Monthly Archives: January 2014

NYC Commuters are Suspended in Time in Stainless

Posted: January 13, 2014 at 3:43 pm

Artist Adam Magyar uses sophisticated software and high-speed camera rigs of his own design to capture beautifully haunting slow-motion footage of commuters, trains and passengers inside NYC's Grand Central Terminal.

Magyar compiled the footage into a 24-minute short film called Stainless. Josh Hammer describes the "long-running techno-art project" in a must-read profile on Magyar and his work, recently published over at Matter:

In a growing body of photographic and video art done over the past decade, Magyar bends conventional representations of time and space, stretching milliseconds into minutes, freezing moments with a resolution that the naked eye could never have perceived. His art evokes such variegated sources as Albert Einstein, Zen Buddhism, even the 1960s TV series The Twilight Zone. The imagessleek silver subway cars, solemn commuters lost in private worldsare beautiful and elegant, but also produce feelings of disquiet. "These moments I capture are meaningless, there is no story in them, and if you can catch the core, the essence of being, you capture probably everything," Magyar says in one of the many cryptic comments about his work that reflect both their hypnotic appeal and their elusiveness. There is a sense of stepping into a different dimension, of inhabiting a space between stillness and movement, a time-warp world where the rules of physics don't apply.

Magyar's aesthetic is absolutely captivating; if you're into this style of art, you'll definitely want to read up on him and his work.

[Adam Magyar via Matter]

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Tory Starbuck performs the song Veraline in Futurist Manifesto. 1988 Galactic Rebel Revolution. – Video

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Tory Starbuck performs the song Veraline in Futurist Manifesto. 1988 Galactic Rebel Revolution.
Tory, Stacey Halstead (Space), Brian Hayes (Brain Wave) and J.C. play at Bernards Pub in St. Louis Mo. Tory #39;s vocals are almost inaudible due to soundman pro...

By: Tory Starbuck

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Tory Starbuck performs the song Veraline in Futurist Manifesto. 1988 Galactic Rebel Revolution. - Video

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Your Favorite Futurist Is Wrong

Posted: at 3:43 pm

S

Nobody knows the future. This may seem like an obvious statement, but it bears repeating. Nobody knows the future.

Most people can generally accept this idea. But when it comes to our favorite prognosticator, we often put blinders on. Futurism is an imperfect craft in which the most earnest and educated individual must practice a fair amount of hand-wavy illusion building to even begin the process of prediction. When it comes to futurist-minded people that we like, we're more willing to remember their hits and forget their misses.

I've done a few radio interviews this month about Isaac Asimov's 1964 predictions for the world of 2014. Everyone wants to know: was Asimov right or was he wrong? And the answer isn't so simple. Like any vision of the future, even the "accurate" predictions are open to interpretation. And your take on their accuracy probably tracks closely with whether you're a fan of the man and his work.

From Asimov's 1964 New York Times article:

Communications will become sight-sound and you will see as well as hear the person you telephone. The screen can be used not only to see the people you call but also for studying documents and photographs and reading passages from books.

There are a thousand different ways to slice and dice this prediction. On its face, this prediction is spot on. But that assessment comes with the biases any person living here in the early 21st century might bring to the table.

A generous reading of this prediction will say that he predicted Skype-like technology. A more skeptical reading of this prediction will look at the dozens of landline videophone predictions from the 1950s and 60s not to mention the real-world research being done at Bell Labs and conclude that Asimov was simply repeating a common futurist trope. And that by omitting mention of the infrastructure that would deliver sight-sound telephones the internet he really missed the mark.

People have gotten quite defensive about the way that I've analyzed Asimov's predictions. And I understand why. People love Asimov. We're infinitely more forgiving of the people we love, even if we didn't know them personally. That's the nature of fandom.

But I've tried to put Asimov's predictions in the context of the early 1960s, and in so doing have pointed out that his ideas were actually pretty conservative for the time. Conservative, in the sense that he hedges many of his bets with little caveats.

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Myanmar Journalists Protest Threats to Media Freedom – Video

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Myanmar Journalists Protest Threats to Media Freedom
A Myanmar reporter was jailed while working on a story about corruption.

By: RFAVideo

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You Can't Take My Freedom! Comedian Ari Shaffir – HD – Video

Posted: at 8:47 am


You Can #39;t Take My Freedom! Comedian Ari Shaffir - HD
http://arishaffir.com/ Stay in the know - Follow Alex on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RealAlexJones #39;Like #39; Alex on FACEBOOK - https://www.facebook.com/Alexan...

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You Can't Take My Freedom! Comedian Ari Shaffir - HD - Video

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Inri Cristo's disciples sing version of FREEDOM RELEASE – Video

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Inri Cristo #39;s disciples sing version of FREEDOM RELEASE

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Inri Cristo's disciples sing version of FREEDOM RELEASE - Video

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Peaceful Protesters Expelled from Freedom Park as Military Mobilization Escalates – Video

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Peaceful Protesters Expelled from Freedom Park as Military Mobilization Escalates
Peaceful Protesters Expelled from Freedom Park as Military Mobilization Escalates.

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Freedom executive Kennedy had felonies

Posted: at 8:47 am

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Freedom Industries, the company responsible for contaminating the water of 300,000 Kanawha Valley residents, was founded by a two-time convicted felon, benefited from the 2009 federal stimulus and at least two of its executives have longstanding ties to the Charleston business community.

Since the chemical spill on Thursday, Freedom Industries executives have entirely avoided media requests, except for a brief news conference Friday night.

On Sunday morning, Charles Ryan Associates, a prominent Charleston public relations firm hired by Freedom, abruptly dropped the chemical distributor as a client.

"I made the decision not to represent them," said Susan Lavenski, who was handling Freedom for Charles Ryan. She would not give any details as to why she would no longer represent the company.

Freedom Industries was founded in 1992 by Gary Southern and Carl Lemley Kennedy II, according to filings with the West Virginia secretary of state. The company's website, however, says it was founded in 1986.

"Our friends and our neighbors, this incident is extremely unfortunate, unanticipated and we are very, very sorry for the disruption to everybody's daily life that this incident has caused," Southern, the company's president, said at the news conference Friday night. "It has been an extremely long day, I'm having trouble talking at the moment. I would appreciate it if we could wrap this thing up."

He has not spoken publicly since.

Kennedy is still listed as "incorporator" with the secretary of state, but a woman who answered the phone at Freedom Industries on Friday said he left the company "years ago."

As recently as 2005, Kennedy owned 5 percent of Freedom Industries, according to a bankruptcy filing. That stake was valued at $675,000, according to Kennedy's filing, meaning that in 2005 Freedom Industries was valued at $13.5 million.

That valuation has almost certainly increased over the past eight years. In 2008, the company employed 45 people, sold 10 million gallons of material and earned $26 million, according to newspaper records.

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dna exclusive: Savarkar's Urdu poetry gets Amitabh Bachchan's touch

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Amitabh Bachchan will introduce ghazals written by Savarkar

Bollywoods most famous baritone will introduce the Urdu compositions of Swatantryaveer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in a CD which will be released on January 21.

Amitabh Bachchan is well known for his distinct voice. We thought his would make for a befitting voice for introducing the ghazals written by Swatantryaveer Savarkar while serving a life sentence in Andaman in 1921, said Ranjit, Savarkars grand-nephew and chairman of Swatantryaveer Savarkar Rashtriya Smarak (SSRS).

Moved on meeting Ranjit who presented him a copy of Veer Savarkars memoirs of his struggle at Andaman and a replica manuscript of his verse penned in prison, Bachchan tweeted: Incomprehensive to fathom what freedom fighters went through to gain independence for nation ! Are they acknowledged enough? Had visited Andaman island, Kala paani and the prisons where freedom fighters were kept. Atrocious stories of their torture!

A manuscript of Urdu ghazals by Savarkar was found in in July last year. The ghazals were written by the freedom fighter during his 11-year torturous incarceration in the Andaman Cellular Jail. The wholly patriotic works were found in a notebook kept by Savarkar in prison. Even the family was unaware of this brave freedom fighters proficiency in Urdu, recalls the SSRS head, adding: Except for certain Persian words, the ghazals have been written in such a way that they can be understood easily. To make it easy, the facing pages have works written in Devanagri.

The notebook has a cover designed by sticking jail records together. During the last few months in the Andamans, Savarkar was made foreman of the jails oil godown. For the first time he got ink and paper to write. His earlier works were written on prison walls with nails. These were memorised and then sent via prisoners who had to memorise them to bring them back to the mainland.

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PC Longplay [373] StarCraft 2 Wings of Liberty (part 5 of 5) – Video

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PC Longplay [373] StarCraft 2 Wings of Liberty (part 5 of 5)
http://www.longplays.org Played by: Frederikct112 Hello Everybody, Frederikct112 here. I am back again with this awesome RTS game. I thought i had already do...

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PC Longplay [373] StarCraft 2 Wings of Liberty (part 5 of 5) - Video

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