Archive for July, 2009So Sarah Palin resigned last week, officially making her the most insignificant person in the world. John McCain is sitting at his ranch somewhere in Arizona sending telepathic vulgarities toward the moron(s) who thought she was a suitable choice for the vice presidency. During her bon voyage speech, Palin labored through a nearly indecipherable set of nonsense that was the basis of mockery by multiple talk-show hosts. The video above is Conan’s go, which involves the hilarious William Shatner delivering his poetic version of Palin’s speech. Enjoy. 
Spike Jonze’s film adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s book Where The Wild Things Are is our most anticipated movie release in the near future (perhaps other than Burton’s Alice in Wonderland). 10 minutes of the film were previewed at Comic-Con this past weekend and those lucky enough to have seen the footage are calling it the “most beautiful thing” they saw at the entire convention. Anyhow, the video above is a wonderful featurette of Maurice Sendak and Spike Jonze discussing the process of taking a literary masterpiece and carefully making sure it translates to the silver screen. The two seem to share a mutual admiration for one another, which isn’t always the case with authors and directors. Also, J*Rock took a quick glance at Jonze’s blog and discovered this.
Yep! That’s Max and the Obama Action Figure. We’re honored to say the least. 
This is a beautiful time-lapse taken of the Manhattan Bridge at night. Watch as it bounces up and down ever so slightly as cars drive through.
The text above is pretty self explanatory, but it’s crucial to understand the reason behind all of this. Banksy is selling his latest print way below the perceived market value of his work because he wants regular people to have a chance to own one of his creations. That’s not to say $600 is affordable to most Americans but I digress. Head over to pictures on walls (POW!) and register in their automated system for a chance to be offered one of these prints. You have from right now until noon (London time) on Tuesday (28th) to do so. 598 lucky consumers/art lovers will then receive an e-mail with instructions concerning how to proceed. Good luck!
Generally lists like Time Magazine’s Top 10 Guerilla Artists are frivolous and sycophantic, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t fun and partially accurate, too. Either way I’m a sucker for this kind of stuff. Featured in the aforementioned photo essay are people you know (Shepard Fairey, Banksy and John-Michel Basquiat) and some you might not (Iz the Wiz and Joseph Carnevale, the guy responsible for the construction-cone Frankenstein). Head here for the complete list and more photos.
While recovering from a car crash, British researcher Rachel Young spent five days searching for the alphabet in Google maps of New York State. And here’s what she achieved. Pretty unreal for someone who has never even been to New York. You can find every letter here.
During its five-season run earlier this decade, HBO’s The Wire became one of the most prolific and important shows to ever appear on television. It told the story of Baltimore street life; each season capturing the essence of a city from a different perspective (the police, the criminals, the educators, etc.). The stories seemed real, the dialogue was accurate and esoteric (to most), and the writing was world class. It played out like a novel rather than an hour-long drama. And almost nobody watched it! These were drawn by Blake Hicks as, “an ongoing way for [him] to combat cubicle insanity and keep the loving relationship between [his] pen hand and [his] wacom tablet wide open.” They depict, rather perfectly, some of the key characters of the show. Add The Wire to your Netflix queue, you won’t be disappointed. 
This is truly one of the coolest things I’ve seen in a long time. Walt Ribeiro has a degree in music composition from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, and will, if you ask nicely, arrange any song for you in orchestra. The two videos above are his versions of Radiohead’s Reckoning and Michael Jackson’s Beat It. For more information on Ribeiro, or to request a song, visit fororchestra.com. Wow, what a great idea… This short plays out like a hyperized Rorschach test while deep in an acid trip. It might make you a bit dizzy but it’s definitely worth it. Created by Jul and Mat as an unofficial music video for On The Motorway by Metronomy.
In June we ran a story about photographer Mike Stimpson and his awesome portraits of Stormtroopers and legos mimicking popular films and events of the past. Now he’s back with this series of shots that commemorate the 40th anniversary of men on the moon (July 20, 2009). As a bonus here’s Stimpson’s vision of Warhol Troopers.
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