The Latest from Boing Boing

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• Reporter: Pentagon launches "manhunt" for Wikileaks founder. Founder: Yoo-hoo, I'm in Vegas!
• The Kung Fu Kid (and why it's OK the new movie isn't called that)
• Get this game: the amazing anamorphics of Looksley's Line Up
• CC-licensed book on learning games programming for kids
• An adobe photo-shop
• Hunter S. Thompson leaves voicemail for an A/V dealer
• BP disaster update: 40,000 barrels a day, kill the birds, and a Rolling Stone bombshell
• Update: WWDC Keynote WiFi glitch may have been due to pre-release iPhone 4 drivers
• To do in LA tonight: Flux screening, and Jonas Odell's "Tussilago"
• Cakes that look like meat
• How a "mad viking" saved a crime-ridden park in San Francisco
• Auction of creationist museum's curiosities
• Data shows San Francisco is full of nerds
• Photos of amazing NuPenny toy store in Portland, Maine
• Reprinted antique medical illustrations and film posters
• Ron English's X-Ray Guernica
• 100 artists decorate 100 models of Darth Vader's head
• Desks with hide-away flat screens
• Huge cache of postcards, photos from Meiji-era Japan
• Lovely video of gliding paper airplanes
• Canada: police seeking 2-fingered, heavily-accented fertilizer hoarder (UPDATE)
• Tarkovsky's Polaroids
• Soweto Gospel Choir
• NYTimes' Kristof: let's anoint a king and queen for America

Reporter: Pentagon launches "manhunt" for Wikileaks founder. Founder: Yoo-hoo, I'm in Vegas! Posted: 11 Jun 2010 08:40 AM PDT In the Daily Beast this morning, Philip Shenon reports of a "manhunt" for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. The American government's big fear: that Assange has access to classified State Department cables leaked by 22-year-old Army intelligence specialist, Bradley Manning of Potomac, Maryland, now jailed in Kuwait after being outed by hacker Adrian Lamo. The total number of cables believed to have been leaked? 260,000. The cables, which date back over several years, went out over interagency computer networks available to the Army and contained information related to American diplomatic and intelligence efforts in the war zones in Afghanistan and Iraq, the diplomat said. American officials would not discuss the methods being used to find Assange, nor would they say if they had information to suggest where he is now. "We'd like to know where he is; we'd like his cooperation in this," one U.S. official said of Assange. Unless this tweet from Wikileaks (presumably Assange himself) is a diversion, they won't have to look far. Related: Wired News reports more on the contents of the chat sessions between Manning and Lamo, who turned over Manning to the government. There's some really key stuff in the transcripts—one incident in particular, about being asked to "evaluating the arrest of 15 Iraqis rounded up by the Iraqi Federal Police for printing 'anti Iraq' literature"— that helps shed light on why Manning may have been motivated to do what he is alleged to have done (and why he may have been compelled to unload his troubles to a stranger who then outed him). Everything started slipping after that. I saw things differently. I had always questioned the [way] things worked, and investigated to find the truth. But that was a point where I was a part of something. I was actively involved in something that I was completely against. Wired News (and Adrian Lamo) report alleged Wikileaks "Collateral ... Wikileaks/Manning: "Are America's foreign policy secrets about to ... Iraq: Wikileaks video of US military killing journalists

The Kung Fu Kid (and why it's OK the new movie isn't called that) Posted: 11 Jun 2010 08:26 AM PDT I was seven when this photograph was taken of me attempting Daniel-San's crane technique in the sand. It must have been around this age that Karate Kid jump-kicked its way into my subconscious, sketching an outline for my life and my own incarnation of the American Dream: Focus your chi, beat up your enemies, win the trophy. The new Karate Kid happens to feature Kung Fu. Although some have a problem with that literal misnomer (Karate is not the same martial art form as Kung Fu), I believe this apparent discrepancy speaks to deeper, common roots and philosophies shared by all martial arts. I'm cool with it. I have three favorite films that parallel with important phases of my life. The most recent phase pairs up with Seven Samurai by Akira Kurosawa, a period piece about the cost of glory, the strength of quiet character, and teamwork for the sake of common good. You could say this film defines the part of my life working at Gizmodo, developing it into a large group effort. In my twenties and teenage years, Enter the Dragon taught me about the confidence a young Chinese man could have. With his Jeet Kune Do style of abandoning the confinement of style, Bruce Lee taught me to take what is best and avoid being bound to traditional limitations, and rigid, old sets of rules. The film that pairs up with the earliest phase of my life is the original Karate Kid, about the dream of a young man's life-- and for me, naturally, the early dreams of my own life. In a decade glutted with Van Damme films, this was the most human of contemporary martial arts movies. Apart from lacking Van Damme, it also, thankfully, lacked the overdramatized emotional displays common in classic Kung Fu films. We see fear and adrenaline on Daniel-San's face and in his body language in combat; we see his awkwardness when he flirts with the cheerleader; we see his embarrassment when he is thrown into sand by the Cobra Kai; we see his bruises and injuries after scuffles. All of these human shortcomings makes that little plastic Valley Karate tournament trophy so much more shiny, and his sweetheart's love more sweet, in the end. Sure, the fight choreography is great, but the story itself is greater for any young man who has found solace in the dojo, as I did. I met my first bully when I went to school in Hong Kong for a year, not long after seeing Karate Kid for the first time. The bully was a big, 9-year-old Australian. He picked on me constantly for being friends with a sweet 8-year-old California girl. I took karate, but no one taught me how to correctly tie the belt on my oversized uniform. My pants fell off at every punch in one sequence we practiced. The Australian giant had one last laugh before I flew back to America when the school year ended. There was no victory, only surrender. I did not practice karate again until my teenage years, but my return to the discipline happened just in time, saving me from hormone-driven angst after I scarfed a bunch of Advil in a mock suicide/heartbreak maneuver. After hitting that ibuprofen bottom, I started up some Tae Kwon Do with my friends Mike and Pete. I wasn't gifted as an athlete or student, but it was pretty clear from the start that kicking and punching were what I did best. Within a few weeks I could kick tops of doorstops with vertical sidekicks and full splits. We lifted weights, took classes, watched tapes and taught each other Kung Fu, Judo, Jujitsu and Shotokan Karate on cheap foam mats. My height and weight were identical to those of Bruce Lee. Unlike Daniel-San, I will admit that I did not always my gifts exclusively for self-defense. But in an environment of widespread juvenile vengeance and pride, each of my strikes seemed fair at the time. The first person I ever punched was Shawnee Alexandri. You couldn't call him a bully, but he was an antagonistic motormouth. After asking him countless times to shut up, I gave him a right cross and put him in a headlock in the school weight room. Everyone turned around, surprised. I was surprised, too: at how pliant the human face could be when it swung around on a human neck, and how much being jacked-up on adrenaline made me lose fine motor skills. As long as you don't hit teeth or the top of the head, you will not get hurt. The captain of the football team told me it was "kind of a good punch" before the room returned to normal. That move must have seemed shocking to onlookers, coming from a skinny little honor class geek with broken glasses. I had just broken high school cliché rules (and quiet nearly some of Shawnee's teeth). Before graduation, I would go on to threaten to drop-kick the captain of the football team for picking on my little brother, and would slide-tackle the school bully during gym class for kicking my shins one too many times. Anyone who picked on me once never picked on me again. I never got in trouble, because kids in smart people classes just didn't get detention. Most importantly, I'd worked out the self-pity and when I clenched my fist, I felt a spark of self-worth. I believed I could will myself to overcome problems in life. Just like the Karate Kid. I went through college in an an unspectacular way. I went to a mediocre school, got mediocre grades, and had a mediocre time. I picked up a few skills but practiced nothing. I expected to grow up, but it didn't happen. I got fat. Like Daniel-San, I picked up my East Coast roots and moved to California. I found a gym, the Fairtex Muay Thai school in San Francisco run by boxers from Bangkok who had all come from poverty and risen to championships (the recruiters only recruit the poor, because, like Mike Tyson, they fight harder.) When I was laid off after the first internet bubble burst, all of the people who were fired alongside me were upset. Some cried. I could only think of the gym. I worked full-time there, mopping floors. In a few months I was training, teaching and sparring almost every day, and I remember how content I was sitting under a skylight drenched from the routine of exercise, about to start teaching class. I remember thinking to myself, "I will never be more happy than I am right now." And although I have been happier, life was never more simple. The head instructors were all gentle, strong, hilariously perverted, and generous with their knowledge. They, unlike the Americans at the gym, weren't there because they were afraid of life. For them, this wasn't therapy to work out aggressive tendencies. They did this because they had the skill, and because they began with no better options in life. They were Mr. Miyagis who would grab your nuts when you weren't paying attention in order to teach you how to pay attention. It ended quickly. One June, three years into this part of my life, I had the perfect exhibition match. I could feel where every punch and kick were coming from, and I kept complete composure. I was far from the best, but I felt that day I'd reached the level I wanted to reach. A few weeks later, I witnessed the owner of the gym get shot while chasing down a plain-looking guy who backed into his parked car out in the alley behind the gym. That plain-looking guy happened to be a serious criminal who'd skipped parole meetings for a year. I tried to give the gym owner CPR, but as they took his body off the street, wrapped in my t-shirt (I remember it had a phoenix logo), something changed inside. I didn't want to live by the sword anymore. Two days later, the murderer shot himself in a standoff with police after a widely publicized manhunt, and round-the-clock media coverage. The gym closed. I thought I could approach something more meditative. I took some Aikido classes to learn how to draw the sword and cut, but I didn't have the heart for it now. I had to leave it, and everyone in that world, behind. I no longer believed it was the way. I broke my leg in a motorcycle accident and although the metal rod in my left tibia makes the bone stronger, every time I kicked the ankle went numb. I was finished. I began focusing instead on writing. It's been years since I've practiced martial arts. But having studied a few different types, I guess you could say everything I do is done with as much martial spirit as I can muster. From the way I think, or move, from cooking to writing to running Gizmodo, to surfing, I have practiced enough that the best and worst lessons have become part of who I am. When something runs this deep, and when you've observed and practiced more than a few types of martial arts, its hard to understand why some people on the internet would raise such a fuss over the new Karate Kid movie being focused around Kung Fu instead of Karate. Muay Thai is a brutal art. It involves knees, shins, elbows, and gloves on the fists. In the old days, I was told, fighters would dip their taped fists into broken glass-- but today, it's more of a graceful and tough sport. There are rules: no eye gouges or groin kicks. Its square stance and blocks are mostly meant to deflect round strikes from the sides or quick jabs to the face and body-- and because of that, you could say Muay Thai has a weakness to strong spinning back kicks. They aren't an official part of Muay Thai, but no one winces when you do them because it is not as cultish of a sport as other more traditional martial arts. Still, a Muay Thai practitioner wouldn't necessarily know how to use or defend against these kicks. I know this because of my experience in other martial arts. And I know this because of Jongsanan Fairtex. Jongsanan Fairtex's nickname is "the wooden man." He was one of the most decorated fighters in the gym, and was ranked by some publications in Thailand as one of the top 10 fighters of all time. If I remember correctly, his record was 98-28-0, and he's best known for a match referred to as "the elbow fight", where he and his opponent traded elbow smashes to each other's crowns repeatedly, with neither man going down. One of Jongsanan's moves, which he'd throw in every couple of fights when he knew his opponent was on his heels or the ropes, was the spinning back kick. It was sometimes effective, but it's also demoralizing to see your opponent break a rule of Muay Thai and turn his back to you. As a master, Jonsanan knew when to break the rule of the system and throw some jazz into the equation. So, with Jongsanan in mind: Okay, the title of the "new" Karate Kid title may be a misnomer in the literal sense. But I don't consider the title a mistake. Some may argue that the filmmakers are demonstrating cultural insensitivity to Chinese and Japanese martial artists. But I believe the Karate/Kung Fu discrepancy can also be interpreted as masterful perception. Because a master, like Bruce Lee or Jongsanan, knows that at the core, there is no real difference between any of the martial arts. In fact, this is the very sort of provincial distinction Bruce Lee fought against throughout his life. All martial arts operate on the same fundamentals, more or less. Each has a different emphasis on legs, feet, hard crushing or soft flowing styles, feints and slips or direct blocks. Each art has strengths and weaknesses. But the principles within each art are the same: efficient movement, focused minds, and strong spirits. When you understand that, there's no sense in fussing with the rules just for the sake of the rules. Was Jongsanan, one of the defining fighters of this last 100 years, not doing Muay Thai when he did spin kicks? Or did he just reinvent Muay Thai when he threw that move in, during a few of his fights? The correct title of the martial art in question hardly matters when your enemy is sprawled at your feet, knocked out by an attack with no name. The Karate Kid, released as The Kung Fu Kid in China and Japan, opens today in theaters.

Get this game: the amazing anamorphics of Looksley's Line Up Posted: 06 Jun 2010 03:32 PM PDT Looksley's Line Up [Nintendo, DSiWare] It must've been just coincidence that Nintendo released head-tracking downloadable game Rittai Kakushi e Attakoreda (Hidden 3D Image: There It Is!) in Japan just weeks before going on to announce its actual 3D DS followup, still codenamed the 3DS, especially with the confusion that followed, where many thought the demonstration video above was for the latter. By now we know the forthcoming handheld's 3D will have little to do with tracking technology, but Looksley's Line Up (as Attakoreda has now been released as in the U.S.) still might've made a nice showcase title for the new tech. Or rather, would've with a few more generational passes, because even for as magical as Looksley's can be, it's still quite obviously the first gen attempt at something that could eventually become something fantastic. Don't expect to play Line Up in anything but an ideally-lit, neutrally-backgrounded area (it'll never make a "last game before bed" entry): its facial-tracking is simply too weak to handle anything less than perfection, and even then is prone to awkward in-game jerks and sudden out-of-frame freakouts without moving in an ultra-slow and controlled manner. But that's just the caveat: set your conditions right and there's essentially no precedent for what Looksley's does, outside curious classical art examples. By craning your view through its miniscule fairy-tale themed diarama, letters and pictures emerge, which you tap the screen to "capture", collecting words to advance yourself through its paper-cut storyline. It manages to tickle a pattern-recognition part of the brain that seemingly rarely gets used in games: little shreds of the silhouetted object will suddenly snap into view and lead you to hone in on unexpected positions and angles where you'd "seen" absolutely nothing before (see: the way the baby-blue paint-splattered hand-rail in the photo above can be condensed into Pinocchio's elongated nose). It's by no means a perfect game on any level, but it is an absolutely fascinating proof of concept and underutilized use of technology, and -- for everyone that's upgraded to a DSi -- one of the better downloadable offerings, even if its version of 3D isn't Nintendo's ultimate 3D goal quite yet. Video: Motion-tracking 3D with the DSi camera Looksley's Line Up: DSi Motion Tracking Game Coming to U.S. ...

CC-licensed book on learning games programming for kids Posted: 10 Jun 2010 11:04 PM PDT Al Sweigart sez, I've written a book that teaches programming to kids (and beginner adults) that I thought might interest you. The book is Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python and it is available in full for free under a Creative Commons license. I began writing it when a friend who nannies a 10 year old boy asked me for any good programming tutorials. Most of what I found seemed to be either boring textbooks or books for software engineers. My book uses a different approach: Each chapter focuses on the source code for a small game (Tic Tac Toe, Hangman, Othello, an encryption program, etc.) and explains the concepts as they come up in the program. While sometimes concepts are introduced in an unorthodox order, they are always based on actual programs. The first three chapters covers the basics of installing Python and using the interactive shell. The next several chapters covers games that use text and ASCII art. The last four chapters introduces the Pygame library for graphics and sound. The print edition came out a couple months ago and has about a dozen reviews on Amazon. (I've priced it at $25 to qualify for free shipping and but still cheaper than other computer books, and it's still free online.) Buy Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python on Amazon Teach yourself how to program by making computer games! (download and information) (Thanks, Al!) Ada Lovelace short film for kids One laptop per child for the developing world Play, Cheat, Program Logo's 40th birthday HOWTO learn to program PDP-11 assembler with a modern PC and SIMH ...

An adobe photo-shop Posted: 10 Jun 2010 10:47 PM PDT From the department of unsourced photographic Internet literalisms, an adobe photo-shop. Adobe Photoshop, Literally Best Superbowl photo ever Funny doctored science fair photos Funny Will Elder photo Funny news photo from 2004 iPhone + EFF + ATT + NSA = funny photo Unintentional TB humor Funny phallic photo

Hunter S. Thompson leaves voicemail for an A/V dealer Posted: 10 Jun 2010 09:04 PM PDT The late, great Hunter S. Thompson leaves a voicemail for an AV dealer expressing how pleased he is with their service. NSFW

BP disaster update: 40,000 barrels a day, kill the birds, and a Rolling Stone bombshell Posted: 10 Jun 2010 05:30 PM PDT • Video: "A controlled burn of an oil slick 10 miles from the Deepwater Horizon drill site. A controlled burn, or in-situ burn, is one method to eliminate crude oil in a very small area at sea. U.S. Coast Guard video by Chief Petty Officer Robert Laura." (via Constant Siege) • "Researchers have doubled estimates of how much oil has been spewing from a ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico, reporting Thursday that up to 40,000 barrels (1.7 million gallons) a day may have escaped for weeks." • Remember those heart-wrenching photographs of birds drenched in oil so thick their forms became unrecognizable? Animal biologists who have experience dealing with wildlife caught up in oil spills say euthanasia is kinder than the slow, painful death that inevitably awaits. "According to serious studies, the middle-term survival rate of oil-soaked birds is under 1 percent. We, therefore, oppose cleaning birds." (Dangerous Minds) • Rolling Stone: "The spill, the scandal and the president: The inside story of how Obama failed to crack down on the corruption of the Bush years - and let the world's most dangerous oil company get away with murder." BP Disaster: The Gulf is not The Gulf, it is a giant grid carved ... How a big oil spill turns good cleanup plans upside down Deepwater Horizon survivors: "Are you fckng happy? The rig's on ... Sign at BP gas station: "Do not leave pumps unattended, You are ... BP's spill plan: they knew where it would go, that ecology would ... Oil spill: Spreading the problem-solving around

Update: WWDC Keynote WiFi glitch may have been due to pre-release iPhone 4 drivers Posted: 10 Jun 2010 05:01 PM PDT Over at Ars Technica, Glenn Fleishman updates his theory of what may have gone wrong on-stage during Steve Jobs' WWDC keynote, when he attempted to connect the new iPhone to wireless internet: After examining the video from the event and discussing it with two veteran Wi-Fi gurus, it seems almost certain that the MiFi was only part of the problem. A flaw in the pre-release iPhone 4 iOS was clearly another element. Apple's public relations confirmed receipt of a request for comment, but none was forthcoming.

To do in LA tonight: Flux screening, and Jonas Odell's "Tussilago" Posted: 10 Jun 2010 05:31 PM PDT If you're in Los Angeles this evening, don't miss this month's installation of the Flux screening party at the Hammer Museum in West LA. Jonas Odell's Tussilago will have its LA Premiere at the event. A still is above, and the trailer follows after the jump. The program will feature a mini-retrospective of the work by celebrated Swedish animator Jonas Odell, including his award-winning videos for Goldfrapp and Franz Ferdinand and the Los Angeles premiere of Tussilago, Odell's animated short that tells the story of West German terrorists in the 1970s. Filmmaker Chris Milk will present "Ain't No Grave", his interactive music video for Johnny Cash. An ever-evolving piece, viewers are invited to collaborate by submitting their own computer renderings of individual frames. The evening will also include a special presentation by up-and-coming filmmaker Alexandre de Bonrepos, as well as showcase new work for Audio Bullys, Miike Snow, Massive Attack and How to Destroy Angels. Details here. Trailer for Tussilago follows... Related: Cartoon Brew has a post about Tussilago here.

Cakes that look like meat Posted: 10 Jun 2010 03:51 PM PDT The OC Weekly has scoured Flickr for proud bakers' photos of their convincingly meat-like cakes and confections, assembling the best in a gallery called "Food Disguised As Other Food." Shown here: TV dinner cupcakes by gillianwallisbrett. Food Disguised As Other Food (Thanks, Vickie!) Cake wrecks blog Resignation letter on cake Bakers make cake with image of flash drive instead of image in ... Dragon made of cake Cthulhu cake! Katamari Damacy cake kicks ass HOWTO bake a no-mess chocolate cake in five minutes Mars bar cake

How a "mad viking" saved a crime-ridden park in San Francisco Posted: 10 Jun 2010 03:28 PM PDT There's some good information about square-foot gardening in this neat video about Peter Vaernet, the "Mad Viking" who turned a beautiful 7-acre park from a crime nest into a terrific multi-use community area. Vaernet said one of the ways he got rid of the criminal element was by bringing lots of women and children into the park. The criminals were too embarrassed to behave badly in front of women and children, he explained, so they went away. Meet the "Mad Viking," Peter Vaernet. He almost single-handedly saved one of San Francisco's least known pocket parks from a scourge of drug abuse, blood sport and murder. Now Brooks Park is a thriving open space with a community garden, native plants, and sweeping views of the entire city. Victory of the Mad Viking, San Francisco

Auction of creationist museum's curiosities Posted: 10 Jun 2010 03:05 PM PDT Georgia's creationist natural history museum, The Gallery of Creation, is liquidating its entire astounding collection of curiosities in an auction June 25 and 26. Internet bidding available through Higgenbotham Auctioneers! Just a few of the amazing items include: • authentic mammoth teeth • leaves fossils • 3-pc dinosaur fossil • wooly mammoth hair • animated elephant display • dinosaur replicas • mummified cat from Egypt • animated pandas and display case • mammals and sea life display cases • oils on canvas Auction: Gallery of Creation (via Morbid Anatomy)

Data shows San Francisco is full of nerds Posted: 10 Jun 2010 12:34 PM PDT According to data from the US Census Bureau, San Francisco has more people with bachelors' or graduate degrees per square mile than any other city. Link [via @waterslicer]

Photos of amazing NuPenny toy store in Portland, Maine Posted: 10 Jun 2010 12:11 PM PDT I'm sorry I missed the "Grand Not Opening" of Randy Regier's NuPenny Toy store in Portland, Maine last Friday. Randy had this to say about NuPenny: [P]erhaps most compelling for me was to attempt to create a physical place and occurrence that appears as if in a dream - familiar and believable yet somehow out of our grasp - in the physical sense but also slightly out of reach of our collective memory. Because of this the door of the NuPenny store is always locked and all text has been rendered in Teletype punch-tape code. The toys are all original constructions of mine; none of the toys are or were vintage playthings, nor are any of them made from toy parts. All toys in my NuPenny store are manufactured from 20th century industrial, scientific and household flotsam and jetsam, and from scratch when necessary.  Conceptually each toy is my interpretation of a song lyric, poem or literary work that has affected me. By using the NuPenny/Teletype code card that is available on this site you can easily (though perhaps not quickly) read the 'text' on each toy, box and placard. More toys will occur, and arrive in the store over time, as I have the means to make them.  More photos after the jump. NuPenny Toy Store

Reprinted antique medical illustrations and film posters Posted: 10 Jun 2010 12:07 PM PDT I've posted before about Transmission Atelier, a fine art printer in Chicago that creates fine reproductions of incredible antique medical, mythology, natural history, and weird film illustrations and posters. Earlier this year, they hung a show of their editions at the La Luz de Jesus gallery in Los Angeles. Transmission Atelier has a terrific curatorial eye and I can personally vouch for the high quality of their work. That's why I'm delighted that Transmission Atelier is offering a selection of their pieces in the Boing Boing Bazaar at the Makers Market! For example, above: "Human Skull Exploded View", 20.5" x 16.5" framed, $275; "Developmental Anomaly," 27" x 22.5" framed, $475. Transmission Atelier features high end facsimile edition prints of antique anatomical and allegorical illustration from the 15th through 19th centuries, rare silent film posters from the early 20th century. Each size is printed on archival paper with archival pigment based inks. Each edition is limited, numbered and embossed with the Transmission Atelier Studio Stamp. Each edition print is made from the original source material. The engraving and printing techniques used by the artists on the original works is of astonishing craftsmanship and is all but a completely lost art form. In these high end facsimile edition prints, Transmission Atelier has retained all of the detail, color and even the flaws in the antique paper inherent in the original artifact. The overall quality of a digital edition print, from color accuracy to fine to microscopic detail, is dependent upon the digital capture methodology. In this area Transmission Atelier is equipped with the most advanced digital capture and imaging technology as well as 3 decades of color communication, scanning and print premedia experience. In the spirit of European Print Making studios of the 18th and 19th century, Transmission Atelier will cycle through as many as 10 rounds of proofing to ensure that each edition is identical to and indistinguishable from the original source material. From Human Medical Anomaly to Gothic Nightmares on paper Transmission Atelier curates and publishes the rarest and most exiting, provocative and interesting images from the past 4 centuries. premier source for this astounding material. Transmission Atelier

Ron English's X-Ray Guernica Posted: 10 Jun 2010 11:38 AM PDT Ron English recently painted the X-Ray Guernica mural in Rome.

100 artists decorate 100 models of Darth Vader's head Posted: 10 Jun 2010 01:02 PM PDT Rat Fink Vader helmet by David Krys Bob Self of Baby Tattoo says: The Vader Project is the result of 100 contemporary artists customizing an authentic, full scale replica of Darth Vader's helmet. Artists involved with the project include: Shag, Peter Kuper, Jermaine Rogers, Gary Baseman, BXH, Tim Biskup, The Pizz, Dalek, Paul Frank, Ron English, Jeff Soto, Michelle Valigura, Frank Kozik, Plasticgod, Simone Legno - Tokidoki, Bill McMullen, Secret Base, Joe Ledbetter, Alex Pardee, Suckadelic, Cameron Tiede, Mister Cartoon, Marc Ecko, and Amanda Visell. The art objects will be sold at auction on July 10, but you can check out Vader's many faces at a Los Angeles exhibition this weekend. There's also a full color catalog available featuring multiple views of every helmet. Opening Reception: Friday, June 11, 2010 6-10pm Los Angeles Exhibition On View: June 12 - 20, 2010 Noon-6pm 6812 Melrose Avenue Los Angeles, California The Vader Project Catalog Signing - Los Angeles Featuring 20 Participating Artists Saturday, June 12, 2010 2pm The Vader Project

Desks with hide-away flat screens Posted: 10 Jun 2010 11:28 AM PDT The furniture maker KI shot a video of their "Flat Screen Garage" -- a bunch of desks with flat screen monitors that appear and disappear from little doors on the desks' surfaces. I should have used the same Sturm und Drangish music for my automatic chicken door video. The Rise of KI's Flat Screen Garage

Huge cache of postcards, photos from Meiji-era Japan Posted: 10 Jun 2010 10:56 AM PDT On Flickr, an extensive collection of scanned postcards and photo-cards from Japan, many dating back to the Meiji era (late 19th-early 20th century). I really can't stand the captions and descriptions on this guy's Flickr stream (many are insensitive at best, racist at worst, and a lot of sleazy sexual speculation), but: the images are rare and fantastic. Above, a sepia and retouched version of a "geisha portrait" image. Proto-Photoshop! (via Susannah Breslin)

Lovely video of gliding paper airplanes Posted: 10 Jun 2010 11:21 AM PDT A group of high school students, led by a terrific teacher, made origami paper airplanes from phonebook pages that glide on a wave of air. Magnificent. "Build and Surf an Origami Hang Glider" (via Make:)

Canada: police seeking 2-fingered, heavily-accented fertilizer hoarder (UPDATE) Posted: 10 Jun 2010 11:01 AM PDT "A middle-aged man with a heavy accent and missing two fingers, may simply be fertilizing fruit trees." Well, that or weed. And then again, he may have purchased more than 3500 pounds of ammonium nitrate for nefarious plans involving a Group of 20 Summit taking place later this month in Toronto (about an hour's drive from the farm supply store in question). Update: Oh, praise science! It was just a "a gardening incident."(via Rachel Maddow)

Tarkovsky's Polaroids Posted: 10 Jun 2010 10:32 AM PDT Filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky's Polaroid snapshots, taken at his home in Russia, and while traveling in Italy. A Russian photography blog has digitized a large collection of these photos (text in Russian). The Poemas del Río Wang blog has more (in English) about their origin. (via @glinner)

Soweto Gospel Choir Posted: 10 Jun 2010 01:15 PM PDT The Soweto Gospel Choir will perform at the opening ceremony for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, the first time the World Cup will be hosted by an African nation. (Play the video at left to hear them perform "The Lion Sleeps Tonight.") The Choir is featured on the South Africa compilation released by Putumayo World Music, which features a dozen artists representing a variety of genres including Afrojazz, mbaqanga, and township jive. From an interview with the Soweto Gospel Choir at the Putumayo site: Contemporary South African music reflects, among many others, the influences of indigenous tribal cultures (e.g. Zulu isicathamiya and harmonic mbaqanga), European cultures, American music (jazz, hip-hop, R&B, rock) and more.  How do these influences affect your music? Soweto Gospel Choir: "We spend most of the time performing internationally, and we have learned to accommodate other musical genres to impress our different audiences, as well as to broaden our own musical skills, but we make sure that we preserve our African sound, leaving room for learning in order to move on with the times." Do you think there is a musical thread or signature sound that is unique to South African music and can be heard when listening to the country's contemporary music? Soweto Gospel Choir: "Yes, we have our own signature which is filled with African drums, strong bass voices in the background supported by mbaqanga guitar sounds. This is the kind of sound which gives identity when South African music is played or performed." Buy "Putumayo Presents South Africa" (Amazon.com) South Africa Artist Spotlight: Interview with the Soweto Gospel Choir and Masauko Chipembere of Blk Sonshine (Putumayo.com)

NYTimes' Kristof: let's anoint a king and queen for America Posted: 10 Jun 2010 10:06 AM PDT In light of all the drama over President Obama's lack of emotion, Nicholas Kristof is proposing that we find a king and queen for America. Our king and queen could spend days traipsing along tar-ball-infested beaches, while bathing oil-soaked pelicans and thrusting strong chins defiantly at BP rigs. All that would give President Obama time to devise actual clean-up policies. He might then also be able to concentrate on eliminating absurd government policies that make these disasters more likely (such as the $75 million cap on economic damages when an oil rig is responsible for a spill). Our president is stuck with too many ceremonial duties as head of state, such as greeting ambassadors and holding tedious state dinners, that divert attention from solving problems. You can preside over America or you can address its problems, but it's difficult to find time to do both. A Modest Proposal - A King and Queen for America [NY Times]

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