TED prize winner and photojournalist breaks global news story visually

James Nachtwey is a photojournalist who won a TED prize to help him demonstrate the power of visuals. The TED prize offers "one wish the change the world" and for James, that means

“I’m working on a story that the world needs to know about. I wish for you to help me break it, in a way that provides spectacular proof of the power of news photography in the digital age.”

The TED site also teases

James Nachtwey is preparing to reveal his photographs, which highlight a shocking and underreported global crisis. Over the past 18 months, the TED community have been working with James to gain access to locations he wished to photograph, and to prepare spectacular plans for unveiling these pictures.

So they've created the above embeddable link and the news story will go live on Friday. Check back here then.

Itty Bitty Pictures

My first corporate friendly post is going to be about a photo contest for tiny things (like the soy leaf above). If you ever wanted to see what a mouse's brain or vitamin C look like magnified by an incredible amount, you can preview and vote for your favorite images here. Not all are nano-photography, but they are close enough for me. Below are drops of water floating on a mylar sheet.

Mr. Animation

Last night, as part of a Delicious Vinyl 20th anniversary party (at a silent movie theater of all places), I watched excerpts from a upcoming documentary on LA hip hop dancing from 1982-1989 called the Suns of James Brown, saw a performance by the Soul Brothers and became fascinated by Mr. Animation, self-proclaimed one of the Top 5 poppers in the world. Check out the myspace. There's more I want to talk about with this guy, but I have to sleep.

Ten things you don't know about the earth

More fun facts and an interesting read from Discover magazine about the planet. No time to pull out the key tidbits, so I'm suggesting this is worth a full read. Most of the first facts talk about the weird and shifting shape of the earth but there is more, oh, there is more. From multiple moons, to yo-yoing in a tunnel through the center of the planet infinitely like a pendulum, the author outlines some pretty wondrous facts. He also closes with a cheesy but appropriately Bueller paragraph I found resonant. Its reflects one of my motivations for this here blog.

But remember the main point here: you live on a planet, and you may not know all that much about it. The only cure for that is learning, and that’s driven by wonder. Keep wondering, and keep learning. And don’t forget to look around.

Thanks to Kottke.org.

A 5-year plan

Some days I think we all feel a little like Dignan from Bottle Rocket (I know I do). The guy couldn't catch a break, with Mr. Henry, Kumar or even Anthony. But he was admirable for a couple things, including the healthy stockpile of devotion and faith he drew on to as he stumbled towards his dreams. Check out his 75-year plan for a good read. As I feel myself refocusing my future plans, it seems to resonate.

My Wes Anderson film ranking
1. Rushmore
2. Bottle Rocket
3. The Life Aquatic
4. The Royal Tenenbaums
5. The Darjeeling Limited (haven't seen this one, so it's last)

Hipster Rap?

I agree with my man here. But also recently purchased a pair of skinny jeans, so I'm stuck sharing some of the confusion voiced by Jay Smooth. By surrounding myself with something from hipsterville, is it cool? ironic? anything at all? Does it depend on how I rock them and the music I play while listening? Strictly hip hop, maybe. Hipster Rap? I don't think so.
From Ill Doctrine.

Artistic moment # 13825691

I'm loving this Michel de Broin sculpture in the woods in France titled "Superficielle" or "Superficial." From the artists website:

Mirror, glue, cement / Vosges, Alsace, France

Upon invitation to reflect on the notion of transparency, that led me into the forest to envelop the contour of a large stone with fragments of mirror. The large stone, tucked away deep in the woods, became a reflective surface for its surroundings. In this play of splintered radiance, the rock disappears in its reflections.

Visit it directly here (via Pruned)

Bigfoot gets stabilized

We've all seen the notorious and grainy Bigfoot footage shot in the woods in Northern California. Well someone has stabilized the film into a gif and its pretty fun to watch. Just for kicks, I checked my skepticism and watched the footage objectively. After a close look, I'm convinced that it's a person, once you remove the shaking, Bigfoot has a pretty recognizable gate. I would think that even if a human lived in the woods his/her whole life, he/she would naturally develop a unique gait suited for the terrain. So for a cryptid (an animal unknown to science) to have such a human-looking gait, is pretty dubious.

But the history of the tape and the guys who filmed it is well documented, and pretty interesting. I had no idea there was such credence given to the tape. Check the story courtesy of Wikipedia.

From Boing Boing

Tribeca to get wicked new building in 2010

This crazy teetering, jenga building is planned for NYC's Tribeca neighborhood on Leonard and Church. One of my regular blogs CurbedLA's NYC partner, has a full post on the building complete with detailed renderings, which is designed by the architects that did the crazy bird's nest Olympic stadium in China.

I love when people put down building that are amazing like this. The floors of the residential units jut out over the sky with floor to ceiling windows and when the sun's light plays with the glass forms, it will give the impression that the building is shifting and shimmering. Since architecture is an experiential art and you need to be in the space to feel its effects, being physically in and around buildings like this is, in my opinion, one of the greatest benefits to living in Manhattan. There are amazing buildings in LA, but the sprawling nature of the city keeps most people away from their shadow on a regular basis. Unfortunate.

This post got me thinking about sense of place and the architecture history courses I took in college. Now if only I had $3-33 million to invest in one of the units, I could develop my own topophilia for this on a much more personal level.

Burning Man, thankfully, is not for everyone.

The attendance at Burning Man this year was around 49,500 people. I know 49,499 people that had a better time than this guy. He wrote an article for the embarrassingly money-centric and right wing Wall Street Journal. My favorite part:

This was not a festival about deeper understanding or spiritual hokum. The pretense of a demonetized society notwithstanding, consumption was king at Burning Man. The gargantuan pyrotechnics, the drugs, the sex -- this was just wanton hedonism. Ordinary and not-so-ordinary people gave the finger to "the man," shirked responsibility and behaved recklessly.

Umm..l last time I checked, wanton hedonism rules!