James Frey's Blog, page 117

Winter 1709

from National Geographic Winter Is Coming: Europe’s Deep Freeze of 1709 In the first months of 1709, Europe froze and stayed that way for months. People ice-skated on the canals of Venice, church bells broke when rung, and travelers could cross the Baltic Sea on horseback. This freakish winter ultimately claimed the lives of a […]

Frieze LA Destroyed

from The Art Newspaper Frieze LA diary: Leibovitz’s photo finish, Destroyer smashes it and a mushroom-powered rocket (doesn’t) take off Plus, Suzanne Jackson’s modest gallery revival MAXWELL WILLIAMS Destroyer playing at the opening for Friedrich Kunath’s monograph, Sincerely Yours at Blum & Poe Photo: Max Williams Destroyer smashes it at Blum & Poe There’s a […]

No Pads

America Afraid Of Penises

from Vice French Director Gaspar Noé on America’s Fear of the Penis “The fear of the penis in the United States still shocks me,” he said. “In many ways, the Western world is turning Victorian.” By Noel Ransome Near the end of my chat with Gaspar Noé, I ask him why he’s so comfortable with […]

Bring Back The Shit Stick!

from National Post U.S. plush toilet paper use wiping out Canada’s forests, flushing away the future: report The report gave failing grades to the leading toilet paper, tissue and paper towel brands for using only virgin fibre pulp, mostly from Canada’s old boreal forests by Adrian Humphreys The voracious use of toilet paper in the United […]

Always Have An Off-site, Air-gapped Backup

from Fast Company Humanity’s 30-million-page backup plan is heading to the moon BY MELISSA LOCKER When SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket took off on Thursday night, it carried humanity’s entire backup plan with it. It was headed to the moon, the world’s ultimate cold-storage unit. The Arch Mission Foundation (AMF) created the Lunar Library, a 30-million-page […]

Warhol Still More Famous Than Brady

Cassettes Still Rock (and hiss)

from The Guardian It’s cool to spool again as the cassette returns on a wave of nostalgia Sales are soaring and current stars are releasing tracks on the format… but is anyone actually listening to them? by Nosheen Iqbal Pause. Stop. Rewind! The cassette, long consigned to the bargain bin of musical history, is staging a […]

Social Media Boys

Motility Re-dated

from Phys.org Discovery of the oldest evidence of motility on Earth   Previously, the oldest traces of this kind found dated to approximately 600 million years ago: the Ediacaran period, also characterized by a peak in dioxygen and a proliferation in biodiversity. Scale bar: 1 cm. Credit: A. El Albani / IC2MP / CNRS – […]