Danbusha

William Kentridge, Undo, Unsay, Unremember, Unhappen

As part of his upcoming exhibition at Lehmann Maupin, Korean artist Do-Ho Suh (previously here and here) has constructed detailed, leightweight sculptures of his oven, toilet, bathtub and other fixtures found in his Manhattan apartment out of polyester fabric. The translucent nature of each piece gives the appearance of a CAD drawing or digital wireframe, but in fact each piece is a near weightless, full-size replica down to the stitched typography of the brand label. Titled Specimen Series, the exhibition will run November 14, 2013 through January 24, 2014 at Lehmann Maupin in Hong Kong. (via MOCO LOCO)

In a book called All Things Considered published in 1915, G.K. Chesterton deftly skewers the glut of books by gurus, articles linked to from Hacker News, and conference talks by entrepreneurs about how to be successful.

That a thing is successful merely means that it is; a millionaire is successful in being a millionaire and a donkey in being a donkey. Any live man has succeeded in living; any dead man may have succeeded in committing suicide. But, passing over the bad logic and bad philosophy in the phrase, we may take it, as these writers do, in the ordinary sense of success in obtaining money or worldly position. These writers profess to tell the ordinary man how he may succeed in his trade or speculation-how, if he is a builder, he may succeed as a builder; how, if he is a stockbroker, he may succeed as a stockbroker. They profess to show him how, if he is a grocer, he may become a sporting yachtsman; how, if he is a tenth-rate journalist, he may become a peer; and how, if he is a German Jew, he may become an Anglo-Saxon. This is a definite and business-like proposal, and I really think that the people who buy these books (if any people do buy them) have a moral, if not a legal, right to ask for their money back. Nobody would dare to publish a book about electricity which literally told one nothing about electricity; no one would dare publish an article on botany which showed that the writer did not know which end of a plant grew in the earth. Yet our modern world is full of books about Success and successful people which literally contain no kind of idea, and scarcely any kind of verbal sense.

Chesterton continues:

It is perfectly obvious that in any decent occupation (such as bricklaying or writing books) there are only two ways (in any special sense) of succeeding. One is by doing very good work, the other is by cheating. Both are much too simple to require any literary explanation. If you are in for the high jump, either jump higher than any one else, or manage somehow to pretend that you have done so. If you want to succeed at whist, either be a good whist-player, or play with marked cards. You may want a book about jumping; you may want a book about whist; you may want a book about cheating at whist. But you cannot want a book about Success. Especially you cannot want a book about Success such as those which you can now find scattered by the hundred about the book-market. You may want to jump or to play cards; but you do not want to read wandering statements to the effect that jumping is jumping, or that games are won by winners.

That Chesterton's observations ring so true today is not an accident. The last time income inequality in the US was as high as it is today? The 1910s and 1920s. (via mustapha abiola)

Calvin and Hobbes

Elements

Be the Change

waltimar

Jerry Bei

Ken Douglas

Bastian Kalous

Matt MacDonald

Lissy Laricchia

Lesley Ann Ercolano

Didan Rachmat

Victor Shoup

Flickr Finds returns this week with nine great shots from a number of different photographers, several of which have been featured here on Colossal before. All the photos are linked to in the individual photographers, so please click through to see more of their work. See previous Flickr Finds.

Headline Absurdity

Natalie Dee

Final tally: 27. :( I tried. It did work out to 30 countries though, due to various co-productions. At any rate, I was immersed by degrees into new cultures, landscapes, and languages through the only medium that can really do that properly. A win any way you look at it. You can see the final list here.

Countries I’d never before seen a film from: Turkey, Democratic Republic of Congo, Denmark, Albania, Argentina, Rwanda, Czech Republic, Netherlands

Languages I’d never heard before: Isan, Lingala, Kinyarwanda, Albanian

My favorites:

• Boy (NZ)
• Castaway on the Moon (S. Korea)
• War Witch (Canada/DRC)
• Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Thailand)
• Reprise (Norway)
• The Forgiveness of Blood (Albania)
• Neighbouring Sounds (Brazil)
• Amour (Austria)
• The Taste of Tea (Japan)
• In the Mood for Love (HK)

The one that haunted me the longest: Neighbouring Sounds - I could not get this one out of my head for days.

The one I was looking forward to the most: War Witch - It did not disappoint.

Most unsettling: Songs from the Second Floor (Sweden) - existential angst for dayssssss.

The clearest examples of how teenagers are pretty much the same in any culture, language, or circumstance: The Forgiveness of Blood, California Dreamin’ (Romania)

Bonus: Discovered some amazing directors whose work I can’t wait to track down more of, including Katsuhito Ishii, Joachim Trier, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul (who I’m pretty sure is a genius).

Extra bonus: the final film was In the Mood for Love, which I had an actual physical reaction to, so clearly the only thing to do now is a Wong Kar-Wai lazy marathon, yes? Yes.

Coffee around the world

die Bibliothek

Funeral on the Ocean Floor

The documentary Room 237 doesn't sound like it's about any of the things I like about Stanley Kubrick's films, especially The Shining. But Stephen King reminds us that he doesn't like The Shining either, and for better reasons than novelists usually give when talking about movies based on their books:

Shelley Duvall as Wendy is really one of the most misogynistic characters ever put on film, she's basically just there to scream and be stupid and that's not the woman that I wrote about.

Wendy's best moments in the film are when she's not that thing, but yeah, she's mostly that thing.

But at the same time King is bothered by one of the things that is actually super-distinctive and weirdly compelling about Kubrick, fucked up as that dude clearly was:

I'm not a cold guy. I think one of the things people relate to in my books is this warmth, there's a reaching out and saying to the reader, 'I want you to be a part of this.' With Kubrick's The Shining I felt that it was very cold, very 'We're looking at these people, but they're like ants in an anthill, aren't they doing interesting things, these little insects.

So wait, why is Stephen King talking about The Shining? Because he has a sequel to the book, just out today, called Doctor Sleep. It's about Daniel Torrance, the little boy, following him through his childhood and now all grown up.

Haunted by the inhabitants of the Overlook Hotel where he spent one horrific childhood year, Dan has been drifting for decades, desperate to shed his father's legacy of despair, alcoholism, and violence. Finally, he settles in a New Hampshire town, an AA community that sustains him, and a job at a nursing home where his remnant "shining" power provides the crucial final comfort to the dying. Aided by a prescient cat, he becomes "Doctor Sleep."

"Aided by a prescient cat"! Oh, whoever at Studio Ghibli becomes the anointed heir of Hayo Miyazaki, please give us a warm, weird, spooky film version of this. This book trailer isn't doing it for me.

King's BBC interview is better. Besides Kubrick's movie, he talks about how The Shining was in retrospect a way for him to autobiographically work through his own drinking problems and resentment for literary fiction.

Middle + Off

The Other F Word is a 2011 documentary about how punk rockers and other countercultural figures made the transition from anti-authoritarianism to parenthood. Features members from Devo, NOFX, Black Flag, Rancid, and also pro skater Tony Hawk. Here's the trailer:

To be sure, watching foul-mouthed, colorfully inked musicians attempt to fit themselves into Ward Cleaver's smoking jacket provides for some consistently hilarious situational comedy, but the film's deeper delving into a whole generation of artists clumsily making amends for their own absentee parents could strike a resonant note with anyone (punk or not) who's stumbled headfirst into family life.

Available to rent/buy on iTunes and on Amazon.

(via @claytoncubitt)

SPASM

The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks calls out abuse of the quotation mark. For some reason, quotation marks are being increasingly used as a form of emphasis (a usage which remains controversial), by people unaware that such use, when interpreted as scare quotes, serves to undermine their original point.

Mind you, the emphasis theory doesn't explain all misuses of quotation marks I've seen. I'm led to believe that some people simply enjoy seeing quotation marks and place them around randomly-selected words.

Apostrophes are another commonly-misused punctuation mark. So much so that the city of Birmingham has simply given up and deleted them from all their street signs. Other cities followed suit.

Tying together all this is a sign I saw in an airport dining facility:

The challenge isn't so much finding what's wrong with the sign as it is finding what's still right. (As a bonus, the sign was next to another sign that read "No free refills", which only served to create more confusion, because the first sign suggests that refills are free if you stay inside the facility, but the second sign denies it.)

Today is National Punctuation Day.

"Physicists have discovered a jewel-like geometric object that dramatically simplifies calculations of particle interactions and challenges the notion that space and time are fundamental components of reality.”

A Jewel at the Heart of Quantum Physics

Produced by Bot and Dolly, a San Francisco-based design and engineering studio, this amazing clip was filmed entirely in camera and demonstrates a mixture of robotically controlled monitors, projection-mapping and choreographed human interaction. Via their website:

“Box” explores the synthesis of real and digital space through projection-mapping on moving surfaces. The short film documents a live performance, captured entirely in camera. Bot & Dolly produced this work to serve as both an artistic statement and technical demonstration. It is the culmination of multiple technologies, including large scale robotics, projection mapping, and software engineering. We believe this methodology has tremendous potential to radically transform theatrical presentations, and define new genres of expression.

I can’t tell you how long it’s been since I’ve been excited by projection mapping, even if you’re skeptical this is seriously worth just a few minutes of your time. (thnx, Nick)

Yes, it’s an ad, but it’s a darn good one. This fun video from Mercedes-Benz demonstrates a chickens (as well as many other birds) ability to keep its head almost perfectly positioned in the same place despite moving its body from side to side. Destin over at SmarterEveryDay discussed the phenomenon back in 2008 and I’ve included it above for reference. Y’know, for science.

Full Turn is a kinetic light sculpture by Benjamin Muzzin created as a diploma project for his bachelor degree at ECAL. The piece was constructed from two flat screen monitors placed back-to-back and spun at extremely high speed resulting in three-dimensional light forms that hover in thin air. Of the work he says:

With this project I wanted to explore the notion of the third dimension, with the desire to try to get out of the usual frame of a flat screen. For this, my work mainly consisted in exploring and experimenting a different device for displaying images, trying to give animations volume in space. The resulting machine works with the rotation of two screens placed back to back, creating a three-dimensional animated sequence that can be seen at 360 degrees. Due to the persistence of vision, the shapes that appear on the screen turn into kinetic light sculptures.

Music by Montgomery Clunk. (via Prosthetic Knowledge, Creative Applications)

I love this theory from Jon Negroni that all of the Pixar movies take place in the same universe and are all connected.

Centuries later, the animals from Brave that have been experimented on by the witch have interbred, creating a large-scale population of animals slowly gaining personification and intelligence on their own.

There are two progressions: the progression of the animals and the progression of artificial intelligence. The events of the following movies set up a power struggle between humans, animals, and machines.

The stage for all-out war in regards to animals is set by Ratatouille, Finding Nemo, and Up, in that order. Notice I left out A Bug's Life, but I'll explain why later.

For the reading-averse, there's a condensed timeline version. (via slate)

This group on Flickr shows just how fantastically designed Japanese manhole covers are. Here are some of my favorites:

(via mr)

Evolution

Jean-François Martin

Photo by Shanna Jones

Photo by Shanna Jones

Photo by Shanna Jones

Photo by Shanna Jones

Photo by Shanna Jones

Photo by Shanna Jones

Photo by Shanna Jones

Photo by Shanna Jones

Features on interior design here on Colossal are few and far between, there are times when a space is so wholly original it’s just too hard to pass up. Case in point: Truth Coffee Shop in Cape Town, South Africa. This radically designed steampunk-themed coffee shop was created by Heldane Martin who considered the form factor of espresso machines and coffee roasters to be somewhat similar to the Victorian futuristic fantasy style found in the aesthetic of steampunk. The hope was also to personify Truth’s attempt at roasting the very best coffee by offering a perfectly executed space.

Every inch of the coffee shop is packed with visual candy from large saw-blade tabletops to beautiful overstuffed booths and an ornate array of coffee making equipment that looks absurdly complex, almost like interior of a World War 2 submarine. If that wasn’t enough, Martin also crammed the space with vintage typewriters, Singer sewing machines, and old candlestick telephones. The design even extends to the restrooms which have exposed copper pipes, old extending mirrors and victorian tap levers.

You can see many more photos over on Heldane Martin. All photos above courtesy Shanna Jones. (via Yatzer)

The stream, John Francis Peters