Len Lye

A pioneer of animation and kinetic sculpture (among many other things), Len Lye is a true icon. This little clip of one of his early works can be described as playful and subtle - G-Force be damned! I kinda love it.

A Moment of Pause

I came across this today and am still trying to figure out how big of a deal it is. I think it's pretty big. Check out what I'm talking about.

Ze Frank Interview

If you know Ze Frank, you'll love this interview about creativity. If not, you should first learn more about him, and then check out the show. If you're too lazy to read through the Wikipedia entry, then just check out the invitation that made him famous. The guy's 34 and has done a whole lot more than most of us. Makes me question how I use my time.

Passive Aggression

You gotta love a collection of passive aggressive notes. I mean where else would you find something like "Peter - I'm not too happy with your inability to provide me with some cookies. If we could fix this situation, that'd be great. Thanks, Jon."

Classic.

NILF Hunter

Classic Samantha Bee segment from the Daily Show.

Mm matter

A cool spot for a surprising client. Not sure how they managed all of the footage, but it's beautiful.

The Civil War... in 4 minutes

A painless history brush-up.

Illustrator Madness

This guy basically creates photo-realistic vector art in Illustrator - to an INSANE level of detail and accuracy. I don't think I've ever seen better photorealism.

Then again, there's always this guy:

The New Millenials

An interesting read about a "new" generation of professionals. In essence, the article qualifies these people like this:

"They grew up with an 'everyone gets a trophy' sense of entitlement. They are members of a generation that thinks it should get a trophy just for waking up in the morning."

For more tasty quotes, check it out.

[from ABCNews.com - thanks Slylec]

gymkata

I totally stole this from Brian, who sent this to me while I rode in a cab on the way to the airport. Oh yeah - that's where I'm posting from, too - the fact that I can do this stuff anytime, anywhere never gets old for me.

77 Million Paintings

Gotta love Brian Eno.

Earth Guide

A beautifully designed visual experience of our amazing planet and its environs. I recommend the solar system sequence - it really gives some perspective...but begs the question...how can we know these things?

Before & After

This is a cool site demonstrating compositing and effects/3D work with before and after video. For each piece, you can either use the cursor to reveal the before video, or click on the video and see the two sources split. Make sure you also look for color correction - lots of great stuff.

go meat

I'm not sure what's better - these commercials or the fact that we found them hidden in a TiVo fastforward during a taping of Love Connection. That's right - Love Connection - Processed Meat Product AND Chuck Woolery. Now that's what I call a perfect Saturday night.

Ass Graters

New Yorkers will appreciate this one. Someone has taken the time to capture and catalog the various torture devices landlords have used to discourage loiterers. Fascinating and annoying at the same time. check it out.

Site Launch

We launched the Lancôme Commerce site today. Just thought everyone would want to check it out.

the savage beast

#40.4 - THE NATIONAL -Ada
Uploaded by lablogotheque

So sometime recently, I dated this boy, a painter - an "artiste" shall we say? One night, we were hanging out on my couch, listening to music - I believe we were listening to Eels' Blinking Lights albumn - and at one point, I said, "oooh - listen to this song - this song changed my life." The artist turned to me and said, "really??? I can't imagine a song ever changing my life."

Needless to say, he and I weren't long for the road.

I've had a bunch of religious experiences with songs in the past year and a half. The video you see above is an example of a song which really moved me - the lyric, "Ada, I can hear the sound of your laugh through the wall," is just so beautiful - poetic and pretty and filled with love and wonder. God, where on earth are these kinds of romantics? Aside from in "The National?" Anyway - enjoy.

TDS: Exposing the Bull$hit

I mean...COME ON.

WWJD - A religious rant

So I know this blog has been mostly about sharing cool shit but I think it's about high time for a rant. I think Jesus would approve (although I'm not sure what he'd think of me dressed up as him while wearing a late 90s era headset. Not to mention what he'd say about my saggy posture - oy vey!).

Okay - two things:

1. I don't get people who are super liberal, super open-minded, full of love, etc but won't date outside their religion. Add to this the fact that they don't even believe in religion - but make choices based on their culture and the fact that marrying someone who may also be in their "tribe" would make their lives easier. I don't get it - and no matter what, the explanations don't do it for me. Sorry - I respectfully disagree. Perhaps this has something to do with my college experience. While doing theatre at Queens College, I went out with two Jewish Israeli guys, Avi and Schlomo (aka Schlongy - and yeah, I know, I know, but I SWEAR, he was wicked hot - and his nickname was supposedly a reference to something - I dunno - I never got that far). Anyway, both of these dudes told me that, though they really liked me, they could never date me. Cuz my name is Cristin and they would never be able to introduce me to their mothers. Not with a reference to JC in my name. I have to say - I remember feeling incredibly insulted in a way that I'd never experienced before or really, since. In my mind, this is exclusionary, elitist and sort of racist. Sorry but that's just how I feel. If my friend in question is reading this - you know I love you - I just disagree here.
   
2. How many of you know this man?

His name is Tim DeLaughter, and he is the frontman of a 24 person superband called The Polyphonic Spree. The other night, Lew and I went to see them. Now, those of you who know me well know that I love the PpS - but to say this dude's estimation of himself as God is a bit bizarre is an understatement. The show starts with the band's harpist as the only person onstage before the curtain lifts to reveal a surging mass behind a stetched scroll of red silk. Tim takes his time cutting through the material to expose the giant group of people who follow his every move throughout the show - literally, they seem transfixed by him as their conductor, their leader. The band plays some of my favorites and the show's high points are punctuated with explosions of silver confetti falling from the beautiful mosaic ceiling but the most notable thing here is that this guy really has the most intense Jesus complex I've ever witnessed. And his fans seem to think he's a deity as well. Now - don't get me wrong - I know that Mr. DeLaughter went through a lot of heavy shit - one of his best friends (and former Tripping Daisy bandmate) died from an OD - and the time that followed it was a dark one. But come on, dude - the band and the message and the free love and all that would be so much more powerful if you just let it speak for itself. Instead of demanding worship from your audience. I'm just sayin...

okay < / rant >

Visual Perspective

An interesting look at consumption in this country. I love seeing numbers visually expressed - we use them so frequently without really understanding what they mean.

Bent Objects

Most of you probably already know about found objects, but you may not yet know about the art of bent objects.

Enjoy.

Real-Time mashups

Two interesting mashups: FlickrVision and TwitterVision. Most of you probably know Flickr, but for those who don't know Twitter - it's essentially a site that begs the question "what are you doing right now?". Check it out.

Professional Tossers

Enjoy.

Encyclopedia of Life

This is a fascinating project that will be attempting to catalog data on all of Earth's 1.8 Million known speciest - a Wikipedia of Life. I'd recommend registering for more information as it becomes available - there will likely be a beta period, so getting in early is key.

The picture above is taken from one of the demo pages that the site has up for review. It's a Yeti Crab, otherwise known as Kiwa Hirsuta.

Go turtle! Go!

I'm not sure how common it is for a turtle ro be this aggressive...but I guess all mothers are the same in nature.

The 25 Most Exquisitely Sad Songs in the Whole World

I think it's hard to believe the claim, but I'll admit that there are some doozies here.

Playing Bush

While nothing will come close to what we've seen... somehow this little animation fueled my blood suger... it's funny and disturbing at the same time... a little contribution to the new kick ass MORTLE... enjoy!

http://www.planetdan.net/pics/misc/georgie.htm

- GF

Iceland, Iceland Uberalles

I mean, c'mon - Bjork must be proud. I'm certain that when she's not busy frollicking with Matthew Barney or the cows of Maui, she's revelling in the northern lights.

Roadtrip anyone?

The Temple Of Her Lips

In my silent dream of divinity
A fragile angel fell to earth
Caught in the butterfly net of my prayers
There in the dust of the path I pursued
She played without companions
Alone and unprotected
A vision of innocent light too rare to go unpinned
To the pages of selfish desire

But there instead the hunter fell
Prostrate before he preyed
Knelt and wetted a cloth with my tongue
To clean away the dust from her nose
The temple of her lips

From her perfect coal black eyes

I brush the soft back of my hand
Across the uncertain blush of her face
Pounding her heart with mine
Is pounding
A rhythm of breathless need

And with a healer’s loving skill she cuts
An open path to my heart and past
With eyes that pierce my helpless soul and press
Shards of light through the gaping wound
To mend my flesh with cauterizing blades of fire
For surely I would have bled to death
If she had not been
So generous with her light
– Nepal
Breaking her heart with mine
Is breaking
A rhythm of death and grief

And with a healer’s loving skill
She speaks the words of the perfect poem
That has no perfect replication,
No simple translation
Cannot be narrated or given other reason to rise
To our artistic beck and call.
We are helpless before her
As she is before us
The fluid epic writes itself over us
Tooled by god
And given titles
But refusing the simple prayer of naming
Or knowing beyond the desperate moment.

Photo Credit: Gerald Forster, The LightYears Project

Vera Wang does HP

Another link off of Motionographer, a new spot for HP features Vera Wang in a style that's probably familiar to those of you who have seen the older HP celeb/gesture spots.

Open Your Eyes While You Run

So - speaking of the World Financial Center, while I was running along the Hudson the other day, I came across this quote on a fence:

"I can't even enjoy a blade of grass unless I know there's a subway handy, or a record store or some other sign that people do not totally regret life."

Frank O'Hara wrote this one - in Meditations in an Emergency. I wonder whether there is any true New Yorker who would disagree.

a dip in the hudson?

If you were considering one, you may want to reconsider. While Lew and I were cabbing it over to Lure the other night, we saw a watermain spilling all over the westside highway. And then we were hit with the scent. Raw sewage, anyone?

We joked about it, and when I woke up to the newsstory this morning, I figured we had been right. But IN FACT, the 2 million pounds of raw sewage which leaked into the Hudson came from a spill up in Yonkers, my old hood.

How likely is it that there were multiple water main breaks in the NY metro area within a few hours? In any case, I'm rethinking my intentions to take a sailing class down at the World Financial Center. Ick.

Math in the Movies

Pretty much what it sounds like, a site that collects and showcases movies that involve math.

Old Pictures

A pretty cool, albeit somewhat limited, collection of old photographs, grouped into some interesting collections. There are some truly spectacular images that make you look twice.

Exosolar: Explore the heavens

This is a pretty cool Flash-based interactive environment that lets you explore more than 2,000 planets and stars in 3-D. God love people who have this kind of time.

Hitotoki

A "new literary site collecting stories of personal, singular experiences in Tokyo." Great concept for a site - one that we should consider starting in NYC (unless it already exists?). Check out one of my favorites.

DeVitoCello

Ok...Danny DeVito was drunk on The View last year and blamed it on the "last seven limoncellos" - a drink he obviously has an afinity for. Well, he has his own line of limoncello, complete with a perfect theme song.

Animation Highlight

I often get lost in the content of Motionographer. The art of surprising a cynical and over-exposed public with delicate, intricate and often whimsicle moving beauty is a true talent.. Every so often I come across a little gem. This one comes to us from studio PenPunk and includes their beautifully art directed reel which is appropriately paired with a delicate tune (which almost sounds like it was Regina Spektor-inspired). Their site is worth a look.

Don't forget the work of Danny Yont over at Prologue Films. A stunning reel clearly demonstrates some creative chops.

Morning Becomes Eclectic

An absolute morning must-have: http://www.kcrw.com/music/programs/mb

enjoy.

This blog is not...

Hear this. This blog shall not be stale, stalled or stitled. We, the collective known as "they", are committed to providing little to few. Mediocrity will not be tolerated unless supremely mediocre. They shall provide insight, introspection and illumination. But seiously...