G-G the book.
Friday, May 25, 2012
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Hundreds of Stock Photos Add Up to One Very Sweet Love Story [Video]
Hundreds of Stock Photos Add Up to One Very Sweet Love Story [Video]:
To create an ad for Getty Images, agency AlmapBBDO sorted through some 5,000 stock photo images and found 873 of them that they pieced together to paint a picture of an entire life in one minute. From Love to Bingo is really quite remarkable, and it definitely shows the range of stock imagery—though now we need an alternate version to explain how all of those totally bizarre shots of couples sleeping in bed with a christmas tree and dogs dressed as professors fit into the course of a normal life. More »
Hundreds of Stock Photos Add Up to One Very Sweet Love Story [Video]
Hundreds of Stock Photos Add Up to One Very Sweet Love Story [Video]:
To create an ad for Getty Images, agency AlmapBBDO sorted through some 5,000 stock photo images and found 873 of them that they pieced together to paint a picture of an entire life in one minute. From Love to Bingo is really quite remarkable, and it definitely shows the range of stock imagery—though now we need an alternate version to explain how all of those totally bizarre shots of couples sleeping in bed with a christmas tree and dogs dressed as professors fit into the course of a normal life. More »
Love Is Wise, Hatred Is Foolish: Bertrand Russell on Rationality and Tolerance, 1959
Love Is Wise, Hatred Is Foolish: Bertrand Russell on Rationality and Tolerance, 1959:
What the cult of fact has to do with the essential condition for the survival of the human race.
One need only look to British philosopher, mathematician, and sociocultural critic Bertrand Russell’s 10 commandments of teaching to understand his profound grasp on culture and the human condition. In this equally inspiring and timeless excerpt from BBC’s 1959 Face to Face interview, Russell articulates in just under two minutes one of the most important and admirable aspirations we could hope to live up to, both individually and as a society — a beautiful complement to Einstein’s wisdom on kindness and our shared humanity.
Thanks, Neil
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What the cult of fact has to do with the essential condition for the survival of the human race.
One need only look to British philosopher, mathematician, and sociocultural critic Bertrand Russell’s 10 commandments of teaching to understand his profound grasp on culture and the human condition. In this equally inspiring and timeless excerpt from BBC’s 1959 Face to Face interview, Russell articulates in just under two minutes one of the most important and admirable aspirations we could hope to live up to, both individually and as a society — a beautiful complement to Einstein’s wisdom on kindness and our shared humanity.
I should like to say two things, one intellectual and one moral.Catch the full BBC interview, very much worth the watch in its entirety, here:
The intellectual thing I should want to say is this: When you are studying any matter, or considering any philosophy, ask yourself only what are the facts and what is the truth that the facts bear out. Never let yourself be diverted either by what you wish to believe, or by what you think would have beneficent social effects if it were believed. But look only, and solely, at what are the facts. That is the intellectual thing that I should wish to say.
The moral thing I should wish to say to them is very simple: I should say, love is wise, hatred is foolish. In this world which is getting more and more closely interconnected, we have to learn to tolerate each other, we have to learn to put up with the fact that some people say things that we don’t like. We can only live together in that way — and if we are to live together and not die together, we must learn a kind of charity and a kind of tolerance, which is absolutely vital to the continuation of human life on this planet.
Thanks, Neil
Brain Pickings has a free weekly newsletter and people say it’s cool. It comes out on Sundays and offers the week’s best articles. Here’s what to expect. Like? Sign up.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Blown Covers: New Yorker Covers You Were Never Meant to See
Blown Covers: New Yorker Covers You Were Never Meant to See:
The art-science of walking the fine line between keen and crass.
Since its inception in 1925, The New Yorker has garnered remarkable reverence as much for its editorial style as it has for its inimitable covers, a singular medium for political and sociocultural visual satire matched perhaps only by Al Jaffee’s legendary MAD magazine fold-ins. In Blown Covers: New Yorker Covers You Were Never Meant to See, Françoise Mouly, New Yorker art director of nearly two decades, offers exactly what it says on the tin — a delicious forbidden taste of the art that didn’t quite nail it, or nailed it a bit too hard.
From Monica Lewinsky with a lollipop to Osama Bin Laden appraising proposed designs for the new World Trade Center, the images come from a slew of beloved New Yorker regulars, including Brain Pickings favorites Christoph Niemann, R. Crumb, and Art Spiegelman (who happens to be Mouly’s partner), and explore — some might say, exploit — our most deep-seated cultural conceits, our grandest fears, our most irrational beliefs, and our greatest unspoken truths. What emerges is a fascinating and unprecedented glimpse of the creative process behind the art of walking the fine line between the humorous and the haughty, the keen and the crass, the unapologetic and the too unapologetic.
Before arriving at the right character set to poke fun at our fears of terrorism -- two Arab men -- Barry Blitt tried the idea with two children and two businessmen. Ultimately, the idea was scrapped -- the reference to the mild DIY explosive, despite the viral fame of the Mentos + Diet Coke mixing experiments, was deemed too obscure for the magazine's audience.
Art Spiegelman winked at Norman Rockwell's 'Freedom from Want' to comment on anti-Muslim violence.
Immediately preceding the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, Christoph Niemann captured the anti-French sentiments sweeping America.
After Haitian immigrant Abner Louima was assaulted by white NYPD officers in 1997, Harry Bliss zeroed in on then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani's semi-secret paranoia.
Though Art Spiegelman didn't make the cover cut with this 1993 sketch, he and Mouly made it into the family's Christmas card that year.Much of what makes the book special — and, no doubt, what makes New Yorker covers sing — is Mouly’s relationship with the artists, whom she consistently encourages not to self-sensor or hold anything back. There emerges a kind of “fail better” mentality, underpinned by her conviction that even the most outrageous idea may serve as a gateway to an inspired, publishable line of thinking.
The book’s companion site offers a weekly cover contest, the entries to which have been surprisingly excellent. My favorite, by writer and illustrator Ella German, came last week, themed “The Gays,” in light of the recent historic moment for marriage equality, but also referencing Maurice Sendak, who had passed away the previous week. Though far from a gay rights activist, Sendak lived as an openly gay man with his partner of half a century. The two never had the opportunity to marry.
What Here At The New Yorker did for the magazine’s editorial voice on its 50th anniversary in 1975, Blown Covers has done for its brand of visual satire, offering a rare glimpse of Oz behind the curtain. And to those whose first blush might be that Oz is better off unseen and omnipotent, Mouly offers the following lens in this interview on Imprint:
Brain Pickings has a free weekly newsletter and people say it’s cool. It comes out on Sundays and offers the week’s best articles. Here’s what to expect. Like? Sign up.
Brain Pickings takes 450+ hours a month to curate and edit across the different platforms, and remains banner-free. If it brings you any joy and inspiration, please consider a modest donation – it lets me know I'm doing something right.
The art-science of walking the fine line between keen and crass.
Since its inception in 1925, The New Yorker has garnered remarkable reverence as much for its editorial style as it has for its inimitable covers, a singular medium for political and sociocultural visual satire matched perhaps only by Al Jaffee’s legendary MAD magazine fold-ins. In Blown Covers: New Yorker Covers You Were Never Meant to See, Françoise Mouly, New Yorker art director of nearly two decades, offers exactly what it says on the tin — a delicious forbidden taste of the art that didn’t quite nail it, or nailed it a bit too hard.From Monica Lewinsky with a lollipop to Osama Bin Laden appraising proposed designs for the new World Trade Center, the images come from a slew of beloved New Yorker regulars, including Brain Pickings favorites Christoph Niemann, R. Crumb, and Art Spiegelman (who happens to be Mouly’s partner), and explore — some might say, exploit — our most deep-seated cultural conceits, our grandest fears, our most irrational beliefs, and our greatest unspoken truths. What emerges is a fascinating and unprecedented glimpse of the creative process behind the art of walking the fine line between the humorous and the haughty, the keen and the crass, the unapologetic and the too unapologetic.
Before arriving at the right character set to poke fun at our fears of terrorism -- two Arab men -- Barry Blitt tried the idea with two children and two businessmen. Ultimately, the idea was scrapped -- the reference to the mild DIY explosive, despite the viral fame of the Mentos + Diet Coke mixing experiments, was deemed too obscure for the magazine's audience.
Art Spiegelman winked at Norman Rockwell's 'Freedom from Want' to comment on anti-Muslim violence.
Immediately preceding the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, Christoph Niemann captured the anti-French sentiments sweeping America.
After Haitian immigrant Abner Louima was assaulted by white NYPD officers in 1997, Harry Bliss zeroed in on then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani's semi-secret paranoia.
Though Art Spiegelman didn't make the cover cut with this 1993 sketch, he and Mouly made it into the family's Christmas card that year.
The book’s companion site offers a weekly cover contest, the entries to which have been surprisingly excellent. My favorite, by writer and illustrator Ella German, came last week, themed “The Gays,” in light of the recent historic moment for marriage equality, but also referencing Maurice Sendak, who had passed away the previous week. Though far from a gay rights activist, Sendak lived as an openly gay man with his partner of half a century. The two never had the opportunity to marry.
What Here At The New Yorker did for the magazine’s editorial voice on its 50th anniversary in 1975, Blown Covers has done for its brand of visual satire, offering a rare glimpse of Oz behind the curtain. And to those whose first blush might be that Oz is better off unseen and omnipotent, Mouly offers the following lens in this interview on Imprint:
One could have to do with demystifying, making the process more predictable. But I actually think that it’s so rich and so interesting that it’s actually even more interesting if you have a sense of how the images are thought about, rather than less. It doesn’t explain anything because it still is genius when somebody gets the right idea.Images courtesy of Abrams Books
Brain Pickings has a free weekly newsletter and people say it’s cool. It comes out on Sundays and offers the week’s best articles. Here’s what to expect. Like? Sign up.
Monday, May 21, 2012
Sunday, May 20, 2012
![Lower 48 US states redrawn as 50 states with equal population [1000 x 590]](http://i.imgur.com/Wp3eQ.jpg){kind=link}
![[link]](http://i.imgur.com/1TAmM.jpg){kind=link}
![[link]](http://i.imgur.com/Cb0Fy.jpg){kind=link}
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