The America Flag - Past and Future

As today is one of 7 particular days of display for the American flag, let's look at the different designs of previous flags, and take a glimpse at the possible future flags. 

Another flag in use from 1777-95

War Time Flag

New Englanders are pretty familiar with the flag that Betsey Ross probably didn't sew, but not only was there a different flag in use during most of the American Revolution, but thereafter at least four other flags were in use for the next 18 years, until two more state were added to the Union.

 The thirteen stripes have only been altered once, with the addition of the first two states after the colonies, the flag featured 15 stars and 15 stripes. After this it reverted the 13 stripes and the number of states for the number of stars.

Over the years there have been no less than 24 flags as states were added. Most maintained the stars in lines, but some had the stars in a circular of star shape.

Initiated with Colorado's statehood

In use 1837-45

At present there are designs in place for up to 56 states. So should DC or Puerto Rico ever be granted statehood, Congress is ready to update the flag. 

Last, ever wondered how to fold the flag? Here you go:

 -av
Girl Scout Troop 1021

ps. Nobody does the Star Spangled Banner better than Marvin

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The Civil Wars

This morning I was watching REAL Sports with Bryant Gumbel and when that was over I ended up at the VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown. I tried to remember the name of the VJ who did the Countdown when I was really watching it alot. Probs the summer of 2003ish. All I could remember was it sounded like "Aamer Alleem" Google was smart enough to tell me it was Aamer Haleem.

The song "Barton Hollow" by the Civil Wars, who I had never heard of and instantly respected because of the cool name, was number eleven on the Countdown. The song is awesome, totally more then enough reason to turn off the Countdown and attack YouTube and Wikipedia.

I found out that The Civil Wars are made up of Joy Williams and John Paul White. They got together in 2008 in Nashville. The band was featured on Grey's Anatomy in 2009 and has been on the rise for a while. I like how their videos are them in Jack White costumes, and I mean that in a good way I love Jack White.

This is the song that was featured on Grey's Anatomy "Poison and Wine"



And this is number eleven itself "Barton Hollow"


And this is "Falling Slowly" by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová because its amazing


Also, while I was watching REAL Sports with Bryant Gumbel I saw a story about Ann Wolfe who is known for delivering what might be the most devastating knockout punch ever.

-jv
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Google+

I'm ready to get excited about Google+
Its the new social network that Google is about to launch.

Some things that Google+ has promised to have:
1. "circles" so that I can group my friends, maybe I can do this on Facebook, I don't though
2. "sparks" which seems to be like your interests on Facebook only Google+ uses your sparks to suggest things to check out that they know you will like
3. "huddle" which seems like a way to have a google group chat

Unfortunately the doors on Google+ are closed right now. You can get on the wait list here and then check out this breakdancing gorilla while we wait to get invited into the cool kid club.

-jv
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Five Facts About Whitey Bulger

James Joseph "Whitey" Bulger was born on September 3, 1929.
"Whitey" was an inmate at Alcatraz from November 2, 1959 til November of 1962.
"Whitey" won the lottery in the summer of 1991 and split a prize of 14 million dollars.
"Whitey" was recently arrested on June 22, 2011 after having been on the lam since 1994.
Dave Quigley was mentioned in the Globe because he made a t-shirt about "Whitey".

"Whitey" is in orange.

-jv
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4th of July

What's up everyone? Our nations Independence day is approaching soon and as much as things are wrong with the world and our respective political parties there is still  one thing we can all agree on; fireworks=awesome. I'm not talking about the Katy Perry song but the actual explosives. So to get everyone hyped over something that doesn't involve epic Hogwarts battles here is a video of some slow-mo shots of explosives blowing up a jar of mayo and some jell-o to name a few. Enjoy the vid and make sure to be a true blue American come the 4th and enjoy some stellar fireworks while enjoying a bratwurst, a hot dog, a cheeseburger, and a steak all on the same plate!





 - sf

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Dear Photograph

Hi all,

Here is an interesting Tumblr I came across. it called Dear Photograph, I always thought it would be cool to do this, lo and behold the internet beat me to it;

-bjk
Senr Tumblr Advisr

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Pottermore: more of what exactly?

By now you've probably heard about Pottermore, JK Rowling's latest project. It was shrouded in mystery and steeped in anticipation and now that we know what it is, we still don't really know what it is.

According to the site: "Pottermore is a free website that builds an exciting online experience around the reading of the Harry Potter books."

According to JK herself:



But what does all the mean? Here's what we know:
-The site goes public in the fall, for now you can submit your e-mail address and wait
-UNLESS you get selected to be in the preview stage this summer
-Pottermore will have the only way to get official digital e-books and audio books of Harry Potter
-The books will release one at a time, will gaps between them
-Some content will be user generated, hopefully more stuff like the awesome curling paper in the above video
-Rowling will use the site to share more secrets of Harry Potter, like Dumbledore being gay, etc.

I submitted my e-mail address. You probably should too. And if anyone gets in the site this summer, TELL US!

There's also a twitter account that is spewing updates. Apparently the first three chapters are going into preview tomorrow. And on July 31st, aka Harry's birthday, they're will be an opportunity to win early access.

Also JK Rowling is the most powerful person in the world that she can get people jazzed up about three chapters from a book that came out 14 years ago.

-av
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Another SHARK!

The shark in this video gets air while leaping at a surfer. The shark misses.


Also, check out this other amazing video of someone being way to close to a shark. 

-jv
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Arnie's Hometown

When I left for my year abroad in Austria back in September, Johnny V. asked me to visit Arnold Schwarzenegger's hometown and take pictures for him. It got cold real fast back in the fall, so I decided to wait until the spring to have nice weather and enjoy the countryside more. I drove out Friday with two friends and it was awesome. There was Arnie love all over the little town, it was too cute. Now don't get me wrong, the national opinion of Arnie has really shifted since he became a proponent of the Death Penalty some years ago (even changing the name of a Stadium in Graz that had formerly been named in his honor...). The recent tabloid coverage of his personal life also makes the people here just groan and exclaim that they "don't want him baaaaack". But, his hometown was sweet and proud in a very simple way, which I think is the right way to be, since let's get serious here, we may all laugh about Arnie now, but he's still the man. and the terminator.

I put a bit of footage we shot of our visit into a video (rough cut) to show Johnny a preview of the awesome place our favorite Austrian body builder/actor/governor came from. There's about...13 more minutes of footage to enjoy once I get home!

-lab
 p.s. Johnny, I took a lot of photos too

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Get Bent

This artist Terry Border takes inanimate objects and makes them come to life with wire. His blog is called Bent Objects. Its hysterical usually, and amazing always.

This one is my fave. Zombie Peanuts...are you laughing? I'm laughing.

fp


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Final, MOST EPIC Harry Potter 7.2 Trailer

This has been online for about a week, but I just rewatched it and got serious chills. I had to put on a sweater, literally. I have a love/hate relationship with a lot of the Potter movies (both castings of DUMBLEDORE for example), but the first part of the 7th movie was amazing. I feel pretty sure that this last film is going to be EPIC. I mean... it's the Battle of Hogwarts. Nuf said.
-id

p.s. okay one nitpick: why is Harry tackling Voldy and diving into a crater with him?

Maria Aragon: YouTube sensation for actually being good.

There's a little girl at the end of an HTC commercial who sings two lines of a song that gets stuck in my head every time. I tried finding the song and found the original, which is "Wavin' Flag" by K'naan, and not really what I wanted. Eventually I found the video i was looking for, Maria Aragon.

I guess I'm a little tardy for this party. In February, her cover of Born This Way, went viral. Within a month, she was joining Lady Gaga on stage to duet on the song. Mother Monster is a little choked up about it too, she's so nice.

Anywho, here's the original video I looked for. The last three minutes is her talking, so don't watch it, but she's pretty good for a ten year old, and her version of the song is way sweeter than K'naan's in my humble opinion.



In other internet sensation news, Katy Perry's video for Last Friday Night is terrific and features too many cameos to even talk about, except I will say Hanson makes an appearance as the house band, which makes it a pretty sweet party.

-av

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The Pergamon Museum

I've been living in Vienna for almost 10 months now and I feel like I've spent more time in museums than I ever thought possible. This is a museum that I had never heard of before just a few weeks ago, but is one of the coolest museums I've ever been in and would emphatically encourage anyone to go to if they are visiting Berlin.

The Pergamon Museum is a collection of enormous ancient structures that the Germans literally took apart, brought to Berlin, and assembled in this museum piece by piece. They not only took (I think of it more as...well... stealing, really) the Pergamon Altar, after which the museum is named, but also the door from a fortress entrance gate, and an entire marketplace front. It's unbelievable. I'm also always amazed to see the beautiful structures that were created long before our plethora of fine building tools and techniques.

The Market Door from Milatus from 120 A.D

The Babalonian Ishtar Gate

What's also a perk: since the ancient structures are so huge, there's not many things to have to check out in this museum. This is great, because museums are exhausting.

peace.

-lab

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#SummerJams

Technically this one was a late-spring-jam (April).

But it hasn't gotten much airplay, though it's been critically well-received, so there's a chance you missed TV on the Radio's latest album Nine Types of Light.

You should check it out:



Is that Hootie and the Blowfish!? Not even close.  More like a black Beck.  And Nigerian-born, Pennsylvania-raised, NYU-grad Tunde Adebimpe's lyrics are the tits:



It's electro-soul with some funky-ass horns for good measure.  I've been listening to this album like crazy recently: there's a ton of emotion in the songs, intelligent (and occasionally scathing) lyrics, and great beats.  There is even a dubstep-esque track on Nine Types of Light ($9.99 on iTunes), if you're into that sort of thing.  If you like what you hear, TV on the Radio's previous albums are also worth checking out (especially Dear Science).

Also, they released music videos for every song on the album.  That's pretty cool.

I'm going to try to see them at the Hollywood Bowl later this summer, and you can catch them in Boston, at the Bank of America Pavilion on September 6, with Broken Social Scene.

Sadly, their bassist Gerard Smith died of lung cancer 9 days after this album was released.  RIP.

Hope the summer's treating you all well.  More music still to come...

-DMc, West Coast Correspondent

80s Scientology Tape

This video is about showing how awesome Scientology thinks it is. In the middle John Travolta shows up to cut some cake then there's some black and white time with L. Ron and a song to bring it home.



Also, Anyone who wants to read the Game of Thrones series on Wikipedia  and then talk with me about it because I just did that and it was awesome should really do that.

-jv
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Balloon Tyrannosaurus Rex

This is incredible.

-jv
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Berlin Wall Art

I was in Berlin a few weeks ago and had a whicked great time. There's some seriously good wall art in that city--both on a section of the Berlin Wall itself that was turned into the "East Side Gallery" as well as sick graffiti. The first three pics are from the East Side Gallery, where various artists were given sections of the wall.

the famous Brezhnev-Honecker "Brotherly kiss". 

doves...with the Brandenburg Gate

"No-man's land"

"Detour to the Japanese Sektor"

This last picture is of a massive graffiti project right next to the Spree, the river in Berlin. I met up with a friend from a summer program on my free Saturday afternoon and she brought me here, it's real close to the East Side Gallery. Across the river are a couple of big business buildings with a lot of white collar jobs (actually, her boyfriend works for one of them) and the graffiti artists decided to use these walls to send the message that those jobs are enslave you with their materialistic bribes and promises. The message kinda backfired though...apparently the businesses just think it's really cool artwork and brag about being across the river from it....The other funny story is that just a week before I was in Berlin, an old bomb from World War II was found in the river directly between this graffiti and the office buildings and they had to have an emergency team deactivate it. Crazy stuff.

-lab

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Colbert Paul Revere's Ride

I feel that the Colbert Report has been hit or miss for a while but this clip is a gem. Watch the entire 6 minutes.

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/388583/june-06-2011/paul-revere-s-famous-ride

The Colbert Report
Tags: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

-KZ

I Won't Be Seeing Green Lantern

I like Ryan Reynolds. I think he is very funny in Waiting and Van Wilder. And I thought he was really cool in his tough sarcastic way in Blade: Trinity and Wolverine, and I think that the Deadpool movie will be really cool.

I do not think that Green Lantern looks good. I wanted it to, I wish it did, it does not. This morning I was looking for a new preview something that would show me anything to push me over the top to wanting to see it, because I was close, I like Ryan Reynolds.

Instead I found this trailer that makes the damn thing look even worse.



I'm sure Ryan Reynolds next movie will be great, Green Lantern looks pretty awful though.


-jv

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How gritty can you get?

One Month.

-AM

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The Book of Mormon: Do you believe now?

This is not exactly news, I admit that. But the day after being awarded 7 Tonys, for the music, book, design, direction, acting and overall awesomeness of this show, seems as good a time as any to start taking this show seriously.

I'll admit, I've seen less than a handful of South Park episodes. It was on way too late at night when it started, so by the time I could have watched it, I'd missed so much I just never got started. But I was intrigued to find out that South Park creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker had written musical. Then a musical called "the Book of Mormon" and I was pretty much sold on the spot.

Mormons are almost as crazy to me as scientologists, but much more forthcoming with all the wacky beliefs, which makes them infinitely more interesting to me. So I've supported this musical at a concept level but have not actually taken action to see how it all turn out, other than skimming reviews.

Last night the Broadway community made it official, Book of Mormon is a great concept and a great show. Here's a performance by Tony nominated newcomer Andrew Rannells, that showcases the Mormon craziness and just plain great musicality of those South Park guys.



That song is awesome. So let's take action: listen to the soundtrack (1.99 for the whole thing!), read the synopsis, maybe even go see it (yeah right, not after the Tonys shoot the prices up), but let's become true believers in the Book of Mormon, the musical.
For a full write up of the Tony Awards, check this out.


-av
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Talking Funny

Hello everyone, earlier today I stumbld upon a tumblr that I thought was killr. its called awesome people hanging out together, and its exactly what it sounds like. Here are some of my favorites;

 Mr. T and Nancy Reagan

Coronel Sanders and Alice Cooper

While scrolling though APHOT I also came across an HBO special called Talking Funny, starring Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Ricky Gervais, and Louis C.K. all in the same room talking comedy. They discuss each others styles and approaches to comedy, they also share stories about first starting out, failures and successes, its very interesting stuff. The best part is you can watch the whole thing on youtube, here is the first one;

and here are the links to part 2, 3, and 4. 

-bjk

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Stairs To The Attic

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Short Film: STAIRS TO THE ATTIC

My senior friend Mark spent the last five weeks of his high school career taking 8,000 still shots and compiling them together to make this music video. Enjoy.


jb

Great video

Sorority Pillow Fight! from ulteriorproductions.com on Vimeo.


Michelle Rodriguez stars in this about a friendly pillow fight.

- sf


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#SummerJams

The summer is upon us!

Time to get a fresh play-list going for road-trips, barbeques, and beach days.  Luckily, there have been some great records released lately, so there’s plenty of fun new music to set the mood for all sorts of summer shenanigans.

If you’ve heard Foster the People, the new hot band out of the LA rock scene, it was most likely their hit single Pumped up Kicks.  It’s all over the radio on the West Coast, and is the title track to their EP:



They're sound is synth-based pop-rock, like a slightly more mellow MGMT or Passion Pit.  Great dance-jams for sure:



They just released their first full-length album, Torches, less than 2 weeks ago ($9.99 on iTunes), and played Jimmy Kimmel Live.  They were at South by Southwest and Coachella this spring and will be at Lollapalooza and Outside Lands later this summer.  I've got them on regular rotation in my car right now; the whole album is upbeat and fun and very well-produced.

And they are playing in Boston, June 16, at the WFNX Clam Bake at House of Blues, with Cold War Kids and The Naked and Famous.  Definitely worth checking out.

--Disclaimer: I am about to sound like a total Hipster-- I saw them for free at one of my favorite venues the night before they released their EP. They totally rocked: great stage presence and dance vibe. Two weeks later they were on the radio and selling out all of their LA shows. --End Hipster tangent--

I’ve got a few more new albums on my iPod right now, so I’ll post another recommendation soon.  For now, enjoy Foster the People!

-DMc, West Coast Correspondent

Fast Food Mascots Party Hard

The title pretty much says it all.




 - sf
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Do NOT buy these sunglasses.

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Knockarounds. Great looking sunglasses that are so cheap and durable you don’t mind “knocking them around”

I was at the bar with my friend last night and I tossed her sun glasses aside. I picked them up and apologized. She said not to worry about it “they’re knockArounds”. I wasn’t sure if she was talking about the brand or if she just had some cool lingo that I wasn’t hip to yet... I gave an understanding  nod of my head to say; yes I'm cool AND I know what you’re talking about.

This morning Google solves all my problems. I find http://www.knockaround.com/index.php and the huge selection of awesome sunglasses. They have the premium edition, which are those cool “frog skin” type of sunglasses with the frosted shades in a BUNCH of different colors.

WHAT THE H!?!? – They are only 14 bucks! FUCK ME!? – 7 bucks for the originals (not as cool). You gutta pick up a pair of these sunglasses! Before the hipsters get wind of it and you cant be seen in public with them on*. 

 But Wait you CANT buy them. Because im buying an entire bucket of the bastards. http://www.knockaround.com/item.php?item_id=293&category_id=22 – that’s right. You can get every single one their sunglasses in a big OL’ bucket.

*I’d like to reference the case of White Sunglasses V. Giant Simoin Guys. SUMMER 2009

-ED

Say hello to the food plate

Time to say goodbye to one more thing you learned in kindergarten. The once mighty Food Pyramid now resides on the Island of Discarded Facts, on the same street as Pluto the planet.

Nostalgia aside, the new model makes a lot more sense and puts the information much more clearly.

See for yourself:

The website also has interactive tools and stuff, but nothing that sweet.

av

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Pic of the Day

A girl I work with teaches Bikram Yoga where you do yoga in super heated rooms. I was looking up how you become an instructor. Long story short- this guy is involved.

jillicious

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Why I Love MTV and you should too.

This morning I have been watching AMTV. Its where MTV still shows videos other than MTV Jams and MTV Hits. MTV still plays music videos and lots of them they just also give us amazing shows like The Jersey Shore and Fantasy Factory, which got Big back this season and is the best show on television right now. I wish MTV would bring back MTV News and put it on for an hour at 7 and go head to head with E! News, I'd DVR both and love it.

Also, Lil Wanye's new song is not at all what I expected and I love it.


-jv

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Michelle Soulbama

 

"Honky looks like a bichon frise...shit."


jc

Justin Timberlake is better than Mozart

Justin Timberlake is just better than anyone else. This past weekend he hosted the season finale of SNL with the highest ratings in seven years, with a little help from musical guest Gaga.

Below is a scene from the dress rehearsal, that didn't even air. Probably because of the Beiber joke near the end...so funny, but maybe too funny for tv.

 


 -av

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First Look at Bane

I think Tom Hardy is gonna be amazing as Bane because he was great in Bronson.

-jv

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First Look at Katniss

First of all, if you haven't read the Hunger Games Trilogy, get on it.  I gave my copy of the first book to BK eighteen months ago and I haven't seen it since because it's been handed off to at least 10 people since then, everyone loved it, and it's still being passes around.. 

Second, I'm nervous about the movie. But seeing this picture of Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss makes me a little less nervous.

Even though i always pictured our MC as Katniss, this chick is working it. Hopefully they can work a miracle on that Peeta wannabe and he'll look more like Hunter Parish.

-av

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SCIENCE

Alright folks, It's time to get rid of your electric guitars and drum kits.  The Future of Music is here.

So the other day I was watching The Sorcerer's Apprentice starring Nick Cage and although THAT is a story in an of itself, I want to focus on something cool I learned from seeing that movie:

SCIENCE IS MAGIC.

Now I had always been aware of this fact but it took seeing a scene in The Sorcerers Apprentice where the main non-Nick Cage character woos his sweetheart in a metal cage while Tesla Coils send serpent lightning arcing around the entire impossibly bohemian New York City underground lab space causing the sheer force of the vibrations generated by the currents of electricity to play the notes to a cheesy emo song to make me realize that science is truly magic as well.  And that i watch too many Netflix.

The point is; Here's a video of some dude playing the Dr. Who Theme Song Using Tesla Coils, followed by a performance where he channels Zeus to rock our socks off.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuV4fL4Yqvw

-Eroc Ramm

Pendulum Dance: Cinderella's Ball

Natural Science Lecture Demonstration team, basically a group that makes awesome show and tell things for Harvard, made this amazing pendulum device that from the side angel looks like a huge dance scene. I can totally see people doing this dance. In fact I'll keep a eye out for a version with people.

For now feast you eyes on this. The sequence starts at :27 and lasts exactly 60 seconds, you can see it begin again at 1:27. Amazing.



-av


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Muzak

Lately, I've been pretty obsessed with the song 'Bizness' by tUnE-yArDs (apparently they never grew out of the middle school phase of wacky case usage, but listen to the song before you judge them directly) and when I got around to watching the music video I knew it was blog worthy.



and as an added bonus I give you balls and magnets:


INDUCTANCE - Physalia from F5 on Vimeo.



-bjk


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48 Hour Film Fest - Boston

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A guy I work with at redbones needed some more ladies in his film project and asked me if I would help. I'm not sure who won the competition but here is our humble project...

Only 6 days to the 21st.


Know Tomorrow

-sct

Goldeneye Spawn Patterns: Stack

Stack was the third level that I learned the spawn pattern to. Like before the top of the screen is the hunter and the bottom is the hunted. As long as you do not stand too close to where the person you are playing is going to spawn next the pattern will go on without a hitch. If you are too close your opponent will skip onto the next spawn point in the pattern.

 Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

-jv

Silence is Golden.

Imagine what a silent film based in the 20's filmed in modern day would be like.

This past week, Cannes gave us just that.



-awm

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Amazon for the Boy Scouts of America

Hey y'all!
If you didn't know, I'm a Boy Scout in Westford, which is cool, and I know how to tie knots and make awesome fires, but to do this my troop needs to have money.

So, my troop is doing a fundraiser where if you use Amazon to buy excellent things, you can go to Amazon through my troop's webpage and they get 2% of your purchase's to help me learn how to make even better fires and tie even better knots!

So, if you shop at Amazon and like Boy Scouts, or at the very least like me, go to this link and click on Amazon Store in the left hand corner and go shopping!

Thanks!

jb

Great Television

I love television and I've been a fan since Sesame street and Barney. But as times have changed so has my taste for quality television. I follow this podcast called The Nerdist which stars stand up comedian Chris Hardwick and his two friends, Matt and Jonah, as they discuss nerd society and all things related to that. They have had great guests in the past (Joel McHale, Donald Glover, Colin Hanks, Kevin Smith, Jimmy Fallon, etc.) but I bring it up because of episode # 85 starring Damon Lindelof. Damon Lindelof, for those not in the know, executive produced Lost and wrote the Star Trek movie. The conversation that takes place is great for any of us who have wondered what the fate of television is going to be in regards to the new Kevin Spacey series on Netflix and google tv being launched and what our society has become in regards to ingesting entertainment. Also if your a fan of Lost it is great for that too. This podcast is amazing and free, check it out.

 - sf

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Sourcemap: Fascinating and Slightly Unsettling

Sourcemap is all about helping people find out where products come from, and what exactly they contain.

You can browse existing sourcemaps or create your own. Maps also display a given product’s carbon footprint… which is a cool feature, but personally I have NO idea what 0.14 kg CO2e for a bottle of Fiji water means. Relatively good? Bad?

But the site is definitely worth checking out. It’s pretty interesting to see exactly what you’re consuming when snacking on an AriZona Arnold Palmer Iced Tea and some Oreos. It slightly horrified me to find out that my favorite 99¢ beverage is sweetened using Splenda, and that Oreo cookies are manufactured in Indonesia using palm oil from Malaysia.

Sourcemap also breaks down an iPhone 3GS and Domino’s Pizza. 

-id

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Wine-chillas in Love

Just because... I think chinchillas are adorable.
-id

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Most Adorable Puppy Ever

Klein family's new puppy Morocco aka Rocco and Mo Rocca. I'm obsessed.
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Shiz My Students Write

Just came across a pretty hilarious tumblr called Shit My Students Write. Teachers submit unintentionally funny lines their students write anonymously, and though some are just typos, I couldn't help but laugh out loud at how idiotic some of this kids seem.

I bet FP & AV could add some good entries. Here are some of my favorites:

Indians, the other dark meat, were saved from extinction by the humanitarian, Andrew Jackson.

Before the days of colonization, America was like a young, untouched child.

I’ve lived my whole life on the west coast and to me, the civil war seems like a really really long time ago.

Like a woman seduces a horny man, Hitler captivated the people of Germany.

Macbeth couldn’t have loved Lady Macbeth because he was crazy and too busy hallucinating witches and stuff. Also, crazy people can’t do it without going crazy midway through.

-id

all about those pearly whites

It's spring. Skies are blue-ing, birds are cooing, and ghostly pale legs are showing their skins.

Let's face it, love is in the air and not only that, but something else too. Anyone else feel like they're smiling a whole lot more? Sunshine and smiles must have a direct correlation, in my well-studied mathematical opinion (ha! yeah right!).

This got me to thinking about smiles, and about excellent smiles, and about INCREDIBLE smiles.

First to come to my head were my older brothers, because when they smile they look like different people, like a new gentle face spreads from the upward lift of the mouth. And then of course, the guys I've dated- chocolate eyes smile, little boy sparkly blue-eyed smile, and eyes-that-disappear-but-he-wasn't-asian smile. But there's also wide-grin smiles (think Julia Roberts) and dimply smiles (heya EvD) to not forget about. Basically, smiles are about as unique and varied as eyes.

So can we all post our favorite smiles, with possibly a picture?

The first ones to come to my mind:

Heath Leger-crinkly mouth AND eyes. plus he can have a sneaky, trickster glint in his eyes too.

and for a girl: it was hard to find a picture that captures the Zooey smile I like best (not to sound stalker/creepy but it's true) which is the little girl, kind of awkward smile that you see a lot in (500) Days of Summer and Yes, Man. She closes her eyes a bit when she does it. This is close.

also, anyone in need of excellent snack combos: my fav right now is to get a 4 pack of cheesey rolls/biscuit things and chocolate milk=perfect afternoon snack, goes well outside with a good read.

also, my birthday is in a week and I realized that I haven't had a rootbeer float in at least the 8 months I've been in Europe. I have successfully located rootbeer in one store in Vienna and will be making rootbeer floats in only 8 days. Any other birthday snack suggestions? We're having a picnic and the only plan (so far) is to drink beer all day (it's my 21st) and go out dancing.

-lab
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This is way better than studying for finals.

BJK has been nagging me to post something so here I am. I thought I would start off with one of my favorite youtube videos ever, Sassy Gay Friend. This one is about Romeo and Juliet but the ones on Hamlet and Othello are equally as awesome. I apologize if its been posted before, but really its worth seeing again.

Also I'm going to Vietnam in like, a week so I'll post some cool stuff about that later.

- the littlest klein, MK

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Best Dance Scene Ever Filmed

So you think you can dance, America's got talent, dancing with the stars, the 'step up' movies; all of these show case broad realms of dancing in contemporary culture. But, to be honest, these guys in this film kick the tar out of anybody else from our modern times. Fred Astaire even said that these guys were the best dancing duo out there. I believe that this fact is still true today.




 - sf

Bikes Bikes Bikes

           Now that there isn't snow, ice, and five months worth of sand on the streets, I've been riding my bike a lot more. Riding my bike is pretty much my favorite thing to do ever. Its fun, its great exercise, and since I live in a city, its literally the fastest way to travel. The only downside (besides the fact that I'm in a city and not out riding my bike ANYWHERE else) is that it can get a little dicey sometimes. There's cars, people, red lights, other bikers, and sometimes they like to switch the bike lane to the other side of the road (where comm ave intersects mass ave, anyone!?) not to mention Boston roads aren't the greatest.

           So, for all of these reasons and above I begrudgingly support the wearing of all helmets whilst riding a bike in the city. It sucks, I know it sucks, they mess up your hair, make you sweat more, and they look dumb, BUT its just worth it. And when all the cool kids at school make fun of you for wearing a helmet you can show them these videos of wicked extreme biking (and they're all protecting their cabezas!) 

-bjk

ps - this is funny almost immediately. and lastly, a big EGG

a tribute

to my homeboy, John Denver. While "Country Roads" may overshadow most of his other songs due to the  common occurrence of drunken frat boys singing it at parties and barbecues, let us not forget the other great tunes he gave the world. Especially the song that would later be the concept for one of the cutest scenes (in my opinion) in movie history.

with that said, here's the cute man first:

and the cute scene second:

just wanted to throw a bit of sunshine out there, in light of serious matters being taken care of by serious people.

-lab

It's like EVERYONE just won the Superbowl!

-DMc, West Coast Correspondent

Tall Paintings

so i'm new to this and you probably don't know who i am! but i'll leave that up to your imagination for now, because that's more fun.

tall paintings, watch the video. the music is nice too, added bonus. yay art!

cs (lewis)

Slam Poetry

Does anyone know who this is? I think you all should,, and if you don't, you should find out because he is powerful and he is moving and he does it all by speaking words.

I love slam poetry. I don't think a post has ever been made about it, but I think it's long overdue.
I could give you a good definition from an on-line dictionary, or I could give you mine, so I'll give you a combination:

Slam poetry is a genre of poetry deriving from a mixture of spoken word and theatre where the poem is read with the intent of being spoken. The feelings, emotions, and all other aspects are intended to be understood through hearing. It is a poem with or without a central beat, and it usually covers topics having to do with race, politics, current events, and gender or economic injustices.

Basically, it's that happy medium for everyone {who loves poetry but isn't used to rap yet} to find because then they will get used to rap AND still love poetry. And love slam poetry, win-win-win!

Kanye West???

Robert Frost!!!<3<3<3

                                


At least, that's what happened to me

So, I've compiled for all y'all my favorites over the two years that I've explored slam poetry. Feel free to comment with slams that you find or whatnot, I love hearing new things.


PS, you might notice that half of them are from a man named Anis Mojgani.

That is simply because Anis Mojgani (the lovely man above at the top) is undisputedly one of the best slam poets of our generations. So, yeah.

So, without further ado, go crazy-

Anis Mojgani:
the branches are full and these orchards are heavy

direct orders, here am i, shake the dust

For Those Who Can Still Ride An AIrplane For The First Time

George Watsky(Emerson Alum):
S is for Lisp

Lost Count: A Love Story:
Lost Count: A Love Story

Saul Williams:
Coded Language

Ernest Cline:
Dance Monkeys Dance

Listen and let your mind run wild.

< ! 3jb

White House Correspondents' Dinner Follow Up

Following up av's post about the White House Correspondent's Dinner here's the clip of Obama's speech. This guy is a G.

-SD

Seth Meyers destroys Donald Trump

A Plus1Press Publication

Comedy has become a huge force in the political discussion, which is probably why Seth Meyers, Head Writer at SNL and host of Weekend Update, was asked to give a speech at this year's White House Correspondent's Dinner. The 20 minute speech has a lot of great jokes and insights about the current political landscape and the media that cover it.

But the best part is when he rips into Donald Trump's bid for Republican candidacy. The jokes are decent, but what's better are the quick cuts to the table Trump is sitting at. Trump looks like he's been turned into an unhappy stone statue of a bald man in a tupee, and the people right next to him look unamused. But the people who have even just a one person buffer are covering their entire faces to hide the body shaking laughter.


Also terrific is the part of the speech when Seth talks about how much Obama of today would love Obama of 2008. Obama at least can laugh and smile while being mocked. Though it's pretty clear, Obama's favorite joke is "Donald Trump say he has an excellent relationship with the blacks, but unless the Blacks are a family of white people, I bet he's mistaken."

Let's hope Seth Meyers and the other political satirists can keep Trump out of the running, because if he's elected JV and I have promised each other we'll move to Canada. So unless you want to visit us in Prince Edward Island, vote for anyone but Trump.

-av