PBS: The Movie, a PBS Meets The Avengers parody short
Steven Hudson of Cinesaurus, who produced this excellent nerd short, says: It seems that we live in a world where more young people aspire to be future Kardashians and Jersey Shore-folk rather than scientists, teachers, and artists. With recurring threats of tossing PBS onto the federal chopping block, the final hope for our future rests [...] More
Video of recursive hand illusions
"Screengrab" by Willie Witte. "None of the visuals are computer generated. All the trickery took place literally in front of the camera." More
How to barf in space
"How do you upchuck if there is no up or down? ISS commander Chris Hadfield explains what astronauts do if they have to vomit." More information on this very important skill for space travelers here. More
Repo Man: Criterion release and interview with director Alex Cox
Here's Alex Cox, director of Repo Man (1984), interviewed recently by psychotronic film buff and master poster artist Jay Shaw. Criterion just re-released Repo Man on DVD and Blu-ray, featuring original package art by Shaw and Tyler Stout of Austin's Mondo Gallery scene. Repo Man: Criterion Collection edition (via Mondo) More
HOWTO make a HAL9000
With just a few steps, you can turn one of Adafruit's Massive Red Arcade Button kits into a working (ish) HAL9000 computer: Devoted film fans will spend countless hours and hundreds of dollars (occasionally even thousands) to create flawless replica props for their personal collections. The iconic eye of HAL 9000 from 2001: a Space [...] More
Bruce Sterling on startups' role in helping the global rich get richer
Bruce Sterling's speech from NEXT Berlin is a blast of cold air on the themes of startup life, disruption, and global collapse. Bruce excoriates the startup world for its complicity with the conspiracy of the global investor class to vastly increase the wealth of a tiny minority, and describes the role that "design fiction" has [...] More
Video about Judith, the strange pregnant "barbie doll" from 1992
Attaboy of Hi-Fructose Magazine started a new video series called "They Actually Made That!" to showcase strange toys from history. This episode is about Judith, a pregnant Barbie knock-off, complete with spring-loaded baby. And if you really want your own Judith to play with, here you go! More
Building a Human: new retrofuturist short by Robert Popper and Peter Serafinowicz
Robert Popper (electrocuted) and Peter Serafinowicz (electrocuted) are back with a new "instructional film made by The Visitors for Human Collaborators on Edité-Frignim (Earth)." Markets of Britain, a short film by Lee Titt Peter Serafinowicz has a new book out Looking back at Look Around You with Popper and Serafinowicz ... Peter Serafinowicz: Boing Boing [...] More
US government sends itself a takedown notice over JFK documentary: you decide what to do!
One agency of the federal government has issued a takedown notice to
another agency of the federal government, which in turn demanded that
we remove a film from the Internet. More
Guatemala: "A Trial of Two Languages," video update from the Rios Montt genocide tribunal
This video "captures that extraordinary moment when Judge Barrios ruled to continue the trial." More
Which is more painful? Childbirth vs. Getting kicked in the nuts
One thing we can agree on: They both hurt an awful lot. More
Oh, the perils of being a reporter on the marijuana beat, which include getting very high
An important lesson about unique occupational hazards More
Snooper's Charter is dead! (for now)
The UK Communications Data Bill -- AKA the "Snooper's Charter," a sweeping, totalitarian universal Internet surveillance bill that the Conservative government had sworn to pass -- is dead! More