Entries tagged with art news

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Lookie-loo Linkland.

The Infinity Burial Project "proposes alternatives for the postmortem body that promote and facilitate an individual engagement with the process of decomposition." Be sure to check out their mushroom death suit.

The architecture of stunt work is as-yet unrealized, but well-worth pursuing. The idea of constructing architecture around so-called "narratives" of daily (or not-so daily) life can often result in impractical or overly-whimsical patterns, but then again it can result in some seriously awesome stuff. And the world needs stunt schools.

The University of the Michigan's Center for Japanese Studies Electronic Publications has a bunch of old book available online. Subject matter is varied, but you never know when something's going to come in handy, and hey, free!

A Tae Bo class in Korea, working out in perfect resonant frequencies, caused a 39-story skyscraper to shake. No joke.

This just in: Al Franken is still a badass. This time he's stumping for the repeal of DOMA. I love that guy.

Orchestra culture appears to be as jaded and dumbed down as anything else in America. Ho hum.

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Leaning tower of Linkland.

NASA's Hubble telescope has discovered that Pluto has a fourth moon. Go on with your bad self, Pluto.

Illustrations from the golden age of artillery.

A traditional Japanese tea ceremony has been held at the memorial site of the USS Arizona for the victims of Pearl Harbor. The ceremony to honor the souls of the dead was a joint effort undertaken in the spirit of peace and reconciliation--something that the recent ugliness surrounding the Women's World Cup demonstrates we are still very much in need of.

Thandie Newton is a beautiful woman, inside and out.

An astonishing story from The New York Times: Nearly ten years ago, Mark Anthony Stroman--acting in response to the events of 9/11--shot three men he believed were Arabs; two of them died. One of them, Rais Bhuiyan, who was partially blinded and disfigured by the attack, is fighting to help Stroman achieve a stay of execution. The article includes statements from both men, which are harrowing at the same time that they are remarkable.

It's tempting, in a situation like this, to lay blame solely at the feet of individuals, without really thinking about the effects of environment upon their actions. But the reality is that we live in a country with a rapidly dumbing population; a population that is fed fear and religious zeal and a sense of entitlement from infancy to acts of adulthood. I'm inspired by Mr. Bhuiyan's attempts here to make a point about the need for greater discourse between people of all classes and creeds; about the need for thought ahead of retributive action. I hope he succeeds.

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O'RLY? Linkland

Fantastical illustrations by Edmund Dulac. 'Nuff said.

Paul Krugman poses some intriguing questions about why Italy and Japan have vastly different interest rates despite carrying roughly the same amount of global debt. Thus far there seems to be no consensus on this issue, but it's an interesting one.

The end of this Sinfest comic makes me really sad. I don't like to see tsukumogami suffer.

File this under "wtf." A woman has been arrested for sexually assaulting a TSA agent. Yeah, you heard right. At this point no one seems to understand why this happened, and the perpetrator is keeping mum. She'll probably turn out to have had a screw loose, but for now its interesting to speculate.

Dear Sugar. One of the best advice columns ever. On hiatus until August 4th, but the backlog is totally worth perusing.

The Dawn Spacecraft has entered orbit around asteroid Vesta, the first of two destinations the spacecraft will travel to as part of its fact-finding mission. This project is intended to the lay the groundwork for future human space exploration missions, which is just too fucking cool.

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art news

Quick Hit: Dadu Shin

I came across this guy's work on one of my favorite sites, Monster Brains. The whimsical character of the work reminds me somewhat of my cousin's style.

Anyway, have a look at the artist's site if you want to see more.

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Loosy-goosy linkland.

Caryn Rivadeneira over at ThinkChristian talks about things that Christians can appreciate about the Slutwalk trend. She suggests that violence against women can occur no matter what a woman wears (and not as a result of it) and that ending said violence is a moral imperative that all Christians should advocate for. That's my kind of believer.

At the same time, John McWhorter over at The Root thinks people should stop using the Bible to justify homophobia. After all, he notes, it used to be used to justify racism, and we've managed to move on from that. (For the most part, in my opinion. At the very least, it's harder to get away with using the Bible in such a way in public. Privately, I think a lot of that kind of nonsense still goes on.)

After fifteen-plus years in production, Pixar is finally putting out a film with a female as the main protagonist. And about darn time, too. (Note: don't bother throwing Elastigirl, or Jessie, or Dory at me. I said "main" protagonist.)

The Art Newspaper explores the question of whether or not the release of Ai Weiwei means that the Chinese government is easing up on its policy against dissent. And the answer is no.

Wanna learn the history of English in ten minutes? It's a lot of fun. (Watch out for that guy with the axe!)

Linda Holmes breaks down the recent furor over the Oxford University PR department's decision to do away with the Oxford comma. Holmes does a really good job of explaining why the Oxford comma makes sentences so much cleaner and clearer by its presence, and also of embodying the silly attachment that all of us language nerds have to peculiar pieces of grammar while pointing out just how not silly attachment to Oxford commas is. I'm an Oxford comma girl, myself, you know. In fact, they can have my Oxford commas when they pry them from my cold, dead fingers. 'Nuff said.

Ezra Klein on Amazon's bad sales tax behavior. I imagine a lot of the fuss could be solved if states just got around to passing laws that imposed sales tax for products being purchases by people in their state. Let's see Amazon decide never to sell anything to California because they don't want to pay sales tax.

Evolutionary biologist Mark Chengizi thinks that the wrinkles that develop on wet hands are our body's natural attempt to increase grip capabilities in inclement weather.

Only in Japan will you see a tv commercial wherein businessman sing about the woes of summertime itchy-crotch syndrome.

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Linkland.

Master film composer Bernard Herrmann, particularly noted for his Hitchcock scores, would have turned 100 today. NPR has an awesome tribute to his lasting genius.

The Mona Lisa will not be leaving the building. The Louvre has apparently rejected a proposal by Italy to borrow the work for a 2013 exhibition. Apparently, the work hasn't left France since 1974. If you ask my mother, the real Mona Lisa hasn't been on display for years, but is instead kept in storage somewhere while an obvious (to her) copy now hangs on the wall--the bulletproof glass that shields it also serving to make it difficult for the casual observer to realize the substitution. If this is the case, then I suppose the museum has a vested interest in never loaning it out to anyone ever again.

Good news: Björk is releasing a new album soon. Bad news: It's inextricably linked with apple products. Sigh.

Feministing has a good opinion piece up about Bristol Palin and rape culture. In her new memoir, Palin-the-younger describes her first sexual encounter with Levi Johnston, and it sounds a whole hell of a lot like a date rape. But she won't acknowledge it as such; perhaps she can't. The tendency when dealing with the Palins is to dismiss them and anything that happens to them as part and parcel of their own petard, and to some extent that's true. But I can't help feeling that Bristol Palin is just a big walking victim, with no awareness whatsoever of her own victimhood. She makes me incredibly sad.

D r i f t g l a s s takes on the recent furor over whether or not people should go to college, and he ladles the reality on nice and thick. This is a fantastic and thought-provoking read about not just college, but about the facts of life in working America. It even has a nod to new high school models that are looking more toward skills training than college training. Check it!

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Lulu Linkand.

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has been released on bail, although this was likely motivated only by the upcoming plans for the celebration of the Chinese Communist Party's 90th anniversary. It is doubtful that Ai's difficulties with the government are over.

Jay Smooth knocks it out of the park with a fantastic video blog on the nature of media dependency and celebrity death culture.

Krugman takes on the realities of life expectancy in the US. Turns out it doesn't pay to be a woman in the Appalachians or parts of the Deep South. What a fucking surprise.

Awesome Battlestar Galactica toys from back in the day are awesome.

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Rink-a-dink Linkland.

Sega is developing an interactive video game that measures one's ability to pee. Only in Japan, yo.

The fabulous George Takei talks Star Trek, Broadway, gay rights, and more! I <3 him so much.

Ezra Klein points out that we should all stop worrying about Mitt Romney's inability to tell jokes and start worrying about the fact that his grasp of economics is fucked up.

Shirley Sherrod isn't going away, and for that I am profoundly grateful.

The Art Newspaper takes a look at how the Arab Spring is impacting patronage in the art world.

A new study finds that the ability to reason developed not to enable actual thinking but to win arguments with other people. I expect a new study will soon find that no one with any sense is surprised by this.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY is currently showing the works of fashion designer Alexander McQueen. The exhibit explores the art of grotesque fashion, which are two of my favorite things. I am definitely going to see this next month when I drop in the for the annual Japan Cuts film festival.

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IT Came from Planet Linkland!

Need another reason to dislike Rick Santorum? Here's one: he's a damn, dirty hypocrite.

A new study finds that American students know less about their own history than any other subject. All in all, only "20 percent of fourth graders, 17 percent of eighth graders and 12 percent of high school seniors demonstrated proficiency on the exam" that was recently administered nationwide. So not only are Americans particularly bad at knowing their own history, but that knowledge declines as they get closer and closer to the voting age. Explains a lot, don't you think?

An oldie, but a goodie: Ms Magazine interviews Feminist Hulk. Do you guys follow Feminist Hulk on twitter? Because if you don't, you damn well should.

Jay Smooth calls LeBron James out for drawing our attention to the fact that, at the end of the day, sports really don't matter.

Artist Anish Kapoor has rejected plans to exhibit in China. His decision stems from his disapproval of the Chinese government's detention of artist Ai Weiwei, and--frankly--I wish more people in the art world would follow his cue. We have no business doing anything that supports China's arts program right now; doing so (through exhibition exchanges, art auctions, and what-have-you) is completely farcical.

Artist Shea Hembrey discusses how he staged an international art show of 100 artists who were all himself.

Stanley Fish explores the new field of Geo Humanities and suggests that the development of new intertextual discourse between (socially) theoretical and scientific fields demonstrates the power and influence of the humanities long after many people suggested that it was a dead field.

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Happy Happy Link Link(land).

Remember how I'd hoped that someone else would call Eric Cantor on his Missouri-aid-related-bullshit? Jon Stewart and the Daily Show did. And they also put together one of the funniest sketches I've ever seen on the whole Weiner scandal. (Watch out for the wasabi, yo.) I <3 Jon Stewart and the Daily Show. I <3 them so, so much.

Five reasons why you should study Aikido, the Art of Peace.

The latest trend in graffiti is reverse graffiti, where gorgeous works of art are created through the act of cleaning up selected bits and pieces of walls, overpasses, and the like. "Kind of brilliant" indeed.

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Linky-land.

US farmers and food processors are not required by law to test for deadly strains of the E.Coli bacteria. I don't know about you, but that makes me seriously concerned. People who think federal regulation is a bad thing are morons.

If nothing else could make you believe that we need to raise the debt limit, Sarah Palin's belief that we don't need to do that ought to do it. Failure to raise the debt ceiling limit will result in a default that has the potential to send our country into Third World status. And these people are holding it hostage so they can fire teachers, defund public health programs, and keep taxes on rich people and corporations low. I can think of a lot of things we could do with these people, and let me tell you--election ain't one of them.

The Venice Biennale is setting up a Pirate camp for select artists to stay in and produce installation art for the opening of the show. The collective piece is intended to be a commentary on the nomadic lifestyle of the contemporary artist.

Japanese woodblock prints from the collection of the University of Pittsburgh.

The Anthony Weiner situation is kind of funny. But it's also an interesting case study into the dangers (either foreign or domestic) of too much social media networking.

Nobel Laureate VS Naipaul is a sexist jerk. Not that that really matters, I suppose, in the grand scheme of art. Lots of artists are, or have been, sexist jerks. Still, his comments are yet another piece of the puzzle that reveals something really sad about our society.

But fear not, there's still Septuagenarian porn to keep the madness of the globalized society at bay. Only in Japan, yo.

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Back to the Linkland.

In what has to be the biggest "duh" in the history of duhs an official global report has found not just that the War on Drugs has failed, but that it has had devastating consequences for the world community. And I say unto you: "Duh."

Feministing provides links to two new blogsites that challenge the idea that we live in a post-racial or post-sexist society. Click on the link and check out I'm not racist but... and I'm not sexist but... for glimpses of the ongoing racism and sexism that is subtly rampant in the global culture.

The judge of the Australian Sir John Sulman Prize for subject, genre, or mural painting apparently decided the fate of the finalists with a coin toss. And he's not sorry he did it either. Some people are up in arms about it, but I think it's an interesting statement about the nature of competition in the realm of the subjective. Because if you think about it, one man's opinion is as arbitrary as a coin toss.

What the million-mark sales of Lady Gaga's latest album mean to the future of the recording industry.

The SF Giants totally rule:

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Linklandia.

Terry Moore explains that we've all been tying our shoes wrong for years in a vintage talk from TED.

In a peculiar study men, rather than women, are found to benefit the most from cultural outings like art museums and the theater. Meanwhile, women's health and happiness was improved by sporting events and church attendance. Which might explain why I will, apparently, never be happy. I enjoy the periodic ball game, but I'll be caught dead before I go to church. I demand a re-study.

Scientists have found untold numbers of rogue gas giant planets throughout the Milky Way Galaxy and are now hypothesizing that said gas giants--with their amazing asteroid trapping abilities--might be responsible for the relative peace that the smaller, more interior, rocky planets (like ours!) enjoy. Yay for gas giants!

Krugman talks about the looming possibility that we may be heading for a third depression. This type of stuff seriously freaks me out, but I feel honor-bound to share it. Heads in the sand won't help us here.

A scathing look at the myth of "post-racial-ness" from Feministing. The reality of race in the US is another thing that people have got to get their goddamn heads out of the sand about.

Eddie Vedder turns to the ukelele on his newest solo album. And you can listen to it in its entirety until its May 31st release. (FYI: Eddie's cover of "Dream a Little Dream" is particularly sweet.)

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Après-midi Linkland.

NASA + Art = Awesome. The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum is hosting an exhibition of NASA-inspired art. Works by such artists as Annie Lebowitz, Alexander Calder, and Andy Warhol (to name but a few) will be featured. The show runs from May 28 to October 9 and is free to the public.

NPR's "All Songs Considered" explores [electronic] dance fever in its latest online broadcast. A must-listen for all those who like to shake their booties.

In other music news, blogger Kismet Nuñez discusses how Beyonce's latest single "Run the World (Girls)" broke the Internet and more importantly what the breakage and its cause means to feminist discourse.

Democrat Kathy Hochul has won the special election for a congressional seat in a traditionally Republican New York district. The outcome of this election will now be characterized as either a referendum on Republican health care policy--specifically the backlash against the Ryan Plan--or a demonstration of how the Tea Party movement is to the Republicans what the Green Party movement has been to the Democrats: namely, a vote-killer. Tea Party candidate Jack Davis took a whopping 9% of the vote, and that 9% might arguably have gone to the Republican nominee in his absence. I really wish someone would do a rundown of numbers over the course of this contest to try and get at more nuanced determination of how the Ryan Plan and the Tea Party actually impacted on this election. And if I see one, you can bet you will too.

Eric Cantor continues to show off his repugnant side. (You all remember his role in the censorship of the Hide/Seek exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, I hope.) He's latest despicable act is the holding hostage of relief aid for Joplin, Missouri in exchange for cuts in federal spending. Now I recognize that some spending cuts are necessary, although they must be implemented in tandem with tax increases--something that Cantor and his party vehemently oppose--but using the pain and suffering of thousands as cudgel to push this kind of legislation through is deplorable. And I really, really hope that the Angry Black Bitch isn't the only one to call him out on it before this is all over.

Goodnight, Sweet Prince. NASA is ceasing its attempts to communicate with the Martian Rover Spirit, whose last transmission home occurred in March. Spirit's original mission was intended to last only three months, but his determination pushed him on through years of vital exploration endeavors across the Martian landscape. He will be missed.

You just can't beat schlock horror films, or their LOLariously awesome jacket art. (I really, really want to see Lurking Fear. And Night of the Demon, too, because its about Bigfoot!)

Obacchi Jacket Lunch Box shows us how to make a bento box look like the cover to Phoenix's "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix." Fun for the whole family.

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Linkland-a-licious.

KaTe Bush's new album Director's Cut is out today, but NPR has more awesome music waiting in the wings. Listen to the new Death Cab for Cutie album, Codes and Keys, in its entirety until May 30th.

The Tesla Orchestra plays Lady Gaga and Girl Talk. A feast for the eyes and ears.

Ezra Klein on eBooks vs Books and how he keeps finds fewer and fewer reasons why Books are still better.

d r i f t g l a s s disects a Rapture-themed straw man argument about how evangelicals supposedly contribute more to charity than hot-tub loving atheists.

Krugman on the tendency of liberals to keep getting snookered by conservative cranks, and how that tendency is probably not going to end anytime soon. This town loves a winner, yo.

Arthur Rackham's illustrations for Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. So, so beautiful.

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Uber Mini Linkland.

Yarn-bombing for the win!

Cornel West disses Obama. Various bloggers weigh in on what that means for race issues, politics, and the Obama campaign.

Sociological Images takes on the notion of what makes a body obscene in their examination of Barnes & Noble's (and Borders') censorship of the cover of Dossier magazine--which shows a gender-neutral shirtless male model on the cover. (The horror!)

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La la la linkland.

Ezra Klein points out the fallacy of the taxes hurt economic growth claim.

Paul Krugman details the how the Ryan plan turns on the expectation that the elderly only care about themselves.

A Japanese man from Aomori Prefecture has kept an illustrated diary of his life for 56 years. And it's beautiful.

Women still struggle to crack the glass ceiling of the art world. Here's how far behind they are.

In an unsurprising turn of events, a new report (funded almost exclusively by the Catholic Church) finds that it was the sexual revolution that is to blame for child abuse in the Catholic Church. This is conveniently in line with what Church leaders have always claimed, that it is the new-found social order that the Church opposes and not the Church itself that is to blame for these heinous acts. I could say a whole lot about this, but I'm going to save myself the elevated blood pressure. After all, it's not as if I believe that any other religious organization is actually any better. I have, as has been amply demonstrated in the past, a serious problem with pretty much all religions. (Although I am down for spirituality and religion-free belief systems, if that makes sense.)

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Mini Linkland.

Paul Krugman on how our economic problems stem from housing and household debt rather than the fragility of the banks.

Amit Sood of Google discusses the Google Art Project, which aims to enable Internet users to tour the world's museums from the comfort of their own homes with technology that provides for some of the most advanced surveys of art possible. This program is seriously cool, people. It's still in very early stages, but eventually you'll be able super zoom-in, peruse meta data, and amass your own online collection of some of the world's greatest artworks. Contributors thus far include the Met, the Rijksmuseum, the Freer, the Uffizi, the Tate, and more! No museums from Japan, yet, but that's to be expected for a bit yet. And this is cool regardless.

File this one in the seriously amusing category: while the rest of the world frets over global warming, Greenland is loving it. Global warming makes tourism and agriculture better for the Arctic nation, and they're not all that upset about it. I guess it really is all about location. But, seriously, if I lived in a place with that much ice and snow, I'd be all for anything that resulted in melting.

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Evening Linkland.

Bacon makes everything better: Even Vincent van Gogh.

I never thought I'd ever say anything like this again, but I've gotta give mad props to Senator John McCain for stepping up to tell the truth about the role of torture in the apprehension of bin Laden. McCain has straight up told the Bush apologists to cease and desist all bullshit. Maybe he's regaining his senses.

Commentary from d r i f t g l a s s:

Any path towards saving this wounded old country from extinction must begin with a frank and unsparing discussion about the causes of and solutions to the horrifying reality that one half of our political system -- the Right half -- has gone full bull goose loony bugfuck nuts and they ain't ever coming back.

Don't believe it? Then check out this hilarious clip of Jon Stewart and the Daily Show taking on the ridiculous furor that eruptted when actor/rapper Common was invited to the White House for a poetry reading. These people are fucking nuts. And even worse; they're damn dirty hypocrites.

Jay Smooth calls the media out for fanning the flames of Donald Trump's psuedo-ascendency, asking them not to do it again but ultimately recognizing that there's not the slightest chance of the media showing restraint or judgment any time soon.

"One in four women would prefer to be severely depressed rather than overweight, and nearly one in six would prefer to lose their sight rather than face the same fate." Pretty disturbing, no? Fortunately, the Angry Black Bitch has some pertinent advice on how to turn negativity to one's advantage.

The Utopia Forever project explores a variety of conceptualizations of the perfect urban space--even if only within the confines of the mind.

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Support the National Portrait Gallery!

Those of you who read my blog already know that the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian has come under serious fire from the lunatic fringe of the right-wing. (and you know how strongly I feel about it.)

Here's a brief recap of the situation: republican congressmen - including John Boehner (OH), Eric Cantor (VA), and Jack Kingston (GA) - have been working diligently to get the exhibition "Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture" pulled from view. Already they have achieved the censorship of one of the works of art (previously) on display.

I feel that we cannot allow this despicable onslaught to continue.

I urge you to join me in emailing the NPG's director, Martin E. Sullivan, at SullivanM [at] si [dot] edu to express your support for the Gallery, for the exhibition, and for the right to freedom of expression. I also urge those of you who can to email your congressman (or soon-to-be congressman as the case may be) and let them know that you consider the threat of defunding on ideological grounds to be repugnant and contrary to the guiding principles of this nation.

The museums of the Smithsonian have always been particularly vulnerable to political whims via the means of funding blackmail. We need to take a stand against this practice now: it's vile, it's hypocritical, and it's unconstitutional!

Thanks guys!

More information:

John Boehner's Next Target: Ant-Covered Jesus (Gawker).
Ant-covered Jesus video removed from Smithsonian after Catholic League complains (Washington Post).
Transformer Gallery shows Wojnarowicz video banned by National Portrait Gallery (Washington Post).
Smithsonian Under Fire For Gay Portraiture Exhibit (NPR).
Congressman Jack Kingston on Fox and Friends about Natl Portrait Gallery's outrageous exhibit (YouTube). (Note: this video is particularly disgusting; viewer discretion is advised.)