I wonder what this will be like. I wonder if it will be any good. I wonder if it will be authentic. I wonder if it will glamorize or expose the celebrity lifestyle. Guess we'll find out. If nothing else, it looks interesting.
Be forewarned... unsurpisingly, the F-Bomb show up once in this trailer.
Boing Boing points us to a very interesting Wall Street Journal Article that explores how homeless people are using the Internet. Corey Doctorow also predicts that within five years, network access will be declared a universal human right. Lots of great brain food all around.
The WSJ reports:
Like most San Franciscans, Charles Pitts is wired. Mr. Pitts, who is 37 years old, has accounts on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. He runs an Internet forum on Yahoo, reads news online and keeps in touch with friends via email. The tough part is managing this digital lifestyle from his residence under a highway bridge.
“You don’t need a TV. You don’t need a radio. You don’t even need a newspaper,” says Mr. Pitts, an aspiring poet in a purple cap and yellow fleece jacket, who says he has been homeless for two years. “But you need the Internet.”
Mr. Pitts’s experience shows how deeply computers and the Internet have permeated society. A few years ago, some people were worrying that a “digital divide” would separate technology haves and have-nots. The poorest lack the means to buy computers and Web access. Still, in America today, even people without street addresses feel compelled to have Internet addresses.
For some reason I love photography that features decaying structures and objects. Maybe it's because each photo tells a thousand untold stories and it's easy to imagine the structures in their original pristine state.
Julia Soris has a new portfolio called Stage of Decayand in each image, I see the room filled with people and the performer or artist offering their best to enlighten, illicit laughter, or entertain. Check out the ones below and then head here for the rest.
Early last month, I posted about some incredible 3D chalk art on the streets. Well, John Pugh is taking it vertical. Check it...
John on his work:
I am a trompe l’oeil artist focusing primarily on mural painting. I have found that the “language” of life-size illusions allow me to communicate with a very large audience. It seems almost universal that people take delight in being visually tricked. Once captivated by the illusion, the viewer is lured to cross an artistic threshold and thus seduced into exploring the concept of the piece. I have also found that by creating architectural illusion that integrates with the existing environment both optically and aesthetically, the art transcends the “separateness” that public art sometimes produces.
It is important for me, as an artist, to interact with the community, formulating concepts based upon a multitude of viewpoints. Artists must be continually aware that their work can serve as a bridge between diverse cultural backgrounds. Public art is of great interest to me; providing me with a sense of purpose as it is a very powerful form of communication. It can link people together, stimulate a sense of pride within the community, and introduce the viewer to new ideas and perspectives.
I'm always inspired by innocent singing and dancing and this is no different. There's just something about it that causes the strife in this world to fade away in the midst of a simple song.
While Sting recently made an impassioned plea to stop cutting music programs in schools, one fifth-grade teacher at New York City's PS22 is using music to impact students. I could watch these kids all day long. When they sing, they don't care how they look... they just go for it without an ounce of self-consciousness.
The PS22 Chorus was formed in the year 2000. We are an ever-changing group of 5th graders from a public elementary school in New York City, NOT a school for the arts or a magnet program.
I work with the PS22 chorus, an incredible bunch of NYC public school 5th graders! The chorus has performed all over New York, and have gained quite a following on the internet, particularly with Tori Amos fans. They've sung with Tori, Passion Pit, Crowded House, Judy Torres, Lena, and have also performed for Marcia Gay Harden, Matthew Modine, CNN's Paula Zahn, Senator Charles Schumer, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Celebrity fans include Perez Hilton, Ashton Kutcher, Rob Dyrdeck, Suzanne Vega, Innocence Mission, Bonnie Hunt, and many more.....
Went and saw Up over the weekend with @mariadelpilar and Benaiah... in 3D. Viewing the trailer early on, I thought the concept would make for a great short film but I was wondering how it would translate into a full-length feature. Well, the hour and forty minute ride is defintely worth seeing, with or without kids. Again, Pixar does a superb job of appealing to a vast audience and spanning huge age gaps. There's so much believable creativity packed into this film that the writers don't even try to explain how most things in this "world" work.
Well, Wired has done it for them. The main question is: How many helium filled balloons would it take to lift a house off the ground?
We called Wolfe House Movers, which specializes in moving old structures and had Kendal Siegrist, a manager, take a look at the images from the movie to see how much the house might weigh.
“A building like that, you’d figure right around 100,000 pounds,” Siegrist said.
Then we did some calculations. Air weighs about 0.078 pounds per cubic foot; helium weighs just 0.011 pounds per cubic foot. A helium balloon experiences a buoyant upward force that is equal to the air it displaces minus its own weight, or 0.067 pounds per cubic foot of helium balloon.
One more simple calculation — 100,000 pounds divided by 0.067 pounds per cubic foot — and you’ve got that it would take 1,492,537 cubic feet of helium to lift the house. Of course, you’d need some more balloons to keep getting it higher, but that’s our minimum.
Now, let’s assume you’ve got a bunch of spherical balloons three feet in diameter. They’ve got a volume in 14.1 cubic feet, so you’d need 105,854 of them filled with helium to lift the house. Eyeballing the cluster of balloons above the house in Up, let’s say on average, it’s 40 balloons across and deep and 70 balloons tall. Do the math and there could be 112,000 balloons in there.
I love Philly. I love almost everything about it. The rich American history. The art museum. Running walking up the steps of the art museum pretending to be Rocky. Pat's Cheesesteaks (so much better than Gino's). Even the rough areas of K&A. I love Philly except...
It's got to be one of the dirtiest cities I've ever been to. It almost rivals New Orleans during Mardi Gras... almost. Hopefully that's about to change. Actually, I'm not sure this will help clean up the city but the sanitation department will look good at least.
You’ve never seen Recycling Trucks look this good. Philadelphia’s Mural Arts Program partnered with The Design Center at Philadelphia University to wrap 10 Trucks with bold graphics inspired by historic textiles. Created in commemoration of earth day, the trucks have been rolling around the city adding a little beauty to the streets.
