Boing Boing » David Pescovitz

Space food

David Pescovitz — Thu, 23 May 2013 17:55:27 +0000

Y'know "Astronaut Ice Cream" that's a favorite at science museum gift shops everywhere? I shouldn't be surprised, but astronauts don't eat the stuff. Freeze-dried ice cream was on the Apollo 7 menu but apparently the astronauts hated it so much that it never made it on future missions. (The same outfit that makes the Astronaut Ice Cream also sell a Mission Pack Space Food Sampler filled with other foods that astronauts probably don't eat.) The new issue of Smithsonian magazine examines the space food collection at the National Air and Space Museum, the place where, like many of you I'm sure, I had my first taste of "astronaut ice cream." From Smithsonian:

Like a kid’s lunchbox at the end of the school day, the collection Levasseur administers is in some ways a barometer of failed foods. That is, leftovers—freeze-dried packets returned to Earth, unopened and summarily rejected. (Three signature NASM examples are on offer here : beef-barbecue cubes, fruitcake and coffee with cream—unused from Neil Armstrong’s meal allotments, avoided during the Apollo 11 mission to the Moon he commanded in 1969.) “We have a lot of instant breakfasts,” she says. “I get the feeling these were the kinds of guys who just woke up and drank coffee.” Foods transformed into totally unrecognizable forms also fared poorly—which may explain the failure of astronaut ice cream. “There was a ‘bacon bar’ that looks something like a granola bar,” adds Levasseur. “We have quite a lot of those.”
Conversely, there tend to be fewer of those items that did prove popular: hot dogs, spaghetti and meatballs, shrimp cocktail.

"Unpack a Meal of Astronaut Space Food"

Brandon Schaefer's "Logan's Run" and "Iron Man III" posters

David Pescovitz — Thu, 23 May 2013 17:27:08 +0000

Excellent alternative movie posters for Logan's Run and Iron Man III by Brandon Schaefer. Many prints of Brandon's work can be purchased online.

Date Palms' "Yuba Reprise"

David Pescovitz — Thu, 23 May 2013 16:40:20 +0000

A lovely video complement to the sun-bleached minimalist psychedelia of Date Palms' "Yuba Reprise," from their album "The Dusted Sessions" due out next month on Thrill Jockey. Gorgeous. I'll be grabbing the limited edition "dusted pink" vinyl seen at right.

Westeros (Game of Thrones) built in Minecraft

David Pescovitz — Thu, 23 May 2013 15:46:22 +0000

Here's a Time video about Jacob Granberry's effort to build Westeros, from Game of Thrones, in Minecraft. More at WesterosCraft. (Thanks, Ben Cosgrove!)

Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" music video

David Pescovitz — Thu, 23 May 2013 04:15:36 +0000

Somebody leaked the video for Daft Punk's "Get Lucky!" (Thanks, Gabe Adiv!)

Nikola Tesla pitches VCs

David Pescovitz — Wed, 22 May 2013 17:54:28 +0000

Nikola Tesla pitches some Silicon Valley venture capitalists. Perfect. (Thanks, Gabe Adiv!)

Oral history of heavy metal

David Pescovitz — Wed, 22 May 2013 17:24:05 +0000

Louder Than Hell: The Definitive Oral History of Metal is the shocking, insane, brutal, and fascinating story of heavy metal music told by those who lived it, from Black Sabbath (above), Anthrax, and Slayer, to Megadeth, Metallica, and Iron Maiden. Here's a taste:

ROGER MIRET (Agnostic Front): In the mid-'80s, there wasn't much difference between metal and hardcore scenes. Everyone dressed in black, everyone was walking out of step with society, because whether you were a punk rocker, a skinhead, a hardcore kid, or a metal dude, you didn't fit in. You were a weirdo, and nobody's mother wanted their kids hanging out with you.
PETER STEELE: (Type O Negative, Carnivore): [Carnivore's second album, 1987's] Retaliation was extremely influenced by my discovery of hardcore music at CBGB in '85 and '86. What I strived to do was create an album that was half Black Sabbath and half Cro-Mags, Agnostic Front, Murphy's Law, Sheer Terror, Black Flag, stuff like that. I loved the heaviness, the slowness, the dirge of Sabbath. But at the same time, going to CBGB on Sundays for the matinee, there was so much unbelievable energy in there. It didn't even matter if bands were not in tune.
MIRET: All these bands like Anthrax and Metallica would come and see us at CBGB. It was like the welcoming home of all these bands, and I think meeting each other and seeing each other's bands really cemented the crossover scene...
SCOTT IAN (Anthrax, S.O.D.): I used to go to the CBGB hardcore matinees and that got me totally into Agnostic Front, C.O.C., and D.R.I. You'd have all these hardcore and metal kids coming together to see these bands and there were definitely fights, but at the same time you felt this sense of community.
HARLEY FLANAGAN (Cro-Mags): If it were not for Venom and Motörhead, the Cro-Mags would not have sounded the way we did. I was hanging out with violent skinheads with crazy pentagrams and swastikas tattooed all over them, listening to Venom and Discharge, huffing glue, trying to invoke demons.

Louder Than Hell: The Definitive Oral History of Metal (Amazon)

The Oral History of NYC's Metal/Hardcore Crossover (book excerpt in the Village Voice)

Vintage photos related to bugs

David Pescovitz — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:49:59 +0000

House of Mirth asked dedicated vernacular photo collectors to share their favorite vintage snapshots with an insect theme. Above is Robert Jackson's pick. Right is a snap from Pat Street's archives. "Bugs - They fly, bite and pester & sometimes people take photos of them"

Augmented reality game about NYC's Jewish cultural history

David Pescovitz — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:31:29 +0000

I think one of the most fascinating uses of augmented reality is to reveal the "secret histories" of neighborhoods, buildings, and other locations when you are actually in those spaces. Jewish Time Jump: New York is a new mobile AR game meant to teach young people about New York City's rich cultural history of Jewish immigration and the women's and labor movements of the early 20th century. Jewish Time Jump was created by ConverJent, a nonprofit focused on Jewish learning games, with a grant from the Covenant Foundation, a Jewish education group. I haven't played Jewish Time Jump yet but it is a finalist in the 2013 Games for Change Awards for "Most Innovative." From The Jewish Week:

In a 21st-century twist on the scavenger hunt, players find the requisite clues by physically moving to locations inside and across the street from (Washington Square Park), which is adjacent to the building that once housed the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. (Today it, like most of the buildings surrounding the park, is part of New York University.) As players move from location to location, archival photos, events and characters appear on their mobile devices, triggered by GPS technology. Students also view historical documents — such as old Yiddish newspaper pages (with translations) and flyers — on their mobile devices as they play…
Asked why he chose an episode of labor history — the game deals with the New York shirtwaist strike of 1909, also known as the Uprising of the 20,000 — as opposed to another Jewish topic, (ConverJent founder Rabbi Owen Gottlieb) said that immigrant history is “already a part of many schools’ curricula” and that he liked how this topic incorporated women’s history and provided “fascinating conflict.”

Jewish Time Jump: New York

"Touch-Screen Time Travel In The Park" (The Jewish Week)

Man's attempt to videotape ghosts proves something more shocking

David Pescovitz — Wed, 22 May 2013 15:43:38 +0000

A Tasmanian fellow set up a video camera in his kitchen to capture images of what he believed to be paranormal activity. When he later reviewed the video, he saw his common law wife making out with (drumroll) his 16-year-old son. The young man revealed that they had sex several times. From The Mercury:

The woman had been under the mistaken impression the age of consent was 16 and was ashamed and embarrassed at her conduct and was working on reconciling with her former partner.
"She accepts this is not a relationship which can or will continue," he told the court.
Justice David Porter remanded the woman in custody and will sentence her on Monday.

"Woman filmed with stepson"

NASA solar flare video with Lars Leonhard music

David Pescovitz — Tue, 21 May 2013 19:56:11 +0000

NASA released this stunning video of two powerful X-class solar flares erupting off the upper left side of the sun earlier this month. (Background here.) The images come from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and from the ESA/NASA Solar Heliospheric Observatory. The music is by Duesseldorf-based ambient composer Lars Leonhard whose track Thunderbolt was featured in an equally-magificient video of the sun's corona captured by the SDO and released earlier this year. Watch that video below. Leonhard's debut album, 1549, inspired by the US Airways flight that famously hit a flock of geese and was ditched in the Hudson River, is available from Forced Exposure.

HOWTO make a "Swiss Army knife" key ring

David Pescovitz — Tue, 21 May 2013 19:02:08 +0000

I have an annoyingly bulky key ring. I frequently clip it to my belt like a janitor, but this DIY "Swiss Army Key Ring" seems like a nice alternative. However, it does mean giving up car remote fobs. Swiss Army Key Ring (Instructables)

Video: museum home of Oddities' Ryan Matthew Cohn

David Pescovitz — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:11:08 +0000

The always-excellent Midnight Archive visits artist and Oddities host Ryan Matthew Cohn and his massive collection of skulls, shrunken heads, and other curiosities.

Scotty Albrecht: new art show in Brooklyn with Damian Silver

David Pescovitz — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:02:37 +0000

Designer/woodworker/typographer Scotty Albrecht has a new show of wood and paper works opening at Brooklyn's Colab Projects this Saturday, May 25. The show, titled "Wood & Pulp," is a two person exhibition that pairs Albrecht with Damion Silver. Both artists are inspired by handcrafting techniques and masterfully employ found objects in their work. I'm fortunate to have two of Albrecht's pieces in my home, including the wood heart/hands seen here, and they bring me great joy every day. Above, wood (left) and paper (right) pieces by Albrecht; at right, a wood mandala by Silver. Wood & Pulp runs until June 23. "Wood & Pulp: New Works By Damion Silver and Scotty Albrecht"

Daft Punk: Does good music need to be good?

David Pescovitz — Tue, 21 May 2013 17:46:59 +0000

In the New Yorker, Sasha Frere-Jones on Daft Punk's "Random Access Memories":

Daft Punk’s fourth studio album, “Random Access Memories,” is an attempt to make the kind of disco record that they sampled so heavily for “Discovery.” As such, it serves as a tribute to those who came before them and as a direct rebuke to much of what they’ve spawned. Only intermittently electronic in nature, and depending largely on live musicians, it is extremely ambitious, and as variable in quality as any popular album you will hear this year. Noodly jazz fusion instrumentals? Absolutely. Soggy poetry and kid choirs? Yes, please. Clichés that a B-list teen-pop writer would discard? Bring it on. The duo has become so good at making records that I replay parts of “Random Access Memories” repeatedly while simultaneously thinking it is some of the worst music I’ve ever heard. Daft Punk engages the sound and the surface of music so lovingly that all seventy-five loony minutes of “Random Access Memories” feel fantastic, even when you are hearing music you might never seek out. This record raises a radical question: Does good music need to be good?

"Back to Earth: Daft Punk's puzzling new album." (New Yorker)

Daft Punk: Random Access Memories (Amazon)

Monster made from taxidermied deer's butt

David Pescovitz — Mon, 20 May 2013 21:30:53 +0000

This pleasantly creepy fellow was once the tail end of a deer. Adam Wallacavage encountered him at Prof. Ouch's Bizarre Bazaar & Odditorium in Philadelphia.

History of the cuckoo clock

David Pescovitz — Mon, 20 May 2013 18:56:53 +0000

Over at Smithsonian, Jimmy Stamp shares a brief history of the cuckoo clock, likely invented in 17th century Germany.

After a century of development that saw wood replaced with brass and metal, two distinct styles of cuckoo clock emerged from the Black Forest to dominate the market: The ornamented, house-like “Bahnhäusleuhr” or “railroad house” and the Jagdstück” or “Hunt piece” or “traditional style” clock, which features elaborate, decorative hand carved nature scenes adorning a simple encasement…
So why a cuckoo? The common cuckoo, native to Europe, had long served as a natural marker of time, a welcome harbinger of Spring whose familiar calls denoted the coming of the new season and warmer weather.

"The Past, Present, and Future of the Cuckoo Clock"

Optical illusion: train moves both ways

David Pescovitz — Mon, 20 May 2013 18:45:39 +0000

Which way is the train going? Magic from just four frames! (It's a real train station so of course there is an actual answer, but that's no fun.) (via Neatorama)

Canvas print of a couch doubles as a couch

David Pescovitz — Mon, 20 May 2013 18:29:12 +0000

Japanese design firm YOY created this print of a sofa that can be used as a sofa. The image is printed on a very elastic fabric on a wood and aluminum frame. When it's leaned against a wall, you can sit in it. They also made a stool and armchair. CANVAS (via Laughing Squid)

HOWTO survive an elephant charge

David Pescovitz — Mon, 20 May 2013 18:01:18 +0000

And if you don't know, now you know.

Amanda Visell's Ren & Stimpy carved wood figurines

David Pescovitz — Mon, 20 May 2013 17:22:15 +0000

Amanda Visell hand-carved an excellent collection of Ren & Stimpy sculptures. To give you a sense of the scale, Ren is 2" x 8" x 3". The set of five is $2,200 from iam8bit.

Free stream: The Source Family soundtrack of 1970s cult psychedelia

David Pescovitz — Wed, 15 May 2013 18:43:34 +0000

The Source Family was a radical, utopian social experiment that emerged from the Los Angeles freak scene in the 1970s. Operating out of a hip health food restaurant owned by judo master/bank robber/accused murderer Jim Baker, aka Father Yod, The Source Family was everything you could want in a post-hippie, West Coast outsider spiritual trip. And they had a rock band too! Thanks to our pal Jodi Wille and Maria Demopoulos's absolutely fantastic new documentary now in theaters about Father Yod and his "children," interest in The Source Family and their band, Ya Ho Wa 13, has never been greater. The film, titled The Source Family: A Documentary, was inspired by The Source: The Story of Father Yod, Ya Ho Wa 13 and the Source Family, written by family members Isis Aquarian and Electricity Aquarian, edited by Jodi, and published by our pals Process Media. To complete the full transmedia Source Family experience, Drag City is releasing The Source Family soundtrack, a collection of choice tunes from the nine albums that The Source Family recorded between 1973 and 1974. Boing Boing is pleased to premier this free stream of the entire album, The Source Family soundtrack, available next week on CD and, of course, vinyl. Far fucking out.

Death Cab For Cutie to perform Transatlanticism live

David Pescovitz — Tue, 14 May 2013 20:29:10 +0000

BB pals Death Cab For Cutie are celebrating the tenth anniversary of their stunning fourth studio album, Transatlanticism, by performing it live in its entirety at the Bumbershoot music and arts festival in Seattle, September 1. Above is a live version of the title track which has become the quintessential closer at DCfC live shows.

And don't miss the recent episode of our GWeek podcast where Mark and I talked with Death Cab bassist Nick Harmer! "Gweek 088: Nick Harmer of Death Cab for Cutie"

Vintage behind-the-scenes photos at the American Museum of Natural History

David Pescovitz — Tue, 14 May 2013 19:44:30 +0000

From the American Museum of Natural History's excellent photo archive. Seen above, a millipede installing a model of a man in "The Forest Floor" diorama, 1958. (Thanks, Stacey Ransom!)

Believe it or not, a new biography of Robert Ripley

David Pescovitz — Tue, 14 May 2013 18:25:22 +0000

The old Ripley's Believe it or Not newspaper comic had a huge and lasting impact on me as a youngster. Neal Thompson has just published his new biography of Ripley, titled "A Curious Man: The Strange and Brilliant Life of Robert “Believe It Or Not!” Judging by Megan Abbot's lengthy review in the Los Angeles Review of Books, it sounds like terrific read!

An intrepid, curious traveler, Ripley roamed not just to see renowned wonders and not just to drink and tomcat (though he would do both, vigorously, through his entire life), but to unearth the unusual, the hidden, the specific. His travel dispatches, laden with stereotypes of the day, reflect Ripley’s private obsessions — in particular, “the inexplicable things people did for their gods,” particularly if they appeared, to American eyes, grotesque, such as the man Ripley dubs the “Hanging Hindu,” an adherent dangling from a tree via a hook stuck in his back.
Ripley’s complicated relation to “the Other” is one Thompson explores in depth. He locates in Ripley a genuine desire to burrow into the cultures he explores and share the glories and mysteries of other places. But, in large part, the comic’s success hinged on Ripley’s expert skill not at penetration but at sensationalization.

"A Curious Man: The Strange and Brilliant Life of Robert “Believe It Or Not!” (Amazon)

"Megan Abbott on A Curious Man: The Strange and Brilliant Life of Robert “Believe It Or Not!” Ripley" (Los Angeles Review of Books)

For sale: "Rocking Machine" phallic sculpture from A Clockwork Orange

David Pescovitz — Mon, 13 May 2013 20:58:46 +0000

Japanese designer toy firm Medicom worked with Herman Makkink to recreate an edition of his iconic sculpture "The Rocking Machine," famously seen in the film A Clockwork Orange. It's almost three feet long and more than a foot wide. You can have one one of your very own for $1600 or so. "The Rocking Machine" (via Death Waltz Recording Company)

Kool & The Gang's "Summer Madness" (1975)

David Pescovitz — Mon, 13 May 2013 19:49:30 +0000

From the February 22, 1975 episode of Soul Train, the marvelous jam "Summer Madness" by Kool & The Gang, whose slick suits beat robot helmets any year.

Musicians in their studios

David Pescovitz — Mon, 13 May 2013 19:04:02 +0000

The Wire posted a small photo gallery of electronic and avant-garde musicians and their studios, including Atom, Pierre Henry, and Terry Riley. Above, JG "Foetus" Thirlwell's Brooklyn studio photographed by Daniëlle van Ark. At right, Madlib at home in Los Angeles, shot byJeremy & Claire Weiss. "Studio Envy"

Phenomenal styrofoam cup art

David Pescovitz — Mon, 13 May 2013 18:32:54 +0000

This exquisitely-illustrated styrofoam cup is reportedly the work of an artist named William Hersey. More photos. (via Reddit)

Merman from whale tooth

David Pescovitz — Mon, 13 May 2013 18:11:19 +0000

German sculptor Martin Bässler carved this lovely merman from a sperm whale tooth. (via Propnomicon)