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This art is no good, attack the radical!

dubold — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:45:42 -0800

Tom Sanford, a NY based artist, has created paintings depicting pop-culture icons before, but none have created a "regular trickle of hate mail/criticism" like this one.
The 2005 painting - a depiction of the 2004 shooting of "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott by ex-Marine Nathan Gale (previously) - is being auctioned in November. Some fans of Dimebag are a little worked up (see comments).

Other interviews with Tom Sanford.

Other art (quicktime movie) inspired by Dimebag Darrell (previously)

Ambiguous movie (and TV) endings resolved.

meadowlark lime — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:43:42 -0800

Ambiguous movie endings resolved. Some jokesters have put together imagined endings to some ambiguous film (and TV) endings. Much funnier and better executed than I expected.

Forgotten Objects

homunculus — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:31:42 -0800

Forgotten Objects. Found objects from an imagined past. [Via]

Birds are a liquid

maudlin — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:25:11 -0800

Birds are a liquid. One video. One minute. 300,000 starlings. (via)

Fumiko's Confession

flatluigi — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:18:22 -0800

Fumiko's Confession - a short film animated completely by one person. (via)

A Tale of Two Cities

HumanComplex — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:54:09 -0800

Crime: A Tale of Two Cities. When "The Wire" gained popularity in Great Britain, we were contacted by a London-based journalist who proposed a job swap. Mark Hughes, a crime reporter with The Independent, a national newspaper in the United Kingdom, wanted to come to Baltimore to see if the city's police officers, drug dealers, prosecutors and politicians bore any resemblance to those on show. We agreed to complete the exchange by sending our police reporter, Justin Fenton, to London to compare crime trends.
Articles from The Independent:

Mark Hughes in Baltimore:
Just minutes after I arrived, I was at the scene of a shooting ...
189 homicides this year – this is The Wire, only real
The trials of 'Baltimore's Boris''
Wire' star joins real fight against crime

Justin Fenton in London:
The sound of fireworks reminds me of home
'Disputes are pettier than in Baltimore'
Britain's use of DNA is light years ahead
Keeping children out of the gangs' clutches

Readers from both sides of the pond react to the story.

Jelly Donuts or Bananas?

The Whelk — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:50:32 -0800

"In hindsight, it's often seen as inevitable that the two Germanys would reunite. But this, too, is a somewhat revisionist view. " Tim Mohr writes about the "awkward twist" about the fall of the wall, many of the protestors did not seek unification.

"Got any ideas?" "Actually not."

Ella Fynoe — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:57:51 -0800

An incredibly detailed reconstruction of US Airways flight 1549, from takeoff to ditching in the Hudson. The first video is an animation of the flight, with audio from the LGA tower and a transcription of the discussion between Capt. Sullenberger and F/O Skiles. The work also includes reconstructed radar target displays, radar returns of the birds, and various audio transcripts. Based on the NTSB docket, released in June 2009.

A Russian policeman speaks out

twoleftfeet — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 03:40:26 -0800

During the last week, a senior detective in Novorossiysk, Russia named Alexei Dymovsky had a viral hit on YouTube with a series of videos (in Russian: 1, 2. With English subtitles: 1) complaining about working conditions, accusing officers of corruption, and claiming that he and other police were ordered to stage crimes in order to put innocent people in jail. Dymovsky was promptly fired, but the Russian government has since admitted that parts of the police have been turned into criminal businesses. More here and here.

A little song. A little dance. A little seltzer down your pants.

arse_hat — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:46:16 -0800

The man who killed Chuckles the Clown David Lloyd is dead. He wrote one of Mary Tyler Moore's funniest moments. He also wrote for Frasier, Cheers, Lou Grant, and Taxi, including Elaine's Strange Triangle . He also wrote and created Brothers, an early TV show to feature a character who just happened to be gay. No big deal.

A certain film just lost its engineer demographic...

Taft — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:17:48 -0800

NASA debunks 2012 conspiracy theories

Oriental Angel

djduckie — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:37:19 -0800

Lou Jing was your average 20 year old woman from Shanghai, until being on Go! Oriental Angel, an American Idol like singing competition show, had to point out the obvious. Lou Jing is half Chinese, half African- America, something China apparently wasn't ready for.

Writers on writing

Kattullus — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:09:31 -0800

In How to Write a Great Novel authors such as Edwidge Danticat, Hilary Mantel, Orhan Pamuk, Junot Díaz and Margaret Atwood speak about their writing process. If you want your thoughts on writing in a longer format, you could do a lot worse than The New York Times' Writers on Writing series, which features short essays by, for example, Kurt Vonnegut, Saul Bellow, Louise Erdrich and Annie Proulx. Should you thirst for meditations longer yet, Barbara Demarco-Barrett has on her Writers on Writing radio show interviewed a boatload of authors and it is available as a podcast [iTunes link]

Club Internet

carsonb — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:54:22 -0800

Club Internet, curated by Harm van den Dorpel

He took his job!

Sys Rq — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:44:42 -0800

Lou Dobbs has quit his job at CNN.
But will he quit whining?

To put right what once went wrong

danhon — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:25:12 -0800

Christopher Bird at Mighty God King has written some corkers in the past - from his ejection from Livejournal owing to his review of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to his frequent conversations with Flapjacks and Photoshopping of Final Fantasy Covers (previously). He's really outdone himself this time, with Scenes From An Alternate Universe Where The Beatles Accepted Lorne Michaels' Generous Offer. Read it, and, quite possibly, weep. Bonus points to the first person who constructs a Primer-level explanation of what happened.

NOW BEAR MY ARCTIC BLAST

Chan — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:35:28 -0800

Videogame voice acting at its finest.

What would Michelle Bachmann eat?

Lord_Pall — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:22:31 -0800

How Food Preferences Vary by Political Ideology
Courtesy of Hunch. Previously.

Armored Car Without Phallus. Let's Save The Whales!

gemmy — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:15:46 -0800

"One month ago Dartz presented uberluxury armored car with whale penis interior - PROMBRON... As the world's resonance was very huge and Dartz got lot of angry e-mails from Greenpeace, WWF and also Pamela Anderson, Dartz make strong decision to stop their plans regarding such interior."

Endangered sighs of relief

Kerasia — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:13:40 -0800

A rare living fossil, the Queensland Lungfish can today breathe a sigh of relief. A decision yesterday by the Australian Federal Environment Minister (and Midnight Oil frontman) Peter Garret has rejected the Queensland Government's plans to dam the Mary River for urban water use.
Considered by some legal experts to be the biggest environmental decision in a decade, the rejection of the planned dam was one of only 16 projects rejected out of 3300 proposed.

Not only is the lungfish saved, but other species such as the endangered Mary River Turtle and the poetically named Honey Blue-eyed Fish and the Tusked Frog, as well as the large, striking Mary River Cod. Also saved were the thousands acres of rich agricultural land that is used to feed the fastest growing region in Australia.

There had been strong community action against the dam since its announcement 3 years ago and the decision has been welcomed by many sides of politics. Alternative water resources have already been considered with desalination plants and recycled water on the cards.

And for some the question remains: will there come a time when protecting the habitat of a rare bum-breathing turtle comes at the expense of human habitation?

Three word phrase

Rinku — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:04:25 -0800

Three word phrase - webcomics drawn in five minutes by Ryan Pequin.

Chainsaw Suit - A Webcomic

sciurus — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:37:37 -0800

Chainsaw Suit - A Webcomic

Peak Rock was reached in 1965

acb — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:20:26 -0800

US Crude Oil Production vs. Rock Music Quality, by year. Is Rockism the cultural equivalent of Hubbert Peak Theory?

The first issue of The Ride Journal as PDF

You Should See the Other Guy — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:03:33 -0800

The Ride Journal is a lovely mag by/about/for cyclists of all types: bmxers, fixed gear riders, road racers, tricyclists, casual riders... you name it! It's a beautiful publication--great photography, nice paper, good personal stories. However, it's a print mag. As their 3rd issue is being mailed out, they've made their first avaiable for download as a 26MB PDF.

Dressed For Thrills

vronsky — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:58:28 -0800

Phyllis Galembo: 100 Years of Halloween Costumes and Masquerade