Welcome to

bitterwater blackbyrd (2006, 51.1MB, 5:29 min)

“Bitterwater Blackbyrd moves between two sites, a ruined well and
cachepond in Bitterwater Canyon along the San Andreas Fault and a
low income housing development along the main coastal freeway,
101, above LA.
Memory of a lost stream world, premonition of instant slum, as if the
blackbird’s call comes back, again and again, from a deep future and past.
Ambient sound competes against roar of a future urban street,
a fluid stream of strange lament answers the blackbird.”

by Christina McPhee. NEMIZ original composition by Pamela Z.

Originally by doron golan from DVblog on June 6, 2006, 11:00pm

Climax (2006, 6.2MB, 1:11 min)

We’ve featured Anthony Rousseau’s excellent work here before &
this is one of several new pieces you can see on his site.
I’ve focussed in on this one because I think it’s particularly interesting
in its capacity to be genuinely disturbing in a number of ways over a short spell of time.
Made from appropriated Prelinger footage, Rousseau says it is
“Une construction filmique dont la ligne directrice est la
traduction d’angoisses et de peurs infantiles…”.
Now, before I read that, I was thinking what Rousseau had done cleverly
& to powerful effect was to deploy many of the tropes of the horror genre
so we fear for, not with, the child.
But then I suppose many of those devices are indeed rooted in
our “peurs infantiles” & in fact we do both.
Smart. Smart, rich, good.

Originally by michael szpakowski from DVblog on June 12, 2006, 11:00pm

series 1, #10 (2006, 625KB, 1 sec. loop)

series 1, #1 (2006, 564KB, 1 sec. loop)

series 1, #20 (2006, 550KB, 1 sec. loop)

Attractive & interesting work from Belgian artist Dr Hugo Heyrman
Despite a superficial similarity to the recent work of David Crawford
(something in the zeitgeist, perhaps?) this work has a dynamic (and a
charm) entirely its own.
Check out Dr Hugo’s ‘Museums of the Mind’ site for lots more
(& very varied) treats.

Originally by editorial from DVblog on June 16, 2006, 11:00pm

‘White Flood’ - clip 1 (1940-2, 1.1 MB, 30 sec.)

‘A Child Went Forth’ - clip (1940-2, 1.4 MB, 30 sec.)

‘White Flood’ - clip 2 (1940-2, 661 KB, 29 sec.)

Easily the most interesting of all Brecht’s composer collaborators
& in flat contradiction to the current myth spread by those
who dislike his politics, by far the better composer than the rather
dull Weill, Hanns Eisler’s keen intellect turned to questions of film in his
exile in the USA in the early forties.
Under the auspices of the New School & funded by the Rockefeller foundation
Eisler conducted an intensive investigation of the relationship between
film & music , often involving him writing new music to already existing footage.
You can see some of this footage here - but what you really need to do is to listen.
There is no-one who could not learn something from the amazing way Eisler
deploys music here.
After the project, Eisler went on to write, with Theodore Adorno,
himself no slouch intellectually (& also a practicing composer),
one of the key books on music & the movies -‘Composing for the Films’
These clips come from the website for a new edition of the book
released with a companion DVD documenting much of the Rockefeller experimentation.
Indispensable.

Originally by michael szpakowski from DVblog on June 15, 2006, 11:00pm

Wakefield Gala - clip (1920s?, 1.1MB, 23 sec.)

Munitions Factory - clip (1940s, 884KB, 21 sec.)

Berry Picking - clip (1950s ?, 891KB, 20 sec.)

Three clips from the Yorkshire Film Archive in the UK.
& a glimpse of some lost worlds.
It’s a crime more of these films are not digitised & available
for immediate view & that the online documentation is so poor.
Makes one doubly thankful for the wonderful Prelinger Archive…

Originally by editorial from DVblog on June 20, 2006, 11:00pm

blue shift (2006, 5.8MB, 56 sec. loop)

From Scenes Of Provincial Life.
The music is ‘Wie Nahte mir die Schlummer’ by Carl Maria von Weber,
sung in 1910 by Marie Rappold, found in the University of California,
Santa Barbara, Cylinder Preservation & Digitization Project & subsequently
somewhat manipulated. The photograph is by Craig Thomson.

Originally by doron golan from DVblog on June 19, 2006, 11:00pm

Antonio (2005, 43.2MB, 3:19 min)

His Dead (2005, 14.8MB, 2:14 min)

The Only Place (2006, 22.3MB, 3:12 min)

The Califas Journal es un “sitio de video
independiente sobre política, cultura y justicial
social”, creado y trabajado por Sebastian Hernández”.
“The Califas Journal” logra un balance extraordinario
entre el compromiso a corrientes de política clara y
el cine hermoso que llega al corazón. Por lo común el
arte político y la elaboración de imáges que valen la
pena suelen ser trabajos aburridos.
Por el contrario, esto sí que vale la pena y de forma
formidable y emocionante. Levanta el espíritu. Trata
de la lucha, el porque luchamos y destellos del mundo
por el cual luchamos por lograr. Destellos que colman
todas las obras ensenadas en estas obras.
Aquí encontramos un logro extraordinario.

The Califas Journal is an “independent video digest
of politics, culture and social justice” run by filmmaker
Sebastian Hernandez.
It achieves a remarkable balance between a
commitment to clear political aims & heartbreakingly
beautiful filmmaking.
So often political art or image making is worthy but dull.
This is worthy, to be sure, but anything but dull.
It lifts the spirit.The struggle, why we struggle & a glimpse
of the world we struggle to make are somehow melded
together in these pieces.
It is an extraordinary achievement.

Music on‘His Dead’ by Los Pochos.
Music on ‘Antonio’ by Dakah
Spanish translation of post by Pablo Santiago.

Originally by michael szpakowski from DVblog on June 17, 2006, 11:00pm

Vex #1 (2006, 29.1MB, 2:08 min.)

Vex #5 (2006, 25.9MB, 1:09 min.)

Ferrari Dogs (2006, 25.9MB, 1:09 min.)

You know sometimes how when you first look at a work
you can’t process it immediately, it seems jumbled - wrong -
& you’re tempted to dismiss it.
Then you live with it awhile & suddenly it leaps into focus &
you realise you’re in the presence of something much richer
& more rewarding than the things which did immediately fall into place?
Do you know that feeling?
Well, that’s how I felt as I prepared this post.
The work, by the artist & poet Brian Kim Stefans, snuck up
on me & then hit me over the head.
Furthermore, there’s still a puzzling quality to it all, for me:
the Ferrari Dogs piece seems like work of a different category
to the vex pieces somehow ( as does Manchurian Rainman on
the site. Check it. Now - what is that all about?)
Anyway - I’ll take mystery over glibness anyday - I look forward to more.

Originally by michael szpakowski from DVblog on June 21, 2006, 11:00pm

surely this is god (2000, 47.6MB, 3:46 min)

More from ZDEN.

Originally by doron golan from DVblog on June 18, 2006, 11:00pm

some great new cards from new jersey’s tall cow press. tall cow hand prints all their greeting cards, small and large. these new designs have chunky prints that just beg to be sent to loved ones. click here to find a store selling tall cow cards near you. enjoy!

Originally from design*sponge on June 22, 2006, 9:30am

this time nyc’s salvor introduces some new animals to their fun pillows collection- including a leather version of their penguin pillow and a tiny kangaroo. prices range from $48 to $240 for the leather number. they’re a great way to spruce up a child’s room or perhaps a summer guest room.

Originally from design*sponge on June 19, 2006, 11:20am

Cory Doctorow:
Inventor Ray Kurzweil has shipped a £2,625 handheld device for blind people that you aim at any text and it reads aloud. I saw a demo of this at the Singularity Summit in Stanford last month and it really worked — mindblowingly well. The audience loved the demo — Kurzweil aimed it at a copy of his book on the podium and let it read aloud.

The K-NFB gives the user an initial “situation report”, describing what it can see. The user then makes a decision about whether to take a picture.

After a few seconds to process the image, the contents of the document are read aloud.

A set of earbuds come as standard, but the sound could also be routed through a Bluetooth headset or a set of speakers.

Sight & Sound says it will help with the ad-hoc reading of documents such as bills and receipts, instructions on food packaging or medication or emergency evacuation notices in hotels.

=”http://futurismic.com”>Futurismic)

Originally from Boing Boing on June 22, 2006, 1:28am

Cory Doctorow:
Wired News covers the homeless blogger scene, talking to homeless people around the USA who use scrounged laptops and other computers, open WiFi networks, and library connections to get online, start businesses, express themselves — even panhandle via PayPal.

Happy Ivy doesn’t have a bathroom or a kitchen in the bus he calls home. He does, however, have a video-editing station.

Living in a squalid, Woodstock-style bus parked in a Fillmore, California, orange grove, the 53-year-old homeless man charges a power generator from a utility shed and uses Wi-Fi from a nearby access point. From this humble camp, he’s managed to run a ’round-the-clock internet television studio, organize grassroots political efforts, record a full-length album and write his autobiography, all while subsisting on oranges and avocados…

Nearly all homeless people have e-mail addresses, according to Michael Stoops, director of the National Coalition for the Homeless. “More have e-mail than have post office boxes,” Stoops said. “The internet has been a big boon to the homeless.”

Helping the homeless get e-mail addresses has been a priority for years at shelters across the country. And in an age when most every public library in the nation offers internet access, the net has proven a perfect communication tool for those without a firm real-world address.

://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/boingboing/iBag?a=uhzNBh”>

Originally from Boing Boing on June 22, 2006, 7:17am

ah, frida and her fabulous finds. this week at husmusen frida talked about swedish design group, wallconcept. they launched a series of fun, slightly crazy wall decals that seem to fall right in line with the current wall decal craze sweeping the design scene. so, add this one to the group of growing decal designers, but take note because some of the designs are really quite lovely. click here for more info. [via husmusen]

Originally from design*sponge on June 22, 2006, 8:12am

Geology.com presents us with a very interesting map of global lightning strikes – high-resolution version available here. Central Africa is clearly the lightning hotspot of the world, and by a fairly stunning magnitude, I might add. (Black indicates the most active regions).

I wonder what you’d do, on the other hand, if your own brain showed up on this map… A moving black spot, crashing harddrives, frying satellites, starting fires in the deserts of sub-Saharan Africa. Or the canyons of Manhattan, funneling frictive clouds of geomagnetic energy down avenues, lighting up this map with darkness.
For that matter, if, instead, spinning out in the middle of the Pacific you find a weird eye of unexpected hydro-electrical activity, dooming ships, hiding islands, setting up the storyline for King Kong 2…
In any case, yet more information about lightning, etc., can be found at the Center for Lightning and Atmospheric Electricity Research.

Originally from BLDGBLOG on June 17, 2006, 11:54am

Mark Frauenfelder:
Here’s what a flock of a million starlings looks like. In Denmark, they call it the Black Sun. Link (via Ursi’s Blog)

Originally from Boing Boing on June 21, 2006, 3:55pm

Xeni Jardin:

LA-based duo Kozyndan are two of my favorite artists, but it’s hard to do their large-scale, intricate illustrations justice on the blog. Details are inevitably smushed. Good news, though: Dan (half of Kozyndan) says they’ve just whipped up a QTVR that allows you to pan through their latest panoramic piece online, and dig all the fine print.

“The Amorous Nudibranchs Paint the Town Red (and Orange and Yellow and Green and Blue and Violet)…” debuts this weekend at the Giant Robot NY gallery, and you can eyeball it here: QTVR link. One of their older panoramics is also viewable in QTVR format here: QTVR link. “Flat” versions are here.

Originally from Boing Boing on June 21, 2006, 5:24pm

[Images: Sand raked into earthworks, then photographed from above with a kite – a process all but perfected by Lenny, a photographer based on the island of Guernsey, whose art and idea these are. Both photos taken from his Flickr set. The first photo, above, I find almost unbelievably gorgeous].

(Discovered via Xenmate, whose blog will also tell you about starling murmurations).

Originally from BLDGBLOG on June 17, 2006, 11:49pm

Originally from BLDGBLOG on June 20, 2006, 9:56am

In New Scientist, a look at sex in perpetual online worlds, especially on Second Life, and what it means for romantic and sexual interaction in this one.

Second Life may be throbbing with sexual activity, but it’s not easy to enter the sex communities. To begin with, customising a beginner-level avatar into a sexual being is difficult and expensive: genitalia, outfits, more realistic skin and hair, and sexual moves all cost extra unless you can program them for yourself. “You have to be pretty savvy to create a realistic-looking avatar,” says Kandora. “Not all users have the time, patience and talent for that.”

n buy or make the body, the clothes, the grooming and the know-how, you still have to find a willing partner. Second Life’s sex rooms can be difficult to find without a guide, and even if you did stumble upon one, the community might not accept a stranger immediately. “It would be considered offensive to just show up,” says Brathwaite. As a result, the sex communities within Second Life have remained relatively small.

But now, games developers are teaming up with the pornography industry to open up cybersex to the masses. The collaboration has led to the first generation of erotic multiplayer online games: Red Light Center, released in May, and Naughty America, due to be released this summer.

Originally by Robin Varghese from 3quarksdaily on June 15, 2006, 3:01pm