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Richard Mosse's Air Disaster, a series of photographs of air... [18 Feb 2008|01:22am] 21:34 13.02.2008 Richard Mosse's Air Disaster, a series of photographs of air... Richard Mosse's Air Disaster, a series of photographs of air disaster simulations, on-the-ground training exercises for airport fire-fighting crews. BLDGBLOG has a short interview with the photographer. The firemen have put out the fire in seconds. That's their job, after all. They do this with decisive brevity and great courage, sometimes walking right into flames -- but it doesn't make for an easy photograph. It's all a bit like the sexual act: the flames come up and men run in and spray everything with a high power water hose and then it's all over. (link) read more at kottke.org rss2lj post comment

Usually the combination of "Hollywood" and "Oscars" is enough to scare... [18 Feb 2008|01:22am] 22:57 13.02.2008 Usually the combination of "Hollywood" and "Oscars" is enough to scare... Usually the combination of "Hollywood" and "Oscars" is enough to scare me off a story, but this short examination of how good actors become movie stars was pretty interesting. Of his sudden stardom, Jack Nicholson said: I remember when that happened to me. I'd been working for 12 years, and then the part in "Easy Rider" changed my life. Very few people have ever had the experience where they sit back and say, "I am a movie star." I knew it at the first showing of "Easy Rider" at the Cannes Film Festival by how the audience reacted to the movie. A lot of people would say, "I know I'm a movie star, but, oh, I wonder what's going to happen..." I knew it then: I was a movie star. And it was great. The story is part of the recent NY Times Magazine package on the breakthrough movie stars of 2008. The photographs of the chosen stars by Ryan McGinley are notable as well for "their attempt to wrestle the Hollywood photoshoot beast away from its recent hyper-produced overwrought incarnation". (link) read more at kottke.org rss2lj post comment

Do We Really Want Another Black President After The Events... [18 Feb 2008|01:22am] 23:55 13.02.2008 Do We Really Want Another Black President After The Events... Do We Really Want Another Black President After The Events Of Deep Impact? Related: the latest episode of This American Life leads with a fascinating piece about how the funny happens at The Onion. In a lovely paradox, it turns out that the process of making funny things isn't all that amusing...the sound of silence following the recitation of a funny possible headline in the writers' room is deep and unnerving. (thx, marshall) (link) read more at kottke.org rss2lj post comment

A list of ten things that won't Change no matter... [18 Feb 2008|01:22am] 01:29 14.02.2008 A list of ten things that won't Change no matter... A list of ten things that won't Change no matter who get elected President. 10. The primary system: Sure, the early primaries give a handful of white, rural voters disproportionate influence over the election and state caucuses make Tammany Hall look like a golden age of democratic participation, but they're an entrenched part of party politics at this point and it's not wise to mess with them. Just ask the Democrats in Michigan or Florida. (link) read more at kottke.org rss2lj post comment

Fixing Democracy, answers to the following question: It's the morning... [18 Feb 2008|01:22am] 03:37 14.02.2008 Fixing Democracy, answers to the following question: It's the morning... Fixing Democracy, answers to the following question: It's the morning after the election. The president elect calls you up and says, "You know, after this grueling, absurd campaign, I now see that the state of our democracy is something we have to grapple with right away. What should I do?" Respondents include Bill Bradley, Hendrik Hertzberg, and Dahlia Lithwick. (via snarkmarket) (link) read more at kottke.org rss2lj post comment

Giles "Finds it hard to write a meaningful bio, despite being... [18 Feb 2008|01:22am] 13:41 14.02.2008 Giles "Finds it hard to write a meaningful bio, despite being... Giles "Finds it hard to write a meaningful bio, despite being a professional writer for some 15 years now. That's horrifying. It's frightening." Turnbull on the difficulty of writing one's own biography. Having to write three-line bios is at least 33% of the reason I stopped speaking at conferences. (The other two-thirds: a) I don't like speaking at conferences, and b) conference organizers stopped asking me to speak.) (link) read more at kottke.org rss2lj post comment

Simple little web page: What Color is the Empire State... [18 Feb 2008|01:22am] 15:56 14.02.2008 Simple little web page: What Color is the Empire State... Simple little web page: What Color is the Empire State Building? Includes an explanation of why...today it's red/pink/white for Valentine's Day. (link) read more at kottke.org rss2lj post comment

How to unboil an egg: He explains that when an... [18 Feb 2008|01:22am] 16:48 14.02.2008 How to unboil an egg: He explains that when an... How to unboil an egg: He explains that when an egg is cooked, the protein molecules unroll themselves, link up and enclose the water molecules. In order to 'uncook' the egg, you need to detach the protein molecules from each other. By adding a product like sodium borohydride, the egg becomes liquid within three hours. For those who want to try it at home, vitamin C also does the trick. That's from an article on Hervé This, a French chemist whose medium is food. (link) read more at kottke.org rss2lj post comment

The first trailer for Indiana Jones and the Unfortunately Titled Movie... [18 Feb 2008|01:22am] 18:00 14.02.2008 The first trailer for Indiana Jones and the Unfortunately Titled Movie... The first trailer for Indiana Jones and the Unfortunately Titled Movie Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is available...in HD even. (link) read more at kottke.org rss2lj post comment

Photos by Taryn Simon of hidden and unfamiliar places in... [18 Feb 2008|01:22am] 19:06 14.02.2008 Photos by Taryn Simon of hidden and unfamiliar places in... Photos by Taryn Simon of hidden and unfamiliar places in the US, like the marijuana crop grow room at the National Center for Natural Products Research in Mississippi. Here's a somewhat overlapping selection of photos at Wired and another at The Morning News, which includes a great letter from Disney denying Simon access to their theme park's underbelly. After giving your request serious consideration, even though it is against company policy to consider such a request, it is with regret that I inform you that we are not willing to grant the permission you seek...As you are aware, our Disney characters, parks and other valuable properties have become beloved by young and old alike, and with this comes a tremendous responsibility to protect their use and the protection we currently enjoy. Should we lapse in our vigilance, we run the risk of losing this protection and the Disney characters as we know and love them...Especially during these violent times, I personally believe that the magical spell cast on guests who visit our theme parks is particularly important to protect and helps to provide them with an important fantasy they can escape to. (link) read more at kottke.org rss2lj post comment

In an anonymity experiment, Catherine Price attempts to recover some... [18 Feb 2008|01:22am] 20:37 14.02.2008 In an anonymity experiment, Catherine Price attempts to recover some... In an anonymity experiment, Catherine Price attempts to recover some of her privacy by living off the information grid. Pay for everything in cash. Don't use my regular cellphone, landline or e-mail account. Use an anonymizing service to mask my Web surfing. Stay away from government buildings and airports (too many surveillance cameras), and wear a hat and sunglasses to foil cameras I can't avoid. Don't use automatic toll lanes. For the bit about the cellphone, I'm surprised that she didn't slip it into an antistatic or other foil-lined bag while it wasn't in use. (link) read more at kottke.org rss2lj post comment

Demo film of the Polaroid SX-70 made by Charles and... [18 Feb 2008|01:22am] 21:54 14.02.2008 Demo film of the Polaroid SX-70 made by Charles and... Demo film of the Polaroid SX-70 made by Charles and Ray Eames but set to a soundtrack of The Cramps performing Garbageman. Wot? (via spurgeonblog) (link) read more at kottke.org rss2lj post comment

● King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters [18 Feb 2008|01:22am] 22:18 14.02.2008 ● King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters If you've already seen King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, I'd suggest reading Jason Scott's pair of posts about the movie. In The King of Wrong, Scott suggests that the filmmakers left out crucial details and fudged others in order to make the actual events fit the story they were trying to tell. What I'm saying here is that a good percentage of what makes the documentary "good" are made up conflicts, inaccurate reporting, smoothed-over narratives that are meant to make you root for one side or hate the other, when in fact reality doesn't hold up to these allegations. The whole point of the narrative is that Steve is wronged, denied his rightful place in the record books because of internal machinations. But he had the championship for 3 years! He had played Billy one-on-one. Billy was not on this campaign to cut Steve off at the knees at every turn so to humiliate him and dismiss him, to his own aggrandizement. In a follow-up post, Scott elaborates on his poor opinion of the film, drawing upon his experience making a documentary about another nerd subculture, the BBS. Is Billy Mitchell "real"? I have no doubt that he says things that are over the top. I have no question that he goes off the rails on certain subjects. I also know that if you interview people for hours on end, at various days, you will get some pretty crazy stuff. How you choose to deal with that stuff is a little bit of who you are as an interviewer and editor and director. There's no question you can "filter for crazy", or "filter for nice", or filter for whatever the hell you wish to. I never claim that Billy's not capable of throwing out whoppers. I'm saying that when you lace his words with an implication of malice, of cheating, of lying to stay on top, then you are moving into caricature and needless trashing of a real person to achieve your goals. Chasing Ghosts has Billy Mitchell and a whole other range of players, and gives you the story without turning the whole experience of video games, and arcades, into a petty small-minded pissing match. Scott nearly comes off as holier-than-thou about the standards that documentary filmmakers should be held to, but he clearly put his money where his mouth is when filming his BBS documentary. After a rough interview with Thom Henderson, a controversial figure in the compression software community, which interview caused Henderson to recall, with pain, a particularly difficult period in his life, Scott offered him the chance to edit it out of the movie...and something else too: But you know, when I put together the ARC-ZIP episode (later renamed COMPRESSION) and sent it to him to see, I told him flat out. "If you're not comfortable with this, if you don't like it, let me know and it won't go in." He wrote back and said he and his wife were fine with it. I then told him I was giving him irrevocable, permanent rights to the film such that he could distribute and copy and even sell it however he pleased. He's the only other person besides myself with any rights to my films. He has it for download from his site to this day. I enjoyed King of Kong, but reading that some of the movie's tension was manufactured sure takes the polish off of it for me. Update: The Onion AV Club has an interview with Billy Mitchell about the movie and his take on it. I invited [Steve Wiebe] to the Classic Gaming Expo, 2004. I invited him there, and I went up to speak onstage, as I do at each expo there. When I went up and spoke onstage, I called him to the stage, in order to honor him. I unveiled the poster in his honor, honoring his accomplishments. I did that in 2004. He was onstage with me. And I'm sorry to tell you that you can't see that, 'cause they forgot to put that in the movie. Rating: 3.0/5.0 read more at kottke.org rss2lj post comment

The fellow/lady behind the excellent Strange Maps blog is doing... [18 Feb 2008|01:22am] 23:22 14.02.2008 The fellow/lady behind the excellent Strange Maps blog is doing... The fellow/lady behind the excellent Strange Maps blog is doing a book, The Atlas of Strange Maps. In my mind, I have pre-pre-ordered this book...I hope it gets the well-designed cover it deserves. (link) read more at kottke.org rss2lj post comment

Nice TV ad for the Madrid Metro...a view of the... [18 Feb 2008|01:23am] 00:48 15.02.2008 Nice TV ad for the Madrid Metro...a view of the... Nice TV ad for the Madrid Metro...a view of the city from underground. (link) read more at kottke.org rss2lj post comment

Rex Sorgatz interviews Adrian Holovaty about Everyblock, a site that... [18 Feb 2008|01:23am] 14:00 15.02.2008 Rex Sorgatz interviews Adrian Holovaty about Everyblock, a site that... Rex Sorgatz interviews Adrian Holovaty about Everyblock, a site that "aggregates piles of local information, like restaurant reviews and crime stats, which are then displayed block-by-block". On a completely different note, it's been a challenge to acquire data from governments. We (namely Dan, our People Person) have been working since July to request formal data feeds from various agencies, and we've run into many roadblocks there, from the political to the technical. We expected that, of course, but the expectation doesn't make it any less of a challenge. I believe that Everyblock will be most successful not through the utility of its site but if it can get more civic and federal agencies to release more structured data about what's going on in our cities and country. It is *our data* after all. (link) read more at kottke.org rss2lj post comment

● Single Serving Sites [18 Feb 2008|01:23am] 16:59 15.02.2008 ● Single Serving Sites Lately I've noticed a pattern of people building Single Serving Sites, web sites comprised of a single page with a dedicated domain name and do only one thing. Here are a few examples: Barack Obama Is Your New Bicycle showcases all the lovely things that the presidential candidate has done for you. Sometimes Red, Sometimes Blue. Sometimes the page is read, sometimes it is blue. Check out Is Lost a Repeat? if you need to know if the upcoming episode of Lost is a rerun. D-E-F-I-N-I-T-E-L-Y helps you spell definitely correctly. Now you can find out quickly from anywhere in the city or world: What Color Is the Empire State Building? Khaaan! The classic William Shatner and his rage! Is It Christmas? (thx, michael & andy) Misanthropebook, a Facebook parody. Status page for the overburdened microsocial site: Is Twitter Down? (thx, kevin) Find out, Are We At War With Iran? (thx, kevin) The Abe Vigoda status page. Currently alive. (thx, peter) Gods Damn It, a Battlestar Galactica in-joke. You can do anything at ZOMBO.com. (thx, edward) The classic You're The Man Now Dog! (thx, jordan) Purple has a FAQ page but it's a SSS in spirit. (thx, mike) Oh, it's Yet Another Useless Web Site. (thx, mike) You Sneezed! blesses you. Use Is Paris In Jail Right Now? to see if Ms. Hilton is a free woman or not. (thx, lex) Are you tired? Tell them why. (thx, kathi) Am I Awesome? Very. (thx, jared) Hypnotoad! (thx, chris) Fuck the Sound, which is, I'm told, "IRC quotes (some NSFW) by an Autechre fanboy from Romania". (thx, huphtur) Gentle advice to those who ask dumb questions: Just Fucking Google It. (thx, michael) Do websites need to look exactly the same in every browser? It's not Lupus, it's never Lupus. Some House-related thing? (thx, sharelle) Beth Cherry keeps a single page blog with no archives. (thx, malcolm) We Need More Lemon Pledge. Not sure what this is. (thx, zach) From the same person: Illegal Tender Terms of Service and These are the rules. No Time For Love, Dr. Jones. Indy, you scoundrel. (thx, wade) Are there other examples? Hit me on my burner. read more at kottke.org rss2lj post comment

Adam Shepard had $25 and the clothes on his back. As... [18 Feb 2008|01:23am] 20:54 15.02.2008 Adam Shepard had $25 and the clothes on his back. As... Adam Shepard had $25 and the clothes on his back. As a challenge, he set himself a year to get an apartment, a car, and $2500 in savings. To make his quest even more challenging, he decided not to use any of his previous contacts or mention his education. During his first 70 days in Charleston, Shepard lived in a shelter and received food stamps. He also made new friends, finding work as a day laborer, which led to a steady job with a moving company. The whole thing is recounted in Shepard's book, Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream. (via cyn-c) (link) read more at kottke.org rss2lj post comment

Interview with book cover designer Peter Mendelsund. I will read... [18 Feb 2008|01:23am] 21:24 15.02.2008 Interview with book cover designer Peter Mendelsund. I will read... Interview with book cover designer Peter Mendelsund. I will read any interview in which the subject replies "I still don't know" when asked how they got their job. I really like what I've seen of Mendelsund's work (sorry...his site resizes the browser window...no, wait, I'm not sorry, *he* should apologize for that); his cover for War and Peace is lovely. (link) read more at kottke.org rss2lj post comment

Gelf Magazine enlisted the help of ZEUS, a football game analyzing... [18 Feb 2008|01:23am] 22:16 15.02.2008 Gelf Magazine enlisted the help of ZEUS, a football game analyzing... Gelf Magazine enlisted the help of ZEUS, a football game analyzing computer, to see which NFL coaches called the worst plays at critical times during the 2007 season. On average, suboptimal play-calling decisions cost each team .85 wins over the course of the season. In particular, the world champion Giants should have won another game had they called the right plays at the right times. ZEUS also analyzed play calling in "hyper-critical" situations (those fourth-down decisions with five or fewer yards needed for the first down) and found that on average, teams made the wrong calls more than 50% of the time. Here's an interview on the results with the guys behind ZEUS. (link) read more at kottke.org rss2lj post comment

Apparently, the Dribble-Drive Motion offense is all the rage in... [18 Feb 2008|01:23am] 02:29 16.02.2008 Apparently, the Dribble-Drive Motion offense is all the rage in... Apparently, the Dribble-Drive Motion offense is all the rage in the high school and college basketball. The DDM is: a high-scoring scheme featuring four perimeter players and a host of innovations. Unlike Knight's classic motion offense (which is based on screens) or Pete Carril's Princeton-style offense (which is based on cuts), Walberg's attack was founded on dribble penetration. To Calipari, at least, it embodied two wholly unconventional notions. One, there were no screens, the better to create spacing for drives. Two, the post man ran to the weak side of the lane (instead of the ball side), leaving the ball handler an open driving path to the basket. The Boston Celtics use a variant of DDM as well. (link) read more at kottke.org rss2lj post comment

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