out of sight

Kurskaya subway station (pictured above) in Moscow has re-opened...

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 12:22:00 +0200

Kurskaya subway station (pictured above) in Moscow has re-opened after a yearlong restoration. The vestibule looks more at home in a mansion. Apart from its glamour the other notable feature is the inscription on the rotunda, which reads: “Stalin reared us — on loyalty to the people. He inspired us to labour and to heroism.” No mention of the Great Purge, the gulags and the famine which happened under Stalin’s reign. The NYTimes has more on the re-Stalinisation of Russia.

These photos are by Pieter Hugo, one of my favourite...

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 13:09:00 +0200

These photos are by Pieter Hugo, one of my favourite photographers, especially seeing as I picked up his book “The Hyena & Other Men” for £3. This series is from Nollywood, Nigeria’s film making industry. Hugo asked his subjects, all actors and assistants, “to recreate Nollywood myths and symbols as if they were on movie sets.”

I saw a few Nollywood movies a few years back in Zimbabwe, they are unlike anything I had even seen before. The narratives are simple and the settings are ordinary. It’s so far removed from Hollywood it’s jarring. [thanks, Sabine]

Picthfork, an online music magazine, has been compiling its top...

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:45:05 +0200

Picthfork, an online music magazine, has been compiling its top 500 songs of the 2000s. “All My Friends” my personal favourite track from LCD Soundsystem is up there at number two. Below is the top 10. Click through to listen to the songs.

10. Arcade Fire, “Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)”
9. Animal Collective, “My Girls”
8. Radiohead, “Idioteque”
7. Missy Elliott, “Get Ur Freak On”
6. Yeah Yeah Yeahs, “Maps”
5. Daft Punk, “One More Time”
4. Beyonce [ft. Jay-Z], “Crazy in Love”
3. M.I.A. [ft. Bun B and Rich Boy], “Paper Planes (Diplo Remix)”
2. LCD Soundsystem, “All My Friends”
1. OutKast, “B.O.B.”

Teeing up for the Olympics

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:29:44 +0200

Golf has made it past the first hurdle on its way to becoming an official Olympic sport. It will be...

The Lens blog has a slideshow on some of the most famous...

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:49:01 +0200

The Lens blog has a slideshow on some of the most famous incidents of doctoring famous photos. Above is the so-called “Falling Soldier” taken by Robert Capa during the Spanish Civil War. In a book published this year by José Manuel Susperregu concludes that the Capa photo was almost certainly staged.

Funny ones

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:13:21 +0200

The BBC has published some of the best and worst jokes of the year as judged by a panel at the...

From babesonbikes awesome cycling shenanigans.

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 14:51:55 +0200

From babesonbikes awesome cycling shenanigans.

I have no idea what this video, suitably enough called...

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 14:48:09 +0200

I have no idea what this video, suitably enough called “Winkers”, is about. However, it is the kind of thing that either Will or me would be hugely proud of if we had created it.

Expect a lot of pointing fingers at the Japanese over the next...

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 18:24:00 +0200

Expect a lot of pointing fingers at the Japanese over the next few months for their fishing practises as exposed in the “The Cove”. Here’s a three second synopsis: “The Cove” is a documentary film documenting the annual killing of more than 2,500 dolphins in a cove at Taiji, Wakayama in Japan.” And here, to my mind anyway, is a decent critique of the film from IMDb:

In the end, the filmmakers undermines their own credibility and the validity of any point of view they might hold. I watched this movie with an open mind as I do everything. They have really blown it with this stinker. They have shown how a bias movie should be made. That is about all this show is worth. A lesson in untruths and treason. They have belittled the Fishermen of Japan so they can spill this form of trash movie that Micheal Moore so frequently makes. They are endowed with these tasks by brave harpoonists that fight to keep a meal on the table… Thank you Mr. Film-maker for the comedy clown show you made in this film!!!!! Nevertheless, all that has not stopped them from getting rich on an amusingly bundled package of half-truths and some outright lies.

“Lost Cause” from Beck just popped up on 8Tracks,...

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:13:00 +0200

“Lost Cause” from Beck just popped up on 8Tracks, the music streaming service I listen to most often. I am a fan of Spotify, but its ad rate has qaudrupled and is really get annoying. Anyway, this song is probably my favourite Beckensian - can you say that? - piece. Very melancholic but beautiful.

Ol trabente, el mundo marco, super fasto Usaino Bolto. Muy...

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 00:06:59 +0200

Ol trabente, el mundo marco, super fasto Usaino Bolto. Muy bueno. Yeah I do Spanish as well. Just watch the video; Usain knocks another few milliseconds off another world record. He’s breaking records like Kevin breaks wind.

as a matter of fact #17

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 11:43:33 +0200

Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, does not have traffic lights. Instead it has pretty female...

Right so if you don’t like what appears to be a string of...

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 16:20:06 +0200

Right so if you don’t like what appears to be a string of sausages being ripped out from your insides, then look away because this is “Grotesque.” No really it is. That’s the name of the film. It’s just been banned in the UK. The censor said: “The chief pleasure on offer seems to be in the spectacle of sadism (including sexual sadism) for its own sake.” Well, here’s the trailer.

Eating not exercise makes you thin

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:45:49 +0200

Time has a lengthy but interesting article on the merits of exercise and diet in the battle to shed...

There’s a thin line between organised violence and sport,...

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:00:11 +0200

There’s a thin line between organised violence and sport, especially in Kerry. Things get a little hot between the minors from Moyvane and Castleisland. At aorund 0.43 it sounds like there’s shots being fired. There’s passion for you.

Definitely my favourite photo of the day, a picture of a traffic...

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:43:38 +0200

Definitely my favourite photo of the day, a picture of a traffic director at work under a large umbrella on the pretty much car-free streets of Pyongyang, North Korea. This is what Reuters had to say about the traffic direcrtors in its Global News blog last week.

Visitors to the North Korean capital have a hard time forgetting the young women who stand at major intersections in uniforms and direct the few cars on the road with gestures that seem inspired by military drill sergeants and professional boxers. Pyongyang does not have traffic lights. One of the few state secrets that residents of the North Korean capital will share with foreign visitors is that these women are often selected for their looks.

Sporting events that changed the world

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:29:24 +0200

Foreign Policy has an excellent list of 10 sports events that were far more important than the...

District 9 claimed the top spot of at the US box office...

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:12:33 +0200

District 9 claimed the top spot of at the US box office over the weekend. It’s the first feature length film from Neil Blomkamp. I saw the trailer recently and it’s definitely worth a look. Due out in the UK in the first week of September.

The future of attention

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 15:51:00 +0200

Michael Erard outlines his vision of attention festivals in the Design Observer. I think I might...

I was in Copenhagen on my nearly annual visit to what must be...

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:33:00 +0200

I was in Copenhagen on my nearly annual visit to what must be one of my favourite cities. What’s not to like, fine women, beer, bicycles - sometimes all together - and hills are outlawed.

On this trip I got a tour of the newly opened concert hall at the DR HQ, the Danish national broadcaster. It was designed by Jean Nouvel and doesn’t look like much from the outside - at night it’s a just a blue coloured cube. But, holy kebabs, on the inside it has to be the most impressive concert hall I have ever been in.

It seats 1,800 but it actually felt like it holds less. And the acoustics - it was like being in the womb of a musical beast - if that analogy works. More pics here.