Sun, 08 Aug 2010 23:49:12 GMT
The Boy With the Dragon Tattoo Crush
by Vadim Rizov
I"m in love with Lisbeth Salander. I"m unrepentantly coming out with this information, despite at least three reasons this is a stupid way to feel:
1.) Lisbeth Salander is a fictional character from the late Stieg Larsson"s Millennium Trilogy-a series of books I haven"t read (I struggled through 10 pages of an Amazon.com preview before giving up on them)-and two movies I"ve seen for work that I"d call absolute shit. Salander is a better character than either franchise deserves. Furthermore, I"m assuredly not in love with Noomi Rapace, who plays Lisbeth in the movies; she looks much cuter in character.
2.) As conceived, Salander isn"t even "my type," nor is there anything really appealing about her personality. She"s a pretty good hacker, but aside from that suffers from Asperger"s, is prone to (as Liz Phair said) "fuck and run," and doesn"t have a noticeable sense of humor. Her issues will keep a dedicated therapist in practice for decades, let alone any unlucky partner.
3.) Although some stone-cold shit is done to Salander, her violent retaliations would get an enthusiastic thumbs-up from the waifish sociopath from Audition. Just saying.
Posted by: ahillis Read more Source
Sun, 08 Aug 2010 09:55:22 GMT
Willie Nelson's 4th of July Celebration
Willie Nelson"s 4th of July Celebration
Directed by Yabo Yablonski
1979, 100 minutes, USA
(screening July 3, 4 at Anthology Film Archives)
To a central Texan, celebrating Independence Day means more than fireworks, BBQ, baseball games and parades, as this weekend marks the 37th year of aging outlaw-country legend Willie Nelson"s "4th of July Picnic," a laid back and Southern-fried Lollapalooza that this former Austin-based writer once attended in the late "90s.
Over three days in 1974, a reported 25,000 turned out in College Station for the second annual extravaganza, a dirty, shadelessly sun-assaulted, Lone Star beer-soaked (and sponsored!), marijuana-smoky affair that was filmed but rarely screened. Woodstock may be the countercultural touchstone of the era, but the mysterious Yabo Yablonski"s chilled-out concert movie is the more mesmeric drug, better encapsulating an entire subculture of regional hippiedom and music. (To think, Willie and company"s tunes would be labeled "alt-country" if newly released today.)
Posted by: ahillis Read more Source
Sun, 20 Jun 2010 00:15:51 GMT
A Home Theater System with AV Receiver
I've been doing the rounds at the local mall in search of home theater equipment to complete the entertainment system I'm interested in building. I found a beautiful LCD television last week in the
Samsung LCD TV Series 4 but decided to delay the purchase until I had enough time to finish my canvass of the other stuff I needed.
I passed by the Sony showroom yesterday and checked out its selection of
Bravia LCD TV, and I got to tell you, the product line literally blew me away. My only beef with Sony is that their products can get a bit heavy on the pockets. But since the electronics company has not let me down before (being the proud owner of other Sony products like the Playstation-yeah, the first one-and a really old CRT television), I might just give the Bravia a chance at joining the room that's destined to hold my home theater system.
Okay, I already have a component system at home. It's a bit old and it's of a different brand, Pioneer, but I think it'll work nicely with the Bravia. The catch is I need something else to hook it all up. Sure, I can connect the Bravia I'm planning to purchase, the 32-inch KLV-32NX500 (which belongs to the NX Series of Sony Bravia), to the rickety Pioneer stereo, but it just wouldn't feel right.
What I really need is an AV receiver to keep the home theater system in tip-top shape. For those who are unaware of what an AV receiver is, it's that piece of hardware that amplifies sound from different audio sources and routes video signals from various gadgets to your television, preferably an LCD TV (since a CRT just won't cut it).
© Sony
Posted by: Linda Read more Source
Mon, 25 Jan 2010 04:59:19 GMT
Birds On A Guitar
French artist Celeste Boursier-Mougenot created a walk-though aviary for a flock of zebra finches, furnished with electric guitars and other musical instruments.
As the birds go about their routine activities, perching on or feeding from the various pieces of equipment, they create a captivating, live soundscape.
(thanks Cora)
Posted by: Gerard Read more Source
Mon, 18 Jan 2010 04:56:32 GMT
Start Planning Now for Mardi Gras
© DoctorWho
Fat Tuesday is only a little over six weeks away. Have you booked your trip to the Big Easy yet?
If you're planning a trip to Mardi Gras this year,
National Geographic Traveler says that maybe the French Quarter isn't the place to be....The best of New Orleans's annual celebration isn't in the French Quarter but out in the neighborhoods, where the good times go local.Janelle Nanos' article details her Mardi Gras trip to one of New Orleans' suburbs.
Posted by: Lisa Read more Source
Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:47:30 GMT
HE NEEDS A "SILKWOOD" SCRUB DOWN
Please rate/comment.fave/tweet!
I hope you subscribe for more!
Comment Questions of the Day:
1. Who were your faves/least faves on X Factor movie week?
2. Are you boycotting this week?? Is Simon cheating by sending it to public vote?
3. Who do you like better Lloyd or Jedward?? I like Jedward better!!!!
4. WHAT SONG WOULD YOU SING FOR MOVIE WEEK?!
5. Are you watching So You Think You Can Dance? Who are your faves?
6. Do you watch Real Housewives of OC? Aren't they A-holes????
Bonus: ANY FUN COMMENTS FOR BUCK- I LOVE IT!
ps did you get the movie quote at the end??
Posted by: Popbytes Read more Source
Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:29:56 GMT
Facebook's Most Popular Games
©
sabrina.dentMashable has a use short guide to Facebook"s 10 most popular games. Without a doubt, social gaming is on the rise - and big business for some. With the Facebook application platform, game developers have an unprecedented opportunity to tap into existing social connections for both compelling gameplay and viral promotions for their titles.The list doesn"t include Zygna"s Cafe World (which was new at the time, but now has over 15 million users). The list does include three other Zygna games - including FarmVille, my favorite and Facebook"s leading game. Second place is Mafia Wars.
Posted by: Nancy Read more Source
Mon, 28 Sep 2009 04:17:01 GMT
The Hollis & Ariel Show
The Hollis & Ariel Show from COACD on Vimeo.
s: COACD
Posted by: Brigitte Read more Source
Mon, 28 Sep 2009 04:05:21 GMT
These Previews.... Are.... Bah....Nanana
Rachel vs. the concept of animation.
There"s another new episode of The Rachel Zoe Project on tonight, and if these previews are any indication, it"s gonna be more ridiculous than ever. In the first video, Rachel grapples with the concept of having to offer fashion advice to animated characters. That"s right - for some reason, she"s doing some sort of weird video where she"s giving couture to invisible people, which leaves her saying both her trademark "Oh.... mygod" to the director and then babbling to empty space. It"s quite a sight to behold.
In the second clip (the first half of which you can skip over since it"s just Taylor complaining to some woman), we find Rachel suffering from some ailment that has left her shaking and wanting to throw up everywhere (specifically on Taylor). Again, the dramatic staccato statements ensue ("ohmygod. I could throw up. Everywhere. I"m dying." - not a direct quote). Check out that video after the jump....
Posted by: B-Side Read more Source
Mon, 28 Sep 2009 03:55:06 GMT
A Treat for the Ears and Hands
The Sensia also comes with a generous 5.7-inch, 640 x 480 pixel high res touchscreen display handy for navigating lists, shifting controls, and scrolling through all the widgets and apps. That"s right, the Sensia has a bunch of PURE Apps including Facebook, Twitter, and Picasa, so you can stay connected to all your friends as you enjoy some tuneage. You can also check out station slideshows or album artwork upping your tactile enjoyment.
Posted by: Sarah Read more Source
Mon, 28 Sep 2009 03:39:59 GMT
Nick Lachey Auctions Himself Off For Charity
Jessica Simpson"s ex-husband Nick Lachey is putting himself up for auction - all in the name of charity.
The singer is offering himself up for a dream dinner date to raise money for the VH1 Save the Music Foundation, which aims to keep instrumental music education programmes up and running in schools.
The highest bidder and a pal will be flown to Los Angeles, where Lachey will wine and dine them. The lucky pair will also be put up in a luxury hotel for a night and sent on a $500 (£330) shopping spree as part of the grand prize.
Bidding on the online auction kicked off on Monday and ends on 1 October.
Posted by: Melissa Read more Source
Sun, 27 Sep 2009 21:37:40 GMT
Nuit Blanche 2009 Guide
Scotiabank"s Nuit Blanche 2009 is set to take over Toronto nightlife on Saturday October 3rd, offering another dusk "till dawn city-wide art crawl and an excellent excuse to stay up crazy late.
To make the most of the evening, I"ve put together a guide with some of my top picks for this year"s instalment of the exhibition.
Posted by: Corina Read more Source
Wed, 16 Sep 2009 04:42:08 GMT
Zune marketplace to distribute HD movies
The Zune Marketplace is set to distribute HD movies for the upcoming ZuneHD, according to this grainy photo of a promotional leaflet for the device. If it can do it at a good price and get a good set of publishers on board it could certainly be a rival for Apple's iTunes, but only time will tell.... more as we know it!
Posted by: Jeff Read more Source
September 15, 2009, 2:33 PM CT
Scary Music Is Scarier with Your Eyes Shut
The power of the imagination is well-known: it's no surprise that scary music is scarier with your eyes closed. But now neuroscientist and psychiatry expert Prof. Talma Hendler of Tel Aviv University's Functional Brain Center says that this phenomenon may open the door to a new way of treating people with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other neurological diseases.
In her newly released study, Prof. Hendler observed that the simple act of voluntarily closing one's eyes - instead of listening to music and sounds in the dark - can elicit more intense physical responses in the brain itself. This finding may have therapeutic value in treating people with brain disorders. Her research was just published in PLoS One and builds on her 2007 study published in Cerebral Cortex.
Prof. Hendler's research suggests that, when our eyes are closed, a region in our brain called the amygdala is fired up. The experience of scary music becomes more emotionally and physically intense. And the converse of the scary music effect appears to be true: happy music could produce a joyous effect when our eyes are shut as well.
Listening to sounds with our eyes closed seems to wire together a direct connection to the regions of our brains that process emotions, says Prof. Hendler. "Music is a relatively abstract emotional carrier," says Prof. Hendler. "It can easily take one's subjective personal experience and manipulate it. Our new findings, however, suggest that the effect is not only subjective. Using a functional MRI (fMRI), we can see that distinct changes in the brain are more pronounced when a person's eyes are not being used".........
Posted by: Gina Read more Source
Wed, 02 Sep 2009 05:00:45 GMT
Paint Drop Sculptures
When we came across these "Paint Drop Sculptures " we were really impressed by it and we were sure you too would like it. These sculptures are the creation of Chris Dorosz. He maintains a studio practice in San Francisco where he teaches at the Academy of Art University. Apart from this he also runs the studio, affordable studio space for artists in the city.
Artist"s Statement:
"Out of material discovery I began to regard the primacy of the paint drop, a form that takes shape not from a brush or any human-made implement or gesture, but purely from its own viscosity and the air it falls through…………."
Posted by: Venus Read more Source
Thu, 27 Aug 2009 06:25:58 GMT
Naomi Photographed by Jean-Paul Goude
Fresh off the heels of the commentary surrounding the Jean-Paul Goude homage (featuring Amber Rose) in Complex magazine comes this editorial by the photographer himself in the September issue of Harper"s Bazaar. Goude makes no bones about his very narrow view of black women and "jungle fever" so I guess a spread featuring Naomi dressed in skins, jump roping with monkeys and running with a cheetah isn"t exactly a surprise but it sure is disappointing.
source
Posted by: Brigitte Read more Source
Wed, 26 Aug 2009 17:19:32 GMT
Vintage W Magazine Spread: Spring Break
Before it became just another "celebrity in pretty clothes" monthly, W Magazine used to feature some amazing editorial work. This one was shot by Bruce Weber and features the once in demand Gerren Taylor and a model I haven"t seen a lot of lately, Jaunel McKenzie. Enjoy! Thank you Rubydon for unearthing these photos :) This has got to be one of my all-time favorites!
Editorial: Spring BreakMagazine: W Magazine April 2004
Models: Jaunel McKenzie, Jessica White, Gerren Taylor, Payton Champage, Natassia Schmeidt, Victoria Brito
Posted by: Brigitte Read more Source
July 2, 2009, 10:03 PM CT
Influences of nature and nurture
Practice, practice, practice might get you to Carnegie Hall, but for aspiring musicians, there's new evidence that genes may influence one's ability to get there, as well.
Perfect pitch, also known as absolute pitch, is the rare ability to recognize and name musical notes without any reference pitch for comparison, detecting, for instance, A before middle C. The rarity of the aptitude contrasts with the common ability to immediately recognize and name colors, distinguishing pink from red or azure from blue.
In the July 2 online posting of "
American Journal of Human Genetics," UCSF researchers report that they identified a particular region of genes on human chromosome eight that is associated with perfect pitch, at least in people of European ancestry. The next step, they say, is to identify a specific gene.
The finding, part of a larger examination of families of various ancestries Europeans, Ashkenazi Jews, Indians and East Asians is the first significant genetic evidence of a role of genes in perfect pitch. It is likely, the scientists say, that multiple genes are involved in all cases of perfect pitch and that different genes could be linked to different ethnic backgrounds.
Regardless, the finding is an important advance, they say, in their effort to move in on the relative roles of early musical training and genetic inheritance on perfect pitch. More broadly, says senior author Jane Gitschier, PhD, UCSF professor of medicine, pediatrics and genetics, and herself a singer, it is an advance in the team's effort to explore the relative contributions of environmental factors and genes on learning and other behaviors.........
Posted by: Gina Read more Source
Fri, 05 Jun 2009 02:56:49 GMT
And Now An Important Message From Chris Brown
Chris Brown, perhaps the inspiration for "Boom Boom Pow," has resurfaced with two very important messages - in YouTube form, natch. Above, the singer clarifies any confusion about his reputation, noting that he is not, in fact, a monster. This is independently verified by Bow Wow, who has long stood as the preeminent character witness of the hip-hop, nay, artistic community.
After the jump, Chris"s second video, which, I tell you, certainly puts ME to shame.
Via D-Listed
Posted by: B-Side Read more Source
Mon, 01 Jun 2009 23:44:01 GMT
Learning To Shave Your Lady Region
Tonight"s a brand spanking new edition of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, and hopefully, some sparks might start flying with these ladies. In the meantime, here"s a clip of resident battle ax Caroline forcing her daughter to learn the finer art of pubic waxing. After the jump, two bonus clips that I honestly haven"t seen (they weren"t working on the Bravo website, but hopefully they"ll embed fine here). I don"t really know what they"re about, but I"m sure they"re horrifying and embarrassing for all parties involved.....
Posted by: B-Side Read more Source
Thu, 23 Apr 2009 04:05:17 GMT
MIA DVDs 3-D
By Craig Phillips
Yet another in my series of fully biased reports on movies that are frustratingly absent a current DVD release here in the United States (the other two lists are here, and here.) Here are ten more neglected films -- and this is one article I wouldn"t mind seeing become dated, when/if these films finally do arrive on disc:
The List of Adrian Messenger: I"ll confess that I haven"t seen this one since I was a pre-teen (on television one night), but it was one of the first mystery films I both really loved and even understood, aside from the 70s all-star Agatha Christie films. Even if there"s a chance it"s now dated, the pedigree -- director John Huston, actors Kirk Douglas, George C. Scott, Robert Mitchum, et al -- should alone be enough to get this one its due on DVD. A real head-scratcher that it"s not.
A Taxing Woman: Juzo Itami"s wonderful film has long been OOP on DVD, which seems to occur to me every year on tax day. The titular tax agent is played by Itami"s wife. Was followed by a sequel, also not on DVD in the States. Someone do an audit and find out why.
Posted by: cphillips Read more Source
March 30, 2009, 5:13 AM CT
Action video games improve vision
Video games that involve high levels of action, such as first-person-shooter games, increase a player's real-world vision, according to research in today's
Nature NeuroscienceThe ability to discern slight differences in shades of gray has long been thought to be an attribute of the human visual system that cannot be improved. But Daphne Bavelier, professor of brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester, has discovered that very practiced action gamers become 58 percent better at perceiving fine differences in contrast.
"Normally, improving contrast sensitivity means getting glasses or eye surgerysomehow changing the optics of the eye," says Bavelier. "But we've found that action video games train the brain to process the existing visual information more efficiently, and the improvements last for months after game play stopped".
The finding builds on Bavelier's past work that has shown that action video games decrease visual crowding and increases visual attention. Contrast sensitivity, she says, is the primary limiting factor in how well a person can see. Bavelier says that the findings show that action video game training may be a useful complement to eye-correction techniques, since game training may teach the visual cortex to make better use of the information it receives.........
Posted by: Gina Read more Source
March 22, 2009, 9:59 PM CT
Language of music really is universal
Native African people who have never even listened to the radio before can nonetheless pick up on happy, sad, and fearful emotions in Western music, as per a new report published online on March 19th in
Current Biology, a Cell Press publication. The result shows that the expression of those three basic emotions in music can be universally recognized, the scientists said.
"These findings could explain why Western music has been so successful in global music distribution, even in music cultures that do not as strongly emphasize the role of emotional expression in their music," said Thomas Fritz of the Max-Planck-Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences.
The expression of emotions is a basic feature of Western music, and the capacity of music to convey emotional expressions is often regarded as a prerequisite to its appreciation in Western cultures, the scientists explained. In other musical traditions, however, music is often appreciated for other qualities, such as group coordination in rituals.
In the newly released study, Fritz, Stefan Koelsch, and their colleagues wanted to find out whether the emotional aspects of Western music could be appreciated by people who had no previous exposure to it. Prior studies had asked similar questions about people with little experience with a particular musical form, for instance Westerners listening to Hindustani music, they said. But to really get at musical universals requires participants who are completely nave to Western music.........
Posted by: Gina Read more Source
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