Yeasayer has marked the release of their latest single “O.N.E.” with a new video directed by Radical Friend aka Kirby McClure and Julia Grigorian, the duo behind the mind-melting video for “Ambling Alp.” The setting is a post-apocalyptic future world that may lack societal constraints like traffic laws but still has radio stations, a banging dance club that homeless people can’t get into, choreographed dancers and what appears to be a glass microphone. While the trippy game board you see the main characters messing with is supposed to represent the “psychological warfare in which these otherworldly club kids engage.”  So basically it’s what LA would be like if civilization were to crumble in the not so distant future.

Download “O.N.E.” here (right click + save as)

posted by: Harold Johns III

Claudio Ethos, a Brazilian graffiti artist, was commissioned to paint a large mural inside Casa Das Caldeiras in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The project was funded by the non-governmental organization EXPERIMENTA.

The film features 30 hours of footage time lapsed into 15 minutes which was played during the opening for the mural.

Filmed, written and edited: Jared Levy
Producer: Nathalie Stahelin
Additional help: Lucas Do Prado Coelho

See more of Ethos’ work here

posted by: Brent Carter

From Style.com:
“Alexander McQueen’s last works were given final honors by his trusted team in a hushed and dignified showing that went to his core as a designer who scaled the heights of couture accomplishment. Sarah Burton, his right hand, described how, in beginning this collection, McQueen had turned away from the world of the Internet, which he had so powerfully harnessed in his last show. ‘He wanted to get back to the handcraft he loved, and the things that are being lost in the making of fashion,’ she said. ‘He was looking at the art of the Dark Ages, but finding light and beauty in it. He was coming in every day, draping and cutting pieces on the stand.’ The 16 outfits shown had been 80 percent finished at the time of his death.”

Continue reading here

posted by: Tricia Rock

“Everything Happens to Everybody”, 2007, Flashe® and resin and canvas, 24.25 x 27.5 inches

“Revealing What Remains”, 2009, acrylic and resin on canvas, 33 x 42 inches

“A Night’s Reprieve II”, 2009, Flashe® and resin on canvas, 16 X 14 inches

James Benjamin Franklin currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

See more of Franklin’s work here

posted by: Harold Johns III

Below are my favorite collections from Milan fashion week followed by images of my favorite looks from other designers. Next comes Paris!

Dolce & Gabbana

Gabriele Colangelo

Luisa Beccaria

Continue reading for more of my favorite looks.

Albino, Albino, Aquilano.Rimondi

Bottega Veneta, Bottega Veneta, D&G

Emilio Pucci, Emilio Pucci, Etro

Etro, Fendi, Fendi

Gianfranco Ferre, Gianfranco Ferre, Giorgio Armani

Giorgio Armani, Gucci, Just Cavalli

Marco de Vincenzo, Marco de Vincenzo, Marni

Marni, Maurizio Pecoraro, Maurizio Pecoraro

MaxMara, Missoni, Moschino

No. 21, Prada, Roberto Cavalli

Roberto Cavalli, Salvatore Ferragamo, Salvatore Ferragamo

posted by: Tricia Rock

According to Consumer Reports (published March 5, 2010):

“Here we go again. A seemingly random list of recently recalled dips, soups and snacks apparently have a common ingredient—a flavoring agent recalled Thursday by the Food and Drug Association. All the foods contain hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP) paste or powder distributed by Basic Food Flavors of Las Vegas. Salmonella has been detected in the plant’s processing equipment.

“Already 56 foods have been recalled and the FDA anticipates that the list will grow. To keep consumers informed, the agency has created a searchable database of foods containing the tainted HVP.  On the list are dips, dressings and dressing mixes, snacks and snack mixes, soup mixes and some pre-packaged meals. At this writing, no illnesses have been associated with the recall.

“The FDA reported finding salmonella in one production lot of HVP after inspections at Basic Food Flavors following a customer complaint. The agency collected and analyzed samples at the facility and confirmed the presence of Salmonella Tennessee in the company’s processing equipment. The recall includes all hydrolyzed vegetable protein in powder and paste form produced there since Sept. 17, 2009.”

Read the full article here

The list has since grown to 94 products and now includes brand names like Walmart’s Great Value brand, Safeway, Reser’s, McCormick and Trader Joe’s.

The FDA’s recall list and searchable database is here

Learn about the signs and symptoms of Salmonella via WebMD

posted by: Harold Johns III

Filippa Berg is the next to make my list as Style Icon. Swedish Elle blogger, stylist, muse for Australian label Lover, street style photographer favorite, and overall just cool girl; Filippa doesn’t simply wear her clothing, she is her clothing. With a mismatched style that covers all genres and time periods, Filippa is an inspiration in experimentation.

On a side note, watch Lover’s 2010 style trailer for their newest collection The Harvest.

posted by: Tricia Rock

From The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators (originally released in 1966, reissued by Sunspots in 2003).

“Featuring the yelping vocals and visionary, occasionally demented lyrics of Roky Erickson, the 13th Floor Elevators were one of the original acid rock bands. Formed in Texas in the mid-’60s, the Elevators started as a garage rock outfit, scoring their one and only modest national hit with ‘You’re Gonna Miss Me.’ While Erickson’s loopy persona and Tommy Hall’s odd ‘jug’ percussion were the band’s most distinguishing features, several members of the group’s original lineup contributed strong material to their albums. Although these inconsistent efforts sometimes wander off into a cloudy haze, they also include sturdy folk-rock tunes and driving psychedelic rockers. Trips to San Francisco established the group as an up-and-coming underground favorite, but Erickson’s problems with drugs and the police led to the singer’s commission to a state mental hospital in the late ’60s, an ordeal from which he has never fully recovered.” (source: All Music Guide)

posted by: Harold Johns III

Meet Thomas Burso, aka Epic Beard Man, aka Tom Slick, aka Vietnam Tom, the 67 year old, self-proclaimed “motherfucker” who recently became an internet sensation after a YouTube video of his fist fight with a fellow bus passenger went viral on February 16. The video has since received more than 3.7 million views and is still causing heated, sometimes racially charged debates to break out all over the web. And since his display of old man strength, Burso has inspired video game parodies, various YouTube video responses, an Epic Beard Man Facebook fan page, a twitter account, t-shirts, several photo mashups and most recently a two part documentary about Burso himself.  So much has already been said of Epic Beard Man, the only thing left to do is let the videos and links speak for themselves.

This is the video that got it all started.

• Watch Lyanna Washignton, the woman who captured the fight on camera, in an interview with CBS5 explaining how it all went down from her perspective here
• Read what Micheal, the man who was beaten by EBM, had to say about the incident here
• Watch EBM’s description of the what happened here
• Watch bonus footage of EBM after he exited the bus here
• Watch a Mortal Kombat parody of the fight here

Part one of the I am a Motherfucker documentary about EBM:

• Watch EBM get tasered at the Oakland A’s game like he described in part one of the documentary here

Part two

posted by: Harold Johns III

In an attempt to lose weight most people start by reducing their fast food intake, but thanks to a rather ironic cross-promotion between Weight Watchers and McDonald’s, that might change.

According to the Associated Press:
“McDonald’s is hardly an ideal dining location for anyone struggling to stay slim. But the fast food chain scored a PR coup today when Weight Watchers agreed to endorse some of its products in New Zealand – a move met with outrage by nutritionists and obesity experts…

“As part of the deal, which the company says is the first of its kind in the world, McDonald’s will use the Weight Watchers logo on its menu boards and Weight Watchers will promote McDonald’s to dieters…

“Several items on the fast food giant’s menu – the Filet-O-Fish, Chicken McNuggets and Sweet Chilli Seared Chicken Wrap – have been approved for the Weight Watchers diet in McDonald’s 150 New Zealand restaurants. Each meal is worth 6.5 points on the program, which assigns points to food items and allows dieters to consume 18 to 40 points each day to achieve their goal weight…

“But nutritionists and obesity experts said the menu items were a marketing ploy to lure customers into the restaurant. ‘It’s all about sales,’ said Jane Martin, senior adviser of Australia’s Obesity Policy Coalition. ‘It implies this food is healthy … when often it is high in fat and salt. Chicken McNuggets are Chicken McNuggets whether it’s got Weight Watchers on it or not…

“The fast-food chain, widely criticized for selling a high-calorie, high-fat menu that includes super-size meals, was ‘making every best effort to generate a change in behavior, to create an awareness in consumers about making healthy choices’, McDonald’s New Zealand managing director, Mark Hawthorne, said.”

Read the full article here

posted by: Harold Johns III

From NY Times:
“Representative Charles B. Rangel of New York announced on Wednesday that he would temporarily step down from his powerful post as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee in an attempt to avert a politically bruising fight over permanently stripping the gavel from his hands…

“The ethics committee admonished Mr. Rangel last week for violating Congressional gift rules by accepting corporate-sponsored trips to the Caribbean in 2007 and 2008, even in his own party support for him had started to evaporate this week…

“The ethics panel is still investigating more serious accusations regarding Mr. Rangel’s fund-raising, his failure to pay federal taxes on rental income from a villa he owns in the Dominican Republic and his use of four rent-stabilized apartments provided by a Manhattan real estate developer.”

Read the full article here

posted by: Harold Johns III

Kieran Hebden has been been applauded for his work under the moniker Four Tet for twelve years, never straying toward the conventional length and melodic calibrations most are familiar with. On his latest, There is Love in You, Hebden is all about immersing himself in the controlled electroniscape of his jazz and post-rock influenced technological abilities.

“Angel Echo” revolves around the chopped and blipped sample of delicate feminine vocals repeating “there is love in you.” The track unfolds as it adds layers in a fashion similar to a minute hand moving around a clock – the melodies expand, move and grow before you can even notice – and most of the album evolves this way. “Love Cry” starts out with dark glitchy drones layered over one another. The house drum loop comes in slowly and over nine plus minutes Hebden manipulates the layers with meticulous attention to detail. The same process of sampling the sensual female vocals is repeated again but in a way that “love cry” is manipulated to sound like “love me.” The ending effect of the song is a reward for those with enough patience to wait for Hebden’s release.

The stand out track on There is Love in You is “Sing.” More than any other track on the album “Sing” is ready at the gates with alluring blips and hypnotically dark undertones. The organic and synthetic samples are blended together in a fashion complementary to both Hebden’s folktronica experiences and his post-rock timbre. There are gentle hand claps, wooden toy drums, vocal coos and digitally tweaked samples of high bells and chimes blended in a way that resemble an evolved version of Hebden’s process on 2003’s Rounds.

Some of his more erratic, faster paced merging of unorthodox house rhythms and vast coalescing of dark undertones that identified Rounds and 2008’s Ringer would benefit the album in some spots. But There is Love in You captures Four Tet in a different perspective. It’s a new paradigm that Four Tet has reached by elevating his most salient of self-defined principals of production and tone. The album works very well for long-time Four Tet fans, and will have the same effect on newcomers willing to maintain the patience necessary to fish out the album’s multi-layerd accomplishments.

More info via Domino

by: Bene Garcia

“Lewis Takes Off His Shirt”, from Owen Pallett’s latest album Heartland (read our review here), features Pallett’s trademark looped violin and vocals augmented by the Czech Symphonic Orchestra. The video, directed by M. Blash, features the film and stage star Alison Pill (Milk, The Miracle Worker).

A limited edition Heartland orchestral score book is now available from Pallett’s website. The book (189 pages) is bound by hand and includes the full orchestral score of the album, lyrics and for all you synthesizer geeks out there, diagrams for ARP 2600 patches. The score book is limited to 300 copies so you better act fast.

Owen also continues to add more North American tour dates including a performance at this year’s Coachella Music Festival. Full dates below.

Live Dates
04-08 Toronto, Ontario – Queen Elizabeth Theatre
04-10 Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall
04-11 Minneapolis, MN – Varsity Theater
04-12 Milwaukee, WI – Turner Hall
04-13 Columbus, OH – Wexner Center
04-14 Pittsburgh, PA – Andy Warhol Museum
04-15 Washington DC – Black Cat
04-18 Indio, CA – Coachella Festival
04-20 Boston, MA – Institute of Contemporary Art
04-22 New York, NY – Webster Hall
04-24 Baltimore, MD – Metro Gallery
04-25 Philadelphia, PA – First Unitarian Church
04-27 Atlanta, GA – The Earl
04-29 Dallas, TX – Granada Theater
04-30 Austin, TX – The Mohawk

posted by: Harold Johns III

Children break apart CRT monitors to salvage metal from inside. Many children work at the dump salvaging metals which they sell to middlemen. They do not wear any protective clothing, exposing themselves to lethal doses of hazardous chemicals like mercury and lead.

“The Democratic Republic of Congo remains in turmoil 7 years later after the formal end of the 1998-2003 civil war. The International Rescue Committee estimated that 5.4 million people lost their lives in Congo during the last 10 years.”

IDP’s (internally displaced people) in the town of Kitchanga. People fled their homes in the surrounding area after fighting broke out between government forces and troops loyal to renegade general Laurent Nkunda.

Bio:
Andrew McConnell began his career covering the closing stages of the conflict in Northern Ireland and the transition to peace. He has since worked on stories worldwide, covering events in Europe, Asia and Africa. His work has appeared internationally in the New York Times, the Guardian, FT Magazine, L’Express, Sunday Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Newsweek, Time and National Geographic Magazine.

A couple embrace at one of the traditional 11th night bonfires in Northern Ireland. The bonfires are built by the members of the Protestant community ahead of the July 12 commemoration of William of Orange’s victory over the Catholic King James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.

“The people of Katwe in western Uganda have worked the nearby salt lake for centuries. It is the most important natural resource in the area and the only source of income for many, some 700 men, women and children work in and around the lake everyday.”

Early morning and locals arrive for another day of monotonous toil in the salt pans of Lake Katwe, Uganda.

“Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in May, 1991, after a brutal civil war ended the overthrow of military dictator Siad Barre. For the past 16 years the country has operated as a de facto state with relative stability; it has a constitution, a working political system, government institutions, police and military and its own currency. However, despite its success, no country formally recognizes Somaliland’s sovereignty, which has lead to widespread unemployment, a high poverty rate and a lack of medical aid.”

Mother and daughter are treated for Cholera at Save the Children’s Cholera Treatment Center in Burao.

See more of McConnell’s photography here

posted by: Brent Carter

William Henry Goodyear (1846–1923), who put together the World’s Columbian Exposition photo archive, was the Brooklyn Museum’s first curator of fine arts (1899–1923) and a renowned art and architectural historian. In addition to being a vital force in the early years of the Museum’s fine arts department, Goodyear did extensive research in art history and architectural theory.

The entire Goodyear Archival Collection can also be found on the Brooklyn Museum Web site and on the Museum’s flickr.

posted by: Harold Johns III