“Every bloody street I look down, I see nothing but misery, nothing but monsters.”
Everybody reacts to New York, but from the brief period that I lived there, I can’t say I have the same visceral response to the city as Henry Miller does. Of course, this is Henry Miller we’re talking about. And he sure is fun to listen to:
Warning: language NSFW
(go here for an additional, longer video of Miller pontificating in his bathroom.)
In a piece titled “‘Charlie Rose’ by Samuel Beckett,” filmmaker Andrew Filippone Jr. splices together footage from a single episode of the famous PBS program, replacing the interviewee with a second interviewer. The result is a wonderful bit of postmodern minimalism (hence the Beckett reference) that’s equally absurd and disturbing.
From the artist’s description:
Something has happened to PBS favorite “Charlie Rose.” The erudite conversations and sober intellectualism have been replaced by an absurd world where illogic, inane dialogues, and open hostility rule. The one-on-one interview between Charlie and his guest begins as usual but quickly goes awry, so much so that Charlie is warned that, somewhere, a man named “Steve” is “not happy.” Though this seemingly random statement might confuse us, Charlie understands it for what it is — a threat. But who is “Steve” and why is he angry? And why does the mere mention of his name stop Charlie cold?
The Vienna Vegetable Orchestra, founded in 1999, makes all their instruments out of — you guessed it — vegetables. The music they make is truly impressive, ranging from Jazz to Electronica to Dub, all played with hollowed out carrots, cucumberphones and leek violins.
Check out their website for photos of their instruments and audio samples.
Today’s post doesn’t have any audio. Sorry. Too much stuff to do. But — I do have some tech news you would probably like to know about. Am I right? Am I right?
It’s called Groovle. Based in Ontario, Groovle allows you to create a custom Google homepage (provided that you like to use a basic Google search page without widgets).
Groovle has a bunch of custom pages they have already designed, with images ranging from planets to half-naked celebrities. You can also upload your own image and create a homepage with a photo of your choice. I’m surprised it took so long for someone to come up with a way to create custom homepages for people who don’t know how to make custom Google search engines.
We all know about the largely reported stories this week: The GAO’s less than stellar assessment of the situation in Iraq, Nawaz Sharif’s impending return to General Mr. Musharraf’s Pakistan, and - gasp! - Burning Man’s premature burning. We even got nonstop obsession with Miss Teen South Carolina (who, by the way, is of course milking it for all she can).
But chances are you missed these stories: the first reporter is allowed inside the Terrorist Screening Center, dogs hunt down pirated DVDs, and graffiti for the blind.
More on:
NPR story on the Terrorist Screening Center here.
DVD-sniffing dogs here.
Braille Graffiti project (with video) here.
(audio clip from Dr. Strangelove)
