The Procrastinator (some) Times Sunday 24th of November Edition

EDITORIAL

This edition of The Procrastinator is sweet and short. Well, right after this words there's a photo of Cody Wilson, so maybe is just a short edition. While you are reading this we are preparing to go and share our Sunday here, if you're in London, you definitely should join. If not, you have really good articles to read: a couple of articles about JFK via VICE and El País, one very interesting and absolutely scary about the post-antibiotics world via Medium. Inspiration in film by Jonas Mekas via Dazed Digital, and Nymphomaniac's trailer, in our Culture & Entertainment section, is worth seen today because is [NSFW] and part of the Photoautomat section too (now you're intrigued, right?). We have Rita Fernández as guest writer sharing with us her weekly procrastination. And finally, La Guia del Perro's In Dog We Trust share with us some of her amazing tips and two adorable dogs: Ginny and Otter.

Happy Sunday and happy reading!


NEWS

Photo via VICE.

It has been a lot of articles written, photo galleries posted, and dusty conspiracy theories being polished lately about JFK in the 50th anniversary of his dead... and the beginning of his myth? Danny McDonald's article in VICE talks a bit about that, this is how it starts: "Seated behind his anchor’s desk, Edward R Murrow lights up a cigarette while listening to John F Kennedy read a passage from American poet Alan Seeger. It's one of the coolest interview snippets in the history of American media. And that says a lot about what JFK has become: an icon who once happened to be president. My generation knows him as a really good-looking guy who married a really good-looking woman, with whom he had really good-looking children, before he was shot in the head while being driven through Dallas, Texas. Details of his presidency are, at best, vaguely understood, and mostly we ignore his political legacy. Bay of Pigs? Don’t harsh the mellow, bro – just look at that hair." Read full article here. E.T.P. 6' and if you speak Spanish you can also read this other interesting article called Los que vieron morir a JFK in El País. E.T.P. 10'

Photo via The Independent.

Cody Wilson, the 25 years old man, driven by a libertarian philosophy and by the desire to put a gun in the hands of anyone who wants one, was named by Wired magazine as one of the world’s 15 most dangerous people (below Bashar al-Assad but above Paula Broadwell) after he created a gun that can be downloaded and built with a 3D printer. The online blueprint for his handgun – the Liberator – has been downloaded 100,000 times since it was released in May. I am equally scared of Wilson and every single one of the 100.000 people that downloaded his files. Paul Peachy in the Independent writes about Wilson's visit to London and his new mission: to challenge the global financial system. Read full article here.

Photo: Maureen Drennan via The New Yorker.

Buzzkill. Now that marijuana is legal in a number of states, Patrick Radden Keefe explores how Washington State discovered that is not easy to create an economy around it and its efforts to develop it without turning too many of its citizens into potheads. Read this interesting article in The New Yorker. E.T.P 22'

SCIENCE

Eneas de Troya, Creative Commons via Medium.

I never think of antibiotics, luckily I've been a relatively healthy person all my life, but there is no way of remain indifferent after reading Maryn McKenna's article in Medium. I feel that I need to learn more and follow the development of this news. According to the article human overuse of antibiotics produce drug-resistant bacterias that now we can't fight anymore. We are approaching a post antibiotic world, and definitely we are not prepared for it.  "Before antibiotics, five women died out of every 1,000 who gave birth. One out of nine people who got a skin infection died, even from something as simple as a scrape or an insect bite. Three out of ten people who contracted pneumonia died from it. Ear infections caused deafness; sore throats were followed by heart failure. In a post-antibiotic era, would you mess around with power tools? Let your kid climb a tree? Have another child?" Read full article in Medium. E.T.P. 20'.

Photo via The Independent.

Waste not, want not: how supposedly out-of-date food can be used in delicious recipes. Mark Hix wrote in The Independent: "According to the survey, a fifth of the bread produced in Britain gets wasted and one in five potatoes ends up in the bin. Our throw-away culture accounts for millions of tonnes of edible waste. I understand that we get confused by sell-by and best-before dates but have we lost our sense of smell and taste? People should trust their instincts more on these things." Read full article that includes a couple of tasty looking recipes here. E.T.P. 6'

DESIGN, BUSINESS & INNOVATION

Photo: The Procrastinator (some) Times.

Marketers, Welcome to the World of Disappearing Media. Snapchat's model gets viewers to focus and act fast, before the content vanishes forever. There has been a lot of articles trying to discern if refusing a 3b offer from Facebook was a smart move from the guys behind Snapshat, and now David Berkovitz in AdAge asks what would happen if all media functioned like Snapchat? Read it here. E.T.P. 4' 

Photo: The Procrastinator (some) Times.

Five ways the advertising industry is about to transform. "Technology has prompted tremendous change in the advertising industry—change that would have been inconceivable even a decade ago. People are accessing, consuming, and sharing content in more varied ways than ever, and marketers have scores of new opportunities to understand, reach, and engage with consumers. But at the same time the ecosystem of technologies that supports online advertising has become so complicated and cumbersome that it actually makes it harder for advertisers to invest more money to market effectively, putting the industry’s growth at risk." Sounds familiar? Keep reading Bob Lord's post in the HBR Blog. E.T.P. 5'
 

Photo: twechy/Flickr via WIRED.

Cady Metz article in Wired starts like this: Eight years after a group of authors and publishers sued Google for scanning more than 20 million library books without the permission of rights holders, a federal judge has ruled that the web giant’s sweeping book project stayed within the bounds of U.S. copyright law. Boom. Want to know how is that possible? Read full article here. E.T.P. 4'

CULTURE & ENTERTAINMENT

Image via Dazed Magazine.

Jonas Mekas, the Lituanian-born NYC filmmaker will turn 91 on Christmas Eve and he still recording, of course. That's what we like about him. How consistent he's been throughout the decades, the amazing stories he had lived, and the fact that he keeps sharing all with the world. Even now. Dazed Magazine published a really nice article about Mekas that includes a 7' excerpt from Walden: Diaries, Notes and Sketches (1969). Inspiring procrastination awaits. Just click here. E.T.P. 11'.

Image via The Atlantic.

Changes in grammar happens because evolution. The uses of the word "because", usually a subordinate conjuction, are now changing. Linguist are calling it "prepositional-because" or the "because-noun" and it can be used like this: "I'm late because YouTube. You're reading this because procrastination." Please go ahead and read the full article in The Atlantic, it would be impossible for me to paraphrase it as I get confused by so many grammatical terms (English is not my first language and I'm still far from being awesome in it), anyway, here is the link. E.T.P.. 7'

I love the way Joe Berkowitz puts it on his article about Nymphomaniac in Fast Company: "no envelope will remain unpushed". He is talking about the recently released trailer of Lars Von Triers overly expected new film. Or again, as Berkowitz hopes: our generation's Caligula. Red his article here and have a look at the [NSFW] trailer here. E.T.P. 4'.

PHOTOAUTOMAT

Jonas Barn Snow Disco, 2008

Ryan McGinely

Born in 1977 in Ramsey NJ, McGinely stand out in his ability for exposing a world that Nan Goldin before him and some many others have explored, but in a very special way; he manages to capture the freedom and youth around him creating very spontaneous, yet carefully choreographed images.

Ryan had his first solo art show at the Whitney at the sweet age of 25 (making him the youngest person to have had a solo show there).

Hanna's Hideout, 2008.

Cyclone, 2008.

His images are timeless. Naked beautiful young people in amazing locations, carefully composed, thought out and executed; full of energy and, I guess the word would be, FREEDOM. Everything about them is extremely powerful and beautiful. 

Jonas (Waterfall), 2008.

Tracy (Red, White & Blue), 2010.

Flash Flood (Gold), 2012.

 

He is definitely one of my favorite artist of this generation. And as most contemporary photographers, he is also making videos. Here is one for the band Sigur Rós, and for two for Nowness 1 and 2.

On top of that, he is responsible of pushing forward the careers of other artists/friends/muses around him. Something that definitely makes him even more special, or at least the NYtimes and I think so! Read the article about this here.

Parakeets, 2012.

India (Coyote), 2010.

 All images are from Ryan McGinely ®

​Finally you can see more of his work here; and read his essays here.​

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The PhotoAutomat section is curated by the Brooklyn-based photographer Andreína Restrepo.    

IN DOG WE TRUST

Ginny, napping expert via her Instagram.

Hello dog lover,

Hope you're having a relaxing Sunday! Here are some links to explore:

The Wedding Dog

The first dog officially recorded at Everest Base Camp

Joy Sessions

Brotherly love

The cava-poo-chon

Plus, two dogs you seriously need to follow on Instagram:

Otter, the Pitbull that wears glasses

Ginny, the napping expert Jack Russell

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In Dog We Trust is curated by: Carola Melguizo from La Guía del Perro.   

OUR WEEKLY PROCRASTINATION

Image via Fast Company.

By Rita Fernández.

There was a lot of procrastination to be had this Friday, because Internet. Between Google's latest Doodle and Pharrell's Happy project I'm not sure how anyone with Wifi got anything done.

To celebrate 50 years of the BBC's Doctor Who, Google's team of doodlers (yes, thats what they're called) created an adorable multi-level game that just begs you to drop what you're doing and play. As the company explains, "In the beginning, the doodles mostly celebrated familiar holidays; nowadays, they highlight a wide array of events and anniversaries". So say Happy Birthday Doctor Who, and have a go. ETP 30'

24hoursofhappy.com claims to to be the worlds first 24-hour music video. The site features 400 people performing Pharrell's song 'Happy' (written for Despicable Me 2) individually or in groups- including the artist himself, and a few celebs along the way. So far, I've spotted Steve Carrell and Jamie Foxx but the best performances I've seen are from average Joes like you and me; people that are infected by the songs happiness, and just have to get it out (in front of the camera, of course). Bloopers and mistakes are included - most people forget the words, I saw one guy fall on the ground after attempting a jump - which makes the videos even more enjoyable. It reminds us everyday people to express ourselves, and be happy. Put simply, the song, the idea for the project, and the execution just work. Check out Fastcocreate.com for details into the project. ETP 24hrs

The Procrastinator (some) Times Sunday 17th of November Edition

EDITORIAL

This week we should start mentioning Belle Beth Cooper's article in Fast Company that you can find  in the Design, Business & Innovation section, a very interesting piece that justify our efforts to make procrastination meaningful, we will add that article to our manifesto for sure. Photoautomat presents the work of Riitta Päiväläinen, In Dog We Trust teach us how to make a fondant poodle and we keep talking about Alfonso Cuaron's Gravity, because we really loved it. Finally, we thank Batkid for saving not only Gotham or San Francisco, but the whole world of another week of just terrible news. Thanks Batkid!

Happy reading and happy Sunday!


NEWS

David Cameron at the Lord Mayor's Banquet. Photo: Getty via The New Stateman.

There is really not much that I can add about Laurie Penny New Stateman's very eloquent article. I'm not English, and I really consider that I don't have a qualified opinion on this country politics. The only thing I will say is that when I read news like this about the UK, the same day I saw photos of the actual re-written history books of my country (Venezuela), books that praise "subordination" as a value, I can't help but think that deep down we are not as far away as it might seem, and as Laurey I had to repeat out loud: "We have not always been at war with Eastasia."

This is how Laurie Penny's article begin:  The throne was golden and the lectern was golden and the speech was very clear: austerity will not be temporary policy in Tory Britain. It will last forever. Addressing a roomful of diplomats and business leaders who had just dined lavishly at the Lord Mayor's banquet, the Prime Minister this week promised a "leaner, more efficient state". "We need to do more with less," said David Cameron, looking comfy in his white tie and tails. "Not just now, but permanently." But he hadn't counted on Ruth Hardy, a journalism student, who was working as a waitress that night. "The contrast of the two worlds was striking; someone said it was like a scene from Downton Abbey," wrote Hardy in a viral piece for the Guardian. "Maybe Cameron didn't see the irony; perhaps he forgot about the army of waiting staff, cleaners, chefs and porters who were also present at the banquet. Perhaps he thought he was in a room of similarly rich people, who understood the necessity for austerity. Perhaps it didn't occur to him that this message might not be as easily comprehended by those who hadn't just enjoyed a four-course meal. Perhaps he forgot about those of us, disabled or unemployed or on the minimum wage, for whom austerity has had a catastrophic and wounding effect." Read full article here. E.T.P. (including video): 7'.

Jim Sollish and his son via The New York Times.

I Want to Be a Millenial When I Retire. Jim Sollish wrote a really thoughtful article about his kid, a happy independent musician whose success is hard to be "measure" and therefore understood by older generations. "The Eskimos have all those words for snow, and it seems the only language we have for expressing success is numeric. It may be a universal language, but it’s an impoverished one. Maybe we need a word for “never having to sit in a meeting where someone reads long power point slides out loud.” Maybe we should have an expression that captures the level of success you’ve achieved when you do exactly what you love every day." Read full article in The New York Times. E.T.P. 3'

Photo via SF Gate.

Photo via SF Gate.

Photo via SF Gate.

Photo via Wired.

And of course, the cutest news from this past week was Gotham City being save by Batkid, the legendary Miles Scott aged 5. Thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which organised the event, and to thousands of people in San Francisco that collaborated, Miles fulfil his wish to be Batman for a day. He participated in events across the city including fighting mock crimes and receiving an honour from the mayor. Read the article in BBC, Wired, SF Gate or in Spanish in BBC Mundo.

SCIENCE

Photo via The Independent.

Meet Tom Jones, the NASA veteran of four space shuttle missions that's been right where George Clooney and Sandra Bullock pretend to be because he was one of the key participants in the construction of the International Space Station. In a nice interview with The Indpendent, he explains what it’s like to walk in space, the dangers of space walks – called EVAs by Nasa (Extra Vehicular Activities) – and what he thought of Alfonso Cuaron's Gravity. Intrigued? Read full article here.

While the religious would argue that life on earth is a mere warm up for an eternity spent in heaven or hell, and many scientists would dismiss the concept for lack of proof – one expert, quantum physicist Professor Robert Lanza from Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina, claims he has definitive evidence to confirm once and for all that there is indeed life after death and the answer lies specifically the theory of biocentrism. Read full article in The Independent.

 

DESIGN, BUSINESS & INNOVATION

Photo via Fast Company.

The most important article for us (you and me and all the procrastinators in the world) this week without a doubt is Belle Beth Cooper's in Fast Company: Why procrastination doesn't need a cure -and might even make you more productive. Yes, we always knew that, as Beth says: 'procrastinating can actually help us get more done--at least more of the important things'. The key is in making your procrastination meaningful, as entrepreneur and investor Paul Graham says in Belle's article: the question is not how to avoid procrastination, but how to procrastinate well. Read more interesting insights about why we procrastinate and how you can make your procrastination worth it in Fast Company... although if you are reading this in The Procrastinator (some) Times, I think we are already on the same page. Nice! Full article here. E.T.P. 9'

Photo via psfk.

A new 600-metre bicycle path in the Netherlands is lit unlike any other, owed in large part to the thousands of stones that absorb sunlight during the day, which is then emitted as beautiful fluorescent light during the night. The path designed by Daan Roosegaarde is a tribute to Van Gogh’s famous painting, ”Starry Night.” Read full article and have a look at the pics in psfk. E.T.P. 2'

CULTURE & ENTERTAINMENT

Steven Soderbergh in Venezia via Open Culture.

For a reason that I don't understand Open Culture published a list of every movie, book and play that Steven Soderbergh watched, read or attended during the year 2009. There is a lot of material, and it's amazing procrastination time, so if you want to have a look and ponder if you could have a nice time having a pint with Steve, click here. And just out of curiosity, do you also keep a viewing log? E.T.P. 6'

Photo: The Procrastinator (some) Times.

Storytellers have more fun, writes Refe Tuma, in Medium: "if we look at the interesting people in our lives, I think we’ll find few of them have climbed Mount Everest or broken a wild mustang. Most have never wrestled an alligator or gotten embroiled in a covert operation. Most haven’t seen a whole lot of real excitement. So, what makes them so compelling? Interesting people often lead surprisingly ordinary lives, but they are not ordinary. What sets them apart is their ability to tell a good story." Read full story in Medium. E.T.P. 5'

PHOTOAUTOMAT

Riitta Päiväläinen: Born Maaninka,1969

Have you ever bought a piece of clothing at a vintage store and though to yourself "who own this before me?" Maybe you don't really care about that, but Riitta did. Actually that became such a big question mark on her head, that she decided to base her body of work on creating a series called Vestige. The premise she followed is: "Unwritten history, memory, landscape", the images do the rest.

Creating installations with second-hand clothing thoughtfully composing every garment, she used the landspace as a fundamental part of every image, sometimes freezing each piece of cloth making sculptures on white/snow background, other times mimicking the colors of the surroundings, or letting the wind make them move.

 

All images © Riitta Päiväläinen

"In the series "Wind","Structura" and "Camouflage" landscape plays an essential role. Landscape is not only a topographical, objective phenomenon. For me, it is personal and subjective. Working with a landscape means going into it: experiencing and sensing the place. When I place clothes into a landscape, I create an installation. In this sense, landscape can be considered as a stage. Bringing these two elements (landscape and clothes) together, I create a dialogue - an interaction. My aim is to suggest and bring forth potential stories, mental images and associations." explains the artist.

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The PhotoAutomat section is curated by the Brooklyn-based photographer Andreína Restrepo.   

IN DOG WE TRUST

Photo: Momo's best Magnum via AndrewKnapp's Instagram.

Hello dog lover!

Hope you're up to something fun today! Here are some interesting links you may like to explore:

Benefits of Massage

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/originals/09/36/aa/0936aa91503346e14fe1d161924b2c52.jpg

How to make a fondant Poodle

http://lidiasianturi.blogspot.ca/2011/09/poodle-puppy-fondant-tutorial.html

Chewed

http://chewedbook.com/

Potty Training Doorbells

http://poochie-pets.net/

Dog sh*t selfies

http://www.incrediblethings.com/web/sadly-dog-sht-selfies-is-a-thing/

Plus, two dogs you seriously need to follow on Instagram:

Norm, Jeremy Veach's Pug

http://instagram.com/jermzlee

Momo, Andrew Knapp's Border Collie

http://instagram.com/andrewknapp

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In Dog We Trust is curated by: Carola Melguizo from La Guía del Perro.  

OUR WEEKLY PROCRASTINATION

Photo Warner Bros/Sportsphoto Ltd/Allstar via The Guardian.

As we said in last week's To Do List, Sunday was the perfect day to go and see Gravity, so we went to our favorite local cinema and the experience was mindblowing. In my opinion this is the first truly justified use of 3D in a movie. I really don't like 3D movies, it's exhausting and I usually ended up with a major headache, but Gravity, oh yeah I even would see it in 4D or 5D. Andrew Pulver, of The Guardian, seem to have had his mind as blown as mine so he wrote an article called Gravity and other films that changed Hollywood for ever. Read it here. E.T.P. 5'45''

We also visited the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize exhibition in the National Portrait Gallery where we had the chance to see "sixty new portraits by some of the most exciting contemporary photographers from around the world". We loved the winners, spectacular portraits of course, and Man with Owl and Lucy by Deana Kolenčìkovà and Fabio by Andy Massaccesi. More info here.

VICE Video Panel @ Old Blue Last.

Finally, we attended a couple of events part of the Internet Week Europe: The Evolution of Video in the Digital World, produced by BBC Worldwide Labs; VICE Video Panel, by VICE, of course; and The Future of Journalism, produced by Protein®.

The first event was alright, there was a lot of talk about what is happening in the digital video world from different perspectives: brands, personalities, YouTube, interactive video producers, but the conversation was focused in the present of video, what is happening now. Just at the very end Louise Tullin, Marketing Director of Unruly Media, mention the importance of emotional triggers to send messages across, and that in her opinion next year's emotional trigger will be exhilaration.

VICE's forum was really really interesting, they were the only ones with a strong focus in the content being created and not only in the platform (maybe because they've always got the right platform); in the they way they tell their stories and how they manage to transmit not only information but also an experience (practicing immersion journalism, something they really know how to do); and in the fact that they know that young people is interested in the news, as opposed than everybody else that think they have to be tricked into stop watching cat videos and start paying attention to the world.

Finally, The Future of Journalism forum was a discussion again mostly platforms and share-ability, and less about the kind of content you are creating, although at some point Martin Belam, from Us.Vs.Th3m said that obviously "you can't design your way around uninteresting content". I think that's the key. Simon Hinde, Director of journalism and publishing at LCC, also made some interesting reflections about the new skills that the journalists have to learn, a mix of curation and entrepreneurship and branding (for themselves), and what it means to be a journalist in a world of commoditized news.

All in all a great day. Thanks Internet Week!

TO DO (OR NOT TO DO) LIST

Night Tales via their FB.

For Saturday, I think we will be heading to Night Tales in Dalson. As reviewed in BarChic: This is only a winter thing but we’ll be heading there as much as we can, come rain or cold. They have three bars to choose from including The Hot Negroni Bar, The Mezcal Bar with the guys behind Quiquiriqui pouring out some of their delicious own brand mezcal or hit the main bar for hot cider, beers, wine and cocktails. This is in Abbot Street Car Park, E8 2JP. For photos and extra info you can check Night Tales' Facebook page. E.T.P. 3 hours.

For Sunday, because we are all for experiments, and roasts, and news, and meaningful procrastination the place to be seems to be the Second Edition of Sunday Newspapers Live, a day of talks, walks, performance & food that bring the broadsheets to live. The very interesting line-up that includes Jon Snow, Andrew Maxwell and The Wilderness Orchestra among many others, is already on their website, have a look and get involved in co-creating a perfect Sunday. Cats and dogs, allowed and encouraged. E.T.P. 12 hours.