Iceland, Eyjafjallajökull - May 1st and 2nd, 2010 Timelapse Video
/To think something so beautiful caused so much chaos.
via vimeo.com
Spinning Songs from Movies
/Most people who’ve heard of Pogo, a young music producer who lives in Perth, Australia, know him for a series of songs built around snippets of dialogue and music lifted from movies. This isn’t the only technique that Pogo (born Nick Bertke) employs—many of his songs are agile, diverting hip-hop instrumentals that take no obvious inspiration from films—but it might be his most interesting.The melodic information in a work like “Upular,” one of the movie-based songs, comes from mostly unmusical moments in the 2009 Pixar film Up: the old man shouts something crotchety, the little kid says something cheerful, and Bertke plucks out syllables and vowel sounds and stitches them together into a tune you can hum. He sets this against a bed of chords sampled from Michael Giacchino’s score, adds a couple of understated cymbal tracks, and a pop song is made.
By the same or a similar process, we get “Bangarang,” from Steven Spielberg’s Hook; “Alohamora,” from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone; and “Alice,” a dreamy swirl of sonic fingerpaint taken from sounds in the 1951 Disney version of Alice in Wonderland. The results are hard not to like (as The Atlantic’s Andrew Sullivan can confirm).
The movie-based songs are different, in a hard-to-place way, from Pogo’s other music, and from most pop songs in general. The reason, I think, has something to do with the way Bertke is taking one form (the feature film) and stuffing it into another (the three-minute pop track). Listening to “Upular” isn’t exactly the same thing as watching Up, but it’s as close as you’re likely to get without setting aside an hour and a half, finding a DVD player, and allowing yourself to slip out of this reality and into the one that directors Pete Docter and Bob Peterson have made. Movies demand a lot of us; they ask for our eyes and ears and a fair bit of our time, and in return they build a world for us to live in for a little while.
Pop songs, on the other hand, don’t require nearly as much. They come and go in the space of a few minutes, and because they only occupy one of our senses, we can exercise or write an e-mail or clean the kitchen while we’re listening to them and still get more or less the bulk of their effect. If movies transport us out of this world and into another one, what songs do is make the ordinary world pop with colors we wouldn’t otherwise notice. You can walk down the street listening to, say, Sonic Youth, and the next day walk down the same street listening to Lily Allen, and though nothing will have changed except your soundtrack, it’ll seem like a very different street. And if you walk down that street listening to “Upular,” you’ll feel giddiness, and wonder, and a hot-blooded determination to see what lies over the next hill. This is what I feel, anyway, and it can’t be a coincidence that these are all sensations experienced by the characters in Up.
At his best, Bertke is wonderfully adept at boiling down the strongest feelings of a movie into the quick-consumption form of a pop song. Let’s be clear: in the case of Up and “Upular,” the song doesn’t displace the movie. It doesn’t, and can’t, do justice to the growth of the characters and the full emotional palette of the story (particularly the lovely, heart-quickening first act, generally regarded as the film’s best sequence, where two characters meet and fall in love and grow old together). You have to watch the movie for this. But you can’t watch the movie while you’re walking to work in the morning, and so the movie also doesn’t displace the song. If you want to feel some of the things that Up can make you feel—or Alice in Wonderland, or Hook, or Terminator 2, or any of the other films Bertke has dipped into and made collages of—and you want to do it at a time and place of your choosing, well, you’ve got the Pogo songs. They allow you to put some of those feelings in your pocket and carry them around for when you need them.
via theatlantic.com
There is something surreal and completely joyous in Pogo’s work. Pixar has gone as far as promoting the Upular mix on Twitter and Facebook.
Inside the Library of Human Imagination
/In 2008, a few of the astonishing objects from Jay Walker’s Library of Human Imagination provided the backdrop to the TED main stage — and Jay Walker conducted a fun, three-part show-and-tell. Now, for the first time, he has allowed video cameras inside. We’re pleased to give you this sneak peek:
Last week, TED Blog had the opportunity to talk to Jay Walker about the library. Read the Q&A now >>
Tell me how the Library of Human Imagination began.
The origins of the Library of Human Imagination were a disparate set of subjects. Like many collectors, I started out collecting in one area and inevitably migrated to others as a picture began to emerge about what it is that interests me.
I was interested in the history of science and technology. I was also interested in beautiful art books — large or oversized books that enabled you to get a real sense of the artistry. (The reality of a large canvas is so much more powerful than a small one.) I was also interested in the history of writing, the history of medicine — and especially the history of the book, which led me to an interest in the history of the Bible, which is the longest continually published book in Western civilization.
So, when I started, I did not have an overarching thematic center; I had a series of interests. But after a period of years, it became clear that there was a common theme to what interested me about all those things: They were all about dimensions of human imagination. Only after perhaps 10 years did I see that there was a real thematic center to what I was doing, and then I began to work at it.
Just walking through the Library gives you the feeling that it all comes together around this one idea. Tell me about the design of the space.The architecture of the space is an Escher-like wonder — a series of staircases that run up and down, creating this illusory sense that space has been turned inside-out and upside-down.
There’s another equally important thought behind the design, which dates back to the Dutch at the beginning of the Enlightenment. The Dutch, who were the great sailors, brought back artifacts from all around the world, and they collected them in what they called “cabinets of curiosities.” The Library was specifically designed to create that sense of wonder. The glass bridge, when you begin, is a metaphor for a leap of imagination: the classic story of imagination as an “Aha! moment — a leap across space to get from here to there with nothing between.
From the tumbling block pattern on the floor to the lighting to the design of the ceiling vault, everything about the room was designed to reflect the sort of room that would hold the history of human imagination.
Talk about your criteria for selecting an item to include. Is it instinct? Do you see an object and just know you’ve got to have it?No, there’s nothing like that. That sounds good, though. (Laughs)
Here’s how it really works: I have an insatiable curiosity. Just about everything interests me. When I find things, I look at how they might fit into the picture of the history of human imagination … and whether or not that particular imaginative leap is represented in the library. If it’s already represented, I ask, “Does this object, artifact or document improve the understanding of that leap?”
Think of the Library as a giant puzzle. The purpose of the puzzle is to assemble a picture of the history of human imagination. Somebody might show me something and say, “Here is one of the very first manuscripts that dealt with the pollination of plants.” I might look at that and say, “I have something similar.” Somebody else might show me something that expresses Mendel’s genetics in a visual way, and I’d say “Wow, there’s nothing in the library which expresses that.”
There are often subject areas where I have overlap. But there are just as many times when I’m looking for things that represent a particular leap of imagination in a new and approachable direction. For example, Isaac Newton’s Principia is no doubt a giant leap of imagination. It’d be hard to argue that his independent invention of calculus wasn’t one of the great leaps of imagination. But if you look at a copy of the Principia, it’s just deadly boring. You’re just not going to look in the Principia and say, “Wow, I see this leap.”
Whereas if somebody were to have done a comic book of the Principia in a phenomenal way — a way that made it accessible, a way that would help you appreciate what Newton had accomplished — that would be the kind of book I’d put in the library. It’d make that whole leap more imaginatively understandable. The Library is a lot about accessibility. Think of a childlike wonder: You shouldn’t have to be an expert in a subject to appreciate the leap of imagination.
So, you consider this a type of history museum?It’s very much a history museum. You don’t need to think of that when you’re in it, but as the curator, that’s how I think of it. It’s the history of human imagination as told through the documents, objects and artifacts that allow you to see it.
That includes the history of evil and the history of beauty and the history of love. It’s not uncommon for the library to juxtapose those things. You might juxtapose a copy of an incredibly evil document which has been designed to look like a religious document. Or a religious document which in reality was an economic document.
The Library allows you to see how human imagination takes things from one sphere and moves them into another.
On my visit to the Library, one thing I was struck by is that all of these objects are right out in the open — anyone can touch them.That’s critically important.
There’s a big distinction between private and public collections in our world. Both have a critical role to play in the preservation of our history and the forward progress of humanity. The great public collections, like the Library of Congress or the Smithsonian, by definition are curatorial exercises in archiving and preservation, and as such have to preserve with a multi-hundred-year view of things.
Private collections, on the other hand, have an archival role, but typically allow for much more intimate contact for non-scholars. As a non-scholar, your chance of being able to pick up and hold an illuminated manuscript are extremely low … but so much is lost when you can’t hold these things in your hand. Private collectors have an extraordinary capacity to allow for much more intimate contact between historical objects and people who want to appreciate them.
We’ve been fed, to some extent, this cult of fragility — that you can’t touch these books or objects because you’ll hurt them — but that’s just not true. I’ve had almost zero damage of any kind. Most books and manuscripts have been abused and neglected for most of their history, ironically. It’s only in recent times that we’ve thought of these objects as valuable.
When you bring school kids into the Library of Human Imagination and you allow them to turn a page that’s 800 years old, you awaken a sense of wonder and awe that no amount of looking at a screen, or at an object frozen behind glass, could ever accomplish.
We’ve covered what happens when people first enter the Library. But what’s the takeaway? What happens when they walk out?A couple of things happen when people leave the Library. The first is they don’t know how they’re going to describe it to anyone else. (Laughs) So there’s a sense of what I’ll call “fun frustration” when people leave.
The other thing I think people get, which is a tremendous benefit, is that a mind once stretched into a new direction never goes back to its original shape. The Library just does that — whether you’re seeing a book woven in silk from 1886 or seeing up-close the spectacular work of a man who traveled through all of Napoleon’s battles and painted them in miniature. You just don’t forget it when you see something that you’ve never seen before. And that’s true for the individual objects, but also the relationships between objects. People appreciate that these objects are part of a continuum of human imagination.
When people leave the Library, they say, “I see things differently.” That, and they say they want to bring their kids.
Watch Jay Walker’s talk from TED2008:
via blog.ted.com
The Requisite End-Of-Year Lists Continued
/Continuing the end-of-year, end-of-decade list compilation started here, interspersed with some of the best creative work of the year.
• The Awesome Brain Pickings Best Of 2009.
• Discovered in the Arjan Writes music blog, here is MPHO:
• The Big Picture, Christmas 2009.
• The Decade In Words.
• The New York Times The Year In Culture Slideshow.
• Inception Trailer:
• Wired’s The 15 Most Influential Games Of The Decade: Portal is still my favorite.
• BBH Labs’ A Quick Glance At 10 Of Their Best Blog Posts.
• Milton Glaser’s Ten Things I’ve Learned: From 2001 but still relevant.
• DJ Earworm’s United States Of Pop 2009: Amazing. Do you recognize all the references?
• Ten Gadgets That Defined The Decade.
• LA Times’ Top 10 Moments In Social Media In 2009.
• The Impossible Cool: A fantastic blog curating incredible images that are the essence of the impossibly cool.
• The Dieline: Another gorgeous blog curating the best in package design.
• Netflix’s Top Ten Most Rented Movies.
• The Year In Picture Shows.
• Vimeo’s 25 Favorite Videos Of 2009: Including this.
• Fuel Your Creativity’s Best of 2009 In The Creative Industry.
• Danger Room’s Top Ten Stories From A World Gone Nuts.
• Epitaphs For Our Favorite Folded Magazines Of 2009.
• Honda’s Everything Ad: Let’s celebrate the brilliance of good editors.
• The Decade In Communications Technology.
• Charles Isherwood’s Best of 2009 Theater.
• Slate’s Troy Patterson Selects 26 Cultural Moments Of The Decade: From A to Z.
• Macworld’s Top Ten Tech Stories Of The Decade.
• Picturing The Past 10 Years.
• 2009 NYC Holiday Window Displays.
• New Scientist’s Favorite Picture Galleries: Featuring a gallery of snapshots from an imploding star.
• Macworld’s 2009 Game Hall Of Fame.
• The Pogie Awards For The Year’s Best Tech Ideas.
• Top 10 Documentaries of 2009.
• Best Of The Decade’s Architecture.
• Fimoculous’ Year In Review: A mega list of eccentric lists, including a list of the worst renderings.
• Top Ten Book Cover Designs.
• The Decades 14 Biggest Design Moments.
• Ads We Hate, The Year’s Worst Commercials.
• The Year For Creatives.
• The Best of Open Culture 2009.
• Flicker’s Your Best Shots of 2009, The Seasons.
• KCRW’s The Business: The Hollywood Year That Was [Podcast, iTunes Link]
And the predictions:
• JWT’s 100 To Watch in 2010.
• 50 Trends For 2010.
• 32 Of Our Most Anticipated 2010 Entertainments.
And lastly:
• Ringing The New Year With A Drink For Each Time Zone.
The Requisite End-Of-Year Lists
/And not just end-of-year but also end-of-decade. Here are some of the most interesting lists I’ve seen, interspersed with some of the best work I’ve discovered this year and some suggestions for creative gifts.
• Pixar’s Up
• Foreign Policy’s Top Ten Stories You Missed: Do you know about the hotline for China and India?
• The New York Times Year In Ideas
• Pop Culture’s Finest Moments Of 2009
• Newsweek’s The Decade In 7 Minutes:
• Amazon.com: Best Books Of 2009
• The Best And Worse Tech Of The Decade
• Milton Glaser Draws And Lectures:
• Creative Review Gunne Report 2009 And 2009 Epica Winners Featuring:
• PaperSpecs Top Ten Tips Of 2009: For my fellow printing producers.
• Open Culture Compilation Of Free Audiobooks
• 50 Of The World’s Best Design Blogs
• Slings & Arrows
• The Buzzwords Of 2009: My favorite “crash blossom.”
• The Best Films Of 2009 By Roger Ebert: You have not seen it yet, but you must watch The Hurt Locker
• The Decade In Culture
• Google Wave continues to confound most everyone. And then you see this:
• GE Plug Into The Smart Grid: This is the first example I encountered of Augmented Reality actually implemented. A whole creative department stood huddled around a computer, mouths open, uttering small cries of disbelief.
• YouTube, The Most Searched, The Most Viewed
• Life’s Pictures Of The Year
• MoMA’s Tim Burton Exhibition Website, and The Making Of
• The Hollywood Reporter: Top Ten Techs Tormenting Hollywood
• Johnnie Walker’s Walk: Perfectly produced, it is an astonishing blend of branding, filmmaking, performance, advertising and above all storytelling.
• Amelia: If you love dance this piece will make you reconsider what dance can be. It is ballet mashed up with urban in the matrix. Gorgeous.
• Brand New’s The Best And Worst Of Identities 2009: Have you seen the new AOL logo? What do you think?
• Tarsem’s The Fall
• Top 60 Japanese Phrases/Words Of 2009
• Chanel No. 5’s Night Train: Staring Audrey Tautou. Watch the full length video. Even the behind the scenes is beautiful.
• Ataque de Pánico! recently got Fede Alvarez, the director and animator, a big budget Hollywood deal, which reminds me of…
• …Alive in Joburg, which led Neill Blomkamp to direct District 9
• And speaking of Henry Jenkins, his book Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide
• Google Zeitgeist 2009
• The Year In Media Errors And Corrections: The internet never forgets.
• I love dance. I watch this on tv and realize that I may be witnessing the evolution of the dance form:
And then I learn there is more.
• The LXD is launching an online, episodic series, with hints of graphic novel myth-making all told through dance. This is a creative endeavor that is practically custom made for me.
• The 50 Most Interesting Articles In Wikipedia
• The Best Films Of The Decade By AV Club
• UNESCO and Google partner to deliver virtual access to World Heritage sites.
• The Noughtie List, the 00’s in Review. A comprehensive list of lists by kottke.org.
• Rolling Stone’s Best Of The Decade
• Top Ten China Myths Of 2009
• In The Emperor of Scent: A True Story of Perfume and Obsession
• The Top 10 Flash Mobs Of 2009: If we are ever together in a crowded public space and music starts playing, people start dancing, there is a very big possibility I’ll be joining in.
• Time Magazine’s The Top 10 Of Everything 2009
• Vaporware 2009: Inhale the Fail: Technologies unfulfilled promises.
• The Big Picture, The Decade In News Photographs: These reiterate how challenging this decade has been.
• The Big Picture, The Year In Pictures: What a crazy year it has been.
• The Major Works Of Counterintuitive Thought Of The Past Decade
• Paloma Faith is the latest eclectic British singer to do the soul thing. A former magician’s assistant, she delivers a great record that feels a bit like the anti Amy Winehouse’s Rehab. Do You Want the Truth Or Something Beautiful
• National Geographic Visions of Earth 2009: Marvel at the variety of images and experiences that our planet creates.
• See Puerto Rico: Yes, I am biased, but the new tourism campaign for Puerto Rico is rich in history and beauty.
• The Ten Best Films You Won’t See This Year
• The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything
• The 10 Most Innovative Viral Video Ads
• Top 40 iPhone Apps Of 2009
• 50 Most Influential Bloggers Of 2009: Have you met Gary Vaynerchuk?
• Adweek Media Best Of The 2000s: Gawker is the blog of the decade?
• Jill Taylor’s My Stroke of Insight
• Best New Blogs Of 2009
• 50 Ultimate Travel Experiences
• The Best TV Series Of The 00’s
• 40 Things That Were Popular At The Beginning Of The Decade That Are Not Popular Now: Remember Pepsi Twist? Exactly.
• The Millions: A Year in Reading
And of course, the predictions:
• Trendsspotting’s 2010 Social Media Predictions In 140 Characters
• CNN Tech’s 10 Web Trends For 2010
• Trendwatching’s 10 Crucial Consumer Trends Of 2010
Lastly,
• 100 Ways To Live A Better Life