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Men Improve with the Years

Too long since there’s been any poetry around here.

Men Improve with the Years

by W. B. Yeats

I am worn out with dreams;
A weather-worn, marble triton
[...]

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Finding Tampa - A Photography Blog

Recent transplantee from St. Petersburg, Scott Bravard, has fired up a Tampa-related photography blog to “improve [his] photography skills,” and “to learn the city of Tampa and share it with others.” Check out Finding Tampa.

Scott also keeps an interesting blog about urban spaces and urban places called A New Sidewalk.

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1945-1998 by Isao Hashimoto

This work shows all 2053 known nuclear explosions around the world from 1945 to 1998 using flashes of light and tones to create an eerie nuclear melody.

Man, the US has bombed the hell out of the US.

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Write Fan Fic for Lupus

Wil Wheaton and John Scalzi have joined forces to raise money for the Lupus Alliance of America.

Wil Wheaton/John Scalzi Fan Fiction Contest to Benefit the Lupus Alliance of America

Image by Jeff Zugale

“For the benefit of the Lupus Alliance of America, John Scalzi, Wil Wheaton and Subterranean Press are running a fan fiction contest, in [...]

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Destino – Dali, Disney Collaboration

“Destino is a short animated cartoon released in 2003 by The Walt Disney Company. Destino is unique in that its production originally began in 1945, 58 years before its eventual completion. The project was a collaboration between American animator Walt Disney and Spanish painter Salvador Dalí, and features music written by Mexican [...]

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Thrilling Tales of the Downright Unusual

Bradley Schenck keeps a spectacularly, awesomely cool website. One part of it is a choose-your-own-adventure-type story.

You can also pick up copies of his cool retro-future art on posters, prints, t-shirts, cards, etc. here.

And here’s a video preview of Trapped in the Tower of the Brain Thieves: Part One of the Toaster with Two Brains.

Trailer for [...]

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Two Burroughs Quotes

Hmmm, I may need to re-visit William Burroughs. I stumbled across the following quote while looking for something completely different, but it addresses an issue that’s been bouncing around inside my brain quite a bit lately:

“Hyper-technology fuels the non-human within me.”

I was actually looking for the following quote from Allen Ginsburg:

“A student and I spent [...]

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Art by Kira Shaimanova

Very cool art by Toronto-based artist Kira Shaimanova. Kira builds dolls and sets and then photographs her work.

Here’s one titled “Sweet Talk.”

At her blog she writes about, and posts images of, her work in progress.

The work below is titled “Helping Hand.” Both of these images are part of her Chivalry is Undead series.

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Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti

This poem came up in conversation recently so I thought I’d post it here.

From Wikipedia – “Goblin Market is about two close sisters, Laura and Lizzie, as well as the goblin men to whom the title refers, and another girl named Jeanie.

Although the sisters seem to be quite young, they live by themselves in [...]

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Seuss Army Knife

What I wouldn’t give for a real Seuss army knife.

You can vote for this t-shirt design at Threadless.com.

(h/t Neatorama)

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“Beyond the Valley of the Dolls” meets “A Hard Day’s Night” written by Roger Ebert, directed by Russ Meyer, and starring the Sex Pistols

Roger Ebert writes about the time he met Malcolm McLaren.

[Russ] Meyer, dressed as frequently in military khaki slacks, an open-neck dress shirt, a blazer and sturdy penny loafers, sat next to McLaren on a black leather sofa and listened studiously to “No Future,” “God Save the Queen (She Ain’t No Human Being),” “Anarchy in [...]

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Minimum Wage Art

Blake Fall-Conroy

Minimum Wage Machine (Work in Progress)

2008

Custom electronics, change sorter, wood, plexiglas, motor, misc. hardware, pennies (approx. 15 x 19 x 72 inches)

The minimum wage machine allows anybody to work for minimum wage. Turning the crank will yield one penny every 5.04 seconds, for $7.15 an hour (NY state minimum wage). If [...]

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Postmodernism isn’t dead, it’s just resting

Unless you’re altermodern, then postmodernism is dead. I’ve bolded my favorite parts.

“Theorist and curator Nicolas Bourriaud wrote the following Altermodern Manifesto as part of Altermodern, the fourth Tate Triennial, at Tate Britain. It proposes that the era of globalisation and creolisation compel us to new types of representation that can exist beyond the relativist scope [...]

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Proposals for Rationally Improving the City of Paris

I came across the following while researching some stuff about urban design. These proposals were written by members of the Letterist International (which later became the Situationist International). Perhaps the most well-known letterist/situationist was Guy Debord, author of The Society of the Spectacle (which I highly recommend).

The Lettrists present at the September 26 meeting jointly [...]

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The Art of Eric Joyner

I deeply heart the work of Eric Joyner. Here are two of my favorites.

You can buy copies of his work here. Or pick up a trade paperback of his art here.

Oh! And, here’s one I’ve never seen before.

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Kathleen Turner as Molly Ivins

Kathleen Turner is starring in Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins, a biographical one-woman show about liberal political columnist Molly Ivins.

Ivins was best known to politically progressive Texans. While she had moments on the national stage she was at her best blasting the absurdity of Texas politicians working in the Texas [...]

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The Gondola Song

Today’s poem/song is “Gondola no Uta,” (The Gondola Song) composed in 1915 by Isamu Yoshii and Shinpei Nakayama.

Akira Kurosawa uses this song in his movie Ikiru. The protagonist is confronting his imminent death from lung cancer and at one point asks the piano player in a speakeasy to play this melancholy song from his youth. [...]

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Franco Brambilla and his Neo-Retro-Alien-Robot Postcards

Today’s artist that makes me delirious with joy is Franco Brambilla. Franco takes vintage postcards and improves them with his own spacecraft, robot, and alien designs.

He’s posted a bunch of his work on Flickr.

And, here are some great collections at the Behance Network.

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Saturday Morning Animation – Maggie and Mildred

This cross-stitch animation by Holly Klein took two years to produce and animate.

Maggie and Mildred from Holly Klein on Vimeo.

Here’s an interview with the artist.

How long did the film take to produce and how did you do it?
It took me about nine months to stitch all of the elements. I stitched the house first, [...]

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A History of the Sky

Very cool art installation. Check out the whole site.

“This is a work in progress. Currently, an image of the sky is being captured every 10 seconds from a camera installed on the roof of the Exploratorium, on the edge of San Francisco Bay. The images collected over each 24-hour period are assembled into a 6 [...]

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The Intimacy of the Refrigerator

Mark Menjivar traveled the US for three years taking photographs of the insides of people’s refrigerators. This refrigerator study is a fascinating glimpse into the American diet.

“You Are What You Eat is a series of portraits made by examining the interiors of refrigerators in homes across the United States.

For three years I traveled around the [...]

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Breakfast of the Gods is now complete

Perhaps the greatest web comic ever, Brendan Jones’s 3-volume series Breakfast of the Gods is now complete.

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Saturday Morning Cartoon – The Head

A terrific bit of surreal, hand-drawn animation, The Head by parquerama. Click through for the larger version at Vimeo.

TheHead / hand-drawn animated short from parquerama on Vimeo.

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Real Life Painting

I found this at Neatorama (who found it at Urlesque). It’s a picture of a real person made up to look like a painting.

Photo ©Copyright 2009 by Peter Kun Frary

“Although carrying a heavy SLR can be a drag, it’s worth it when a great image leaps out and bites you on the arse. Recently I [...]

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To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell

Still working on comps, but here’s a love poem (actually, I guess it’s more of a sex poem) in honor of Valentine’s Day. Carpe amore, y’all.

To his Coy Mistress

by Andrew Marvell

Had we but world enough, and time,
This coyness, lady, were no crime.
We would sit down and think which way
To walk, and pass our long love’s [...]

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Quote of the Day

“Macx is a 21st century animal who eats information and excretes ideas. Ideas are nothing more than the connective spark between the charmed synchronicities of items of data. This is why restrictive societies like to control the flow of information: very few political soil pipes are built to take the pressure of millions of people [...]

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Making a Market Place by Hand

Here’s a terrific post by Kari Chapin, author of The Handmade Marketplace. It’s a post about creating a community for small-business crafts people.

“I really believe that building community around yourself and your business can be a big part of whether or not you are successful. Connecting with other like-minded artistic people, joining a local craft [...]

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Curation Culture

Jon-Kyle at Repository asks:

“Why is it that with the ease of publishing available today people so often choose to re-post content as opposed to create it?”

Frank Chimero offers a thoughtful response.

“Most people will never make anything. Because making something is work. Optional work, at that. Design, art, writing, whatever: it’s work, and work is hard. [...]

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Poem on the Lisbon Earthquake by Voltaire

Voltaire was appalled at those who blamed the citizens of Lisbon for the earthquake that destroyed their city, just as many today are appalled at Pat Buchanan for claiming that the Haitians are somehow responsible for their own tragic natural disaster.

UNHAPPY mortals! Dark and mourning earth!
Affrighted gathering of human kind!
Eternal lingering of useless pain!
Come, [...]

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Jonathan Coulton tomorrow night

Don’t forget, 21st century troubadour Jonathan Coulton will be playing at Nova 535 in St. Pete on Friday, January 15. It’s an all ages show and Paul & Storm kick it off at 8pm. I hope I see you there!

For those of you unfamiliar with JoCo’s work, here are a few samplings to whet your [...]

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