Perusing Archives

This is a links archive, so not everything will work. C'est la vie.

November 2006

August 2006

  • 23 / Ronald McHummer
    • Start ‘em when they’re young! Hummer is giving away thousands of toy Hummers in McDonald’s Happy Meals. Ronald McHummer’s sign-o-matic allows you to vent your disapproval at the companies for attempting to perpetuate ecological irresponsibility. (via Wired)

July 2006

  • 28 / The G_eat Consonant Cape_
    • Apparently a couple of teenagers here in Greencastle, IN stole all the letter Rs from area businesses and it made national news. I wasn’t even aware. Most of the stores around here can’t spell anyway. Why would I miss an R when area businesses encourage you to get your SLUPPIES!
  • 28 / NORAD on "Warm Standby"
    • Yesterday, the military announced that NORAD would be put on ‘warm standby’ as the operation center is moved to nearby Peterson Air Force Base. In the meanwhile, the underground military complex will be used as a facility where teenagers with dictatorial tendencies can be detained and ‘scared straight’ while playing Global Thermonuclear War games with Joshua. (via Airbag)
  • 27 / The Drama You've Been Craving
    • Blog Soup has just posted mp3s of Sleater-Kinney covers and Heavens to Betsy and Excuse 17 live recordings. All in all, there are about 60 tracks. Motherload! In related news, Sleater-Kinney is on ‘indefinite hiatus.’ I know, I’m tardy. But we’re going to see them in Louisville this weekend. House painting? Not on Saturday! (via Copy, Right?)
  • 25 / Daytrotter
    • Daytrotter offers you ‘exclusive, re-worked, alternate versions of old songs and unreleased tracks by some of your favorite bands and by a lot of your next favorite bands’ for free. Can’t pass that up.
  • 19 / Bookshelf Made of Books
  • 18 / Procrastinating Watching Artsy Films
    • ‘The researchers found that when people chose movies to watch the same day, they often picked comedies or action films. But when they were asked to pick movies to watch at a later date, they were more likely to make ‘high-brow’ selections.’ Turtles Can Fly has been sitting atop our DVD player for over a month.
  • 17 / Colorado Springs, Here I Come!
    • That’s right, MONEY magazine rated Colorado Springs as the No. 1 best big city to live in for 2006. Good thing we’re moving there in September. After that, expect it to be the hippest big city in America. (via Papa November)
  • 17 / The Top 10 Unintentionally Worst Company URLs
    • 6. And now, we have the Mole Station Native Nursery, based in New South Wales: www.molestationnursery.com (via Hivelogic)
  • 16 / Blingo Joins PCH
    • Blingo has just joined forces with Publisher’s Clearing House. Wondertwin powers active! Form of a search engine! Form of Ed McMahon!
  • 14 / DIY iPod Hi-Fi Mini
    • Make your own iPod Hi-Fi mini (via Wired)
  • 13 / I.V. - Plant Pot
    • Vitamin desgin group has come up with a plant pot with a built in I.V. drip to water your plant regularly. This is particularly handy for those of us who kill plants regularly. (via Inhabitat)
  • 11 / Zizou Invaders
    • Put yourself in Zinedine Zidane’s cleats and headbutt some Italians. (via Coudal)
  • 10 / Tate's Broadband Arts Channel
    • ‘Tate Media will provide a framework in which the talent and intellectual property within Tate can be harnessed to maximum effect to reach far beyond the gallery walls. Tate Media will operate across the following platforms - online, TV production, major public events and magazine publishing - and will work closely with a number of partners, including artists and broadcasters to create the necessary content.’

June 2006

April 2006

  • 28 / UC Berkely on iTunes
    • UC Berkeley is now offering audio recordings of classes and events on iTunes… for FREE! Break out the footbag and start a drum circle around your computer!
  • 07 / Hotcakes Podcast
    • Hotcakes Gallery in Milwaukee just started a podcast of the experimental noise and jazz music series they host.
  • 06 / A Little Helpful Criticism
    • An Art-History Professor Explains to His 4-Year-Old Daughter Why the Fair Market Value of Her Picture is Actually Far Less Than That of a Thousand Words. (via Coudal)
  • 05 / IMA's New Director
    • After a six-month search the IMA hired Maxwell Anderson, former director of the Whitney Museum, as its new director/CEO. He won’t have to worry about another Rem Koolhaus debacle as the IMA expansion already took place and it’s boring as sin.
  • 05 / Middle-to-No-Class Adoption
    • ‘Xuan was already an expert with chopsticks, which is ideal because our family loves to go out for Japanese fusion. Best of all, she was disease-free… We knew that Vietnam was no sub-Saharan Africa, but still, we didn’t want our real children catching malaria or AIDS from her.’

March 2006

  • 09 / SXSW Bittorrent
    • The annual SXSW MP3 Bittorrents are available to download an MP3 from almost every band playing. They’re huge, but great for sounding cooler than your friends.
  • 08 / Wal-Mart Gets Viral
    • In an effort to counter bad press, Wal-Mart has been emailing bloggers to get them to post on their behalf. C’mon guys, do they really need your free advertising?

February 2006

  • 28 / H.E.L.P.
    • Housing Every Last Person ‘is a prototype for immediate-response emergency housing that can be quickly assembled and transported wherever the need arises.’ Man, I wouldn’t mind living in one of these for the rest of my life. (via Coudal)
  • 28 / Taxes to Help Wal-Mart?
    • You’ve got to be kidding me. ‘H. Lee Scott… the chief executive of Wal-Mart Stores beseeched U.S. governors yesterday to help him make healthcare more affordable for his 1.3 million U.S. employees… A survey by Ohio’s Department of Jobs and Family Services recently found that Wal-Mart workers represented one of the state’s biggest groups of employed Medicaid recipients.’
  • 24 / Neutral Milk Hotel MP3s
    • This is a treasure trove of NMH and Jeff Mangum b-sides, rarities, live and alternate tracks. (via The Morning News)
  • 21 / Christo Don't Pay a Living Wage
    • Christo paid an estimated $21 million erecting ‘The Gates’ but apparently the bulk didn’t go toward labor. At $6.25/hour, two UArts students worked for the artist, all the while chronicling their experience. (via Coudal)
  • 13 / We're Having a Heat Wave
    • Dutch designer Joris Laarman’s Heat Wave radiator is a nice looking alternative to some of the clunkier old radiators.
  • 06 / Art New York Cancelled
    • TBA’s just having a rough couple of years.
  • 06 / Art History Redo
    • Art History textbooks are getting revised. ‘Photographer Annette Lemieux was featured in the 1991 Janson but lost page space to David Wojnarowicz in 2001. Audrey Flack made the fourth through sixth editions of Janson, but is missing from the seventh. And almost all of the historians agree that Cindy Sherman is the most important female artist of the postwar era.’
  • 01 / SVU Valetines
    • Nothing says love like Ice-T on your tail. (via Coudal)

January 2006

  • 30 / Nam June Paik, RIP
    • Nam June Paik passed away at his Miami home at 8:00pm EST on Sunday, January 29th, 2006.
  • 27 / The Devil and Daniel Johnston
    • A Trailer for the documentary on Daniel Johnston - musician, artist, cult hero.
  • 23 / Flipbook
    • Make your own online ‘flipbook.’ You can even print out your animation as a PDF. My offering is ‘Death of a Blobby’ for Blobby Farm.
  • 13 / Dune (Extended Version)
    • Do my eyes deceive me? Is this the truly extended edition of Dune that I once saw and the studio denied ever existed? Must… own…
  • 05 / Apache Madonna
    • Madonna’s ‘Hung Up’ mashed up with the inimitable Apache song. Magic!
  • 03 / 3 New Spanky Van Dyke Songs
    • Boy With Your Heart, Forgotten Way, and Sudden Bird are available for download on Jason Rabb’s site. I particularly like Boy With Your Heart, but I’m a sucker for organs.

December 2005

  • 21 / Sauron Goes Shopping
    • Sauron, the Lord of the Dark Tower himself, does some price comparisons on vitamins and experiences car trouble.
  • 05 / Ricky Gervais Podcast
    • Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington have got themselves a podcast.

November 2005

  • 30 / The Whitney Biennial Goes Global
    • Ah, the Whitney finally caved. In an effort to keep up with the Joneses (or the Venices or the Istanbuls), they have dropped all pretense of showcasing contemporary American art and have decided to add everything to the globalization blender. Everything is going to come out khaki.
  • 30 / Eye Level
    • The Smithsonian American Art Museum now has its own blog which apparently is written solely by Kriston from Grammar.police. Honestly, is a cheeseball Stuart Davis painting and a crappy font the best the Smithsonian can do for a header graphic? Yikes.
  • 30 / The Not-So-Secret History of 'Aeon Flux'
    • Mike Russell’s comic strains to explain the phenomenon of Aeon Flux to the layperson who may not have actually seen the 15 year old cartoon on MTV. Let’s face it, the Charlize Theron live-action movie is going to be worse than Judge Dredd.
  • 22 / Super Mario Marimba
    • Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach take on the marimba.
  • 11 / Arrested Development Lives Up to Name
    • Arrested Development’s 3rd season was cut to 13 episodes and FOX will be dropping it. Jerks. It is by far the best show on television.
  • 11 / Florence Foster Jenkins Lives!
    • Stephen Temperley’s ‘Souvenir,’ is a play devoted to the ‘Queen of the Night’ - Florence Foster Jenkins. FloFo is best known for her atrocious voice that warbled up and down Verdi like a linebacker wearing golf cleats.
  • 10 / Cool is For Kids, Not Art
    • ‘What makes cool an immature value system is its simple hip/square, in/out, minginā??/blinginā?? binary, while being adult is dealing with shades of grey and with compromise. With luck, as we mature we can trust our judgment about what feels good or bad. We can cast aside the crutches of cool.’
  • 09 / iMix Your Museum
    • You can be an armchair curator at the Tate Britain. Just create your own collection/mix from their collection, give it a name, like ‘The Rainy Day Collection’ and submit it for publication. You can also write your own labels.
  • 06 / Holiday Gift Idea #3
    • FAO Schwarz acknowledges that ponies are not toys, but $175 Swarovski Crystal Pez dispensers are. I think I just threw up a little in my mouth.

October 2005

  • 19 / Why the General Public Dislikes Conceptual Art
    • ‘Most of us had … a visual education that stopped at around seven.’ Why do middle and high school art teachers fail so badly?
  • 14 / Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Dance Team
    • I… I… can’t speak. I’m not sure if I fear for the quality of our education system (if this is what is coming out of it), or if I just wish this were available when I was doing the ‘Best Aerobics Video’ competition. Probably both.
  • 12 / Explosions in the Sky Live
    • Archive.org is housing 13 live shows from Explosions in the Sky. It’s hit and miss on sound quality, but there are a few good ones out there. Good luck figuring out how to convert FLAC and SHN formats.
  • 10 / Niffenegger Interviewed by the Guardian
    • My old co-worker, Audrey Niffenegger, has been interviewed by the Guardian regarding her novel ‘The Time Traveler’s Wife,’ and her new/old book ‘The Three Incestuous Sisters.’
  • 05 / New Deerhoof MP3
    • Deerhoof’s new album ‘The Runners Four’ comes out next week and they have an MP3 from the release available for download from Kill Rock Stars.

September 2005

August 2005

  • 30 / Chicago Zine Show
    • Before I left Columbia College’s Center for Book and Paper Arts, I proposed an exhibition of zines for November 2005 in conjunction with an exhibition of Enrique Chagoya’s codices. Now you can help out by submitting your zines if they are or were based in Chicago. Disclaimer: I am not involved with the show any more.
  • 25 / Mass Destruction 5
    • More proof that Americans are obsessed with their own destruction.
  • 17 / Hilary Duff has VD
    • Veneereal Dentistry (VD) - (ve·’ne·re·al ‘den·tist·ry). I think she should ditch the porcelain and go for a nice birch veneer.
  • 12 / Ris Paul Ric
    • The first side project from Q and Not U’s Chris Richards is up on MySpace. You can also download an MP3 at Spin.com.
  • 10 / Hoosier Used to Mean Redneck
    • Wait, it doesn’t anymore? The etymology of the term ‘Hoosier.’
      (via Coudal)
  • 09 / Chips and Marshmallows
    • This is exactly why working with artists is a hoot.
  • 09 / Seona Dancing on MySpace
    • Ricky Gervais’s old synth-pop band Seona Dancing (1982-4) is on MySpace. Check out those cheekbones!
  • 08 / Ibrahim Ferrer Dies at 78
    • Ibrahim Ferrer, one of the Buena Vista Social Club singers, died Saturday (08/06/05)
  • 05 / Ova Looven does Q and Not U
    • Ova Looven (ex-Antarctica) just did a remix for Q and Not U. News at 8.
  • 03 / Armagetron
    • I am addicted to this game. It’s based on the lightcycle sequence from Tron. Now I’m just waiting for the Discs of Tron.

July 2005

  • 27 / Stille Disco
    • ‘It’s like D.J.-ing in a deaf camp or something.’
  • 25 / Karate Disbands
    • After 12 years, Karate has broken up. First Q and Not U, then this!? My heart can’t take much more.
  • 25 / Travolta Blights AMC
    • ‘After it changed its programming in 2002 to include more contemporary films, including movies like ‘Staying Alive’ and the ‘Look Who’s Talking’ movies, the American Movie Classics channel was sued by Time Warner Cable for veering too far from its original format of classic movies. A ruling on July 8 by Judge Bernard J. Fried of New York State Supreme Court gives the Time Warner unit, which has 11 million subscribers, the green light to drop the station.’ I think the problem seems to lie not so much in the lack of classics, but the prominence of John Travolta movies.
  • 22 / Age of the Amateur
    • ‘Digital tools are inspiring creativity in a way that I do not think we have seen in a very long time… I do not think you are going to see the elimination of the professional creators but you are going to see it complemented by a much wider range of amateur culture in the original sense of the word amateur - in that people do it purely for the love of creating.’ - Lawrence Lessig
  • 22 / Q and Not U Call It Quits
    • Q and Not U have decided to disband. Their last show will be Sept. 23 at the Black Cat in D.C. At first I was ticked, now I’m looking forward to three new fantastic projects.
  • 21 / Iggy Pop on the CBC
    • CBC host Peter Gzowski (poor guy) attempts to interview Iggy Pop in 1977. I just like this because of Iggy’s repsponse to Peter asking him about punk rock. I think it fits in nicely with the discussion cirulating around the whole Major Threat/Minor Threat debacle.
  • 13 / Mapping Doomsday
    • Run for the bomb shelters and hide under your desks, Eric Meyer has used Google Maps to create HYDESim (High-Yield Detonation Effects Simulator). This charts the effects of a nuclear explosion in 10 major cities. This is the kind of stuff they would discuss with us in 3rd grade after terrorizing us with film-strips on nuclear destruction. Are we in the new Cold War?
      Access the map directly at:
      http://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/gmap/hydesim.html
  • 13 / CPB Ombusmen Give Praise
    • I was a little worried that the new ombudsmen appointed to monitor bias in CPB reporting and programming would be a little harsh, but they came back with glowing praise. I felt I would have to experience a few awkward moments while running into Ken Bode (one of the ombudsmen) around town here in Greencastle. I used to live across the street from Ken and he even helped us move our organ into our apartment. Now I can just give him a smile and a nod.
  • 12 / MoMA as Commercial Platform
    • Modern Art Notes points out that the MoMA is planning a big exhibition of Pixar animation studios’ work… just in time for Christmas. Besides, since when did Pixar create ‘Modern Art?’
  • 12 / Box Office Slump
    • The LA Times reports on declining movie admissions for this year. Opening weekends are disappointing despite critical praise of the films and complaints arise of lack of creativity in material (Bewitched, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, War of the Worlds, Dukes of Hazzard, etc.). Does anyone else think it may have to do with the $10+ ticket prices? You say box office slump, I say serves ‘em right.
  • 11 / Jeff Tweedy on Filesharing
    • Jeff Tweedy is interviewed by Zed on the CBC about filesharing and music downloading. Near the end, he makes a good point: ‘I would prefer to be treated as a patron of the arts, as opposed to being treated as a consumer.’
  • 08 / Mr. T Celebrity Secrets
    • Mr. T’s Celebrity Secrets from Late Night with Conan O’Brien. Who knew the ‘T’ stood for tuna?
  • 08 / Celine Covers Jacko
    • Celine Dion covers Michael Jackson’s ‘Bad.’ Exactly.
      (via Airbag)
  • 07 / Perspective
    • Onajide has a point. Not to diminish what has happened in London, but we’ll probably see far more press coverage on London’s bombings than we will of the goings-on in Sudan. We live in a messed up place.

June 2005

  • 30 / Please Make Them Stop
  • 29 / Chest Burster Plush
    • Now you can relive the excitement of the Alien Quadrilogy with your own Face Hugger and Chest Burster plushes. Place at the foot of your childrens’ beds at night next to the clown marionette.
  • 29 / Art Handler's Journal
    • Jasper Chance’s humorous take on art handling. Anyone who has handled art can relate.
  • 24 / Bed and Breakfast on Wheels
    • Here in Greencastle this week, they moved the old Seminary Bed and Breakfast across town to join the Victorian Day Spa. It looked like quite a feat, and probably more trouble than it will ever be worth. These pictures were taken just outside of my work.
  • 24 / Navajo Lady Comic
  • 23 / NPR Offers Bloc Party Concert
    • NPR’s Live Concert Series offers Bloc Party’s June 16 concert in D.C. as an mp3. Get it while supplies last (or before they convert it to Real Audio [shudder]).
  • 22 / Charity Wristbands Made in Sweatshops
    • According to Scotsman.com, the white anti-poverty wristbands that are all the rage among celebrities and politicians are produced in Chinese sweatshops. Oxfam, Christian Aid and Cafod have been ordering the wristbands from the sweatshops with little to no mention of the working conditions. A spokesman for Christian Aid said, ‘We realise there is a problem but we have taken action to minimise it.’ Minimise? That sounds like a euphemism for ‘half the work force will be executed at dawn.’
      (via AntiPixel)
  • 10 / Targeting DNA
    • ‘Record your baby’s unique genetic blueprint safely at home for future medical advances and foolproof security.’ Now available at Target. See also the CATGee DNA Storage and Profile Kit so you can ‘prove how truly unique you are.’
      (via The Morning News)
  • 07 / Elevator to Space?
    • Apparently the Spaceward Foundation is trying to build an elevator that extends into space. Clicking the link opens a Windows Media movie of the proposed Space Elevator. Also check out their website: elevator2010.org.
  • 03 / One Free Minute
    • Today (June 3), Daniel Jolliffe’s sculpture ‘One Free Minute’ will be visiting the Ohio State University. ‘One Free Minute is a mobile sculpture designed to allow for instances of anonymous free speech. Callers to the cell phone inside One Free Minute hear a brief explanatory message and are then connected to its 200 watt speaker system. The speech produced by the system can be heard within about 150 feet of the sculpture.’ So visit the site and call the cell phone in the sculpture to make yourself heard on OSU campus.
  • 01 / Museum Seeking SWM
    • Currently 18 museums are in search for directors. Bloomberg.com thinks that ‘as this leadership shift takes place in the museum world, we can expect big changes in how collecting institutions operate. After several years of controversy over what the mission of museums should be and, in some cases, even outright ethical scandal, there’s good reason to hope that trustees will actively seek out directors who make institutional integrity their first priority.’ And then world peace will reign, unicorns and panda bears will dance together in gumdrop streams, and I’ll stop being sardonic.
  • 01 / Millenium Bean Can Be Photographed
    • Photographers no longer have to pay the unjust fees imposed by the city of Chicago if they want to take a picture of Anish Kapoor’s ‘Cloud Gate’ in Millenium Park.

May 2005

  • 20 / Bansky's Being Absorbed
    • The British are doing a better job than the Yanks of lessening the blow Bansky deals them. ‘Our museums are full to overflowing with antiworks of art and works of antiart. More astute than Rome, the religion of art has absorbed all the schisms.’ - Octavio Paz
  • 20 / Abolish Government Arts Funding?
    • An interesting article suggesting that governement arts funding perpetuates work that tries to be socially inclusive for a more popular audience. This results in dumbed-down, compromised art. An interesting argument, but I’m wondering what the solution is.
  • 19 / Musuems Should Stick to Their Missions
    • James Cuno ‘believes that museums should stick to what they do best rather than trying to be schools or daycare centres.’
  • 18 / IKEA Prefab Homes
    • IKEA ventures into prefabbed flatpack housing with BoKlok. See also: TreeHugger.com.
  • 17 / Arrested Development Returns
    • Back for season 3. Woo-hoo! Break out the Corn Baller!
  • 12 / DIY Filmmaking: Make Your Own Rig
    • Make your own camera dolly, crane and multi-outlet dimmer box from parts and materials available at local retailers.
  • 10 / Transmission
    • Gapers Block has just added a new MP3 blog to their site - Transmission. Every Tuesday, up-and-coming Chicago artists will be featured. Stay tuned.
  • 09 / James Cuno vs. the MFAB
    • Art Institute of Chicago Director, James Cuno, was invited to speak at the Corcoran and took the opportunity to express his view that museum edu-tainment is overdone.
  • 07 / Mr. Ebert -- "You my Midga."
    • An odd exchange between Roger Ebert and Daniel Woodburn discussing use of the word ‘midget.’ (Does Roger Ebert really nswer his own email?) My favorite is the list of Cockney Rhyming Slang. (via Anil Dash)
  • 04 / Law and Order: Trial by Jerry
    • In ‘Law and Order: Trial By Jerry,’ each team must propose a jury of 12 people named Jerry, and then the elimination begins…
  • 01 / Extra, Extra! New York Times Points Out Obvious!
    • News flash! ‘Women’s art sells for less because it is made by women.’ Thanks, New York Times, for ferreting out such a hidden bias. I don’t think I could have noticed that without you.

April 2005

  • 29 / Pregnant Prom Dress
    • ‘Tis the season for junior prom and therefore teen pregnancy. Well, here’s both.
  • 28 / Apache
  • 27 / Art World 90210
    • Jerry Saltz takes issue with the rumor mills, party schmoozing, and trends that drive the art world. As he said, ‘Fitting in and conforming have become esthetic criteria. Tautology rules.’
  • 27 / Lucas Sets His Sites on Failure
    • George Lucas states, ‘I’ve earned the right to just make things that I find provocative in my own way…which means making what I think are really great movies that no one wants to see.’ What has he been doing since 1983 anyway? Actually, I’m glad to hear that he’s willing to try something a little more daring and willing to fail. We’ll see if he really means it or if he’s capable of it after 22 years.
  • 25 / Kottke Creates a McSweeney's Feed
    • Jason Kottke has used PHP5’s DOM support to scrape web sites to generate an RSS feed for McSweeney’s Lists. Get it while you can.
  • 12 / Chicago Art Institute Getting Bigger
    • Chicago Park Disctrict just approved the parceling of more land to the Art Insitute of Chicago to build a 230,000-square-foot addition. Why?
  • 08 / America We Stand as One
    • Dennis Madalone was a pole vaulter (which explains his rugged good looks) and the stunt coordinator for Star Trek the Next Generation and its ilk (which explains how he got people to do his killer special effects in his music video). ‘America We Stand as One,’ has Dennis crooning oceanside while angels encircle him and firemen walk through the clouds in slo-mo. When Dennis sang the first verse, I thought he was delcaring himself to be Jesus, but it only got better… (This is a 28.3MB Quicktime video, so be patient).
  • 06 / Star Wars Line Will Not Be Moved
    • The facts are simple:
      1. The Star Wars line is still outside of Graumans.
      2. Graumans has confirmed that Star Wars will not be playing at Graumans.
      3. Arclight has confirmed that Star Wars will be playing at Arclight.
      4. The Star Wars line is pissed because they think Star Wars should be at Graumans, not at Arclight, so they are not moving the line in protest.
      Those wacky Lucasites.
  • 01 / Bassist for Guitar Wolf Dead
    • Apparently Hideaki Sekiguchi, a.k.a. Billy, a.k.a. Bass Wolf of Guitar Wolf died of a heart attack March 31. First Paul Hester, now Bass Wolf, who’s the third?
  • 01 / Crowded House Drummer Dead
    • Paul Hester was found hanged in a Melbourne park. He was last seen alive Friday, March 25.
  • 01 / FlatPak House
    • Design it yourself (sort of) houses for the armchair van der Rohe. (via Moco Loco)

March 2005

  • 29 / Radio DavidByrne.com
    • David Byrne has started his own radio station to play what he is currently interested in. (via Boing Boing)
  • 24 / Humanity in Art Writing
    • Franklin at ArtBlog.net does a nice bit of personal writing for a change. I’m all for art writing like this.
  • 23 / Kiddie Records Weekly
    • These kind folks put up a new children’s story record every week: mp3, cover art, and album art. You can download Orson Welles’s adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Happy Prince’ starring Bing Crosby, or such non-PC classics as ‘Tales of Uncle Remus’ and ‘Little Black Sambo’s Jungle Band.’ I’m so excited!
  • 23 / Stray Show and NOVA Young Art Fair
    • Iconduel reports that Chicago’s Stray Show is morphing into the Stray Section at Art Chicago, and Michael Workman and his Bridge Magazine crew are planning a concurrent indie art fair called the NOVA Young Art Fair. I can’t believe I didn’t find out about this until now. I guess that’s what I get for ignoring my art blog newsfeeds for a month.
  • 21 / Mr. T Wants You to Be Some-Bod-Dy
    • Mr. T’s ‘Be Somebody or Be Somebody’s Fool’ makes for some of the finest morsels of 80’s goodness I’ve seen in a while. Don’t forget to click on’ Treat your mother right!,’ ‘Stay Cool, Jeff!,’ and ‘Herve Villechaize sings!’
  • 21 / Sun-Times Sunset
    • A time-lapse Quicktime video of the destruction of the Chicago Sun-Times building. (via Gapers Block)
  • 17 / St. Patrick: A Saint for the Tax Breaks
    • According to the History Channel, St. Patrick’s pappy was a Christian deacon, but ‘it has been suggested that he probably took on the role because of tax incentives and there is no evidence that Patrick came from a particularly religious family.’ Wait, a Christian-cum-pagan holiday based upon false facts and supposition? Shocking!
  • 16 / Six New Typefaces from Microsoft
    • Get ready to tack some new fonts into your decending font-family CSS attributes. ‘Beginning in 2006, Microsoft says it will ship with its operating system and other software products six brand new typefaces created especially for extended on-screen reading.’ (via WhatDoIKnow.org)
  • 11 / How Jim Morrison Ended up in the Doors
    • It looks like the young Jim Morrison just couldn’t get into a Florida college, so… you know the rest.
  • 10 / Is there a Better Case for the Arts?
    • ArtsJournal asked asked various figures active in the arts to write on the topic of ‘Is there a Better Case for the Arts?’ This conversation runs March 7-11, 2005. There are some good points being made.
  • 09 / SXSW Motherlode
    • Holy Mother of Pearl! Thanks to the folks at CitizenPod and the creators of BitTorrent there are over 750 high quality mp3s (2.6 Gigs) offered up as part of the SXSW 2005 Showcasing Artist library this year. I’d better get started now because it will take me until next week to finish the download!
  • 08 / Pedro the Lion Transforms into Headphones
    • Headphones is a new band featuring David Bazan (Pedro the Lion), Tim Walsh (Pedro the Lion, TW Walsh), and Frank Lenz (Starflyer 59) comprised of live drums and synthesizers. A bit like Magnetic Fields and the soundtrack to Ghosts & Goblins. Their site will direct you to PureVolume.com to listen to songs and download an MP3.
  • 05 / Ova Looven
    • Finaly Artikal Records has updated their site so you can get a listen to Ova Looven’s (ex-Antarctica) music.

February 2005

December 2004

  • 21 / Santa-phobia
    • SouthFlorida.com put together a photo gallery of kids being scared by Santa. My favorites are #7 Hangover Santa, #15 Blood Gnome Santa, and #24 Stroke Santa.
      (via Gapers Block)
  • 18 / All I Want for Christmas is a Difibrillator...
    • As of December 18, the number 1 most wished for item in Amazon.com’s Health and Personal Care category is (drumroll)… the Philips HeartStart Home Automated External Defibrillator (AED). You’d need it to jump-start Santa after telling him it costs $1,495.
  • 18 / Plush Godfather Horse Head
    • Now with more loft and less blood, you can awaken to a soft, severed horse head.
  • 15 / Flavor Paper
    • Man, I would kill to find this stuff in a thrift store, because I could never afford it retail. (via Poise.cc)

November 2004

  • 24 / Indy Museum Director Quits
    • Following the recent rash of museum directors’ resignations (Palm Beach ICA, Getty, Art Institute of Chicago, etc.), The Indianapolis Museum of Art’s director, Anthony Hirschel, quit on Friday stating that he was no longer ‘the best fit for the museum.’ (via Arts Journal)
  • 05 / Corn Disc
    • Pioneer has announced a new CD that can store 25GB and is 87% polymer derived from corn and biodegrades. The puns about ‘ears’ and music CDs are already haunting me.

October 2004

  • 25 / Darger's Last Gallery Show
    • Iconduel reports that Henry Darger’s show at the Carl Hammer Gallery last month will be the last gallery showing of his work from his estate. ‘Kiyoko Lerner (widow of photographer Nathan Lerner), who administers the estate, wishes to take a step or two back from the hubbub of the market to reassess the future of what remains of his body of work.’
  • 20 / Who Is It
    • Bjork video with cherubic bell children. Man, she’s delightfully weird.
  • 04 / Amish Stay English
    • UPN’s series Amish in the City concluded its shameful run on September 21st where every last one of the five Amish teens decided to abandon Amish life. Well done, UPN. Well done. On a related note, all six of the ‘City’ participants decided to abandon their hedonistic urban lifestyles and join the Amish. Quelle Irony!
  • 02 / Akira Kurosawa Action Figures
    • Right up there with the ‘My Dinner With Andre’ action figures.

September 2004

  • 24 / Amateur Gymnast Smashes Art
    • Works by Gordon Matta-Clark, belonging to a billionaire heir of a Nazi-era arms supplier, were attacked by a 35-year-old woman performing a series of head-over-heels flips at the Hamburger Bahnhof museum. While yelling, she landed her gymnastics routine by punching both her arms through a section of Matta-Clark’s piece.
      (via Arts Journal)
  • 10 / Thank You, Sir. May I Have Another?
    • With the glut of art fairs and the parallel decline of art fairs, the solution (for some) seems to be add another - Alan Artner’s Chicago Tribune article.
  • 03 / Loud Bass May Cause Ruptured Lungs
    • Small lung ruptures called pneumothorax could result in collapsed lungs. A few cases have been reported by individuals who attended loud rock concerts or who own 1,000 watt bass systems in their cars. I always hoped that loud bass systems caused sterility instead. I can still keep my fingers crossed…

August 2004

  • 28 / Mingering Mike Site
    • It looks like Mingering Mike is getting his own website. It’s still under construction, but you can catch a glimpse of his art and even email him if you want.
  • 23 / Uninsured Scream
    • As it turns out, Munch’s Scream that was recently stolen from the Munch Museum on Oslo August 22. Adam Golder, chief executive of Axa Art UK, told BBC News Online, ‘Quite a lot of the world’s art, believe it or not, is not insured, or is insured only for that which a budget constraint will allow,’ he said. ‘This is a good wake-up call to really look at what they are covered for.’ Having had to become painfully familiar with the need for insurance coverage of art work, I’m a bit flabbergasted to learn that the big name museums don’t even bother.
      See also:
      Greatest Heists in Art History &
      What Happens to Stolen Art?
  • 16 / Woods Leaves Art Institute
    • Alan G. Artner interviews James N. Woods as he prepares to vacate the director’s seat at the Art Insititute of Chicago. James Cuno will be Woods’s successor.

July 2004

  • 18 / Elliott Smith's New Album
    • Rob Schnapf is in the process of mixing Elliott Smith’s latest (and, perhaps last) album, ‘From a Basement on the Hill,’culled from 45 hours of recordings.
  • 17 / Art Chicago
    • The NY Times’ David Bernstein paints a portrait of Thomas Blackman’s Art Chicago as a dilapdated, frumpy housewife compared to the “new, sexy secretary at the office” like Art Basel. Haven’t we been hearing this since May? Why is the New York Times publishing this now? They appended a photo of Millenium Park and a brief paragraph about how it may be trying to grab the art world’s attention to contemporize the article. Honestly, I’m not sure why everyone is so hard on the guy. It can’t be easy to organize an international art fair, and I don’t see anyone else trying.
  • 09 / Amish Series To Air
    • I was right, UPN is neither tasteful nor contrite. The network finished production on the ill-fated series, Amish in the City, and is ready to launch it on July 28. From the network’s own website: ‘AMISH IN THE CITY will follow the stories of five Amish young adults (three men, two women) and their six roommates from diverse backgrounds (three men, three women) as they come to Los Angeles and learn to live with each other in an ultra-modern Hollywood Hills home.’ Now that’s taste!
  • 09 / Citizen Kubrick
    • Stanley Kubrick was as much a mystery as he was a legend. Two years after the director’s death, Guardian journalist, Jon Ronson, was let loose in the Kubrick archives in search of Stanley’s Rosebud. A really fascinating read.
      (via Amish Robot)

June 2004

  • 23 / Stay Small
    • The Lollapalooza tour, with the best line-up in years, has been cancelled due to poor ticket sales. Personally, I would rather see a small concert of any one of the headlining artists for a modest price than cough up $55/day for distant lawn seating with a time delay between what I’m seeing and what I’m hearing. At least the Curiosa Festival is still on.
  • 18 / Valenti vs. Clean DVDs
    • The Family Movie Act would allow software companies to provide a product that would “filter” DVDs content to provide a ‘cleaner’ version. Jack Valenti of the MPAA said, ‘Our objection is simply to Congress providing legal cover to companies that want to make a profit by offering an edited, abridged version, without regard for the wishes of the director who created the movie or the studio that owns the copyright.’ Bleh.
  • 17 / sliding gracefully down the slippery slope of hope
    • Franklin recently wrote a piece likening the art world to the music world and how musicians are managing to skirt the traditional modes of promotion, copyright, and distribution. It sounds vaguely familiar to me. Hmmm…
  • 15 / Work Magazine
    • The Philly folks at Work Magazine are ‘looking to push it more towards a magazine full of ideas and experiments and less in the direction of a portfolio or random sampling of work.’ They ‘want you to have fun and remember why you started doing this in the first place.’ It sounds a bit like FWiC, but its obviously slanted to look and read like a magazine and the projects have a more poppy feel. It also seems to have borrowed its layout from This Is a Magazine. Nonetheless, well worth a perusal.
  • 07 / Fugazi Live Series
    • After years of talking about it, Fugazi has finally released a series of live recordings. The site says: ‘For many years, Fugazi has made a point of taping our live shows. We started out using a simple cassette recorder, then moved on to a digital audio tape recorder (DAT) and finally just burned straight on to CDs. …Over the years we have amassed literally hundreds of these recordings in our tape library. This site is a way to offer our audience access to selected tapes from that bank of recordings.’ The pricing is flat — $8 for single disc shows, $10 for double-disc shows. I can’t wait for my 10th Anniversary show 2-disc set to show up.

May 2004

  • 09 / Chicago Fires Director of Public Art
    • Chicago’s director of public art, Michael Lash, was fired after allegedly chucking a cell phone at a colleague in what Lash called a diabetes-related mood swing.
  • 09 / The Decline of Art Chicago
    • According to the Sun Times and attendance projections, Art Chicago can’t keep up with the others in the booming international art fair scene. Thomas Blackman and Associates (TBA), who put on the annual fair, aren’t willing or financially able to woo the high-end collectors that others like Art Basel are drawing.
  • 08 / The $100 Million Picasso Years
    • A NYTimes editorial on what $100 million buys these days.
  • 06 / Bootlegging as Art
    • For once, Roberta Smith and I see eye to eye. I’m a little worried.
  • 05 / Chicago "Zines"
    • The Chicago Tribune did a nice article highlighting some of the local DIY and small-press publications. However, they seem to get magazine, zine and other terminology mixed up. I don’t really consider something a ‘zine’ if it’s thick, glossy, full color, and has a distribution over a few thousand. When I think zine, I think of sharpies, Xeroxes, and a price under four dollars. Other than that, it gives a list of good bookstores, some good art magazines, and a hand waved vaguely over ‘zines.’
  • 02 / Color Crash Course
    • A crash course on the taxonomy of color and how it affects our perceptions of it. A rose by any other name… and stuff.

April 2004

  • 09 / DVDs – Now with 100% Less Smut
    • Clearplay and RCA have teamed together to release a $79 DVD player that skips the naughty bits. The DVD player will access Clearplays database of movies that have cataloged the smut. When the player encounters a cataloged portion that is objectionable, it will just skip over it. Clearchannel is trying to utilize a loophole stating that it is not altering and selling a new product, but is just offering a new way of viewing an existing product. Just like the fast forward button. Girls Gone Wild – Hawaii will now run under two minutes and thirteen seconds.
  • 07 / Illinois Apologizes
    • It took only 160 years, but the state of Illinois is now apologizing to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for persecution, expulsion, and the martyrdom of Joseph Smith in 1844.
      Perhaps the Illinois Legislature noticed the original words to the hymn ‘Praise to the Man:’ ‘Long shall his blood, which was shed by assassins / Stain Illinois while the earth lauds his fame.’ (The words have been changed to ‘plead unto heaven’ in recent editions of the hymn book). A resolution was passed and the official apology is to be issued today (April 7, 2004 — if it isn’t postponed due to the death of Sister Marjorie Hinckley (we’ll miss her)).
      See also: A Soft Answer and the full text of the resolution.
  • 06 / Vowel Movement
    • According to the website, ‘the creators of Pancake Mountain hope to bring their old-school punk aesthetic to the kid-vid set. Captain Perfect loves the kids… ‘The kids want quality!’ the Captain proclaims in the premiere episode of Pancake Mountain, a new children’s TV show. ‘Not this cheap, cheesy stuff!” With Ian MacKaye performing ‘Vowel Movement,’ who wouldn’t want their kid to watch?
      Simply the best thing I’ve seen in a very long time.
  • 04 / Quantifying Fame
    • The Getty Research Institute has dug into its archives and assembled an exhibit entitled ‘The Business of Art: Evidence From the Art Market.’ Consisting of 81 documents spanning 450 years, this exhibit features receipts, contracts, ledgers, and correpeondences. The show also houses the charts and computations of Willi Bongard, a German economist, who tracked artists like stocks. Bongard’s computations of art-world fame consist of a point system indicating varying landmarks of success - for example, 800 points for an A-list museum show, 100 points for reviews in certain arts publications. Sigmar Polke weighed in at 44,210. I think I may be a 3. Wait, I have a website! Make that a 2.
  • 02 / Get Bent
    • Oh, how I wish I could go to the Bent Festival in NYC this weekend. The festival revolves around ‘curcuit bending,’ the art of modifying existing electronics to make new sounds. Speak-n-Spells, toy keyboards, toy cell phones, you name it, it can be and has been bent. See also the article in Wired.

March 2004

  • 31 / Spare a Dime?
    • I ran across this site a year or so ago, but just remembered it. Give.org is the web site of The BBB Wise Giving Alliance. It collects and distributes information on hundreds of nonprofit organizations that solicit nationally or have national or international program services. It publishes its findings in the National Charity Report Index complete with CEOs’ paychecks and interactive pie charts! I’ll say it again — interactive pie charts! It’s interesting to note that Dogs Against Drugs spends 84% of its funds on fundraising and only %14 on actual programs; the NAACP and Greenpeace refuse to disclose information about their finances, programs, and governance; there is actually a charity called ‘Teen Mania Ministries;’ and the highest paid executive of the Boy Scouts of America makes $1,525,473, whereas the CEO of the Ronald McDonald House Charities makes $0.
  • 27 / Potlucks Safe in Illinois
    • Thanks to Sen. Dan Rutherford of the Illinois Senate, community potlucks may carry on unmolested by the health department. I’ve always been a bit worried that the health department would bust down my door, swarm the apartment, and confiscate my hot crab dip. But now I can breathe easy knowing that our elected officials are fighting the good fight and tackling the big issues.
      (via Gapers’ Block)
  • 24 / Good-Bye Bob
    • Bob Edwards, the host of NPR’s Morning Edition, is being replaced after almost 25 years of hosting. He will be kept on as a senior correspondent, but he seems pretty miffed about the whole move. Who can blame him?
  • 23 / Wonder Triplet Powers, Activate!
    • The The New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and the U.C.L.A. Hammer Museum in Los Angeles have formed an alliance to commission new works of art from young artists. Each artist selected receives a $50,000 honorarium to produce a work that will be exhibited and owned jointly by the museums.
  • 22 / Cutting-Edge Kinkade?
    • Why is Thomas Kinkade showing at the Grand Central Art Center and California State University, Fullerton’s Main Art Gallery? The GCAC is located in Santa Ana’s Artists Village and is known for exhibiting cutting-edge shows of non-commerical work. The answer is Jeffrey Vallance — international curator, artist, and “cultural provocateur.”
      (via ArtsJournal)
  • 22 / DIY DNA DAY
    • The Do It Yourself Deoxyribonucleic Acid Day in Bristol, UK will house projects like: Frontline Forensics (St Pauls, Bristol) mapping human DNA using domestic appliances and toys; extract your own DNA; Biotech Hobbyist Magazine; and copyright yourself.
      (via Rhizome)
  • 21 / Beautiful Decay
    • This decent web zine messes around with graffiti, design, fine art, punk, hip hop, illustration and design — kind of one of those urban-hipster catch-alls. Worth a perusal.
  • 21 / Indie Record Stores Are OK
    • Despite the cries of illegal downloading ushering in the death of the record industry, independent record stores are actually doing well. ‘It’s a myth,’ said Steve Wiley, co-owner of the store. ‘We see [customers] wanting to buy music.’ High prices, rather than file sharing, are what usually stop a kid from buying a CD, Wiley said. However, he also went on to say that the industry wants CDs to go for $18 when they should be going for $15. Fifteen dollars? How about $10-$11? That sounds more like it.
  • 18 / Artist Attepmts to Run Over bin Laden
    • In Montpellier, France, a French artist, identified only as Pierre, was convicted of attempting to run-over a pedestrian he thought was Osama bin Laden. The courts ordered him to serve a three month suspended prison term and pay the pedestrian $615.
  • 16 / Resale Royalty Bill
    • Austrailia’s Labor is pushing a resale royalty bill that will affect artists and craftspersons. Right now, if a work is resold by a gallery or at auction, the artist receives no royalties from that sale. A key example used by Senator Lundy was Australian artist, Johnny Warangkula Tjapurrula, whose painting Water Dreaming at Kalipinypa originally sold for $150, but went on to sell for $486,500 at a Sotheby’s auction in July 2000. Johnny never reaped the rewards of the rising price of his artwork before his death in 2001. France has had a resale royalty mechanism in place since 1920. America has yet to enact such a law.
      (via Arts Journal)
  • 15 / The Art Apprentice
    • From Arts Journal, OGIC’s art historian friend contributes an article about the episode of The Apprentice that involved promoting an artist at a gallery opening.
      (Thanks to Art Blog for calling my attention to this. I skipped right over it initally because it had a silly, non-descriptive title.)
  • 14 / $1,000,000 Bill Y'All
    • Despite the fact that the U.S. Treasury does not produce a bill higher than $100, Alice Regina Pike tried to pass a $1,000,000 dollar bill to a Wal-Mart cashier to pay for her merchandise. Of all the places to try to use a $1,000,000 bill…
  • 13 / H.R. Pufnstuf on DVD
  • 13 / Political Commentary in Anagrams
    • Ars Magna, a software program that generates anagrams, was interviewed about the 2004 presidential race. I guess it makes as much sense as having a political debate with the candidates.
  • 10 / Thou Shalt Be Vegetarian
    • Apparently PETA has beat out Mormons for the inside track with God. See also the Salt Lake Tribune article.
  • 09 / Spalding Gray (1941-2004)
    • Spalding Gray was reported missing by his wife on January 11, and was last seen aboard the Staten Island Ferry. His body was recovered from the East River near Greenpoint, Brooklyn, on Sunday and was identified through dental records. I think I’ll watch True Stories in memoriam.
  • 08 / Whitney Biennial Online
    • The 2004 Whitney Biennial is now online allowing you to peruse the artists before visiting the exhibition that opens on Thursday. Now if art museums would just ease up on the use of Flash…
  • 08 / Eduardo Kac & DNA-2-Go
    • Eduardo Kac, the man who brought us Alba the glowing rabbit, has revealed his newest project. From the images provided, Kac’s new piece looks pretty boring, but some of the ideas in the article are interesting. Plus, who knew you could custom order DNA for $3 a shot?!

February 2004

  • 29 / Spongmonkeys
    • Those things on the Quiznos ads have been identified. This ad is a perfect example of viral marketing - relying on folks like you and me to talk about it to perpetuate the ad beyond the paid television spots. Yes, I’m an unpaid corporate tool, but they’re so freaky-cool.
  • 29 / Strange Bedfellows
    • The go-between for politicians when they want to woo the commoners is a celebrity. Celebritys have a credibility that politicians and political commentators seem to lack. So John Edwards uses Ashton Kutcher and Dennis Hopper, Howard Dean has Rob Reiner and Paul Newman, John Kerry has Jerry Seinfeld, and Wesley Clark has Madonna. Credibility indeed.
  • 28 / Teaching Ethics?
    • Gordon Marino questions the value and validity of modern ethics classes and specialists.
  • 27 / Peeps for My Peeps
    • Wham-O has just unveiled the Marshmallow Peeps® Marshmallow Maker, allowing you to make Marshmallow Peeps at home. ‘Wham-O: Bringing Dante’s Seventh Layer of Hell to your kitchen in the form of fluffy marshmallow bunnies.’
  • 27 / The Fix is In
    • Are multi-millionaire businessmen secretly meeting to keep the public paying too much for everyday items? Well, yes. A This American Life piece based on The Informant by Kurt Eichenwald.
  • 26 / Mortal Kombat Fan Art
    • There are no words to describe the computer drawings of Mo Samana Koanantakool.
  • 24 / Naho Ueda
  • 23 / Color Me Lenny
    • The Law & Order Coloring Book.
  • 22 / Show & Tell Music
  • 21 / Wooster Collective
    • Street art, street art, and more street art.
  • 20 / Myths Over Miami
    • Captured on South Beach, Satan later escaped. His demons and the horrible Bloody Mary are now killing people. God has fled. Avenging angels hide out in the Everglades. And other tales from children in Dade’s homeless shelters.
      (via dirtynerdluv.org)
  • 19 / Ian MacKaye Interview
    • The interviewer is a bit off, but Ian has some interesting things to say.
  • 17 / Zinn & Yorke interview
    • Howard Zinn (historian) and Thom Yorke (Radiohead) talk art & politics. Zinn is an art romantic, but Yorke’s a bit more practical.
  • 16 / Church Sign Generator
    • Now you, too, can create witty and bizarre church signs.

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