Rose McGowan Will Play 'Red Sonja'

"SAN DIEGO -- Rose McGowan says she can't wait to wear the chain-mail bikini of 'Red Sonja,' the barbarian queen. Why? "The suffragettes would have loved her," she explained. "She would only be with a man if he had bested her with the sword first. That was a pretty feminist statement . . . well, as far as comic books go back then."

McGowan said she had a 'very depressing year' seeking a challenging, nuanced role in Hollywood when most movies present women 'not even as straight man, they're the straight man to the straight man.' When a script came her way reviving the Marvel Comics character, who first appeared in 'Conan the Barbarian,' under writer Roy Thomas and artist Barry Windsor-Smith (drawing, of course, on the work of pulp icon Robert E. Howard), she was intrigued. She showed it to her boyfriend, filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, and asked if he had ever heard of the character." read article in it's entirety

also... Red Sonja Poster Revealed - Rodriguez, McGowan Discuss Film at Comic Con

This could be awesome.

EH Revisited:Do You Want to Live Forever? (7/31/05)

"Wandering through the quadrangles and medieval bastions of learning at the University of Cambridge one overcast Sunday afternoon a few months ago, I found myself ruminating on how this venerable place had been a crucible for the scientific revolution that changed humankind's perceptions of itself and of the world. The notion of Cambridge as a source of grand transformative concepts was very much on my mind that day, because I had traveled to England to meet a contemporary Cantabrigian who aspires to a historical role similar to those enjoyed by Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton, and William Harvey. Aubrey David Nicholas Jasper de Grey is convinced that he has formulated the theoretical means by which human beings might live thousands of years -- indefinitely, in fact.

Perhaps theoretical is too small a word. De Grey has mapped out his proposed course in such detail that he believes it may be possible for his objective to be achieved within as short a period as 25 years, in time for many readers of Technology Review to avail themselves of its formulations -- and, not incidentally, in time for his 41-year-old self as well. Like Bacon, de Grey has never stationed himself at a laboratory bench to attempt a ­single hands-on experiment, at least not in human biology. He is without qualifications for that, and makes no pretensions to being anything other than what he is, a computer scientist who has taught himself natural science. Aubrey de Grey is a man of ideas, and he has set himself toward the goal of transforming the basis of what it means to be human." read article in it's entirety

Top 5 Stumbles of the Week

Mysterious Headless Corpses Found All Over London

1. SnagFilms
2. Free Physics Video Lectures
3. Luminara - gets boring kind of quick but it's very pretty
4. Flash Guitar
5. People Bucket

A 'Cuil' New Way to Search

"The Internet has grown exponentially in the last fifteen years but search engines have not kept up—until now. Cuil (pronounced 'cool') searches more pages on the Web than anyone else—three times as many as Google and ten times as many as Microsoft.

Rather than rely on superficial popularity metrics, Cuil searches for and ranks pages based on their content and relevance. When we find a page with your keywords, we stay on that page and analyze the rest of its content, its concepts, their inter-relationships and the page’s coherency.

Then we offer you helpful choices and suggestions until you find the page you want and that you know is out there. We believe that analyzing the Web rather than our users is a more useful approach, so we don’t collect data about you and your habits, lest we are tempted to peek. With Cuil, your search history is always private." website

also... Keep Searching (Forbes)

4,000 U.S. Deaths, a Handful of Images

"BAGHDAD — The case of a freelance photographer in Iraq who was barred from covering the Marines after he posted photos on the Internet of several of them dead has underscored what some journalists say is a growing effort by the American military to control graphic images from the war.



Zoriah Miller, the photographer who took images of marines killed in a June 26 suicide attack and posted them on his Web site, was subsequently forbidden to work in Marine Corps-controlled areas of the country. Maj. Gen. John Kelly, the Marine commander in Iraq, is now seeking to have Mr. Miller barred from all United States military facilities throughout the world. Mr. Miller has since left Iraq." read article in it's entirety

This Looks Awesome: Man on Wire

"On August 7th 1974, a young Frenchman named Philippe Petit stepped out on a wire illegally rigged between New York's twin towers, then the world’s tallest buildings. After nearly an hour dancing on the wire, he was arrested, taken for psychological evaluation, and brought to jail before he was finally released.

Following six and a half years of dreaming of the towers, Petit spent eight months in New York City planning the execution of the coup. Aided by a team of friends and accomplices, Petit was faced with numerous extraordinary challenges: he had to find a way to bypass the WTC’s security; smuggle the heavy steel cable and rigging equipment into the towers; pass the wire between the two rooftops; anchor the wire and tension it to withstand the winds and the swaying of the buildings. The rigging was done by night in complete secrecy. At 7:15 AM, Philippe took his first step on the high wire 1,350 feet above the sidewalks of Manhattan…" webpage

"There was no why." - Philippe Petit

Pearl Crescent Page Saver

"Pearl Crescent Page Saver is an extension for Mozilla Firefox that lets you capture images of web pages. These images can be saved in PNG or JPEG format. Using Page Saver, you can capture an entire page or just the visible portion. Options let you control whether images are captured at full size (which is the default) or scaled down to a smaller size." webpage

This is a super easy way to snap shots of your favorite website.

In Venezuela Gas is 12 Cents a Gallon!

"NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Despite daily headlines bemoaning record gas prices, the United States is actually one of the cheaper places to fill up in the world.

Out of 155 countries surveyed, U.S. gas prices were the 45th cheapest, according to a recent study from AIRINC, a research firm that tracks cost of living data.

The difference is staggering. As of late March, U.S. gas prices averaged $3.45 a gallon. That compares to over $8 a gallon across much of Europe." read article in it's entirety

A random image I found during my daily surf.

FireNes Version 1.1

"FireNes is an extension for Firefox that allows us to play over 2000 games from Nintendo, without the need to download anything...

After 3 days of nonstop schedule already completed version 1.1 of FireNes. I left several things to be done, but I plan to add much more in future versions. This centre you see me more than anything to correct a little bug and polish the code.

List of changes:
- Implement the system of favorites.
- Now the option 'play' from the context menu.
- Add images to enlarge lashes and a bit.
- Streamline the burden of the list of games.
- Arrange some problems that had anchor load.
- Arrange a mistake that was reported in error to close the list without you finish loading.
- Remove option 'Update' contextual menu for lack of sense.
- Add an option 'Website' which redirects to the homepage.
- I put a new button in the options: 'Restore'
- Optimizations and bug several arrangements.
- Add a legend and a link to faq in the window of notification.
- Now you can not notify errors such as 'Others' without leaving a comment.

Note: If you are not automatically upgrade to version 1.1 is of paramount importance to reinstall the extension. Just to give the link Install FireNes and this is going to fix this problem now more." webpage

Wow of the Week: Ramen Baths

"The bath, shaped like a ramen bowl, contains pepper-flavored water colored a light, milky brown, to like tonkotsu (pork bone) ramen soup. The special bath was created jointly by the theme park and a famous ramen shop, Nantsuttei in Hadano, Kanagawa Prefecture.

The bath was completed at the unveiling event, with the owner of Nantsuttei adding 'noodles' made of bathwater additives into the tub.

The water contains collagen and garlic extracts, and theme park officials claim it can help produce beautiful skin and aid moisture retention." read article in it's entirety

Stanley Kubrick's Boxes

"Stanley Kubrick's films were landmark events – majestic, memorable and richly researched. But, as the years went by, the time between films grew longer and longer, and less and less was seen of the director. What on earth was he doing?

Two years after Kubrick's death, Jon Ronson was invited to the director's estate to explore the hundreds of boxes the legendary film director had collected during his decades at Childwick Manor in Hertfordshire. He's been returning ever since, and the story of Kubrick and the archive, now housed at University of the Arts London, is revealed in this fascinating documentary.

Ronson asks: is it possible to get to understand such a man – and his extraordinary working methods – by looking through the hundreds of boxes he left behind?" watch documentary in it's entirety

Let's see:

Transsexuality Has a Genetic Component

"A gene variant has been identified that appears to be associated with female-to-male transsexuality – the feeling some women have that they belong to the opposite sex.

While such complex behaviour is likely the result of multiple genes, environmental and cultural factors, the researchers say the discovery suggests that transsexuality does have a genetic component.

The variation is in the gene for an enzyme called cytochrome P17, which is involved in the metabolism of sex hormones. Its presence leads to higher than average tissue concentrations of male and female sex hormones, which may in turn influence early brain development." read article in it's enitrety

Toward a Type 1 Civilization

"Our civilization is fast approaching a tipping point. Humans will need to make the transition from nonrenewable fossil fuels as the primary source of our energy to renewable energy sources that will allow us to flourish into the future. Failure to make that transformation will doom us to the endless political machinations and economic conflicts that have plagued civilization for the last half-millennium.

We need new technologies to be sure, but without evolved political and economic systems, we cannot become what we must. And what is that? A Type 1 civilization. Let me explain." read article in its entirety

Let's see:


also... Kardashev Scale

Haagen Dazs Really Loves Honey Bees(EH Continued Coverage)

"Unless you’ve been asleep for the last year or two, you’ll know by now that Colony Collapse Disorder is posing a very real and imminent threat to the world’s honeybees, and consequently to global food production (one third of all agricultural crops rely on bees for pollination!). Luckily, many corporations involved in food production are pitching in to support research and action to help save our furry flying friends – the latest being Haagen Dazs..." read article in it's entirety (treehugger)



read previous EH post

California Bans Trans Fats in Restaurants

"LOS ANGELES — California, a national trendsetter in all matters edible, became the first state to ban trans fats in restaurants when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill Friday to phase out their use.



Under the new law, trans fats, long linked to health problems, must be excised from restaurant products beginning in 2010, and from all retail baked goods by 2011. Packaged foods will be exempt.

New York City adopted a similar ban in 2006 — it became fully effective on July 1 — and Philadelphia, Stamford, Conn., and Montgomery County, Md., have done so as well." read article in it's entirety

also... Schwarzenegger signs law banning trans fats in restaurants

Audio (/ Visual) Treat of the Week:The Mysterious Stranger

Life is full, and Venus is in the second house. Today, I was trying to find inspiration for this week's post, when I came across something from my childhood on YouTube. I had totally forgotten about this movie and it immediately came flooding back to me as I watched this disturbing clip from the 1986 claymation film, The Adventures of Mark Twain.

It's a scene where the children meet The Mysterious Stranger, Satan. The audio as well as the visuals add to the creepiness, and (especially if you've seen the movie) it will make you very uncomfortable. Not in that "oh no not Satan" kind of way. But in that, "why did my babysitter make me watch this?!" kind of way. Regardless, it's a really cool scene and is based on the Mark Twain essay, The Mysterious Stranger.

The entire movie is available on YouTube.

Let's see:

Found Flickr Foto: alles raus

alles raus , originally uploaded by kubatodi.

A photo I found on Flickr.

Question of the Day: Who Are You?

Hello everyone, this is Roberto C. Madruga and I have one question for you: who are you? According to Google Analytics, we have readers in 101 countries and a good readership on a daily basis. So, what I need you to do is to comment on this post so we know who's out there. You can tell us something about yourselves, criticize us, tell us how you stumbled upon EH, or be as random as you'd like. listen

Powered by Jott

'Goodbye From the World's Biggest...'

"The American leader, who has been condemned throughout his presidency for failing to tackle climate change, ended a private meeting with the words: 'Goodbye from the world's biggest polluter.'

He then punched the air while grinning widely, as the rest of those present including Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy looked on in shock." read article in it's entirety

Wow! We're lucky we only have to deal with this asshole for four more months.

Aronofsky Directing Robocop Remake!!!

"Here's some news timed to bring out the nerd-hysteria at Comic-Con: Darren Aronofsky, director of The Fountain and Requiem for a Dream will direct the new version of Robocop. He will be joined by screenwriter David Self (Road to Perdition) on the effort." read article in it's entirety

This could be really really awesome.

With Wordle You Can Create Word Clouds

"Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends." website

thanks lifehacker

Purchase a 'Your Face Tea Towel' Now!

"It has been a long time in the works but the Your Face tea towel is finally here. You can now dry your dishes with your own face without worrying about your make up ending up in ruins. Also perfect for anyone due to appear as a shepherd in an impromptu summer nativity play.

Screenprinted onto 100% cotton teatowels and measuring 48 x 78cms." product page

I'm on there somewhere.

EH Revisited: Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro Develops a 'Female' Android (7/28/05)

"Japanese scientists have unveiled the most human-looking robot yet - a 'female' android named Repliee Q1Expo.

She has flexible silicone for skin rather than hard plastic, and a number of sensors and motors to allow her to turn and react in a human-like manner.

She can flutter her eyelids and move her hands like a human. She even appears to breathe.

Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro of Osaka University says one day robots could fool us into believing they are human.

Repliee Q1Expo is not like any robot you will have seen before, at least outside of science-fiction movies.


She is designed to look human and although she can only sit at present, she has 42 actuators in her upper body, powered by a nearby air compressor, programmed to allow her to move like a human." read article in it's entirety

also... NRA probes Japanese sex android

Frozen Grand Central from ImprovEverywhere on Vimeo.

'Where the Wild Things Are' Update

"Looking forward to Spike Jonze's filmed adaptation of Maurice Sendak's WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE? Worried about the reports of 'disastrous' test screenings and rumors of massive reshoots? Curious as to how a film once scheduled for release on October 3, 2008 might still be a full year away from finished?



I interrogated producer Gary Goetzman about these myriad issues today (traveling down to San Diego on the CITY OF EMBER train), and I wish I could say I got to the bottom of it all. Unfortunately, after listening and re-listening to my conversation with Goetzman (a double-team, really, shared with Variety's Anne Thompson), I'm left with a whole new set of questions about the fate of this long-anticipated film." read article in it's entirety

also... Can Spike Jonze save 'Where the Wild Things Are'?

previous EH post

Man Finds Knife in Subway Sandwich

"This Subway sandwich came with all the toppings - and then some.

A Queens man is suing the sandwich empire for $1 million after finding a large serrated knife he says was baked into the bread of his 12-inch cold-cut sub.

John Agnesini, 27, of Astoria, told The Post he was horrified when he spotted the 7-inch blade inside his lunch.

'After taking a few bites I could tell something didn't taste right,' Agnesini said." read article in it's entirety (New York Post)

Cuteness Overdose: Sleepy Sun Bear

"The Sun Bear stands approximately 1.2 m (4 ft) in length, making it the smallest member in the bear family. It has a 5 cm (2 in) tail and usually weighs less than 65 kg (145 lb). Males tend to be 10-45% larger than females; the former normally weigh between 30 and 60 kg (66-132 lb), the latter between 20 and 40 kg (44-88 lb). The Sun Bear possesses sickle-shaped claws that are relatively light in weight. It has large paws with naked soles, probably to assist in climbing. Its inward-turned feet make the bear's walk pigeon-toed, but it is an excellent climber. It has small, round ears and a stout snout. The tail is 1.2-2.8 inches (3 to 7 cm) long. Despite its small size, the Sun Bear possesses a very long, slender tongue, ranging from 8 to 10 inches (20 to 25 cm) in length. The bear uses it to extract honey from beehives." - Wikipedia

Let's see:


Happy Monday everyone.

Gourmet Eating for Less

"Despite raging inflation, it's possible to eat well without spending like crazy, chefs and other food gurus say. You just need a strategy. Here are some of their secrets." read article in it's entirety

Wake Up of the Week: Freshwater Crisis

Scientific American's newest issue has a handful of tremendously informative and well-written articles that dive deep into the current water crisis the world is facing. A large portion of the world's population is feeling the effects of this crisis. We (the people) need to try to do as much as possible to conserve our resources because it doesn't seem like anything is being done on a government level. The sky is not falling but the water is disappearing, and that sucks.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

"A friend of mine lives in a middle-class neighborhood of New Delhi, one of the richest cities in India. Although the area gets a fair amount of rain every year, he wakes in the morning to the blare of a megaphone announcing that freshwater will be available only for the next hour. He rushes to fill the bathtub and other receptacles to last the day. New Delhi’s endemic shortfalls occur largely because water managers decided some years back to divert large amounts from upstream rivers and reservoirs to irrigate crops.

My son, who lives in arid Phoenix, arises to the low, schussing sounds of sprinklers watering verdant suburban lawns and golf courses. Although Phoenix sits amid the Sonoran Desert, he enjoys a virtually unlimited water supply. Politicians there have allowed irrigation water to be shifted away from farming operations to cities and suburbs, while permitting recycled wastewater to be employed for landscaping and other nonpotable applications.



As in New Delhi and Phoenix, policymakers worldwide wield great power over how water resources are managed. Wise use of such power will become increasingly important as the years go by because the world’s demand for freshwater is currently overtaking its ready supply in many places, and this situation shows no sign of abating. That the problem is well-known makes it no less disturbing: today one out of six people, more than a billion, suffer inadequate access to safe freshwater. By 2025, according to data released by the United Nations, the freshwater resources of more than half the countries across the globe will undergo either stress—for example, when people increasingly demand more water than is available or safe for use—or outright shortages. By midcentury as much as three quarters of the earth’s population could face scarcities of freshwater." read article in it's entirety

also... Freshwater Crisis: Current Situation, Top 10 Water Wasters: From Washing Dishes to Watering the Desert, Facing the Freshwater Crisis, and Get Involved in Freshwater Conservation

(idiot comics): Twelve Attempts

Mississippi River Reopened After Oil Spill

"NEW ORLEANS — A sheen of oil coated the Mississippi River for nearly 100 miles from the center of this city to the Gulf of Mexico on Friday following the worst oil spill here in nearly a decade. Around noon, after two days with no ship traffic, the Coast Guard opened the river to limited use.

The thick industrial fuel pouring from the barge could be smelled for miles in city neighborhoods up and down the river, even as hundreds of cleanup workers struggled to contain the hundreds of thousands of gallons. Some environmentalists worried about reports of fish and bird kills in sensitive marsh areas downstream, though officials said they had so far heard of only a handful of oil-covered birds. Booms to protect areas richest in wildlife, at the river’s mouth, were being deployed, officials said." read article in it's entirety

Grace Park (Complex) Interview

"Grace Park has a body. she even shows it off sometimes. We were surprised too—enjoy it while you can, because there’s a good chance it might not happen again. And that’s exactly what’s so sexy about the stunning actress (you know, besides the obvious): Her rise in Hollywood hasn’t left her Korean integrity1 lying by the wayside. The girl sticks to her guns. And even though that usually means disappointment for our collective libido, we still respect her.

Already well-known in her native Canada2, she shot to cult stardom in 2003 with Battlestar Galactica, in which she plays the robots-in-disguise Boomer/Athena3. (We hear you laughing—go frak yourself, it’s a good show.) Right now BSG is in its final season, which makes this an interesting time for the 34-year-old beauty: What happens when the show that made you a star ends? (Richard Grieco, anyone?)


The thing is, even though she’s got another show starting in July—A&E’s extreme intervention drama The Cleaner4—fame isn’t the name of the game. For her, there’s such a thing as “too famous too fast,” and she’s willing to put the brakes on acting if that happens. Keep your 100 mph Hollywood hoes; we’re going to slow our roll and put it in Park. Well, not literally. You know what we mean. Reeeeal respectful-like." read interview it's entirety

An EH reader (who has a huge crush on Grace Park) asked me to post this "awesome" interview... this has nothing to do w/ evolution. :)

Reboot of the Week: Torrent Raiders

"Torrent Raiders is a dynamic network visualization realized through the idioms and aesthetics of arcade-style video games. Driven in real-time by the activity of bit torrent swarms, Torrent Raiders takes place on the ad-hoc networks created by bit torrent users. Torrent Raiders playfully addresses issues of domestic surveillance and intellectual property by putting players in the role of a mercenary copyright enforcer, encouraging them to capture evidence against peers on torrents in order to collect bounties. Players assist in the distributed surveillance of these torrent swarms, sending information to a central server where it will be used to drive further visualizations of this information. As a dynamic visualization exploring privacy, piracy and surveillance, Torrent Raiders challenges Internet users, content pirates and government spooks to examine their allegiances and mistrust their computer connections." website

Artist of the Week: Brendan Monroe

"On October 4th, 2007 I got in the truck and headed over the Bay Bridge to the studio of Brendan Monroe and Evah Fan which sits behind Evah's apartment in a quite Berkeley neighborhood. The small garage has been converted into a perfect sized studio with plenty of room to accomodate the two. Just outside the door sits a healthy little garden where the two grow tomatoes and other veggies... While shooting photos the breeze made its way in and out the open windows. A small black cat meowed at the door wishing to be petted. And the warm smells of plant life made its way in while Berkeley's great radio station KALX played in the background. This may have to be the best studio I've ever been to, and it suits these two just fine as they mentioned they hardly leave it." Fecal Face Studio Visit: Brendan Monroe



"I currently live and work in Berkeley with my girlfriend Evah and our cat Jalapeño." website



Brendan has been one of my favorite artists for a while now. I posted about his work a couple years back and I'm very happy to see he's continued producing such beautiful work. He's one of the only artist today whose paintings completely absorb me as I observe them. Hopefully, we will be scheduling an interview w/ him soon.



read previous EH post

Raymond Scott: On To Something

"The film will be a music filled biographical documentary about the life and work of Raymond Scott. But, in addition, it will also be a personal investigation into the father-son dynamic—what it means to have a famous father obsessed with his work and the consequent impact on the parent-child relationship.



Raymond Scott was more comfortable with music and its related technology than with people, including his own children. Always though, this personal angle will be intertwined with the compelling story of a true American music innovator—one who had a meteoric rise to household name success, followed by a slow spiral into obscurity and now, posthumously, a growing acknowledgment of his central role in modern music and music technology." website

Top 5 Stumbles of the Week

1. This is sand - this is really relaxing
2. Dennis Weaver's Earthship
3. It's still funny
4. Juggler
5. Helen Fisher: The Brain In Love

Gassing Up With Garbage

"Many companies have announced plans to build plants that would take in material like wood chips, garbage or crop waste and turn out motor fuels. About 28 small plants are in advanced planning, under construction or, in a handful of cases, already up and running in test mode.

For decades scientists have known it was possible to convert waste to fuel, but in an era of cheap oil, it made little sense. With oil now trading around $125 a barrel and gasoline above $4 a gallon, the potential economics of a waste-to-fuel industry have shifted radically, setting off a frenzy to be first to market." read article in it's entirety

Ólafur Elíasson's The Nature of Things Opens at The Joan Miro Foundation

"BARCELONA.- The Joan Miró Foundation and the Fundació Caixa Girona present 'The nature of things', an exhibition by the Danish-Icelandic artist Ólafur Elíasson, winner of the 1st Joan Miró Prize in 2007.



This will be the first major showing of the artist’s work in Spain. The 50 artworks in the exhibition exemplify his output from 1993 to the present, including new works produced specifically for the Joan Miró Foundation. The photographs, sculptures and large-scale installations examine the relation between visitors, museum spaces and works, while enhancing the awareness of sensorial experience." read article in it's entirety

Nintendo Wall Graphics

It's a tale as old as time. Boy grows up, completely enamored with a computer-generated Italian plumber. He pumps his college fund, in quarter form, into Donkey Kong. Later, he grows inch-thick calluses on his thumbs playing Super Mario Brothers on the original NES. He suffered through Super Mario Sunshine, and has the entire season of Super Mario Adventures, staring Captain Lou Albano as Mario, on DVD. Finally, he marries a nice girl named Pauline, and has three kids: Shigeru, Luigi, and Diddy. Poor Diddy.

What he doesn't have, though, are these awesome vinyl restickable wall-stickers. Featuring Mario and his friends and enemies through his evolution from 15 pixel high sprite to fully 3d-rendered hyperbeing. Do a faithful recreation of your favorite levels, or create your own, using your own space as a template.

Now all you need are mushrooms that make you into a giant, and flowers that let you throw fireballs. " product page

also... Grow Your Own 1up Mushroom

EH Revisited: Connectivism: A Learning Theory For The Digital Age (7/23/05)

"Behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism are the three broad learning theories most often utilized in the creation of instructional environments. These theories, however, were developed in a time when learning was not impacted through technology. Over the last twenty years, technology has reorganized how we live, how we communicate, and how we learn. Learning needs and theories that describe learning principles and processes, should be reflective of underlying social environments.

Learners as little as forty years ago would complete the required schooling and enter a career that would often last a lifetime. Information development was slow. The life of knowledge was measured in decades. Today, these foundational principles have been altered. Knowledge is growing exponentially. In many fields the life of knowledge is now measured in months and years." read article in it's entirety

Suicide Girls: Why So Serious?

click here for photoset (NSFW)
_________________________________________________________________


click here for photoset (NSFW)
_________________________________________________________________


click here for photoset (NSFW)
_________________________________________________________________

This may be my last Batman related post for a while. I've been a little obsessed lately. :)

"Coffee And Cigarettes" on Hulu

"The film is composed of a comic series of short vignettes shot in black and white built on one another to create a cumulative effect, as the characters discuss things as diverse as caffeine popsicles, Paris in the 1920s, and the use of nicotine as an insecticide — all the while sitting around drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes. The theme of the film is absorption in the obsessions, joys, and addictions of life, and there are many common threads between vignettes (such as the Tesla coil, medical knowledge, the suggestion that coffee and cigarettes don't make for a healthy meal (generally lunch), cousins, The Lees (Cinqué, Joie, and a mention of Spike), musicians, acknowledged fame, and even the idea of drinking coffee before sleeping in order to have fast dreams). In each of the segment of the film, the common theme of alternating black and white tiles can be seen in some fashion." - wikepedia

Let's see:


This is one of my favorite movies.

66 Ways To Save Money on Gasoline

"While the rising cost of oil has the price of gasoline skyrocketing faster than global warming is melting glaciers, people everywhere are preparing for cross-country road trips to Grand Canyon National Park and summer camps in Maine. We can't really argue with that innate desire to get closer to nature and out on the open road, and whether you're a die-hard cyclist or a still driving an SUV, chances are you plan to get in a car to go somewhere this summer. So whether you're packing up the Prius for some close-to-home camping, towing the boat to far-away shores, or merely fighting the crosstown traffic, these money- and gas-saving tips are designed to help you squeeze every last bit of power out of that precious petrol--and cause fewer CO2 emissions, too. It's a comprehensive list--several tasks should be done before even starting your car; others require minor adjustments to your driving style. All of them aim to help you drive a little greener." read article in it's entirety

also... Jeff Rubin Predicts "Mass Exodus" From Cars in US

Wow of the Week: Liquid Virgin

"This product is called a Vaginal Contracting Lubricant.

It is Similar to the age-old China Shrink cream. These drops work to temporarily tighten the walls of the vagina. I have never tried it but our sales representative says they work. I didn't ask how she knew.

The directions say to apply a few drops to the desired area 15 minutes prior to any activity for desired results and moisturization.

Ingredients: Deonized water, aloe vera extract, glycerin, potassium alum, xanthan gum, hydropoyl methylcellulose, polysorbate 20, phenoxyethanol, methylparaben, hydrolyzed collagen, sodium benzoate, DL menthol, calcium chloride, propylparaben, citric acid.

As a note: Potassium Alum is added to foods as a sour flavor. It also appears in cartoons. The character eats some Alum and their mouth is shown to pucker up. Often seen on Tom & Jerry." product page

Wow! I can't believe this exist.

Touched Echo Interactive Exhibit

"Most large museums and art galleries today provide some kind of personal audio device that visitors can carry with them if they wish to learn more about the various exhibits on display. A similar idea has been implemented at the Brühl’s Terrace in Dresden, Germany, but instead of having to wear headphones or hold some device to their ear, visitors simply need to rest their elbows on a metal rail and cover their ears with their hands.


touched echo from Markus Kison on Vimeo.

Using bone conduction technology (or what they call ‘Touched Echo’) the sounds of airplanes and explosions simulating the air raid that occurred on February 13, 1945 are transmitted from the metal rail through the visitor’s arms and directly into the inner ear. The sounds are completely inaudible to someone who isn’t touching the rail, and since the terrace is located outside, the bone conduction system is a perfect solution because it’s completely weatherproof. I’ve also included a video that demonstrates how the system is used and what the simulated air raid sounds like." - Oh Gizmo!

Robot Sex Movies: The Evil Knight

Roberto, Valerie and I all piled into Roberto's car this past Friday night to go see The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan's new attempt to further the evolution of the superhero movie. After driving around about a quarter of Northern Virginia unable to find any showings with available tickets (or in some cases, parking spots), we found ourselves at the Regal's in Manassas, which used to be a Hoyt's. All immediate showings were sold out, but to our collective delight, we found that two extra showings had been added near the end of the evening, presumably in theaters with showings of Mamma Mia! for which no tickets had been sold. Roberto had already seen the movie, and seemed compelled to see it again, either to make sure Val and I were not deprived an essential movie going experience, or maybe because he thought it was just that damn good. I hated the last movie in the series, Batman Begins, and therefore didn't expect much from the sequel. Despite the acclaim it's drawn from most audiences, I think I was right, and that it was a lousy movie indeed.



The most common praise I'd heard pre-viewing was that this was a Batman that left superhero tropes behind, surpassed it's pedigree, and approached the legitimacy of Heat/Goodfellas-caliber crime films. This illusion was created, I think, by the astounding level of realism achieved through the film's visual effects/production design team and by cinematographer Wally Pfister, who's handled camera duties on all of Nolan's movies and a number of quality premium-cable skin flicks (it seems inevitable for a man named Pfister to have brushes with the porn industry). The film does not feel plausible, but as in a really good children's film, like, say, Time Bandits, unrealistic things are lit and shot the same as mundane ones, and the level of menace thereby feels real.



Knight might be the first superhero movie to successfully express the sensation of danger that experiencing the presence of a man determined to destroy your entire city might inspire. The illusion was also supported by the film's willingness to employ crime movie clichés instead of superhero ones, e.g. the bagpipe-peppered public servant's funeral, fluorescently-lit backroom interrogations, and S.W.A.T. team firing squads hurriedly lining up atop skyscrapers in the heat of a hostage situation. The sets look like they were reused from Gone Baby Gone, and the film moves similarly to The Bourne Ultimatum.



But for all the screen trickery employed in convincing you of its gritty authenticity, Knight can't stop itself from being a superhero fantasy, and the upshot of the film eventually becomes that these heroes do not seriously reflect all the political or cultural complexity their staunchest proponents claim they do. Especially in their adventures on paper, heroes have been eager to confront hard issues of up to and including existential proportions, but rarely come to any conclusion an audience couldn't anticipate. In this movie, as in most others, good and evil must co-exist (even if within the same person), humans are always fundamentally good unless they are pure evil (supervillians are evil, convicts merely flawed), duty must always take priority over personal interest, and most sacrifice is rewarded, even if occasionally a good man loses his way. The only real surprise comes in one alarming bit of rhetoric from the mouth of the Bat, every bit as insulting as Neo’s fighting because he “chooses to” in the third Matrix, or Storm’s having “at least “ “chosen a side” in X-Men: “Sometimes, truth isn’t good enough. Sometimes people deserve more. Sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded.”



That one line is already causing debate; I'm not politically aware enough to understand the connections between this movie and the real world events or policies that have made some critics upset (cellphone sonar), but I do realize that in this moment of candor, Nolan has revealed to me why I don't like his vision of this character or the city he 'protects'. It's because Nolan believes that the people of Gotham City are not weak in the face of a larger than life threat, but that they are weak, period. Because matters of right and wrong are beyond even the most tenable grasp of their tiny minds (the police officer at a Dent press conference who demands "No more dead cops!" with a beefy fist in the air), they need a guardian who will not only save their lives, but also decide what information they are capable of accepting. If something causes you to question past beliefs, he says ignore it. If it causes you to doubt your way of life, sanity equals looking past it. If one person is unexpectedly crushed and changed by trauma or grief, Nolan’s Batman knows that all the mental pygmies who didn't even realize this was a possibility will suddenly become twisted themselves, just to go with the flow, and he must lovingly attach the blinders that will save them from themselves. And these people, with the exceptions of Nolan and his cast, are, of course, us. We must accept the infallible authority of our betters.



I’m being hard on this movie, and though it might seem unfair to expect much from something that is so obviously fantasy, the movie deserves the criticism because of how seriously it takes itself. It presumes itself profound social commentary, and an expose of the relativity of morality, but is deeply hollow and offensively trite. The dialogue is all bloodless exposition, inane quips, and pontification, and the performances flat. In its third act, it’s forced life-or-death moral dilemmas nearly make it seem like an entry in the Saw franchise. It is a shame that a movie this skillfully built falls into the Gangs of New York mold; a near flawless performance mired inside a loud, long bore. Heath Ledger’s Joker is as good as everyone anticipated, and he is this movie’s Daniel Day-Lewis; the only real reason to watch it. With intensity, he embodies the most ambitious and admirable of the movie’s characters; the only one with a clear moral code and the determination to live up to it despite opposition. That The Dark Knight, out of a bloated roster of lame philosophies posing as characters, makes us most identify with a man whose credo is anarchy, is proof to me that it’s a movie that can’t make whatever point it intended to.

P.S. - Just thought you might like to know, that as of today (July 22nd, 2008), internet voters have placed The Dark Knight in the top spot on IMDb's Top 250, declaring it, at least for now, the greatest movie ever made. Here are the top ten; they're ranked by the average of votes given the film on a one to ten scale, followed by the number of votes each film received:

1. The Dark Knight (2008) - 9.4 - 104,906


2. The Godfather (1972) - 9.1 - 292,658


3. The Shawshank Redemption (1994) - 9.1 - 343,165


4. The Godfather: Part 2 (1974) - 9.0 - 167,313


5. Buono, il brutto, il cattivo, Il (1966) aka The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - 8.9 - 98,067


6. Pulp Fiction (1994) - 8.9 - 294,592


7. Schindler's List (1993) - 8.8 - 196,019


8. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) - 8.8 - 148,220


9. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) - 8.8 - 206,866


10. Casablanca (1942) - 8.8 - 126,851

Thank you, Internet!

Audio Treat of the Week: Batman The Exclusive Television Soundtrack Album

Download Batman Soundtrack (MEGAUPLOAD)

"Holy Ultra-Cool 60's Vinyl Reissues! (sorry). This is a great LP for fans of the camp 60's TV version of Batman, lovers of Nelson Riddle's groovy Batman music and DJs too!

Unlike the Spider-Man LP, this Batman LP doesn't go for the storybook approach, but plays like a musical homage to the TV show. You've got the great theme tune and variations of it alongside snippets of dialogue from the cast (Adam West as Batman, Burt Ward as Robin etc) and also the brilliant narrator; 'Meanwhile back at the Bat-Cave!'.

Loads of campy dialogue makes this a DJs dream and the track 'Holy-Hole-In-The-Doughnut' is brilliant - it uses some groovy music from Nelson Riddle and cuts into it a load of Robin's stupid 'Holy Whatever'-type exclamations. Class." - Movie Grooves

Ever since I saw "The Dark Knight" on Friday, I can't stop posting about Batman related stuff. Enjoy!

The Fight to End Aging Gains Legitimacy

"Gandhi once said, describing his critics, 'First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.'

After declaring, essentially out of nowhere, that he had a program to end the disease of aging, renegade biogerontologist Aubrey de Grey knows how the first three steps of Gandhi's progression feel. Now he's focused on the fourth.

This weekend, his organization, The Methuselah Foundation, is sponsoring its first U.S. conference on the emerging interdisciplinary field that de Grey has helped kick start. (Its first day, Friday, will be free and open to the public.) The conference, Aging: The Disease - The Cure - The Implications, held at UCLA, is an indication of how far de Grey has come in mainstreaming his ideas." read article in it's enitrety

"Back In The Day" by Figurines from MossBits on Vimeo.

Hunger Can Make You Happy

"Contrary to the moans of many dieters, being hungry may make you happy. Or, at least, it can be a serious motivator whose evolutionary intent was to help you find dinner instead of becoming dinner.

When our bodies notice we need more calories, levels of a hormone called ghrelin increase. Ghrelin is known to spur hunger, but new research suggests this may be a side effect of its primary job as a stress-buster." read article in it's entirety

The Baroque World of Fernando Botero

"NEW ORLEANS.- This summer, the New Orleans Museum of ArtThe Baroque World of Fernando Botero, the first major U.S retrospective of the artist's work in more than 30 years, from will present June 28 to September 21, 2008. Recognized as one of the most well-known and commercially successful artists to emerge from Latin America, the Colombia native now has his work exhibited and collected by major museums around the world, including the New Orleans Museum of Art.

Fernando Botero (born 1932) is a painter, sculptor, and draftsman who highlights the comedy of human life-moving or wry, baroque in expression, sometimes with a mocking observation, sometimes with a deep, elementary emotion. Working in a broad range of media, Botero has created a world of his own, at once accessible and enigmatic, with a particular blend of violence and beauty. Fernando Botero has spent most of his years as an artist away from his native country, Colombia, but his art has maintained an uninterrupted link to Latin America." read article in it's enitrety

EH Coverage: The Dark Knight

The Seven Ages of Batman
"From old-school cape and cowl to Kevlar-covered suit for all occasions, Batman has had more wardrobe clear-outs than he’s had hot death threats. Since his debut in 1939, he’s gone through plenty of changes with each subsequent decade presenting a distinct and different style for the Caped Crusader..." read article in it's entirety



The Joker's Onto Us
"Usually the Joker is the one who articulates the nutty codependence here. Almost every time they meet, Joker has the gall to remind Batman that they are each nothing without the other, and he usually brings this up as Batman is kicking the holy-moley-frijoles out of him, in an almost erotic moment of sadomasochism. Joker loves it, laughing his head off with each punch. (And Batman loves it, yes?) The world doesn't quite understand, even though these two have been going at it for 68 years." read article in it's entirety



The Dark Knight (NYT Review)
"Dark as night and nearly as long, Christopher Nolan’s new Batman movie feels like a beginning and something of an end. Pitched at the divide between art and industry, poetry and entertainment, it goes darker and deeper than any Hollywood movie of its comic-book kind — including 'Batman Begins,' Mr. Nolan’s 2005 pleasurably moody resurrection of the series — largely by embracing an ambivalence that at first glance might be mistaken for pessimism. But no work filled with such thrilling moments of pure cinema can be rightly branded pessimistic, even a postheroic superhero movie like 'The Dark Knight'.” read review in it's enitrety



The Dark Knight (LA Times)
"That sequel, 'The Dark Knight,' answers all those questions with a vengeance. To see it is to understand that Nolan and his co-writer brother Jonathan saw a chance to go deeper into familiar characters and mythology, a chance to meditate on darker-than-usual themes that have implications for the way we live now. A chance to disturb us in the ways these kinds of movies rarely do." read review in it's entirety

The Dark Knight (Roger Ebert's Review)
"'Batman' isn’t a comic book anymore. Christopher Nolan’s 'The Dark Knight' is a haunted film that leaps beyond its origins and becomes an engrossing tragedy. It creates characters we come to care about. That’s because of the performances, because of the direction, because of the writing, and because of the superlative technical quality of the entire production. This film, and to a lesser degree “Iron Man,” redefine the possibilities of the 'comic-book movie'." read review in it's enitrety



This Joker Holds All the Cards
"This is not because Heath Ledger died in January, though that event does perhaps add some otherwise unearned melancholy to the film. It's because Ledger's performance is so intense and so lasting; it's because despite the insane mask, it's a subtle, nuanced piece of acting so powerful it banishes all memories of the handsome Aussie behind it. The makeup seems to have liberated him: He's supple of body, expressive with only his eyes, and his voice has undulations of irony and mockery and psychopathology to it. He's an essay -- in a way he's never before been, playing straight-faced characters -- in pure charisma." read article in it's entirety

"The Dark Knight" Selling An Average Of 10 Tickets Per Second
"NEW YORK — As Chris Finegan watched Heath Ledger's stunning portrayal of the Joker on Friday in 'The Dark Knight,' he couldn't help but think of another actor who wasn't on the screen: James Dean, who also died prematurely and tragically, nearly 53 years ago." read article in it's entirety



Who will Batman fight next?
"'The Dark Knight' hasn't even opened yet and the lines are just now queuing, but can any actual film-going experience top the months of anticipation spent reading clues and rumors from the set online? With the hard reality of 'The Dark Knight' staring us in the face, what's a Bat-fan to do?" read article in it's entirety

Small Room (Re-Run) Season 2 Episode 11: Exploratory Arts

Woman Builds House From Jumbo Jet

"MALIBU, California - The neighborhood already has a house that scientists say looks like a giant atom smasher, and nearby there is another that is perched on a cylindrical tower and looks like a flying saucer. Yet when Francie Rehwald moves into her new digs sometime next year, she'll have them both beat.

Rehwald will be the only person on her block living inside a house built from the recycled parts of a Boeing 747 airliner." read article in it's entirety

Hot Lava @ DC9 (07.24.08)

The amazing Hot Lava will be playing Thursday night @ DC9. Valerie and I will be there to photograph and review the show for EH. If you see us in the crowd make sure to say hello.

They're Working Themselves to Death

"TOKYO -- Death from too much work is so commonplace in Japan that there is a word for it -- karoshi.

There is a national karoshi hotline, a karoshi self-help book and a law that funnels money to the widow and children of a salaryman (it's almost always a man) who works himself into an early karoshi for the good of his company.

A local Japanese government agency ruled June 30 for the widow and children of a 45-year-old Toyota chief engineer who died in 2006." read article in it's enitrety

A random image I found during my daily surf.

Wake Up of the Week: Love Light & Melody Battling Extreme Poverty

"Love Light & Melody is a nonprofit organization dedicated to battling the physical, emotional, and spiritual affects of extreme poverty.


The People from Braddigan on Vimeo.

We are committed to becoming experts on the life and culture inside the city trash dump in Managua, Nicaragua. Our goal is to identify and meet the immediate physical needs, raise awareness about trash dump communities, and fight social injustice. We use music and the arts to rebuild, restore, and bring healing to communities ravaged by extreme poverty." website

(idiot comics): My Famous Grey Sweatshirt (Page 6)

The end. Hope people enjoyed this.

Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage

"Although Dancing Rabbit is still a small community in the pioneering stage, we call ourselves an ecovillage because our goal is to grow to be a small, locally self-reliant town of 500 to 1000 residents, committed to radical environmental sustainability.

We are housed in a variety of living arrangements, eat a variety of foods, and work on varied projects. Our society is flexible enough to include egalitarian communities, cohousing, and individual households. We may have different approaches to some issues, but the common desire for environmental sustainability underlies all key decisions at Dancing Rabbit.

Although Dancing Rabbit strives for self-sufficiency and economic independence, we do not sequester ourselves from mainstream America. Rather, outreach and education are integral to our goals. We vigorously promote ourselves as a viable example of sustainable living and spread our ideas and discoveries through visitor programs, academic and other publications, speaking engagements, and the like." website

I came across Dancing Rabbit on an episode of 30 Days, the phenomenal show from the director of Super Size Me.

Let's see:

30 Days @ Hulu

also... The skinny on a month off grid eating locally in Quebec

Reboot of the Week: Air Piano

"Omer Yosha has created a pretty cool instrument. The Air Piano is an electronic piano of sorts that lets you play notes without touching any keys. It uses infrared technology to detect movement and plays a music note based on where the movement came from. If you leave your hand hovering over a spot the Air Piano will sustain the note. It also appears that you can change octaves by raising or lowering your hand over one of the sensors. It seems that infrared technology has come a long way from the days of the Sega Activator (#5).

Each sensor has a set of MIDI commands that create the music. So when this comes out (it’s still in the prototype phase) you might be able to customize each sensor for different notes and sounds." read article in it's entirety

Monthly Mix CD: KNH+2

On the third Friday of every month I'm going to be posting a monthly mix "CD." I say "CD" because the average playing time will be that of a CD-R. Of course, if you're an iPod user, it can just as easily be uploaded onto your player. The mixes will generally feature music from my Audio Treat of the Week posts, as well as some forgotten gems and current jams I'm loving. Starting with this month's, I'm going to be posting a play list, so that you don't have to download a large file and find out you're not into the same music as me. No matter, I've been making these mixes, for myself, a number of years now and they are ideally for my own amusement.

Note to the downloader: This mix will download as one track and will only be available for one week at a time. I don't want the artists to feel they are being cheated by having some 20+ tracks given away for long periods at a time. Here is the list for this month's mix:

01. Maya Bond - Cute Papa
02. Comets On Fire - Graverobbers
03. Thee Oh Sees - Ghost In The Trees
04. Hot Lava - Apple+Option+Fire
05. ESG - UFO
06. Opening Flower Happy Bird - Plastic Vegetables cnprecords.com myspace.com/openingflowerhappybird
07. Beck - Profanity Prayers from the new album Modern Guilt which is actually REALLY good...
08. Sigur Rós - Gobbledigook new Sigur Rós. very different and still incredibly beautiful...
09. Shankar & Jakishan - Title Music (From Merchant-Ivory's Film 'Bombay Talkie') more recently used in the Wes Anderson film, The Darjeeling Limited...
10. Modey Lemon - Rainbow Beard
11. Dick Hyman - The Moog and Me
12. Burning Sensations - Pablo Picasso
13. Liars - Hold You Drum
14. Bermuda Triangles - Astronomy Before Astronomy cnprecords.com myspace.com/bermudatriangles
15. Health - Lost Time
16. Gillian Welch - My Morphine
17. Pink Mountaintops - Cold Criminals
18. Deerhoof - Going Up The Country
19. Radiohead - Bangers & Mash
20. Portishead - Hunter from the new album Third
21. Thomas Newman - Foreign Contaminant music from the new movie, Wall E. An essential movie for children and adults...
22. Gal Costa - Milho Verde (Folclore Portugues)

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD KNH+2

Artist of the Week: Yuka Yamaguchi

"i was born in kobe, japan and am now living in saskatoon, canada. for the last couple of years, i’ve been telling people i’m an artist. i’m self-taught. i draw with color pencils and make useless toys for adult children.



i’ve never been represented by a gallery. people who find me online often invite me to do shows or join projects. i try to do as many as i can. and people often ask me for interviews or to show my work on a website or in a magazine. i almost always say yes."

flickr / website / youtube

The Unalienable Rights of Chimps

"Spain’s parliament recently passed a resolution granting legal rights to apes. Reaction has been mixed. Peter Singer, a Princeton University bioethics professor and animal liberation activist, declared the vote to be of “world historical significance.” The comedian Stephen Colbert — flashing a photo of a performing chimpanzee — insisted that the new law had better not give apes 'the right to not wear a tuxedo and roller skates.'

In fact, it will likely do just that. A nonbinding resolution in Spain, which the Parliament now has to flesh out with more specific laws, allows apes to be kept in zoos but not used in circuses or other kinds of performances. It calls for banning research that harms apes." read article in it's entirety

The Daily Batman

derek_ posted The Daily Batman on his "Top 5 Stumbles" feature a while back. Since the new Batman movie was released today, I thought it deserved a second look.

How to Trigger Green Traffic Lights

"If you or someone you know owns a motorcycle, a scooter or even a small car, you've probably noticed that it's easy to get stuck at traffic lights. An understanding of why it happens can reveal some methods that will help turn any red light to green. This will save time, gas and frustration by you not having you wait what seems like forever at a red light that has no ongoing traffic." read how to in it's entirety

EH Revisited: Batman Year 100 (1/31/06)

With Batman Year 100, Paul Pope has reinvented the iconic superhero Batman for a new decade. I've been a fan of Batman ever since childhood and have followed his reincarnations through the last thirty years of my life. I grew up watching reruns of the 60's TV show and, in my early teens, came across "The Dark Knight Returns" (ever since then, Frank Miller has been an artistic hero of mine). One of the last comics I purchased was Mr. Miller's "Dark Knight Strikes Again" a few years back.



I even read many of the early Batman Comics that were so beautifully illustrated by Batman's creator Bob Kane. The films have ranged from mediocre to brilliant. But all in all, if it's Batman, it still interests me. Batman is the only superhero that has transcended generations and still maintained a fresh appeal. I no longer collect comics but occasionally I'll sneak into a comic book store to look over the latest adventures of the caped crusader.

Download Model Puts Song Above Sales

"Mash-up artist Girl Talk's new album, 'Feed the Animals' comes with some impressive numbers: About 300 sampled songs on 14 tracks that play for a manic 55 minutes.

One number it doesn't come with, however, is a price.

That's because Girl Talk, as Gregg Gillis calls himself, is adopting the model pioneered by artists such as Radiohead that allows fans to name their own price for a digital download of his new album. Although Radiohead never disclosed how many downloads it sold, it didn't appear to harm CD sales when the album was released several months later." read article in its entirety

If the entire industry moved in this direction, it would definitely see a rise in sales instead of how it has been going. The industry needs to start realizing that more and more people around the world would rather download a torrent of Pirate Bay than pay $16.99 for an album that may only have one or two good tracks. I know that iTunes has helped them pick up the revenue but still, for the majority of us, $.99 is way too much to pay for the hit song that you can't get out of your head. By giving the audience a "choose your price" type method, they are more than likely going to pay you instead of "stealing" it.

Cibelle - Green Grass - Official Video from Gustavo Guimaraes on Vimeo.

Why Batman Could Exist...

"Batman is the most down-to-earth of all the superheroes. He has no special powers from being born on a distant world or bitten by a radioactive spider. All that protects him from the Joker and other Gotham City villains are his wits and a physique shaped by years of training—combined with the vast fortune to reach his maximum potential and augment himself with Batmobiles, Batcables and other Bat-goodies, of course.



In the 2005 blockbuster Batman Begins, vengeful Bruce Wayne (played by Christian Bale) hones his killer instincts in the streets for seven years before landing himself in a Bhutanese prison, where he falls in with the mysterious League of Shadows, who teach him the way of the ninja. The Dark Knight, the next movie in the Batman franchise, opens in theaters Friday. To investigate whether someone like Bruce Wayne could physically transform himself into a one-man wrecking crew, ScientificAmerican.com turned to E. Paul Zehr, associate professor of kinesiology and neuroscience at the University of Victoria in British Columbia and a 26-year practitioner of Chito-Ryu karate-do. Zehr's book, Becoming Batman: The Possibility of a Superhero (The Johns Hopkins University Press), due out in October, tackles our very question. An edited transcript of the conversation follows." read interview in it's entirety

Why You're Better Off Avoiding the iPhone

"If you're a free software lover who's concerned about your privacy and the limitations of DRM, you don't want an iPhone. Amidst Apple's iPhone advertising blitz helped along by positively bubbly media coverage, the Free Software Foundation calls out the dark sides of the new iPhone." read article in it's entirety

also... iPhone Users Plagued by Software Problems

Marlene Dumas @ MOCA

Marlene Dumas - Suspect (1999)

"THE LARGE mid-career survey of paintings by South African born, Amsterdam-based artist Marlene Dumas that opened last weekend at the Museum of Contemporary Art represents, in effect, her Los Angeles debut.

A few works have shown up in local exhibitions, and frequent travelers will know her art from its regular inclusion in major international shows. But the 66 paintings and several dozen works on paper at MOCA form a full-scale introduction for Southern California." read article in it's entirety

Miracle Fruit Tablets!!!

"Sucking a lemon and washing it down with a glass of vinegar makes about as much sense as ordering a tripe milkshake with your tuna doughnut. But what if you could make wincingly sour flavours taste deliciously sweet? It's easy with Miracle Fruit Tablets.

Made from natural berries native to West Africa, these taste-twisting pills contain a rogue glycoprotein molecule (whatever that is) that binds to the tastebuds causing sour things to taste sweet. Simply pop one on your unsuspecting tongue, wait for the freeze-dried jungle juice to work its magic and prepare to be astounded. Lemons taste toffee-ish, vinegar tastes treacly and Guinness tastes like a stouty, chocolately shake. Even sprouts seem fruity. Eat something sweet and it's like a sugar volcano erupting in your gob. Incredible!" product page



read previous EH post

Top 5 Stumbles of the Week

1. Do As One - The Universal Breathing Room
2. Multimodal Ganzfeld Gives Mild Hallucinations
3. Bubble Calendar
4. Homemade Rollercoaster
5. Away 3D

Solar Charged Lawnmower

"An electric lawnmower that utilizes solar power as an energy source will address a number of issues that standard internal combustion engine mowers do not. An electric lawnmower with a solar charger will be easier to use. There is no messy dangerous gasoline to deal with. It will eliminate those pesky trips to the gas station for fill-ups. Just plug the mower into the charging station when not in use and it will be charged and ready for your next mow! Most importantly it eliminates the emissions of an internal combustion mower.



The basic idea is to convert an older non-working gas mower into an electric powered mower by replacing the gas engine with an electric motor that runs from a 12 volt battery. This battery will be charged using photovoltaic panel (A.K.A. - solar panel). I chose to convert an old gas mower rather than just starting with an electric mower due to cost and so I could design the power output. I also planned on using as many used materials as I can. This will help to save these materials from ending up in our already over filled landfills." webpage



thanks lifehacker

The Apes Show Diary: July 4th and 5th

Amanda from The Apes just sent this to EH Headquarters. I did not take the photos that are a part of this post (but I wish I did). I'll be photographing them tomorrow @ Fort Reno... if you're in the area make sure to check The Apes out... the show starts @ 7:15. (RCM)
_______________________________

Day 1....
This past weekend, Apes played two shows in Brooklyn. There was a July 4th show at a "My Open Bar" event next to the Gowanus Canal. On July 5th we played the opening day of the afro- punk Festival in the parking lot of the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
_______________________________

_______________________________

When Erick, Breck, and I got back to Mt Pleasant after practice at Jeff's on Thursday night, we agreed to meet at my house at 7:45 am. Erick and Jayme arrived at my house exactly at 7:45 am. While we waited for Breck, Ian MacKaye came strolling down the street with his newborn baby. He had told us before that he walks the baby everyday at that time and true to his word, that was exactly when we saw him.

Ian had appeared during the Butthole Surfer's sound check the week before. He is a friend of Gibby Haynes. When Ian asked Gibby how he was doing, Gibby stated, "I have pancreatic cancer, "with a very serious face. "Just kidding!"....

We were in the van by 9:15. Not bad, I thought, not bad. Erick sat on the floor in between the two captain's chairs as Jayme was with us. Everyone was sound asleep by the time I hit 95 N, probably even earlier. I resisted listening to music through headphones. It seemed unwise to take a chance when Erick wasn't in his seatbelt. Many hours of silence but NO TRAFFIC! We
pulled up in front of the outdoor lot with a stage and an ice cream truck at exactly 1:15 pm.
_______________________________

_______________________________

Set time was 4pm. Just before we began, I borrowed a plastic ice cream cone from the ice cream man and indulged myself on the microphone before we played.
_______________________________



_______________________________

The set was great. I don't know if the audience dug it but I sure had a damn good time. I suspect that the sound quality was lacking. ....

Paul and Yohanna came to the show (Paul: Count 101-original Apes vocalist) with their two daughters. All around us, the stylishly dressed youth of Brooklyn were drinking beer, Southern Comfort and craning their necks to see who had come to this event. I-phones were
everywhere! ....

The event ended at 9pm. It took me 45 minutes to navigate the one way streets to get back to the venue. I drove by the same cop twice. I had waved hello the first time through. He did not wave back, just stared at me with a completely flat affect. The second time I arrived at his
corner he walked over to the van. I just rolled down the window and asked how I could get back to 400 Carroll Street. He had no idea.....

During load-out, I tried using the Porta John but it was pitch-dark and covered with urine. There was not one thing to wipe with. I usually can find something, even if it is the toilet paper roll (Magazines, typing paper…be creative). This Porta John had industrial-strength extra thick toilet paper spools. I sat in the dark clawing at this thing for a good five minutes and I finally got it off to do the job. Hell if I was driving around Brooklyn in damp panties!....

We were crashing at friend's place in Fort Greene. Wandered around trying to find a place to eat and eventually used the GPS to find something. Erick didn't scream too loudly about the $10 burrito but his girlfriend did buy the table an order of nachos to shut him
up.....

Back at the apartment, Erick and Jayme crashed out on the Murphy bed. I demanded the couch as a reward for being the van driver. Jeff got the camping pad + wood floor combo. ....
_______________________________

Day 2....
I woke up at 7. I knew that Jeff heard me shuffling around. He always does. I swore I saw a look of contempt flash across his face ....

"Why do you need the couch if you don't sleep anyway?" he says over and over again.....

"I need the couch because if there is even a chance of sleeping, I have to be moderately comfortable," I state, as if that is somehow going to ameliorate the situation. Yeah right.....
_______________________________

_______________________________

We were supposed to be at the Brooklyn Academy of Music for load-in and sound check at 1pm. We were exactly on time. The afro-punk festival was fully underway. They had split the parking lot into two parts- the skate ramp/bike ramp side and the stage.....

Every experience that we have had with afro-punk has been impressive. The promoters are wonderful people and are completely professional. I drove the van right up to the stage; a photographer immediately started shooting the van. I suppose that the dichotomy between our old conversion van, and the slickness of the festival made it interesting? Maybe it was simply that our van looks good.....

We never got a sound check. The headlining act that night was a woman named Janelle. She is the new protégé of P. Diddy and needed two hours to check levels. The sound was decent for the first two bands and by the time we went on, there was a large audience. MTV News was filming.
I had a new costume. I was still riding high from the show at the Gowanus Canal. I was psyched.
_______________________________


_______________________________

Just before 6, we loaded our equipment on stage and had a 20 second line check and BOOM! It was time to play. I started talking with the mask and the pre-op tranny voice and then we started.
_______________________________

_______________________________

In the middle of the first song, my Nord shut off. FUCK ME! I have a feeling that the MTV News camera man knocked the cord loose. The organ turned itself off and on again no less than nine times. With each reset, there is a 9 second silence. I still had the Korg to fill in with but
the sounds are different and meant for different things. I sucked. That show should have been great and I completely sucked. 3 Apes did, however, do a fantastic job. We were screwed on time, as well, which didn't bother me in the least, given the technical failures.....

The highlight of the evening was discovered around 9pm. A drunken Erick found me and begged me to photograph the backstage porta-john. A huge pile of diarrhea lay quietly next to the seat inside. ....

We were in the van driving home by 11:15pm. Jayme curled up in a strange position on the floor of the van and was called, "Floor troll" for the rest of the night. At 3:15 am, we were on the country road heading back to Jeff's. Erick and I saw a massive house burning in a field to the left of the road. There were no fire engines, no sirens, and no signs of life. The mansion was completely engulfed in flames. I started to call 911 and Erick chastised me. ....

"Dude, don't be one of THOSE people, I'm sure someone already called." The smoke hung in the air for a few miles and finally we did see one emergency vehicle headed in that direction. I later discovered from the news reports that it was a 6,000 square foot home and that the
owners were on vacation. ....

We passed a few commercial buildings and Erick says, "What is a hoe spice?" "Dude! That is a hospice and it is where people go to die!" we all shriek at him. Hoe spice.....

.. ..

Five minutes from Jeff's house, and we came upon a multiple car accident spread across both lanes with cop cars everywhere. The road was totally blocked. Jeff was none too thrilled at having at take an alternate route that added 20 minutes to the trip.....

And finally, on the way back to DC we passed another major accident on the beltway with a car on fire. I guess 4:45 am on a Sunday morning is not the time to be on the road. When I got inside my house, I realized that my bag with my clothes was in the back of the van. They are going
to smell really fresh after festering in the 100 degree van for 3 days.
_______________________________

also... UrbanEye: The Afro-Punk Festival (video)

How to Evaluate the Credibility of a Source

"We are constantly surrounded by information, and it isn't always easy to know which sources to trust. Being able to evaluate the credibility of information is an important skill used in school, work, and day-to-day life. With so much advertising, controversy, and blogging going on, how do you sift through the chaff and cut to the chase?" read how to in it's entirety

There's a lot of information out there... it should all be questioned.

Magnetic Ink, Process video from flight404 on Vimeo.

Wow of the Week: Lucidipedia

"Every single night we visit our personal dream world. Although most of us don't recall dreams in the morning, we all have dreams every night. A dream world that feels as real as the waking world. Lucid dreaming offers you the possibility to become aware of those dreams while you are experiencing them. Anyone can learn how to have lucid dreams.



Be Superman. Have sex with anyone you want, practice for extreme sports or visit a distant planet. Anything is possible. Although ultimately an illusion, the experience is transferrable to the waking state. Be a hero in your lucid dream, feel heroic throughout your waking day. Become lucid and boost up your life. Welcome to Lucidipedia!" website

Wow! This is awesome.

Pirate Bay Wants to Encrypt the Internet

"The team behind the popular torrent site The Pirate Bay has started to work on a new encryption technology that could potentially protect all Internet traffic from prying eyes. The project, which is still in its initial stages, goes by the name 'Transparent end-to-end encryption for the Internets,' or IPETEE for short. It tackles encryption not on the application level, but on the network level, the aim being that all data exchanged on your PC would be encrypted, regardless of its nature — be it a web browser streaming video files or an instant messaging client. As Pirate Bay co-founder Fredrik Neij (a.k.a. Tiamo) told me, 'Even applications that don’t supporting encryption will be encrypted where possible.'

Neij came up with the idea for IPETEE back when European politicians were starting to debate a Europe-wide move to DMCA-like copyright enforcement efforts, which were eventually authorized in the form of the Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive in the spring of 2007." read article in it's entirety

Audio Treat of the Week: Maya Bond

Maya Bond is the daughter of T.W. Bond, a musician living and working in Austin, TX. His recording studio, Bundyhill Recording, has been operating in Austin for a number of years and has recorded some of my favorite bands in town, including Magic Jewels, Coma In Algiers, and Horse+Donkey. T.W. has scored a movie and his current band, Count Dracula's Weed Smuggling Jam Engine, is a mix of gothic carnival punk.

According to T.W., Maya decided she wanted to record her own album after watching her dad in the studio a number of times and loving what she saw. Her debut album, Pink Drums, Purple Lights, was completely conceptualized by her, at the age of four. Its release, in 2004 on Ellahy Amen Records, was very well received and earned her national attention on television and on the web. The only way to describe the music, for me, would be if Melt Banana had done the music for Pee-Wee's Playhouse. Incredibly playful, noisy, awesome songs with lyrics about her dad, ghosts, and Hello Kitty.

Maya Bond is an inspiration to kids and adults alike. It shows the importance of positivity, and how loving what you do can inspire your own children to create something that is meaningful to them. Below are some tracks from Maya as well as her first music video. Listen, watch, and then brush your teeth. It's way too sweet.

Let's listen:
Maya Bond - Cute Papa mp3 from the album Pink Drums, Purple Lights
Maya Bond - Kira Kira Hoshi mp3 from the album Pink Drums, Purple Lights
Maya Bond - 1-2-3 Hello Kitty mp3 from the album Pink Drums, Purple Lights
Maya Bond - Spooky Story mp3 from the album Pink Drums, Purple Lights

Let's see:

Maya Bond - Cute Papa

EH Revisited: Robots Are the Key to Helping Humans Live Forever (07.15.05)

"Most people know Ray Kurzweil as an IT boffin. He is a pioneer of flatbed scanners, print-to-speech software for the blind and commercially marketed speech-recognition software. And as if that isn't enough, he is known for his IT predictions.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Marvin Minsky described Kurzweil as a 'leading futurist of our time' - so it should come as no surprise that Kurzweil's latest book is about health and longevity." read article in it's entirety

'THE REPETITION KILLS YOU' - THE BLACK GHOSTS from jim demuth on Vimeo.

GKG Drinks Biotest Spike RTD Shooter

"Spike Shooter is a Ready to Drink high-speed energy drink that the supplement world has been waiting for. Lightly carbonated, with a delicious and invigorating flavo, yet jacked with active ingredients that'll pleasure even the most avid stimulant junk, Spike Shooter turns the entire energy-drink category on its ear." product page



Here's the conversation I just had w/ him:

galaxykidgamma: i like one color
me: ha black
galaxykidgamma: no
i'll give you a hint
http://www.8bitcollective.com/members/kidgamma/
me: Nice
How's everything?
galaxykidgamma: weeeirrd
me: How so
Sent at 8:28 AM on Tuesday
galaxykidgamma: i have been drinking this http://www.worldclassnutrition.com/spike.html
and everything has been going really wrong and really right
for instance, if you listen to either of the two newest songs on that 8bitcollective page i just linked you, you might hear what it's doing to me
me: Odd.
and nice
galaxykidgamma: creatively it's making me a super human, everywhere else it's making me a zombie
me: I think I'm going to post this conversation as an ad for Spike hahaha
galaxykidgamma: yah and not to mention it's the best tasting beverage i've ever had
me: haha
galaxykidgamma: zero cal too
me: Does it have a diet after taste?
galaxykidgamma: if you are serious put the song "the horror" in there to show it's effects
me: Nice
galaxykidgamma: eh idk, i only drink diet so i wouldn't really notice anyways
it tastes pretty sour, like soda concentrate
well the lime one is at least
i've actually been up for 24 hours now
Sent at 8:34 AM on Tuesday
galaxykidgamma: so this conversation won't probably last too much longer
Sent at 8:36 AM on Tuesday
me: Wow.
Are you OK?
Sent at 8:37 AM on Tuesday

Tesla Coil Music

"This is a solid-state Tesla coil. The primary runs at its resonant frequency in the 41 KHz range, and is modulated from the control unit in order to generate the tones you hear.

So just to explain a little further, yes, it is the actual high voltage sparks that are making the noise. Every cycle of the music is a burst of sparks at 41 KHz, triggered by digital circuitry at the end of a "long" piece of fiber optics.

What's not immediately obvious in this video is how loud this is. Many people were covering their ears, dogs were barking. In the sections where the crowd is cheering and the coils is starting and stopping, you can hear the the crowd is drowned out by the coil when it's firing." read article in its entirety

Let's see:

Twin Musical Tesla Coils playing Mario Bros

There's more too... link link link (my fav)

Flaw Could Let Hackers Take Over the Web

"Computer industry heavyweights are hustling to fix a flaw in the foundation of the Internet that would let hackers control traffic on the World Wide Web.

Major software and hardware makers worked in secret for months to create a software
'patch' released on Tuesday to repair the problem, which is in the way computers are routed to web page addresses.

The flaw would be a boon for 'phishing' cons that involve leading people to imitation web pages of businesses such as bank or credit card companies to trick them into disclosing account numbers, passwords and other information." read article in it's entirety

Def Jux Launches New Website!!!

"True to its pioneering nature, independent hip hop powerhouse Definitive Jux is relaunching its groundbreaking website and webstore, definitivejux.net, aka The Pharmacy, aka djRx, on June 2nd, 2008. In 2006, it became the first music website to offer simultaneous purchase of digital and physical merchandise in one shopping cart, and definitivejux.net’s continued cutting edge approach has helped carve the path to the future of fan-based online music retailing. It has now become a major part of the label’s platform to promote, market and sell a variety of offerings from the Def Jux roster, including Aesop Rock, El-P, Del the Funky Homosapien, Dizzee Rascal, Cage, and Mr. Lif. The site will be serving up a consistent flow of new content, both free and commercial, including exclusive material, live performance video and audio clips, images, ringtones, and more.

The site relaunch will feature brand new releases and several djRx exclusives. The fans have spoken and Def Jux has listened by posting Aesop Rock’s None Shall Pass Instrumentals & Accapellas, new videos by Dizzee Rascal and Hangar 18, live performances by El-P, and more. Upcoming releases will surface each week and slated first is an EP and video by The Mighty Underdogs (Gift of Gab & Lateef), a Del The Funky Homosapien remix by Aesop Rock, El-P instrumentals, brand new music by Mr. Lif, Dizzee Rascal, Cage, Rob Sonic, Chin Chin and more." read press release in it's entirety

'Being Vague is Almost as Fun as Doing This Other Thing' T-Shirt @ Threadless

Slogan by Steve Wierth aka Torakamikaze

Chimps Hug, Kiss to Show Support

"For most folks, a nice hug and some sympathy can help a bit after we get pushed around. Turns out, chimpanzees use hugs and kisses the same way. And it works.

Researchers studying people's closest genetic relatives found that stress was reduced in chimps that were victims of aggression if a third chimp stepped in to offer consolation." read article in it's entirety

Small Room (Re-Run) Season 1 Episode 12: Green Tea and a Peach

2 Billion PCs Will Be in Use by 2014

"As the number of PCs in use around the world passed the 1 billion mark, a research firm is estimating that the total will double in just another six years.

Gartner Inc. in Stamford, Conn., released a study today noting that the number of PCs in use worldwide is now growing at a rate of just under 12% a year. The firm is not counting the number of PCs shipped every year, but the number of machines it believes to actually be in use." read article in it's entirety

BYT Review: No Age / High Places / Abe Vigoda @ the Rock and Roll Hotel

"Tuesday night I dove right into my element. With two bands from LA, and one worthy of LA (via Brooklyn), I felt the closest to home I have in a good while. All the young dudes were sure to groove out gnarly epic weirdo-psych-punk danceable jams that would keep my whip-lashed neck thrashed for the next week. Butter!!



I’ve been just plainly stoked on this 3-band bill for a long while. Having seen Abe Vigoda a while back at The Smell, I’ve effectively been pumping this band as the next big thing ever since. I’d long ago fallen in love with the singer from High Places, and No Age is No Age. They’re big time." read review in it's entirety

I told Tim I didn't know how to tell our readers that I'm photographing for Brightest Young Things now. So he wrote me a little something:

"guess what grandmas, your very own professional bigshot Roberto C. Madruga is taking pictures you can't even dream about for the most expensive bill in showbiz, BYT, and if you don't think that's impressive, just paste your eyes on these gorgeous photographs and see if you don't instantly start buying their tickets"

I was suppose to "steal" these words and pass them off as my own. :)

click here for photoset

Wake Up of the Week:10 Audacious Ideas to Save the Planet

"Making a dent in the climate crisis is going to take more than solar panels and recycled toilet paper. Scientists are finding ever more creative ways (pig pee! DIY tornadoes! mini nuclear reactors!) to clean up the Earth" read "10 Audacious Ideas..." in it's entirety

(idiot comics): My Famous Grey Sweatshirt (Page 5 Bottom)

Conclusion next week.

Reboot of the Week: The Cardboard Bicycle

"We already know how wonderful, efficient, fun, safe and green cycling is. The only problem, however, is that for people interested in getting into cycling--but who aren't sure if they'll like it or stick with it--it's hard to justify making an investment in a bicycle, even if it is of the cheap (some might say schlock) Wal-Mart variety. Well, Phil Bridge, a 21 year old design student at Sheffield Hallam University, has come up with a solution (maybe): build the bicycle out of cardboard! Why? Because it makes it extremely inexpensive. In fact, Mr. Bridge claims he can sell the complete bike for around $30 USD. At that price the up-front cost of the bicycle becomes a non-issue.

What will be an issue, however, is the possibility that the cardboard frame will collapse or break, especially in the rain. Nevertheless, Mr. Bridge claims that "the prototype does work but it is still quite limited and there are a few problems." Learn more about the bike after the fold." read article in it's entirety (Treehugger)

L.Ron Hubbard the Music Maker

Most of you probably know him as the founder of the multi-billion dollar pseudo-science / pseudo-religion, Scientology; BUT, did you also know that Hubbard took enough money from his followers to live out my childhood dreams of being the biggest recording artist ever?? webpage


Brief summary:
-Hubbard is the first musician to ever record a soundtrack to a book. He did this for his 1980 epic, Battlefield Earth
-Hubbard had what is still considered one of the biggest vintage microphone collections ever.
-Hubbard was always among the first to acquire all the state of the art synthesizers, including the Fairlight CMI.
-Hubbard has a mind blowing record collection, containing every type of music.
-L Ron Hubbard has made, arguably, some of the worst music ever conceived, AND the website has included all of Hubbard's musical theories so you too can approximate his virtuosity.

If you know a place to download any of his music please let me know. You can hear some of his late masterpiece "Road to Freedom" here, but the Youtube sound quality doesn't really capture the depth of his production genius.

Artist of the Week: Chitra Ganesh

"I've always been fascinated by how dreams and their repressions shape personal and social crises. My installation, photography and sculptural work is inspired by mythological narratives, present day imperialism, queer politics, lyric poetry and erased moments in South Asian history. Taking these stories and integrating them with my own mythic imagery, the hybrid world of drawing and sculpture articulate both historical conflict and psychic transformation. Much of my visual vocabulary engages the term junglee, an old Indian idiom that describes women who transgress social norms.


Tales of Amnesia detail (Godzilla) 2002-2007

I draw from a broad range of source materials including Greek and Hindu myths, 19th century portraiture, legal and activist testimonies, lesbian pulp novels, Bollywood posters and 'zines. Inserting altered imagery into traditional narrative forms, I layer disparate images and include sculptural forms into my large-scale, site-specific drawings to create a space where suppressed stories rise to the surface.


Tales of Amnesia detail (Dear X & My Heart) 2002-2007

Recovering buried histories and bringing them into a public and contemporary context have informed my decision to research and work with contemporary and historical political figures and mass mediated imagery. This imagery has not been fully explored and these stories contain question marks that are best articulated through imaginative visual language.


Tales of Amnesia detail (Ghost, Telescope) 2002-2007

My processes of installation and collage work, mixing drawing, sculpture and text, initially developed as means through which meaning was generated. The ongoing convergence and friction (both purposeful and unintentional) between visual and literary narrative accomplished this.


Tales of Amnesia detail (Mother Always Told Me, Real Life Crowds, This and Other Adventures) 2002-2007

By inserting abject imagery into traditional narrative forms, I want to question societal oppositions of good/evil or compliant/subversive to explore alternate models of female sexuality and power. In re-imagining myths from the perspective of voices they exclude and by challenging traditional images of female sexuality, my work reflects a commitment to queering traditional narratives and related power differentials. I am an out queer in a contemporary art context that is frequently termed as post-race, post-gender and so forth. My creative process seeks to illuminate intersections of race and sexuality in culturally specific contexts, and the crucial role that excavating histories (be it between lovers or empires) plays in attaining a broader understanding of queer experience." - NY Arts

also... Chitra Ganesh @ The Saatchi Gallery

kitten vs. frontrow from mattcoats on Vimeo.

How to Make a Painting Last Forever

"Talk of the Nation, June 20, 2008 · Light, temperature and air pollution can wreck works of art. How do museums protect and preserve artistic and historic artifacts for the ages? It's a complicated field, including everything from studying the chemical makeup of paints to optimizing the temperature, humidity and lighting conditions in museum galleries. Timothy P. Whalen, director of the Getty Conservation Institute, and James Druzik, senior scientist at the Getty Conservation Institute, talk about the fine art of art preservation." listen to program in it's entirety

also... NEA finds California tops in artists

Another Audio Treat of the Week:High Places

High Places

"High Places are in DC tonight (7.08.08) as part of the probably best triple bill you’ll see all month if not all summer (catch them as the only non-LA band in the line up with No Age and Abe Vigoda at RNR).

Their 03/07-09/07 compilation of 7″ and demos and special projects has been that rare recording that has everyone loving it. From the music press to the musicians themselves (Bradford Cox being an early champion), everyone has given in.

And rightfully so." read "High Places Listening Party" in it's entirety (BYT)



I photographed the aforementioned show Tuesday night for BYT and had a great time. I could have listened to High Places for a couple more hours... they were wonderful.

Phila. Celebrates the Year of Evolution

"PHILADELPHIA — In the long-running culture war between evolution and creationism, Philadelphia is firing the latest shot.

Nine academic, scientific and cultural institutions around the city are holding a Year of Evolution, a series of exhibitions, seminars and lectures to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin next February, and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his seminal work, 'The Origin of Species.'

Events will include a talk by John E. Jones III, a federal judge who ruled in 2005 that teaching intelligent design — the belief that some aspects of nature are so complex that they must be the work of a higher power rather than of evolution — in public school science classes was unconstitutional.

The intent of the citywide event, said Janet M. Monge, one of the organizers, is to increase public understanding of evolution and science in general at a time when polls show that a majority of Americans believe God created man in his present form and that the number of people who accept the evolutionary model of human origins is declining." read article in it's entirety

Top 5 Stumbles of the Week

Golden Ray Migration

1. SP*C**L D*F*CTS
2. Simply Noise
3. Cubeoban
4. Living My Life Faster - best one of these I've seen
5. Rocky is back

Cancer Patient Cured w/ Immune System

"A cure for cancer teems through our veins, but the trick is harnessing the immune system's tumour-destroying cells, say doctors.

Now, a US team has developed a new way to turn a patient's T-cells against a deadly, metastasised skin cancer. A 55-year old man who received the immune boost lives tumour-free, more than two years after treatment." read article in it's entirety

Wow of the Week: Wasabi Popsicle

"The Iron Chef alum serves this sinus-assaulting sorbet as a palate-cleanser on the omakase menu at Morimoto. Fresh wasabi, the chef insists, is less spicy and has a richer flavor than the powder. The Popsicle can also be served after a meal as a tangy dessert." read recipe in it's entirety

Wow... I want to try this.

Predicting the Weather w/ Clouds

"Being able to predict the weather by observing cloud formations is a skill that is somewhat lost on us modern humans. Most of us can easily look at a cloud and see the unicorn or ice cream cones, but very few of us can look at clouds and see the approaching cold front.



Fortunately, being able to predict the weather is easier than one may think. Follows is some helpful information to get you started. It will no doubt wow, impress and keep you dry on your next family outting into the great outdoors." read article in it's entirety

Stupid beautiful clouds.

Audio Treat of the Week: ESG

This week, I'm writing about the highly sampled, super funky NYC group, ESG. They formed in the South Bronx in 1978 and had no idea what their music would become. The four sisters started the group when their mother bought them all instruments to keep them out of trouble. The music they created was completely freestyle since their mother couldn't afford to get them lessons after paying for the instruments.

They went on to win talent contests and caught the eye of Ed Bahlman, a local record store owner / owner of the 99 Records label. He soon became their manager and started booking them at punk clubs where their mix of Dance Punk No Wave was a big hit. They were just four sisters having a good time. They had no idea that years later their music would be sampled by some of hip hop's biggest stars. In fact, 99 Records was eventually shut down due to samples from other artists on the label not being paid for.

Today, ESG are as heavily sampled as James Brown. Their song, "UFO", continues to appear in hip hop as well as rock songs. The band Liars even have a song to the tune of UFO on their first album. In 1993, ESG released "Sample Credits Don't Pay Our Bills" as a retaliation to unpaid sampling. No matter though. Their influence will be forever remembered and, thanks to the internet, they will continue to gain more notice.

Let's listen:
ESG - UFO mp3 from the album ESG and compilation A South Bronx Story
ESG - Moody mp3 from the album ESG and compilation A South Bronx Story
Liars - Tumbling Walls Buried Me In The Debris with ESG mp3 from They Threw Us In a Trench And Stuck A Monument On Top

Let's see:

experimental video by Emmanuelle Tricoire with "Moody" by ESG

Next week, Audio Treat of the Week will return on Tuesday.

The Web Time Forgot

"In 1934, Otlet sketched out plans for a global network of computers (or 'electric telescopes,' as he called them) that would allow people to search and browse through millions of interlinked documents, images, audio and video files. He described how people would use the devices to send messages to one another, share files and even congregate in online social networks. He called the whole thing a 'réseau,' which might be translated as 'network' — or arguably, 'web.'

Historians typically trace the origins of the World Wide Web through a lineage of Anglo-American inventors like Vannevar Bush, Doug Engelbart and Ted Nelson. But more than half a century before Tim Berners-Lee released the first Web browser in 1991, Otlet (pronounced ot-LAY) described a networked world where 'anyone in his armchair would be able to contemplate the whole of creation.'

Although Otlet’s proto-Web relied on a patchwork of analog technologies like index cards and telegraph machines, it nonetheless anticipated the hyperlinked structure of today’s Web. 'This was a Steampunk version of hypertext,' said Kevin Kelly, former editor of Wired, who is writing a book about the future of technology." read article in it's entirety

Contradictions and Complexities: Contemporary Art from India

Chitra Ganesh - Swan Song Call (2008)

"CULVER CITY.- Contradictions and Complexities: Contemporary Art from India will open simultaneously at d.e.n. contemporary art and Western Project in Culver City. The shows will provide an introduction to the fertile and vibrant contemporary art scene happening in India today. The shows will include six artists ranging in age from 30 to 65, working in a wide variety of media. All of the artists skillfully combine imagery and refer- ences to traditional Indian culture with more contemporary concerns, negotiating the slippery terrains of identity, globalization and cultural inheritance." read article in it's entirety


Chitra Ganesh - Sugar and Milk (2008)

also... 'Contradictions and Complexities: Contemporary Art From India' at d.e.n. and Western Project

EH Revisited: Four Common Myths About Evolution (7/9/05)

"Nearly 150 years after Charles Darwin published On The Origin of Species, the theory of evolution is still widely misunderstood by the general public. Evolution isn't a fringe theory, and it's not difficult to understand, yet recent surveys reveal that roughly half of Americans believe that humans were created in their present form 10,000 years ago (Brooks 2001, CBS 2004). The same number reject the concept that humans developed from earlier species of animals (National Science Board 2000).

But the evidence is clear that no species, including humans, simply 'popped up.' Each life form has an evolutionary history, and those histories are intricately intertwined. If we don't understand that complex evolution, we will make poor decisions about our future and that of other species. Should we genetically modify humans? How about our food crops? What effects will global warming have on human biology? None of these questions, nor many others of immediate concern to humanity, can be usefully addressed unless we understand the evolutionary process." read article in it's entirety

Worlds Within Worlds from Martha Sue on Vimeo.

Robot Sex Movies: My 100 Favorite Movies

Hi There! It's me, Matt. The story of my association with EH began simply enough. Roberto and I met by chance via my employment at the local video store. He would come in to rent a movie, and we would shoot the breeze about whatever flicks happened to be new in the store, or that we had both seen and liked, or that we thought the other should see. This eventually led to Roberto asking me to put together a list of my favorite movies for him, a move I assumed was a litmus test to see how seriously I should be taken as a patron of my own wares; I had always been telling him that the really good stuff was stuff we would never carry at my store, and the request for the list was him calling my bluff. (Now that he and I have had a chance to look at my personal collection of DVDs together, I've taken to telling him that all the really good stuff is on VHS, since he no longer owns a VCR.) I also jumped on the request as a chance to really analyze myself through my own tastes. Appreciation of art, to me at least, relies less on the actual merit of the art, and much more on the relationship an audience member develops with it.


Long Island Cannibal Massacre (1980)

My list of favorites therefore ended up being reflective of the movies that had shaped my maturation as a person, less than a catalog of films that were skillfully crafted or that were important to the culture of film. The list was 100 titles long, and in anticipation of a very similar list I know Roberto will soon be posting himself, I've decided to start posting my list here, publicly, in a series of small chunks. Each entry mentions the year of production and the film's director. Each title links to a clip from the movie, or it's trailer (presuming I was able to find it). Hopefully, I will get all the contempt and criticism a list this willfully obfuscating/pretentious will earn me.

And the winners are:

100. Wax, or the Discovery of Television Among the Bees (1991) dir. David Blair

I first saw this very experimental feature back in middle school, when my taste for William S. Burroughs was at its height. I looked his name up in the back of our family copy of Mick Martin and Marsha Porter's Video Movie Guide, and saw three films listed: Drugstore Cowboy, Chappaqua, and Wax. I had no real interest in seeing Drugstore (I still haven't seen it), but amazingly, Purple Potamus Video, our local video store, had copies of both of the other titles. Chappaqua was a tad boring for me as a thirteen-year old, and I didn't finish it, though I did make a copy of it anyway (I wonder what ever happened to that tape?). Wax, though, was so bizarre, and so boring, that it was fascinating. I watched the whole film in one sitting, unusual only because I couldn't understand the plot or theme of the movie at all.

The basic story seems to be of a beekeeper/flight simulation programmer who is having the portal to the land of the dead (on the moon) slowly revealed telepathically to him by his bees. It's composed mostly of stock footage and extremely primitive computer graphics, with the director's droning voiceover as the only real device for moving the narrative forward. I've sat through it twice since that first viewing, and still the real meaning of the movie somewhat eludes me. When Purple Potamus closed and liquidated their inventory, I had sunk fully into the mire of my post pubescent sex mania, and in my rush to buy as much of their stock of anime porno as possible, I forgot to pick up their copy of Wax. I deeply regretted that oversight for years, and a copy proved difficult to find for a long time. When I finally did buy a copy, it was a happy, long awaited and emotional reunion. If only I'd realized that Wax was the first film ever broadcast in its entirety online, and that it has been available to watch on this obscure sliver of UVA's website since 1994. So, to you, the modern viewer, this intolerable pillar in the history of inscrutable cinema still stands, ready and waiting to frustrate a new audience.

99. Long Island Cannibal Massacre (1980) dir. Nathan Schiff

A much less difficult, yet equally nonsensical motion picture, is this, Nathan Schiff's homegrown gore epic. I caught this title at the very tail end of my full-on gorehound phase, long after I'd been disappointed by Giallo or had discovered the Guinea Pig series, and had reached the point where I was willing to accept kitsch along with my viscera. Schiff's crazed Super-8 fantasies, crossbred from the classic horror movies of the 30's, the sci-fi of the 50's, and the graphically violent slashers of the 70's, were usually produced on budgets of less than five hundred dollars, and every penny isn't just shown on the screen, they're sluiced through it into a viscous bloody puddle at the audience's feet. The poverty of the project forced Schiff to use real guts begged off of butcher shops for his special effects, and real chainsaws and lawnmowers in the choreography of his murder scenes. His teenage friends and kids from his neighborhood make up his cast, and their completely inept overacting exacerbates the film's atmosphere of hysteria. His inability to form a truly functional plot drives him into creative corners that he bursts out of with astounding jolts of unexpected surrealism.

LICM is largely about a serial killer on Long Island whose murders are part of a feeding program to keep his undead father and his leprous friends alive, and the efforts of a patterned-after Dirty Harry cop to find and stop him. The plot sounds reasonably unremarkable for a horror film, but Schiff's supercheap makeup effects convey no wonder to his supernatural creatures, but bring an even greater sense of wildness to the mayhem. The overall deterioration of logic that the movie hangs upon reaches a level of transcendent unbelievability that fringes on confusion at its climax. This confusion is heightened even further by the fact that his extremely low budget compels him to come as close to actually doing what his script requires as possible. This is where those real chainsaws come in. Since I couldn't find any video from this Schiff masterwork, here's a brief segment from his earlier opus Weasels Rip My Flesh instead.

Well, I sure hope you enjoy this kind of stuff! There's lots more of it to come! And by "it", I do mean more prurience and hollowness, the two things I most love. Join me?

Will a Zero-City Ever Become a Reality?

"Looking to reduce your 'carbon footprint?' You're not alone. These days, many people are thinking about the amount of energy they use and the harmful carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. But if you're like many people, your carbon consciousness may begin and end with your passing interest in purchasing a hybrid vehicle.

Not so for Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the fourth largest source of oil in the world. The city is raising the bar for environmental stewardship. Given the fact that it has the fourth largest carbon footprint in the world, Abu Dhabi and its government have big shoes to fill, so to speak. The city's environmental efforts have resulted in grand plans to build a nearby city that will be entirely carbon neutral and will produce no waste. Ironically, the affluent Abu Dhabi government plans to build Masdar City essentially on money it earned fueling carbon emissions all over the world. To attain this zero-carbon and zero-waste goal, it plans to use the cutting-edge technology of sustainable design, which strives to reduce harmful environmental impact as much as possible." read article in it's enitrety

'Food Party' is Really Really Awesome!

"Food Party is a (would-be) TV cooking show with a spicy saigon kitchen-witch as your hostess, a cast of unruly puppets as culinary advisors, and a cavalcade of hip-hop/sports world celebrities as surprise dinner guests. Shot on location in a Technicolor cardboard kitchen, each episode will instruct you on how to prepare wild gourmet multi-course meals with ingredients you probably have on hand in your kitchen already, such as pretzel rods, cheese puffs, eggs, sugar, secret ingredients, and pizza. After all, you never know who might show up for dinner." website

I emailed Thu a few days back. I told her about the greatness of Vimeo and that I was putting together a Food Party post, etc. I didn't think she'd take my advice and put her wonderful show on Vimeo. But she did!!! It looks amazing. For all of you not familiar w/ Food Party, it's a whimsical "cooking show" w/ bird attacks and puppets galore. I highly recommend it.

Let's see:

Food Party Trailer from Thu Tran on Vimeo.

Zhang Huan @ the Vancouver Art Gallery

"VANCOUVER.- For the first time in Canada, the Vancouver Art Gallery presents a major retrospective of work by Zhang Huan, one of the most important and widely recognized Chinese artists working in the United States and China. On view through October 5, 2008, Zhang Huan: Altered States includes 55 of the artist’s major works produced over the past 15 years in Beijing, New York and Shanghai, including photographs and sculpture.


Artist of the Week: Zhang Huan (11.01.07)

Born in 1965 in An Yang, Henan Province, Zhang Huan is best known for his controversial early works in performance art. When he began his career in Beijing, his performances focused on physical endurance, pushing the limits of what was acceptable to authorities in the early 1990s, in post-Tiananmen Square, China. In 1998, he moved to New York, where he experienced greater freedom and established an international career with larger-scale performances that often involved the participation of scores of volunteers. In 2006, Zhang Huan moved to Shanghai, abandoning performance art in favour of works in sculpture, installation and painting. Many of these reveal deep connections to Chinese heritage and history." read article in it's enitrety

Wake Up of the Week: Is America's Suburban Dream Collapsing?

"For a long time, Toronto ran counter to events in the United States; in the last 40 years there has been a dramatic switch where the rich live in the centre, and the poor have moved to the suburbs. The downtown rapidly gentrifies, while the new suburbanites have fewer social services, lousy transit and lots of cars.

Now it is happening, rapidly, in American cities as well. Lara Farrar writes for CNN a depressing article titled Is America's suburban dream collapsing into a nightmare?" read article in it's entirety (treehugger)

(idiot comics): My Famous Grey Sweatshirt (Page 5 Partial)

SUV Drivers Burned Twice: At the Pump, on the Car Lot (EH Continued Coverage)

"Americans' love affair with 22-inch rims, eight cylinders and four-wheel drive wrapped in an 8,000-pound package is over. And the breakup is going to cost.

With $4-a-gallon gas coming between drivers and their very large vehicles, consumers are dropping their once-beloved rides, fast. But not fast enough, it seems. As the price of gas has gone up, the value of sport-utility vehicles has gone down." read article in it's entirety



read previous EH post

A random image I found during my daily surf.

Download "Asshole Mario"

"Known variously as Kaizo Mario or Asshole Mario in the English-speaking world, this complication of Super Mario World makes me cringe just watching it, perhaps even more so than that insane Super Mario Bros. hack that made the rounds a few weeks back." read article in it's entirety

also... Super Mario World vs. the Many-Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Physics, Asshole Mario and Quantum Physics, and Download Kaizo Mario World (aka Asshole Mario) Here

Let's see:

Asshole Mario Stage 2

If you're brave another to play "Asshole Mario" don't forget to leave a comment about your hair pulling experience.

Reboot of the Week: Vertical Farming

"The concept of indoor farming is not new, since hothouse production of tomatoes, a wide variety of herbs, and other produce has been in vogue for some time. What is new is the urgent need to scale up this technology to accommodate another 3 billion people. An entirely new approach to indoor farming must be invented, employing cutting edge technologies. The Vertical Farm must be efficient (cheap to construct and safe to operate). Vertical farms, many stories high, will be situated in the heart of the world's urban centers. If successfully implemented, they offer the promise of urban renewal, sustainable production of a safe and varied food supply (year-round crop production), and the eventual repair of ecosystems that have been sacrificed for horizontal farming.

It took humans 10,000 years to learn how to grow most of the crops we now take for granted. Along the way, we despoiled most of the land we worked, often turning verdant, natural ecozones into semi-arid deserts. Within that same time frame, we evolved into an urban species, in which 60% of the human population now lives vertically in cities. This means that, for the majority, we humans are protected against the elements, yet we subject our food-bearing plants to the rigors of the great outdoors and can do no more than hope for a good weather year. However, more often than not now, due to a rapidly changing climate regime, that is not what follows. Massive floods, protracted droughts, class 4-5 hurricanes, and severe monsoons take their toll each year, destroying millions of tons of valuable crops. Don't our harvestable plants deserve the same level of comfort and protection that we now enjoy? The time is at hand for us to learn how to safely grow our food inside environmentally controlled multistory buildings within urban centers. If we do not, then in just another 50 years, the next 3 billion people will surely go hungry, and the world will become a much more unpleasant place in which to live." website

also... Food, Fuel and Farming: the Sky's the Limit, Could vertical farming be the future?, and Las Vegas to Build World’s First 30 Story Vertical Farm





read previous EH post

Chrysler Vehicles to Offer Wi-Fi

"Mopar, Chrysler LLC's original parts manufacturer and distributor, announced that it will launch a wireless Internet system for Chrysler vehicles in the U.S., a first for the industry as auto makers try to distinguish themselves in a bruising sales market." read article in it's entirety

also... Chrysler want to turn your car into a Wi-Fi hotspot

Irregular Flow

irregular flow from 4khz on Vimeo.

"Pregnant Man" Gave Birth Yesterday

"ABC News is reporting that Thomas Beatie, also known as 'The Pregnant Man', gave birth today to a healthy baby girl. The pregnant man baby name has not yet been released." read article in it's entirety

Artist of the Week: Jonathan Viner

Jonathan Viner was born in 1976 in New York, and was raised up and down the east coast of the United States. After receiving a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1998, he moved to New York City where he continues to live today.



Viner’s work draws upon a broad range of cultural influences that include a variety of Old Masters, contemporary American pop culture, and psychology. A significant theme in his work is the exploration of power relationships, particularly as they relate to safety and danger.



The subtle hues and rich value ranges of Viner’s skillfully crafted oil paintings help to create an atmosphere of palpable tension. While his subjects are carefully delineated, Viner’s work offers the viewer space for contemplation, introspection, and conversation." jonathan viner @ the jonathan levine gallery / website

Watermelon May Have Viagra-Effect

"A cold slice of watermelon has long been a Fourth of July holiday staple. But according to recent studies, the juicy fruit may be better suited for Valentine’s Day. That’s because scientists say watermelon has ingredients that deliver Viagra-like effects to the body’s blood vessels and may even increase libido." read article in it's entirety

also... Grow a square watermelon (Instructables)

Native Washingtonian Martin Puryear to be Showcased @ National Gallery of Art

"WASHINGTON, DC.- Forty-six powerful works by internationally acclaimed sculptor Martin Puryear (b. 1941) will be on view at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, in the artist's first retrospective in the United States in more than a decade. Martin Puryear includes sculptures dating from 1976 to the present, including one monumental work created especially for the exhibition tour. On view June 22 through September 28, 2008, the exhibition is the first in the Gallery's history to be installed in both the West and East Buildings.

'It is a particular joy to present an exhibition celebrating Martin Puryear's extraordinary oeuvre here in his hometown. The elegance of the National Gallery's two buildings, offering both classical and modern architectural settings, highlights the impressive scale of many of the sculptures while allowing our visitors to focus their attention on the handmade aspects of Puryear's art,' said Earl A. Powell III, director, National Gallery of Art." read article in it's entirety

Sonic Youth Etc. - Sensational Fix

"The exhibition Sonic Youth Etc – Sensational Fix casts an eye over 25 years of multidisciplinary activities by Sonic Youth.

It records the joint projects of this now legendary experimental rock group with plastic/visual artists, film-makers, designers and musicians, as well as a selection of works by artists chosen by members of the group.


I have no idea if this is a part of the exhibition but I love it.

Since Sonic Youth was formed in 1981, it has been playing a decisive part in the development of the rock scene. It appeared in the wake of a radical no wave originating from the transformations happening to the Punk legacy, and right away came across as the most inventive group of its generation. Made up of Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo and Steve Shelley, Sonic Youth today is one of the very rare groups in the history of rock to have managed to enjoy an exceptionally long shelf life combined with a consistent artistic integrity." exhibition webpage

Let's see:

I have no idea if this is a part of the exhibition but I love it.

Greener Fireworks Concocted

"The rocket's red glare on future July Fourth celebrations may be more eco-friendly as researchers revise the chemistry behind the pyrotechnic displays.

Roman candles and roadside flares typically use potassium perchlorate to speed up the fuel-burning process that drives them. As they burn, they should consume most of the perchlorate, but sometimes the reaction snuffs out before all the fuel is consumed, leaving behind some of the chemical. Excess perchlorate is also sometimes added to pyrotechnics.

These leftovers can be a problem because they inhibit the working of the thyroid gland, which produces a key hormone in the human body, according to an article in the June 30 issue of Chemical & Engineering News." read article in it's entirety

Faceless 'Aliens' Spotted in Crowd...

"With the blankest of blank expressions on their faces, these mysterious figures have been popping up in the most unlikely of places.

The faceless mutants have a penchant for A-list celebrity bashes and have been spotted at Elton John's White tie ball and Harrods summer sale, opened by Sex and the City star Kim Cattrall.

With a membrane of skin stretched tightly over their eyes, noses and mouths, the alien-like figures were most recently snapped 'watching' a match perched on Murray Mount at Wimbledon." read article in it's entirety

The Importance of Being Frightened

"Why do we wrinkle our noses in disgust or widen our eyes with fear? A new study shows that doing so might help keep us alive.



The idea that facial expressions confer a survival advantage was first posited, perhaps not surprisingly, by Charles Darwin. In 1872, 13 years after he published On the Origin of Species, Darwin wrote a lesser-known tome, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. In it, he observed that some human expressions occur across cultures and even in some other animals. He cited the wide-eyed gasp of surprise as an example. Darwin speculated that these emotional faces might serve a biological function, such as getting a good look at an enemy." read article in it's entirety

Top 5 Stumbles of the Week

1. Ants Eating Gecko
2. Neave Television - telly without context
3. Ind.ecisions - take a break from decision making
4. The Faces of Earth
5. Clip from 'Detours' - these guys are just amazing

RubberMade: Sculpture by Chakaia Booker

"DENVER.- Since the early 1990s, Chakaia Booker has worked almost exclusively with recycled tires. Through a physically demanding process of twisting, slicing, and weaving found rubber tires, she forms dynamic, whimsical sculptures that fuse ecological concerns with questions about racial and economic differences, globalization, and sociopolitical power structures. The exhibition RubberMade: Sculpture by Chakaia Booker surveys the past eight years of production by one of today’s leading American artists. Featuring two dozen sculptures, the exhibition is on view through August 17, 2008, at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Missouri. Museum admission is free.



Booker reclaims her tires from roadsides, abandoned lots, salvage yards, and city dumps. In her studio, which was once a commercial laundry facility, the artist uses an arsenal of machinery and small cutting tools to perform the arduous task of shredding and pulling apart the elements of tires. The variety of tire lengths and fragments are then folded, twisted, and knotted into abstract forms—a process that is physically demanding and, at times, painful." read article in it's entirety

We've actually had a chance to see a piece of her work in person @ the National Museum of Woman in the Arts.

Calculate the Value of Any Website(mildly interesting)

websitevaluecalculator.com itself is worth $33,042

evolvehappy.com is worth $111 and google.com is worth $742,166,748

craigslist.org is worth $127,363,423 and ebay.com is worth $1,933,295,570

u2.com is worth $547,412 and arielpink.com is worth $111

facebook.com is worth $213,385,243, and myspace.com is worth $2,089,689,623

Wow of the Week: Zapping HIV w/ Lasers

"Shaking a virus to death is not a new idea. Arizona State University physicist Kong-Thon Tsen, who pioneered the practice, conducted eight peer-reviewed studies in 2006 and 2007 demonstrating that vibrations can deactivate a number of viruses. But Tsen’s latest work may have found a way to destroy HIV, just by hitting the right note." read article in it's entirety

Ólafur Elíasson (Artkrush) Interview

Ólafur Elíasson - The New York City Waterfalls (2008)

"Ólafur Elíasson creates temporary art installations that demand to be experienced rather than just seen. His current traveling exhibition, Take your time — now on view at New York's Museum of Modern Art and Long Island City's P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center — surveys a number of his phenomenal works, while the Public Art Fund kicks off his latest monumental project, The New York City Waterfalls, in the New York Harbor's East River this week. Artkrush editor Paul Laster recently caught up with the busy artist to discuss his works at all three sites." read interview in it's entirety

also... Ólafur Elíasson's The New York City Waterfalls Opens at Four Waterfront Locations, Ólafur Elíasson's First Permanent Public Outdoor Installation in the United States Sited at Bard College, and Dallas Museum of Art Will Present Take Your Time: Ólafur Elíasson

Inside the Solar Hydrogen House

"EAST AMWELL, N.J.—Mike Strizki has not paid an electric, oil or gas bill—nor has he spent a nickel to fill up his Mercury Sable—in nearly two years. Instead, the 51-year-old civil engineer makes all the fuel he needs using a system he built in the capacious garage of his home, which employs photovoltaic (PV) panels to turn sunlight into electricity that is harnessed in turn to extract hydrogen from tap water.

Although the device cost $500,000 to construct, and it is unlikely it will ever pay off financially (even with today's skyrocketing oil and gas prices), the civil engineer says it is priceless in terms of what it does buy: freedom from ever paying another heating or electric bill, not to mention keeping a lid on pollution, because water is its only by-product." read article in it's entirety

Magnetic Movie

"The secret lives of invisible magnetic fields are revealed as chaotic ever-changing geometries . All action takes place around NASA's Space Sciences Laboratories, UC Berkeley, to recordings of space scientists describing their discoveries . Actual VLF audio recordings control the evolution of the fields as they delve into our inaudible surroundings, revealing recurrent ‘whistlers' produced by fleeting electrons . Are we observing a series of scientific experiments, the universe in flux, or a documentary of a fictional world?." webpage

Let's see:

Magnetic Movie from Semiconductor on Vimeo.

Audio Treat of the Week: Modey Lemon

This past weekend I went to see the band Modey Lemon. I had not heard them until the day of the show. My girlfriend expressed interest in going to the show, more or less, as something to do. We listened to the songs on their space and thought it might be pretty cool. Turns out, Modey Lemon is a force to be reckoned with. They tore the stage apart. Not physically, but musically.

A three piece, from Pittsburg, Modey Lemon has just released their fourth full length album, Season of Sweets on Birdman Records. The Grateful Dead hippies have all retired. The new hippies grew up listening to Black Sabbath and Hawkwind. Modey Lemon is a perfect mixture of Hawkwind's spacey psychedelia mixed with Sabbath's ability to blow your brains out with a perfectly placed guitar blast. Their drummer sounds like he could take the place of Keith Moon on any incarnation of The Who. Each guitarist also has a synthesizer on stage for their spacier numbers.

Below are a couple tracks from Modey Lemon. The only album of theirs I have is their newest, on vinyl. So I've only been able to find loose tracks on other blogs. No matter, though. This is a band that must be seen live to fully appreciate them. I've also included their remaining tour dates for the year. Check them out, if you can.

Let's listen:
Modey Lemon - Rainbow Beard mp3 from the EP, The Birth of Jazz
Modey Lemon - Ice Fields mp3 from the album, Season of Sweets
Modey Lemon - Become A Monk mp3 from the album, Season of Sweets

Let's see:

Modey Lemon - Bucket of Butterflies music video

Remaining Modey Lemon Tour Dates:
Jul 01 2008 Casbah - San Diego, California
Jul 02 2008 The Echo - Los Angeles, California
Jul 03 2008 21 Grand - Oakland, California
Jul 04 2008 The Hemlock - San Francisco, California
Jul 05 2008 Someday Lounge - Portland, Oregon
Jul 06 2008 The Comet - Seattle, Washington
Jul 07 2008 Badlander - Missoula, Montana
Jul 09 2008 The Uptown - Minneapolis, Minnesota
Jul 10 2008 Borg Ward - Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Jul 11 2008 Beat Kitchen - Chicago, Illinois
Jul 12 2008 MAC’S BAR - EAST LANSING, Michigan
Jul 27 2008 Music Hall of Williamsburg - Brooklyn, New York
Sep 05 2008 BARFLY - UK London
Sep 07 2008 SUGARMILL - UK Stoke
Sep 08 2008 RUBY LOUNGE - UK Manchester
Sep 09 2008 KING TUTS - Scotland Glasgow
Sep 10 2008 THE LIBRARY - UK Leeds
Sep 11 2008 BODEGA - UK Nottingham
Sep 12 2008 THE CROFT - UK Bristol
Sep 13 2008 MOLES - UK Bath
Sep 14 2008 BULLINGDON ARMS - UK Oxford
Sep 15 2008 PORTLAND ARMS - UK Cambridge
Sep 16 2008 ARTROCKER - UK London
Sep 17 2008 LITTLE CIVIC - UK Wolverhampton

Artist of the Week Elizabeth Huey Will Discuss Her Artwork @ the Hirshhorn

Artist of the Week: Elizabeth Huey (05.02.08)

"New York-based artist and Smithsonian Artist Research Fellow Elizabeth Huey discusses her work (07.11.08 @ 12:30 PM) and research with Curatorial Research Associate Ryan Hill." webpage

Yes, We Will Have No Bananas

"ONCE you become accustomed to gas at $4 a gallon, brace yourself for the next shocking retail threshold: bananas reaching $1 a pound. At that price, Americans may stop thinking of bananas as a cheap staple, and then a strategy that has served the big banana companies for more than a century — enabling them to turn an exotic, tropical fruit into an everyday favorite — will begin to unravel.

The immediate reasons for the price increase are the rising cost of oil and reduced supply caused by floods in Ecuador, the world’s biggest banana exporter. But something larger is going on that will affect prices for years to come." read article in it's entirety



read previous EH post

Listening to Cellphone Warnings

"We usually linked fear of wifi and cellphone radiation with the tinfoil hat brigade, but more evidence is coming out that indicates we should be concerned. A 13-country study looked at the issue, and Tyler Hamilton says it is 'the most comprehensive look at the potential link between cellphone use and cancer, involves the pooled analysis of thousands of cases of tumours in the head and neck area: gliomas, meningiomas, acoustic neuromas and parotid gland tumours. It was originally supposed to be completed in 2004 and published in 2006. Years later the final report has still not been released, a source of frustration among some scientists who say such a delay would never be tolerated in the context of a drug study'." read article in it's entirety (treehugger)

also... Cancer risk from cellphone use is still a matter for study

IP Traffic to 'Double' Every Two Years

"Web traffic volumes will almost double every two years from 2007 to 2012, driven by video and web 2.0 applications, according to a report from Cisco Systems." read article in it's entirety

also... Quarter of the planet to be online by 2012

Child from blu on Vimeo.

Who Murdered the Virunga Gorillas?

"On July 22 of last year unknown assailants crouched in the forest, preparing to execute a family of gorillas. Hidden on a side slope of the Mikeno volcano in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, armed with automatic weapons, the killers had hunted down the twelve-member rugendo family, well-known among tourists and well loved by the rangers of Virunga National Park. The patriarch of the gorilla family, a 500-pound silverback named Senkwekwe, would have sensed that the assailants were near, perhaps wrinkling his wide, black nose at their unfortunate smell, but he would not have been alarmed. Senkwekwe had seen thousands of people and had come to accept their proximity as irritating but unavoidable. So habituated to humans was the Rugendo family that the gorillas would occasionally wander out of the forest into cornfields for an impromptu picnic, angering local farmers.


Mountain Gorilla Profile (National Geographic)

Park rangers at the nearby Bukima barracks said they heard shots at eight that night. On foot patrol the next morning they found three female gorillas—Mburanumwe, Neza, and Safari—shot to death, with Safari's infant cowering nearby. The following day Senkwekwe was found dead: blasted through the chest that same night. Three weeks later the body of another Rugendo female, Macibiri, would be discovered, her infant presumed dead." read article in it's entirety



read previous EH post