By now, you’ve probably publicly confessed your love for Sriracha, if only to ensure your own cultural credibility and self worth. The Jennifer Lawrence of condiments has been on a real tear in 2013, so it’s not too surprising that it now has its own documentary. For a mere $5, you could download Sriracha, the movie!, a 33 minute film profiling the entire Sriracha craze.
As noted in the trailer below, Sriracha is a type of sauce that people have opinions about.
Welp. Time for lunch. 
    
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Have you visited Pleated Jeans today?
I was thinking about writing a dissertation on gentrification and race in Brooklyn but yesterday's New York Times' real estate section had this photo and caption on its front page so I guess it's covered.
The post White Woman Wants Your Home appeared first on The Awl.
Have you visited Pleated Jeans today?
Dangerous rollerblading: €1,500. Beating carpets in the street, washing a dog in public, or jumping in a fountain: €750. Place a potted plant unsafely on a balcony: €3,000. These are just some of the new fines being proposed by the city government in Madrid, determined to kick back against "anti-social" behavior on its streets.
Many of the new penalties (part of a general wave of urban clampdowns sweeping Europe) make some sense. No one really wants to be brained by a falling geranium, and the city government's new suggested fines for racist and homophobic bullying (up to €1,500) are pretty mild by British standards.
Flower pots hang from a balcony in central Madrid. Beggars, dog-lovers and fortune-tellers who venture onto Madrid's busy streets may soon find themselves out of pocket as authorities in the city and elsewhere seek creative solutions to their financial problems. (Susana Vera/Reuters)
Still, as with all ordinances governing public behavior, there's an uneasy sense of authoritarian mission creep hanging in the air in Spain's capital. Civil liberties campaigners, for example, may be concerned over planned fines for camping in Madrid’s main square, Puerta del Sol, a tactic used recently by the Indignados, Spain’s anti-austerity campaigners. Elsewhere, new rules stipulating the creation of permits for street musicians and how long they can play (120 minutes) before they move on (at least 500 meters) suggest a willingness to get involved in the minutiae of urban life that smacks of micromanagement – though probably not for residents with tuneless buskers encamped beneath their windows.
The proposed penalties don’t come solely from a wish to lessen the hell that is other people. They're part of a top-down fightback against the perception of Madrid’s sliding place in the world.
There’s no denying that the city has taken a few knocks recently. Spain's capital is looking increasingly rundown, understandable given the country's ongoing economic crisis. Squatters are now living in some office buildings in the city's center (which at least means they’re being put to use), major projects have stalled, and streets are looking dirtier thanks to cuts in the cleaning budget.
Madrid is also smarting from the loss of its bid to host the 2020 Summer Olympics, although winning might have proved a Pyrrhic victory given its current dearth of cash. To cap it all, fewer people are visiting. Compared to last year, tourist visits during August were down a reported 22 percent, a pattern that continued into September, when Barajas Airport showed an 11.7 percent year-over-year passenger drop. Clearly, something needs to be done to make the city more attractive. But what?
Sonia Siles Perez prepares to walk her dogs in central Madrid. (Susana Vera/Reuters)
The city government’s idea seems to be that tidying up and getting the city more orderly will do the trick. This will certainly help cultural assets such as the superb Prado Museum shine for visitors and bring out the best in grand urban set pieces such as Madrid’s Plaza de Oriente and Plaza de Cibeles. Still, Madrid is not Geneva, nor should it ever try to be. While the mayor is pinning hopes on a new mega-casino out in the city's suburbs, the arts and culture scene is losing some of its spark, with 12 theaters closing over the summer. Its streets are also getting quieter, a marked turnaround for one of Europe’s nightlife capitals.
In the 1980s and '90s, the city had one of the latest, liveliest nightlife scenes in Europe, a place that made Berlin seem eerily silent and London a ludicrously early sleeper. This buzz still survives, but thousands of bars and over a hundred clubs have closed over the past few years, victims of reduced spending power and tougher noise restrictions.
All this should matter to more than just drinkers and theater lovers. Madrid's main selling point is the friendly, anarchic energy of its urban culture. Compared to Rome, its history is short and its monuments modest. The city also lacks the grand planning of Vienna or Berlin's sense of space. What Madrid does have is an irrepressible fizz, with an eclectic architecture that includes medieval alleys and renaissance squares but also art deco skyscrapers and slightly hysterical buildings that resemble Belle Époque Paris on steroids. While its main street is often said to recall New York’s Broadway in all its pre-2000s grungy energy, around the corner there are quiet, village-like corners apparently populated only by old women walking toy dogs. And although it has one of the grandest royal palaces in all Europe, it’s always been a fairly scruffy place and none the worse for it. Nowhere else in Europe quite matches its contradictory mix of big city bustle and quiet provincialism, its combination of old guard Spanish tradition and punkish vibrancy.
Lose this balance and you lose an awful lot. But for some reason the municipal government thinks it's going to bring the city back to local and international favor with jaywalking fines and a suburban casino. Good luck with that.
Top image: Pavel L Photo and Video /Shutterstock.com
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In the most recent season of Portlandia, there was a sketch about a group of hipster parents who decide to start a band with the goal of making kids' music more listenable. Naturally, complications arise because COMEDY, but the reality of the situation is much more simple. If you want to make children's music cool, all you have to do is let the Roots perform it and — POOF! — it becomes enjoyable for kids and adults alike.
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In a world that increasingly runs loudly and proudly on instantaneous communication (and Dunkin’), emailing most certainly represents a notable decrescendo. The electronic message seems to be a constant war between formality, professionalism, personality, and humor–turning even the most simplistic of responses into a herculean task that might end up taking upwards of 30 minutes. It’s a tricky, tricky game, and none of us have probably mastered it. But as this video demonstrates, we’re most certainly trying our best.
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Following Miley Cyrus' psychosexual appropriative nightmare VMA performance, we citizens of the world are left scrambling for answers: Why did this have to happen? Did I really just watch a young woman gyrate against a man in a Beetlejuice costume immediately after using the bodies of black women as sexualized props? Why didn't my parents prepare me for this? Will I ever be okay again?
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The idea that words cannot always say everything has been written about extensively – as Friedrich Nietzsche said:
Words are but symbols for the relations of things to one another and to us; nowhere do they touch upon the absolute truth.
No doubt the best book we’ve read that covers the subject is ‘Through The Language Glass‘ by Guy Deutscher, which goes a long way to explaining and understanding these loopholes – the gaps which mean there are leftover words without translations, and concepts that cannot be properly explained across cultures.
Somehow narrowing it down to just a handful, we’ve illustrated 11 of these wonderful, untranslatable, if slightly elusive, words. We will definitely be trying to incorporate a few of them into our everyday conversations, and hope that you enjoy recognising a feeling or two of your own among them.
A feeling of solitude, being alone in the woods and a connectedness to nature. Ralph Waldo Emerson even wrote a whole poem about it.
The mark left on a table by a cold glass. Who knew condensation could sound so poetic.
The feeling of anticipation that leads you to go outside and check if anyone is coming, and probably also indicates an element of impatience.
This is the word the Japanese have for when sunlight filters through the trees – the interplay between the light and the leaves.
Someone who asks a lot of questions. In fact, probably too many questions. We all know a few of these.
Spaniards tend to be a sociable bunch, and this word describes the period of time after a meal when you have food-induced conversations with the people you have shared the meal with.
Their slang for someone who tells a joke so badly, that is so unfunny you cannot help but laugh out loud.
You know when you forget where you’ve put the keys, and you scratch your head because it somehow seems to help your remember? This is the word for it.
The feeling that comes from not being in one’s home country – of being a foreigner, or an immigrant, of being somewhat displaced from your origin.
Urdu is the national language of Pakistan, but is also an official language in 5 of the Indian states. This particular Urdu word conveys a contemplative ‘as-if’ that nonetheless feels like reality, and describes the suspension of disbelief that can occur, often through good storytelling.
The word for the glimmering, roadlike reflection that the moon creates on water.
This post originally appeared at MAPTIA.
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I’m a little excited about the Mean Girls musical that is currently being written. (And you are too, if you know what’s good for you.) Maybe I’m a little too excited. You know, since I came up with 29 possible Mean Girls The Musical songs. Don’t judge me, just enjoy.
A touching, piano-driven number. Cady is leaving her beloved Africa and moving to Illinois. Tears will be shed. Animals will frolic. And it will smash directly into…
High school is nothing like Africa and Cady tries to navigate through her first day in this heart thumping, feet stomping, arms flailing opening number.
In this adorable, catchy little ditty, Cady explains to her new biffles, Damian and Janis, why she loves math so much. There will probably be dancing mathematics symbols. Just because.
Cady might not ever know what she missed in health class that day, but these students will never forget. I’m envisioning students dancing at their desks and Coach Carr tossing condoms in the air.
You can’t have a Mean Girls musical without a number devoted to the Plastics. High kicks and being carried around by the soccer team will accompany this pop-star dance number.
Where oh where should Cady sit? This cheerful song will help her navigate the cafeteria and learn all about where to sit and where not to sit. (Watch out for the sexually active band geeks.)
Karen is a lot deeper than she looks and this somber cello-driven ballad gives her a voice as she navigates racial tensions in high schools. Because why can’t you just ask people why they’re white?
Gretchen and Karen explain the rules of Girl World and, like, feminism, to Cady in this sparkly, pink, sequin driven rock number.
Similar to the opening number of Bye Bye Birdie, this telephone-tag number will have everyone dancing in their seats.
Because Aaron Samuels needs his own fucking song, alright? And there will probably be dancing cheerleaders.
Regina George is going down. Janis, Damian and Cady have a plan. It involves foot cream. And this bad-ass, angry, rock number.
A fun, lighthearted holiday jingle about friendship, love, and candy cane grams.
Damian is beautiful and the world can’t bring him down. No, because this heart-soaring piano-infused rock song is bringing him up. Bring your lighters for this one, guys.
Gretchen is just trying to make it happen and this pensive, thoughtful song will have you literally weeping in your seat. Fetch IS going to happen. IT IS.
There needs to be a rap number. You know, to attract the young people. And Kevin G is just the man to deliver it.
Gretchen Wieners finally cracks. And she destroys a classroom in the process in this angsty, soul crushing, ear splitting (from all the shouting) song.
Cady and Aaron are feeling the heat in this love ballad. Or maybe that’s just all the excitement from doing math.
Mrs. George delivers with her rock solid breasts and sexy-tastic dance moves.
You really start to feel for Ms Norbury as she bares her soul is this emotionally wrenching and tearfully sung rock ballad.
Boo, you whore.
Regina is rejected from the Plastics lunch table in this tense rock number. And what’s this, do we glimpse a softer side of Regina George?
Cady thinks she’s having a small get together but it turns into a completely wild, out of control song and dance number! WHAT?!
I really think the only way to do this song justice is with an actual car on stage, driven by Damian, circling Cady as Janis and Cady shout/sing to each other. The circling car will mirror the rage of their song. So deep, guys.
If you have sex, you will get Chlamydia and die.
The stage will explode as girls go at each other in this emotional dance number. And obviously pages of the Burn Book will be tossed around and floating in the air. (Coach Carr will be seen in the background fleeing from Trang Pak and Sun Jin.)
Wide set vaginas, self-esteem, clique problems, and feeling victimized by Regina George get discussed in this fun, head bopping sing-a-long.
We don’t know who she is, but she’ll steal the show with her tearjerker song, accompanied only by a violin. And rainbows and smiles.
The entire plot comes to light in this snappy little pop song; Janis comes clean, Cady is feeling ostracized and Regina gets hit by a bus (everyone will swear they saw her head spin right around) and Cady realizes she needs to own up to what she did.
You’ll be standing in your seat cheering at this climactic ensemble song, starting with Cady and the Mathletes winning the State Champions, and finishing up at Spring Fling. It’s not really required of Cady to make a speech, but she does it anyway. WITH FEELING.
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Hello old friend. We meet again.
Last time we talked, I nearly burned my apartment down trying to make your Coq au Vin. It was a real freaking disaster, Julia. But you know what? It’s your birthday, I’m hungry, and I want to make amends. Let’s try this again.
Today we’re going with your Beef Bourguignon. I’ve got the recipe here. I’ve got some pots and pans and stuff. Let’s make some food, Jules!
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
BOOM. Oven on. We’re doing it! Let’s go!
Remove bacon rind and cut into lardons. Simmer rind and lardons for 10 minutes in 1 1/2 quarts water. Drain and dry.
Here we go again with the god damn lardons. I still don’t know what a lardon is, Jules. If I remember correctly, before I nearly burned down the house last time, is that they were bacon sticks that you use to rub on other pieces of meat. So do I need to get sticks to stick into the bacon?
And what the hell is up with removing the bacon rind? Still no rind here, Julia. It’s just bacon. Bacon does not have a rind.
I’m cutting it into strips and throwing it in with the water. Why? Because that’s all I got, Julia.
Sauté lardons in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a flameproof casserole over moderate heat for 2 to 3 minutes to brown lightly. Remove to side dish with a slotted spoon.
Flameproof casserole? I have a “pan.” So that’s what I’m going with. A pan. OK. OK. We’re OK here. The bacon strips are smelling good. They’re off to the side. I didn’t use a slotted spoon, but guess what, Julia? I’m my own man. And I get to choose the way I want to live my life.
Heat fat in casserole until almost smoking.
How the fuck am I supposed to know if something is “almost smoking?” I guess I’ll look for signs of smoking intent. Waiting for this bacon fat to look up and grimace at me, or something.
Dry beef in paper towels; it will not brown if it is damp. Add beef, a few pieces at a time, and sauté until nicely browned on all sides.
We got a hell of a mess here, Julia. Bacon fat is all over the place. Beef is bacon-ifying, I guess. It’s, it’s getting pretty gnarly. I’m not going to lie.
Add it to the lardons.
I’ll add it to your lardons.
In the same fat, brown the sliced vegetables.
Wait, we’re supposed to have the vegetables pre-sliced? Fuck. OK. Give me those onions and the mushrooms, and we’re just going to cut these guys up as the bacon is still…
Pour out the excess fat.
I’m still cutting here, Julia! I got a pound of god damned mushrooms here, that I have to quarter, and I don’t even know what that means. Just give me a second…
Return the beef and bacon to the casserole and toss with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Then sprinkle on the flour and toss again to coat the beef lightly.
Hold on. Almost got the mushrooms done here and if I just…AH. OH. OH NO. Julia. My finger. I cut it. I cut it. What do I do? I don’t want to look at it. I think it’s bad.
Set casserole uncovered in middle position of preheated oven for 4 minutes.
I LOOKED AT IT. JULIA I LOOKED AT IT. IT’S FUCKING GUSHING. IT’S REALLY FLOWING, JULIA. OH NO. OH NO. WHAT DO I DO? DO I RUN IT UNDER HOT WATER? DO I OWN BAND AIDS?
Toss the meat again and return to oven for 4 minutes (this browns the flour and coves the meat with a light crust). Remove casserole and turn oven down to 325 degrees.
JULIA THE HOT WATER ISN’T DOING ANYTHING AND I DON’T OWN BAND AIDS. THE BACON IS STILL COOKING BUT THE MUSHROOMS AND THE SINK ARE COVERED IN BLOOD. JULIA DO I CALL 911? IT’S LIKE GOD DAMN CARRIE IN HERE. HOW MUCH BLOOD IS TOO MUCH BLOOD? HOW MUCH BLOOD IS TOO MUCH BLOOD?
Stir in wine and 2 to 3 cups stock, just enough so that the meat is barely covered. Add the tomato paste, garlic, herbs and bacon rind. Bring to a simmer on top of the stove.
I’M CALLING 911 JULIA. I’M FEELING LIGHTHEADED AND THERE’S BLOOD ALL OVER THE GOD DAMN PLACE. YOU DID IT AGAIN, JULIA. YOU GOT ME AGAIN.
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What are the most backpacker friendly cities in 2013? For 50 of the world’s most visited cities Tripomatic has gathered the prices of accommodation, food, public transport and tourist attractions. How long could you survive in these destinations with $100 in your pocket?
Via: www.tripomatic.com
What would it look like if Jay Z's art world fanboy extravangaza, "Picasso Baby," were set to Taylor Swift's "22"? Elisa Kreisinger — aka Pop Culture Pirate — answers that question.
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Adweek has (rightly) praised this spec ad written for Durex, a cautionary, slow-mo montage of fathers having their testicles smashed by careless toddlers set to the Moonlight Sonata. All of this nut violence could have been avoided if these dudes just practiced safe sex and avoided procreation. Humanity has had a good run — the ants can take it from here.
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Have you visited Pleated Jeans today?
Last night, Robin Thicke joined Jimmy Fallon as the late night host did another one of his "music room" bits, in which he and The Roots cover a song using instruments you might find in an elementary school classroom. As you'll hear, "Blurred Lines" sounds fantastic with keyboard beats, xyophone, spoons and a kazoo. Questlove dancing with a clacker is delightful. And instead of T.I. talking about "tearing" an ass in two, Black Thought came up with some romantic rhymes: "The best girlfriend I ever had is you… So I put a ring on it and I married you… You're gonna have these other girls getting mad at you, because you've got brains, looks, and attitude." Sweet.
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The organizers of the Psicobloc Masters Series event coming up in two weeks continue to rub salt in the wound that is my inability to attend the event or even watch the live broadcast1, this time by releasing the list of athletes slated to compete in the event. I mean, when was the last time that Chris Sharma, Dave Graham and Tommy Caldwell all competed at the same event?
Virgin Atlantic seems to have a creative ad agency. Earlier this year the company launched the world's first airplane art gallery, recently it changed a regular public park bench in the city into an airplane seat. Read more →
Remember when all those idiot racists were all so pissed about that Cherrios commercial because they're idiot racists? Well, here's some actual five year olds* who already know better than those idiot racists.
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If you're in the mood for a "Blurred Lines" music video that's more than "subtly ridiculing," then you're finally in luck: some majestic genius lurking on the Internet has set the song to the Cosby Show opening theme footage. As it turns out, they are really, really similar.
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Lindseyjdavishey look i wrote that! #SelfPlug
I recently sat in a room with high profile developers- discussing the potential integration of local businesses into their revitalization project. The conversation morphed into the business models of yesteryear – an old Baltimore crab shack nobody could stop talking about and big open markets. The developers snickered, “that’s not practical. Nobody buys fish with the head on it anymore.” And it was true. The one time I attempted to clean a fish, I ended up slimed at my kitchen table, plucking bones with the pliers of my shiny purple Leatherman while YouTube videos on ‘how to fillet a fish’ streamed in the background. In so many respects, we’ve all succumbed to an updated way of life, but that doesn’t negate the nostalgia of ‘back in the day’ practices.
The Streetcar is one of these elements of nostalgia. A slower steadier pace through the streets of Baltimore, the romanticized memory of the trolley bell instead of car horns and exhaust. It seems like such a simple and practical solution to congestion, to the point that several groups across Baltimore have started to explore the possibility of bringing back the Baltimore Streetcar.
While the Baltimore Streetcar system began operating in 1885, 1929 was its peak year – with over 400 miles of track traveling in all directions. The Streetcar ran north on Maryland Avenue and Charles Streets, East and West on North Avenue, Northwest on Pennsylvania and Madison Avenue, and through Locust Point on Fort Avenue. With circulation every 1-15 minutes, almost anywhere in the city could be reached within a half hour. What began as a cable car system was replaced with a standardized unit of electric streetcars in 1899, enabling workers to live farther from the center of the city, thereby facilitating city growth. You can still see waiting stations on Bedford Square and Overhill, the Park Terminal near Druid Hill Park, and on Charles Street the old Streetcar Barn sits north of Penn Station. Segments of the tracks are still breathing beneath the asphalt and cobblestones on Key Highway and in Fells Point, and the massive coal burning power plant on Pratt street – 190 feet high with four smokestacks – pay homage to the transit that was.
In 1914, the streetcar system began to decline. The depression, suburbs, rise in car use, and reported illegal purchase of street car properties by GMT, Firestone, and other car-focused companies was known as The Great American Streetcar Scandal. Baltimore’s last streetcar ran in November of 1963.
Decades later, the interest has returned to the city. Sparked by overcrowded streets, hours lost in traffic and rising gas prices, new groups are exploring transit options – one of which is the Baltimore Streetcar Campaign. Nearly a decade ago, The Charles Street Development Corporation studied the potential of a fixed rail streetcar in the Charles Street district. Aiming to complete a 7.5 mile route, this study was complimented in 2008 by a specialized focus group: the Charles Street Trolley Corporation (CSTC). CSTC was formed to delve more deeply into the feasibility of a streetcar, and aimed to oversee the finance, operation, and governance of the project, with the intent to develop the best possible transit system for the Charles Street Corridor. Founded on the belief that a trolley system would boost business and development activity through connection of important cultural, historical, and educational destination, the outcome was presumed to enhance urban livability and bolster connection between city and suburb. Two Years ago, Jimmy Rouse, fueled by his passion for streetcar resurgence, hired Robin Budish as the director of the Baltimore Streetcar Campaign. Together the two began outreach and shared information on the benefits of returning this type of transit to Baltimore. As the crowd grew and information was passed from change-maker to change-maker, it became evident that people were more willing to listen and consider transit options when they were presented with a comprehensive view of a complete transit system. Local representatives including Adam Gross of Ayers Saint Gross Inc. and Bill Struever of Cross Street Partners were early advocates for the contextual transit integration, and thus the Baltimore Streetcar Campaign put together a group called Transit Choices. Transit Choices has about 40 participants and works to find a unified vision of transit, believing that the presentation of systems working together, rather than in isolation, would garner more momentum publically and politically. In essence, Transit Choices seeks to support the development of a transportation system which attracts and serves residents, students, businesses and visitors to grow Baltimore.
The question of practicality, of course, remains. If accepted, would the Streetcar run often enough to make it worthwhile? Do people really want streetcars, or are we just hungry for an alternative to the bus? While I’m not a transportation planner, I do recall that building more lanes does little to alleviate traffic. More lanes isn’t an alternative to traffic, it is a facilitator of congestion. Baltimore’s DOT Strategic Transportation Safety Plan wants to improve safety in our streets for pedestrians and cyclists, and members of the city government including Nate Evans, Bill Hwang, and Barry Robinson are active members of the Transit Choices group – speaking highly to the widespread communication that Robin and Jimmy are facilitating.
Nationwide, streetcars are returning. Cincinnati, Dallas, Kansas City, Salt Lake City, San Antonio Atlanta, DC, and Charlotte are all bringing back streetcar systems under the premise of enhanced mobility, increased tourism, and urban development. Many of Baltimore’s current bus lines are on our streetcar lines, following the same routes. While the implementation of a streetcar isn’t a blanket solution to our city transit woes, the future of public transportation might just be a flashback towards the past.
Baltimore Streetcar from NC3D.com on Vimeo.
http://monumentcity.net/2012/02/15/a-brief-history-of-baltimores-electric-streetcars/
http://carfreebaltimore.com/?p=661
http://teachingamericanhistorymd.net/000001/000000/000170/html/t170.html\
http://www.btco.net/Bulletins/bullidx.html
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-city-transportation-20130604,0,2218058.story
Lindseyjdavislike i need another reason. Jeez.
Jigglevision is not some variation on beer goggles. It’s a new way to decode secret messages from Jell-O.
Forget encrypted code. The latest spy tool comes from Jell-O. The brand and agency CP+B created a way to send secret messages using--you guessed it--Jell-O. Just go to the brand’s Facebook page, type in a 130-character message, and then share the link with a friend. To read the message, they’ll have to buy a red refrigerated gelatin snack, remove the lid, and hold the cup up to the screen. Then, through the wonders of Jigglevision, the secret message will be revealed. Playing with your food has always been fun but never so sneaky.
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Imagine the feeling of freshness, of delight that a bicycle commuter would get if the daily ride involved soaring through the air like a majestic eagle. That was recently the reality in Vancouver, where a section of bike path grew fun little ramps promising to send strong pedalers into low orbit.
The "Whoopdeedoo Bike Ramps" are the brainchildren of designer Greg Papove, who staggered them on a trail at West 2nd Avenue and Cambie Street for the city's recent Bike to Work Week. Papove, an urban visionary who also created this geometrically pleasing place-holder for parking spots, emailed this explanation for the suddenly undulating path:
The city of Vancouver is trying to develop more bike paths, but gets a lot of resistance from drivers. I thought the Whoopdeedoo project would be a good way to start a dialogue about transportation in the city. Cycling is fast, fun, easy, and healthy (and the list goes on). It is a great way to get around for a lot of people. I wanted to reward the cyclists with something fun, while also making the reward visible to drivers, to ideally encourage them to get out of their cars and onto a bike. The ramp has a smooth transition that is easier to ride over than most speed bumps in the city, making it easy for riders of all ages and comfort levels.
On his website, he gets into the details of the ramps, located in the worst traffic hell of Canada:
The ramp has a bright, fun aesthetic to catch the attention of both cyclists and drivers who can see it from the road. A centre line was included to assist with orientation when approaching the ramp. The flags offer an element of safety by providing the feeling of side walls when rolling over the ramp so the user will stay centred and away from the edges.
(The snazzy signage on the path, by the way, is the work of Vancouver's Claire Balderston.)
With these ramps, Papove is looking into the future of transportation in his hometown. Vancouver's 2040 transpo plan stresses the need to make biking "safe, convenient, comfortable and fun for people of all ages and abilities." Maybe these ramps aren't 100 percent safe – I mean, not everybody will be able to resist attempting to do a bad-ass bike flip off of them – but they do seem to fulfill the other criteria.
Here are a few more looks at the aptly titled Whoopdeedoo course, which Papove made with help from the blog Vancouver Is Awesome and the art group Pennysmash:
Images used with permission of Greg Papove. H/t to Designboom
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You're waiting for the bus, minding your own business, when suddenly who should appear on one of those giant bus shelter advertisements but... you.
It sounds like a fever dream of a lifelong transit commuter, but it really happened to a handful of Norwegians the other day. The explanation? A team of computer whizzes were parked in a van across the street, transforming surreptitious photographs into advertisements and beaming them to a digital screen at the bus stop.
A word of caution: this is a promo developed by AdobeNordic. You will never be able to use Photoshop this quickly or this well.
Via Laughing Squid.
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Yes, it's true: Hanson, that center-parted trio of cherub brothers from the 90s, will now be known for precisely two things: a song called MMMbop and a beer, named after the song, that was released 16 years later.
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Lindseyjdavisbummer. But how freeing to be able to write so candidly about a film :)
Yesterday I saw a homeless man walk in front of a bus and a sorority girl in a very big hurry almost pushed me onto the train tracks of the Chicago “L.” I would like to believe that both of those experiences prepared me to read the reviews for The Hangover Part III, in which director Todd Phillips and his team appear set to destroy anything you might have liked about the original film (which, believe it or not, was a critical darling).
The homeless man is fine. He emerged unscathed. I can’t say the same for Ken Jeong.
1. “The good news is that ‘The Hangover Part III’ isn’t a rerun like the second episode. The bad news is everything else. For all the promise of mayhem and WTF moments, the final episode hits you with all the force of a warm can of O’Doul’s.”
- Kyle Smith, New York Post
2. “A dull, lazy walkthrough that along with ‘The Big Wedding’ has a claim to be the year’s worst star-driven movie.”
- Stephen Holden, New York Times
3. “If the first ‘Hangover’ movie were this awful, there never would have been a Part Two. This is a joyless, unfunny mix of comedy and drama, a complete waste of time, with exactly one good joke in the entire movie. It comes in the first minute. After that, you can leave.”
- Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
4. “Part III has curiously little interest in being even remotely funny…Humor feels like an afterthought: Galifianakis’s clueless manchild act, always a winner, feels pitifully DOA, while Cooper and Helms, having realized they could play their respective douche-dude and nebbish roles in their sleep, proceed to do just that.”
- David Fear, Time Out London
5. “’The Hangover Part III’ gives off such a stench of creative decay that it hardly seems possible that even Phillips or his co-writers have any use for the movie themselves.”
- Mary Pais, Time
6. “Phillips has lost all of the sharp humor, keen sense of debauchery and still plain fun that marked the original.”
- Charlie Collum, San Jose Mercury News
7. “It is barely a comedy. Heck, it’s barely a movie.”
- Eric D. Snider, Twitch Film
8. “Young viewers looking for unbridled raunch will be sadly disappointed, and so will other moviegoers expecting more than a few wan chuckles. This picture is like a brightly colored balloon with all the comic air seeping out.”
- Stephen Farber, Hollywood Reporter
9. “There is one very funny bit, and it comes courtesy of the end credits’ stinger, which has our characters waking up, Hangover 1 and 2-style, from yet another debauched party with something clearly amiss. But ironically, coming this late in the game, the moment feels like a slap in the face. It’s a taunting reminder of the movie we might have had, instead of this turgid, unfunny catastrophe.”
- Bilge Ebiri, Vulture
10. “The good news is that Ed Helms doesn’t wake up in a Tijuana brothel with an amputated leg and a donkey in the room. The bad news is that you’ll wish he had.”
- Joe Williams, St. Louis Post Dispatch
11. “With Alan and Chow in command, ‘Part III’ tries to trump the previous two films by exponentially exploiting their shtick to such a point that quickly loses its appeal. Chow must be one of the most obnoxious characters ever written for film and Ken Jeong rams every crude and vulgar gesture or remark right down the audience’s collective throat.”
- Justin Craig, Fox News
12. “Chow is actually an apt metaphor for the movie — indescribably irritating and only in it for the money.”
12.5. “I’m not sure who let the dogs out this time, but they should be made to pay. Or forced to suffer the fate of the giraffe in the ubiquitous trailers — the one whose long, lovely neck won’t clear the low clearance bridge. The giraffe is only a portent of bad things to come.”
- Betsy Sharkey, L.A. Times
13. “The first ‘Hangover’ was good dirty fun; the second was dirtier, and less fun. But the third? It’s just a chore – and no hair of the dog is going to make it any easier to bear.”
- Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger
14. “This is an ugly, angry picture.”
- Soren Anderson, Seattle Times
15. “‘The Hangover’ giveth and ‘The Hangover’ taketh away…Save a few intermittent chuckles, ‘The Hangover Part III’ is a grating, depressing experience. Mostly, I felt sad for Cooper, Helms, and Galifianakis, who do not look like they’re having a very good time. Like their characters, the actors are trapped in this unending nightmare — held hostage by a franchise that gave them everything and now demands payback.”
- Matt Singer, Screen Crush
16. “Even the racist zingers feel like pulled punches: ‘We’re looking for an Asian guy. He’s short.’ ‘They’re all short.’”
- Roger Moore, Chicago Tribune
17. “Unlovable, asking the audience not just to laugh at all this meanness but to actively identify with it. There’s nothing in the film’s world to contradict the self-satisfaction of its characters…Phillips is zero percent interested in exploring the narcissism of his characters, as long as they arrive back exactly at the point of departure.”
- Chris Packham, L.A. Weekly
18. “It seems to have one goal: to be so dark, nasty and joyless that audiences won’t want ‘Part IV.’”
- Rafer Guzman, Newsday
19. “What makes you laugh? Are you tickled by jokes caricaturing Asian people, about how they speak English with an obnoxious accent and spit impolitely? Can you not help yourself when a man does something totally out of pocket, like show an unacceptable amount of affection toward another man, or indicate interest in a large woman? Might you be interested in a joke about Jews? If you’ve answered yes to any of the above, you could enjoy ‘The Hangover Part III’…This is one of the stalest comedy screenplays in recent memory, and you can watch a bunch of actors with proven skill phone it in. If you’re into that, give The Hangover Part III your money.”
- Ross Scarano, Complex
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French street artist Julien Malland, better known as Seth Globepainter, travels around the world, creating large scale murals using the walls by the streets as canvas. Especially impressive of his murals is the way it interacts with the surroundings. Often, Malland would collaborate with local artists learning traditional craft from them, and exchanging ideas. A graduate of the National School of Decorative Arts in Paris, Julien Malland has painted murals in India, China, Mexico, Brazil, South Africa and in many other countries.
