February 2012
29 posts
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Self-Portraits by Monkeys
Deconstructing a Cohortons Post
This morning I decided it was time to post on Cohortons again, but didn’t feel particularly inspired. In case you’re wondering what the process of creating a post for this blog looks like, I think it’s almost universally this:
1. Google “art monkeys.”
2. See if anything good comes up.
3. If not, repeat “art monkeys +...
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What Domestic Violence Looks Like
Came across this today - the police report from Chris Brown’s assault on Rihanna. I hadn’t previously read it. Rihanna’s quick thinking may have saved her life. The phrase “domestic violence” doesn’t really seem to do this justice:
Brown was driving a vehicle with Robyn F. as the front passenger on an unknown street in Los Angeles. Robyn F. picked up...
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No Brain No Pain
This matrix-esque art installation is brought to you by André Ford. The concept being that if we disable the neocortex of a chicken, even a production system like this one is arguably more humane:
In the past six years we have witnessed an unprecedented increase in the demand for meat. Higher welfare systems are available but this project looks at addressing the inherent problems with the...
Last Thoughts on Student Democracy
There is truly no critique more devastating than the strike-through rewrite. Undeniably, re-reading my post with large parts of the argument omitted and words inserted which invert the meaning of sentences does rather weaken the piece as a whole. My last rebuttals, and then a concluding thought.
1. “Student democracy is General Assemblies”
Riva edited two sentences so that they...
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Toronto Public Art (?) Saturdays
Walking the dog the other day near Mirvish village I came across a series of whimsical though uninspiring public art installations! Someone is filling in sidewalk cracks with coloured blocks and white glue. Reminds me of that lego-repair art in Berlin and New York. More pictures of sidewalk cracks, as well as Nina the dog, after the jump.
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Interracial Marriage in America
A new Pew report finds that Americans are increasingly accepting of interracial marriage and that these marriages happen more often. Among the study’s findings:
15% of all new marriages, and 8% of all marriages, are between spouses of a different race or ethnicity
The wealthiest inter-racial marriage group are asian men married to white women
20% of new marriages are interracial in...
Survivor One World: Cast Assessment Part 2
Sadly, I only have time to write very short predictions for these guys.
Alicia, 25.
Seems very entertaining, but may well annoy her tribemates. Dresses kind of inappropriately for a teacher. Pre-merge.
Bill, 28.
A stand-up comedian and Iraq vet? Pretty awesome. It’s not clear how invested he is in Survivor though, or if he just wants to get attention for his stand-up career. Merge.
...
Student Politics: It does have to be this way
A response to jjmstark. Riva’s position is precisely the sort of overreaction that I am concerned about. As a result of the actions of a few individuals, she is apparently willing to give up on student democracy as a whole, and interpret any call for more student engagement to be a call for more necessarily toxic student...
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Student Politics: It doesn't have to be this way
Riva’s position is precisely the sort of overreaction that I am concerned about. As a result of the actions of a few individuals, she is apparently willing to give up on student democracy as a whole, and interpret any call for more student engagement to be a call for more necessarily toxic student politics.
In fact, the root cause of most of her concerns isn’t “student...
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Survivor One World: Cast Assessment Part 1
It’s February 14th, and we all know what that means: just one day to go before the premiere of the 24th season of Survivor! Titled Survivor: One World (there are only so many euphemisms for Samoa, after all), the new season will feature 18 new castaways divided into two tribes by gender.
Because clearly everyone is interested in this, I decided to share my first impressions of the new cast based...
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Student Politics: Intrinsically Good,...
Josh raises two valid objections to my article critiquing McGill’s student activism: that student involvement is intrinsically good, and that McGill students having more power will lead to better outcomes. He’s wrong on both counts.
Josh’s first claim is that student engagement is in-and-of-itself a good, an end worth pursuing for its own sake, and that more is better. He writes, “Fostering...
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McGill Occupation: Protest on, but Protest Better
I generally agree with Riva that this protest is misguided, but I disagree on a few points. Fostering student engagement and democracy on a university is obviously and unquestionably a good thing. The fact that these protesters have completely failed to articulate a clear message and squandered whatever moral authority they once had shouldn’t obfuscate the larger issue.
As Riva points out, the...
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Even Domestic Violence Can be Overcome
…if you’re the abuser.
Chris Brown is performing at the Grammy Awards tonight. That’s right, three years after he put his then girlfriend, Rihanna, in hospital, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences is ready to forgive and forget, on her behalf.
This article pretty much says it all:
I’m frustrated that the mainstream media is covering this story like it’s any...
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Saturday Starry Night Live
Petros Vrellis took Van Gogh’s Starry Night and animated it. Then, he took the animation and added touch controls that let you re-direct the flow of the sky, extend the cypress tree, or create new swirls in the painting. Just the animation itself is really quite beautiful.
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Shameful Goings-on at McGill University
For the past week, my newsfeed has been clouded primarily by two pressing issues:
A) The sheer, horrific magnitude of the bloodshed in Syria, where protesters fighting for justice have been met with helicopters, snipers, and most recently, Soviet-style T-72s. (As far as we can tell, given the lack of press freedom in the region.)
B) The multi-day “Occupation” at McGill University, in response to...
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C-11, Continued
Earlier this month I wrote a post about Bill C-11, arguing that while there are a lot of problems with it, it’s hyperbole to suggest that it is equivalent to SOPA. There just doesn’t appear to be much evidence suggesting that specific SOPA-esque provisions will be included. Copyright advocate Michael Geist had linked to this document (pdf) to support his claim that certain SOPA-like...
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Nerds Will Like This
I love love love this exhibit, titled “Perfect Cherry Blossom” by Keiichi Tanaami and Oliver Payne:
In Oliver Payne’s collages stickers of Japanese Bullet Hell Games are arranged on torn out pages of an ancient Greek sculpture catalogue. Payne transforms the violent imagery of these videogames into psychedelic explosions of color. Greek statues serve as a background and a...
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Is the Haredim Problem Exaggerated?
A few weeks ago in Israel, a young girl named Naama Margulis was spat on and cursed at by a group of Haredim - ultra-orthodox Jews - for wearing immodest dress. The incident has, unsurprisingly, generated a lot of press, and spurred a number of articles about the Haredim and their relationship to the rest of Israeli society. Concern about the Haredim - especially their explosive demographic...
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Khardboard Khomeini
To celebrate the 33rd anniversary of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini return to Iran, the regime held a re-enactment where the place of honour was held by this large, awkward cardboard cutout. More shots from the state semi-official news agency here. The photos have sparked an internet meme in Iran, where websites like Cardboard Khomeini photoshop the cutout into unlikely scenes:
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Sexual Harassment in Egypt
Sarah Topol reports from Egypt:
Sexual harassment — actually, let’s call it what it is: assault — in Egypt is not just common. It’s an epidemic. It inhabits every space in this society, from back alleys to the birthplace of the newest chapter of Egyptian history. A 2008 study by the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights found that 98 percent of foreign female visitors and 83 percent of Egyptian...
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"Damn it Feels Good to be a (Republican)"
Now that we’re on to the boring part of the Republican primaries, let’s talk about some interesting side stories. Turns out, Republicans have an awfully hard time finding popular music to use at campaign rallies:
Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich were forced this week to stop using songs at their rallies after songwriters complained that the campaigns had played the pieces without...
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Serendipity Sundays
Alex Wild is a photographer and biologist who runs a blog showcasing his insect photography. Recently, he was working somewhere in Australia and took the photo you see above of an unusual wasp with what looks like a massive rack of antlers. He tweeted the photo, and within a few minutes, heard back from a researcher who was studying that very species:
“OMG!!! I’m currently revising this...
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Scottish Siri Saturdays
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Whimsical Art Saturdays
Brock Davis makes neat things with food. I also really like his “famous explosions rendered in cauliflower” shots:
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Won't Someone Think of the Children?
Seven year old Bobby Montoya went with her mother to join the Girl Scouts, but was turned away by a Denver troop leader because Bobby is transgender. A few weeks later, the statewide Girl Scouts organization issued a statement saying “If a child identifies as a girl and the child’s family presents her as a girl, Girl Scouts of Colorado welcomes her as a Girl Scout.” The...
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Bad Subscribers
Apparently Facebook’s subscribers feature has a bit of a sexual harassment problem:
When the Travel Channel’s Nisha Chittallaunched her public profile on Facebook Subscribe, she looked forward to connecting with a community that shared her wanderlust and passion for social media.
Instead, she got sexually explicit messages, pornographic photos, and spammy, irrelevant messages from...
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To My Old Master
In 1865 Colonel P.H. Anderson wrote a letter to his former slave, Jourdon Anderson, asking that he and his family return to work on his farm. Here’s what Jourdon wrote back. A small excerpt:
Sir: I got your letter, and was glad to find that you had not forgotten Jourdon, and that you wanted me to come back and live with you again, promising to do better for me than anybody else can. I have...
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Bill C-11: Worth Fighting Against. But Still Not...
A few days ago you may have seen this blog post being circulated around facebook and twitter. It warns that the Harper government is set to pass Bill C-11, which (the author claims) would introduce SOPA-like copyright controls into Canada.
Is this true? Not really. Bill C-11 is the latest attempt at copyright reform in Canada, and shares a lot in common with previous proposed legislation like...
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Flesh Love
Japanese artist “photographerhal” found interesting couples in bars, and then asked them if they would like to be sealed in plastic and photographed. The subjects are only without air for a few seconds as the photos are taken. The whole series is here (somewhat NSFW) and the entire thing is available as an iPad app here. Says the artist: ”One day I found the perfect place...
January 2012
4 posts
3 tags
"The Suffering Olympics"
On January 20th, Germany marked the 70th anniversary of the Wannsee Conference, where the Nazis adopted a formalized plan to exterminate Europe’s Jews. This has sparked debate on an old subject: the feeling among many post-soviet countries that the crimes of the USSR against their populations are wrongfully not given the same historical importance afforded to the Holocaust. Roger Cohen...
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What Makes an Oreo an Oreo?
When Oreos were first introduced to China, they bombed. Robert Smith at NPR explains what happened next:
But before the cookie was declared a failure, Kraft thought that maybe a little research was in order. And so a decade after it was introduced, Kraft finally asked the right question of Chinese consumers. A question unthinkable in the United States:
What’s the problem with an Oreo...
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The Church of File Sharing
File sharing is now officially a religion in Sweden.
For the Church of Kopimism, information is holy and copying is a sacrament, it said in a statement, and adds that information holds a value, in itself and in what it contains, and the value multiplies through copying. Therefore, copying is central for the organization and its members.
Its founder is a teenager named Isak Gerson.
...
Kids with Stickers make Art
Children were given stickers to decorate this all white room…Parents would probably find the name apt: The Obliteration Room.
before:
after:
Get the story after the jump:
Hosted at the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art the exhibit is part of an exhibition Look Now, See Forever by the famous Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama (admittedly, the name didn’t ring a bell initially, but the...
December 2011
12 posts
Hangover Cures from Famous Heavy Drinkers
Note: most every item on this list is in the “hair of the dog” camp of hangover approaches.
Frank Sinatra and Robert Mitchum - Mitchum had a drink he called “Mother’s Milk” (a Ramos Gin Fizz: Gin, lemon juice, lime juice, egg white, sugar, orange flower water, and soda water). Sinatra swore by it, and not only would always call Mitchum “Mother” but would...
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Photos of Elderly Animals
Tired of seeing photos of puppies, kittens, and baby horsies, artist Isa Leshko took inspiration from her ailing mother and decided to do a series of elderly animal shoots.
Like this 33-year-old horse:
And this 30+ Capuchin monkey:
Phyllis is a Bat Mitzvah age sheep.
This 5-year-old turkey is elderly too.
See a related write-up about her in the NYT. (The artist, not the turkey.)
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more
When Dutch photographer Claire Felicie’s son enlisted as a marine with the Royal Netherlands Marine Corps, she began a project titled Marked. In it she catalogues Dutch Marines through three portraits: one 5 months before they were stationed in Afghanistan, one during their 6 month, and one 2 months after their tour was completed. As My Modern Met notes:
The first image, taken 5 months...
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Hitchens' Final Days
For a man on his death bed, Christopher Hitchens wrote with incredible lucidity.
Before I was diagnosed with esophageal cancer a year and a half ago, I rather jauntily told the readers of my memoirs that when faced with extinction I wanted to be fully conscious and awake, in order to “do” death in the active and not the passive sense. And I do, still, try to nurture that little flame of...
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Where Do You Buy a Chaucer Doll?
Look no further! Artist Debbie Ritter designed these nerdy creations and says she takes requests.
Actually there is an entire section devoted to author dolls. At 4.5 inches tall, what could possibly look cooler on your desk at work?
Guess who…
I guess the book sort of gives it away, doesn’t it?
Some Canadiana…
If I ever have a daughter, this Emily Bronte doll will be...
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Google Maps Without The Maps
Jenny Odell takes images from google maps and then carefully erases everything except the people. More images like this and other google maps related artwork at her blog, linked above.
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The Great De-Veiling
Jason Kenney announced today that muslim women will now be forced to remove their veil during citizenship ceremonies. He offered two justifications for this policy. First, he says that citizenship judges have complained that when women wear a veil, they can’t tell for sure if the women are actually saying the oath or not. Second, doing otherwise is contrary to various Canadian values - oaths must...
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The Evolution of Monsters
Interesting and amusing article at Salon exploring the origins of monster myths. Absolutely the best part is the explanation offered for the prevalence of Dragons as a monster archetype:
Jones argues that the image of the dragon is composed of the salient body parts of three predator species that hunted and killed our tree-dwelling African primate ancestors for about sixty million years. The...
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Fine Art Remakes
Booooooom, an art and design blog, is hosting a great contest. The task is to take a photo replicating or creatively reinterpreting famous pieces of art. They’re giving away a full Adobe Creative Suite (value $899) for the best one. You can find all the submissions here. As you’d expect, there are about a bazillion last supper and american gothic remakes. A few more of my favourites...
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Blatchford Sick of "Toronto Sissies"
In what is almost certainly going to spark a drawn-out and unproductive gender-based flamewar, Christie Blatchford published a gem this morning in the National Post. In an article titled Toronto: City of Sissies, Blatchford laments the loss of the manly man.
It seems after spending an *entire* afternoon in the city, our devoted reporter encountered a group of young boys hugging and walked away...
Jian Sword Dancing Major Lazer Video
Did you see this video earlier this fall? No one really knew what to make of it when it came out. It’s so polished - is it advertising? But what is it advertising? Why the Grandma?
Then Major Lazer release a music video for their track “Original Don” - featuring the sword dancers and their octogenarian extra:
What’s going on? Surely, part of a viral marketing...
It's December..
And that means it’s time for a post about more cute things birds can do:
1. Feed puppies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjseF82R7es
2. Dance better than you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bt9xBuGWgw
3. Eat cashews.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqvtlXyMLEQ
When I was six, my brother and I begged my parents incessantly for a dog. My parents, knowing full well we had no intention of...
November 2011
3 posts
coping with the absurdity of reality
… or better yet; Why Herman Cain Must Be a Performance Artist. … or even better yet; Why the Republican Nomination Must Be Performance Art.
Many a time, when confronted with an individual who’s actions I find completely ridiculous and unbelievable, I resort to the Andy Kaufman reading of human behavior. Not only does it help explain truly outlandish behavior, it also helps me...
food porn - now with erotica
The Roost : gorgeous pictures of delicious food I probably will never have the discipline to make, complete with (occasionally) stream of conscious style prose.
(above: the first pictures for riesling poached pear tart with chai spiced custard and almond crust)
Apparently the author is a photographer (who’d a thought!?) who, due to her husband’s Crohn’s cooks a...
October 2011
15 posts
3 tags
Pest Control Through Genetic Modification
Researchers have genetically modified mosquitoes so that they pass on a lethal gene to their offspring, killing them off before they reach adulthood. Release them into an environment, they mate with non-modified mosquitoes, and all the resulting offspring later die. The NYTimes reports:
Oxitec has created Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, the species that is the main transmitter of the dengue and yellow...
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God: There's an App for That
The New Yorker speaks to members of faiths where digital texts and apps are quickly becoming a normal part of religious practice:
This is not to say that disputes about the value and use of digital texts do not arise. Rabbi Elie Kaunfer, the co-founder and executive director of Mechon Hadar, a traditional Jewish educational institute on the Upper West Side, said that arguments commonly arise in...