The Real Helmet

smithsonianmag: Photos of Death Row Inmates’ Last Meals Henry...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 23:54:05 -0400

Photos of Death Row Inmates’ Last Meals

Henry Hargreaves No Seconds project recreates the last meals of serial killers on death row. VICE recently interviewed Hargreaves to discuss his provocative photographs.

Ed note: Did you know there are plenty of food-related lawsuits each year?

Computer guys in the Netherlands ruining the Internet for everybody

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 12:10:00 -0400

Computer guys in the Netherlands ruining the Internet for everybody:

A squabble between a group fighting spam and a Dutch company that hosts Web sites said to be sending spam has escalated into one of the largest computer attacks on the Internet, causing widespread congestion and jamming crucial infrastructure around the world.

Millions of ordinary Internet users have experienced delays in services like Netflix or could not reach a particular Web site for a short time.

However, for the Internet engineers who run the global network the problem is more worrisome. The attacks are becoming increasingly powerful, and computer security experts worry that if they continue to escalate people may not be able to reach basic Internet services, like e-mail and online banking.

This is just like The Net starring Sandra Bullock! (I have never seen The Net starring Sandra Bullock).

Via NYTimes

You just can’t beat a definitely real, definitely live...

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 18:37:06 -0400

You just can’t beat a definitely real, definitely live recording of the Beach Boys! Here comes summer!

Via David

TimeOut Chicago Perfectly Reviews "Making Out with Wes Perry and Friends"

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 15:41:09 -0500

TimeOut Chicago Perfectly Reviews "Making Out with Wes Perry and Friends":

I finally had a chance to see Wes Perry’s wonderfully collaborative variety show that features performances from a wide cross-section of the Chicago arts community. I was really impressed at the ability of the show and the audience to deftly maneuver between vastly different emotions and tones. TimeOut Chicago’s review pretty much nails it, especially in regards to the performance by KOKUMO which was just astounding.

I can’t speak highly enough of this show. See it.

Golden Girls Dutch remake.

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 19:45:28 -0500

Golden Girls Dutch remake.

NYTimes Article Highlights Common Theater Practice of Not Paying Improvisers

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 03:31:00 -0500

NYTimes Article Highlights Common Theater Practice of Not Paying Improvisers:

The NYtimes just published an article about UCB and their policy of not paying improvisers. Those outside the comedy world are often surprised at this nearly universal policy. Those inside are usually not. This is because the most successful improv theaters operate with a very large rotating cast. This is good for the theater and good for improvisers. A large cast provides variety, and perhaps more importantly, it leaves plenty of room for fresh talent to learn the ropes. As a performer at iO, I have no interest in being paid. If they paid every performer, it would necessarily be a pittance. And if people demanded to be paid more than a pittance, then they would likely cut the cast sizes, reducing performance opportunities for everyone.

The way I see it, performing at iO means you’re usually performing to a solid house. I have never, ever needed to promote a show that I’ve done at iO. To me, that is the exchange. If you want to make money on a show, rent your own theater space and bring your own audience. It’s a lot more work, but that’s the point. You don’t get paid to do things that are easy, and showing up at iO to a built-in audience is easy. The point of playing there is gaining experience and exposure.

A crucial point that the article doesn’t bring up is this: not only are improvisers not paid, they’re actually paying to play. Not just in class fees (those are a necessary part of learning the craft), but in coaching and rehearsal fees. As a performer at iO, we are required to rehearse weekly and must pay for rehearsal space and coaching. It usually ends up being about $50 a month per performer. While I don’t think performers are owed any compensation, the theater should pay for the coach that they appointed and the rehearsal space that they require.

The article also briefly mentions the issue of diversity in improv. In short, it sucks. While that’s also true of the larger comedy world, improv presents more obstacles for would-be performers. To play on the coveted, well attended stages of Second City, iO, UCB, or Groundlings, you must first complete their training programs which usually cost a couple thousand dollars. After completion, you’re eligible to audition for their cast. Stand up comedians, on the other hand, are their own marketing and training machines. They usually hone their craft through open mics and eventually paid gigs. The upfront cost of improv training is a barrier that keeps marginalized members of society from participating, which painfully limits the scope and depth of the comedy happening at these theaters. iO does offer an internship program that allows students to work one shift a week in exchange for class fees but for many people that’s simply not an option. This failure to attract diversity at the training center level inevitably snowballs it’s way to Hollywood. People who complain that there aren’t enough minorities on SNL or on sitcoms should throw some of their shade at these theaters. It starts here.

carlzimmer: This is Diana, a strange animal that lived over...

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 21:59:03 -0500

carlzimmer:

This is Diana, a strange animal that lived over half a billion years ago. See the whole gallery here:

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/02/18/weird-youth-animal-kingdom/

Image copyright 2013 Quade Paul. Reprinted with permission.

…..where is the butt….and where is the head?

Travel Jackpots!

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 15:12:15 -0500

My flight back from Paris was cancelled due to a technical error, and per EU regulations, airlines must compensate passengers based on some scale of the error, delay, etc. I got an email from the airline this morning and I now have a $1,200 flight voucher for use on one RT flight anywhere in the next 12 months!

It’s like I won a lottery. I’m pinching myself at the prospect of one more big trip on my horizon this year!

THE MOST HUMAN GOAT EVER.

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 15:46:01 -0500

THE MOST HUMAN GOAT EVER.

MORE PLEASE, ROSS! bigdudebigcity: Miscommunication in the...

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 00:57:00 -0500

MORE PLEASE, ROSS!

bigdudebigcity:

Miscommunication in the woods can lead to a lot of assumptions.

Written/Performed by: Ross Kimball

Filmed by: Steve Andres

This idea is fascinating to me. My cousin works as a geneticist...

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 11:30:00 -0500

This idea is fascinating to me. My cousin works as a geneticist for the Smithsonian and once when I visited her we had an incredibly rare chance to go behind the scenes in both the ornithology and anthropology departments. It was, without exaggeration, one of the coolest experiences of my life. Visitors normally only get to see a tiny percentage of the collections. Backstage we saw EVERYTHING, including things that have never and will never be publicly viewable: mummies from all over the world with fascinating stories, long extinct birds perfectly preserved and stored in a giant room of drawers, including some of the birds Darwin collected. Leaving that day made me a little sad because now whenever I enter a museum I always understand a little bit of what I’m missing.

wnycradiolab:

likeafieldmouse:

Klaus Pichler - Skeletons in the Closet: Museum of Natural History, Vienna (2010-ongoing)

Artist’s statement:

“What does a museum look like behind the scenes? How are exhibits stored when they are not on display?

The focus of this study is not on the exhibition spaces of the museum, but on the space behind the scenes, particularly depots, cellars, and storage rooms assigned to individual departments which are generally not accessible to the public.

These spaces are used for the storage of countless exhibits belonging to various collections, sorted following a rigidly scientific classification system, but also taking into account the limited storage space available.”

Just so wonderful.

“I want to take a look one more time. I’m not going to see...

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 10:52:45 -0500

“I want to take a look one more time. I’m not going to see this again”

Home.

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 11:10:49 -0500

Home.

calumet412: Arthur Novit, Superman of the Subway, c.1970’s,...

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 07:18:20 -0500

calumet412:

Arthur Novit, Superman of the Subway, c.1970’s, Chicago

Novit was a Chicago police officer who patrolled as a decoy in the subways around the Loop. Novit would hide in a CTA closet and when criminals would descend on a decoy partner (often disguised as homeless) he would kick the steel closet door down, in full Superman costume, arrest the robbers while proclaiming:

“Halt! In the name of the Law! Law and Order will prevail in the subways of Chicago! As long as I’m in this metropolis, law and order will prevail.”

Wow, only in Chicago…

To read more, here’s Novit’s obiutary from the Sun-TImes last year: http://tinyurl.com/b276rjb

Twisted Sisters of the Thidwick Clan represented in Europe. A...

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 18:08:45 -0500

Twisted Sisters of the Thidwick Clan represented in Europe. A fitting end to my time abroad. @nanomac and @megamega #FazendinLadiesFar&Wide

OODLES OF PUN: All Bets Are OFF Metz!

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 12:09:14 -0500

OODLES OF PUN: All Bets Are OFF Metz!:

SUH-NAP! Damn, this is a searingly hilarious and dead on “review” of Nina Metz and her terrible recent article celebrating hecklers. The A.V. club also responded, but much more politely. This is way more satisfying to read:

oodlesofpun:

A Review of “A Field Guide To Hecklers”

Recently on a snowy Saturday night, I curled up with a blanket, heated up some Earl Grey, and read the play “A Field Guide To Hecklers” which provocatively debates the positive side of heckling in stand-up comedy. This one act on-line…

Adieu 2012!

Mon, 31 Dec 2012 19:05:28 -0500

If you’d told me on NYE last year that I was going to quit my job and randomly head to France, I’d have punched you in the face and made a joke about berets. But, a lot can change in a year! I’m now an unemployed open water certified diver who can speak French poorly enough to regularly offend people. 2013, here I come!

30 Great Reads from 2012

Sat, 29 Dec 2012 20:19:40 -0500

30 Great Reads from 2012: Links to good articles, which link to more good articles! Let’s fall down a rabbit hole!

tetw:

As chosen by Stuart Waterman

A couple of weeks ago we came across a guy who had published a complete list of the 457 articles he read in 2012! We asked him to let us which were his favourites, and this is the list he sent us…

The Internet:

The Human Behind Horse_ebooks by Adrain Chen - On the trail of the internet’s favorite spambot.

Violentacrez by Adrain Chen - The biggest troll on the web.

Scamworld by Joseph L. Flatley - How the internet and fear of a failing economy drive the ultimate long con.

Psychology:

The Money-Empathy Gap by Lisa Miller - New research suggests that money makes people act less human, or less humane.

Spoiled Rotten by Elizabeth Kolbert - Why kids rule the roost.

Deep Intellect by Sy Montgomery - Inside the Mind of the Octopus

The Chase Is The Thing And The Thing Is The Chase by Chris Gethard - “Getting that gig, getting that approval, whatever your version of that dream job is – doesn’t erase the anxiety.”

Body Language by Arika Okrent - As Jews and Italians became American, so did their gestures.

Crime and Punishment:

Drive-By Truckers by Ginger Strand - At least twenty-five former truckers are serving time in American prisons for serial murder.

Marathon Man by Mark Singer - Is Kip Lytton a marathon fraud?

The Innocent Man by Pamela Colloff - On August 13, 1986, Michael Morton came home from work to discover that his wife had been brutally murdered in their bed. His nightmare had only begun.

The Gray Box by Susan Greene - An investigative look at solitary confinement.

Music:

The Song Machine by John Seabrook - The hitmakers behind Rihanna.

Tour Diary by Jon Spencer - Noel Gallagher: what’s the point?

Hollywood:

Warren Beatty Thinks This Song Is About Him by Anne Helen Petersen - His sister said he “couldn’t even commit to dinner.” Woody Allen once asked to be reincarnated as his fingertips.

Katie Holmes-Cruise Has Left the Building by Benjamin Wallace - An inquiry into the very public private marriage of Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise

I Was an A-List Writer of B-List Productions by Stephen Harrigan - Reflections on a career writing made-for-TV movies.

The Man Who Hacked Hollywood by David Kushner - “There stood Scarlett Johansson, her famous face unmistakable in the foreground, her naked backside reflected in the bathroom mirror…”

Leading Mannequins by Molly Young - “The most important person behind an actor’s image isn’t his agent—it’s his stylist.”

What Katie Didn’t Know by Maureen Orth - How a gorgeous Scientologist named Nazanin Boniadi was selected by officials in the organization to be Tom Cruise’s next girlfriend.

How One Response to a Reddit Query Became a Big-Budget Flick by Jason Fagone - How a man from web pundit to Hollywood screenwriter in a couple of weeks.

Miscelaneous:

My Father and Me by Yudhijit Bhattacharjee - A Spy Story

When Did Young People Start Spending 25% of Their Paychecks on Pickled Lamb’s Tongues? by Michael Idov - Foodie-ism, as youth culture.

Operation Midnight Climax by Troy Hooper - How the CIA dosed innocent citizens with LSD.

Death on the Path to Enlightenment by Scott Carney - Inside the Rise of India Syndrome.

Portrait of the Artist as a Postman by Jason Sheeler - The only American artist ever to have designed scarves for Hermès, a postal worker from Waco.

Confessions of an Ivy League Frat Boy by Janet Reitman - Inside Dartmouth’s Hazing Abuses

The Man Who Broke Atlantic City by Mark Bowden - How a man won nearly $6 million playing blackjack in one night.

Animals by Chris Jones - The Zanesville Zoo animal escape.

For many more excellent reads, make sure you check out Stuart Waterman’s huge spreadsheet of links to all the articles he read in 2012. You might also like his longform RSS bundle, which aggregates links from all the best curators around.

wnycradiolab: explore-blog: Solar system quilt, made by...

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 04:12:43 -0500

wnycradiolab:

explore-blog:

Solar system quilt, made by astronomer Ellen Harding Baker of Cedar County, Iowa in 1876 – early citizen science meets science-inspired art.

“Ellen used the quilt as a visual aid for lectures she gave on astronomy in the towns of West Branch, Moscow, and Lone Tree, Iowa. Astronomy was an acceptable interest for women in the nineteenth century and was sometimes even fostered in their education.”

mothernaturenetwork: 10 of the smallest homes in the world

Tue, 25 Dec 2012 04:22:55 -0500

mothernaturenetwork:

10 of the smallest homes in the world