How funny, I just had a conversation on this very topic….
avant-garde musicians of note
Aki Onda is an electronic musician, composer, and visual artist. He is particularly known for his Cassette Memories project – works compiled from a “sound diary” of field-recordings collected by Onda over a span of two decades. Onda’s musical instrument of choice is the cassette Walkman. Not only does he capture field recordings with the Walkman, he also physically manipulates multiple Walkmans with electronics in his performances. In another of his projects, Cinemage, Onda shows slide projections of still photo images, shot by himself, as a performance or installation. Onda has collaborated with artists such as Michael Snow, Ken Jacobs, Paul Clipson, Alan Licht, Loren Connors, MV Carbon, Oren Ambarchi, Noël Akchoté, Jean-François Pauvros, Jac Berrocal, Lionel Marchetti, Linda Sharrock, and Blixa Bargeld.
aki onda, toward a place in the sun (2001)
Obit of the Day: The World’s 4th Oldest Person
Delma Kollar was born on Halloween in 1897. That’s not a typo. William McKinley was President of the United States. She would live to see nineteen more. The airplane flew for the first time when she was five. When women were given the vote, she was 22 years old. Those eyes witnessed history in three different centuries. At the time of her death she was the fourth oldest person in the world. (The oldest is Besse Cooper of Monroe, Georgia. She’s 115.)
Mrs. Kollar is survived by one 87-year old son, six grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren, 11 great-great grandchildren, and one great-great-great grandchild. For those doing the math that is five living generations at one time.
(Image is courtesy of grg.org)
Two other great supercentenarian posts from January: The World’s Oldest Leap Year Baby and The Oldest Sitting Judge in the U.S.
Real Time Farms tells you exactly where your food came from | Grist
Real Time Farms is a “crowd-sourced online food guide” that tells you exactly where the meal on your plate came from.
As crazy as it sounds, our vision is to collectively document the whole food system.
That does sound crazy, but so does the notion that a bunch of volunteers would build the most comprehensive and frequently updated encyclopedia in human history. And that one seems to have worked out okay.
Real Time Farms is in its early days, so only a tiny fraction of restaurants, farmers markets, and their fans have imported data on where ingredients are sourced. It feels like the kind of thing that will require a really big technological solution at some point in the future, like DNA barcoding of food or super cheap RFID tracking of crops from field to fork. Or maybe just more of us moving to Portland.
great bands of the nineties
forget the bad sound quality - when a bootleg set like this comes to town, you tune in
the smartest, wittiest, and best of all nineties political rock music
the mighty grotus
grotus, live at dublin barnstormers (1994)
Here’s a list of the Best Picture nominees, with links to reviews and other coverage from The New Yorker.
“The Artist”
Read Anthony Lane’s review. Tad Friend talks with writer-director Michel Hazanavicius on the challenges of getting audiences to watch a black-and-white silent French film. Richard Brody on how the film reflects our economic moment.
“The Descendants”
“The latest exhibit in Payne’s careful dissection of the beached male,” Anthony Lane writes in his review. Richard Brody traces the diverse lineage of Alexander Payne’s films and George Clooney’s cool acting style.
“Moneyball”
David Denby calls “Moneyball” “one of the most soulful of baseball movies.” Richard Brody anticipates European reviewers’ interpretations of the American pastime.
“Midnight in Paris”
“People just blurt out their identifying traits; the dialogue is so blunt that it’s a little embarrassing. But Allen is moving fast with a purpose: he’s setting up a fable of longing and satisfaction.” Read David Denby’s review of “Midnight in Paris.” Paul Goldberger writes that the film’s interpretations Paris’s present and past are “products of Allen’s imagination.” Richard Brody reviews PBS’s “American Masters” special on Woody Allen, with an exclusive clip of Allen and his trusty typewriter.
“The Tree of Life”
Anthony Lane’s review of “Tree of Life.” David Denby calls the film “insufferable” and “a considerable enlargement of the rhetoric of cinema.” Richard Brody surveys Malick’s career.
“The Help”
“‘The Help’… is, in some ways, crude and obvious, but it opens up a broad new swath of experience on the screen.” Read David Denby’s review.
“Hugo”
“In a flashback, Scorsese re-creates Méliès’s glass-walled studio and his films, with their exuberance of creatures, ‘natives’ with spears, nymphs hanging from the stars—sheer exultant zaniness, part magic show, part burlesque, and all cinema.” More from David Denby’s review of “Hugo.” Richard Brody discusses the film’s clockwork mechanisms and Scorsese’s approach to filmmaking.
“Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”
David Denby’s review of “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” which is based on Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel about a young boy whose father died on 9/11. On the tenth anniversary of the attacks, Safran Foer writes about discussing 9/11 with his children.
“War Horse”
David Denby reviews “War Horse.” Susan Orlean comments on the spectacle and experience of the theatrical version of “War Horse.” Richard Brody writes, “The movie is—by design—a pile of clichés.”
Here’s the complete list of Academy Award nominees from the official Oscars site.
Win Win is not on this list. That’s why this list isn’t worth a damn.
Sport these bad boys on your next trip to the beach, and your vacation could end up paying for itself.
*Although they detect metal, you should know that they also repel women.
Make good stuff, then make it easy for people to buy it. There’s your anti-piracy plan.
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Jonathan Coulton is wise. http://www.jonathancoulton.com/2012/01/21/megaupload/ (via neil-gaiman) |
