Procrastinator (some) Times Sunday 3rd of November Edition

EDITORIAL

It's already November... again. I know it's not only me who thinks (or feels) time is accelerating, and I also know it's not only me the one that cannot stop talking about it every time the month begins. I am working on this. I promise I won't mention December starting when December starts.

This edition of The Procrastinator is a compact but dense one. It includes articles about dictators in the Instagram era, sexist stereotypes in the era of hackers, the future of television in the era of Internet-based innovation, relationships in the era of Facebook and funerals in the era of Tumblr. We also have the second article of Andreína's Photoautomat, featuring the work of Irving Penn.

Hope you like this week's edition, happy reading!


NEWS

Photo via SyrianPresidency Instagram account

Did you know that Bashar al-Assad has an Instagram account? I didn't. I discover that thanks to this great article by Emily Greenhouse in The New Yorker called Dictators in the Age of Instagram. Social media, says Greenhouse, poses a problem for restrictive regimes, judging by the measures and laws imposed by countries like China, Belarus, Iran, China, and others. But that is not the only issue. "What does a social-media company do when a user known to be attacking civilians is blasting out feel-good content?" Greenhouse posed that question to Instagram about Assad’s user stream. If you want to know the answer, read full article in The New Yorker.

"We've hacked so many other spaces in our lives -- how we date, have babies -- and yet this space, gender objectification, remains stagnant." That's part of the lecture that actor and writer Natascha McElhone gave at Wired 2013. According to Wire's article, McElhone's feelings are shared by many of the women that make up 66 percent of our world's population, sexism is the norm, yes, but the good news is that lately we've been changing a lot of rules. Read full article in Wired and let's hack some gender stereotypes!

SCIENCE

Image: A graphical representation of one person’s network neighborhood on Facebook.
Cameron Marlow/Facebookvia New York Times.

So, love is not written in the stars but in your Facebook profile. Or at least that's what Cornell University's computer scientist Jon Kleinberg, and senior engineer at Facebook, Lars Backstrom, argue to have found. According to the New York Times "the pair used a hefty data set from Facebook as their lab: 1.3 million Facebook users, selected randomly from among all users who are at least 20 years old, with from 50 to 2,000 friends, who list a spouse or relationship partner in their profile. That makes for a lot of social connections to analyze, roughly 379 million nodes and 8.6 billion links. The data was used anonymously." Read full article here. E.T.P.: 3'20''

Photo: The Procrastinator (some) Times.

Memory is tricky. Most of us probably already experience that feeling of remembering something vividly but being unable to distinguish if that something is an actual memory or a dream. Well that happens to me, I always hoped it happens to someone else, and apparently so it is. Maria Popova recollects in a Brain Pickings' article some interesting reflections about memory, forgetting, plagiarism and creativity made by neurologist Oliver Sacks: "It is startling to realize that some of our most cherished memories may never have happened — or may have happened to someone else. I suspect that many of my enthusiasms and impulses, which seem entirely my own, have arisen from others’ suggestions, which have powerfully influenced me, consciously or unconsciously, and then been forgotten." Read full article here. E.T.P.: 8'.

DESIGN, BUSINESS & INNOVATION

Photo via Wikipedia.

Architect and writer Sam Jacob in his latest and very interesting Opinion column in Dezeen magazine, argues that objects tell us more about ourselves than literature or imagery and sets out his manifesto for understanding objects and for "a culture of design informed by archeology and anthropology". Sounds quite logical, right? Read full article in Dezeen.

Photo: Flickr user Aaron Coe via Fast Company.

What is innovation? David Brier in his latest article in Fast Company connected the dots between some iconic lectures and manifestos of three innovators: Richard Branson, Steve Jobs and Seth Godin and, discover one common action defining and promoting innovation: connecting the dots. Read his article here.

CULTURE & ENTERTAINMENT

Photo: shutterstock images via INC.

Scott Jones in his article in INC. raise the question what's the future of television in the era of Internet-based innovation. "Once upon a time, the entertainment industry had discreet business segments that rarely overlapped. If you wanted to see a movie (and this week's newsreel), you went to the corner cinema. If you wanted to watch television (on one of just three national networks), you sat in front of the big box and watched what the networks said you could, when they said you could. If you wanted to hear the latest music, you turned on the radio". Read full article in INC.

Photo: Selfies at Funerals via VICE.

Sophie Heawood writes an insightful article for VICE called: The selfies at funerals Tumblr tell us a lot about death. I didn't know that such a Tumblr exists, but somehow I am not surprised. "The problem with death, as I’m sure you’ll agree, is that people don’t take enough photographs of it. Which is why I have been looking at the Selfies at Funerals tumblr every day this week, transfixed by teenagers posing in front of their own phones, documenting their deep sadness (deep hotness) at a death in the family. These mini mourners face the camera, their faces sombre, their clothes surprisingly revealing for a day of death. Meanwhile, their captions reveal that Grandpa Bob, in a coffin somewhere in the background, has shuffled off this mortal coil. Beneath the caption they write a series of #hashtags, designed to attract the maximum number of new followers at this sensitive time in their lives." That's how Sophie's article starts, read full article in VICE.

Photograph: Titan Books via The Guardian.

Inside Guillermo Del Toro's sketchbooks. A new book by the Pan's Labyrinth and Pacific Rim director reveals how some of his most memorable monsters came to life. Have a look at some pages with commentary by Steve Rose in The Guardian.

PHOTOAUTOMAT

Marcel Duchamp, New York, 1948. The Morgan Library & Museum; 
Gift of Irving Penn; 2007.14.

 Georgia O'Keeffe, New York, 1948. The Morgan Library & Museum; Purchased as the gift of Richard L. Menschel
and with the support of The Horace W. Goldsmith Fund for Americana and The Margaret T. Morris Fund; 2007.67,

Marlene Dietrich, December 23, 1948. Courtesy of The Irving Penn Foundation.

 Igor Stravinsky, New York, April 22, 1948. Courtesy of The Irving Penn Foundation.

Joe Louis, New York, February 15, 1948. Courtesy of The Irving Penn Foundation.

Truman Capote (1948) by Irving Penn. © The Irving Penn Foundation. Exhibiting at Pace MacGill in The Art Show

Irving Penn - Portraits

1917 - 2009

Whenever I think of the name Irving Penn, old school fashion photography and Vogue comes to my mind. Nevertheless his legacy covers much more than that; from the numerous and also famous portraits, nudes, ethnographic studies, to his series of Still Live.

I want to focus on the "Portraits in a corner: 1948" that he created in the 90˚ intersection of two walls where the subjects had to place themselves. In a quote that I found on the web about this series, Penn says that the result of this peculiar placement was a very rich series of pictures. "This confinement, surprisingly seemed to comfort people, soothing them. The walls were a surface to lean or to push against. For me the picture possibilities were interesting: limiting the subjects' movement seemed to relieve me of part of the problem of holding on to them."

When I first saw these photos I wasn't really sure they all looked "soothing" but if you've ever been in front of a camera for a portrait session, you'll know that it could be an extremely awkward experience, so maybe you'll may find a small corner where you can get a "hug", friendlier than a large empty space.

One of the things I love more about this series, worth paying close attention, is the way people place themselves on the space, and what does that says about who they are, and how they felt. Alexander Lieberman, Editorial Director of Conde Nast Publications 1962-1994 and former employer of Penn labeled this series of portraits as "existencial images . . . in harmony with the tormenting isolation of [Samuel] Beckett." 

You can read more in Vicky Goldberg's article for The New Yorker Penn is difficult: 'Can't You Tell?'

And you want more info about Irving Penn visit these:

http://fraenkelgallery.com/exhibitions/portraits-in-a-corner-1948

http://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/penn.asp

Irving Penn - Voguepedia

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

IN DOG WE TRUST

It's been a busy day for La Guía del Perro so there's no In Dog We Trust this week,

but Carola and Obi-Wan will be back next week with better, faster, harder, stronger post. 

Watch this space!

OUR WEEKLY PROCRASTINATION

Dr. Uwe Krueger. Photo The Procrastinator (some) Times.

This week we attend two great events, the first one, on Tuesday a lecture entitled Imagination: the key to engineering the future, produced by the Royal Society of Engineering and London Science Festival. Atkins' CEO Prof Dr Uwe Krueger talked about how we have to look for grand challenges and face every project, regardless how big or small is our company, in a multicultural / open-minded way using two powerful tools: imagination and collaboration. It was a very insightful evening and a very satisfactory experience to be able to listen to several scientists and heavy-weight executives talk about the future in the same terms some well known entrepreneurs, creative, and artists do. More info in the London Science Festival website and in Atkins website.

Mr. David Power singing and entertaining us while the evening begin.

White Chapel Market image by The Gentle Author.

The Gentle Author and Henrietta Keeper.

On Thrusday we lived a Night in Old London in Antique Beat's Salon No.10 at the Westminster Arts Reference Library. During the night we reviewed some amazing photographs of old London, compiled by the Gentle Author, curator of the blog Spitafields Life, and we had the pleasure on listening stories by singer Henrietta Keeper (87 years old) and pianist and boxer David Power (80 years old). These two also sang and played for us. It was a truly lovely night. Watch out for November's Salon, info is already in their blog.

TO DO (OR NOT TO DO) LIST

Photo: Fireworks at Alexandra Palace via The Guardian.

Remember, remember that Bonfire Night celebrations started this past Friday but there will be some going on until the actual 5th of November. The Guardian lists where you can go to celebrate Guy Fawkes Night. Have a look here.

Screenshot from Internet Week Europe website.

Also, even if Internet Week is not next week, if you want to assist to any of the events you should book your tickets NOW. Go ahead and have a look at the itinerary, venues and speakers of this "week-long festival celebrating Europe's thriving Internet industry & community", clicking here.

Pau Sampera at Beach London via Beach London's Tumblr.

Finally this Thrusday 7th of November is the opening of Spanish illustrator Pau Sampera's Draw a Penis AND Run Away at Beach London. This exhibition will present a body of new painting and sculpture by Sampera, who has recently moved to, and has been working in, London.
Have a look at the expo details in the Facebook event.

PROCRASTINATION PIN OF THE WEEK

 

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