Sunday 29 September 2013

Procrastinator (some) Times Sunday 29th of September Edition

EDITORIAL

From the Internet reactions to the unfortunate anti-gay comments of Barilla's chairman, to Breaking Bad's Walter White as a role-model entrepreneur. From Asimov and Sagan's reflections on why we go to space, to a project to edit an in-vitro meat cooking book. From a study that show the three most popular (erotic) search terms per state in America, to the thoughts of Woody Allen on the Acropolis. This edition is pretty varied, and for sure you will spend your procrastinating minutes reading very interesting and fun articles. So go ahead, when it comes to procrastination, there's no time to lose!

Have a nice read and a happy Sunday.


NEWS


Photo: Hillary Clinton via The New Yorker.

The Coming Hillary Clinton Train Wreck. Amy Davison asks in The New Yorker: "Do people really think that a Hillary Clinton 2016 campaign is a good idea—for the Democratic Party, our collective sanity, even for her?" Maybe, continues Davison, "some political locomotives just move ahead, even if the wreck is predestined, and her campaign is now coming around the bend". Read full article in The New Yorker.


Image by vlads-madhouse.tumblr.com via Buzzfeed.


On Thursday gay rights groups called for a boycott of the world’s biggest pasta maker Barilla after the company’s chairman said he would never use homosexual couples in his advertisements. Read full article in The Independent, and see some Internet responses to Barilla's chairman remarks on Buzzfeed


 Image: Brett Ryder via The Economist.

So, tonight airs the last episode of Breaking Bad. We are going to be watching it as soon as we can and you should too, not only because is one of the best TV shows ever, but because the Breaking Bad phenomenon, is, according to The Economist, one of the best studies available of the dynamics of modern business. "A Harvard MBA will set you back $90,000 (plus two years’ lost income). You can buy a deluxe edition of all five seasons of “Breaking Bad”, complete with a plastic money barrel, for $209.99, or a regular edition for less than $80." Read this very interesting article in The Economist and if you want to leave a comment making a prediction about Mr. White and Jesse's destiny, please do so!

SCIENCE



 Photo via Brain Pickings.

Why do we go to space? "In the beginning of our space program, the answer had a lot to do with war and paranoia. But with the dawn of the space shuttle, that all changed." Explore invite us to watch the new episode of It’s Okay To Be Smart, the thoughts of Isaac Asimov on why spend money on it, and also a priceless conversation between Carl Sagan, Ray Bradbury, and Isaac Asimov on the subject. Have a look at all the links via Explore.



Photo: The Procrastinator (some) Times.

This week Adam Corner for New Scientist asks a very simple question about climate science: why the world won't listen? Surely, back in 2008, after Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth buzz the scientific and economic cases were made for political and civil actions to be taken. However, the exact opposite happened and "apathy, lack of interest and even outright denial are more widespread than they were in 2008". Apparently, when it comes to climate change, as the New Scientist points out, "communicators need to find better ways to connect with their audience". Read full article here.





Image via Meat the Future Cookbook IndieGogo.

This week the people from Next Nature shared with us their new project the In Vitro Meat Cookbook, a visually stunning exploration of the new “food cultures” lab-grown meat might create and their contribution to solve the world's protein crisis. "This book approaches lab-grown meat not just from a design and engineering perspective, but also from a societal and ethical one." If you want more info or you want to back-up this project, click here.

DESIGN, BUSINESS & INNOVATION

 
Photo: Richard Branson via Mashable.

Are you already planning your Summer holiday for 2014? Make sure you include "Space" somewhere in between Prague and Tokyo, because according to Sir Richard Branson, that is a possibility."Passengers will board the SpaceShipTwo (SS2) Enterprise, which recently just broke supersonic speeds in its second test flight, climbed to 69,000 feet above ground . . .  The experience won't quite be like boarding a NASA space shuttle, but it will definitely provide views you can't get on a plane." Wondering how much will this cost you? You might want to read the full article in Mashable before booking.


Image via Medium.

Welcome to Flatland. Recently in the tech community, a palpable aversion to the idea of management has been developing. This rejection of hierarchy is based on the belief that while hierarchy is good for maintaining predictability and repeatability if you are an entertainment company and you want the most intelligent, innovative and talented people working for you a hierarchic environment won't do it for them. Read this interesting article by Dustin Moskovitz in Medium.


Image: Cinder, created by the Barbarian Group in New York via Creative Review.

Thanks to Creative Review we discovered the Tomorrow Awards. "Launched in 2010 by Ignacio Oreamuno, executive director of the Art Directors Club and IHAVEANIDEA, with the intention of celebrating work that gives an indication of "where things are going" in advertising". If you want to have a look at this year's five winners click here.



 Image Wait But Why via The Huffington Post.

Why Generation Y Yuppies are Unhappy? Wait But Why, features in The Huffington Post's Blog  an interesting post about Generation Y workers, ambition, unrealistic expectations and satisfaction. I hate the paint/powepoint graphics a little bit, but some of the insights are useful if you are somehow interested in millenials. Read full article here.

CULTURE & ENTERTAINMENT





American (Wet) Dream. Pornhub recently published a rundown of the three most popular (erotic) search terms per state, and FlowingData’s Nathan Yau converted them into a series of stark maps. Fast Company points out that apparently Americans taste in pornography is definitely Geo-located. MILFs for instance are popular almost everywhere, except out West, and Wyoming, ever the cowboy state, has a thing for “smoking.” Read full article in Fast Company.


Photo: Far from Heaven (2002) via BFI.

To help us cope with the fact that Summer is over, Samuel Wigley shares with us in the BFI website a list of 10 great films set during the Autumn, the season when for a brief, resplendent moment, colour is everywhere, but then the leaves fall, the nights darken, and a mantle of melancholy settles over the earth in anticipation of the descent into winter. Read his list in the BFI website.

 Photo: Woody Allen via Esquire.

"Marshall McLuhan predicted books would become art objects at some point. He was right." This is just one of the interesting things that Woody Allen said in his Esquire interview in the September number. Read more about Woody's thoughts on marriage, the Acropolis, showers, sandwiches and other random but cool topics in Esquire. Also Blue Jasmine is already on the UK cinemas, have you seen it yet?


 Photo: Pelo Malo via TIFF.

Venezuela’s “Pelo Malo” (Bad Hair) has won the top prize at the San Sebastian film festival in northern Spain. The director Mariana Rondón collected the 61st Golden Shell for her project. Read full San Sebastián's article in Screen Daily, a review of 'Pelo Malo' in Variety or an interesting article in Spanish in El País.


IN DOG WE TRUST


Photo: Trotter via Instagram.


Hello dog lover,
Hope you're having a relaxing weekend! Here are some links to explore:


Graydon Sheppard's trilogy. 


Couture Dogs of New York.

Nerd tote bag.

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



Princess Coco 
http://instagram.com/kuemanis

-

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


OUR WEEKLY PROCRASTINATION


Photo: Matt Brown sharing a 1856 illustration of a future airport.

 Photo: Andrew Collinge and London 2020 vision.


 Photo: Westminster Arts Reference Library books.


This week we attended Salon No. 9: London Futures organized by Antique Beat at the Westminster Arts Reference Library. Matt Brown, editor of the wonderful Londonist shared with us some very interesting archive articles, photographs and drawings with Victorian visions of future London. Daily (balloon) flights to America and India, smoking forbidden (go figure!) and even a joke about women wearing trousers. Some current predictions were shown at the end, showing an increasingly green and sky-scrapped London.

Andrew Collinge, Assistant Director, Intelligence and Analysis at Greater London Authority, and second lecturer of the night, believes that some of these modern visions might become truth as soon as in 2020. GLA recently published its new vision for the capital London 2020 (you can read it here), a very humble plan to make London "The Greatest City on Earth". Collinge paraphrased Shakespeare's famous quote: "What is the city but the people?" and pointed out that he believes that this "greatest city" is basically the "world class infrastructure" needed to host amazing people doing amazing things.

He shared with us some very interesting figures that represent challenges for the GLA, like the 3.4 million Tube journeys everyday, the 450.000 new jobs needed by 2020 and London's amazing 2012 GDP: £ 455b.

As usual, the Library contributed with a display of books related with the Salon's topic for people to have a look before and after the lectures. It was a very fun, very interesting evening, and we left the Westminster Arts Library already wanting for the Salon No. 10 to come because it sounds amazing: A Night in Old London. Read more about this wonderful event and book your tickets here.


 Image: Annie Hall's screenshot via YouTube.


Annie Hall's Late Saturday Evening Procrastination (non topical cinematographic news)

If like mines, you friends cry foul when you say that you've never seen Woody Allen's Annie Hall and yes we are in 2013, it's because they know about the extreme pleasure of watching, comfortably settled in the red chair of your local cinema on a late Saturday evening, a beer on your left hand and pop-corns on your right, a movie released 36 years before; the joy of the time travel and relevance of the stories in the new millennium. You'll still have the magic of the first time. And they are jealous.

No current screening confirmed. Just buy yourself a subscription to your local independent cinema and let the non-topical time call you!

TO DO (OR NOT TO DO) LIST



 
Image via ICA.


You have until the 6th of October to have a look at Gerald Cinamon: Collected work since 1958 at the ICA. A selection of designs by award-winning typographer and book designer Gerald (Jerry) Cinamon, who started working at Penguin in 1958. "The display reveals the influence of Swiss design on his work, which was unique and forward thinking during this period of popular book publishing. Cinamon produced work using bold colour and iconic typography creating signature works that defined his distinct style." More info in ICA website.


 Image: Cachetejack via Lomography UK.

This Thursday 3rd of October Lomography UK’s will be starting its First Thrusdays event in the Whitechapel Gallery, featuring work by Cachetejack, a Spanish illustration duo who have recently moved to London. They combine drawings, wood sculptures and fabric to create playful and humorous illustrations. Some of their clients include Anorak magazine, Don’t Panic and Computer Arts magazine. More info about this and other October lomoevents here.


Image via Cycle Love.

On your bike! From the 3rd to the 6th of October is all about bicycles in the Barbican Centre. The Festival includes an opening party at Hackney Downs Studios on the 4th October and all these movies. More info in Cycle Love website.

SUNDAY (SOME) TIMES


Can you tell that Germán is on holidays? ;)

More monos by Germán here.

Sunday 22 September 2013

Procrastinator (some) Times Sunday 22nd of September Edition


EDITORIAL

This week there was tons of things to do in London, but mainly we honoured both procrastination and the autumn-ish weather with a lot of indoors procrastination, that means that we watched a lot of movies, series and documentaries, and that we had the time to read a lot of things on the Internet, but we are recommending and sharing just the best. Our contributor Marie James did managed to go to a couple of LDF's events. She is sharing her experience with us and if you want to do the same for next week, please just send your article/post/critic/photo our way. 

Hope you have a nice reading and a happy Sunday.


NEWS



Photo: Bassam Khabieh/Reuters via Big Picture.

While we wait and see how the Syrian conflict unfolds, one of the world's best photojournalism blog, Boston Globe's The Big Picture publishes 23 photos showing Syrians struggle as the civil war continues. Great work being made by journalists and photographers. Nothing more to say really. Watch the photos here.

Image via Fast Company.

Researchers from the University of New South Wales, CSIRO, and the University of Sydney calculated a new measure they call the “material footprint” of 186 nations and published their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences recently. The results? Wealthy countries that seemed to be slowing their environmental impact are actually as bad as ever. Read full article in Fast Company.


Image: faceofmalawi.com

Chinese University Asks Students to Sign 'Suicide Waivers'. City College of Dongguan University of Technology in China’s coastal Guangdong is asking students entering its freshman class to sign a document absolving the school of responsibility should the student commit suicide — a macabre sign, say some, of the growing pressures of Chinese society. Read full article in Time.

SCIENCE

Photo via Wired.

Superpowers for sale. Scientist Michael McAlpine, who has a Ph.D. in chemistry at Harvard, hopes to make the process or acquiring a superpower as simple as purchasing aspirin at the pharmacy. So far, he’s invented a “tattoo” for teeth that can detect cavities—not exactly the stuff of Hollywood blockbusters—although his latest project, a 3-D printed bionic ear that enables superhuman hearing, could be. Read full article in Wired.

Photo via NASA.

Democratized space. Until very recently if you wanted to perform a space science experiment, you needed a detailed proposal to make an official request to the International Space Station (ISS), and hope for approval. But, Fast Company points out, as of today thanks to Ardulab, an Arduino-based container for science experiments, that's no longer the case. No matter how silly or unprofessional your homemade experiment is, you can now send it to space within nine months for less than $5,000. Have the money and want to try? Read full article in Fast Company.



Image: National Geographic.

Researchers at the Jefferson Lab in the United States have pinned down the value of the proton's weak charge for the first time ever. The research, due to be published in Physical Review Letters in October, confirms predictions made by the Standard Model, a well-established framework for explaining how particles interact in the Universe. Read full article in Wired.

DESIGN, BUSINESS & INNOVATION

Image: Time cover via Time.

TIME magazine this week ask (and tries to answer) this question: Can Google solve death? The major feature of their print edition explains how CEO Larry Page, who spoke exclusively with TIME about the new venture, 'has transformed the search giant into a factory for moonshots'. His boldest bet yet? To extend human life. Read more in Time.




Image: Courtesy of the artists via Wired.

eMotion, a 3-D Software that is basically a physics-based animation system that uses human motion to interact with projected graphics in real time,  is described by one of his creators as "Adobe Illustrator on acid". Adrien Mondot and Claire Bardainne, are the two Paris-based artist/technologists who created the software capable of blurring the lines between reality and fantasy. Read full article in Wired.



Photo: The Procrastinator (some) Times.

How to Manage a flexible workforce, and make sure work-at-home employees keep innovating. While Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer famously announced last winter that employees needed to be in the office to be innovative, Jennifer Owens, editorial director of Working Mother magazine  with whose staff members work when and where they choose, insists that there's another way. Read full article in Fast Company.


CULTURE & ENTERTAINMENT




Photo: Lefteris Pitarakis/AP, via The New Yorker.

As Oyster, a new app is launch hoping that people are looking for a new way to get access to books. Ian Crouch in The New Yorker poises the question: What does it mean to own a book? The app, usually called "Netflix for books", currently gives users access to more than a hundred thousand titles for a monthly fee of just under ten bucks. So, would you keep buying books or would you just 'stream' them? Read full article here.


 Image: Inside Chanel screenshot via Creative Review.

Inside Chanel is an ambitious online project telling the story of the fashion house and its founder, the amazing Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel, via a series of online documentaries comprised of archive footage, photos and nice black and white graphics. Have a look at some videos and read full article in Creative Review's Blog.


Image: Stéphane Mallarmé via Wikipedia.

Poetry Isn't as Useless as a Lot of Poets Say It Is. The Atlantic posted an interesting article about a recent speech at Yale that inadvertently sums up what's wrong with the art form these days: Its gatekeepers believe poetry matters because it's poetry, not because of what it says.Read article here.

IN DOG WE TRUST

Photo: lil_theezy via Instagram.
Hello dog lover,
Hope you're having a relaxing weekend! Here are some links to explore:

Elephant's best friend. 
Orphaned Elephant and Labrador play in the water


Beautiful wrapping paper.

Pet candles: Aromatherapy for pets.


Great campaign. Can you see the dog?


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

Maru Taro, the dog from the app!

Theo a.k.a lil_theezy
-

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

OUR WEEKLY PROCRASTINATION



Photo: The Source Family (2013) via Dazed.

Dazed and Tripping. Whenever you have a chance this month click on dazeddigital.com/tripping to take an spiritual journey watching some top documentaries of the world's most infamous cults. From the Sahara to Big Sur. Under the sea to higher than God. Good old anthropological procrastination guaranteed. Read Dazed article about this Cult Documentaries About Cults here.




Photo: Adhocracy via Lime Wharf website.

The Third Industrial Revolution is coming, and you can be part of it
By Marie James.

ADHOCRACY is an exhibition taking place at Lime Wharf, a new and very nice venue on Regent's canal / Victoria Park in Hackney, East London. The exhibition explores how new and democratized methods of production introduced by the Web and digital technologies - such as micro-blogging and 3D printing -  are stimulating a "cultural revolution". If most of those projects presented are still at the stage of prototypes, we leave the place understanding that it's definitely up to us to make this new ecosystem, made by and for the people, working at our own level. And they give you full of inspiration for that!

The exhibition opened Wednesday 4th September and runs until Saturday 12th October 2013
Hours: Tuesdays – Saturdays 11am – 8pm

ADHOCRACY on in the London DesignFestival: http://www.londondesignfestival.com/events/adhocracy




This past Thursday was Jarvis Cocker 50th birthday and for a belated celebration we recommend have a look at the BBC documentary The Story of Common People, the famous 1995 Pulp's song that reached number two on the UK singles charts. The phenomenon described on the song (the Greek girl that wanted to live 'like common people') was known as slumming or "class tourism". The song was written by the band members Nick Banks, Jarvis Cocker, Candida Doyle, Steve Mackey and Russell Senior. The documentary is online, just click here.

TO DO (OR NOT TO DO) LIST


Image: Documentary screenshot via Barbican website.

The London Nobody Knows. Part of Urban Wandering: Film and the London Landscape at the Barbican, there will be a rare screening of a precious document that reveals the underside of London in 1967. As the Barbican website states, James Mason acts as our guide to covert parts of the city, showing us places which, at that time, had survived the bulldozer. Street markets, entertainers and the homeless are seen as the camera tours locations such as the Bedford Theatre in Camden Town, the men’s toilets at Holborn station and Chapel Market. I've seen fragments of this documentary and it looks amazing, definitely a must seen. More info here, and the rest of the Urban Wandering program here.



Part of Festival of Neighbourhood Festival and London Wonderground, the Southbank Center presents the London Swing Dance Society promising 'a night of scintillating jazz, cool swing, hot jive and scorching rock'n'roll. The evening kicks off with beginners and intermediate lindy hop classes from 7.45pm to 8.30pm. Features a live band, swing DJs and a vintage dance cabaret'. More info here.

Photo by Maja Daniels & Anne Hovad Fisher: Life and play (working title), Night Contact's Grant Winners via Night Contact website.


Night Contact. This Friday 27th of September Contact Editions with the support of the Arts Council England, invite us to witness a variety of indoor and outdoor projections that will pop up across a range of venues in Dalston, East London, beaming out inspiring artworks for one night only. Night Contact aims to support and promote contemporary image making in an innovative, multidisciplinary and collaborative way. Also, there will be stalls, music, food and drink. Sounds interesting right? Read more info in Night Contact's website and see you Friday at Gillette Square! 

SUNDAY (SOME) TIMES



More monos by Germán here.



Sunday 15 September 2013

Procrastinator (some) Times Sunday 15th of September Edition

EDITORIAL

Autumn is here and so are a lot of interesting and exciting activities to compensate the Summer blues such as the London Design Festival, the Urban Wandering Film and the London Landscape at the Barbican, London Fashion Week and London Film Festival. Get your umbrellas ready and don't let yourself slip under the weather. Together we can make it.

We have some cool recommendations in our To Do List both in London and Liverpool, interesting innovation and design articles; a nice J.D. Sallinger written by Adam Gopnik in The New Yorker, in our Culture section; and News, concerning the end of the world and a cat that is a superstars. Maybe these two are related. Yes, definitely related.

Anyway.

Any cool stuff to recommend to your fellow procrastinators? Please share it with us. 

Have a nice Sunday and a nice read.


NEWS

Photo: Earth via The Independent.

This is an actual headline of The Independent: World's biggest brains get together to work out how to save us all from the end of the world. Yes! The end of the world is back. Not that it ever left us really. Some of the brains are: Lord Rees of Ludlow, the astronomer royal and past president of the Royal Society, who is also leading the initiative, Stephen Hawking, Cambridge philosopher Huw Price, economist Partha Dasgupta and the Harvard evolutionary geneticist George Church. Read full article in The Independent.


Photo: Google Street View screenshot via The Independent

G is for Galápagos. So, the Galapagos Islands have been mapped by Google Street View, allowing virtual explorers extraordinary access to Charles Darwin’s biological paradise and marking the 178th anniversary of the great British scientist’s ground-breaking journey of 1835. Read full article in The Independent.



Photo: Lil Bub and her “Dude” Mike Bridavsky by Ariel Zambelich via WIRED

 It's a cat's world. It might be me, but I think that (specially Internet) cats and dogs are relevant when it comes to procrastination. This time we are talking about Lil Bub, the cat that has gone from a shelter  to a massive online phenomenon. According to Wired this weird looking cat has '200,000-plus Instagram followers, millions of YouTube views, her own documentary, a book deal, a web TV show, and (if all goes well) an animatronic version of herself'. I like Grumpy Cat better. But apparently that's just me. If you want to know more about Lil Bub, read the full article in Wired.

SCIENCE

Photo via Spacetoday.org

Little Spacecraft That Could. On Thursday, scientists declared the Voyager spacecraft had become the first man-made object to exit the solar system, a breathtaking achievement that NASA could only fantasize about back when it was launched in 1977. Since its launch Voyager 1 has traveled over 11.7 billion miles, that is equivalent to traveling to the moon and back almost 25,000 times. Read more about it in The Independent.


Illustration: What is the 'god' particle? By Jordin Isip. Via Brainpickings.

Maria Popova of Brain Pickings proudly recommends the book: The Where, they Why and the How: 75 Artists Illustrate Wondrous Mysteries of Science, one of those amazing intersection of art and science. The guys behind Also Online "invited some of today’s most celebrated artists to create scientific illustrations and charts to accompany short essays about the most fascinating unanswered questions on the minds of contemporary scientists across biology, astrophysics, chemistry, quantum mechanics, anthropology, and more". More info and a short video in Brain Pickings.


Looking for a Plan B. Alok Jha, The Guardian's scientific correspondent writes about some of the measures that should be taken by world leaders if the rise in carbon emissions is not curbed within a couple of decade. Launching mirrors into space, triggering algal blooms in the oceans and seeding clouds are among experimental "Plan B" schemes. This is what astronomer royal Lord Rees calls: hacking the planet's climate through geoengineering. Read more in The Guardian.