I took this over the weekend. It’s from a little island in the Monocacy River that has become accessible by foot since we haven’t had much rain lately. There was some signs of life like an old trailer, campfire remains, and other trash. The trees were filled with old leaves that were mashed into their branches by river when it was higher. It’s An odd and cool little spot that I was glad to find.

This is a pretty amazing article from the New York Times about a guy who has discovered that being an ass to some of his customers is actually paying off in favorable Google page rank. All those forum posts by irate customers mentioning his business name is helping his search ranking:

“Look,” he says, grabbing an iPad off a small table. He types “Christian Audigier,” the name of a French designer, and “glasses” into Google. DecorMyEyes pops up high on the first page.

“Why am I there?” he asks, sounding both peeved and amazed. “I don’t belong there. I actually outrank the designer’s own Web site.”

The only explanation, he figures, is online chatter about his appalling ways.

How much of an ass you may ask? This bad:

“Listen, bitch,” he fumed, according to Ms. Rodriguez. “I know your address. I’m one bridge over” — a reference, it turned out, to the company’s office in Brooklyn. Then, she said, he threatened to find her and commit an act of sexual violence too graphic to describe in a newspaper.

(via waxy)

Zimov’s research on permafrost, greenhouse gas emissions and mammoth archaeology has attracted world scientists to his laboratories, a small cluster of cabins and a tiny chapel on a rocky bluff above a channel of the Kolyma River. A 20-bed barge is used for field trips in summer, and a $100,000 hovercraft is on order. Zimov sometimes uses an old Russian tank to bring supplies from the Chinese border, 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) away.

Sounds mad scientist’esque, but his idea of stopping the thaw of the Siberian tundra by re-populating it with grazing animals is very interesting.

Here, stop-motion master animator Phil Tippett [center], Mike Pangrazio [right], and I stand between two incredible matte paintings used to depict the windswept snowscape of Hoth. Pangrazio, a legendary I.L.M. artist, painted many such paintings during the production of The Empire Strike Back to allow for scenic vistas, practical sets to be extended, or, in this case, a stop-motion puppet of a Tauntaun and rider to be inserted for a story point.

From Vanity Fair’s Behind-the-Scenes Photos of ILM’s Greats. The “I” in the caption above is Eight-time Oscar winner Dennis Muren.

Bookie combines functionality with beauty, as a book/magazine store, coffee table and Laptop home.

Want.

Ruge, a photojournalist who specialized in images of aircraft, took this photograph during a seven-minute parachute jump from an airplane over Berlin. Although his friends tried to dissuade him, Ruge risked his life to produce this vertiginous view, which was published in the Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung.

Found at Uncertain Times, a source for many wonderful things.

Young Brendan lives in a remote medieval outpost under siege from barbarian raids. But a new life of adventure beckons when a celebrated master illuminator arrives from foreign lands carrying an ancient but unfinished book, brimming with secret wisdom and powers. To help complete the magical book, Brendan has to overcome his deepest fears on a dangerous quest that takes him into the enchanted forest where mythical creatures hide.

Just watched this on Netflix Instant with the boy. It has to be one of the most beautifully animated films I have seen, but it’s not your typical cartoon (the bad guy’s aren’t vanquished and the ending, though positive, is a bit ambiguous compared to typical kid’s movies). Despite that my son did like it and I think it’s because the animation was so imaginative.  Here are some clips from the film and this A.V. Club article does a good job laying out the film’s back story.

I’m more than a little obsessed with Totally Nebular‘s White Lincoln. Some more of their odd yet catchy songs are on The Hype Machine. (via einstein music journal)