NYT:
“The Ethiopians are blowing things up all over the place,” said Mohammed Hussein Galgal, an Islamist commander in Beledweyne, near the Ethiopian border. “Civilians have been killed, people are fleeing. But don’t worry, we won’t be defeated.”
Here.
Wonkette:
Let no one accuse the NRA of shirking its duty. Freedom In Peril: Guarding the 2nd Amendment in the 21st Century, is a spectacularly beautiful graphic novel. Here, for example, is one of the biggest threats to the white suburban hunter: dirty hippies and their evil sidekicks: the dynamite-carrying owl, sinister pig, angry Wall Street bull, dire wolf, terror chicken and Land Lobster.
Here.
Here’s a painting for my solo at 1988. I gutted an old pachinko machine for a frame. This is pretty big compared to most things I paint.
Here.
NYT:
Enrique Metinides photographed his first dead body before he was 12. It was as if he had caught a fever, because after that he couldn’t stop. For years while he slept he kept his radio in Mexico City tuned to emergency stations so that he could be awakened by the latest news of disaster. He would often throw on his clothes and rush into the night to see yet another car wreck or fire or murder.
He found a cornucopia of gore: suicides, jumpers, accidental electrocutions and exploding gas tanks. (In that case petty thieves drove off from the pumps with the hose still inside their car.) We feel somehow we shouldn’t gawk. But how can we not?
So we do. We stare at the mangled corpses and at the crowds who stare back into Mr. Metinides’s camera, which means they stare at us. The cycle of voyeurism is complete.
Here.
Yana Poskova on SportsShooter:
On my last day, I printed each doctor and patient a photograph. Many had never before possessed one. As I watched patients tape the pictures above their beds, I leaned against the peeling wall in solitude with my thoughts. I had slowly realized that while this experience taught me much about photography (using an environment with little activity and light,) and about interacting with my subjects (listening to what they wanted you to tell, and respecting what they didn’t,) my greatest lesson was one in motivation-in my personal and professional life, both of which I would try to take for granted less than before. When the patients and doctors asked me to return in 2007, I wanted to tell them all this, but I again lacked words; so I just promised I would. Instead, as gratitude, I hoped my images would shed light on the worth of each of their lives.
Here.
SFGate:
“To be a photographer was a gift of the gods,” she said in a Chronicle profile by Kenneth Baker, written in 2001. “I can’t imagine anything that would have been better.”
Biographer Margaretta Mitchell’s book, “Ruth Bernhard: The Eternal Body,” contains the artist’s own assessment of her adopted home. “To me … San Francisco is an ideal city, intellectually stimulating and naturally beautiful. The oceans and forests are close enough to refresh the spirit; the architecture is always exciting.”
Here.
Sprawlscapes, photo blog by Chip Litherland:
backyards, backwoods, overpasses, underpasses, left turns, right turns, porta-potties, condominiums, loading docks, alleys, targets, wal-marts, cul-de-sacs, mobile home parks, airports, neon, golf courses, parking lots, car dealerships, waffle houses, warehouses, mom-and-pop’s, bowling alleys, skyscrapers, ditches, bridges, graffiti, murals, subways, abandoned buildings, billboards, public “art,” fast-food restaurants, fences, mailboxes, highways, driveways….these are a few of my favorite things.
Here.
A very cool piece of art from Guillaumit, from the blog ArtCade:
Guillaumit inaugure notre série d’artistes exposés dans le PS3 Living-Room, avec une toile impressionnante et foisonnante de détails.
Difficile de décrire les activités de Guillaumit, tant cet illustrateur-graphiste-vidéaste va dans tous les sens. Alors on le laisse expliquer lui même : “J’ai commencé par un travail de videaste et d’animateur flash, puis j’ai réalisé des pochettes de disques, des affiches, maintenant je fais aussi des T-shirts, sweat shirts (avec AndreaCrews), poupées (avec l’artiste japonaise Miou ), cates postales, livre pour enfants…. Je travaille au sein du duo sonore et visuel Gangpol & Mit où je développe toute la partie visuelle et le gros de mon travail consiste en la création de vidéos originales pour des diffusions vidéo live.”
Here.
SocialPest:
Ok I admit it this is a shameless way to generate traffic, but anyway here’s the SOCIALPEST top 10 list of artists who helped to shape the current “Street Art” landscape.
This whole exercise is tongue in cheek so please do not let it wind you up.
Here.
Arcade Ambience Project:
As a child of the 80s, I will never forget the feeling of walking into a crowded arcade — the sounds, smells, excitement, etc. This page is dedicated to recreating the audio portion of that experience in the form of a long, non-looping ambient audio track.
“If I close my eyes while listening to Arcade Ambiance, I can clearly envision myself hanging out at the local Golfland Arcade circa 1983 sporting the latest in early 80’s fashion (camouflage Vans and a Members Only jacket), while feeding quarter after quarter into Dig Dug, Galaga and Phoenix. Thanks for taking me back to a happier time.” –David
Here.
Juxtapoz:
Photos from the opening reception of Mike Burnett’s NeighborWOOD, a custon wooden toy group show, at Compound Gallery in Portland, OR. The show opened on December 7th and runs until December 31st.
Here.
NYT:
And Jace, who created a piece on the building’s fifth floor that includes a frighteningly large mousetrap, made of wood and metal and baited with a huge bag of fake money — a clear jab at the development that is about to transform the building — probably won the prize for longest commute. He flew in from the island of Réunion, east of Madagascar, where he lives, spent several days in the building and then returned.
“It’s like a family reunion we’ve got here,” said one artist in from Milan who calls himself Bo and works with a partner, a small woman who calls herself Microbo. “Except some of the family you’ve never met before.”
The other evening, as music blared from multiple stereos, about a dozen artists were arrayed among the floors, still at work. One known as Lady Pink, a veteran New York graffiti artist, was applying the last touches to a large, pink supine version of the Statue of Liberty that was being impaled with a cross but seeming somehow to enjoy it.
Here.
Washington Post:
They sent congratulatory telegrams to Hamas, their rabbis advised Yasser Arafat (and took a fee for their trouble), and they stood outside the White House wagging signs — “Judaism Has No Right to Rule over ANY PART of the Holy Land” — to protest a November visit by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
But even by the standards of Neturei Karta, these most ultra of ultra-orthodox Jewish Hasids took a step into the world of the very strange, if not the meshuga, or crazy, when they showed up as honored guests at a conference of Holocaust skeptics and deniers in Tehran. With a hug and a smile for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Rabbi Aharon Cohen walked into a conference room with former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, discredited academics, and more than a few white supremacists and served up a rousing welcome speech.
Here.
NYT:
The stadium was packed, the guns were cocked and even the drenching rain could not douse the jihadist fire.
Thousands of Somalis, from fully veiled, machine-gun-toting women to little boys in baggy fatigues, gathered Friday to rally against what they called foreign aggression. As a squall blew in, they punched wet fists into the air and yelled, “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great.”
“I am ready to die,” said Osama Abdi Rahim, dressed head to toe in camouflage and marching around with a loaded rifle. He is 7 years old.
Here.
Mark, Male 27-year-old, from MySpace:
I certainly love girls who look at me and judge me without ever actually talking to me or anything, then go running to their friends talking sh*t about how I hit on her! Look at you ya dumb bitch, yea you “might” be hot but you’re dating a loser who is lucky to clear 30k a year and has no aspirations to do anything with his life but party. Lucky catch sweetheart, congrats!***Party girls, ugh the bain to my existance. Every night you can be found clubbing it up in Scottsdale or whever you and your harlot friends go. Then you call me bitching how you are poor, cant find a nice guy and what you should do, how about this for a thought STOP HANGING OUT WITH YOUR SLUTTY FRIENDS AND GET A JOB!!, enough said there (she knows who she is!)
Here.
Regret The Error:
Gather ’round for our annual collection of the funny, shocking, sad and disturbing media errors and corrections from the past year. From typos that celebrate Queen Elizabeth and her remarkable egg-laying abilities, to media hoaxes, unreliable sources, the Sago disaster and apologies for mistakes nearly 120 years ago, it was a good year for Regret. Though not a banner one for our media brethren.
We dubbed 2005 the Year of Consequences. This latest was the Year of the Belated Apology. Read on for the details and, in our vernacular, The Crunks.
Here.
Washington Post:
But not always. In one Loudoun incident that has become infamous among area police departments, a man stole a bait vehicle and was able to drive it from Leesburg to Southeast Washington because of technical difficulties. Police eventually got the suspect, minutes after the camera caught him smoking crack and masturbating. He had spent part of his ride urinating in a soda can, then drinking his urine to try to quell a case of the hiccups. He also vomited twice.
“We still crack up about that one,” said Detective Chris Dengeles, of Arlington’s auto theft unit. Mostly, though, “we might have guys muttering to themselves. Nothing real exciting.”
Here.
GameSpot, by Crom:
The world of Conan the Cimmerian, the fantasy barbarian of legend created by Robert E. Howard, portrayed in films by Arnold Schwarzenegger and re-created in several games, is returning to consoles. Funcom today announced that the massively multiplayer online role-playing game Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures has been approved for the Xbox 360 by Microsoft.
While this is good news for 360 fans who yearn to crush their enemies, see them driven before them, and hear the lamentations of their women, it isn’t especially surprising.
Here.
SocialPest:
I think you will agree that these art prints Paul Insect produced for this years Santa’s Ghetto are f*cking awesome.
Here.
The New York Times Magazine’s Year in Ideas issue is always a fascinating read. A lot of these topics were already posted here on my blog from other news sources as the year went on, but I want to highlight some of my favorites with links to the Magazine:
Bicycle Helmets Put You at Risk
Walker decided to find out — putting his own neck on the line. He rigged his bicycle with an ultrasonic sensor that could detect how close each car was that passed him. Then he hit the roads, alternately riding with a helmet and without for two months, until he had been passed by 2,500 cars. Examining the data, he found that when he wore his helmet, motorists passed by 8.5 centimeters (3.35 inches) closer than when his head was bare. He had increased his risk of an accident by donning safety gear.
When the Phantom Sentinel takes flight, it looks like an awkward boomerang — a set of three small blades. It spins in a circle, faster and faster as it ascends into the sky. Then, when it reaches about 50 feet, it whirls so fast that something remarkable happens: it vanishes right before your very eyes.
Kivetz also interviewed 69 students from Columbia University who had returned one week previously from winter break and found that as a group they were split in roughly equal numbers between regret and contentment for having worked or partied. But when Kivetz talked to alumni who graduated 40 years earlier, the picture was much more lopsided: those who hadn’t partied were bitter with regret, while those who had were now thrilled with their choice. “In the long run,” Kivetz says, “we inevitably regret being virtuous and wish we’d been bigger hedonists.”
On game day, when Pruitt went to the foul line for the first time, Cal students began chanting: “Victoria! Victoria!” and reciting Pruitt’s phone number. Pruitt, a 79 percent free-throw shooter on the season, missed both shots and had one of his worst games of the year, shooting 3 for 13 from the field. Cal won the game by 11 points and went on to the N.C.A.A. tournament.
The next time you see a mother of three head-banging to death metal or a 50-year-old man sporting a faux-hawk, don’t laugh. According to Bruce Charlton, a doctor and psychology professor at Newcastle University in Britain, what looks like immaturity — or in Charlton’s kinder terms, the “retention of youthful attitudes and behaviors into later adulthood” — is actually a valuable developmental characteristic, which he calls psychological neoteny.
The British artist Paul Curtis is not sure what to call his version of vandalism. “People call it ‘reverse graffiti,’ ” he says, “but I prefer something less sinister: ‘clean tagging’ or ‘grime writing.’ ” Curtis, a k a Moose, selectively scrubs dirty, derelict city property (tunnel walls, sidewalks) so that words and images are formed by the cleaned bits. “It’s refacing,” he says, “not defacing. Just restoring a surface to its original state. It’s very temporary. It glows and it twinkles, and then it fades away.”
So you heard from Bill, who heard from Martha in accounting, who heard from Chucky in the mailroom that the company’s plan is to downsize your division right before Christmas, and your head is on the chopping block. Stay calm, right? It’s only a rumor. Well, this is partly true: it is only a rumor. On the other hand, because it’s a rumor, and because it has been passed along by various colleagues, chances are very, very good that you’re doomed.
Full list of 74 ideas Here.