October 2011
17 posts
3 tags
Scopitone: ’60s Music Videos You’ve Never Seen
“Before MTV, and long before we could stream music videos on our cell phones, mid-1960s American hepcats gathered around 500-pound, 7-foot-high contraptions to watch 16-millimeter Technicolor films of B-list pop stars gyrating to their latest hits. The contraption in question was usually a Scopitone, one of several audio-visual jukeboxes found primarily in bars. Their reign, if you can even...
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Oh You Pretty Things! 70′s Inspired David Bowie...
Fun to funky!
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Fifty-two weeks on the streets
“Each week, a leading street photographer would issue an instruction and a large band of photographers would take to the streets and capture their interpretation of the theme.”
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Parisian flat lay untouched for 70 years
“For 70 years the Parisian apartment had been left uninhabited, under lock and key, the rent faithfully paid but no hint of what was inside. Behind the door, under a thick layer of dusk lay a treasure trove of turn-of-the-century objects including a painting by the 19th century Italian artist Giovanni Boldini.”
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The Newark Paramount Theatre
“The Paramount Theatre closed March 31, 1986 due to an increase in insurance rates. This increase also led to the closing of the nearby Adams Theatre. In the years since the 1986 closing the lobby area has been reused as an Army/Navy surplus store and other similar pop-up retail stores. The current plans for a multi-use entertainment complex on the lot call for the auditorium to be...
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Microcosmic Art: Famous Paintings from Tiny...
“Most artists would not dare attempt to recreate timeless works of art such as the Mona Lisa. Sagaki Keita, however, is not most artists. His incredible recreations of classic art are impressive when you first see them but absolutely mind-blowing when you take a closer look. These awesome works are not just simple straight-on reproductions of famous art pieces; they are composed of thousands...
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The Ruins of Bannerman's Island
“Quite how unlucky can one building be? Abandoned, neglected and decaying, at first sight you may think that Bannerman’s Castle is located in Europe, perhaps a Scottish remnant from the days of the lairds or a site in Ireland forsaken by retreating British aristocrats. Yet the Castle, sitting blithely upon Pollepel Island is only 50 miles north of New York City, on the Hudson River.”
...
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Natural Landscapes Recreated in Junk
Recycling and found object art taken to another level.
Look closer …
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Sketchbook 2010
The incredible sketches of Irina Vinnik.
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The Abandoned Cold War Listening Station Built on...
“Like massive golf balls, the tattered shells of radomes long since left to the ravages of nature litter the landscape. Once, men were stationed here whose duty it was to listen in on the conversations of those on the other side of the Iron Curtain, thereby gathering valuable military intelligence. Now, graffiti besmirches the crumbling structures, but the views from this vantage point are...
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Fired
While it sucks in some mighty intense ways that I have been forcibly relieved of gainful employment, there are a couple of upshots - not the least of them being that I will not ever again have to deal with the sort of arrogant verbal abuse heaped upon me undeservedly by a public that believes it has the god-given right to hurt others, simply because they work in the service industry.
I now no...
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Paolo Ventura: Venezia
“His precision dioramas of beautifully dreary, eerily quiet Venetian locales set in the 1930s - somewhat surreal yet nonetheless quite real - are the basis for his exquisite large-scale photographic prints.”
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The Wellcome at 75
“There are more than 100,000 items in the Wellcome Trust’s wonderfully strange collection. On its anniversary, we take a peek at the world’s greatest curiosity cabinet.”
European executioner’s mask, pre 1700
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Lost: Wired's Guide to Pop Culture's Buried...
This amazing treasure-trove of pop culture makes me cringe, when I think about what happened to some old films and tv shows - like all the celluloid that ended up as roadfill under British highways. But immediacy knows no sense of hindsight’s sense of value.
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My Band T-Shirt
A blog about band t-shirts people owned, that still mean something to them, and why. To contribute your own, email us at mybandtshirt@gmail.com.
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Washed Up
“After my initial disgust at the sheer quantity of garbage littering the beaches of Sian Ka’an, Mexico’s first federally protected biosphere, I wondered what I could do with these materials and how I could alchemize this ugliness. I collected bags and bags of trash that had floated in from thirty-nine nations on five continents, which I then transformed into site-specific sculptures.”
...
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Dumb Belle
It’s been quite a long time since I’ve had a truly “blonde” moment. Yesterday was my day.
I was washing my hands in my bathroom sink, and when I reached to turn the cold water off, it wouldn’t shut off. The chorus of ‘what the fuck am I gonna dos’ went off in my head, as I kept twisting the tap trying to shut the water off - until I realised I was...
September 2011
4 posts
1 tag
Giant Artworks of Romulo Celdran
While the small-made-big artworks of Romulo Celdran don’t, in general, grab me, I love the fact that his giant pen cap is chewed. Nice attention to detail there.
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White Desert, Beautiful and Still Undiscovered...
I think the photographic evidence belies the ‘undiscovered’ aspect. Still, damn beautiful.
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World Records You Can Break →
While challenging oneself as a person is a noble thing, there are some records that should be left well enough alone:
Most body piercings in one session - Current record is 3,900 in 7 hours, 46 minutes.
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Terry Border’s Bent Objects →
And you thought what your cats got up to while you were out was odd.
August 2011
20 posts
2 tags
Untouchable
Recently I watched the film The King’s speech. Yes, that’s right, a bit slow on the uptake, but I get there in the end. I won’t tell you some of the classic films I haven’t seen at all.
Amongst other things, it reminded me of how much I like Geoffrey Rush in the film Quills. It is, without question, one of the finest acting performances I’ve ever seen in a movie. I...
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Braaaains!
Some months ago I participated in a cognitive ability psychological study: partly for fun, partly because it paid me $25 for each of the three sessions, but mostly to get what you see before you - MRI scans of my brain. That’s right: this is Lonita’s brain on you. I think I should get it, or them, on a t-shirt.
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Andy Gilmore's Geometric ArtAlex →
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The Who - Substitute (Rare live, 1966) [HD video /...
Oh they’re so young here. Hell, young: i wasn’t even ovum when this was shot - nor even an idea.
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Samuel L. Jackson narrates "Go the Fuck to Sleep"... →
Him reading this is amusing, but still not nearly as amusing as one of my favourite moments in television. Embedding was disabled, so I think I’ll just let you get surprised by it. How I miss Saturday Night Live when it was sublime.
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"Without You" - Junip
I haven’t been so struck by something brand new (to me) since the first time I heard the Heartless Bastards’ “I Swallowed A Dragonfly”.
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PSYCHOPLATES: Plates with Rorschach pattern →
Oooh, I wants some!
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25 Greatest Unscripted Scenes in Films
While I don’t necessarily agree with all of them, I was surprised by some of them, and I did laugh - and you’ll never believe at what.
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Blackboard Yearbook: A New Breed Of School →
“In Russia they certainly know how to mix it up and bring school to the next level. In an attempt to make their yearbook a little more fun, they came up with the idea to let the kids draw whatever they wanted on the blackboard and then be photographed in front of it in different poses.”
Way more fun than the smiling mugshot-like images of my youth.
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Unite and Take Over - The Smiths Inspire Comic... →
“Comics creator Shawn Demumbrum hopes to raise $3,000 to fund the printing and production for his comic series Unite and Take Over. The series consists of stories inspired by songs from the British rock band, The Smiths.”
Whenever it goes to print, I so want a copy!
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Exploring the Ruins of Gary, Indiana →
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Dial-Up / Jupiter
Dial-up modem sound slowed down 700%. Creepy, but in a good way.
And for added audial fun: The music of Jupiter and other heavenly bodies.
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The Coolest Office in the World →
I don’t know about you, but I’m running out right now to apply for a job at Inventionland - because whatever’s going on there beats the hell out of the cubicle farms most of us work in.
Read more.
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Terry Gilliam's Do It Yourself Animation Show
If you’re going to get a lesson on cut-out animation from anyone, he’d be it. :)
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There Once Was a Man Named Leotard: People Who... →
“Before there were silhouettes, there was a French fellow named Silhouette. And before there were Jacuzzi parties there were seven inventive brothers by that name. It’s easy to forget that some of the most common words in the English language came from living, breathing people.”
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Detroit in Ruins
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The Movie Timeline →
This is the single nerdiest film website I’ve ever seen. Ever. It’s a timeline of film, all right; but not the way you think. These timelines are all about what goes on in the films.
Go. Enjoy. Contribute!
July 2011
38 posts
1 tag
Leaf Cut Art by Lorenzo Durán →
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Tool - 10,000 Days Hidden Track - perfect sync
I’m sure this has been all over the place by now, but I’m still fascinated by it regardless.
“Three separate tracks from the latest Tool album can be assembled into a different one […] the difference is that, in this case, you don’t get the full song by doing something as mundane as playing one track after the other — you get it by changing the order and...
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Improbable Research » Blog Archive →
I’ve really never given it much thought before, but…
“How does an embryo know where its face should grow? This amazing time-lapse video reveals a surprising mechanism at work: electricity.
The footage shows a frog embryo early on its development. Watch carefully and around nine seconds into the video you’ll see a flash of light and dark patterns that looks like a template for...
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Man-Cans.com →
Are you driving your man crazy with your grotesque girly scented candles? Get him some of his own! With scents like New Mitt, New York Style Pizza, Dirt, and Grandpa’s Pipe, you’re sure to find something that will please.
And, the real bonus? All the soup that was in the cans is donated to shelters, food banks, etcetera. So everyone wins.
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Private one person room by Paolo Maldotti →
“[Paolo Maldotti] created a mobile room, for one person. It’s like a personal sanctuary where someone can just forget about everything for a moment. This is actually an egg-shaped structure divided in 8 segments. 6 of them are fixed while 2 are mobile. It’s a space that someone can decorate and furnish according to its personal needs and preferences. You can turn it into a personal...
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Lytro Is Developing a Camera That May Change...
“A company called Lytro […] designing a camera that may be the next giant leap in the evolution of photography — a consumer camera that shoots photos that can be refocused at any time. Instead of capturing a single plane of light like traditional cameras do, Lytro’s light-field camera will use a special sensor to capture the color, intensity, and vector direction of the rays of light...
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Frankie Goes to Hollywood - World of Spectrum →
No, you are not hallucinating. That is, in fact, a Frankie Goes to Hollywood video game … and I want to play it.
An article about the game.
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Paper Cuts →
These are some of the most fabulous silhouette cuts I’ve ever seen.
This page is fairly image-heavy.