This creative 9 year old made an arcade entirely from cardboard. Watch this great short film to see him get the surprise of his life:
Check out Caine’s Arcade!
Apr 12
Someone created a quick quiz about “The Lost Children.” How cool is that?
Click the link to play.
How well do you know The Lost Children by Carolyn Cohagan?
In honor of Martin Luther King Day, I am posting what is easily one of the greatest examples of writing of the 20th century. This is an open letter written on April 16, 1963, written from the city jail in Birmingham, Alabama, where King was confined after being arrested for his part in the Birmingham campaign, a non-violent protest against racial segregation by Birmingham’s city government and downtown retailers.
I am particularly inspired right now to post this by the students in my class last semester, none of which could tell me what “Jim Crow” laws were (three of the students were African American.) Perhaps Mr. King would be pleased to know that we live in a time when young people don’t even have to know the name of these savage laws, but I think he would be more likely to invoke Edward Burke’s famous phrase that “Those that don’t know history are bound to repeat it.”
Click on the link to open the pdf:
I know I’m a little late to the party on this, but I still want to spread the love on “Girl Walk//All Day” created by Jacob Krupnick and Anne Marsen. This is a music video that slowly became a full length film. The director met the main dancer, Anne Marsen, at an audition he was holding and was so inspired by her unique style that he created a separate project for her. There’s something about Marsen that seems to perfectly embody the current zietgeist. She is trained, yet loose; sublime, yet street. She is a hybrid born of 2012. Watch the entire clip to really get the full flavor of her immense talent.
Girl Walk // All Day: Chapter 1 from Girl Walk // All Day on Vimeo.
You can watch the rest of the film here:
I just got home from “Art Show 2011″ in Hollywood, which was in a massive warehouse space on north La Brea. The idea was that Mr. Brainwash, the new “art star” from 2008, invited street artists from all over the world to submit art, with instructions on how to mount it, and he would show it here in LA without selling a thing or charging admission. The show was only supposed to be open for 6 days but today there was a sign today saying they were expanding for two more days (Jan 1 & 2) which is no surprise considering the line to get in looped around the corner.
People are still scratching their heads over Brainwash, wondering if he is for real, or if he is just a construct of the artist Banksy, made up for the sake of “Exit Through the Gift Shop” and now acting as the public face of a street artist who has made a career out of staying anonymous. I for one, believe the conspiracy theories, and think Banksy has had a hand in it all. Mr. Brainwash showed up today (in the picture to the right) and he was covered in paint splotches, and I just have to say for the record I don’t know many artists who don’t clean up for their own shows. It’s like the baker of a beautiful wedding cake being covered in flour days later so we believe he really baked it.
Anyway, his work was very hit or miss, and most of it was a big rip off of Claes Oldenburg, but a lot of the stuff contributed by other people was great. Please enjoy the pictures since the show was up so briefly (click on the thumbnails to make them bigger.)
Amanda Edwards, Wireimage
Last night I finally made it to one of Jason Reitman’s “Live Read” events at LACMA. The series began a few months ago in conjunction with Film Independent and the idea is very simple. Mr. Reitman is taking his favorite scripts and inviting his friends to do live readings in front of an audience at the LACMA Bing theater. The series has taken off like a shot and tickets sell out immediately, both because Mr. Reitman has made clever script choices and because he some very talented and famous friends.
“The Breakfast Club” reading included Jennifer Garner, Patton Oswalt, James Van Der Beek, and Mindy Kaling. “The Apartment” (one of my favorite films, based on the brilliant screenplay by Billy Wilder) was next and the charming leads once played by Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine were read by Steve Carrell and Natalie Portman. The supporting cast included Mindy Kaling again, Ken Jeong, Pierce Brosnan, JK Simmons, Collette Wolfe, Jake Johnson, and Nick Kroll.
You can see why this has become such a hot ticket.
And now on to last night. “The Princess Bride” is such a beloved film and well regarded screenplay (and book, for those of you that haven’t read it, you should run out and buy it right now. It’s even funnier and darker than the film) that the audience behaved like it was at a rock concert and it was seeing a reunion tour of it’s favorite band. It was crazy. I will introduce the cast as it was introduced to us:
Kevin Pollack: Miracle Max
Nick Kroll: Count Rugen
Bill Fagerbaake: Fezzick
Goran Visjnic: Inigo Montoya
Patton Oswalt: Vizzini
Westley: Paul Rudd
Buttercup: Mindy Kaling
And playing the role originated by Fred Savage was . . . FRED SAVAGE! . . . wearing a Chicago Bears jersey. He got a standing ovation. And then surprises continued when Jason Reitman brought in the film’s director, Rob Reiner, and announced he would be reading the part of the grandfather. The place went wild. And then for the final twist: Mr. Reitman brought Cary Elwes, the original Westley, on stage and announced he would be reading the part of Count Humperdink. It was inconceivable!
The cast was terrific. Patton Oswald, Nick Kroll and Cary Elwes in particular were hilarious, but then the villains always have the most fun. Patton Oswald also gave added depth and guffaws to a fencing scene by supplying the sound effects via two spoons.
Hearing the screenplay read aloud was a reminder of what an incredible piece of writing it is, not a line wasted. I think this William Goldman has a future (Although, I do have to say that seeing the entire cast lined up on stage you did see what a male dominated cast it was, and having comedienne Mindy Kaling read Buttercup only emphasized how bland the princess’ lines were. She literally doesn’t have one joke in the whole film.)
The next Live Read is already sold out and Jason Reitman hasn’t even announced what it is yet. But I assure you it will be the place to see and be seen.
Herman Cain’s downfall is the most recent evidence that sexual harassment doesn’t mean anything to people in this country. In October, FOUR women came forward and said that Herman Cain sexually harassed them in the late 1990s. Sharon Bialek claims that while seeking advice about a job, she had dinner with Mr. Cain, and that afterwards, while in a car together, he put his hand up her skirt and then tried to pull her head into his crotch.
“That’s it,” I thought, when I heard her story. “He’s done.” The specific image of a man pulling a woman’s head toward his lap is so lecherous and visceral for women, I figured that this accusation would be the death knell of Cain’s campaign.
But no. Attention quickly went to Ms. Bialek’s attorney, Gloria Allred, who was accused of being an attention hound (the press wanted to focus on the unlikability of the victim’s lawyer, instead of the unlikability of Herman Cain) and then within no time we were being shown a new video about Mr. Cain, Libya and foreign policy. By November 14, Business Insider had announced that lack of interest in a Gloria Allred press conference was proof that “The Herman Cain scandal is dead,” a mere two weeks after the harassment news had first broken.
I know that we have a national media that has the attention span of a squirrel on crack, but could we not focus, for ONE MOMENT, on the basic creepiness and lack of character that Mr. Cain had shown?
As always, when accusations of harassment are made, the character of the women doing the accusing was called into question. Skeptics suspect motives of finance and fame. Really? In what world do these people live in that they believe that it is desirable to walk around being known as someone who was groped by Herman Cain?
For that matter, who wants to be known as a person who has been groped by anyone? We are each individuals who struggle every day to define ourselves in the most positive terms. To undermine one’s own reputation, to come forward knowing that one’s personal narrative is forever changed in the eyes of coworkers, friends and family, is an act of true boldness and bravery.
Especially when one has to contend with fiends like Rush Limbaugh, who when he heard that victim Karen Kraushaar wanted to organize a joint press conference with the other three women remarked, “Do they want to synchronize their menstrual periods? Why appear together?”
Yes, Herman Cain’s campaign is over, but the scandal that took him down was a 13-year extramarital relationship, not the harassment allegations. A consensual affair is what stopped people from funding his campaign.
An affair is a complicit act between two adults; it is not the same as a grown man pawing a woman and trying to coerce her face into his lap. It has been 20 years since Anita Hill sat in front of a hostile Senate and was dismissed as a delusional woman. Have we not progressed at all?
Where were the women’s groups decrying Cain? Where were the feminists? Women may not be the 99% but in 2010 we were 50.8% of the population and it is time that we say “Enough. We will not put up with this behavior any longer.”
As long as we keep slapping these men on the wrists and acting like they just ha ha “got caught with their hands in the cookie jar” the behavior will continue. We need to recognize that harassing women speaks to a moral problem in the individual doing it. We need the media to change its attitude toward the victims and we need to start calling the perpetrators what they are: creeps; low-lifes; skirt chasers; grabby-handed misogynists. Take your pick. Just stop putting up with them.
Carolyn Cohagan is the author of “The Lost Children” (Simon & Schuster, 2010) and the upcoming “Ida and the Unfinished City.”
by Carolyn Cohagan
INT. OLD SPENCER’S BEDROOM, DAY
OLD SPENCER sits covered in a blanket in a large, cracked leather chair, while HOLDEN CAULFIELD, tall, ruggedly handsome, and wearing a red hunting cap, sits uncomfortably on a hard bed.
OLD SPENCER
So you’re leaving us, eh?
HOLDEN
Yes, sir. I guess I am.
OLD SPENCER
Your, ah, exam paper is over there on top
of my chest of drawers. Bring it here, please.
Holden stands, reluctantly gets the paper from a stack, and hands it to Old Spencer,
who handles it carefully. Holden sits back down.
OLD SPENCER
We only studied the Egyptians from
November 4th to December 2nd.
You chose to write about them.
May I read what you wrote?
HOLDEN
I wish you wouldn’t –
OLD SPENCER
The Egyptians were an ancient race
of Caucasians residing in one of the
northern sections of Africa. The Egyptians
are extremely interesting to us today for
various reasons. One of which is their
sophisticated use of technology, such as
water ducts, written language, and a
primitive form of acupuncture known
as hilopathologism-
HOLDEN
Yeah, I’m a real moron.
OLD SPENCER
That is precisely my point, boy.
I don’t think you’re a moron at all.
In fact, I question whether anyone
at Pencey Prep, student or professor,
could have told me about
hilopathologism.
HOLDEN
I must have learned it at
Whooton or that goddam Elkton Hills–
OLD SPENCER
No, no I don’t think you did. In fact,
I don’t think you learned it at all.
I think you remembered it.
HOLDEN
I don’t see what you mean.
OLD SPENCER
It’s time someone told you who you
really are. I believe you are the last
remaining descendent of Khepri,
the Egyptian God of Creation.
HOLDEN
For Chrissake, what a bunch of malarkey!
You been sniffing too many Vicks Nose
Drops, sir?
OLD SPENCER
No, Holden. It’s true. I noticed the first time
I met you that you bear the sacred mark of
Ra upon your head. Please remove
your hunting cap, young man.
Holden cautiously removes his cap and we see a birthmark that looks like a sun on his right upper forehead. Old Spencer starts to nod emphatically.
OLD SPENCER
Tremendous! Have a look here at this
hieroglyphic.
He grabs a book from the nearby bookshelf and shows Holden a picture. Holden smiles in amazement.
HOLDEN
Boy! I can’t wait to tell Phoebe.
It’ll kill her!
OLD SPENCER
There’s no time for her now, son.
You’ve got to get going before it’s too late!
HOLDEN
Get going where? Too late for what?
OLD SPENCER
Someone, or something, has been
breaking into museums around the
world and stealing the gold rings
of Isis. It’s up to you to stop
this person, grab the gold rings, and
restore Atum to his rightful throne.
HOLDEN
I don’t know, Mr. Spencer, my parents
will be sorry as hell if I’m not home
for Christmas –
OLD SPENCER
There’s more. I didn’t want to
mention it . . . but whoever is
gathering these rings, he’s taking them,
harnessing their powers and he’s
turning innocent people . . .
HOLDEN
Just say it, sir –
OLD SPENCER
. . . into phonies.
Holden stands and grasps his head in despair.
HOLDEN
Not that! GODDAMN IT.
OLD SPENCER
I know. It’s an abomination.
Holden bangs his fist on the chest of drawers.
HOLDEN
Where do I start?
OLD SPENCER
I want you to say hello to an old friend . . .
The closet door opens and out walks a stunning young woman, wearing glasses and a lab coat.
HOLDEN
Sally Hayes?!
OLD SPENCER
Yes, Holden. Sally works for me.
She specializes in organic chemistry,
pyramid engineering and Kung Fu.
She’ll fill you in on the situation.
Now get out there, and do your
country proud!
HOLDEN
Yes, sir, Mr. Spencer.
Holden raises an eyebrow at Sally, as he approaches her slowly.
HOLDEN
Would you happen to know where the ducks
in Central Park go in the winter time, Sally?
SALLY
(sassily) Depends. Are you referring to
the white Aylesbury or the common Mallard?
Holden grabs her around the waist and kisses her passionately, just as a massive fireball comes crashing through the wall, propelling him and Sally through the bedroom window and out onto the lawn. Covered in sexy burn smudges, they look back at the raging inferno of Spencer’s house in which no one could have possibly survived.
HOLDEN
Goddamn it, Sally. GODDAMN IT.
END SCENE
The Pixies Dammit!
Nov 19
Circa 1990
WITH YOUR FEET IN THE AIR AND YOUR HEAD ON THE GROUND
Last night I hauled my keister up to Bakersfield to see the Pixies and their amazing Doolittle tour. Well worth the trip. They played the entire album, start to finish, from the first track. Such a simple thing that bands rarely do live, and it was crazy satisfying, like eating a a five course meal and knowing there won’t be one dish you don’t like.
A piece of trivia I’ve just learned and love is that when singer Frank Black (Black Francis at the time, but born Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV) and guitarist Joey Santiago were looking for a bassist back in college, they put out a classified ad for a “female who listened to both folk music and Hüsker Dü.” And of course, they ended up with Kim Deal. Perfect.
2011
I’m not going to lie. It was a little shocking to see their raw middle-aged selves. I’m sure for all of us there it was a splash of reality. None of us are exactly spring chickens anymore. I was also surprised by how outnumbered the female fans were by the males. There were TONS of hipster dudes in their forties, bobbing up and down, who knew every word to every song. Me and my female friends were really into the Pixies in college so I was surprised to see the lack of representation. Maybe they were all home with the kids?
Here is a video of good quality to make you nostalgic and then one of bad quality that I shot last night. Following that is an interesting interview with David Bowie where he talks about the long term influence the Pixies have had on rock.
I wish I’d written this
Nov 17
Wikihistory
Desmond Warzel
International Association of Time Travelers: Members’ Forum Subforum: Europe – Twentieth Century – Second World War
Page 263
11/15/2104
At 14:52:28, FreedomFighter69 wrote:
Reporting my first temporal excursion since joining IATT: have just returned from 1936 Berlin, having taken the place of one of Leni Riefenstahl’s cameramen and assassinated Adolf Hitler during the opening of the Olympic Games. Let a free world rejoice!
At 14:57:44, SilverFox316 wrote:
Back from 1936 Berlin; incapacitated FreedomFighter69 before he could pull his little stunt. Freedomfighter69, as you are a new member, please read IATT Bulletin 1147 regarding the killing of Hitler before your next excursion. Failure to do so may result in your expulsion per Bylaw 223.
At 18:06:59, BigChill wrote:
Take it easy on the kid, SilverFox316; everybody kills Hitler on their first trip. I did. It always gets fixed within a few minutes, what’s the harm?
At 18:33:10, SilverFox316 wrote:
Easy for you to say, BigChill, since to my recollection you’ve never volunteered to go back and fix it. You think I’ve got nothing better to do?
11/16/2104
At 10:15:44, JudgeDoom wrote:
Good news! I just left a French battlefield in October 1916, where I shot dead a young Bavarian Army messenger named Adolf Hitler! Not bad for my first time, no? Sic semper tyrannis!
At 10:22:53, SilverFox316 wrote:
Back from 1916 France I come, having at the last possible second prevented Hitler’s early demise at the hands of JudgeDoom and, incredibly, restrained myself from shooting JudgeDoom and sparing us all years of correcting his misguided antics. READ BULLETIN 1147, PEOPLE!
At 15:41:18, BarracksRoomLawyer wrote:
Point of order: issues related to Hitler’s service in the Bavarian Army ought to go in the World War I forum.
11/21/2104
At 02:21:30, SneakyPete wrote:
Vienna, 1907: after numerous attempts, have infiltrated the Academy of Fine Arts and facilitated Adolf Hitler’s admission to that institution. Goodbye, Hitler the dictator; hello, Hitler the modestly successful landscape artist! Brought back a few of his paintings as well, any buyers?
At 02:29:17, SilverFox316 wrote:
All right; that’s it. Having just returned from 1907 Vienna where I secured the expulsion of Hitler from the Academy by means of an elaborate prank involving the Prefect, a goat, and a substantial quantity of olive oil, I now turn my attention to our newer brethren, who, despite rules to the contrary, seem to have no intention of reading Bulletin 1147 (nor its Addendum, Alternate Means of Subverting the Hitlerian Destiny, and here I’m looking at you, SneakyPete). Permit me to sum it up and save you the trouble: no Hitler means no Third Reich, no World War II, no rocketry programs, no electronics, no computers, no time travel. Get the picture?
At 02:29:49, SilverFox316 wrote:
PS to SneakyPete: your Hitler paintings aren’t worth anything, schmuck, since you probably brought them directly here from 1907, which means the paint’s still fresh. Freaking n00b.
At 07:55:03, BarracksRoomLawyer wrote:
Amen, SilverFox316. Although, point of order, issues relating to early 1900s Vienna should really go in that forum, not here. This has been a recurring problem on this forum.
11/26/2104
At 18:26:18, Jason440953 wrote:
SilverFox316, you seem to know a lot about the rules; what are your thoughts on traveling to, say, Braunau, Austria, in 1875 and killing Alois Hitler before he has a chance to father Adolf? Mind you, I’m asking out of curiosity alone, since I already went and did it.
At 18:42:55, SilverFox316 wrote:
Jason440953, see Bylaw 7, which states that all IATT rulings regarding historical persons apply to ancestors as well. I post this for the benefit of others, as I already made this clear to young Jason in person as I was dragging him back from 1875 by his hair. Got that? No ancestors. (Though if anyone were to go back to, say, Moline, Illinois, in, say, 2080 or so, and intercede to prevent Jason440953′s conception, I could be persuaded to look the other way.)
At 21:19:17, BarracksRoomLawyer wrote:
Point of order: discussions of nineteenth–century Austria and twenty–first–century Illinois should be confined to their respective forums.
12/01/2104
At 15:56:41, AsianAvenger wrote:
FreedomFighter69, JudgeDoom, SneakyPete, Jason440953, you’re nothing but a pack of racists. Let the light of righteousness shine upon your squalid little viper’s nest!
At 16:40:17, BigTom44 wrote:
Well, here we frickin’ go.
At 16:58:42, FreedomFighter69 wrote:
Racist? For killing Hitler? WTF?
At 17:12:52, SaucyAussie wrote:
AsianAvenger, you’re not rehashing that whole Nagasaki issue again, are you? We just got everyone calmed down from last time.
At 17:22:37, LadyJustice wrote:
I’m with SaucyAussie. AsianAvenger, you’re making even less sense than usual. What gives?
At 18:56:09, AsianAvenger wrote:
What gives is everyone’s repeated insistence on a course of action which, even if successful, would only save a few million Europeans. It would be no more trouble to travel to Fuyuanshui, China, in 1814 and kill Hong Xiuquan, thus preventing the Taiping Rebellion of the mid–nineteenth century and saving fifty million lives in the process. But, hey, what are fifty million yellow devils more or less, right, guys? We’ve got Poles and Frenchmen to worry about.
At 19:01:38, LadyJustice wrote:
Well, what’s stopping you from killing him, AsianAvenger?
At 19:11:43, AsianAvenger wrote:
Only to have SilverFox316 undo my work? What’s the point?
At 19:59:23, SilverFox316 wrote:
Actually, it seems like a pretty good idea to me, AsianAvenger. No complications that I can see.
At 20:07:25, Big Chill wrote:
Go for it, man.
At 20:11:31, AsianAvenger wrote:
Very well. I shall return in mere moments, the savior of millions!
At 20:14:17, LadyJustice wrote:
Just checked the timeline; congrats on your success, AsianAvenger!
12/02/2104
At 10:52:53, LadyJustice wrote:
AsianAvenger?
At 11:41:40, SilverFox316 wrote:
AsianAvenger, we need your report, buddy.
At 17:15:32, SilverFox316 wrote:
Okay, apparently AsianAvenger was descended from Hong Xiuquan. Any volunteers to go back and stop him from negating his own existence?
12/10/2104
At 09:14:44, SilverFox316 wrote:
Anyone?
At 09:47:13, BarracksRoomLawyer wrote:
Point of order: this discussion belongs in the Qing Dynasty forum. We’re adults; can we keep sight of what’s important around here?
Desmond Warzel ekes out a subsistence living teaching English in the wilds of Northwestern Pennsylvania. “Wikihistory” is his first published story.
link to original
http://www.abyssandapex.com/200710-wikihistory.html
