fistful of links

Screen print via Nakatomi Inc.


Gulf of Mexico: go in crude, come out refined. Some news.

London is full of weird historical kickbacks – perhaps the weirdest is the 100th Livery Company, a guard group from the old City formed in medieval times to regulate the guilds. They have now been re-named the Information Technologists Company, but if you think this means they've abandoned the silly metal hats, tights and big wooden sticks then you're wrong...

You know, MP is way more popular in the States than it here in its hometown. I attribute this to the time-honoured lust that yanks have for poms. Segue: Date British Guys (.com); 1960's posters have been discovered in an abandoned Nottinghill Gate tube tunnel; Take me there Boris: the mayor of London as a cab driver. Moving on to Britain (also known as Greater London), Prince Charles blames the world's ills on Galileo and 'soulless consumerism'. the UK tightens its recession belts, and prepares to make penny-pinching £5-note dispensing ATMs.

The ConDems are really screwing British architects: the Sesquipedalist eloquently explains why (bloody fools). A map of the London Underground in real-time. Ace. Related, a geography of London formed by the number of tweets from each part of the city. Also maps:

Historypin is a like a digital time machine that allows people to view and share their personal history in a totally new way. It uses Google Maps and Street View technology and hopes to become the largest user-generated archive of the world's historical images and stories. Historypin asks the public to dig out, upload and pin their own old photos, as well as the stories behind them, onto the Historypin map. Uniquely, Historypin lets you layer old images onto modern Street View scenes, giving a series of peaks into the past.

America: Restrepo, a documentary about fighting the war in Afghanistan; Still on Afghanistan: a recent mineral deposit find could completely change the game; Marshall McLuhan playing cards; MJ killed for his money, says whacko sister. I'm just not sure that corporate education is a good thing: the Wal-Mart university. iPreach: ipad used to spread the Word; salt flat racers made from the cowls of WW2 fighter planes.

The world: A closer look at sink holes; the silo home; hilarious tattoo mistakes: Loltatz; Chairs prefer gym socks; Two really nice photographers: untitled, and Andrew Moore. One more for good luck (a bit more pop). A fictitious brand created to campaign for industrial architecture in a post-industrial era: Cityfix.

There's been a trend to bend (apparently sexily) in Facebook photos of late, now there's a tumblr devoted to: The awkward lean. Japanese spacecraft deploys first ever solar sail. Still space, "We treat each other with respect and we have a great working relationship. Personal relationships are not ... an issue," says astronaut team-leader, when asked about what its like in the 100 mile club. Humourless response, but who can blame him? The man's name is Poindexter.

A five-step simple plan for everyone and everything; algae-powered flight; Jaguars are obsessed by Calvin Klein cologne; probably the coolest table in existence. Word on the street is that more and more women in their 30's are freezing their eggs, still waiting for "Mr. Right". I don't quite understand who Mr. Right is, but I can only assume he is symbolic for some sort of Cargo Cult. China gets their own native-script URLs. This. Is. Hot. How to beat Super Mario in 11 minutes; Save the Kittens; turn out whale faeces absorb CO2. Clingfilm (or, if you prefer, ceran wrap) architecture (must see!)

Finally, some videos:

1. Perhaps the best thing I've seen this year... via l'Histoire de l'Oeil. (if it gives you an ad, just click the cross to close it).



2. Cleese on Extremism.



3. The most awkward personal transporter I've ever seen...



4. Classroom Mario.

fistful of links

I'm in the labs waiting for some images to render (more on that later in the year), so while the computer plugs away at it: some news.

London: the image above maps the city by geo-tagged flickr photos – I'm kind of surprised the rapidly gentrifying East isn't darker. Check out the Geotaggers' World Atlas (must see!). Related, the Londonist has mapped city institutions that broadcast on Twitter. Slight diversion - did you know twitter.co.uk is an English nationalist site? Tweets precipitated into cuckoo clocks (also, tweets converted into bone structure). Back to geotagged photo maps: Europe. Back to London: Boris Johnson, mayor thereof, is scrapping the Western Congestion zone. WTF dude? Chelsea is where most of the cars are at, no? Also on Boris' to-do list, city-wide free wifi by 2012 - from the unimaginatively named company The Cloud.

Herzog + De Meuron have turned a car park into an art form (1111 Lincoln Road, Miami). But is it really Post-Ballardian? Related, Into The Loop's mixed-use car park/metro station. Still re-using urban structures – the Lords of Raisintown: skateboarders that clean out the pools of re-possessed homes in order to skate in them. Police and real-estate agents are cool with this, since it keeps the pools clean and the property supervised. BLDG BLOG on rogue factories.

I wrote yesterday about Renzo - MP tip-off (I wish you would all send in more, frankly) from an Italian reader – for $11 you can 'be Renzo Piano', its an ipad app... OMA have made a new map of Europe – Eneropa! It's been wrapped up by all the regular dudes, Supercolossal + Infranet and whatever, but the best images are by far Club Construct.


Image source and location unknown...

Dross: inside Hitler's bunker (LIFE have some great galleries); The Ghastlycrumb Tinies, a children's book; startup quotes (Twitter founder: "Investors are employees you can never hire. We made sure to pick investors that thought like us."); crazy tunnels in Russia's only private metro; Turkish bees make beautiful nests from flowers; Notes from Chris (must-read!); in relation to my screen bit, the Nintendo DS as building; why I don't go to festivals; Sean Connery in a thong; steal this idea; Japanese neon light fights (real gorey, with blood and shit, prob NSFW); minigolf meets publicity: advertput; a mad hail storm in the states...

Finally,

fistful of links

Latitude of Silence by You LI.

Sixpence an adventure and he'll take you home again: some news.

Every week I wrap up the world on the web, this week it's the web in the world that has got me in a tizzy.

Some ideas about surfing is a new zine by the young artist Joel Colover (available here as a pdf download) exploring the act of web-browsing as a type of Situationist derive – or passive drift. It is a nice return to the 90's zine aesthetic, featuring bold text and xeroxed sketches.

"Tab based browsing is surfing different waves at the same time. All the time. On the Internet we surf the currents left by other users. Old lost content and new data supply us with the momentum we need... The Internet is not a world, it is a city the size of a universe. It can be split into different quarters, not just based on content, but also on presentation, design, architecture of the pages. This is what the invisible walls are made of."

+++++

The Facebook/privacy debate continues. I can't say I'm too happy about Google's monopoly of the Web, especially when it turns out they were using Street View to capture information from people's wireless networks. That said, they are still miles better than Facebook – the "obnoxious drunk girl at the party/Internet". Related, the US still using a mercenary spy ring. Related, Cold War Paranoia. Maybe related, computers have replaced all your friends. The original lightweight portable telephone: $1499. (Wow, old technology is so attractively crap).

Left: Eventual Ghost. Net neutrality looks like its going to be a thing of the past real quick; Also things of the past: "Future Days" a book by Asimov describing turn of the twentieth century visions for the future. I actually own this book, it is a pleasure. Also books: OMA are exhibiting all of their books at the AA. Hear what the Sesquipedalist has to say about it. Also OMA: old Coney Island postcards.

Inevitable ending, when print meets the net: the 48hr magazine project. Same subject: the magazine of tomorrow (developed by Millennial Wunderkinds Berg London). If you don't know Berg, like, really, do yourself a favour and check that shit pronto: touch, here and there, olinda, the schooloscope (to mention just a few of their amazing projects); The Internet approaches its address limit. I think we should start erasing the weak and old websites to make more space. Controversial. What Google fears most; the continuity of inter-connecting relationships; cloud computing goes mainstream (WATCH OUT FOR THIS ONE). Our one hope for the future of the web (not to be over-dramatic): the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative. This is the opposite of the Patriot Act of the Internet: the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Does anyone else feel like the present stumbled into Blade Runner? On a lighter note, the real is now irrelevant: Banksy returns in digital form. A tip off for MP: Geocitiesizer, make any website look like it was designed by a 13yo in 1996.

Dross: I love unhappy hipsters; big babies at the Shanghai expo; Universal Corrective World Map; Britain is being run by a coalition, in case you didn't hear. It's like the Uk has got two gay dads – Conservative/Liberal Democrat agreement; some of the world's oldest colour photos; 40 mind-blowing hubble pics; dope NASA images; oh, and I remember where all the fistfuls are to be found thanks to Instapaper.

Finally,


A day at Walmart, via Club Construct.


Christianese via Sociological Images.

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Top: the oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, shortly before it sunk. Bottom: visualisation showing the resuming of air traffic across Europe in the wake of the Volcano. Airspace Rebooted (related: Flightradar24 where you can see all flights in Europe in real-time).

When it rains it pours: some news.

What seems to be going on in the world? Volcanoes, oil spills, the economic bankruptcy of most of Europe, and now Britain has a hung parliament. It's like we're copping it from all angles (which is exactly what she said). Luckily the Royal Guards are still able to instil some sense of normality. Oh, wait, they're busy marching in Red Square to celebrate conquest of the Nazis...

Related, as a kind of cultural exchange programme: Lenin in London. Same theme: Verso's Marxism conference. It's coming back into fashion again, that old Marxism. Yes sir, Marx my words, it has yet to make its full Marx. Dad jokes. Of course, the popular conception that ex-KGB lurk around every Moscow street corner couldn't be farther from the truth. Possibly related, Orwell on the principles of Newspeak. Back to London, but on a sombre note: Ghost Bikes. I've seen two people die as a result of bike accidents since I arrived in London a year ago, and I see a new ghost bike every few weeks. If you cycle in the city, do take care. Last thing on the capital: "London's Poor now no different from slaves"...

Let's hop on over to the oil rig shindig: a professional engineer in the field explains how monumentally fucked up all that shit is, in a no doubt hastily named article: mother of all gushers. Related, workers describe the methane explosion. Apocalyptic scenario? Who knows. But I'll invoke the imagery of the sky before Katrina as a visual metaphor for the global condition. A political metaphor might be Kanellos, the Greek protest dog.

Let's keep it a bit positive shall we? I'm not bothered by the oil escaping, since we've now got a petrol producing bug. When you factor in declining fuel reserves and Icelandic tectonic activity (not to mention the fact that vacationing is now a human right, according to the UN) then it seems like the future in travel is airships. Ace. Here's MPs proposal.

To technology: the first ever non-latin web addresses have gone live (although it still displays in most browsers as a bunch of x--n, wgbii, characters). The reasoning behind creating non-english URLs was that otherwise the Internet was likely to split into multiple Internets (can you even imagine multiple Internets?), although I would have thought that it makes the web less unified, not more. A convincing ipad rival has been released, which of course now justifies the ipad's right to existence. Nice one, idiots. That said, what if I had bought apple stock instead of an apple product? Still Mac, Steve Jobs' thoughts on flash. My own: phase out that shit - I gots one acronym, one number for you buddy: HTML 5. It can do everything flash can do, and it's native to the browser. Sorry Adobe, but I still love your Creative Suite. Related, obsolete technology.

Few kickshaws for you: a cream designed to grow long lashes can permanently change eye colour (Brooke Shields is the product's figureface); DAYTUM, in case you didn't already have enough information about yourself. Comes from Nicholas Feltron, whose Annual Reports always cause such a stir; BLDGBLOG's theatre for one; radioactive toothpaste; 4,000 year old lentils grown from seeds; National Geographic got a Tumblr; BIG's Shanghai Pavilion (also check out Heatherwick's). Still China: the fantastically multifunctional Chinese army shovel. Those guys, what will they think of next?

They can't tell us though, Millennium People is blocked in China.

Finally,

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Beach near Trouville, 1865 by Gustave Courbet (via the humm of mystery)

Let me make this quick: some news.

Following up on the Archigram vibe: Cedric Price's Fun Palace at the CAA; Millennium People did a post on the project some time back, linking it with a Barbican exhibit and a pamphlet on forgotten spaces in the Lea Valley. Also architecture: the new Rennie Mackintosh site; a James Bond villain pool in your house (plus its eco-friendly). Still design, for all of you trapped in Milan + the helpful "so you need a typeface" infographic.

NY is all wringing their hands over a doorman strike? Man, we've got volcanoes in Europe, grow some. More evidence of weird stuff going on across the pond: teabaggers get preferential treatment from the police. In case you don't know who these nutjobs are, have a look here, here and here. For those of you a bit out of the loop, you might want to have a look at the other meaning of teabagging (urban dictionary, NSFW). Yep, its an unfortunate name for a political movement.

Still America, "boy stabs mom to stop her drink-driving"; the history of concealed weapons laws (over at Sociological Images). But seriously, The States are not that bad, viz: LA and NY at night; the destruction of Texas Stadium (must see); Lebbeus on the London 8... (related: an archigram-like pavilion for the park). We only needed a re-think of the American Dream.

Enough of them wide open lands. Closer to home, the girl shot in the chicken shop on the corner of Falkirk and Hoxton street has now died. What a pointless crime.

Apes found to suffer self-doubt; also animal, the Scottish Highland Tiger; a city of animals: the Illustrated London News goes digital; related, "Embrace the Endless City" (Owen Hatherley); not related, twin lens pencil sharpener; Venn diagrams about Venn diagrams; amazing images of icebergs. Some blogs out there: Landscape Suicide; circumnavigating a game world in 8 hours; Spillway on a low tunnel entry that catches at least one truck a week; the Shanghai Expo (Heatherwick's is dope); XYM, a temporary archive of artistic work and writing.

Finally (I had wanted to make this a short one), how to translate Cockney (requires knowledge of Jamaican patois):

fistful of links

Lake Reflection by C.D. Sessums


Millennium People, I'm talking to you. This is how we make it happen: some news.

Several months ago I wrote about Iceland (saga style) after a trip there. At the national soil institute I remember staring at a massive volcano on the horizon and asking if it was dormant. "Far from it" the friendly scientist had replied "its long overdue for a really impressive explosion!"

That has happened.

Signs of the times: You can now direct an ad campaign from your desktop with Google TV ads – makes sense really. TV killed the radio, and now TV itself is being killed by the Internet. But does Google have too many moving parts? Cuba starts down the slippery slope to capitalism... Pulitzer won by online journalism - final proof (no pun) that print is no longer relevant in a digital world. Quite sad really. Yes indeed, the future is coming at us thick and fast (that's what she said); related, something that's done the rounds several times, from waaay back in 1995, we discover why the Internet will fail.


"Polar Night", by Gronsky.

Signs you're behind the times: 3 years ago some friends in Sydney asked me if I wanted to come to Earth Hour. I said no, it would never take off.The Vatican tries to justify linking paedophilia with homosexuality. Idiots. That's like saying a beard is the same thing as a scarf. Beard scarf. Catholic related, three-person IVF: its like there's a party in my egg and everyone's invited. Parent related, sob story / what constitutes a mother?


source unknown

Lightning makes mushrooms grow, apparently. Also the case in East London. Unrelated, what's going on inside your body? Eventual Ghost tells rock stars to pull their goddamn heads in. Related, inside the biggest fact-checking conference in the world; (Where else but Germany?); Its lonely in the modern world: Unhappy Hipsters. Very similar, but serious: ArchNow (a new one of those daily architecture sites); Street View time-lapse: an inevitable project; Project Daedalus (sci-fi art, kind of); Kodak Moments: image library of the last several decades (in colour). Related, Nevada Test Site Oral History; Early digital art; cheating is hurting China's reputation; Amazing images of old New York; also NY: Easter shootings in Times Square.

Finally, in the words of a great man: "let's add a layer of awesomeness!"


PIXELS by PATRICK JEAN.
Uploaded by onemoreprod. - Watch original web videos.

fistful of links

Image by Andrew Moore, via the Cosmo-Inspiro Cloud.

Shuffle over and let me drive for a moment: some news.

The internet is a crazy place: a site called "God hates fags" offers the following wisdom: "There are multiple levels of Gay Music. Some bands are what we like to call Gateway Bands. They lure children in with Pop Grooves and Salacious Melodies leaving them wanting more. They’ll move on to more dangerous bands and the next thing you know you’ve got a homosexual for a child." Totally makes sense. Gateway Singer Ricky Martin comes out. Not gay: science; Cern finally gets their shit on; the opposite of gay: the giant sperm race.


Golden Gate, via BLDGBLOG.

Moving on: Liam Young, (Tomorrow's Thoughts Today) just got back from the future (aka South by Southwest). Turns out they treat bloggers a bit differently over there (like, check that shit!); Also tech: a rare article in praise of the iPad; how to recycle a jumbo-jet; mood-pencils; town battered by raining fish; Isn't it wonderful to think that at some point in time this actually happened? Yeah. I guess. Honda concept; use spades, not ships; the banksy/robbo war continues... Leo DiCaprio (he'll always be Jack to me) does the VO on Imax's new 3D Hubble film. How to name your futuristic theory...

In architecture, SANAA has won the Pritzker... (notwithstanding mediocre projects like the Serpentine or New Museum); Sell outs, if you ask me, I can't tell the difference between Art & Art Snacks. Related: "NY, just as I pixeled it". Also, 26 Gigapixel Paris. Lego House; Solar Furnace.

Finally, several awesome films:

1.Flying pants, via WTF Japan, Seriously:



2.The best ending to Judge Judy ever (via csessums)...



3.And last, but not least: an Academy Award-winning trailer [catchphrase!]:



Peace and Love Millennium Peeps.

fistful of links

Alone, by Mark Weaver.

How Millennial are you? Unsettlingly, Millennium People is only 89% New Millennium. We say 11% of the test is out of date. Still Millennium: The Long Now, Rosetta Disk and LongPlayer (the 1000 year long song). Not Millennium, 25 nostalgic images. Different Millennium, a line of burning torches lighting all of Hadrian's wall; a futuristic short film doing the rounds (weak plot, strong images).

Signs of the times: Information is a verb (photography and that); a timeline movie of the contruction of the International Space Station (ISS); when will Facebook get its Mario? Also, how much data Americans consume in a day; Twitter on your car radio (en francais); does web 3.0 exist yet? MP says no. The Memory Marathon.

Battle Popes, 2007 by Jamie Adams.

Class statement: how the web is creating a new wave of consumers. Related, the working class of the knowledge economy. Microsoft sucks. Look at who use it. The submerged ice lake forests of Russia, also water, the bike that filters your drinking water as you ride. Images of London in the 1960's - Images of London today (I really like this photostream) - what I'm really getting at is London, now and then; things got weird. Art: Ali Bosworth. The new US embassy is causing a stink; moving a whole town in Sweden; a post-secret variant + angry science letters from 3rd graders. Light photography using fireworks; an amazing Russian singer (via an old friend of MP).

Finally, the world's most generic news report:

fistful of links

View From My Window, via olya.ivanova on Flickr.


A fine fingerful more like: some news.

Hydrogen cabs for London; the world's biggest dog. Beautiful drawings inspired by life in a Japanese-American interment camp (Roger Shimomura); Manhattan as the storm approaches... Bolus, a tumblr. Koolhaas, a houselife and a good review thereof; Awesome tapes from Africa (as it sounds); Territory of the Senses... the work of BERG London.

Like I said, a short one this week...

Finally, Sky via Philip Bloom on Vimeo:

fistful of links (20th)

California on fire, via Flickr.


A soft roll of links into the gym mat that is our lives: some news.

That's how Fistful started, 20 editions ago (August 09), and it has become over time the bread and butter of MP – weekly hits are never so strong as on a Tuesday... There's a set format to the F-O-L in case you hadn't noticed: cool image: whack phrase: some news: some links: and finally, a badass video. Here are some leaders from the last 20 fistfuls:

A nice cup of tea and a sit down: some news; The locus of links that leads straight to our hearts: some news; Slicing it up and dishing it out – the 'net, just like yo'mama used to make: some news; The loose links in the ghetto gold that keeps us real: some news; An iron fistful of the weekist links: some news. And so on and so forth... Although sadly to say I've long since abandoned the time-consuming witty banter of earlier Fistfuls and now simply list those links: some news.

Word of the day with Wordsmith; need shit shipped to space privately? Visitors to the Burj Dubai stuck at 124th floor... Ballardian-inspired nightmare? The problems of long-term digital data storage; the beautiful cave photography of Christopher Colville via But Does It Float?



Did Alexander the Great fight with yeti? Or was it more likely to be the Neanderthals of central Asia? If you like jogging and phallic structures this is for you. 70's graphic design of Jeremy Pettis; photo-comic web-phenomenon Something Softer; a powerful idea; printeresting, veerry printeresting... oh, great, this guy worked out the problem with the world and thoughtfully printed it on a t-shirt for us all...

The Demotivating Times; crazy crazy photoshop; tactile maps and geographies (as mentioned by Kate Davies); Johansson is all over the net right now (almost as popular as chatroulette - but minus the male exposure) trust Colt+Rane to put up a good compilation; National Geographic photo of the day... you know, nature and shit... flights of fancy at A456; solar eclipse image; sex without a backbone; crushed planes; BLDG BLOG on the Long River (amazing photos), related: as the bubble bursts. Not related, Hamas kills mickey mouse. Not related, new images of 9/11. Turns out what conspiracy theorists called 'remote control choppers' designed to fly the two planes into the towers were... news helicopters. Surprised? Me neither. The Bird Book; photos of moth trails; Space Shuttle concepts, related, STS-131 at sunset...

Second to last (via Cessums):



And finally, a spot of Carl Sagan with my dawg Hawking on backing vocals...

fistful of links

Photo by Rob Hann.

I'm behind on my posts: some news.

A fast and furious fistful this week, in preparation for next Tuesday, which will be the 20th week of Fistful of Links (coinciding roughly with the 8th month marker of this blog's humble origins). Google Zurich's courteous bathroom instructions. Also Google, the End of the Road (a streetview-inspired blog). Still roads, even ET knows you shouldn't drink and drive; Moving a house in Chile with oxen because the land it was built on is haunted; Getting over oil one town at a time (a la grassroots). I would love to hear some real examples. 365 ampersands (as it sounds), also nominal 299 children. Also children, an idea to pack students in shipping containers & the controversy of Rio's sexy seven year-old.

The art of Alex Gross, Marquis, Ori Gersht. Not related: Nazi Gold. Re-designing the boarding card; Paul Rudolph drawings; Create your own motivational posters, and an analysis of what they all mean. Just in case the interweb was getting all too predictable: a blog for tribal african turn of the century photography. Also, Angry People in Local Newspapers.

London's new freesheet (or free-shit). It should go down well with the building based on a flip-bin (I also find it ironic that an East London art pub will be demolished to make way for an art-themed hotel). The Bear Chair. A new blog about mis-reading architecture: deepthroatdiary (safe for work). If you're a geek what you going to do with 5 iphones? A short film collaboration between Dali and Disney. Wigs for children: Baby Bangs. No final film this week.

fistful of links

The Chloride Lake, via English Russia.

Cha Chink: some news.

Some big news actually: we will find Earth's twin by the end of the year. Yeah! Related, fusion energy is on the way. Still related, Mammoth's top 10 architecture list from the last decade (including the LHC at CERN). A store in London with no packaging, I think its sad that I find this actually novel. Still London, my local cinema turns 100. What school grade would you give Obama? (asks Fox). Pop quiz, should the US sell weapons to Taiwan? Or, like, what's the deal with that? Haiti Ghetto Biennale; One frame per day: that's very, very slow television.

"Like Jeff Koons or Damien Hirst, the success of their blatant shit-ness speaks volumes about the state of their field, its ideologies and economies." Entschwindet und vergeht on Zaha Hadid Architects... Other dystopic visions: a construction update on Harry Potter World at Universal Studios; 24 abandoned hotels, derelict soviet structures, (which look a bit like 1960's Birmingham) and the last tourists are air-lifted out of Machu Picchu. Also, one that just won't go away – I hear about Fordlandia about once every 6 months.


"Future Olympic Park (2007)" by Bas Princen

Death: Sir Terry Pratchett, of the Discworld series, reveals he wants to be a test case for state assisted suicide in Britain; Holden Caufield lives on, but Salinger is decidedly catching in the rye. A bit of a shock to hear Nick Dewar is dead too. He was only 37. That's one of his on the left...

On a lighter note, a dictionary of blogger rhetoric. "Barred: If you have been barred from a blogger's comments thread it is always because you 'reminded them of some uncomfortable truths', you 'told it like it was' etc, never beccause you were an insufferable troll or (for example) a tedious prick whose diversionary ramblings and clumsy put-downs were an embarrassment to all but yourself." Also web, I hope you didn't miss Google Data Privacy Day 2010. Still related, the new Apple iPad (just a big iPod really). Also, how Apple thought it would look in 1988.

Finally, something sent in by an old friend of Millennium People:

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via the Londonist Flickr pool

You'll get on that net; maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of your life: some news.


The Londonist has been good this week (providing the shot above, as well as notifying me of the enormous collection of old films available at the London Transport Musem). Also, the tube map of the galaxy. Some futuristic stuff: man's future in Hydrospace; Female Androids.

In the news this week: a movie recently made by chimps surprisingly not related to anything on the interactive chart of 2009 US movie hits; related, 50 incredible Polish film posters. Unrelated, South Koreans told to make babies. Tech: how tough are NES games? How many computers made this year? Bubble-wrap turns 50– and goes virtual (via this isn't happiness).

Russian iceskaters impersonate Aboriginals (which they saw on Youtube), win gold (Russian dance here). Also ice cold, a coyote frozen in its tracks. The meaning of a short squeeze (not sexual). Related, (vaguely sexual) pixelated nudes (as seen at left). Related, perhaps, Curious Expeditions. Also curious, a cross-section of two women (one who is fat).

Now, there seems to be some debate going on over why it was so cold this winter, leading some to comment on the gulf-stream myth. Topical: the airport scanners that look at you nude, and which don't work anyway. Also airport security, "If the US can create Avatar, they can fake 9/11" says Malaysia's former premier. Vaguely related, first-world problems.

Finally, via Cessums.

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Iceland, via Kevin Cooley. Related, false landscapes.

What's that in my fist? Why, its a bunch of fresh cut roses for my love: some news.

Spillway's Raging for the Machine. Related, CommunistRobot. Kind of related, how many computers have been sold this year (in real-time)? Not really related, how many track combinations can you get out of an Ikea train set? It seems like a bit of a Brio rip-off if you ask me (old-school Brio you understand, before it got all hi-tech). Related, the meaning of the word brio.

Cliqset, another one of those open-plan internet tools (like we didn't have enough social networks already). Related, social image bookmarking: vi.sualise.us. Super related, 500px. Accidental social networking 'I found your camera...'

I really love the xkcd cartoons (left). Consistently brilliant. Some cool WW2 posters. 50's fonts and stock images. Fuck Yeah! Dioramas! First person tetris. The golden age of comic books.

Not sure if you heard, but Banksy and Robbo have been having some sort of graffito spray-off in Camden: Banksy started it, then Robbo replied, and now Banksy is getting it again.

The dangers of a high-information diet. Goddamnit. Ten classic Simpsons episodes. Pretty much right, I reckon. The Harbin Ice Sculptures. Crayola colours go crazy. When I threw rocks at a glacier this is pretty much what I heard. I mean, I could go on forever, there's just so much crap out there (my own included), but I'm going to stop it right there and end with this bad boy:

12 Pipe Dream 2
by Scorpiotistic

fistful of links

70's space colony concept, via F*Mass, via Design Swan. I particularly like the indoor sun. Nice.

A fat, fat fistful from the future: some news.

2010 is apparently the Year of the 3D Television. Also technology: mobile phones from the future, related the bio-phone; 2009's sexiest geeks. (w-wait, did Jade win or not?); so now your keyboard knows if you're stressed; iPhone apps are crap. Why not use your phone to control a military spy plane instead? Related, iPhone fingerless gloves. Also future: the London Transport Future Generator (although just getting London Transport to work in the present would be nice). Related, Indian transport future; related, retro-future: Atomic Annihilation. A bit related, Airminded.

Hardcore technology: Web 2.0 suicide - the fastest way to permanently delete yourself from all social network sites. The Consumer Electronics Show was on in Japan this year. So cool. Microsoft obvious fail. I mean, look at the guy's jumper. Related, Microsoft Word 2010 parody. Also Japan, the suicide forest at the base of Mt. Fuji; Pimp your maps with Cloudmade.

Meanwhile, a look around the world: its so cold here in the UK pensioners are burning their books. Very Bradbury. Related, the Ballardian forum is up and running again. Winter is cruel: muppet suicides; not related, global warming solved by paint; super-sweet anti-whaling speedboat rammed by the Japanese recently. Now sunk; Australia still accidentally racist. America: NY's proposed cable-car network; Boston's abandoned subways; California: nudists upset over rotting seals buried at their beach. Also California, Arnie says prisons must be at least as good as schools (or something). In America, plane thieves get their own Facebook fan pages. How not to write about Africa. More globally: weird shit's going on with the Milky Way's Dark Matter.

Cool shit: beauty is she (models/fashion/SFW) in particular I think there is a shoot to be made on the subject of WW1 women; Interesting letterheads (Einstein, Hitler, Johnny Cash, etc); DIY Kung-fu film script; CGUnit (which I embarrassingly misread), a sort of CGI/graphic art/photography mega-site; the new book from Jason; 60's sex and style from Pour 15 Minutes d'Amour (for 15 minutes of love). Ne le regardez pas au travaille (NSFW); Related to you: mum and dad.

William Shatner reads Palin's tweets on Conan's show. Related, Palin gets a job with Fox; super cool Australian photography: bang bang dot dot; Chris Schaberg invokes Heidegger against airport delays; Hilobrow (because middle-brow is not the answer). Start here; the amazing photos of Richard Mosse. Really. Check him out; Apollo 12 lunar diary. Related, the Gemini 16 press release (pdf); I've always been a fan of Carlo Mollino's furniture (BLDG blog article), architecture, car design, etc, but had no idea he also took dirty polaroids; a 19th century flow-chart of all of human history. Related, a flowchart of whether you need a panflute; Body Mapping/Ghillie Suits at Mount Olympus.

And... finally,

stocking fillers (ho ho ho)

Santa and his elephant, via Minesota Historical Society, see also Sociological Images on Black Pete...

Fill your stockings with this hefty packet of links: arranged in no particular order.

Top 10 people who died too young. Related, Young Gallery (not really, its cool pictures of animals and shit); what breakfast cereal you should eat; related, Cairo: garbage city; the Japanese ex-mining town/modern ruin that is Gunkanjima; abandoned malls (a really good one that); Sustainability is a myth; Badass of the week.

Drawings of Ray guns; tricks of the eye? street installations; like, what even is that thing, in that jar? Thing in a jar; stupid IT questions; DIY converting text to binary; how to dress up like a lego man; emoticons from the 70's made with a typewriter; a weird, but gramatically correct sentence: Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

Send a postcard from NASA to the International Space Station; Star Trek was the most ripped off film of the year; Retro Junk; Tracing the journey of a single bit; comic about cars and murder; someone once asked me, 'how do you go about drawing the face of someone you've never seen?' Dude, Flashface.

Shrigley's notice; mind over matter; Lem's lost opera; London, now and then; an existential video game that's doing the rounds; the world's first functioning molecular transistor; the future of the World...

The first time I've ever done a fistful and not referenced Things.


Via Norwegian photographer Rune Guneriussen