Russian Sledges

Oakland is about to decriminalize the pinball machine - a staple of American arcades and bars that was outlawed 80 years ago when it was considered a gambling device.

devilduck:

We love these wonderful vintage postcards that’ve been beautifully illustrated with portraits of characters from Twin Peaks, still one of our all-time favorite TV shows. They’re from a series called Lost in the Post: Twin Peaks created by Paul Willoughby, London-based illustrator, artist and creative director of Human After All. They were shown at a 20th-anniversary exhibition of Twin Peaks-releated art, which took place at the Menier Gallery in Southwark, London in October 2012.

[via Flavorwire]

Despite the tech-friendly climate within City Hall, San Francisco is coming down on a new breed of parking spot-sharing apps. The city issued a cease-and-desist letter demanding that Apple pull them from the App Store for violating California law.

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KFC donated $30,000 to the family of three-year-old Victoria Wilcher after they claimed an employee at a store in Jackson, Miss. asked them to leave because Victoria's scars—leftover from an attack by her grandfather's pit bulls—were scaring customers. But according to a new report in the Laurel Leader-Call, the whole thing was a hoax and never happened. http://gawker.com/kfc-apologizes...

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EGM #29

Game designer Cameron Kunzelman has created the aptly titled Reading Electronic Gaming Monthly, a Tumblr blog featuring scans of old Electronic Gaming Monthly video game magazine articles, images, and advertisements. Kunzelman has read through over a decade of old EGM issues to provide content for the blog.

EGM #40

EGM #24

EGM #33

EGM #29

images via Cameron Kunzelman

via Kotaku

Photos by Tim Bugbee

Sharon Van Etten is about as personable as it gets. The New Jersey native writes unflinchingly honest songs about her past and present struggles, penning them with playful descriptions that mask the real meaning until you listen closely. She has nothing to hide because she doesn’t think it’s worth the effort. It’s a decision that leaves her fragile, but it’s a decision that allows her to flourish live.

Apart from a few too drunk patrons, the crowd at last night’s sold out show was respectful, gazing up at Van Etten adoringly and breaking character to shout a friendly heckle her way from time to time. Those who had seen her before called out in good humor (like the forever reoccurring “Jagoff” inside joke) while first timers showered her in compliments.

Torres opened the show with equally raw tracks, many of which brought out a bellowing voice that shook when she sang. With hard-hitting indie rock folk bits like “Honey” and “Jealousy and I,” she set the mood for the show as one of reflection and cathartic release despite her backing band’s somewhat slow support.

Sharon Van Etten looked powerful, thin, and confident. Shades of tan and black cloth wrapped around her like complimentary enhancers for her round, almond eyes. As she opened her mouth to begin with Are We There’s opening number, “Afraid of Nothing,” the room was in awe of her beauty. Careful guitar and keys fell like first breaths, and as each line unfolded, so did the tension in the room.

The song ended and her four bandmates smiley shyly to one another, close friends beginning the first date on their US tour. Are We There, Van Etten’s newest and fourth album, saw the singer-songwriter bring her backing band in studio for the first time. For such a monumental moment in her career, it’s evident everyone is proud of their work, and most of all Van Etten.

“Hello! Now I’m over here!” she said loudly from behind a keyboard on the left. She paused, waved, and laughed nervously, her shoulders shaking, habitually slouched.

Sharon Van Etten has a miraculous way of balancing two starkly different personalities onstage. When playing, she is enclosed in her sound. Her mouth opens like a faucet for running words that splash down on the crowd. At times she opens it so wide that all of her teeth can be seen or, when she tips her head back to get a particularly deep, resonating sound on “Your Love Is Killing Me,” the bridge of her mouth. Her short, dark bob frames her face, albeit being disheveled, making each brooding note that much more shaped. Two men in front shared whispers about her stage presence and intense eyes.

Yet between songs, she’s nothing but relatable quirks and adorable mistakes. She spends much of set conversing with the crowd, talking to whoever shouts out at her. As she moves her hands in response, she looks a bit like Fiona Apple. After the set, she even makes time to camp out at the merchandise table for an hour while 30 people gathered around her table, waiting to say hello. But that wispy, giggly self still tenses up when performing the powerful “Don’t Do It” or “Serpents.” It makes you wonder: how does someone this lovable, this dually goofy and beautifully talented, get so torn up?

That’s what her music is for, the answer, and live it becomes all the more real. Seeing Van Etten as someone other than an emotionally damaged woman standing back up after recoiling in pain is crucial. It allows for the level of identification and assimilation we normally feel with actors or friends. She’s opening herself up for us to find comfort in, and when she sets out to tour, Van Etten adds pillows to the cave. She’s inviting us to stay longer if need be because she understands firsthand just how crucial it is to give love after taking it.

Selections from the Boss Architecture Flickr group

The presidential task force will investigate and combat decreased populations for a number of pollinator species, including birds, bats and butterflies.

It’s the bar that time will never forget. Or maybe it’s the other way around.

On June 15, The Long Now Foundation opened The Interval in its Fort Mason headquarters. Yes, there will be robots, as most stories have reported. You’ll have to wait several months to see them, says events coordinator Michael McElligott. Available now: ambient visual and musical art from foundation board member Brian Eno; tea and coffee during the day; and at night, cocktails designed by Jennifer Colliau, longtime Slanted Door bartender and the mastermind behind Small Hand Foods.

One pic-snapper has already labeled it “The Most instagrammable bar in San Francisco.” Here’s the proof.  And remember: Start tagging your Instagram photos with #TasteSF. We’ll feature the best of them on SFGate.

The Interval: Fort Mason Center, Building A, (415) 561-6582

Partisan tailors in Taragovishte, liberated Bulgaria, 1943.

You must have no college experience along with a fairly average high school GPA (GRADE POINT AVERAGE) to get hired for this position. You must be within the age group of 19-24 yrs. Your sex does not matter however you must claim a name other than your own. I am seeking a special individual to attend School of The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston pretending to be me for another four years starting September 1st, 2014. I will pay for your tuition, art supplies, housing in any area of your choice, transportation, and living expenses and pay $50,000 a year with $10,000 bonus after graduation. All you will be responsible for is attending all classes, participating in class critiques, completing all class assignments, gaining acceptance into the Senior Thesis Program during your third year, all while pretending to be me. You do not have to worry about getting accepted, I have already taken care of that. If interested, please email me a little information about yourself, and we can meet in person to discuss further. When we meet you will be asked to sign a non disclosure agreement, so you can not reveal who I am or any further information, whether you are selected or not. You must NOT have been raised in Upstate New York or Miami, Florida nor must you not have applied to any other art colleges within the north east prior to responding to this advertisement.

Praise R Cise (Christian Aerobic Services Inc 1982) Produced by Joey & Bernadette DiFranco Narrator: Donna Mangold

poc-creators:

A poetic and artful umbrella, Komorebi is based on a Japanese expression that approximately translates to “sunshine filtering through foliage.”

http://www.gnr8.biz/product_info.php?products_id=1571  Buy here

phil winter has added a photo to the pool:

How I feel when I have to talk about my artwork.

Harris Tweed weavers, by the very nature of their work, tend to be a solitary breed, shut away in their loom sheds each day, working with concentration as they create their cloth. Unless you know a weaver personally, or know … Continue reading →

The post Meet The Weavers #01: Anna Macleod & Donald Montgomery appeared first on The Harris Tweed Authority.

This Monday, June 23, at 12 pm EDT, we will begin accepting pre-orders for our Alden x Leffot Naval boot in black shell cordovan via this link. We will also accept requests for non-stock sizes via email and phone starting at the same time. The deadline for non-stock size requests is Wednesday, June 25, 2014.

The number of pairs in this pre-order is limited, and orders will be accepted while quantities last. Orders are on a first-come, first-served basis. We are unable to accept any requests before the launch time.

We suggest you view the terms of our Alden pre-order policy.

Barrie Last, Black Horween shell cordovan, Double Leather Soles

There has been a lot of talking, debating, and hand-wringing among Christian bloggers lately about modesty; particularly yoga pants, making men uncomfortable by being attractive, and in general, ways in which to combat everyone’s favorite “evil”: lust. Well, I’d like to hop on the modesty bandwagon and discuss something that I have personally struggled with for many, many years.

biomorphosis:

Wombats are second largest marsupials in Australia. Despite their size, they are fast runners and can run 40 miles per hour, but only for short distances. Their diet mainly consist of grasses and roots.

“Why am I so freaking excited about this movie? Check out its cast: Tilda Swinton. Chris Evans. Jamie Bell. Alison Pill. John Hurt. Ed Harris. Octavia Spencer. South Korean actor Song Kang-ho, who was excellent in Park Chan-Wook’s 2009 vampire movie Thirst. I’m feeling Pacific Rim levels of anticipation here. Higher, even.” That’s what I wrote the very first time I heard about Bong Joon-ho’s Snowpiercer, all the way back in January 2013. I have been looking forward to this movie for seventeen months. To say I had high expectations going into it is like saying Michael Bay is mildly fond of explosions. Because I was looking forward to it so very much, potential for disappointment was high. So it goes.

But was I disappointed? Readers, I see a lot of movies. Most of them are good. Some are great. A small number I love. And every once in a while I see a movie that leaves me vibrating with energy as I leave the theater, knowing that what I just saw will stick with me probably for the rest of my life, or at least until the inevitable robot overlords come and conquer the planet. Snowpiercer is one of those.

Snowpiercer was the subject of a much-discussed controversy where its US distributor, The Weinstein Company, wanted to edit the film to make it more palatable to mainstream American audiences (“their aim is to make sure the film ‘will be understood by audiences in Iowa… and Oklahoma…’“). Ultimately that didn’t happen, but the compromise was that an uncut Snowpiercer would only get limited release. I don’t know what movie Harvey Weinstein was watching—maybe he thought “Woah, South Korean director and some Korean dialogue, what is this, some art-house foreign shit?! People will never watch that!”—because for all that what I saw has some seriously dark content, an incredibly bleak worldview (humanity dies because it tries to fix global warming), and is packed full of metaphors about class issues and human nature, it is absolutely an entertaining, even crowd-pleasing, movie.

The plot is fairly basic. As anyone can glean from the trailers, Snowpiercer takes place in a world beset by a new ice age. All what’s left of humanity lives on a train, where they’re separated into the haves and the have-nots. One of the have-nots, Curtis (Chris Evans), leads his people in a revolution. The whole movie is just them trying to get from the back of the train to the front. But Snowpiercer never gets boring. Your favorite characters never feel completely safe. You never know if you’re going to leave a car where an intense action sequence took place and enter one where people straight from the Capitol scenes in The Hunger Games are nightclubbing their hearts out like there ain’t no tomorrow. You might think you know where the story’s going… but you don’t.

There’s a darkly surrealist tone to Snowpiercer that’s reminiscent of Terry Gilliam, if Terry Gilliam weren’t quite so… Terry Gilliam-y. There’s weirdness in this movie, for all that it’s more accessible than a Brazil or a Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. During one blood-pumping fight scene Curtis slips on a fish. Again: Chris Evans slips on a fish. Tilda Swinton takes her false teeth out at one point for some reason. There’s a scene where our grizzled revolutionaries encounter a chipper elementary school teacher (Alison Pill) who leads her charges in a rousing singalong about how great Wilford, the God-like owner of the train, is. It’s ridiculous, but it works. The darkness, the action, the humor: Everything fits. This movie could’ve turned into a hard-boiled mess at any given point, but it’s so carefully stylized, so precise, that I accept things which I would never let fly in another movie (“That character’s clairvoyant? OK, I’ll buy it.”).

One of the reasons it works is that Snowpiercer is a visual masterpiece—the entire thing literally takes place in a series of boxes, but it’s never boring. Some of the dialogue’s a bit awkward and stilted at first, but as soon as you accept you’re watching a heavily-stylized surrealist dystopian sci-fi and not a gritty, “Nolanesque” (as they say) sci-fi actioner, grrrrr, it all comes together. The key to tapping into the tone of the movie is something a character says late in the film: The experience of living on the train has driven everyone on it ever-so-slightly (or more than ever-so-slightly) crazy.

That brilliant creative decision on the part of Joon-ho and screenwriter Kelly Masterson leads to great performances from the entire cast, which is another huge reason why Snowpiercer didn’t fall on its face. You have never in your life seen another performance like the one Swinton gives in this movie, and I know you can say that about most Swinton performances, but trust me on this—you need to experience it. Incidentally, her character, Mason, was a man in Le Transperceneige, the graphic novel on which Snowpiercer is based.

And Chris Evans. Oh, Chris Evans. Curtis has similarities to Evans’ most famous role—both he and Captain America are men trying to be both a good person and a good leader when everything is stacked up against them. You can make a case for (or, for that matter, write fanfic about) Curtis being Cap in a particularly grim AU. But Snowpiercer strives for more than the MCU’s solid (but fairly basic) level of entertainment. With Snowpiercer, Evans gets to show you how good an actor he really is, and man oh star-spangled man does he deliver. Between this and Sunshine, he’s been in two of the best sci-fi movies to come out in the past ten years, hands down.

In a cast as big as Snowpiercer‘s, you’d think there’d be a weak point, but there really isn’t. Octavia Spencer, Jamie Bell, John Hurt, Song Kang-ho, Ed Harris, Ewen Bremner, Ah-sung Ko, Luke Pasqualino, Marcanthonee Reis, and Vlad Ivanov all terrify, infuriate, intrigue, and/or cause intense emotional pain in turn. The only thing about Snowpiercer I really didn’t like at the time I was watching it is the visual effects of the frozen hellscape outside the train. Frankly speaking, it looks fake. But the more I thought about it, the more it grew on me. Like I said, Snowpiercer is an incredibly visually stylized movie. The world outside the train is supposed to look fake, to look distant and unreachable and unreal, because for the people on the train… it is. It’s mere feet away, but they’ve lost all hope of ever setting foot on it again. The train is the only thing that’s real.

I fear The Weinstein Company, with the aforementioned limited release, is trying to bury this one. It’s been out in other countries for months, and many people already illegally downloaded the French version in the wake of Captain America: The Winter Soldier‘s release (and why didn’t TWC put Snowpiercer shortly after it to capitalize on Evans mania?). Going into Snowpiercer I felt like I was one of the few people who hadn’t seen it yet, and I got into an advance press screening weeks before it even came out in the States! I’ve seen the trailer in a movie theater once—once—at an indie theater that plays trailers for whatever its upcoming movies are. Not in a Regal theater. Not in an AMC.

All this is to say, it looks like The Weinstein Company doesn’t think all that many people want to see Snowpiercer. They don’t think a weirdo dystopian movie with a South Korean director and partially Korean dialogue where one of the main actors (the always excellent Song Kang-ho) is mostly unknown to American audiences and Chris Evans slips on a fish has mainstream appeal. Prove them wrong. Snowpiercer comes out next Friday, June 27th. If you can, if it it’s playing near you, see this movie. Pay to see this movie. Take your friends, take your family, take your pet fish. Stand up for original sci-fi that’s not Transformers 4 or, yes, Captain America 3.

And see a damn fine movie in the process.

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When music critic and author Sean Michaels first heard the theremin on the radio during a late night drive, he mistook it for a soprano singing a beautiful aria. Then the host explained that the warbly UFO sound was actually a theremin, a metal rod that—when played by a virtuoso—creates an electronic singing when hands are moved in the air around it. The age-old sci-fi instrument and its melodic magic inspired Michaels to take a break from the daily grind (in his case, writing for Said The Gramophone and The Guardian) and trek to Russia to research the noisemaker’s inventor, Lev Sergeyvich Termen.

The product of his travels through Siberia, to the Alcatraz prison, and buzzing about Moscow’s city center is Us Conductors, a novel inspired by the true life and loves of Termen. It’s not hard to see the appeal for such a character; in addition to creating the world’s strangest instrument, Termen brushed shoulders with Gershwin and Rockefeller, became a kung-fu disciple, and was, for a time, banished for spying on Stalin himself.

Michaels has invited Boston-based modern day maestro, Jon Bernhardt, to perform on the theremin at the book reading on June 21 at Porter Square Books. Considering theremin virtuosos are rare as hell, we’re shocked he found one of Boston’s own to present and perform the instrument. Pairing Termen’s extraordinary life—albeit fictionalized—with a real-life demonstration of his creation is as good as it gets. Wait, did we mention it’s free?

 

SEAN MICHAELS + JON BERNHARDT. PORTER SQUARE BOOKS, 25 WHITE ST., CAMBRIDGE. 7PM/ALL AGES/FREE. PORTERSQUAREBOOKS.COM

In the newsCalling drug addiction "an evil," Pope Francis reiterated his stance against the legalization of recreational drugs, including marijuana.Opening bellThe [...]

Some of the most interesting type specimens we come across are from Morgan Press, responsible for the resurgence of the psychedelic types of the 60s. These types from a supplement to their Wood Type Catalog are no exception.

Newberry call number: Wing folio Z250 .M849 1970 suppl.

L’Histoire de France en Filagranes (1981) is a fascinating work on French watermarks. It’s especially interesting because it includes three sheets with examples of different styles of watermarks of ships. The last image is from the lining papers and I have to say this one really struck me.

Newberry call number: Wing folio Z237 .D48 1981

Beautiful color plates from Chemical Atlas, or, The Chemistry of Familiar Objects (1855).

Newberry call number: Wing ZP 883 .A635