sundance

Bring on the food porn: The NY Food Film Fest

Even though there’s a specific, Food Porn event at NYFFF (that’s the other film fest, the food film fest), let’s face it – with a tribute to the taco and cheers to burgers and beers (picture close-ups of melting cheese oozing out over a perfectly grilled patty poised on a nice, buttery bun), it’s allll food porn. And with four days of tastings cooked by a line-up that includes Dos Toros, Rockaway Taco, Dos Caminos, Di Fara’s Pizza, An Choi’s Banh Mi, Ovenly’s Beer Cupcakes and Peruvian celebri-chef Gaston Acurio – that’s not a bad thing…

Art Buzz: Warhol gets his own app and Tom Sachs goes to Mars

No time to scan all the blogs in your Google Reader? Never fear! We’ve rounded up the five art world happenings that have bloggers and gallery-goers buzzing this week.

Tintype Photography: San Francisco photographer Michael Shindler is reviving the lost art of tin-type photography with his new portrait studio, Photobooth. Charging just $50-$80 a pop, subjects have to sit perfectly still while…

The latest b-boy dance moves

I’ve long expressed my love of hip hop dance films. If you’ve ever wondered just who’s spending money to go see the movies in the STEP UP franchise, well, count me in that demographic. I like their combination of sick dance routines, hot dancing chicks and positive, uplifting messages about acceptance. I’ll fight anyone who says otherwise – and by fight I mean challenge to a dance off, obviously. I, for one, can’t wait for the fourth in the series, STEP UP 4EVER, which is slated for release sometime next year. I’m sure it’ll feature a lot of moves inspired by the dancing at events like the Notorious IBE (The Notorious International Breakdance Event) b-boy contest in Holland.

Building the perfect urban beehive

Man-made beehives haven’t really changed much for centuries, mostly because beekeeping was always something that happened in rural areas. But beekeeping, like produce farming and even livestock keeping, is moving into cities – and urban apiculturists are struggling with the best ways to adapt beekeeping to the city…

Feminist Ryan Gosling

We never really understood the whole Ryan Gosling thing – he seemed kind of like a pompous, pretentious ac-tor with zero sense of humor. That is, until we saw him on Ellen in onesie pajamas on a stationary bike. Boy, were we schooled then. Now we’re on board – well, we’re not on board the crazy train of Gosling fandom, but we’re at the station admiring from afar. For example, we’re not so gaga for Gosling that we could tell you exactly where the whole “Hey Girl” meme came from. (According to Jezebel: “Apparently, the basic concept…

Best of Kickstarter, 10/10

We scoured the pages of Kickstarter to bring you this week’s best projects. Have a great Kickstarter project of your own or see one you think deserves some extra attention? Let us know about it the comments and we may just feature it in our weekly roundup.

ART

Willard Asylum Suitcases: Ten years ago, New York State decided to close the Willard Psychiatric Center in Willard, NY to turn it into a drug rehab clinic. While cleaning a pathology lab building, a dusty old attic was opened, revealing hundreds of suitcases that had belonged to patients. Photographer John Crisipin has embarked on the long process of photographing each case, revealing the peculiar contents contained therein…

THE RHYTHM OF RUTLEDGE: a tiny town attracts big thinkers

You can certainly be forgiven if you’ve never heard of Rutledge, Missouri. The Mennonite town of about a hundred people is miles from anything resembling a major highway, and surrounded by thousands of acres of farmland in Northeastern Missouri (though it’s kind of famous for its flea market, I hear). Despite being tucked away in a pretty conservative part of the state, you might call Rutledge the hub of a (relatively) quiet revolution: three alternative communities, all with an ecological bent, have been founded (and are running just fine) within 1-2 miles of the town in the last 40 years…

Benevolent sexism? Not so much

In case you’ve been hiding under a rock lately – or watching the soon to be canceled show “Playboy Club” - so-called ‘benevolent sexism’ means doing or saying nice things for sexist reasons. For example, holding open a door for a woman (when you don’t do it for men), or offering to install a female co-worker’s computer (again, when you wouldn’t offer the same help to a man). It’s “subjective affection as a form of prejudice,” according to researchers Peter Glick and Susan T. Fiske, who first came up with the term benevolent sexism. If sexism isn’t always hostile, does that mean that the kinder, gentler version is a good thing? Or, at least, not a bad thing?

Bad boys and even badder girls: what’s playing this week on Sundance Channel

Nicole Kidman as photographer Diane Arbus in FUR

Last week we gave you a little taste of what’s in store for Kubrick fans this month on Sundance Channel with EYES WIDE SHUT and BARRY LYNDON. We keep your appetite whet this week with 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY and another dose of Ryan O’Neal as bad boy BARRY LYNDON. Stay satisfied with Gretchen Mol, who bears is all in THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE. Then LOVE COMES LATELY (based on the short stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer) proves that you don’t have to be young to be young at heart – or have a bed-shaking sex life. And Robert Downey Jr. and Nicole Kidman take sex to a whole new – and hairy – level…

Tang and adult diapers – 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY

When I was significantly younger, I dreamt of being an astronaut. Like most stupid kids, it was probably because I thought the space suit looked awesome or that the only training for becoming an astronaut was playing with monkeys, eating green pixie sticks and being quick with a measured “out of this world” joke at cocktail parties. Regardless, my dream was baseless and without merit. Until one day, probably right around the time hair was showing up in new places, I learned that astronauts got all the free Tang they wanted. Was it really possible? As much Tang as I wanted? My stupid childhood yearnings now seemed erudite, the dream was alive. Then, I learned that Tang was a drink, and once again, astronauts were just boring adults who wore diapers…

Weekly movie trailer roundup: Spielberg + little boys = big adventure

Young boys, their pets, period clothing, speeding cars, explosions, battles, a million different settings and director Steven Spielberg – that’s what WAR HORSE and THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN have in common. And they both come out around Christmas – two days apart. Coincidence? Probably not, but since TINTIN is animated Spielberg probably feels they’re different enough to release at the same time.

Richard Sandling’s 200 VHS movie covers

Comedian and self-declared VHS enthusiast Richard Sandling owns over 3,000 movies on VHS, and he scanned 200 of their covers for this project. His collection seems to lean heavily on pulp, but this might also be a reflection of the era in which VHS was most prevalent. And as much as I laughed at many of the covers…

Remembering Steve Jobs: 6 reasons why he rocked

Steve Jobs’ death has inspired an outpouring of grief and impromptu tributes from all over the world (among our favorites: MintDigital’s portrait rendered in motherboards and the Sad Mac homepage on The Oatmeal). Here, a six-item salute to what made him amazing.

Goodbye Paris, hello cow nipples?

The Top 20 Spring Trends: Fashion gets ladylike with laser-cut lace, super femmy braids, feathers and the ever-shrinking handbag. (Finally! Am I the only with a sore shoulder?)

Men-ups!

We once did a photo shoot for The Sun, the super trashy but widely popular UK newspaper (you know, the one with the “Page 3 girl”). We were promoting the British edition of our book, The Big Bang. We were young and naive, the photographer was old and pushy, and as he gradually encouraged us to get into sillier and sillier poses, our publicist was there pressing us on. We felt like Coco in the original “Fame.” Don’t get us wrong: we were dressed. But at one point we reluctantly ended up on a bed with one of us holding the other’s bare leg straight up in the air like a lightening rod. It was not what we’d consider sexy, feminine, or us. Fortunately, our inner horror must have radiated out of every pore, because they ultimately ran the article without the pics. (There was a God that day.)

The strange world of DRIVE

DRIVE, Nicolas Winding Refn’s hyper violent, crime movie/love story is an extraordinary piece of work. The words that infiltrated my head while watching? Robots and bubblegum. Refn has created such a uniquely strange world. Everything is either soft and pillowy or luminous and plastic. It’s so stylized and clean that even the blood looks delicious.

Ryan Gosling, who plays a part time stunt driver who’s a sucker for romance, behaves more like a robot than a human. Line after line, Gosling waits a beat before delivering his dialogue so there’s not a single moment of…

Jessica Rabbit is a DJ?!

DJ Valissa Yoe

Announcement! Garo’s workshop has decided that this week shall have twice as much popping and locking as previous weeks!

After downloading yesterday’s mix tape, all you ladies, gents and gender benders can grab the fifth mix right here — DJ Valissa Yoe Mix. Coming to you once a week (maybe twice) as tribute to couture fashion designer Garo Sparo, all thanks to our lovely friends over at Garo’s workshop.

Watch as Garo, part-time psychiatrist and full-time dream weaver, helps his clients battle their inhibitions and unleash their true selves in our all new original series UNLEASHED BY GARO, Fridays at 9p!

Reinterpreting of the $100 bill

I’m really digging Make Your Franklin, an online community art project featuring a variety of creative reinterpretations of the $100 dollar bill, which the website’s French creators call “a symbol of modern society.” Many of the designs are overtly, and understandably political, reflecting the current state of affairs and the world’s complex and dysfunctional relationship with the United States. Some took their cues from pop culture icons while others are just straight up hilarious and, at times, even sublime.

Get ready for all new couples in GIRLS WHO LIKE BOYS WHO LIKE BOYS Season 2!

Sundance Channel is set to loosen up the buckle on the Bible Belt with the explosive second season premiere of the critically-acclaimed hit series GIRLS WHO LIKE BOYS WHO LIKE BOYS on Friday, November 18^th at 9 PM et/pt. The groundbreaking unscripted series that celebrates and explores the special relationship between women and their gay best friends moves to Nashville, Tennessee and the all new cast provides more drama and higher stakes than ever before. Each of these dynamic women is eschewing the traditions of their conservative Southern home-town with a rebel yell and a proud partnership with their GBFs. The women stand by their men and share laughter, love and unwavering support while experiencing life’s biggest milestones and challenges, even when the drama is overwhelming.

Green tech finds, 10/6/11

A plug-in outdoor table, and how your labtop might contribute to rainforest destruction: this week’s green tech finds.

Wisconsin as a microgrid hub: There’s more than ugly political battles going on in the Badger State. A university-industry consortium announced an initiative to establish “microgrids” at UW campuses in Milwaukee and Madison over the next two years. (via @RepowerAmerica)

The five best so-bad-they’re-good movies

There’s nothing worse than a bad movie that’s not even entertaining about it. But a bomb that manages to perversely delight you with its awfulness is just the kind of train wreck you want to usher into your living room.

For your kind (if somewhat sadistic) consideration, here are the top five good-bad flicks of the modern age. But bear in mind, I haven’t seen ABDUCTION yet.

Pickup line of the month: You’re one in seven billion!

On October 31 of this year (or thereabouts) the world population will hit seven billion. Seven billion! If you can’t quite get your head around what a billion looks like, then check out the real-time population counter on the Population Action International website -those spinning numbers kind of bring it home (the world grows by more than 200,000 people a day). And if you want to know where in that 7 billion you fall, you can enter your date of birth and the site will tell you your number.

Best of the web: Graphic design hoarders, beard thieves and how to “make an art”

Beardfolio: In 2009, Texan photographer Matthew Rainwaters shot the strange and wonderful contestants of the World Beard and Moustache Championships in Anchorage, Alaska. Described as “a magnificent showcase of chops, bristles and whiskers,” the images were finally compiled into book form. The resulting photobook, “Beard,” is now out from Chronicle. For those of us whose boyfriends are embarking on annual facial hair experiments (under the pretense that it’s “warmer”), looks like we have at least one Christmas gift taken care of.

Properly Villainous Beats

Proper Villains

Had enough booty boppin’ after last week’s mix tape? Of course you haven’t!

The fourth installment for all you ladies, gents and gender benders is here — Proper Villains Mix. Coming to you once a week as tribute to couture fashion designer Garo Sparo, all thanks to our lovely friends over at Garo’s workshop.

Ai Weiwei’s Google+ Profile

Earlier this summer I blogged about Ai Weiwei’s exhibition at the Asia Society. He’s one of my favorite contemporary artists and the collection of photographs he snapped during his time in New York City in the 1980s is incredible. More incredible still: you can now browse many of his pictures from that era on his Google+ page. I was excited, but not surprised, to discover that this world renowned artist had an account on a social networking site. He’s long been active in social media in China, where his political (and critical) voice has earned the ire of the government, as well as two month imprisonment earlier this year…