From Wooster Collective:
This is by far one of our favorite culture jam projects we’ve seen to date: Three years ago, Docteur Gecko found a new way for ‘hacking’ advertising that you find in bus shelters around the world. What’s unique about what Gecko does is that his modifications can only be seen during the night when the city lights the shelters. However, during daytime the ad modified seems to be untouched.
Here.
From the New York Times, photographer James Hill’s photo essay:
“What they described in newspapers and magazines — it was all rubbish,” said Anatoly Rasskazov, the station photographer who was there that day.
“The ruins that I photographed from the ground and the upper part were retouched so it couldn’t be seen that there was a ray coming from there, that everything was glowing,” he said. “Just a ruin. So as not to get the public up in arms.”
Here. Make sure you check out the multimedia gallery.
From Supertouch:
Designer/painter/California dreamer Eric Elms has re-launched his eyecandy-coated site
Here.
Photo Essay on VII from new member Eugene Richards: A Procession of Them: The Plight of the Mentally Disabled, Paraguay:
Few human beings are subject to as much misunderstanding, cruelty, and neglect as the mentally ill and mentally retarded. People with mental disabilities are often abandoned or hidden away in public institutions, which are grossly overcrowded and unsanitary, and which offer little in the way of medical care or training. The developmentally disabled are mixed with the mentally ill, young with the old, unhealthy with the healthy. Deprived of medical and dental care, proper nutrition, education, and counseling, the mentally disabled have little chance of living productively and safely within these institutions, and little opportunity of ever leaving.
Working as a volunteer for a human rights organization I traveled to Asuncion, Paraguay, with the intention of gaining entry into the Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, the country’s single public psychiatric facility. This frighteningly substandard institution warehouses 460 patients, a great many of them ‘abandonados,’ people placed there because they have absolutely nowhere else to go. I photographed patients living out their lives in filthy dormitories, sleeping on bare mattresses, utilizing open, dirty toilets, bathing in ice-cold water. Among the patients being supervised by what can only be called a sub-custodial level of staff were two teenaged boys who’d been held for six years in tiny, unlit, cage-like cells. This 12-image selection, part of a personal, long-term project, received first place in the Issue Reporting Picture Story category at this year’s POYi.
Here.
From Supertouch:
Mark Ryden devotees should be ready to move on two new items about to drop any minute at his personal website.
On sale May 1st, 2006, a limited edition, signed and numbered lithograph poster of “Rosie’s Tea Party.”?No pre-orders or fax orders will be taken for this item. More information will be posted as it becomes available.
Edition Size: 500?Price $200
Here.
From The Moscow Times:
Vladimir Zhirinovsky has called for nuking Japan, dumping radioactive waste in Germany and reoccupying Alaska.
On Tuesday, the ultranationalist leader of the Liberal Democratic Party came up with yet another zinger: Great Britain, he declared, is now Public Enemy No. 1.
Here.
From The Moscow Times, Yulia Natynina:
On Oct. 13 there was an uprising in Nalchik, the capital. Men had been dragged out of a mosque as they were praying, and crosses had been shaved on their heads. They couldn’t take it anymore and went on a rampage to kill police.
After the uprising, 2,000 people went through the police meat-grinder, and the rest fled. The bodies of the Muslims have still not been released. One of the widows told me: “I asked my 16-year-old son if he was prepared to die for Allah. He said, ‘I don’t know, Mama, I’d like to live a bit first.’” Now he’s on the run. So that he won’t be killed.
Here.
From SportsShooter:
This is video from NBA senior photographer Andrew D. Bernstein’s presentation at the Sports Shooter Academy 2, held April, 2006 in Southern California. Bernstein has been shooting the NBA since 1981 and has photographed every NBA Finals and NBA All Star game since 1983. His company, Bernstein Associates, Inc., has served as the official photographer for most of Los Angeles’ professional sports teams, including the Lakers, Dodgers, Clippers and Kings. In addition, Bernstein holds the position of Director of Photography for STAPLES Center, the sports and entertainment complex in Los Angeles.
Here.
From the Daily Sun, Nigeria’s King of the Tabloids, women speak on excessive heat and their marital obligations:
My sister, this weather is something else. In fact, I sleep naked every night. My husband is worse because he complains about the weather so much because he is so used to the air conditioner. Mind you, that doesn’t disturb us from meeting at all. You are married, you are married. The weather would not make any responsible woman to deny her husband.
Here.
From The New York Times:
The Fatah project went ahead despite warnings from experts that it could not succeed because the underground terrain was shattered and unstable.
It continued chewing up astonishing amounts of cash when the predicted problems bogged the work down, with a contract that allowed crews to charge as much as $100,000 a day as they waited on standby.
The company in charge engaged in what some American officials saw as a self-serving attempt to limit communications with the government until all the money was gone.
And until Mr. Sanders went to Al Fatah, the Army Corps of Engineers, which administered the project, allowed the show to go on for months, even as individual Corps officials said they repeatedly voiced doubts about its chances of success.
The Halliburton subsidiary, KBR, formerly Kellogg Brown & Root, had commissioned a geotechnical report that warned in August 2003 that it would be courting disaster to drill without extensive underground tests.
“No driller in his right mind would have gone ahead,” said Mr. Sanders, a geologist who came across the report when he arrived at the site.
Here.
From Journal of a Photographer:
I know Joachim Ladefogeds work for quite some time now. I met him during the New York VII Seminar on October 16th 2005 were we also recorded this interview in an empty classroom at the School of Visual Arts.
The total length of the interview is 41:50 minutes.
Here.
From RobGalbraith:
Camera Bits today has released a public beta version of Photo Mechanic 4.4.3, the next release of the pro photo browsing software for Mac and Windows. Highlighting the list of changes is the ability to upload directly to a PhotoShelter account in Photo Mechanic on both platforms, improved CD/DVD burning in the Windows version and numerous other fixes and enhancements.
The Mac version of 4.4.3 also marks the return of RAW conversion to the program after a several-year absence, this time utilizing the RAW support built into the Mac OS.
Here.
From Punknews:
United By Walter has confirmed the rumours that influential and beloved hardcore act Gorilla Biscuits will be reuniting this August for a US tour. The tour coincides with the re-release Gorilla Biscuit’s classic second full length, Start Today. The album was originally released in 1989.
Formed in the 1980s, the band helped define upbeat melodic hardcore and has been cited as a singular influence by a generation of hardcore bands. Guitarist Walter Schreifels’ went on to form a succession of respected acts including Quicksand, Rival Schools, and Walking Concert. Frontman Anthony “Civ” Civocelli formed Civ, and drummer Sammy Siegler performed with a number of acts including Glassjaw and Nightmare of You.
Here.
From Supertouch:
It’s been out for a minute, but before it’s gone be sure to pick up the latest issue of Jux sister-in-arms publication & toy culture authority Super 7 magazine featuring a cover story on the latest KAWS x Pushead toy and interviews with both artists. Few people on this planet know as much about the frighteningly obsessive world of “adult” toys as Bryan Flynn & Mark Nagata, but they both seem to hold down day jobs and mate on a regular basis, elevating them a lofty notch above the strata of shut-in D&D fanatics.
Here.
From the Washington Post:
Hundreds of Shiite Muslim militiamen have deployed in recent weeks to this restive city — widely considered the most likely flash point for an Iraqi civil war — vowing to fight any attempt to shift control over Kirkuk to the Kurdish-governed north, according to U.S. commanders and diplomats, local police and politicians.
Until recently, the presence of the militias here was minimal. U.S. officials have called the Shiite armed groups the deadliest threat to security in much of the country. They have been blamed for hundreds of killings during mounting sectarian violence in central and southern Iraq since the bombing of a revered Shiite shrine in February.
Here.
From the Washington Post:
As he left, national intelligence director John Negroponte, surrounded by stiff-armed bodyguards, ignored a reporter’s shouted question about leaks. The closest the director got to controversy was when he was asked by an audience member (the questions were filtered by a moderator) about the warrantless wiretapping program.
“Yes, well,” the director replied, then cleared his throat and started again. He assured his audience that “there are very, very rigorous safeguards and oversight that are built into the execution of these programs” — without mentioning that such safeguards did not include informing most members of Congress or the courts.
Here.
From The New York Times:
They have eight-foot retractable latex Satan wings, sing hits like “Chainsaw Buffet” and blow up slabs of smoking meat on stage. So members of the band Lordi expected a reaction when they beat a crooner of love ballads to represent Finland at the Eurovision song contest in Athens, the competition that was the springboard for Abba and Celine Dion.
Here.
From Engadget:
Announced today at NAB: Red One, an HD camcorder that boasts 11.4 megapixels at up to 60fps.
Here.
From Homestarrunner, the new Apple-2-ish graphic/text adventure game, The Dungeonman 3. (Playable in browser.)
Behold Thy Graphics!!
Here.
From Wooster Collective:
It’s been a while since D*Face has hit the streets of London. We were pleased to see that he was back out to celebrate the Queen’s 80th
Here.