Sundance Channel

Has Anyone Said This Sh*t? (Yes.)

Matthew Rodriguez — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:47:50 +0000

Not since Rebecca Black have I seen a meme go from hilarious to amusing to downright-shoot-me-annoying as quickly as the seemingly neverending "Shit [People] Say" videos. Jumpstarted seemingly centuries ago with a little celebrity juice thanks to the involvement of Juliette Lewis, the meme was birthed with this video titled "Shit Girls Say." By now you've seen this and all the countless copycats. If you've been pulling a Rip Van Winkle who just woke up and have no idea what we're talking about, what I'm referring to are series of viral videos which are basically a supercut of stereotypical expressions and phrase associated with different groups (not without some controversy). People quickly tired of them and vocally expressed their annoyance on Facebook or Twitter, but were quick to retweet and share any new variation that happened to fit their particular niche or interests: for example, as soon as the "Shit New Yorkers Say" video hit the web, it seemed as though every single one of my New Yorker friends posted it on Facebook (often right after having stated their irritation of these videos only the day before). For you Van Winkle's here's a sampling of others:

This week’s top 5 trending viral videos

Matthew Rodriguez — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:03:03 +0000

If you're completely sick of all the coverage leading up to the Super Bowl, I'm here to provide you with some relief (9 out of 10 bloggers recommend it) with this week's YouTube videos that seem to be gaining steam on the viral Internet train. 5. From the hilarious minds of one of my favorite channels on YouTube is this catchy and easy-to-sing song "Hapi Berth Dey." It's "about an Egyptian river god who finds a place to sleep atop two sheep" that also possibly doubles as an expression of his outrage of the misappropriation of copyright laws which legally also applies to a popular song traditionally sung to celebrate birthdays. Feel free to sing this new song coincidentally at your next birthday party!

The Internet’s Super Bowl preview

Matthew Rodriguez — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:17:24 +0000

The country can be divided this week into those who care about the Super Bowl and those that don't. I unfortunately fall into the former category in a big way as my favorite team somehow did its part to find itself one of two teams standing at the end of the season. Unfortunate because I'm so freaking nervous for this game, especially since I'm in unfriendly territory as a Patriots fan (Go Pats!) in NYC . Thankfully the Internet, as it always does, has been providing some levity leading into this weekend to help calm my nerves.

Tom Brady (or as some readers might know him better as: Gisele Bündchen's husband) has a doppelgänger. No word yet on whether the doppelgänger has also has a Gisele lookalike wife.

Matthew Broderick explains a bit about his Ferris Bueller teaser that only just ended up being a Super Bowl ad and in the process broke our hearts about a possible sequel. Then again maybe a sequel isn't a good thing after all after seeing how the actual ad depicts a free-spirited Ferris growing up to just be yet another office worker serving the The Man. Yikes, depressing stuff.

This week’s top 5 trending viral videos

Matthew Rodriguez — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:07:45 +0000

The talk and focus this week is (rightfully so) on all films that made their rounds at the Sundance Film Festival. But the Internet meme machine never sleeps (its theme song: Can't Stop, Won't Stop), festival or no festival, so without further ado here are the top five videos starting to trend, and as the kids say "get its swoll on" this week. 5. If you're a violinist and you are interrupted by an audience member's cell phone loudly ringing during your solo performance, this is how you respond in a classy manner and in other words pwn this rude cell phone owner.

Snitches of Downtown Abbey

Matthew Rodriguez — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:31:19 +0000

I feel like King Solomon on Sunday nights lately where I have to make the difficult decision as to whether I want to watch some NFL football or the latest pop culture rage (at least in some pastoral corners of the blogosphere). It just so happens to air on PBS, something you don't hear too often. You know it's a sensation when the New York Times does a trend piece on it, which they did with a recent article about viewing parties being held for this show. This phenomenon is a British import called Downtown Abbey.

This week’s top 5 trending viral videos

Matthew Rodriguez — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 22:45:05 +0000

Sorry kids, the Shit People Say videos still aren't going away (just this Wednesday a "Shit New Yorkers Say" appeared on the Tubes and of course was instantly shared by every New Yorker across the Twitbook), but here are five other videos trending this week that I think, nay guarantee that you will find equal to if not more entertaining. 5. One of my favorite YouTube channels belongs to someone who goes by the literal name of "LiteralMSPaint." As the name suggests they apply their MS Paint skills to create music videos to inane pop dance songs and interprets the song lyrics literally. The MS Paint skills might be lacking but the comedy level is expert. Their latest takes on the inescapable LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem" and I just lost it and began LMFAO at the 1:00 mark.

GOP candidates summarized in hand signals

Matthew Rodriguez — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:05:20 +0000

BuzzFeed (going increasingly political with their recent hiring of Ben Smith from Politico) has a hilarious photo recap of the recent GOP debates that's focused on simply their hand gestures. My favorite is the one above of Romney displaying the "He Was THIS Tall" expression.

Faces of rejected bachelorettes

Matthew Rodriguez — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 19:49:42 +0000

No, Faces of Rejected Bachelorettes is not an antonomasia for the upcoming rom com BACHELORETTE starring Kirsten Dunst, Isla Fisher, and Lizzy Caplan (Party Down crush!) and premiering at this year's Sundance Film Festival. Instead, FoRB is actually devoted to one of my shameful, guilty pleasures: Hi, my name is Matt and I'm addicted to the mainstream pop culture television phenomenon The Bachelor, which has had a rousing start to its new season.

Top 5 that have nothing to do with s#!* people say

Matthew Rodriguez — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 21:30:44 +0000

Oh-em-gee, the Shit Girls Say copycat videos aren't going away. If you're sick of them, here are five brand-spankin' new videos burning up the Internet and set to go "viral" this week thanks to our collective boredom and tendency to procrastinate (not me though). 5. Quadron's cover of Lauryn Hill's "Ex-Factor," you know, only one of the greatest songs of our generation, is super and the reactions of my friends who I forwarded this to have been "wowwww" on one end and "why am I tearing up" on the other of the spectrum. I love the stripped down sound of their version. Also, a killer voice of Coco O. on vocals doesn't hurt it either.

Newt Gingrich at sites of great tragedy

Matthew Rodriguez — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 18:07:14 +0000

The Atlantic highlighted this odd, to say the least, photo found on Newt Gingrich's website of the suited up presidential hopeful and his wife Callista posing in front of the gates of Auschwitz, the Nazi concentration camp. This might seem like a cheap shot at a presidential candidate, but regardless of the individual, there's a weird tone-deaf vibe and lack of awareness to this photo that gives me the same discomfort I feel whenever I see tourists posing with bright smiles in front of somber sites or memorials of great loss. Many Internet memes belong to the subgenre of image macros that includes superimposing a certain Photoshopped picture (most recent example: Pepper Spraying Cop) With the above, unfortunate photo Newt Gingrich might enter a pantheon that is even more indelible than being POTUS: A new meme.

Rick Santorum’s twin: McLovin

Matthew Rodriguez — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:36:17 +0000

While digging through the Internet time capsule, someone found Rick Santorum's high school yearbook photo and apparently he is the twin of "McLovin", the memorable awkward character played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse in SUPERBAD (actually all the characters were pretty awkward, weren't they?). Along with the unfortunate looks, maybe this presidential hopeful's (sorry, just threw up a little in my mouth at that thought) odious views are some form of repressed retribution for his own frustrating, sad high school social experience, theorized this arm chair psychotherapist.

Woody Guthrie’s New Year’s resolutions

Matthew Rodriguez — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:00:49 +0000

What are your resolutions for 2012? Please, something other than "go to the gym" because, let's not kid ourselves: we know that's not going to happen. I recommend adding "regularly read SUNfiltered" to your resolution list. If still looking for an inspiration for resolutions, get inspired by this timely and brilliantly whimsical list of 33 new year's resolutions set by folk singer Woody Guthrie in 1942 or as it should be called "life rules" because it's a pretty good guideline for living a virtuous (yet fun) life, especially number 26: Dance better. Overall, there's also a certain sense of prudence and levelheadedness to Guthrie's goals that recalls this sensible to-do list written by Johnny Cash (My favorite: 2. Kiss June), which I blogged about here earlier.

The frothiest comments on Iowa GOP results

Matthew Rodriguez — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 18:26:15 +0000

The big political news in the States this morning is Rick Santorum's resurgence in the GOP race (otherwise known as the hilarious new reality show The Amazing GOP Race) with his nearly come from behind upset over Mitt Romney, which may please the Santorum campaign and supporters (did they celebrate with some orders of Santorum salad?), but it sure freaked everybody else out. At least it made the Internet gleeful for all the NSFW pun opportunities. It's not a big secret that the number one return when you Google search "Santorum" is an explicit sexual definition, which was payback initiated by columnist Dan Savage following the senator's hateful comments on homosexuality. Here are some of the best comments I've seen so far this morning from various corners of the Internet and friends on the Iowa GOP nomination results:

End of the year list…list

Matthew Rodriguez — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 19:32:38 +0000

Photo by Kent Shiraishi taken at Biei, Hokkaido, Japan.

Can you freaking believe 2011 is, for all intents and purposes, over? That means it is time for all of those end-of-year lists. So many lists, so little time left to read them; so I've compiled my own list of lists that will hopefully amuse, and at the very least distract, you.

For fans of MAKE and DIY culture, here are the top 10 "most important" people on Etsy, the popular online shop and community for independent handmade crafters.

For an exercise in guilty schadenfreude in 2011 here is a supercut of the best fails this year on YouTube. If you laugh at any of them you are a horrible, horrible person. I am a horrible, horrible person.

Trend of elaborate marriage proposals. Stop!

Matthew Rodriguez — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 18:22:03 +0000

Meme Proposal | Tim * Audrey from Crazy Monkey Studio on Vimeo.
One of my closest friends proposed to his girlfriend over the weekend. He did it neatly and simply. There was a time when a guy was ready to propose to his future wife, it was relatively simple for most: a walk somewhere or maybe at the restaurant of their first date, drop to your knee like Tim Tebow and bust out the ring. But nowadays, thanks to the Internet, some of the more creative fellas out there with their elaborate videos are starting to set people's expectations of the proposal, to paraphrase Jimmy McMillan, too damn high!

The rituals of Christmas morning on YouTube

Matthew Rodriguez — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 16:11:55 +0000

Well, another Christmas has come and gone: The excitement, traditions, and rituals of Christmas morning which were private and unique to each family has now become a source of public entertainment thanks to YouTube, Facebook, online communities, and the countless other vehicles for information sharing and connecting on the Interwebs. We all remember popping up on Christmas morning as a kid (at an ungodly hour in retrospect) with a rapturous and feverish glee, forcing our parents to wake up, and then euphorically opening the presents which had contained all of our hopes and dreams at the time. The difference nowadays is that this crackhead-like (if I may use that phrase here) exhilaration and joy of children on Christmas morning is now a source for millions of views on YouTube. Unless you're a modern day Rip Van Winkle, you've all seen this priceless reaction video of this kid opening his Christmas present to discover a Nintendo 64 or as he screamed "a Nintendo Sixty-Foooooour. OH MY GAWD." Yeah, that video has over 15 million views on YouTube. Bookending the Nintendo 64 kid is this classic video where a new Nintendo Wii on Christmas morning is too much to handle for the lucky boy or in this instance, utter hilarity for the adults. Like these two videos I mentioned, each Christmas brings the rest of us a few more videos that enters our collective consciousness.

5 perfect gifts for your “I’ve already seen that on the Internet” friend

Matthew Rodriguez — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 21:00:49 +0000

I know for a fact that most of you have not finished (or even started) your holiday shopping due to that deadly virus known as procrastination. Well I'm here with a few unique gift suggestions for your impossible-to-shop-for loved ones. 1. For your "foodie" chef who is also obsessed with designers' trendy incorporation of brass knuckles, I recommend this brass knuckle shaped meat pounder. 2. One of my favorite online memes to emerge has been the Sad Keanu Reeves meme, and if you're shopping for a "Redditor" or someone who hasn't met a meme they didn't like (hint: me), then this toy model of Sad Keanu Reeves is perfect.

Santa’s busy night

Matthew Rodriguez — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 18:23:45 +0000

Even as an Apple fanboy, I'm a bit skeptical as to whether Santa uses Siri as they assert in their new holiday commercial, but if this analysis by The Atlantic is accurate then Apple might want to update the commercial and show that instead of 3.7 billion appointments, Santa has approximately 526 million children he has to visit. Given certain assumptions (one, Santa exists, obvi), The Atlantic ran a study to determine just how many kids he has to visit on Christmas night. Their chart above illustrates what Santa and his reindeers' busy night would look like as he raced around the world.
There are just over 526,000,000 Christian kids under the age of 14 in the world who celebrate Christmas on December 25th. In other words, Santa has to deliver presents to almost 22 million kids an hour, every hour, on the night before Christmas. That's about 365,000 kids a minute; about 6,100 a second. Totally doable. Especially when you consider the uneven distribution of kids in the world. Santa needs to hit 22 million kids every hour. If Santa starts at the International Date Line and heads west, the first four time zones he passes barely contain that many kids waiting for presents. He's already got three hours in the bank. Until, you know, he gets to Europe, which kind of breaks his schedule.

Driving in cars with dogs — A cinematic dedication

Matthew Rodriguez — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 21:21:45 +0000

Dogs in Cars from keith on Vimeo.
As a person deathly allergic to cats, I've had it with all you cat lovers clogging my Internet sinuses with all your cat videos and image macro memes! The distinction between cats and dogs was best elucidated by Christopher Hitchens who passed away over the weekend. He wrote, "Owners of dogs will have noticed that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they will think you are god. Whereas owners of cats are compelled to realize that, if you provide them with food and water and affection, they draw the conclusion that they are god." It's about time someone let the dogs out (how terrible was that song by the way?) and New York filmmaker Keith Hopkin created just the thing to kick off the dog days of the Web with his latest short film.

The key to viral success: Lose your expensive electronics

Matthew Rodriguez — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 17:35:33 +0000

how to lose $2400 in 24 seconds from Kurtis Hough on Vimeo.
The spread and adoption of online social networks over the past few years have been accompanied by a rise of instances of vigilant members of those communities virally coming together to help one of their own, in this case recovering stolen goods (typically some form of personal consumer electronics that originates from Cupertino). Earlier this year Josh Kaufman's Apple MacBook stolen from his Oakland apartment. With the help of a laptop tracking software that he had installed, Josh was able to remotely access his stolen computer and its built-in camera to snap photos of the thief himself. With this information in hand, he opened a Tumblr called This Guy Has My MacBook where he chronicled his attempts to recover his laptop. It received minimal attention until Josh tweeted it at which point it organically blew up where the story and his Tumblr virally spread like wildfire. The ensuing press eventually forced the city police into action and Josh was able to reunite with his MacBook. Similarly, Massachusetts college student Mark Bao used another tracking app on his stolen MacBook Air which he used to grab and tweet this video of the thief recording himself pop and lock dancing (LOL!).

Haikus everywhere, 5-7-5 all around, you just read one here

Matthew Rodriguez — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 19:00:50 +0000

Over the past year or so I've observed haikus, that "less is more" form of Japanese poetry, making a quiet stealthy encroachment and presence upon online pop culture through a variety of means. Some of these I've mentioned around these SUNfiltered parts, which makes me wonder whether we're witnessing an emergence of haikus and a comeback for the genre of poems in general back into something possibly more mainstream or at the least "meme-stream." I had written earlier about a reader of the New York Times online edition who has gained some small measure of fame for his comments left in limerick form. The best recent example of the merging of pop culture with poetry occurred when Salman Rushdie tweeted his thoughts on the Kim Kardashian divorce in limerick form. In fact, the latest issue of New York Magazine's Intelligencer focused on the poets or at least on the tough economic realities of that noble profession (Walt Whitman had a second job as a government clerk). If you're not convinced of my thesis on the pop emergence of poems, but specifically haikus, I turn your attention to the following exhibits.

Kaleidoscopic Manhattan

Matthew Rodriguez — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 19:00:56 +0000

I'm really digging the new video kaleidoscopic works from artist Anne Morgan Spalter. She captures video footage of urban landscapes such as Rockefeller Center or Fifth Avenue in New York City and then digitally transforms them using a decidedly 19th century concept. The resulting view is a constantly shifting but rigidly geometric patterned series of images as you can observe in the video above (my fave!), which I think is an interesting juxtaposition with the inherent symmetry of Manhattan's streets. If you are around the Big Apple you should check out her debut NYC show at the Stephan Stoyanov Gallery.

The perfect New Yorker cartoon

Matthew Rodriguez — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 18:26:46 +0000

My friend Casey shared on Facebook the cool news that one of his friends had a cartoon published in the latest issue of The New Yorker, the holy grail of publications that feature cartoons (at least in my eyes!). It reminds me of this wonderful essay by the New Yorker Cartoon editor Bob Mankoff on what he considers to be "the perfect cartoon" which was drawn by Chon Day in 1946 (seen above) and selected from the thousands published in their magazine. At first glance I found it relatively unexceptional, but the brilliance of the cartoon, as Mankoff explains, is the subtlety of its dark humor which is achieved with a high degree of difficulty.

Secrets buried within “A Christmas Carol”

Matthew Rodriguez — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 19:00:44 +0000

A few years ago, the Morgan Museum and Library, which owns the 68-page manuscript of Charles Dickens' classic tale "A Christmas Carol," let the New York Times scan all the hand-scribbled, 168-year-old pages and post them online. The Times then challenged its readers to scour through the digital pages of this manuscript for which Dickens apparently "made no working notes, outline, plans, or preliminary drafts" (brave man!), and unlock mysteries buried within his edits.

What 12 days of Christmas actually costs

Matthew Rodriguez — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:56:25 +0000

If commercials during the month of December were a true reflection of the holidays then apparently everyone gives their significant other gaudy jewelry from Kay's or a brand new Lexus with a big red bow (which you can actually order from Amazon for fifty bucks). However, the benchmark for extravagant Christmas gifting was established by "The Twelve Days of Christmas," the predecessor of all Christmas commercials (citation needed). First published in England in 1780, this carol sets the standard for Christmas purchases for the 1%.

Tales of a NYC location scout

Matthew Rodriguez — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 19:00:37 +0000

One of my favorite, little joys of living in New York City is having my way blocked by a film shoot. Sarcasm aside, there's something pretty wonderful about walking down a random street only to suddenly remember a scene from a movie that was shot in that exact location. It's a sensation that makes living in a somewhat difficult city (but one which has had an iconic role in countless films) worthwhile. And after living here awhile you occasionally come across an interesting street or building and you start thinking "This would be an awesome location for my theoretical rom-com about the pedicab driver who falls in love with an uptown girl" - in other words, pretending to be a location scout.

Collection of Occupy movement posters

Matthew Rodriguez — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:46:57 +0000

If you plan on heading to an Occupy protest in your local hometown and want to wave a message that's a step up from the crude signs made from pizza boxes and random flattened bits of cardboard (or like the one that Anne Hathaway was spotted carrying recently) then head on over to Occuprint. It's a well produced online resource that "showcases posters from the worldwide Occupy movement" and "is meant to connect people with this work, and provide a base of support for print-related media within the Occupy movement."

Erik Kessels’ 24 hours of Flickr

Matthew Rodriguez — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 18:47:27 +0000

As part of its 10th anniversary celebration Foam, a photography museum in Amsterdam, is hosting "What's Next? The Future of the Photograph y Museum" an exhibition that investigates the direction of the physicality of photography in public spaces (as opposed to viewing it online). I'm especially impressed with Erik Kessels' contribution to the exhibit, which tackles the idea of "photography in abundance," and which (as you can see pictured above) might give a neat freak a heart attack. For his installation, Kessels printed out every single image posted on Flickr in a 24-hour period and then randomly distributed the million+ images throughout the museum space for a completely visually arresting experience (except for the person who has to clean all this up)...

What you didn’t know about the Muppets

Matthew Rodriguez — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 22:00:07 +0000

It seems like all my friends saw THE MUPPETS this past weekend, and the fact that these are friends whose ages range from 24 - 35 is a testament to the broad and timeless appeal of Jim Henson's legacy. I'm slightly cursing him though because I've had the song "Mahna Mahna" stuck on repeat in my head (and now it's stuck in yours). I didn't know until recently that the original song, written by Piero Umiliania, first debuted in the decidedly kid unfriendly Italian film SWEDEN: HEAVEN AND HELL. I also didn't know that Oscar the Grouch was originally orange before the color of his fur was changed to green in the second season. The explanation given was that Oscar "went on vacation to the very damp Swamp Mushy Muddy and turned green overnight," which is subversively disturbing if you think about it. Was that a toxic swamp filled with mutated frogs as a result of illegal chemical dumping by an evil corporation? These are the kind of hard hitting questions that Big Bird needs to be asking on Sesame Street...

Dam graffiti in Ventura County

Matthew Rodriguez — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 19:07:58 +0000

I was blown away when I first saw this photo. I thought the clever imagery was absolutely brilliant, but I suspected it was probably too good to be true and Photoshop had to be involved. It turns out some things that are too good to be true can actually be true. An anonymous group of guerrilla artists rappelled down the wall back in September to paint this environmentally conscious, large-scale mark on the 200 foot Matilija Dam in Ventura County.

Dali illustrates “Alice in Wonderland”

Matthew Rodriguez — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 20:45:30 +0000

A couple decades after the initial 1865 publication of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, my favorite mustachioed, anteater-walking surrealist, Salvador Dalí, took a crack at illustrating the 1969 Random House edition with an image for each of the twelve chapters. Dali is always so predictable and yet paradoxically so unpredictable. Children be damned, you know he's going to create something that can only be the product of hallucinogenic drugs (or so I've heard)...

First covers of famous magazines

Matthew Rodriguez — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 13:49:34 +0000

From The Atlantic Monthly in 1857 to Wired in 1993, here's a fascinating look at the covers of the first issue s of famous magazines, including, I'm sure, at least one of your favorites. It's kind of amazing to see how these magazines have evolved over the years. Some are radically different in terms of design, focus and content, while others - most notably The New Yorker, whose first issue stars Eustace Tilley, or New York Magazine, with its breathtaking photo of the most beautiful skyline in the world - look as timeless and instantly familiar then as they do today...

The Netherlands’ new “invisible bridge”

Matthew Rodriguez — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 18:10:25 +0000

As a New Yorker, I'm rightfully proud of our bridges, not just for their aesthetic qualities, but as a practical matter - they're our lifelines to the outside world in the event we have to evacuate due to a zombie invasion. And I don't envy other cities' bridges, because basically, anything you can do, we can do better - or already have four of. That said, the "invisible" bridge (pictured above) located in the Netherlands made my jaw drop and I became instantly envious that we didn't have one here in The City...

Video game deaths & Woody Allen

Matthew Rodriguez — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 19:26:24 +0000

As a bookend to my previous entry highlighting an archive of classic video game title screens, Boing Boing put together this YouTube video montage of digital deaths from popular video games of the 8- and 16-bit era (or in the case of Pong, 1-bit - Oh snap!). The editing and the accompanying soundtrack to this video lends it a certain tone that suggests a rumination on the meaning of death, which is the not -so-perfect segue to briefly proselytize about the terrific, two-part American Masters documentary on PBS on Woody Allen, a must-watch for fans, writers and cinephiles alike.

New robot artist, the “Senseless Drawing Bot”

Matthew Rodriguez — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 21:00:32 +0000

SENSELESS DRAWING BOT from yang02 on Vimeo.
Although they're primitive and rudimentary in design (not that I could ever make such a thing) built with household object à la Make, Japanese artists So Kanno and Takahiro Yamaguchi are the creators behind what they call the "Senseless Drawing Bot." Reflecting the artists' interests in typography, from the formal (calligraphy) to the recent (graffiti), they built and programmed a robot that merges these forms.

The dark art of ApocaLego

Matthew Rodriguez — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 18:28:57 +0000

Kevin "Crimson Wolf" Fedde (quite a nickname to live up to) is one of a surprising number of LEGO builders and fans (there are over 1,000 members on its Flickr pool) who dabble in the dark art of "ApocaLego," a popular subgenre devoted to constructing sets with apocalyptic theme s, be it a "zombocalypse, bioplague, robot insurrection or nuclear conflagration."

Opening night of Diego Rivera at MoMA

Matthew Rodriguez — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 19:17:44 +0000

I felt lucky to attend the opening night party for the Diego Rivera exhibition "Rivera: Murals for The Museum of Modern Art" last Tuesday. The (always welcomed) open bar aside, I was excited to get a preview of some of the works of an icon like Rivera, an artist for whom I also have a sort of nostalgic attachment; his relationship with Frida Kahlo was the focus of one of my earliest group projects as a freshman at Brown. In tribute to their mercurial relationship, I tried to convince my friend to show up with a unibrow. Alas, she refused...

BUNDLED, BURIED & BEHIND CLOSED DOORS: short doc about the physical landscape of the Internet

Matthew Rodriguez — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 19:06:33 +0000

Bundled, Buried & Behind Closed Doors from Ben Mendelsohn on Vimeo.
I guess Senator Ted Stevens really was onto something when he described the Internet as a series of tubes. Ben Mendelsohn created this masterful short documentary, BUNDLED, BURIED & BEHIND CLOSED DOORS, that pulls back the curtains to give us a fascinating look at the actual, physical infrastructure of the digital "cloud" that we increasingly inhabit (and which permits the existence of lolcats). "He takes us inside 60 Hudson Street in New York City, a nondescript building that houses one of the major nodes of the Internet on the east coast." I've walked by this building many times throughout my eight years in NYC (Can I call myself a New Yorker yet?) - probably even while writing a tweet - but without realizing I was passing the main hub that makes this whole Twitter thing possible.

Pasadena’s literal fork in the road

Matthew Rodriguez — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 19:00:10 +0000

Back in the fall of 2009, local Pasadena resident Bob Stane received a very public prank gift on his 75th birthday in the form of guerrilla art.

First Olympic marathon athletes

Matthew Rodriguez — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 19:36:01 +0000

The other weekend, my neighborhood was teeming with runners from all over the world who were in New York City to race in the world's largest marathon, for which I woke up in time (no small feat for me on the weekends) to witness the thrilling come-from-behind-victory for the women's race by Firehiwot Dado of Ethiopia. (Even more impressive to me than her win was the fact that Firehiwot Dado has the word "fire" in her first name.) Her winning time of 2:23:15 and, for the men, Kenyan Geoffrey Mutai's record-setting time of 2:5:5 compelled the television commentators to remark that the marathon had now become a sprint at the elite level and it won't be long before the 2 hour mark is beaten...

The art of the baseball bat

Matthew Rodriguez — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 19:30:39 +0000

Vincent Kohler interprets the art of baseball literally with his series of 30 unique and intricately carved baseball bats...

Beyonce’s “Single Ladies,” courtesy of Bob Fosse

Matthew Rodriguez — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 21:00:43 +0000

Beyoncé Copycat Vs. Gwen Verdon (Choreography by Bob Fosse) from Street Blabber (ex-Urban mag) on Vimeo.
What he may have lacked in decorum, Kanye West made up for with honesty when he stormed the stage at the 2009 Video Music Awards and interrupted Taylor Swift's acceptance speech (people reading this a decade from now will say "Taylor who?") to announce "Yo Taylor, I'm really happy for you. I'll let you finish, but Beyonce has one of the best videos of all time. One of the best videos of all time!" When you consider the wide ranging influence of the music video for Beyonce's "Single Ladies," you can't deny that in retrospect, Kanye was absolutely correct.

“52 bunches of flowers I bought myself”

Matthew Rodriguez — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 18:15:07 +0000

Julia Schauenburg's photo series "52 bunches of flowers I bought myself" is one of the saddest art projects I've ever seen. This German-born, Australian-based photographer bought flowers for herself each week for an entire year and photographed them as they wilted and died. This project reminds me of something Liz Lemon might do if she was an artist instead of a lead writer for a fictional TV show. You can purchase these photos as a limited edition postcard set if you feel like sending your depressing thoughts around or, as an antidote, I recommend this photograph of a flower that might be the most joyous ever.

Tens of thousands donate to Ai Weiwei’s tax bill

Matthew Rodriguez — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 21:00:20 +0000

It's been a tumultuous year for one of our favorite artists, Ai Weiwei who, after his 81 day long detention, was slammed with a punitive $2.4 million tax bill from the Chinese government. In a testament to his wide appeal and support, The New York Times reported that "thousands of people have responded by contributing money in a gesture that is at once benevolent and subversive" and "more than 20,000 people have together contributed at least $840,000." This is unsurprising to any student of history or political movements...

Remember the (crocheted) Alamo

Matthew Rodriguez — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 18:31:10 +0000

Previously spotted covering the Wall Street Bull, Olek created buzz once again by wrapping another iconic New York City sculpture, Tony Rosenthal's Astor Place Cube with her trademark pink and purple camouflage yarn, as seen in the picture above. Here's a video of her in action installing this piece over the cube, or the "Alamo" as it's officially named. If you walk around New York City long enough you'll eventually stumble upon her smaller, guerrilla pieces like...

Williamsburg’s Corner Library: The smallest library in the world

Matthew Rodriguez — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 20:00:35 +0000

There may be some other contenders for the smallest library title, such as Jozsef Tari's collection of over 4,500 miniature books, but nonetheless, this mini library in Brooklyn would rival even the "book booth." Located on the corner of Leonard and Withers in Williamsburg, the Corner Library project is the brainchild of artist Colin McMullan, who first installed the functional, utilitarian art project in downtown New Haven before transplanting it here in New York. It's a mini replica of what a library in a good ol,' all-American small town would look like, and a timely commentary in an era where the traditional role of a library is changing rapidly with the growth of iPads and Kindles on one end and the aggressive (and shameful IMHO) defunding of town and city libraries on the other...

Music for my funeral

Matthew Rodriguez — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:00:09 +0000

David Kraftsow, an artist and programmer based in Brooklyn, has made waves on the Internet for his various projects that blur the line between culture jamming and art on the web, most notably his YooouuuTuuube.com (rearranges any YouTube video into a sequential series of images) and First Person Tetris (playable version where instead of moving and rotating the blocks, you rotate the entire screen) earned him quite a bit of buzz even with the mainstream press...

Otherworldly light paintings, sans digital manipulation

Matthew Rodriguez — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 18:00:33 +0000

Over the past few years, with the widespread growth of both digital cameras and the blogosphere, there's been a rising trend among amateur and professional photographers experimenting with "light paintings" or rather, photographs in which a slow shutter speed captures a light source that is moved to create illuminated shapes and effects. Last year, I blogged here about Freddie Wong, an insanely popular YouTube filmmaker (his channel have over 2.4 million subscribers), who shot a crazy action sequence using this light painting technique...

Full scale paper Mustang

Matthew Rodriguez — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:27:19 +0000

Photo by Laura DeSantis-Olsson
Hosfelt Gallery in New York recently hosted Jonathan Brand's exhibition "One Piece at a Time." The undeniable star of the show was the Brooklyn-based artist's full scale replica of a 1969 Ford Mustang constructed entirely from paper. As the exhibit's title suggests (it was inspired by the Johnny Cash song of the same name), Brand recreated everything about the iconic American muscle car by hand, "right down to the nuts and bolts, displaying it as the individual collected parts, rather than as a single object." The papercraft nature gives the installation an almost Americana-kitsch quality that appeals broadly, which is fitting, considering the role of the Ford Mustang in the construction of the modern American myth of muscle and might. However this was also a deeply personal project...

Working Nikon camera aka best Halloween costume ever

Matthew Rodriguez — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 17:16:30 +0000

Making of the Camera Costume from Tyler Card on Vimeo.
Michigan-based photographer Tyler Card took his craft to the next (and very literal) level with a Halloween costume that should be submitted to Make's Halloween costume contest. With the help of Adam Barr, Tyler built this life-size costume of a Nikon D3 DSLR camera, which is impressive in and of itself, but what makes it mind-blowing is that it's a fully functional, working camera with a "LCD display, built-in flash, and shutter-release button."