ala nickolodean game shows, visual artist Alison Brady brings us a more adult version of the most exciting thing that happened on children’s television in my childhood.
more than just her double dare recreation, she’s got an array of somewhat morbidly fascinating and mind-fuckling work in her portfolio.
here’s one.
so the nice ladies of m.i.s.s. magazine contacted me about an interview. I agreed, and it quickly turned into a family affair.
Rather than an email correspondence of question-answering, I recorded an interview with Salon-ite Todd Hudson, during which he got threatening text messages from Sara Pedal to come home, and one of the pictures m.i.s.s. used includes our own Meghan Marie.
you can listen to the interview here, and then click the link to visit my personal website where you can click a link to get back to the Salon. Ouroboros!
I was visiting a friend on Lake Winnipesaukee last Saturday when he started playing a guitar riff that sounded very familiar. I asked him the name of the song, and he said it was the theme from Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1960 masterpiece, L’avventura (seen & heard in video above). I suggested that it sounded very similar to Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers’ Egyptian Reggae. He agreed. Now, composer Giovanni Fusco died in 1968 and The Modern Lovers formed in 1970, so they weren’t broing down in Boston, or even Italy for that matter. It is quite possible however, that a young Jonathan did see the film and fell victim to one of our implicit and ubiquitous human faults, cryptomnesia, or unintended plagiarism.
I got excited last night talking to Victor about tightening up our CB slang game for texting and live conversations. Little did I know that the citizen’s band is no longer the exclusive domain of truckers and teenage hobbyists. In Sydney, Australia, the citizen’s band has been taken over by thugs!
If that’s too much for you, enjoy the grave nostalgia of Dick Curless below. If you like that one, then listen to his 1970 track “Truck Stop” about the gentrification of the greasy spoon by a “swell cafe…a brand new coffee shop.”
Wait. I thought I was done here but check out Sir Mix-a-Lot’s alter ego, Prime Minister. He broadcasts and converses regulary on Channel 6.
in the neighborhood of the anniversary of the fake moon landing (if we really landed on the moon 30 years ago, why haven’t we gone back?) I wanted to talk a bit about how weird space is.
1. According to a year-old issue of WIRED magazine I just found, several countries you may not have thought technologically advanced enough, have relatively tight space games. The article mentions the obvious players, the Russians, Euros, Japan, China, but did you know that Brazil has not only put their own satellites into space, but they’ve also developed their own rocket technology?
Brazil launched their space program in 1994 with a budget of only $125Million. $125Million? Michael Bay could start his own space program for that amount. I don’t even need to make up a joke here. The thought of Michael Bay in space is weird enough.
But back to the list, there were two countries I was not expecting to see on the list. Both Algeria and Nigeria have space programs that have sent satellites into orbit. Nigeria’s program, ostensibly funded by 419 scams, was founded in 1998; launched a weather satellite in ‘03 and with help from the Chinese launched NIGCOMSAT-1 in 2007 which helps provide internet access to a greater segment of the country. And thankfully so; how else would that de-throned prince be able to get in touch with you for help transferring money out of the country…
awesome Nigerian space building though:
2. Civilians in space.
It’s become very chic for the super-famous/super-rich to do anything they can to try to get to space. As of today, there’ve been 6 civilian “space tourists” that ponied up the 20-35 MILLION dollars to visit the International Space station by way of interstellar travel agency: Space Adventures.
Space Adventures, based in Virginia (although it’s clients are generally shot into space through the Soviet Space program), has a rigorous vetting process for their clientele that culminates in a six month training period. NSync’s Lance Bass was famously denied his backstage pass to space when a physical revealed a small hole in his heart. (aww) He volunteered to get surgery, but Space Adventures was not interested in the liability. Perhaps for the better, as I’m sure the record he would have released post-space journey would have been really really obnoxious. (Girl my space game is tight/I want to be with you tonight/You’re more beautiful than the moon/I’ll be back on earth soon.)
3. WTF hit Jupiter?
Something the size of Earth his Jupiter recently. Detail here.
What the fuck indeed. Now, when I was in middle school, I was taught that Jupiter was actually not a solid planet, but just a bunch of gasses. Wouldn’t this thing have just flown right through the entire planet and kept on going until knocking us into the sun like a billiard ball?
Thankfully before I could get too anxious thinking about that, I saw this comment that set me straight:
Thank god for protec’in’ us with jupiter; earth’s sheild.
While it’s a little strange to find that Space was so popular amongst hillbillies, it’s good to know that space game knows no socio-economic boundaries.
Until next time, get your space game tight.
Vision Research looked at the film industry several years ago and noticed a serious problem. Slow-Motion makes everything look cool, but this slow motion they have now (typically 60-100 frames per second (normal motion plays at 24-30 frames per second or FPS)) is just not slow enough. “We need to make these actors look cooler, let’s make a slower motion!” So they did, releasing the Phantom.
Early versions of the Phantom had capabilities to shoot as fast as 1000FPS. (for super slow motion, you must shoot more frames per second, and the project that data at the standard 24FPS, creating a potentially confusing situation in which you have to shoot faster to get slower.)
But the good people at Vision Research were unmoved. “This is not slow enough!”
So they continued on. Fast-forward (no pun intended) to a few days ago when Vision Research announced their latest model, the Phantom v710. 1000FPS you say? please.
In news that surely gave Zach Snyder nocturnal emissions, Vision Research’s latest model can shoot at speeds of up to ONE MILLION FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND FRAMES PER SECOND, creating undeniably the slowest fucking motion ever.
As an aside, I believe Vision Research’s only competitor is the laughable Photron, who touts their “FastCam SA5” as “The world’s fastest high speed camera” clocking in at a measly 7500FPS. So congratulations guys, you official embarrassed your competition.
…you only discover that your roommate and next-door neighbor have spray-painted a giant burger and pizza outside your closet window when you see it on your neighbor’s blog.
this photo is on the cover of july 10th’s Financial Times. (above the fold.)
this is Bay Area rap legend Mac Dre (RIP) Making his signature “Thizz Face”
for more information: Mac Dre: “Thizz Dance”
This is the current window display for the downtown Oakland Sears on the corner of Broadway and Thomas L. Berkeley Way. These displays always seem to have some intended meaning that has nothing to do with retail. For example, the display pictured above shows a male mannequin in slumped in a king’s throne with obvious injuries to his head and a missing hand. (The other display I have a picture of also plays with dismemberment). Beside him is a tool chest containing power tools ready to use and the gentleman’s trappings such as dress shirt and tie. Perhaps the power tools and the hammer were used to take down the patriarch. The background is a hyperbolic ribbon of blood made from draped red cloth. Click on the picture for a better view.
is it me, or does MTV’s re-brand feel way 2000?
You’d think with the creative powerhouses they had working on it (Universal Eveything, Maxim Zhestkov and Tronic) some really ground breaking stuff would come about, but this falls way flat in my opinon. The animated segues between music videos on “nocturnal emissions” in the ’90s were more interesting.
sorry dudes