Thanks to Bryce for pointing out this terrific video:
“It’s beyond the environment.”
(only thing after the jump is confirmation whether it’s real or fiction…)
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Interesting study: apparently stubble=good mate and beards=masculine, older….
The explanation for the preference is not clear, but experts in human evolution say that that facial hair may be a signal of aggression because it boosts the apparent size of the lower jaw, emphasising the teeth as weapons.
However, it seems to be only be in certain cultures, which seems to me to negate the more primal interpretations. I’d also like to how this changes over generations…
Dr Nick Neave, who carried out the study with Kerry Shields, said: “There are large cultural differences in perceptions of facial hair, and we are hoping to expand on this research by conducting a large-scale study assessing female perceptions of male facial hair in different in as many countries as possible.
Another old illustration/HUBBLE space telescope (both in public domain, one because it’s very old, the other because it’s paid for by the government) Photochop I did:
I love making my own t-shirts! I thought I’d share one I designed recently that I’m quite fond of. Available at cat.spreadshirt.com, or if you’re feeling crafty, print it yourself (1mb, right click to get higher res in new tab or to download).
Skip forwrard to 1 minute in for the action.
I got a PSP recently for God of War–which is fantastic, undoubtedly the most polished and impressive portable game I’ve ever played–but the big surprise was the other game I got it for: Loco Roco. Pleasantly similar to Katamari Damacy, while not derivative.
It shares the ease of control–only the shoulder buttons are used, excellent music (the trailer music is exactly what’s in the game, which is a sort of chripy Japanese twist on It’s a Small World), and the cutest graphics this side of Helly Kitty. The physics of the “blob” you are controlling make the game, though–a nicely tactile controle scheme, despite its simplicity.
Tubular.
Mike Black is a Texan that moved to the coast for surfing, teaching, and film making. His Invasion from Planet C [Warning: Autoplay Sound, Official Website] is a self-financed “surf sci-fi” movie, likely the only of its kind. VBS has a three part documentary, hit the link for parts two and three.
“My name is Eugene Debs Hartke, and I was born in 1940. I was named at the behest of my maternal grandfather, Benjamin Wills, who was a Socialist and an Atheist, and nothing but a groundskeeper at Butler University, in Indianapolis, Indiana, in honor of Eu gene Debs of Terre Haute, Indiana. Debs was a Social ist and a Pacifist and a Labor Organizer who ran several times for the Presidency of the United States of Amer ica, and got more votes than has any other candidate nominated by a third party in the history of this country. Debs died in 1926, when I was a negative 14 years of age.
The year is 2001 now. If all had gone the way a lot of people thought it would, Jesus Christ would have been among us again, and the American flag would have been planted on Venus and Mars. No such luck!
At least the World will end, an event anticipated with great joy by many. It will end very soon, but not in the year 2000, which has come and gone. From that I conclude that God Almighty is not heavily into Numerology.
Grandfather Benjamin Wills died in 1948, when I was a pIus 8 years of age, but not before he made sure that I knew by heart the most famous words uttered by Debs, which are:
While there is a lower class I am in it.
While there is a criminal element I am of it.
While there is a soul in prison I am not free.
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr, Hocus Pocus, 1990
Saw this sign in North Charleston near the outlet stores. It pointed towards a dead end.
Anyone else notice the purple trend in the leading tech designs? Of course, gradient-heavy is still in, as shown by both. This makes sense though–high resolution, small size (high dpi) displays from the latest gadgets like the iPhone encourage more detail.
At least, Apple and the Mozilla Foundation seem to be in on this tip:
This also gives me an excuse to use the excellent free Photo Drop resizer Widget for OS X.
I found the set of photographs from this short audio slideshow from The State paper extraordinary.
Encyclopedia Pictura is hitting all the right notes again and again with its music videos. They first came to my attention with the excellent Grizzly Bear ‘Knife’ video, and they’ve recently completed a 3-D Bjork video. Most striking to me is the 2007 video for Seventeen Evergreen’s ‘Haven’t Been Yourself‘ which combines viscous ferrofluids, high-resolution nature photography, and faux-naked revelers in a pit of mud the color of chocolate Silly Putty. Also check out the Charles and Ray Eames ‘Power of Ten’-reminiscent video of fruits as atoms, strings, molecules, etc called Micro/Macro.
I’m turning 30 on 10/10 and am planning long in advance a big party to celebrate. It’s going to be on Saturday, October 11th and I hope everyone can make it–even if you’re from out of town! It’ll be in Charleston but I hope to visit Austin around the same time to have a party with all my friends there. Apologies to Jeff Koons for co-opting his lovely dog sculpture for my silly invite!
Some pictures of Walt, Aaron and I relaxing by the pool and cooking out on a lazy Saturday. We grilled steaks and I made a spicy rub which had dark molasses, red chili paste, fresh lime juice, garlic, sea salt, crushed black pepper, and yellow mustard. Also grilled some onions and made a fruit salad of slieced peaches, diced strawberries, cubed apples, and a touch of lime juice. Yum!
Charleston is an extremely photogenic city. Here are a few pictures I took on a recent, very sunny day downtown. Fort Sumter, where the Civil War started, is visible in the harbor shot with the sailboat.
Gregory Crewdson shoots phenomanal photographs. He creates elaborate sets with spooky lighting and exquisitely detailed mise en scène of seemingly ordinairy suburban locations that are slightly off kilter. His view on them makes the everyday seem alien.
Ray Ogar introduced me to Crewdson’s work a few years ago, and mentioned that they feel very Spielberg to him–specifically, ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’–and I couldn’t agree more.
A delicacy in the South is bread & butter pickles. Instead of sour dill pickles, these are super-sweet with a slight bitter taste. Why they are called bread and butter I have no idea, as they have neither.
I found some pickles recently by a local canner that mixes jalapeños & cucumbers. Superb! Sweet, spicy, and sour. As a sidenote, homemade pickles are always better–store brands are nearly always soggy and rubbery because they’ve been canned for too long. Pickles should be crunchy!
Here’s an easy recipe. These are great by themselves, on a tapas platter with olives and cheese, or finely chopped on a grilled bratwurst/tofu dog with some mustard.
- 3 cups sugar
- 3 cups vinegar
- 1/3 cup canning salt
- 1 tbsp mustard seed
- 1 tbsp celery ceed
- 1 tbsp turmeric
- 10 Sliced cucumbers
- 20 Sliced jalapeños (or jar of canned for not-as-spicy)
Acrylic oil painting by the talented David Degrand from Forth Worth, who also painted the header for this site. I got the painting below from him at the STAPLE! Independent Media Expo in Austin in 2007–he said the frame had belonged to his grandmother!–
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