Musings

When I talk about recreating the spirit of that world, the...

Thu, 16 May 2013 10:31:03 -0700

When I talk about recreating the spirit of that world, the music is as important as the dialogue and the behavior. From 1947 on, music scored what was happening in the streets, the back rooms. And it affected, sometimes, the behavior of the people, because this music was playing in the streets. Jukeboxes were brought out during the summer. Windows were open, and you could hear what everybody else was listening to. It expresses the excitement of the time. Simply, it’s the way I saw life. The way I experienced life. - Martin Scorsese.

gregcohn: EFF: Who has your back?

Wed, 15 May 2013 00:36:16 -0700

gregcohn:

EFF: Who has your back?

flavorpill: Joseph Heller’s chart outline for Catch-22. Check...

Mon, 13 May 2013 17:31:39 -0700

flavorpill:

Joseph Heller’s chart outline for Catch-22. Check out the full gallery of Famous Authors’ Handwritten Outlines.

hydrogeneportfolio: Minimal Posters - Five Great...

Sun, 05 May 2013 21:03:58 -0700

hydrogeneportfolio:

Minimal Posters - Five Great Mathematicians And Their Contributions.

As a sporadic surfer, I am loathe to endorse a mortal enemy, but...

Wed, 01 May 2013 14:00:27 -0700

As a sporadic surfer, I am loathe to endorse a mortal enemy, but these proportions cannot be ignored.

afootballreport: Let’s talk about corruption… again The last...

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 00:08:49 -0700

afootballreport:

Let’s talk about corruption… again

The last time we checked in with Sepp Blatter and associates, Sepp was jetting off to the Caribbean, while the rest of the world sat wringing it’s hands in nervous anticipation of Brazil meeting stadium deadlines for next year’s World Cup. But before Sepp catches a flight back to Zurich, he might want to stop for a chat with the fine folks from the CONCACAF region.

In a report just released by CONCACAFs Integrity Committee, the result of a multi-year investigation into alleged corruption, former CONCACAF President Jack Warner and former Secretary General Chuck Blazer were definitively shown to have defrauded and misled both FIFA and CONCACAF for millions of dollars. From using FIFA funds to pay off personal credit cards, to siphoning portions of CONCACAF sponsorships as personal commissions, the corruption was surprisingly unrestrained. Here are a few highlights taken directly from the report:

“Accounting records show that, from 1996 to 2011, Blazer received more than $20.6 million in compensation from FIFA.”

“Blazer had administrative rights to the accounting system, and frequently made entries in the system by using his personal or admin login.”

“Accounting for CONCACAF operations in Trinidad and Tobago…was controlled personally by Jack Warner.”

“A review of the evidence showed that the auditor used by CONCACAF…was not independent and in fact possessed clear conflicts of interest.”

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When tourists decide to visit Dolores Park as a city attraction...

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 00:16:36 -0700

whilstinsf:

RIP Richie

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 00:13:11 -0700

RIP Richie

Photo

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 12:11:55 -0700

Photo

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 17:52:49 -0700

Photo

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 20:06:16 -0700

afootballreport: The comeback / La remontada The Copa del Rey...

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 22:27:44 -0700

afootballreport:

The comeback / La remontada

The Copa del Rey was lost. Doubt was rising throughout Europe, but Barça showed us that nothing has changed. Before the match, Piqué said, “Any fan who doesn’t think we can turn it round against Milan should give his ticket for the game to someone who does.” The Camp Nou crowd supported their side all night long. This one was for Tito, and it was a performance for the ages.

[Posted by Eric. Gifs by Dale Con Comba]

howstuffworks: TechStuff » Tesla: The Man, the Myths, the...

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 10:54:40 -0800

howstuffworks:

TechStuff » Tesla: The Man, the Myths, the Truth

Nikola Tesla was a genius, a science nerd, and an underdog — the perfect recipe for an Internet superhero. But who was Nikola Tesla, really? What did he actually invent? Join Jonathan and Lauren as they explore some of the popular misconceptions about Tesla’s life and work.

Tesla in his laboratory, circa 1910. [Image source]

I’ve heard it said that one can’t effectively...

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 15:09:53 -0800

I’ve heard it said that one can’t effectively appreciate Araabmuzik unless he’s seen live, but I disagree. This song comes with most of the trappings of what iTunes generalizes to be dance music, but there’s a pulse behind this song that I find hypnotizing.

"Now there grows among all the rooms, replacing the night’s old smoke, alcohol and sweat, the..."

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 15:03:00 -0800

“Now there grows among all the rooms, replacing the night’s old smoke, alcohol and sweat, the fragile, musaceous odor of Breakfast: flowery, permeating, surprising, more than the color of winter sunlight, taking over not so much through any brute pungency or volume as by the high intricacy of the weaving of its molecules, sharing the conjuror’s secret by which - though it is not often Death is told so clearly to fuck off - the living genetic chains prove even labyrinthine enough to preserve some human face down ten or twenty generations…so the same assertion-through-structure allows this war morning’s banana fragrance to meander, repossess, prevail. Is there any reason not to open every window, and let the kind blanket all Chelsea? As a spell against falling objects…”

- Thomas Pynchon “Gravity’s Rainbow.” Reminds me of Hemingway in Sun Also Rises in how he evokes a hangover, only this one is cut through by the delicious smell of breakfast. I don’t even like banana pancakes very much, and yet I crave them after this passage.

I know it’s been a while, but rather than dwell on my...

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 12:43:55 -0800

I know it’s been a while, but rather than dwell on my litany of excuses, let’s jump right back in with this exquisite piano composition from Philip Glass, composed for the new Park Chan Wook’s new English-Language film “Stoker.” As if I wasn’t excited enough for this movie, from a director I’ve admired since seeing Oldboy back in 2005, he goes and gets Philip Glass to compose a piano piece for the occasion. The composition, simply named “Duet,” more closely resembles his work on the Truman Show soundtrack that maybe not be as beautiful as the sublime Solo Piano album he released, (who couldn’t love a song called “Wichita Sutra Vortex), but it definitely comes close.

proseandpassion: A 1902 edition of Don Quijote which I found in...

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 00:30:27 -0800

proseandpassion:

A 1902 edition of Don Quijote which I found in a charity shop for £ 2.99 this week (when I saw it I firmly expected it would be ten times that price, and I decided to take it if it was under 10). It has brown stains on the illustration pages (foxing it’s called, I just learned from an expert) but the other pages are clean, so it is perfectly nice to read. I can only imagine that whoever fixed the price looked at a few of the picture pages and assumed the staining was throughout the book. Still puzzled why the foxing only hit the pictures - maybe because they are on slightly stronger paper ? does anybody have any clues?

explore-blog: This is amazing: The first canon from Bach’s...

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 10:40:48 -0800

explore-blog:

This is amazing: The first canon from Bach’s Musical Offering, known as the “crab canon,” is essentially the musical version of a Möbius Strip – it can be played back-to-front as well. Then again, mathemusician Vi Hart knew that when she used backwards Bach and a music box to explain space-time.

(↬ It’s Okay To Be Smart)

discoverynews: Star Wars Saga Mapped Awesome

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 10:54:51 -0800

discoverynews:

Star Wars Saga Mapped

Awesome

storyboard: Ukiyo-e Heroes: Donkey Kong Visits 17th-Century...

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 16:05:56 -0800

storyboard:

Ukiyo-e Heroes: Donkey Kong Visits 17th-Century Japan

Mario racing a rickshaw, Kirby wielding a katana, and Donkey Kong bounding past cherry blossoms. In his fantastical Ukiyo-e Heroes series, 29-year-old illustrator Jed Henry reimagines classic video game characters in the style, setting, and medium of traditional Japanese woodblock prints (ukiyo-e). Growing up in Indiana in the 1980s, Henry learned to draw by copying the art in his video game manuals. It was an exciting time to be a gamer, as companies like Nintendo and Sega raced to create the best systems and graphics. A decade later, with a degree in animation and living in Utah, the illustrator and children’s book author is working with Canadian (by way of Tokyo) printmaking master Dave Bull to to create fine art prints of his characters. With the help of a Kickstarter campaign — Henry raised $290,000 more than his original goal — his illustrations are celebrating Japan’s vibrant pop culture, both then and now. We talked to him about his craft.

How do you choose which video games to feature?

I’m a big retro gamer. I played a lot of games as a kid, and my heart is really stuck on those games — a lot of Nintendo, Konami, and Capcom titles. So, that’s how I choose, it’s just my favorites from when I was a kid.

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