve been blogging about every Monday? Well, it seems like everyone is pitching their idea to Kickstarter. We think that’s great, but with great power comes great responsibility, and while the 23-person Kickstarter team does their best to filter out the winning projects from the thousands and thousands of proposals they receive, there are still literally tens of thousands of new projects that launch each week. That’s a lot of ways to spend your hard-earned five bucks. Too many ways, actually. How can one person sort through it all? Relax, we’ll do it all for you.

Moscow sex museum gives the finger (amongst other body parts) to the Kremlin

photo via the Los Angeles Times

It’s one thing to open a sex museum somewhere like New York City or uber-permissive Iceland, but in Moscow? A stone’s throw from the Kremlin? Now that takes balls. The new Museum of Eroticism, the largest sex museum in Europe, is the brainchild of Alexander Donskoy, the one-time mayor of a small town near Moscow who was sent to prison and barred from politics soon after he decided to run for the presidency back in 2008 (coincidence? he thinks not).

Designer Q&A: Laptop Sticks by Dice Yamaguchi

Ben Kaufman’s company Quirky is all about finding great ideas from regular people and turning them into real, marketable products. Throughout the Quirky series, we’ll be bringing you stories from designers, inventors and entrepreneurs who’ve either already brought their product from concept to completion or are right in the middle of that process – and all without the help of a company like Ben’s, like Diceke Yamaguchi and his Laptop Sticks.

Is 3D the new normal?

I’ve seen two films recently in 3D, FRIGHT NIGHT and SPY KIDS, two very solid, genre films. A kid’s movie with bright colors, bubble gum complexions and gee-whiz humor, and a horror film with dark interiors and tired tropes of let-the-camera-follow-the-guy-who’s-about-to-be-jumped. And then it struck me. It happened when I laid eyes on Toni Collette, who plays a suburban mom in FRIGHT NIGHT, which is not her usual indie fare. I suddenly got very scared: will independent films soon be in 3D? What the hell will THAT look like? The LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE van hurtling towards you? Robert Duvall reaching for your head to bless you, APOSTLE-style? The SIDEWAYS spit bucket in your face?

Alternate Histories by Matthew Buccholz

My high school history class wouldn’t have been nearly so dull had Pittsburgh artist Matthew Buchholz been teaching it. After all, few but Buchholz can recall the tale of Rosie, the East River sea monster who claimed the life of New York architect Rohn Roebling in the making of the Brooklyn Bridge; or the grossly misunderstood story of the Boston Tea Party, when citizens, exhausted from daily harassment by a great, scaly dragon known as “Beast,” determined that the bitterness of the tea leaves would drive the great creature from their harbors. Fortunately, these lost legends and more are on display in Buccholz’ Etsy shop, Alternate Histories, where he peddles old-timey engravings of historical sites and scenes “improved” by the rampaging monsters, evil serpents and grizzly ghouls plaguing his imagination.

36 covers, 1 Radiohead song

of this song by people from all corners of the world. I can’t imagine how much time this took, but the end result is surprisingly coherent and listenable. I forecast that there will be a trend of others doing similar stitched covers.

CONAN THE BARBARIAN: They massacred his family. They enslaved his people. They will tip accordingly.

We’ll keep this brief because there’s maybe seven lines of dialogue in this entire movie, five of which are in the info-dump at the beginning (expertly narrated by none other than Morgan Freeman). Let’s just start by saying that, in his defense, Conan was born to really terrible parents. And that goes a long way towards understanding his behavior. For starters, rather than stay home while very pregnant, his mom decides to go fight against this army of dreadlocked barbarians trying to enslave and kill her people. Then, when she gets killed (duh), his dad gives her a c-section, right there in the field. With like, an axe-type thing! Then he hangs around and keeps fighting and gets killed too, leaving Conan to fend for himself. Very iffy parenting. Very iffy medical care. Very iffy decision-making. But undoubtedly a family of tough bitches.

The media’s pornification of women

Here’s a fascinating, but not all that surprising study from the University of Buffalo: they recently analyzed more than 1,000 images of men and women on Rolling Stone covers over the course of 43 years (they chose Rolling Stone since it’s a well-established, pop culture media outlet) and found the following:

Weekly movie trailer roundup: SHUT UP LITTLE MAN and OUR IDIOT BROTHER

With today’s release of SHUT UP, LITTLE MAN and OUR IDIOT BROTHER, it’s officially a Sundance festival weekend! Regardless of my obvious affiliation and personal bias, I’m pretty darn excited for these two, so excited, in fact, that I actually used an exclamation mark to express myself (I never do that). I didn’t go to the festival last January and aside from these two trailers, not a teaser or clip have I seen.

An illustrated Kindle for Charles Dickens

It’s hard to imagine functioning without the assistance of modern technology. Just last week, for example, I was forced to endure a grueling six days without a cellphone (an excellent glass of New Zealand shiraz is what finally did in the ol’ Blackberry), rendering me more or less dead to my coworkers, family and friends.

Speaking of dead people and mobile devices, illustration student Rachel Walsh was recently asked to “explain a modern piece of technology to someone who lived and died before 1900″ for a project at the Cardiff School of Art and Design. Ingeniously, Walsh decided to fashion a handmade Kindle for her favorite (and very dead) author, Charles Dickens.

Q&A with Core77 design winner: Bespoke Fairing for below-knee amputees

Ben Kaufman’s company, Quirky, is all about finding great ideas from regular people and turning them into real, marketable products, and Core77 is all about covering the best and latest in design and technology. Throughout the Quirky series, we’ll be bringing you stories from designers, inventors and entrepreneurs who’ve either already brought their product from concept to completion or are right in the middle of that process – and all without the help of a company like Ben’s.

Today we bring you the story of the Bespoke Fairing, winner of the Core77 Design Award for Soft Goods/Apparel. Designed by Scott Summit of Bespoke Innovations.

40th anniversary of the Swoosh

In 1971, Phil Knight, the owner of Blue Ribbon Sports (I know, the first thing I thought of was beer, too), wanted to launch its own brand of running shoes distinct from others that it imported. Knight approached Carolyn Davidson, a freelance graphic designer he hired couple years prior at the princely hourly rate of [...]

In support of THE HELP

I resisted Katherine Stockett’s book THE HELP for years – which in premise alone inspired a personal cringe-fest of sorts. But after the online chatter on America’s new box office darling rose to a peak, I gave in and headed to the multiplex. And really? Not half bad. Here are some thoughts about THE HELP, given the online chatter from multiple critics of the film. (A quick google search will help you find the most prominent voices – but this statement from the Association of Black Women Historians [ABWH] – saw a lot of traffic.)