Monday, November 30, 2009

Hey there. I am back, sort of, and trying to get back in the swing of things, as it were. Fortunately, the crack team of (unpaid) link senders has been busy while I've been gone, which means you have all sorts of stuff to read while I get things together. Also, some photos are up over on the Flickr account. Have at it!

From Cassandra:

-- The jellyfish are coming. Be afraid.
-- Killing people for their fat sounds very post-apocalyptic.
-- Is our children reading?
-- A hundred movies online, for free!
-- a love poem (in prose form) to typewriters (PDF).

From Josie: An Art Nouveau exhibit has opened at the Cincinnati Art Museum, and looks beautiful.

From Julie:

-- "A first edition of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, which was kept in a toilet in Oxfordshire, sells for nearly twice the expected price."
-- A red phone box becomes the country's smallest library. Is it a Tardis in disguise? Because then it might be the largest library, you see...

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Quick, how many people are in space right this second? (Well, people from Earth, that is.) Now you can find out instantly. Isn't the internet great?

The annual competition for the biggest liar in the world happens tomorrow in England. Really it does, honest. Then, on Friday, you can participate in London's Capture the Flag insanity!

Meanwhile, explorers at the South Pole are about to dig for Shackleton's whiskey. After they find it, they might want to consult Four Pounds Flour in order to construct the perfect historic meal!

In a bonus "links from others" day, Cassandra sends in news linking haunted house tales with the current housing crisis, as well as articles on euthanasia in Switzerland and what happens to your email after you die.

The links from others happened today because tomorrow I set off for New York City and a wild weekend with the Club Creatures! Updates may be posted on my Twitter account (username is jinnet) and possibly on my Facebook page (ditto), depending on phone ability and general mayhem level. There may be updates here as well, but if not, we will definitely be back and posting on the regular weekday schedule by the Monday after Thanksgiving. So have a spiffy week, weekend, and/or holiday, everyone! See you soon.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

We are about to swing into wacky vacation season here at Folderol; I leave for New York on Thursday and will be back next week just in time for the holiday to throw all the schedules off again. (Then I will be back through the rest of the year, though!) Posting may be erratic.

Over the weekend, I will be at the third annual Dances of Vice Festival! You should be there, too. It looks like it's going to be an amazing time. (DOV is also on Facebook, where they are posting additional details.) Related to DOV is Zelda Magazine, which just came out with its premiere issue. Buy it if you can!

Steampunky designers are encouraged to participate in the “Voyage of the Chrononought” Design Contest, running through the end of the year. Have at it!

Amazing steampunk-ish metalwork is at "Sara 013's" Flickr account; check out the FreakAngels choker. Beautiful stuff.

It was once proposed, in the mid-nineteenth centry, that London be zoned into hexagonal shapes. It's true! Strange Maps describes the London that could have been, and points to a book of such things which looks really interesting.

Currently interesting in British transportation: the proposed "road train" technology, in which drivers could link up in a lane and then read, sleep, etc., until they want to get off the road. I have been dreaming about something like this for years, usually during the annual drives to New England.

And lastly, a media update: Disney seems to have put the kibosh on a remake of Captain Nemo's adventures for now.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Today, we're all about the visual arts.
  • Love those doodles on Google? Now you can see all of them!
  • Lifespan, an installation by Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro, solves the problem of what to do with all those old VHS cassettes.
  • Flickr groups are wonderful things. I am currently enamored of the Minimal Black & White pool.
  • Den of Geek celebrates the corridors of sci-fi film! It's true, they're pretty spiffy.
  • And finally...Drench is the addictive time-waster of the day. (Start in the top left corner and work your way out.)

Friday, November 13, 2009

Happy Friday the 13th, everyone!

From Julie: Thatcher is dead! Oh, wait. Thatcher is a cat.

Also from Julie: The Cloud is coming to London, complete with "interconnected plastic bubbles." Hooray, the future is finally on the way!

Also possibly in the future and also via Julie: perhaps we should eat more bugs. A New York City artist tries to convince his friends.

From Cassandra: the top five underrated horror films you haven't seen (Bunny is looking forward to checking this out as a personal challenge); artist Luke Jerram's work with perception; and the types of comments childless people often get from others (and how to respond to them; I admit that I am interested in trying out a few of these).

From Zazoo: Rickrolling hits iPhones!

Also from Cassandra: an online handwriting analysis. Both our results indicated that either we are horribly conflicted individuals, or the analysis process leaves a lot to be desired. But it's a fun exercise, regardless.

And lastly, something from Veterans Day: dogs welcoming soldiers home. Also kids, in the last video. I challenge you to watch these (especially the first and last videos) and not cry. But a good, happy sort of cry.

Have a spiffy and safe weekend, everyone. See you Monday!

Thursday, November 12, 2009

"This must be Thursday. I never could get the hang of Thursdays."

Anyway. From Julie: a sniff test to preserve old books! Excellent!

From old to new: I am not sure if anyone will be convinced that librarians are going to save the world, but I love the cover of this book due out next year.

The World Press Photo archive is open to anyone who wants to browse all 10,000 images. Hooray!

The Book of Odds is another great new online find. I love these sorts of things.

And finally, the latest from the Pew Internet American Life Project shows that people who spend lots of time online are not isolated socially at all -- in fact, they're more connected. I've been saying that since the internet took off!

Tomorrow: more links from others, and hopefully more time in which to post them.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Via Stephen Fry's Twitter account, here is an image of Trafalgar Square at the 11th hour on this Remembrance/Veterans Day.

Humans are not the only beings who grieve for the dead.

Ancient war news: the remnants of a huge Persian army may have been discovered in the Sahara.

Current war news, sort of: The Global Peace Index rankings are out for 2009. I'd like to move to New Zealand, please. Does anyone there need a couple of librarians?

Cassandra sends in a spooky story about people who have been guided by a "third man" in times of extreme crisis. Angels? One's subconscious? Who knows?

Also, the Large Hadron Collider continues to be plagued with problems. This time, a bird dropped some bread in it. (Maybe it was a bird from the future! Sent to stop the LHC! Hey, it could happen.)

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

We had some local steampunks over to our place last Friday, and it seems like a good time was had by all. There are photos over at the Steampunk Empire as tangible proof!

LA Weekly discovered Clockwork Couture and featured them, and Issue 9 of the Gatehouse Gazette has been published for your viewing pleasure. In even more literature news, Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan has also been published, and he's written a post discussing the illustrations and the book's concept in general.

New amazing steampunky weblogs keep appearing. Two I found this week: Decadent Handbook (specializing in the darker edge of Victorian/Edwardian art and literature) and the Steampunk Family (specializing in all sorts of things).

And finally...A man is building glaciers to stop global warming...and it's working! How wonderfully mad is that?

Monday, November 09, 2009

A whole lot of the interweb is talking about the fall of the Berlin Wall. (Those of you of a certain age can start humming "Right Here, Right Now" by Jesus Jones now.) Flickr has a blog post about the images from that time, as well as a photo pool of images from 1961-1989 Berlin. For the readers, today's Arts & Letters Daily has dozens of articles on the event.

The universe is beige. No, really, it is. (I like the "cosmic latte" suggestion, however.)

The work of Tom Gauld is great -- everything from LEGO robots to cartoons about writers.

And finally, for the creators among us, Warren Ellis's Whitechapel community is sharing their favorite Etsy artists and stores. Good holiday inspiration!

Friday, November 06, 2009

Happy Friday! The links are all over the place today. Embrace the chaos.

From Cassandra: Twitter meets Jungian analysis!

Cassandra also sent me this Etsy shop because it reminded her of me. I'm not really sure what that says about either one of us. Etsy is a treasure trove, but can also feature some truly strange items, and Regretsy is happy to point them out to us! (My current favorite is the offer of broken Wall-E charms for twenty cents. Er?)

One last link from Cassandra concerns asexuals. Anyone who grew up in the '80s is now thinking of Morrissey, admit it.

Tomorrow is Carl Sagan Day! It's true! Go and look at the stars.

And finally, here is the most amazing LEGO creation I've ever seen. (I've seen a lot of LEGO creations, just for the record.)

Have a spiffy weekend, everyone! See you Monday.

Thursday, November 05, 2009

Google is celebrating Sesame Street's 40th birthday with a great doodle on their homepage. Yay!

My new favorite Twitter contact is the Fake AP Stylebook. Anyone who has had to wrestle with the real stylebook is directed there right now. For instance: "While it's tempting to call them 'baristi' because of the Italian roots, the plural of 'barista' is 'journalism majors.'"

Book-related goodness fills out today's entry. Books are physical and tangible and associated with memories, so they won't die out anytime soon. Rare book libraries are fantastic, and you can visit them all over the country (and world). And finally, you can get all sorts of crazy bookends to keep them upright. (I am not too impressed with most of these, but it's totally worth seeing the Star Wars trash compactor bookend set!)

Tomorrow is Friday, which means links sent in from others. Even you! Go ahead!

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

El Mirador, an ancient Mayan city, is being unearthed in northern Guatemala, and it looks absolutely amazing.

In Mayan-related news, people are starting to wonder what's going to happen if/when 2012 comes and goes with no catastrophic apocalypse.

However, in what seems like a blatant stab at tempting fate, a reenactment of the Titanic's maiden voyage has been scheduled for 2012. Sign up now! Er...really?

In Baltimore, there are men who know what it's like to stare at goats, and they discuss the new movie's real-life basis. (Apparently no goats were involved, but there were incidents with hamsters...)

Tonight is Mischief Night in the UK, with Guy Fawkes Day tomorrow. It sounds like the festivities are going to be pretty tame this Fifth of November, be warned.

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Pressed for time today, so here are the week's steampunky bits in quick-time format!

PhonoVault -- your resource for steampunk and seriously retro music.

Machinarium looks like a very cool new game.

MSNBC discovers steampunk and provides a slideshow of the haunted house in New York City.

The Monsterologist should delight any young explorer (or those who still want to grow up to be explorers).

Might the Hadron Collider be under attack from the future? Even the New York Times is discussing the possibility!

Coming Anarchy is a lovely site - how can I resist the slogan "speak Victorian, think Pagan"? Plus, they write about things like "deviant globalization."

The man behind PostHuman Blues, a wonderful website, has died. RIP, Mac Tonnies.

Monday, November 02, 2009

If you're near London, the first "adult puppetry festival" in years is going on this week! Check out SUSPENSE if you can.

An interesting result from a UK survey indicates that people who illegally download music also spend the most (legally) on music. Hmm.

Ingmar Bergman's estate will be preserved as an artist's retreat, hooray. You can see a slideshow of the home, too.

Another slideshow of sorts that you should scroll through features the works of artist Yinka Shonibare, who creates wondrous costumes and sets.

Poet Frederico Garcia Lorca's grave may be exhumed in Spain, along with dozens of others.

Today's lesson: Sometimes you should go with your instinct, like this man who bought an old painting for way too much money...and then found it was a masterpiece.