How the Academy Awards slant our views of movies
This has nothing to do with exalting the best films have to offer in a given year—and worse, it’s unfair to a movie like The Artist, which deserves better than to be batted around by oddsmakers or petty little twits like myself who are reacting more to its promotion than its substance. Every year, we let the Weinsteins dictate what is and isn’t important, and every year, from the Toronto Film Festival all the way through December and January, that dictation informs what people watch and what’s deemed “important”—a set of criteria that falls within the narrow parameters of “Oscar-worthiness,” outside of which nothing matters. The horse race takes over: The Tree Of Life is “dead” because it polarized critics and audiences too sharply; Drive is “dead” because it’s a violent genre film; Young Adult is “dead” because the lead character is too “unlikeable”; and on and on and on. We become stakeholders instead of advocates, accepting the calculations of major studios with still more calculation on the other end.
(via: meetmeinmalkovich | coenbrosbeforehos)
On November 13, 2008 NASA held a press conference where they released the first image that had been restored, a 42-year-old image of Earth… one of the first images of earth from outer space, taken on August 23, 1966.
Wes Anderson // FROM ABOVE (by kogonada)
The Russian Banksy: street artist P183 decorates the streets of Moscow
A Russian street artist who created a giant pair of glasses from a street lamp has been dubbed the Russian Banksy - or Bankski.
Like Banksy, P183 reveals little about his true identity except his first name is Pavel, he is 28 years old and he studied “communicative design”
(via Telegraph)
17 Creative Letterheads from Celebs & Public Figures
You’ll never receive a letter from Andy Warhol, Ray Charles, Albert Einstein or Harry Houdini, but you can still get a peek at what their letterhead looks like – and the designs can be quite revealing.
(via WebUrbanist)
With the desert sky behind it, the Space Shuttle Columbia and 747/Shuttle Carrier Aircraft are poised for the return flight to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. After the successful first mission of the Space Shuttle, the orbiter was returned from the desert by a piggyback flight where it landed at KSC. Preparations now begin for the second launch.
(Source: fuckyeahspaceshuttle)
LOST INSIDE YOU (2010-2011) by Melissa Cooke
“Lost Inside You” depicts situations where inhibitions have been let go, enabling exploration of sexuality, gender and relationships. The images delve into states of vulnerability, points where I am open to the viewer and honest with myself. I unabashedly embody my weaknesses. Impulses are no longer repressed; rather I acknowledge the validity of urges and surrender to instincts.
