The Procrastinator (some) Times

Sunday, 3 August 2014

DESIGN, BUSINESS & INNOVATION

Photo via The Guardian.

In the Comment is Free section of The Guardian H.R. Hennessy share his thoughts on how we are being dragged towards a tech-utopia that nobody wants. This is an extract of the article: "A divide is growing between the people who wholeheartedly embrace a radically new, radically self-centred vision of human life, and the people who do not. The internal lives of the tech elite, centred on the labour-saving innovations of Silicon Valley, are at odds with semi-atavistic conceptions of how people interact. Traditions and shared values are redundant, inefficient, and must be optimised out of existence.
The backlash against this world is democracy manifesting itself; a tacit rejection of the ideological assumptions underpinning the personal tech revolution. People want to define the structure of their own lives, and Silicon Valley's myriad product lines are an unwelcome intrusion into the way we live and interact with one another – and even the way we eat, sleep and procreate." Read full article in The Guardian. E.T.P. 6'

Image via The New York Times.

To accompany our new section we are sharing with you this little test in The New York Times that tests your fluency in emoji, given that seems to be a necessary skill these days, especially if you consider that over 200 new emojis were introduced by the Unicode Consortium last month. Give it a try! E.T.P. 3'

CULTURE & ENTERTAINMENT

Photo via Dazed Magazine.

Dazed Magazine has a summer project called States of Independence where they have invited their "favourite 30 American curators, magazines, creatives and institutions to takeover Dazed for a day." One of them is Kenneth Goldsmith, author of one of the books that helped shape my thesis, my thoughts around writing in the digital era, and justifies somehow the appropriation and re-contextualization used in the Procrastinator as a way of generating new content: "Uncreative Writing." According to Dazed, he is on a mission to tell us why we should care about poetry while featuring the diet poems of Mira González, as well as some Microsoft Word poems and found poems. In Dazed words: "artists are flocking to poetry these days precisely because it's an orphaned and evacuated space, ready to be repurposed with poetry that looks nothing like the kind of poetry you see (but don't read) drizzled across the pages of The New Yorker. Instead of sonnets, we see apps, image macros, hacked photoshopped images, found language, hardcore programming, and YouTube videos posing as poetry. Suddenly, poetry looks interesting again." Read full article and all the poems in Dazed Magazine. E.T.P. 12'

Photo: Chronicle of a summer. Jean Rouch & Edgar Morin, France 1961

The BFI polled 340 critics, programmers and filmmakers in the search for authoritative answers to the question: What are the greatest documentaries of all time? Nick James believes that one of the most remarkable things about the Top 50 documentaries list is that it feels so fresh. "One in five of the films chosen were made since the millennium, and to have a silent film from 1929 at the top of the list is an absolute joy. That allusive essay films feature so strongly throughout demonstrates that nonfiction cinema is not a narrow discipline but a wide open country full of explorers." Some of the documentaries are classics like Chronicle of a summer, The Thin Blue Line, Sans Soleil and, of course, Nanook of the North. On my side, I still have a lot of documentaries to see, which is of course, great news. Read the list with comments from the curators and prepare for a well documented summer here. E.T.P. Days (months?).

Images: stills from Emoji Among Us via Laughingsquid.

"Emoji Among Us” is a nature documentary parody by stock footage company Dissolve that explores the role of emoji in the world. The parody was inspired by the work of Sir David Attenborough, and features stock footage from Dissolve’s library. E.T.P. 2' http://laughingsquid.com/emoji-among-us-a-nature-documentary-parody-exploring-the-role-of-emoji-in-the-world/

ABC: ARTIST, BOOK, CELEBRITY

The ABC for artists, books, and celebrities to fight against my name literacy through writing and creating an aide-memoire with emojis (inspired by the german game 'Stadt-Land-Fluss').

By @carolinetruyol

The New Zealand born artist Billy Apple (now 78 years old) studied at The Royal College of Art in London and is one of the first artists to use neon lights in art work. Apple is best known for his involvement in the New York and London Pop art movements of the 1960s (see Four Billy Apple Trademark Classes at Frieze Magazine) and with the conceptual art movement in the 1970s (see 2 Minutes 33 seconds at the Auckland Art Gallery). He was included in the important 1964 exhibit 'The American Supermarket', a show held in Paul Bianchini's Upper East Side gallery. The show was presented as a typical small supermarket environment, except that everything in it - the produce, canned goods, meat, posters on the wall, etc., was created by prominent pop artist of the time, including Andy Warhol, Tom Wesselmann, Claes Oldenburg, and Jasper Johns.

OUR WEEKLY PROCRASTINATION

Musée Royaux's Central Hall.

View from the Museum Café.

The Café.

René Magritte Les Mots Et Les Images (poster outside the exhibition).

Exhibition entry hall. You cannot take photos inside the exhibition. Photos via The Procrastinator (some) Times.

Last week we had the opportunity of visiting the the Musée Royaux des Beaux-arts de Bruxelles, and we spend some great hours there. The museum is composed of different museums like the Fin-du-siecle Museum, the Old Masters Museum, the Modern Museum, and the Magritte Museum, that was the one I was looking forward to visit the most.

The Magritte Museum holds the largest Magritte collection in the world, from some of his most iconic paints, to sculptures, painted objects, music scores, letters, manifestos, a lot of photographs, painters that influenced him, and his advertising posters, something really interesting to see, giving you a thorough account of Magritte life, work and play, his thoughts on art, on surrealism, on language as a system of representation.

The exhibition is organized chronologically, starting with his constructivist period and his work with the '7 Arts' group; explores his discovery of Chirico and the surrealists; his trip to Paris and the return to Brussels; his impressionist period; and finally the last part of the Museum is entitled The enchanted Domain and is dedicated to Magritte's research into repetition and to the large Magrittian images focused around The Dominion of Light and The Domain of Arnheim. Currently, the museum is hosting one of the most emblematic works by Magritte: Personal Values (1952). The painting has been lent by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA).

I recommend to use the audio-guides to accompany you through the visit, there is a little chronology in the entry of every room, but after that you're pretty much on your own, specially if you don't speak French or Flemish.

To finish, one of the great Magritte's quotes that I wrote down in my little notepad, and a couple more wonderful paintings that you can see in the museum (via The Internet ;) ).

"Je déteste mon passé et celui des autres. Je déteste la résignation, la patience, l’héroïsme professionnel et tous les beaux sentiments obligatoires.

Je déteste aussi les arts décoratifs, le folklore, la publicité, la voix des speakers, l’aérodynamisme, les boyscouts, l’odeur du naphte, l’actualité et les gens saouls.

J’aime l’humour subversif, les tâches de rousseur, les genoux, les longs cheveux des femmes, les rêves des jeunes enfants en liberté, une jeune fille courant dans la rue.

Je souhaite l’amour vivant, l’impossible et le chimérique. Je redoute de connaître exactement mes limites."

Je ne vois pas la [femme] cachée dans la forêt, in La Révolution surréaliste, Paris, no.12, December 15th 1929. Via Musée Magritte.

André Breton, Qu’est-ce que le surréalisme?, Brussels, René Henriquez Editeur, 1934. Via Musée Magritte.


Personal Values, 1952. Via Musée Magritte.

The lovers, 1928. Via The Internet.

IN DOG WE TRUST

Photo: Franklin the Frenchie, via his Instagram.

Hello dog lover! Hope you're having a nice weekend!

Here are some links you might like:

Why do dogs run away?

This photographer wants you to see street dogs in a new light

100 dogs who changed civilization

Procter & Gamble sells most of its pet food brands to Mars

Dogs yawn more often in response to owners' yawns than strangers

Video of the week: How dogs react to human barking?

Enjoy your Sunday! And follow Franklin the Frenchie on Instagram

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

Sunday, 20 July 2014

The Procrastinator (some) Times Sunday 20th of July Edition

EDITORIAL

Dear friends, this is a very special edition for us, because is the Anniversary Edition (insert 'fiesta' emojis here). Yes, tomorrow is our birthday! A year has passed and we've come a long way (if you don't believe me, have a look at the First Edition.) Thanks to all the contributors, random collaborators, thank you for your feedback, for following us on Twitter, for sharing our articles, for letting us know that you enjoy and procrastinate by reading this little newspaper-ish edited with love for you.

This Anniversary Edition is also the official beginning of the summer in the Procrastinator HQ's (you know how it is, we do things in our own time), and that means that during the summer, the editions of the Procrastinator will be fortnightly and not weekly.

News about the situation in Gaza; about France and the elephant in the room: the race talk; and about London, who apparently is going to be the city most visited in the world in 2014 (hope that means you are coming to visit me!) In Science & Technology, flying cars can be real in just two years! In Design, Business & Innovation, explore the science of cool via Fast Company; and of course, in this edition we have to have an article about Grumpy Cat... or well, to be precise, Grumpy Cat's human. In Culture & Entertainment, Maria Konnikova on how to be a better online reader (very interesting!); George Clooney demonstrates he is monster-proof in his battle against the Daily Mail; also, you can brush up on your French with a nice flow-chart. In Dog We Trust celebrates with a summery edition, read it if you want to find out if animals have sense of humor, and also to have a look at the lovely dogs of the Instagram of the week because they are the best. Germán, prepared a very beautiful Sunday (Some) Times cartoon, I personally love it. Finally, one Special Section that we call Written Procrastination, from our lovely contributor Kerilyn Tacconi who send us for this edition a nice essay called Parallel Utopia, where she explores the possibility of escaping temporarily by not being where one is supposed to be. This is very close to the concept of procrastination as a mini-act of rebellion championed by David d'Equainville, creator of the Procrastination day.

Hope you enjoy our Anniversary Edition and get ready to celebrate tomorrow with us!

Happy Sunday, happy reading, happy summer, and if you STILL haven't done so, follow us on Twitter.

NEWS

Photo by Maha Shawan taken in Bit Hanon, Southern Gaza on Sunday July 13th via The Huffington Post.

Taken on Sunday in Bit Hanon in southern Gaza, it shows a little boy outside what remains of his home. The bittersweet picture shows despite the destruction around him, something as simple as a balloon is still able to bring a smile to his face.

Seumus Milne in The Guardian thinks that the idea that Israel is defending itself from unprovoked attacks is absurd and that certainly occupied people have the right to resist: "For the third time in five years, the world’s fourth largest military power has launched a full-scale armed onslaught on one of its most deprived and overcrowded territories. Since Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip began, just over a week ago, more than 200 Palestinians have been killed. Nearly 80% of the dead are civilians, over 20% of them children. Around 1,400 have been wounded and 1,255 Palestinian homes destroyed. So far, Palestinian fire has killed one Israeli on the other side of the barrier that makes blockaded Gaza the world’s largest open-air prison." Read full article in The Guardian. E.T.P. 5'

Bernard Avishai writes in The New Yorker: "We may think we have been here before, but we haven’t. The images of escalation are the same: exhaust tracing through Israeli skies; Gazans frantically picking through rubble; Israelis glued to their televisions, reduced to observers of spectacle, some poised to run for shelter but most affecting readiness, protected by rocket science and probability, fascinated by the deadpan proficiency of military officials whose mission may confuse them but to whom they suppose they owe their lives." read full article in The New Yorker. E.T.P. 6'

Thousands of people have marched through central London to call for an end to Israel's ground campaign and air strikes in Gaza. Protesters marched from Downing Street to the Israeli embassy in Kensington. A police blockade stopped them from gaining access. Whitehall, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly and Hyde Park Corner were closed. Before the event up to 15,000 people were expected to attend. Read full article in the BBC. E.T.P. 2'

Photo via The New Yorker.

Since I moved to London, the most multi-cultural city I've ever lived in, I started filling legal forms that asked for my race. Surprisingly (or maybe not), I don't fit into any of the UK default race descriptors, and I end up ticking the less friendly of all: "other mixed background". That's why it surprised me discovering that the French don't gather data about race. This very same fact makes Alexander Stille ask in The New Yorker: Can the French talk about race? "France, with its revolutionary, republican spirit of egalité, likes to think of itself as a color-blind society, steadfastly refusing, for example, to measure race, ethnicity, or religion in its censuses. And yet France is, undeniably, a multicultural, multi-ethnic, and multiracial society, and has been at least since the nineteen-fifties, when large waves of immigrants began arriving from its former colonies. It has significant problems of discrimination, and of racial and economic segmentation, but limited tools to measure or correct them. The obvious answer—to many American scholars and to some French ones—is to begin to gather better data." Read full article in The New Yorker. E.T.P. 3'

Photo via The Economist.

LONDON is likely to be the world's most-visited city this year, according to a forecast by Mastercard, a credit card company. It reckons that 18.7m foreign visitors will come to Britain's capital in 2014, not including those that use the city as a brief stop-over on the way to somewhere else. The firm thinks Bangkok, with 18.4m visitors, will be the second most popular, followed by Paris (15.6m), Singapore (12.5m) and Dubai (12m). Read full article in The Economist. E.T.P. 2' (And if you're planning to come and visit (me), hurry, you have exactly 3 months!)

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY


Photo via Fast Company.

Liz Taurasi writes in Fast Company: Flying Cars Predicted In Two Years: What Then? "Massachusetts-based company Terrafugia, which makes a car-plane hybrid called the Transition. Scheduled to debut in 2016 at an estimated cost of $279,000, the Transition is a street-legal car with wings that fold out to make an FAA-approved airplane." Read full article in Fast Company. E.T.P. 7'

DESIGN, BUSINESS & INNOVATION

Photo via Fast Company.

Great article by Eric Jaffe in Fast Cmpany about what makes one consumer design cool and others meh: The Science of Cool. "Take a look at the two water bottles above. The one on the left is pretty much your standard water bottle design: tall, clear, probably crinkly. The one on the right feels a bit less conventional, with its sleek aluminum shell shaped like an Erlenmeyer flask. In a survey of which is cooler, the bottle on the right would win right away, though both bottles serve the very same function. So what is it, exactly, that makes one design cooler than another? The difference is surprisingly tough to articulate. You might say it's because the bottle on the right is unconventional. But a water bottle shaped like a kangaroo would be unconventional, too, and you wouldn't necessarily consider it cool. There's more to it than just being different." Read full article in Fast Company. E.T.P. 5'

Photo via Fast Company.

And of course, our anniversary edition had to have an Internet celebrity cat news: "Tabatha Bundesen was a waitress at Red Lobster when her brother first posted a photo of her cat, Tarder Sauce, on Reddit. Soon the cat had become a meme. A couple of months later, she had an agent. Then she had a book deal, a beverage brand, a line of merchandise, and a Christmas movie on Lifetime.. “I am Grumpy Cat’s human,” Bundesen says when I ask her if she owns the cat." Read full article in Fast Company. E.T.P. 4'

CULTURE & ENTERTAINMENT

Illustration via The New Yorker.

Maria Konnikova writes in The New Yorker: "Soon after Maryanne Wolf published “Proust and the Squid,” a history of the science and the development of the reading brain from antiquity to the twenty-first century, she began to receive letters from readers. Hundreds of them. While the backgrounds of the writers varied, a theme began to emerge: the more reading moved online, the less students seemed to understand. There were the architects who wrote to her about students who relied so heavily on ready digital information that they were unprepared to address basic problems onsite. There were the neurosurgeons who worried about the “cut-and-paste chart mentality” that their students exhibited, missing crucial details because they failed to delve deeply enough into any one case. And there were, of course, the English teachers who lamented that no one wanted to read Henry James anymore. As the letters continued to pour in, Wolf experienced a growing realization: in the seven years it had taken her to research and write her account, reading had changed profoundly—and the ramifications could be felt far beyond English departments and libraries. She called the rude awakening her “Rip van Winkle moment,” and decided that it was important enough to warrant another book. What was going on with these students and professionals? Was the digital format to blame for their superficial approaches, or was something else at work?" Read full article in The New Yorker. E.T.P. 9'

Photo: Gearoge Clooney, via The New Yorker.

George Clooney, Monster-Proof. Lauren Collins writes an excellent piece in The New Yorker that will give more reasons to never read the Daily Mail again... if is the case that you still have that nasty little habit ;) Three great fragments of this excellent reading: "Until last week, when George Clooney excoriated the Daily Mail for fabricating a story about his future mother-in-law, the newspaper’s most prominent sworn enemy was Hugh Grant" . . . "The Mail is a machine for wasting reputations. Sometimes civilians are its fodder, “monstered” like so many recyclables that got thrown in with the garbage. The paper demonstrates particular efficiency and relish in shredding the character of celebrities" . . . "The Mail, like all bullies, has quieted down in the face of a fair fight. It doesn’t seem to have found even a mildly tawdry means to impugn Clooney’s motives, and the false story was not a triviality." Read full article in The New Yorker. E.T.P. 4'

Infographic (fragment) via LA Times.

If you're studying French, thinking of visiting Corsica this summer or if you just want to have a look at a nice infographic, our contributor Marie sent us this nice Bastille-Day flow chart to brush up our French a little. Allez! Have a look at the full chart in L.A. Times. E.T.P. 2'

Pages

Sunday, 3 August 2014

The ABC for artists, books, and celebrities to fight against my name literacy through writing and creating an aide-memoire with emojis (inspired by the german game 'Stadt-Land-Fluss').

Sunday, 20 July 2014