Kevespada

Its scientific name is Etmopterus benchleyi, after the shark conservationist and Jaws author Peter Benchley. But its common, and infinitely cooler, name is Ninja Lanternshark. If that sounds like it sprung from the imagination of an 8-year-old, that's because it did.

Young cousins of one of the researchers that recently discovered the tiny shark suggested the name (honed down from Super Ninja Shark) because of its jet-black appearance and "because it's good at being stealthy."

(D. Ross Robertson/Ocean Science Foundation)

Found off the coast of Central America, the Ninja Lanternshark lurks in the darkest parts of the ocean, at depths of up to 4,734 feet. It has glass-like teeth, emerald eyes, and is so small, it could fit in the palm of your hand. Its stealthy reputation comes from the way it glows in the dark. All lanternsharks glow as a form of camouflage, called counter elimination, that helps diminish its shadow so it's harder to see from above. But researchers found fewer photophores, or dots that emit light, on the ninja, suggesting its glow is more subtle.

Still, since researchers have only eight specimens, little is know about the Ninja Lanternshark — which is exactly, we imagine, how this covert agent would like it.

In 2012, Islamist militants overran northern Mali, and an al Qaeda affiliate took control of Timbuktu and started destroying things. Some of the ancient structures, dating back to when Timbuktu was a center of Islamic culture, have been rebuilt, but you can't revive burned ancient manuscripts. Luckily, a huge number of the Islamic texts for which Timbuktu was famous — more than 370,000 manuscripts — were spirited out of the city in a daring rescue operation spearheaded by Abdel Kader Haidara, one of Timbuktu's most active private librarians, The Economist recounts. They are now stored in safe houses around Bamako, Mali's capital.

Today, a team of men and women is creating digital copies of the manuscripts, some dating back to the late 1500s, and if Haidara is one hero of the story, the other is Fr. Columba Stewart, a Benedictine monk at St. John's Abbey in northern Minnesota and the executive director of the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library. The monks of St. John's have set up six photo studios in Bamako where Haidara's team make digital copies of the manuscript pages, then send them on hard disk to the Hill Library, where they are backed up in multiple locations around the world.

Anyone familiar with Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose knows the importance Benedictines attach to manuscripts, but Stewart tells The Economist why he decided to answer the call from Malian Muslims. "Benedictines are fundamentally optimistic about the human project — that's why we're not frightened by science or novelty," he said. "This is the time God has given us.... We live now. And part of the reality is cultures which are threatened trying to figure out how to work together on this fragile planet." You can read about the ecumenical partnership to save Timbuktu's manuscripts at The Economist or watch the video below.

A Catholic priest in the Philippines has been suspended after he rode around on a hoverboard during Christmas Eve services.

Video shot during the final blessing of the Mass shows the unidentified priest singing a Christmas song while going up and down the aisle on the hoverboard, with church members clapping and letting out cheers. The diocese of San Pablo in Laguna is not amused, and released a statement saying that what the priest did was "wrong" because "the Eucharist demands utmost respect and reverence" and is "not a personal celebration where one can capriciously introduce something to get the attention of the people."

The diocese said the incident was a "wake-up call" for the priest, who will "spend some time to reflect on this past event" — most likely with both feet on the ground.

Remember that one summer you got a semi-serious neck injury from constantly flipping your long, dyed-black bangs out of your sullen face? Well, you're about to be right back there, emotionally speaking, just as soon as you listen to Captain Cuts' If You're Listening It's Never Too Late emo mixtape. The L.A. trio seamlessly blends Jimmy Eat World and Gotye, All-American Rejects and Justin Bieber. God, it really brings you back. Can people still get away with guyliner? Why not? Why is society always telling you what to do all the time? Where the hell is your goddamn journal? You have so much you to need to get out.

Read more posts by Halle Kiefer

Filed Under: emo ,mixtapes ,adele ,justin bieber

I had just finished Christmas dinner with my family when I got the call: “A picture of you is on the front page of r/funny,” my friend told me. I’m not a regular Reddit user, but I know about r/funny—it’s a popular subpage, a place with a lot of cat pictures. Funny? Had I been funny? I traced back through the past week, wondering if I had finally made one of my 119 Twitter followers laugh, but then my stomach clenched as my friend explained my stardom wasn’t because I had been funny. It was because I had gotten fat.

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The Nutcracker is the cheesiest ballet of all time.

That may enrage some readers for whom attending The Nutcracker is a beloved Christmastime tradition. But as a former dancer who has performed or watched some version of the production for 18 years now, I can state it with certainty: The Nutcracker is the cheesiest ballet of all time.

Just try to recite the plot with a straight face: A young girl's most cherished Christmas present, a nutcracker, comes alive, saves her by defeating an army of mice and their king, and then the pair travel together to a magical kingdom of sweets. Ballet really doesn't get more gauche than that.

So why is it so popular in America? To answer that, we'll have to go back in history a bit.

In 1844, French writer Alexandre Dumas adapted an earlier, darker version of The Nutcracker by E.T.A. Hoffman that had been intended strictly for adults, making it "happier and more appropriate for children.” The master of the Russian Imperial Ballet liked Dumas' new, lighter version of the story and decided to transform it into a ballet, commissioning Peter Ilyitch Tschaikovsky to compose the score, now some of the most recognizable pieces of music in the world.

Many years later, in 1933, Russian-born choreographer George Balanchine was invited to the United States by a young arts patron who shared Balanchine's conviction that high quality dance training was severely lacking in this country. They co-founded a ballet school, and in 1948, the now world famous New York City Ballet.

As a young dancer in Russia, Balanchine had performed several different roles in The Nutcracker — a mouse, the Nutcracker/Little Prince, and the Mouse King. When he was older, he danced the part of the jester, which involves gracefully wielding and jumping through a large hoop.

In 1954, Balanchine, who today is revered as the "Father of American Ballet,” decided to choreograph his own version of The Nutcracker. While a smart business decision, it was also a deeply emotional one. As Vanity Fair reports:

He was not just reaching back to the Mariinsky Nutcracker — which in Russia is performed throughout the year — but calling up the Christmases of his childhood, the sense of warmth and plenty that was embodied in a tree brimming with fruits and chocolates, glittering with tinsel and paper angels. "For me Christmas was something extraordinary,” Balanchine told the writer Solomon Volkov. "On Christmas night we had only the family at home: mother, auntie, and the children. And, of course, the Christmas tree. [Vanity Fair]

When asked by a donor years before if he would be interested in doing a popular abridgement of The Nutcracker, Balanchine answered, "If I do anything, it will be full-length and expensive.” That donor ultimately gave him $40,000 — $25,000 of which he spent on the giant tree that trademarks the New York City Ballet's adaptation to this day. When he received pushback on the astronomical expense of the Christmas foliage, he simply responded, "The Nutcracker is the tree.”

Balanchine was right. The magic of The Nutcracker isn't in the brilliance of the music or the excellence of the dancing. It's the tree. It's the juvenile warmth of the excited children in the party scene. It's the familiarity of the whole production, even if you're just seeing it for the first time. It's the ballet's ability to reach out and touch a part of you that triggers a warm holiday memory — that's The Nutcracker.

Before The Nutcracker, the future of the New York City Ballet was still uncertain — and while many people were excited about the kind of "deeply poetic, uniquely plotless, modestly decorated ballets" Balanchine was known for making, the company did not possess the kind of "mainstream" following needed to consistently fill the house. The Nutcracker changed that.

Kids were another secret weapon.

There are a slew of parts for young dancers in The Nutcracker, and in many of Balanchine's big productions. He believed it was important to have kids on stage for a few reasons. First, it helps children in the audience connect with the ballet. Second, very astutely, Balanchine reportedly surmised that "each child brings four people: mom, dad, sister, and aunt. Multiply this by all the children in the ballet and you have an audience."

The first production, giant tree and all, ended up costing $80,000, but it was a blockbuster hit within the year. Since then, the ballet has been filmed and broadcast hundreds of times to people all over the world.

The NYCB performs The Nutcracker 47 times each season, but countless professional, amateur, and juvenile companies all over the country perform some version of the holiday special. The hundreds of adaptations have also given rise to new, even cheesier characters — like butchers, dancing pigs, and shepherdesses complete with lambs in the particular version I grew up with.

In many ways, The Nutcracker rallies against what a ballet is supposed to be — graceful and high-brow — (and truly there is nothing elegant about a sprightly young woman in pointe shoes wildly waving a fake plastic sword while dressed in a pear-shaped mouse costume) but that's exactly the spirit from which The Nutcracker draws its enchantment.

Resting your batter overnight can have a profoundly delicious effect on your Yorkshire pudding. Now I'm giving you another incentive to let it rest: the best morning-after-roast-supper breakfast you've ever had. Get Recipe!

A Pekingese shouldn't have its poop treated like common garbage, said New York magazine. The Valextra Dog Scoop Bag ($610) is a small pouch, which attaches to a leash, and carries a roll of plastic dog-waste bags. The calf skin pouch will "help discerning dog owners" by muffling plastic bags' pesky crinkling sound, said a Details editorial.

Archaeologists are asking the audience for help after the discovery of a gold-plated, oblong object in a Jerusalem cemetery has left them completely stumped. After six months of trying to discern the purpose of an object that's been nicknamed "alien," Israel Antiquity Authority researchers turned to Facebook Tuesday to ask if anyone had any ideas.

The object, which weighs in at 8.5 kilograms and is rounded, oblong, and gold in color, was inadvertently discovered several months ago inside an ancient structure in the cemetery by a maintenance worker.

Archaeologists initially speculated that the object might be some sort of a time capsule or a military device, or even a piece from a large clock. Really though, The Jerusalem Post reports, no one has ever seen anything quite like it.

I’m going to push the pause button on holiday eating and grab a hold of this salad.  It’s just about all I can do to step away from the lasagna, fried chicken, and chocolate chip cookies.

Which reminds me, I have dough leftover from a batch of Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies in the refrigerator and I better preheat the oven while I finish this salad.  

First, let’s talk about greens and fiber.

Continue reading Kale Pomegranate Crunch Salad at Joy the Baker.

2014 marked the 40th anniversary of the Catalano bench, which was designed by Lluís Clotet and Oscar Tusquets Blanca in 1974 as a more ergonomic version of a bench Antoni Gaudi designed for the Park Güell in Barcelona. To mark the celebration, the designers created limited edition benches to add more comfort and make it a bit more contemporary for today’s times by adding black rope to the pink and green pastel benches.

The limited edition benches are available exclusively through Aybar Gallery Miami.

A 15-year-old YouTube skateboard star has been arrested and charged with committing lewd acts on a child under 14, along with his 22-year-old manager and another skater, 27. Steven Fernandez, who’s nicknamed “Baby Scumbag,” is accused of luring a 12-year-old girl by promising to put her on a nonexistent MTV special if she performed sex acts.

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I love a frothy mug of eggnog, but the Christmas classic is even more fun in jello-shot form. Get Recipe!

Sources confirm to Us Weekly that Dwayne Johnson and girlfriend Lauren Hashian asked their new baby girl if she could smell what her dad was cooking for the very first time this Wednesday, December 16. This is Johnson's second kid, as he has a 14-year-old daughter named Simone from a previous relationship. Do you think it drives the Rock absolutely insane that he has so many strong muscles, but just not the ones you need when it comes to delivering your baby? If Dwayne Johnson had them, believe me, they would be the strongest baby-delivering muscles imaginable. The Rock's hypothetical uterus could shoot an anti-tank missile through a concrete wall. Hopefully, the Rock will content himself to use his giant muscles to hold his new tiny infant, which, when you think about it, is still one of the best things you can possibly do with them.

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Filed Under: dwayne johnson ,lauren hashian ,babies

Art is always better in real life, and it’s certainly 100% true when it comes to Lala Abaddon’s art. When looking at it online or from afar, her colorful, psychedelic pieces seem like digital creations. However when viewed up close, the user sees the intricate nature of each work of art.

Months in the making, Lala photographs images using analog methods, and prints them in large formats. She then goes to hand cut each print into hundreds of pieces, and then weaves the strips into complicated patterns by hand. Each strip is purposefully arranged to evoke a certain feeling in the viewer, examining the relationship between the physical world and the emotional world. The layered quality of the images is similar to alternate realities or states of being. Lala’s underlying purpose and process is “to disrupt order, reconstruct historical notions of photography and weaving, and challenge what it means to create something solely for the purpose of creation.”

Two recent graduates from the Design Products course at the Royal College of Art in London partnered up to launch a new design company, Shore, that debuted a collection of some pretty innovative rugs. The rugs are woven with a specially designed silicone cord that can be used both indoors and out and comes in some really fun color choices.

The tube-like silicone cord is waterproof, UV- and weather-resistant making it a great option for outside, while the tubular design adds cushioning for your feet. The material also means it’s easy to clean and very durable.

The rugs are woven by hand in London making each one unique.

Michelle Dockery, known for her role as Downton Abbey's Lady Mary, has lost her fiancé to a rare form of cancer. People reports that John Dineen, a commercial public-relations executive from Cork, Ireland, passed away on Sunday, at the Marymount Hospice in Cork, with Dockery at his bedside. He was 34. In a statement, Dockery said, "the family is very grateful for the support and kindness they have received but would kindly request that they are left to grieve in private."

Dockery and Dineen, who was a senior director at the London-based FTI Consulting, started dating in September 2013 after being introduced by Dockery's Downton co-star Allen Leech, who plays Tom Branson. For the most part, the couple had kept their relationship private, with Dockery only briefly mentioning to the press in September 2014 that she had "a wonderful man in my life from Ireland." News of their engagement broke a few months later when she arrived at Downton screen tests wearing an engagement ring. After receiving his cancer diagnosis earlier this year, Dineen sought pioneering treatment in Germany and reportedly returned home to Ireland to be with his family.

A private funeral mass will be held Wednesday. Dockery, whose birthday is today, had previously cut short her U.S. promotional tour for Downton Abbey to be with Dineen and his family.

Read more posts by Jackson McHenry

Filed Under: obituaries ,michelle dockery ,downton abbey

Today in everyone-is-so-fucked-up news: Oh My Girl, a new-but-popular K-pop group with eight members aged 16 to 21, were detained at LAX airport in Los Angeles because someone—customs? TSA? someone—reportedly presumed they were sex workers. In fact, they were traveling to the US to shoot the cover of their debut album and to perform at a gala.

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Can you think of anything more fun than absolutely shredding a fiery guitar solo in honor of your Supreme Leader?

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Here’s the line.  The blurry line where you’re not sure if I’m a Rice Krispie genius or, more skeptically, that I’ve lost my mind.  

Never one to call myself a genius, I’m going to go out on a limb and assure you that these treats are on the good side of great… (that’s me just about calling myself a genius).  

We’ve got sugar appeal, salt appeal, crunch appeal, and melted marshmallows.  

You’ve trusted me before, grab yourself a pack of instant ramen, a jar of Furikake Rice Seasoning, and trust me.    I’m a weirdo, but let’s do this anyway. 

Traditional Rice Krispie Treats still stand, with cereal, marshmallows and butter.

We, because we’ve 65% bonkers, are adding crushed dry instant ramen noodles (yes, I’m totally talking Top Ramen), and a mega dose of sweet/salty/seaweed/umami Furikake Rice Seasoning (found at some fancy grocery stores and asian markets).  

If you’re unfamiliar, the ingredients on Furikake Rice Seasoning reads:  sesame seeds, seaweed flakes, salt, and sugar.  My furikake mix also contained bonito flakes and wasabi… delicious! Don’t be scared.   

Melted marshmallow and butter will act as our boo, our everything.  Glue, sweet, richness.  

It’s sticky, but stir.  

Two tablespoons of furikake seasoning into the cereal and ramen. Sesame, salt, sugar, and seaweed.  It’ll make sense.  I promise. 

Into a well-buttered 8×8-inch pan and pressed to fit.  

An 8×8-inch pan will create a thick treat.  If you like them on the thinner side, use a 9×13-inch pan.

Top generously with more crumbled ramen, and mega more furikake.  

I like to let the krispie treats rest in the refrigerator to firm before slicing.  

But after a bit in the fridge, it’s ON.  Call a friend.  You’ll need some help with self-restraint.  

Sweet, slightly salty, crunchy, unique, with a hint of a savory twist.  Call me crazy, but try it first. 

The foods that please me the most are the objectively ugly ones: the stews, gravies, gumbos, and goulashes that are cooked long and low until they slump and thicken. It takes time and effort to transubstantiate flour and fat into cocoa-dark roux, a rough hunk of muscle into sumptuous brisket, and raw, tough leaves and tops into sweet, savory greens. In short, time can make some foods taste like heaven, and look like hell. Read More

A big, slow clap to the marching band of Southern University. At the Bayou Classic Battle of the Bands, the college band did a brassy rendition of Adele's "Hello," complete with interpretive dancing from the cheer squad. It starts off slow like a dirge, but they're just getting you ready for the moment when they hit the chorus, and the sun breaks through the clouds and Smash Williams catches that Hail Mary in the end zone at the last second for the game-winning touchdown! The Panthers win State!

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Filed Under: adele ,hello ,marching bands ,covers

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) had a productive post-Thanksgiving Monday, formally inviting President Obama to deliver his final State of the Union address Jan. 12. Afterward, he kicked back a little bit — by shamelessly showing off his beard on Twitter.

Hey @USHouseHistory, when was the last time a Speaker of the House sported a beard? https://t.co/tXbN864sS1 pic.twitter.com/DvMJyhwDdN

— Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) November 30, 2015

If you're wondering just how long it's been, the House archives has an answer: Ryan is apparently the first bearded speaker since Frederick Huntington Gillett, who served in the role until 1931.

.@SpeakerRyan It’s been a while (Gillett & Cannon before him). https://t.co/5uGWNQzUlV https://t.co/d9GTiTaMUl pic.twitter.com/SCc2Y2PhLV

— U.S. House History (@USHouseHistory) November 30, 2015

But wait, you're probably craving even more House speaker facial hair history now. Never fear:

.@SpeakerRyan Speaker facial hair has a distinguished tradition. pic.twitter.com/dtngTdTO2L

— U.S. House History (@USHouseHistory) November 30, 2015

Perhaps Ryan will be inspired to rock a mustache.

.@SpeakerRyan Speakers also have had some fancy 'staches! https://t.co/enzRoTY8kV pic.twitter.com/9pTd4QZ2w0

— U.S. House History (@USHouseHistory) November 30, 2015

At the start of (and throughout) every month, Netflix adds new movies and TV shows to its streaming library. Here is a quick list of several you might be interested in. Feel free to note anything we've left out in the comments below — and for more comprehensive coverage of the best titles available on Netflix and elsewhere, check out Vulture’s What to Stream Now, which is updated throughout the month.

You get a Louie! And you get a Louie! Real Rob (Season 1)
Netflix’s campaign to give quirky, semiautobiographical single-camera sitcoms to every comedian who has ever used a personal anecdote in their stand-up set continues with Rob Schneider’s Real Rob. Everyone is a unique, beautiful snowflake, so expect Real Rob to be unlike everything else — you, you know, a lot like Curb Your Enthusiasm, Louie, One Mississippi, Master of None, Maron, or whatever quirky, semiautobiographical single-camera sitcom Netflix green-lights next. Available December 1.

A Sin-Dee Rella story: Tangerine (2015)
Tangerine, a Sundance film about two transgender prostitutes on Christmas Eve in West L.A., is the exact opposite of the downer that logline implies. Led by two hilarious performances from trans actresses Kitana Kiki Rodriguez and Mya Taylor, the film (shot entirely on a iPhone) takes its characters’ lives seriously while also managing to be, as Vulture’s David Edelstein put it, “everything an entertaining, old-fashioned, mainstream Hollywood comedy should be but no longer is.” Available December 2.

Jingle bell rock the kasbah: A Very Murray Christmas (2015)
If you go to enough Christmas parties around town, there’s a sizable chance you’ll run into Bill Murray at one of them. But why risk it? If you want to ensure that you'll get your Murray fix, settle in with Netflix’s old-fashioned, Sofia Coppola–directed variety special, which promises songs from Murray and Miley Cyrus and guest appearances from George Clooney, Amy Poehler, Michael Cera, and (inevitably) more. Available December 4.

Antiheroine reborn: Phoenix (2014)
In Phoenix, Nina Hoss plays a Nelly Lenz, a Jewish nightclub singer who survives a concentration camp after being shot in the face and left for dead, returning to the postwar world with a new face, and thus a new identity. Hoss gives a virtuoso performance as we watch Nelly reunite with her husband, who doesn’t recognize his wife but figures she looks similar enough to play the part in order to collect Nelly’s inheritance. What results is a moving, looking-glass take on Vertigo, as both members of the couple contend with chimerical visions of each other and themselves. Available December 8.

Fear the wrath of Peggy Olson: Queen of Earth (2015)
From Top of the Lake to The One I Love and Listen Up Philip, Elisabeth Moss has started to transition away from certified badass Peggy Olson into a career in harrowing indie drama. In Queen of Earth, she reunites with Philip’s Alex Ross Perry for a trip to a lake house with Katherine Waterston (Inherent Vice, Steve Jobs). What results is a torturous mind warp of film, “a psychodrama,” per Vulture’s Bilge Ebiri, “shot like a horror movie.” Available December 22.

Hamm for the holidays: Black Mirror, “White Christmas”
Netflix announced plans to for a third season of Charlie Brooker’s grim sci-fi anthology series earlier this year, but until the next few parables about the horror of spending too much time staring at a computer screen come to your computer screen, you’ll have to be satisfied with Black Mirror’s Christmas special (already out in the U.K.), which features Jon Hamm, Oona Chaplin, and Rafe Spall in three interconnected vignettes. Available December 25.

Get your ugly-cry on: Parenthood (Season 6)
The final 13-episode installment of NBC’s chronicle of the big Berkeley family has all the pathos you'd expect from a Jason Katims (Friday Night Lights) show. If you need to escape your own holiday family drama, curl up with the Bravermans, true masters of letting emotions out. Available December 30.

TELEVISION

Available December 1
50 Shades of THEY (Season 1)
Broadchurch (Season 2)
Detectorists (Season 1)
Las Mágicas Historias de Plim Plim (Season 1)
Real Rob (Season 1)
Sensitive Skin (Season 1)
Starting Over (Season 1)
Winning Life’s Battles (Season 1)

December 4
A Very Murray Christmas (2015)
Comedy Bang! Bang! (Season 4, more episodes)

December 5
Inside Man (Season 3)

December 9
Phineas and Ferb (Season 4)

December 11
The Adventures of Puss in Boots (Season 2)

December 15
Hart of Dixie (Season 4)
High Profits (Season 1)

December 16
Helix (Season 2)

December 18
F Is for Family (Season 1)
Glitter Force (Season 1)
Making a Murderer (Season 1)

December 21
El Señor de los Cielos (Season 3)

December 24
Dawn of the Croods (Season 1)

December 25
Black Mirror — “White Christmas”

December 28
Maron (Season 3)
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Season 5)

December 30
Parenthood (Season 6)

December 31
Battle Creek (Season 1)
Manhattan Romance (2014)
Violetta (Season 3)
Nurse Jackie (Seasons 1–7)

MOVIES

Available December 1
#DeathToSelfie (2014)
30 for 30: Chasing Tyson (2015)
A Christmas Star (2015)
A Genius Leaves the Hood: The Unauthorized Story of Jay Z (2014)
Amnesiac (2015)
CBGB (2013)
Christmas Wedding Baby (2014)
The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury (2004)
Cradle 2 the Grave (2003)
Darkman (1990)
I'm Brent Morin (2015)
Jenny's Wedding (2015)
Ray (2004)
See You in Valhalla (2015)
Stir of Echoes (1999)
Stir of Echoes: The Homecoming (2007)
That Touch of Mink (1962)
Tyke: Elephant Outlaw (2015)

December 2
Stations of the Cross (2014)
Tangerine (2015)

December 3
Matt Shepard Is a Friend of Mine (2015)

December 5
A Case of You (2013)
Dinosaur 13 (2014)

December 7
Vampire Academy (2014)

December 8
One & Two (2015)
Phoenix (2014)
Xenia (2014)

December 9
Trailer Park Boys: Drunk, High and Unemployed Live in Austin (2015)

December 11
The Ridiculous 6 (2015)

December 14
The Da Vinci Code (2006)

December 15
Drown (2014)
Time Out of Mind (2014)

December 16
Fresh Dressed (2015)

December 18
Mike Epps: Don't Take It Personal (2015)

December 19
Chloe and Theo (2015)

December 20
Leo the Lion (2013)
Magic Snowflake (2013)
Santa’s Apprentice (2010)

December 22
Queen of Earth (2015)

December 23
Invisible Sister (2015)

December 31
Manhattan Romance (2014)

For more details on the best film and television available online, consult Vulture’s What to Stream Now.

Read more posts by Jackson McHenry

Filed Under: new on streaming ,new on netflix ,movies ,tv ,netflix

Cayce Zavaglia’s embroidered portraits are unbelievable. Four years ago, Design Milk featured her photorealistic thread portraits, and now she’s taken her process and skills to a WHOLE new level: the reverse.

Visitors who walk too quickly through her current exhibition at Lyons Weir Gallery might miss the basic fact that all these images are sewn – not painted.

Half of the show features Cayce’s painstaking embroidery work. As in her previous exhibition, a couple portraits use a thicker “crewel wool” thread (above), but newer smaller works push the level of detail higher using much thinner thread (below): a one ply cotton, silk and wool thread.

Visitors with less than 20/20 eyesight should bring a magnifying glass (seriously) to catch the complex network of colored thread combinations and directions that create these moving portraits of her friends and family.

A few years ago Cayce “discovered” the back of her work – a chaotic network of thread that forms as she works on the front. This show features the BACK side (or “verso”) to a greater degree, recognizing the beauty of these happy accidents and the metaphor of our private messy inner selves.

Here’s a hot tip: one of the thread portraits is in the middle of the room to allow visitors to view either side, but the gallery staff will gladly pull any work off the wall to show you the back! If they’re busy, just pull up the images on your iPad while you’re there to compare.

This is where it gets crazy – and doubly reversed. Cayce became so intrigued with the unseen reverse side of the thread portraits that she decided to create detailed PAINTINGS of the chaotic network of thread, shifting from using thread to mimic paint, to paint that looks like thread!

The show features a number of small gouache paintings (above), and two MASSIVE acrylic paintings that enlarge the thread strands to Jackson Pollock scale.

I love the idea of a “double portrait” within one object, but the exhibition itself captures her own split-creative-personality. Zavaglia has a superhuman obsession with precision and detail in the original portrait and yet a clear love of the beauty in uncontrolled chaos in the “verso”, to such a degree that she spends ANOTHER period of countless hours studying and painting that chaos… with a superhuman level of precision and detail.  I can’t wait to see what she does next.

What: Cayce Zavaglia: About-Face
Where: Lyons Wier Gallery, 542 W 24th St, New York
When: November 3 – December 12, 2015

All photos courtesy of Lyons Wier Gallery, New York.

Digital technologies already have revolutionized how the deaf communicate, but face-to-face conversations with hearing people who don't know American Sign Language can still be challenging, said Adele Peters at Fast Company​. Uni, an "automatic translator" gadget that attaches to a basic Windows tablet, helps deaf users converse without having "to hire an expensive interpreter or resort to writing or typing notes."

(Colin Pattison Photography & Cinematography)

The device uses two cameras to watch someone sign, then translates those gestures into English, "speaking in a Siri-like voice." When the hearing person responds, Uni's speech recognition software automatically types the words on the tablet for the deaf user to read. Uni's creators, who are deaf themselves, hope the device will open up new career opportunities for the deaf and hearing impaired.

The holidays, they encroach. Like the engagement ring commercials in November, the over-the-top recipes of my favorite hero of kitsch, Charles Phoenix, start popping up all over the internet and morning TV shows. If you haven't heard of Charles Phoenix, maybe you have heard of his chermpumple — the turducken of desserts? It's a three-layer cake with a cherry, pumpkin, and apple pie stuffed in each layer.

Wouldn't that be amazing at your wedding? Screw pie or cake — have both!

Here are even more awesome kitschy wedding food ideas from Charles Phoenix's test kitchen…

1. Tequila-soaked Peep-stuffed broken-bunny cake for your colorful Spring-time wedding

2. “I love you” meatloaf for your potluck wedding in the park

3. Cream-soaked cookie cake for your punch and cake reception

4. Tiki turkey dinner for your vintage Hawaiian luau wedding

5. Psychedelic Halloween candy cake for your '60s or candy-themed wedding

6. Flying fried chicken birthday bucket bouquet for as edible centerpieces for your BBQ wedding

7. The "inchezonya" — Enchilada and lasagna married at last, just like you!

8. Astro weenie ball as appetizers for your casual cocktails reception

9. Of course The Cherpumple for any fucking wedding any fucking time!

What are your favorite kitschy wedding recipes? We have a bunch over on Offbeat Home & Life. But can we steal them from you too?

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Pecan pie is a staple at many Thanksgiving tables and a solid dessert option throughout the holiday season. The most traditional pecan pies are made with a lot of corn syrup and a lot of pecans, leading to a pie that has a sticky sweet base and a nutty, crunchy topping. Pecan pies are not difficult to make, but they are difficult to make well and when I noticed that Trader Joe’s was selling Pecan Pie Filling in a Jar this holiday season, I wanted to give it a try to see how well it streamlined the pie-making process – and to see how tasty the filling was!

The filling is contained in a large mason jar and is made with no corn syrup. The ingredients are cane sugar, water, pecans, brown sugar, bourbon, lemon juice, vanilla extract, cream of tartar, salt and citric acid. That’s it. To make the pie, simply combine the jarred filling with four eggs and some melted butter, then pour into a prebaked pie crust and bake until set.

The pie couldn’t have been easier to put together, but it did require a bit of extra baking time in my oven (typical of Trader Joe’s items, I’ve found). If your pie isn’t set at the end of the recommended baking time, simply leave it in the oven until the filling no longer jiggles and is set. The pie had an excellent flavor, more than most pecan pies, because you could really taste the molasses-y brown sugar and bourbon in every bite. I also found that there were plenty of pecans in this pie and that, for about $7, this filling might actually be less expensive than baking a pecan pie from scratch (especially if you bake your own crust). I did find that the custard portion of the pie was slightly more wet than some pecan pies, though my technique for slicing pecan pie allowed me to slice it neatly and it didn’t bother anyone who tasted it. I think that could have been solved with an extra couple of minutes in the oven, too.

I’d definitely recommend this filling and will keep a jar in my pantry for pecan pie emergencies. You can also use the filling straight out of the jar for topping off ice cream and cakes because the flavorful syrup is quite tasty on its own.

The team that brought you unauthorized musical productions of The O.C. and Cruel Intentions is taking on another one of your nostalgic favorites: Friday Night Lights, which also happens to be the winner of Vulture's High School TV Showdown. Better yet, the man set to play Coach Eric Taylor is someone intimately familiar with the show: Scott Porter, who played paraplegic football star Jason Street on FNL. To celebrate the occasion, Porter dropped this Dubsmash:

The musical will debut in Los Angeles sometime next year. Until then: Clear eyes, full lungs, can't lose!

Read more posts by E. Alex Jung

Filed Under: friday night lights ,musical adaptations ,scott porter