mon carnet de bord: culture

Showing posts with label culture. Show all posts

"The news is for idiots"

“The news is for idiots” was a comment I saw on someone posting their opinion on a certain situation. This view however is shared by many. It is better to avoid reading it and pretend not to have an opinion on any matter. I decided to briefly analyse my Facebook feed, and describe feelings and actions of those who are ’non-political' (self-proclaimed) on specific events this summer, and on other relevant issues. Here are the results:

Syria: indifference
ISIS: “we in the civilised world” or indifference
Gaza: indifference or simplified as “Give peace a chance!”
Russia/Ukraine: indifference or “always knew they were corrupt bad guys, Bond told me!”
Ebola: indifference
Brazil: indifference, except of course when it came to the score of the world cup matches
Olympics/World Cup news: as long as those stadiums don’t delay the opening ceremonies, I’m indifferent
Ferguson: Some are outraged, some are completely indifferent
Tim Horton’s being bought out by Burger King: mild outrage
Gay rights: If there’s a party, I’m there!
Canadian government making atrocious decisions: mild uproar
Rob Ford smokes crack: outrage
Airline crashes: mild indifference or trip cancellations or boycotting the airline
Celebrity death (A to C list): devastation
Parking ticket: outrage
Aboriginals: "I guess it’s important, but I really don’t know anything"
A TV show gets cancelled: sadness, calls for a Kickstarter to be created begin
Reduction of cycling lanes: outrage
Someone smoking on a non-smoking patio: more outrage than drunk driving
The weather: depends on if it’s good or bad
Ben Affleck as Batman: petitions signed
Justin Bieber’s behaviour: petitions signed
Cell-phone provider policies: blind rage
Ice bucket challenge: “yay looks fun, and I’m doing good!” “What’s ALS?” “Why are people wasting water?” And of course, moral superiority that we waste water in other ways, why is this any different?
Jennifer Lawrence nude photos leak: moral superiority

Classic album covers in Google Street View – in pictures

Link: Classic album covers in Google Street View – in pictures

From Pink Floyd to PJ Harvey, our Street View specialist Halley Docherty shows us the world’s cities through the lens of famous album covers

Also worth a browse, old paintings of London in modern settings

Riders of the London Underground

Photographer Bob Mazzer captured Tube riders during the 1970s and 80s. This series is really interesting to see. It feels as though the Tube had a much more eclectic demographic because it was much more accessible years ago. I wish the names of the stations were included though.

The Full McBain Movie Hidden Throughout Simpsons Episodes

http://gawker.com/5750211/the-full-mcbain-movie-hidden-throughout-simpsons-epsiodes

!!!

!!!

Why The Simpsons is one of the most amazing TV shows

The history of typography

Great video on the History of Typography by Ben Barrett-Forrest. Apparently, it took 140 hours of work, 2,454 pictures, and 291 paper cut outs for the 5 minute animation.

Coffee Shop Jams

I was digging through my Evernote notes and found this gem from May 2010 that I never published on my previous blog, so I’m doing it now!

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Thanks to Starbucks, the company that is in the business of selling milk drinks not coffee, everyone now has that third place: the coffee shop. Here you can sit down, relax, study, read, etc, etc. Most of the time, there’s music playing in the background. This music can be a) really low b) just at the right volume or c) louder than the heavy metal they play at Chippy’s (Trinity Bellwoods location).

After sitting in a variety of coffee shops, I assembled a list of jams you’re most likely to hear at those places.

Independent cafés

Usually, the staff is allowed to plug in their own iPod and play their tunes. This can be really bad or really good. And depending on when you go, it can be very repetitive (some employees put the same music week after week - Jimmy’s I’m looking in your direction!)

Jams you might spill your coffee too:

"Age of Consent" - New Order (it’s the Tupac for hipsters, aiight?)
The Smiths
Cut Copy
Junior Boys
Toro Y Moi
700 other indie bands

Second Cup

This one alternates. Second Cup employees are required to play the music from the satellite radio, but they have a variety of channels to choose from. However, I’m sure anything with swear words or deemed inappropriate is deemed…inappropriate.

Top 40

This can range from Beyoncé to Nickelback to Lil’ Wayne (radio edit)
Jazz
Either Michael Bublé, Norah Jones or Christmas music

Coffee Culture

This place has terrible lattes and coffee (lunch isn’t bad), but I like the actual space itself because it’s good for working (outlets, tables, space!). They also play kicking jams…

Sippin’ on nostalgia

90s - alternative, grunge, classics

The Cranberries
Blind Melon
Everything but the Girl
Sade

Starbucks

You should already know by now I don’t go to Starbucks, I don’t think I’ve actually sat there since I was 13 except once for a meeting. So how would I know their music? I’ll leave you with this: don’t they have their own label?

Errday I'm curatin'

Latest work - now that this has been gifted, it can be made public! A take on the word “curator” and its misuse nowadays.

Size : A2 printed on uncoated matte 180gsm

Babylon Chronicle: Forbidden museum: Iraqis cannot visit their nationalmuseum

Babylon Chronicle: Forbidden museum: Iraqis cannot visit their national museum

tammuz:

March 4, 2013

In a detailed article published today in Al-Sharq Al-Wasat, one of the most prominent newspapers in the Middle East, Iraqi archeologist Dr. Lamia Al-Gailani described the tragic looting of the National Museum of Iraq in 2003. The first female archeologist of Iraq, a University of…

After Hours

unlikecityguides:

A fair amount of films have tried to capture the essence of Berlin’s anything-goes party culture. Most have failed, and not least ‘cos of the city’s prevalent no-cameras-allowed policy. That’s until two plucky filmmakers managed to crack open the toughest of nuts: Berghain. It’s an after-hour like you’ve never seen. Steffen Köhn and Phillip Kaminiak released wild animals to explore the confines of the empty former power station; their natural inquisitiveness throwing the brutal architecture into some seriously stark relief. This upside-down short film premieres tonight from 7pm, as part of the Kultur: Stadt exhibition.

After Hours | Kultur: Stadt | Akademie der Künste, Hanseatenweg | 15 March - 26 May

Typography Beard Guide

I don’t know…Bodoni is much more of a 5 o’clock shadow to me…

The History of Nintendo

In the summer of 1975, Southern California experienced a drought so severe it evaporated nearly all suburban swimming pools. Restless to escape the heat and fill the long summer days, kids quickly turned these dry pools into playgrounds that became the essential springboard for the skateboarding scene. It was one such hot, dry afternoon that a young photographer by the name of Hugh Holland drove up Laurel Canyon Boulevard in Los Angeles to find himself mesmerized by the dynamic grace and explosive athleticism of these young skateboarders. So he decided to document them, unaware he was recording the dawn of an era that would shape countless facets of pop culture in eras to come

Simpsons drawn from memory

drawnblog:

Simpsons drawn from memory (by Jack Teagle)

Profile intervention

Droga5 Sydney and VB want to help you put your most superficial Facebooking friends in their place with the VB Profile Intervention. Select a mate and his or her particular offense, from The Flesh Flash (too much skin exposure) to The Trout Pout (cheek sucker). Your buddy will then be treated to a session with Physcoventionalist Stephen W Proust, who will diagnose his profile and help him on the road to recovery.