Evoflux

GoodBye Blue Mondays Christmas Specials

I don’t toot my friend’s horns very often, but this was awesome.

Goodbye Blue Mondays

In the Spotlight: A Way With Words.

Back when I was working part-time looking for a full-time job it would be obvious I had too much time on my hands. One of the benefits of that time was listening to an absurd amount of public radio. It just so happens one of the newer shows I gained an affinity for I can still enjoy due to the miracle of the internet. That show is A Way With Words.

A Way with Words is a lively hour-long public radio show about the English language. Co-hosts Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett take calls from listeners about linguistic disputes, grammatical pet peeves, the origins of words and phrases, and curious regional expressions. Martha and Grant also do battle with quiz guys from the National Puzzlers’ League.

What makes this show a bit magical is that each shows theme is made up as people call in describing different origins of words and phrases. Sometimes you didn’t know you’ve been curious about an expression until someone else mentions it.

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Cakes made from Threadless T-Shirt Designs

There are niches and there are niches. This niche in particular takes designs from popular Threadless T-Shirt designs and makes them into wonder cakes. Behold the beauty and inspiration.

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DJ Spooky Performs Terra Nova: Sinfonia Antarctica

Where has DJ Spooky (originally born under the handle Paul D. Miller) been? Why hasn’t there been anything new from the headmaster of illbient? He has been trudging through the snow of Antarctica with a ministudio.

“It’s all about hitting the reset button,” said Miller on the phone from New York last week. “I wanted to see how much we are conditioned by the urban setting, because when you think about it, hip-hop, techno are essentially urban narratives. So I decided to take it as far away as possible-Antarctica wasn’t really made for humans. I wanted to see how that world would sound.”

As of today this hasn’t been performed in public yet. Anyone close to Santa Barbara really should go see him tomorrow night.

Terra Nova: Sinfonia Antarctica
When: Tuesday, April 7, 2009, 8 p.m.
Where: UCSB Campbell Hall, 574 Mesa Rd., Santa Barbara
Cost: $19 - $35
Age limit: Not available
Full event details

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Röyksopp Inspired Little Red Riding Hood Video

Tomas Nilsson had a school assignment to reinterpret Little Red Riding Hood. With Röyksopp as the soundtrack I see this as a smashing success.

Slagsmålsklubben - Sponsored by destiny from Tomas Nilsson on Vimeo.

Vimeo Video Link

Goodbye Blue Mondays

Two good friends, Will and Lindsey, have started their own webcomic and I admit it is coming along very handsomely. Go check out Goodbye Blue Mondays. GO! NOW!

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Update: Okay, so I had a few of the hot links wrong. Corrected their paths I did.

Can You Hear This?

Created by Train Horn

Can you hear this sound? Don’t feel bad if you can’t because it is a nerve grating tone that can’t be forgotten. I can’t believe I can still hear anything after all the late night parties I attended in my youth in the first place. Its a fun little test though since it is a sound generally only heard by those under the age of 25. Take good care of yourself.

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The Viral Evolution of Dance

This T-Mobile advertisement was a great way to wake today.

YouTube Link (Via Neatorama)

Autokratz - Stay the same

I wouldn’t post it if I didn’t like it. The Autokratz’s ‘Stay the Same’ gives me the same grin that Justice’s ‘D.A.N.C.E.’ spreads across my face ear-to-ear. That is accompanied with this eye candy video. Bliss, I tell you. Bliss!

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Monday Artist Feature: Marina Bychkova

Marina Bychkova plays with dolls. I’m not referring to Barbies or Bratz here. It’s her medium. In her bio she said, “Making dolls has been the most constant aspect of my life since I was six years old. I believe that I was born to do this,” and I believe her.

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The Anniversary of The War of the Worlds

Today is the 70th anniversary of the original radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds. Do yourself a favor and listen to the original broadcast of this crown jewel of american media history. Don’t forget to protect yourself by wearing a pot on your head.

52 Exercise Songs

The Art of Manliness blog has comprised a list of “52 workout songs to help you get bigger, stronger, faster.” While I’m a big believer in music being a positive factor when it comes to exercise some of these I’ll skip over. On the other hand there are some good choices there. Then again some of my tastes venture into the realm of cheesy.

14. “I Believe In a Thing Called Love” - The Darkness

22. “Feel Good Inc“ - Gorillaz

29. “D.A.N.C.E.” - Justice

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Monday Artist Feature: Josh Keyes

Josh Keyes uses painting to increase ‘environmental awareness and humanity’s influence on the planet’. He certainly does a very good job at it. According to his biography:

Josh Keyes is a Northern California painter and sculptor whose work has been shown nationwide. Keyes was born on August 17, 1969 in Tacoma, Washington. Josh earned a bachelor’s degree from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a master’s degree in painting and printmaking from Yale University. His work has been published in numerous publications, and exhibited in galleries in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, and New York.

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Help Save Totoro’s Forest

The Sayama Forest was the inspiration for Totoro. The bad news is that it is under thread for development.The good news is that over 200 of the top international artists from print to animation are donating artwork for the cause. You, too, can help by donating. Besides, the site contains a wonderful gallery of works that have already been donated.

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Art Show: Brendan Maloney at Arturo’s Bakery & Cafe; Austin, TX

Brendan Maloney is currently having a show at Arturo’s Bakery & Cafe in Austin, TX. With this being his first photography show its kind of a big deal. I believe the show runs through August so go check it out.

Link and another link to the pictures at the show.

Monday Artist Feature: Steve Schofield

Steve Schofield is a photographer that has a very special gallery. This gallery features otaku ranging from star wars to star trek to who-the-fuck-knows fans dressed in full costume in their homes. Its fantastic.

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Surf Music

While browsing the usual blogs this little jewel was discovered. Jon as a grand post featuring a playlist of his top surf songs.

6. “Baja”
by The Astronauts
Rock Instrumental Classics, Vol. 5: Surf

31. “Gargantua’s Last Stand”
by Man or Astro-Man?
Destroy All Astromen!!

74. “Surfer Girl”
by The Sentinals
Surfer Girl

Since the Gulf of Mexico isn’t that good for surfing after experiencing the Pacific Ocean in SoCal I’ll just play this while floating the river in the hill country of Texas next week. Thanks Jon!

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Pictures by a 3 Year Old

Daelan lives in Canada and routinely gives his camera to his 3 year old son. I was surprised by some of the pictures this little boy took. Check it out.

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Kogoro Kurata: Japanese Ironsmith with a Morbid Twist

Kogoro Kurata isn’t your average ironsmith. He doesn’t hammer out swords or forge bridges; rather he produces massive, awe-inspiring structures of myriad purposes and forms. Kurata creates 4-metre-tall robots and gothic restaurant interiors; he produces sombre stage sets, stop-trick animation and quirky, insect-like musical instruments. And there are also his weird, machine-like creatures which began as typewriters, Fiat cars or chandeliers! He also helps out in the local community with projects such as statues and monuments. PingMag went to Kurata’s factory in Soga, Chiba, on the edge of Tokyo to see how he does it and to hear about his obsession with iron.

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Monday Artist Feature: Miika Saksi

Miika Saksi is an artistic director and illustrator. He specializes in illustrations, photo manipulations, and graphically design art pieces. Lets let his work speak for itself. Follow the link for more goodness.

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Write Here, Right Now

A very impressive mix of typography body painting and video display. Its described as “part of a campaign to promote writing on designated graffiti walls rather than someone elses property.”

YouTube Link

Link (via The Trendy Girl)

3D Photography as a Gallery Flyer

‘3D Girls and Guns’ features three-dimensional works by Jason Snell. He employs methods ranging from early stereograms, View-Masters, two-colour anaglyphs, to linear polarization.

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Fish Fight

I love Japan for many reasons. One is portrayed in how creatively strange their music videos can be. What. The. Hell?!

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Feature: NPR’s The Bryant Park Project

NPR likes to shake things up on a regular basis. Since the beginning they admitted that they couldn’t report as fast as the mainstream media companies, so they would just try and do a better job. One of their current experiments is a two hour segment called The Bryant Park project. Since I’m admittedly not a writer by profession I’ll take the low road and let them describe themselves:

The Bryant Park Project is a distinct and lively take on the news. It combines the authority and intelligence of NPR with the tone and sensibility the next generation of Public Radio listeners demand.

At its core, the BPP is a two-hour morning drive-time news show. The approach is conversational, with host Alison Stewart covering the day’s news by means of interviews and signature segments. The show seeks out stories that satisfy the audience’s curiosity, with a sense of smarts, humanity and fun.

Like any experiment they keep mixing things up to see what works it seems. What they’re good at is the utilization of Web 2.0 technology to get their word out there as much as they can suchas Twitter, Facebook, and RSS feeding. Of course you can still listen to their stream if your local NPR affiliate hasn’t picked it up yet. Enjoy!

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The King and I Remixed

YouTube Link