via azathfeld

Decasia, Bill Morrison , 2002.

analogvisions:

Lothlórien I
Forest Park, Portland, OR, April 2012

Shot with a Diana F+
Kodak Ektachrome E200, cross-processed

axemansjazz:

I’m a dancer!

you can do both…

In a commencement address at Brandeis University, Leon Wieseltier calls a commitment to the humanities “nothing less than an act of intellectual defiance, of cultural dissidence.” How he valorizes those who study the liberal arts:

[T]here is no task more urgent in American intellectual life at this hour than to offer some resistance to the twin imperialisms of science and technology, and to recover the old distinction — once bitterly contested, then generally accepted, now almost completely forgotten – between the study of nature and the study of man. As Bernard Williams once remarked, “’humanity’ is a name not merely for a species but also for a quality.”  You who have elected to devote yourselves to the study of literature and languages and art and music and philosophy and religion and history — you are the stewards of that quality. You are the resistance. You have had the effrontery to choose interpretation over calculation, and to recognize that calculation cannot provide an accurate picture, or a profound picture, or a whole picture, of self-interpreting beings such as ourselves; and I commend you for it.

Do not believe the rumors of the obsolescence of your path. If Proust was a neuroscientist, then you have no urgent need of neuroscience, because you have Proust. If Jane Austen was a game theorist, then you have no reason to defect to game theory, because you have Austen. There is no greater bulwark against the twittering acceleration of American consciousness than the encounter with a work of art, and the experience of a text or an image. You are the representatives, the saving remnants, of that encounter and that experience, and of the serious study of that encounter and that experience – which is to say, you are the counterculture. Perhaps culture is now the counterculture.

Ron Parlato objects:

Science and technology are not the enemies of learning but the means to greater knowledge and understanding; and from the days of The Enlightenment until the present, a rational, objective analysis of the world in which we live has always provided new insights into human nature and behavior and has always provided the basis on which moral, ethical, and religious discourse has been built.

via http://errthng.com/

totally…

behance.net/herok


behance.net/herok


behance.net/herok

Morning becomes electric

Pangea

Fabienne Rivory cargocollective.com/labokoff/


Fabienne Rivory cargocollective.com/labokoff/


Fabienne Rivory cargocollective.com/labokoff/

Fabienne Rivory

Inspired by the recent HBO movie Behind the Candelabra, San Francisco-based impressionistic artist Jason Mecier spent over 40 hours to make this portrait of Michael Douglas as Liberace using over 4000 Mike & Ike candies.

image via Jason Mecier

Photo-Experimenter Jon Smith fills bulbs and containers with various small items and photographs them during breaking with high-speed imaging technique…

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www.flickr.com/photos/66107419@N03

brightwalldarkroom:

cmcgo:

The Rite of Spring Workout (by Thomas Deneuville)

Stravinsky + Travolta and Jamie Lee Curtis doing aerobics in 1985 = genius.

This really probably is the best thing you’ll see all day today.

And since it’s the 100th anniversary of the debut of “Rites of Spring” (1913), it’s the least you could do for ol’ Mr. Stravinsky. 

insanidadeartificial:

In a parallel universe…

fairy-wren:

Red Bellied Grackles. Photo by Ernesto Uribe

chuckhistory:

Yeah… so guess what eating this mushroom does to Mario.

Anyone?

― Mark Twain

“Because I’m naked, I’m the boss.”

Episode 2 of the funny web series by Warmland Films, Convos With My 2 Year Old, features 2-year-old Coco (as played by a grown man) waking up in the middle of the night and having a humorous conversation with her dad.

video via ConvosWith2YrOld

From May 24 to June 10, the city of Sydney lights up for Vivid Sydney, a festival dedicated to light, music and ideas. Easily one of the highlights of this year’s Vivid, which is still going on, was seeing the sails of the iconic Sydney Opera House light up.


See more at My Modern Met.

In the painting series “Vertigo,” cities are seen from high above in a dizzying downward fish-eye perspective. The paintings are by Milan-based artist Fabio Giampietro. For more of his work, see his Facebook page.

via My Modern Metropolis

Ghostly Ship Graveyards from Around the World

I really love to discover and visit new libraries everyday. With that in mind I have done hours of research trying to find the most interesting libraries in the world. As you can see this is the second ranking I have created (read the first one here). I have tried to balance these two lists between architecturally interesting libraries and libraries with interesting collections, but most of these libraries are actually fascinating in both aspects. I’d love to spend a day in any of these libraries, and I hope you’ll agree.

1.SENDAI MEDIATHEQUE, JAPAN

2-1, Kasuga-machi, Aoba-ku
Sendai-shi 980-0821
Japan

Toyo Ito, 2001

The Mediatheque is located on a tree-lined avenue in Sendai, its transparent facade allowing for the revelation of diverse activities that occur within the building.

The interior of each level of the mediatheque is designed by a different designer.  On the ground floor Kazuyo Sejima places the administrative offices behind a translucent screen.  The second and third levels house the Shimin Library and include a browsing lounge with internet access with furniture designed by K.T Architecture.

The fourth and fifth levels contain gallery space; one level an exhibition space with moveable walls and the other an exhibition space with mainly fixed walls with rest area seating by Karim Rashid.  The sixth level houses the multimedia library dedicated to audio-visual with green and white furniture designed by Ross Lovegrove and a 180 seat cinema.

Opening hours

Mediatheque 9am -10pm (closed December 29 – January 3).

Shimin Library 10am – 8pm (closed Mondays except holiday Mondays, days after national holidays, 4th Thursday every month and December 28 – January 4).

 

2.VENNESLA LIBRARY AND CULTURE HOUSE, NORWAY

Helen & Hard, 2011

Wood in all its glory: 27 ribs made of prefabricated glue-laminated timber elements and CNC-cut plywood boards are the basic components of this library. The Gaudi-esque timber beams and columns gradually shift shape according to technical and programmatic demands achieving a strong spatial identity well deserved for the cultural centre.

The new library building completed in 2011 has won several architecture prizes and has been praised both within Norway and abroad. Enjoy reading here…

 

smilesmakemyday:

Hedgehog punches!

Shinmoedake volcano, 2011


Shinmoedake volcano, 2011


Sakurajima volcano, 2013


Sakurajima volcano, 2013


Eyjafjallajökull volcano, 2010


Eyjafjallajökull volcano, 2010


Puyehue volcano, 2011


Puyehue volcano, 2011

spaceplasma:

Dirty thunderstorms

A dirty thunderstorm (also, Volcanic lightning) is a weather phenomenon that occurs when lightning is produced in a volcanic plume. A study in the journal Science indicated that electrical charges are generated when rock fragments, ash, and ice particles in a volcanic plume collide and produce static charges, just as ice particles collide in regular thunderstorms.