Posted
by Lauren Beck
on Mon, Aug 23, 2010 at 5:15 PM
In the beginning of the 90s, out-of-leftfield songs were becoming hits for no other reason than someone at MTV had made them Buzz Bin videos. (Green Jelly's "Three Little Pigs" — what was that all about?) By the end of the decade, TRL was pumping out pop stars overnight. Somewhere in between, Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry created mind-bending art in the form two-to-three minute video clips. There's little argument that the music video, as both an art form and a commercial entity, came to a pinnacle in the 90s. MTV and partners in crime Clear Channel cobbled together what Pitchfork calls "a pseudo-music monoculture in the U.S. like almost nothing before," and it makes sense: When "...Baby One More Time" hit the after-school airwaves for the 300th time, how many millions of viewers across the U.S. were simultaneously watching B. Spears twirl around in a Catholic school girls uniform? An awful lot. More than the number of people who care about Best Coast or bought The Suburbs last week.
P4K took it upon themselves to rank the top 50 videos of this so-called golden age. There's the Foo Fighters' faux Mentos commercial, Blur's lovable dancing milk carton, a 70s cop spoof by the Beastie Boys, Sinead O'Connor looking sad as hell in a black turtleneck, and the video down below (none of which are #1 according to P4K). Instant nostalgia. Enjoy.
Posted
by Mark Asch
on Mon, Aug 23, 2010 at 4:28 PM
Today is the official launch date of N1FR, the new online film review of n+1, which promises, presumably, intelligent if sometimes too canny critical theory-leaning coverage of contemporary and noncontemporary cinema, mostly written by nonspecialist cinephiles (though an early piece was by the noted professional critic Chris Fujiwara). It's edited by n+1's longishtime movie critic A.S. Hamrah, whose latest screening log is up today.
Posted
by Jonny Diamond
on Mon, Aug 23, 2010 at 3:56 PM
Everyone is totally bedbug crazy. Those who've been infested will tell you it's for good reason, those who haven't think it's all a bit much—either way, there's a new weapon in the MOST IMPORTANT WAR MANKIND HAS EVER FOUGHT. Yes, the latest breakthrough in TOTAL BEDBUG ANNIHILATION is the sniffer dog, a fearsome dog/machine hybrid that can smell the tiny pest from a thousand yards away and destroy it with eye-lasers (though it's already too late for the Empire State Building, and the Magic Johnson AMC movie theater).
Ok, I'm exaggerating. As entomologist Philip Koehler told the Wall Street Journal: “It’s not quite as easy as what everything thinks." Mr. Koehler obviously hates America and wants the terror bugs to win.
Despite all the improvements New York City cyclists have accrued the last few years, there's one bicycle amenity that many major cities already have (including Denver for chrissakes!) that we're still missing: a bike share system. Not for long, though, especially if Ryan Rzepecki can get his SoBi (Social Bicycle) system off the ground. His plan (which he'll explain to you via video after the jump) hinges on lockbox technology (pictured) would cost a third or less of the normal price of starting a bike share system (less than $1,000 instead of $3,000-$4,000), and do away with the need to set up stations all over town. Just make sure those lockboxes are glue-resistant.
Posted
by Lauren Beck
on Mon, Aug 23, 2010 at 3:04 PM
Two-and-an-half minutes of amped-up pop punk? Check. Sleater-Kinney's Carrie Brownstein losing her mind? Check. Isaac Brock looking like a character in 'Twas the Night Before Christmas? Check. (That last one was sort of a spoiler, sorry.) Why don't all music videos follow this formula? Chew on that while you wait for The Thermal's Personal Life to hit stores on September 7 via Kill Rock Stars.
Posted
by Jonny Diamond
on Mon, Aug 23, 2010 at 2:36 PM
A new set of Dept. of Sanitation guidelines for derelict bicycles includes a mandate for the removal of "ghost bikes," those haunting white bicycles set up across the city as memorials to cyclists killed by cars. If these guidelines (which take effect in October) are followed to the letter, it would mean an end to the 70-odd ghost bike memorials currently in place. As Leah Todd, spokeswoman for the NYC Street Memorial Project, told the Brooklyn Paper: "The rules themselves define ghost bikes as ‘derelict. Nobody is in favor of these rules. Nobody.”
Posted
by Jonny Diamond
on Mon, Aug 23, 2010 at 2:03 PM
"Can you introduce me to Angel Deradoorian?"
It's cool, I guess, that Senator Chuck Schumer is into using his political clout to make sure the attractive youth of Williamsburg get their fair share of waterfront indie rock (hey, I live in Williamsburg and am a big fan of attractive youth and their diversions), but for my (tax) money, I'd rather he apply some of that influence to wresting back control of the actually it's a cultural center with a prayer room two blocks away from Ground Zero "DEADLY GROUND ZERO MOSQUE" debate. Seriously, Chuck, why are you being such coward about this? You, too, Anthony? Where are the politicians with guts?
Unlike our Democrat politicians, superstar commenter gjk recently spoke quite eloquently on the subject:
The bustling intersection of Jay and York Streets (pictured, yesterday), is getting Dumbo's first, working, traffic-regulating traffic light! This is big news in our sleepy corner of Brooklyn, where the end of Jay Street floods during heavy rains such as these, and robbers storm banks for pocket change. Neighborhood blog extraordinaire DumboNYC an barely contain its excitement at the prospect of bright, flickering lights: "We’re no city planners, but with the increased number of pedestrians in the area, the lights should help avoid any accidents…in theory." Well, in any event...
Posted
by Lauren Beck
on Mon, Aug 23, 2010 at 1:02 PM
Word came yesterday via the offices of Senator Chuck Schumer and the Open Space Alliance that Jelly's final Pool Party of the season will indeed go on as scheduled this upcoming Sunday, nevermind the whole JellyNYC vs. OSA smackdown last week. We apparently have Schumer to thank, who, with the help of NY State Assemblyman Joseph Lentol, encouraged both parties to negotiate a deal for Jelly's outstanding financial obligations. Schumer was, as he likes to remind us in the press release, a large part of why the concert series was renewed this year at the Williamsburg Waterfront in the first place. In OSA's official statement, Chairman Steve Hindy said, "We are pleased that Jelly was able to meet most of its obligations" — oh, snap — also crediting financial donations from Williamsburg business owners Norman and Elaine Brodsky and Douglaston Development, the company behind The Edge, the new waterfront condos adjacent to East River Park.
Posted
by Mark Asch
on Mon, Aug 23, 2010 at 12:27 PM
This is what August feels like.
August, like heaven, is a place where nothing, nothing ever happens, especially in years like this year and last year, when a late Labor Day effectively extends the month by another week, turning the dog days of summer into an interminable bog of sweat-dampened ennui. So, what better time than now for Slate's Daniel Engber to pen a 5,500-word article on the rise and fall of quicksand in the American cultural imagination? Is there an accompanying video slideshow featuring nearly a dozen annotated film clips? There is an accompanying video slideshow featuring nearly a dozen annotated film clips.
The piece spans film history, biology, geopolitics, rhetoric, playground engineering, and internet fan culture. The best line comes near the end—"[Q]uicksand fans gradually shed their nostalgia. These days, they're spending less time digging up classic scenes from the 1960s and more time downloading low-budget quicksand porn—soft-core fetish videos showing female models floundering in bogs and mud pits"—but really, just read the whole thing. You have time.
Now anyone can visit the sites of hip-hop history (although, obviously, some are best seen via Street View) with Rap Genius's Rap Map, which explains all the important places in rap's evolution.
Posted
by Jonny Diamond
on Mon, Aug 23, 2010 at 11:29 AM
Get out of my head, man.
Jimsonweed, aka Datura stramonium, aka "Jamestown weed, mad apple, devil’s trumpet, locoweed, stinkwort or thorn apple" was discovered near the Gowanus Canal by the NY Times' resident urban forager (we gotta get one of those around here) Ava Chin. And even though it's traditionally been used by American Indians to reduce inflammation you shouldn't ingest it as it can lead to "dilated pupils, racing heartbeat, hallucination, delirium, combative behavior and in severe cases, coma and seizures." I think I learned about jimsonweed on an episode of House, so I feel pretty qualified to say that you should definitely not steep it into a hallucinogenic tea, for reals.
(Did anyone else smoke pine needles wrapped in skunkweed wrapped in toilet paper when they were kids? We called them parking lot cigarettes and boy did we look cool.)
Posted
by Mark Asch
on Mon, Aug 23, 2010 at 11:01 AM
Well, I mean, surely you already knew that. But I meant it literally—check out this satellite image:
Dear aliens...
This GPS map comes to us courtesy the Guardian, who note with bemusement the travels of one Nick Newcomen, who spent a month blazing his trail across America driving America's publicly maintained roads with a tracking device switched on and off to spell out his message. He drove 12,328 miles in all (but came nowhere near New York).
In Brooklyn we fight over bike lanes, and black-clad bike vigilantes paint unauthorized routes in the night. Meanwhile, in Portland, bike nerds repainted a lane with things found on the racetracks of beloved Nintendo game Mario Kart, including bananas, speed boosts and stars, and everybody, even non-cyclists, thinks it's adorable and hilarious. The speed boosts, unfortunately, are strictly decorative. (TheDailyWhat)
Posted
by Mike Conklin
on Mon, Aug 23, 2010 at 9:50 AM
So, "Bottled in Cork" is the hands-down best song on Ted Leo's most recent full-length, The Brutalist Bricks, and now it's got the hands-down best video of the year so far. Keep an eye out for Titus Andronicus frontman Patrick Stickles' cameo as a weepy theatergoer.
The L train subway platform signs that indicate more or less accurately how long you'll have to wait, it must be said, deflate the excitement of that moment when the train arrives in the station, all clanging wheels and whooshing air tunnels. Artist Jason Eppink and interactive public art collective Newmindspace miss that feeling, and have hung "Spoiler Alert" signs under L train signs in stations in Manhattan and Brooklyn, although (spoiler alert), they've probably all bee removed by now. (Gothamist)
