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Art Review 'Superheroes': Power Dressing  (Fri, 09 May 2008 14:52:59 GMT)
The Metropolitan Museum offers a playful look at comic book costumes and their influence on radical haute couture.
Music: Verdi Versus Shakespeare: With ‘Macbeth' It's a Draw  (Fri, 09 May 2008 04:26:06 GMT)
With two gripping productions of "Macbeth" in New York right now, the good news is, there's no need to choose.
Movie Review 'Speed Racer': Gentlemen, Start Your Hot-Hued Engines  (Fri, 09 May 2008 04:21:47 GMT)
"Speed Racer" sets out to honor and refresh a youthful enthusiasm from the past and winds up smothering the fun in self-conscious grandiosity.
Art Review 'Life on Mars': An Alien Sighting on Planet Pittsburgh  (Fri, 09 May 2008 04:58:58 GMT)
Lately, it seems, biennial exhibitions don't do much except sit there, looking good and offending no one. The 55th Carnegie International is no exception.
Theater Review 'Rafta, Rafta . . .': No Sex, Please, We're British Indians  (Fri, 09 May 2008 14:13:19 GMT)
This tale of a beleaguered honeymoon exposes its characters' foibles with gentleness and compassion.
Television: Sunday Nights With the Siblings  (Fri, 09 May 2008 04:27:07 GMT)
I watch "Brothers & Sisters," like many other women I know, with the pre-emptive regret of someone gustily digging into a second piece of cake.
Movie Review 'Surfwise': A Family That Surfs to a Beat: Its Own  (Fri, 09 May 2008 04:36:42 GMT)
"Surfwise" has a bohemian vibe and a cool sheen, but it's an eager-to-please, pleasing commercial enterprise with a reassuring narrative arc.
Inside Art: Met's Nautical Mural Has a Return Voyage  (Fri, 09 May 2008 04:15:24 GMT)
A grand Art Deco mural is made whole for the first time since the Normandie sank.
Books of The Times: In a Changing World, an Ever-Evolving Terrorism  (Fri, 09 May 2008 14:16:49 GMT)
Philip Bobbitt's powerful, dense and brilliant new book argues that the nature of terrorism has changed as nationhood has evolved.
Music Review 'Camelot': That Congenial Spot Revisited, With a World-Class Orchestra Playing Along  (Fri, 09 May 2008 04:29:22 GMT)
A major selling point of this "Camelot" is the chance to hear this winning 1960 score sumptuously performed by the New York Philharmonic under the musical theater maestro Paul Gemignani.
Art Review 'Double Album': Two Boys Past Adolescence Still Just Being Boys  (Fri, 09 May 2008 05:01:52 GMT)
The New Museum's intermittently interesting but ultimately disappointing exhibit features two artists in their 40s who share a fascination with male adolescence.
Theater Review 'Stretch (a Fantasia)': Nixon's Secretary on Her Days of Glory and After  (Fri, 09 May 2008 04:28:32 GMT)
Kristin Griffith gives a commanding performance in this inventive play about President Richard M. Nixon's loyal-to-the-end secretary.
Theater Review 'Eccentricities of a Nightingale': A Heroine's Inner Flame, Fueled by an Excess of Feeling  (Fri, 09 May 2008 04:30:58 GMT)
One of the pleasures of this excellent production is how clearly and sympathetically it renders the character of Alma.
Music Review Argento Chamber Ensemble: From Energetic Players, a Mix of Modernism  (Fri, 09 May 2008 04:38:23 GMT)
The energetic young players of the ensemble juxtaposed works of harmonic ingenuity and continuously morphing timbres at Columbia University on Wednesday.
A Story Shared by Father and Son, and Now by Audiences  (Fri, 09 May 2008 04:30:14 GMT)
The actor John Lithgow brings his family's tradition of storytelling to the stage in a one-man show called "John Lithgow: Stories by Heart."
Dance Review: From a Greek Myth, Some Lessons on Crazy Love  (Fri, 09 May 2008 04:52:20 GMT)
The newest production by Gotham Chamber Opera brings a heroine to a place where madness engulfs her in "Ariadne Unhinged."
Music Review Jane Scheckter: Letting Loose, Lena Horne Style, but With Original Touches  (Fri, 09 May 2008 04:27:51 GMT)
Jane Scheckter has appropriated invaluable musical skill from Lena Horne, her complicated subject, as seen at Broadway Baby bistro on Wednesday.
Music Review Charlie Haden and Paul Motian: Decades of Rhythms, Tensing and Stretching Still  (Fri, 09 May 2008 04:09:45 GMT)
Charlie Haden and Paul Motian brought in Ethan Iverson, the pianist from the Bad Plus, into their set of narrative tension at the Village Vanguard this week.
Music Review Jammy Awards: Jammys' Next Act: Preaching Beyond the Flock  (Fri, 09 May 2008 04:09:05 GMT)
Organizers of the awards show plan to change the format to acknowledge live music that is not limited to the heirs of Phish and the Grateful Dead.
Movie Review 'What Happens in Vegas': Morning Hangover, Spouse and Jackpot  (Fri, 09 May 2008 04:50:32 GMT)
"What Happens in Vegas," one of those junky time-wasters that routinely pop up in movie theaters, won't make you laugh much or at all.
Movie Review 'The Babysitters': From High School Student to Ruthless Madam  (Fri, 09 May 2008 01:27:07 GMT)
Until it crosses a shadowy line dividing serious comedy from distasteful exploitation, "The Babysitters" has the makings of an incisive satire of greed and lust in suburbia.
Movie Review 'Noise': Aural Examination  (Fri, 09 May 2008 01:04:24 GMT)
"Noise," the second part of a projected "fanatic trilogy," is shallow and loud.
Movie Review 'The Tracey Fragments': Average Teenage Girl, Assembling a Life Without a Set of Instructions  (Fri, 09 May 2008 04:37:50 GMT)
Viewed as the sum of its sad incidents, "The Tracey Fragments" seems like the kind of adolescent melodrama that has become a staple of young-adult literature.
Movie Review 'The Fall': Broken Spirits on the Mend  (Fri, 09 May 2008 01:48:40 GMT)
Shot piecemeal over the course of four years on locations in 18 countries, "The Fall" is a genuine labor of love — and a real bore.
Movie Review 'Before the Rains': After Them the Monsoon: Two Worlds Collide in India  (Fri, 09 May 2008 05:34:32 GMT)
The ingredients of the Indian director Santosh Sivan's period piece "Before the Rains" may be awfully familiar, but the film lends them the force of tragedy.
Movie Review 'Turn the River': When Life Gives Lemons, Pick Up a Pool Stick  (Fri, 09 May 2008 04:46:12 GMT)
"Turn the River" is a finely observed portrait of a desperate working-class woman who refuses to play by ordinary rules.
Movie Review 'Frontier(s)': After Making It Out of Paris, Finding There's No Escape  (Fri, 09 May 2008 04:47:42 GMT)
The real surprise of "Frontier(s)" is that this creepy, bloody contemporary gross-out also has some ideas, visual and otherwise, wedged among its sanguineous drips.
Movie Review 'Meet Bill': Finding Your Bliss? Losing Your Mind  (Fri, 09 May 2008 01:35:57 GMT)
Male midlife crisis presents as pathological self-loathing in "Meet Bill," an imperative to which the only sane response is: No thanks.
Movie Review 'OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies': A Dashing Agent in Egypt  (Fri, 09 May 2008 01:19:50 GMT)
The hero of "OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies" might be described as a French equivalent of James Bond.
Art Review The International Fine Art Fair: Contemporary May be Hot, but Here the Focus Is on Comfort  (Fri, 09 May 2008 04:59:53 GMT)
The International Fine Art Fair at the Park Avenue Armory, now in its 15th year, is a good place to find highly decorative examples of familiar styles.
Art in Review  (Fri, 09 May 2008 05:59:49 GMT)
Anton Kannemeyer at Jack Shainman, Cornelius Quabeck at Friedrich Petzel Gallery, Amy Bessone at Salon 94 and more.
Antiques: Rococo Eye-Openers at Two Auction Houses  (Fri, 09 May 2008 05:05:17 GMT)
This month both Christie's and Sotheby's are showing a few spectacular Rococo antiques that are not to be missed.
Hanon Reznikov, a Force Behind the Living Theater, Dies at 57  (Fri, 09 May 2008 07:54:27 GMT)
An actor, director and writer, Mr. Reznikov helped run the avant-garde Living Theater for 23 years.
Beverlee McKinsey, 72, Actress in Decades of Soap Operas, Is Dead  (Fri, 09 May 2008 07:51:58 GMT)
Ms. McKinsey, a well-known soap opera actress of the 1970s, '80s and '90s, played memorably strong women on "Another World" and "Guiding Light."
Eddy Arnold, 89, Country Singer With Pop Luster, Dies  (Fri, 09 May 2008 07:55:10 GMT)
Mr. Arnold was a gentleman crooner who took country music uptown and sold more than 85 million recordings over seven decades.
Arts, Briefly: Vienna Opera Chooses Female Concertmaster  (Fri, 09 May 2008 04:33:18 GMT)
The opera has for the first time named a woman, the Bulgarian-born Albena Danailova, to serve as concertmaster, Agence France-Presse reported.
Arts, Briefly: Amy Winehouse Freed  (Fri, 09 May 2008 04:33:32 GMT)
After nine hours of questioning, Amy Winehouse was released from police custody in London after her arrest on suspicion of drug offenses.
Arts, Briefly: Indian Court Declares Painting Not Obscene  (Fri, 09 May 2008 04:32:22 GMT)
A court in India has quashed three obscenity cases against M. F. Husain, one of the country's most famous contemporary painters, the BBC reported.
Arts, Briefly: Dan Rather Revises Lawsuit Against CBS  (Fri, 09 May 2008 04:32:02 GMT)
Less than a month after a New York State judge dismissed large parts of his lawsuit against CBS, Mr. Rather has amended his original lawsuit and resubmitted it to the court.
Arts, Briefly: Manslaughter Trial Set for British Artist  (Fri, 09 May 2008 04:31:39 GMT)
Jan. 26 has been set for the trial of Maurice Agis, who is charged with manslaughter by gross negligence.
Arts, Briefly: ‘Idol' Trounces Barbara Walters  (Fri, 09 May 2008 07:53:09 GMT)
ABC's news special on Barbara Walters was no match for Fox's "American Idol" on Wednesday in the ratings.
Arts, Briefly: Pushkin Museum Overhaul Planned  (Fri, 09 May 2008 04:33:01 GMT)
President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia has announced plans for a $177 million restoration of the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, the largest museum of European art in Moscow, CBC News reported.
Arts, Briefly: Madonna Sets Tour  (Fri, 09 May 2008 04:10:05 GMT)
On Aug. 23, a week after she turns 50, Madonna will embark on a tour of Europe and North America, Agence France-Presse reported.
Arts, Briefly: Footnotes  (Fri, 09 May 2008 04:32:51 GMT)
Whoopi Goldberg will host the 62nd annual Tony Awards ceremony, to be broadcast live by CBS from Radio City Music Hall on June 15.
NYT > Art - Narrowed by 'LOUVRE'
Liberty, Equality, Free Admission: The French Take a Cue From the British
The new government of President Nicolas Sarkozy is borrowing a leaf from British cultural populism by allowing free admission to 14 museums.
Stolen Art on Display in a Search for Owners
In a remarkable feat of cooperation between France and Israel, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem has opened an exhibition of important art looted by the Nazis from France and then returned after the war.
Masterpiece Home Theater
Thanks to super-high-resolution reproductions, computer screens (and even BlackBerrys) now show us art literally in a new dimension.
Serenading Sculptures in Dance at Louvre
The American dancer and choreographer Bill T. Jones has created a 55-minute work called "Walking the Line," which has magically brought to life a section of the Louvre normally frozen in the past.
The Louvre Now Accepts the Living
Anselm Kiefer's work, which will go on display Thursday, will be the first permanent contribution to the Louvre's décor since 1953.
A Symbol of Freedom and a Target for Terrorists
Proximity is the cost, and virtue, of a civil and democratic society. We run the risk that some lunatic or self-promoter will violate the public trust of an open space because we value that space as a democratic ideal.
Arcimboldo's Feast for the Eyes
The glad mobs in Paris, forming polite, cheerful scrums before these stately paintings of people with vegetable faces and fish eyes seem to recognize in Arcimboldo something of the French impulse to bring order to everything.
New French Museum Embraces Architecture
At a low-key ceremony on Monday, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France inaugurated La Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine, (the City of Architecture and Heritage) in Paris, which reopened after a $114 million, decade-long makeover.
‘China's Mona Lisa' Makes a Rare Appearance in Hong Kong
Politics and art don't always mix well, but the combination has yielded a rare chance for Hong Kong residents and visitors to see what is arguably China's most famous painting.
The Industry of Art Goes Global
Today, the reigning values of the art world are money, prestige and power. As a result, museums have become part of a globalized creative industry.
Gift Horses? Bring Them On
Patrons of art institutions are now redefining what they donate by offering gifts like insurance, houses and industrial glass.
Arts, Briefly; The Louvre Emerges Smiling From Abu Dhabi Deal
Louvre enthusiastically applauds $1.3 billion deal to create satellite museum in Abu Dhabi; Louvre will use large portion of funds to complete modernization project that was started 20 years ago
The Louvre's Art: Priceless. The Louvre's Name: Expensive.
The United Arab Emirates will pay a cool $520 million for naming rights to the "Louvre Abu Dhabi."
Three Kings Named Louis, Born With Gilded Spoons
A new show at the High Museum of Art traces the collecting habits of three French kings: Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI.
Abu Dhabi Is to Gain a Louvre of Its Own
The United Arab Emirates will pay $800 million to $1 billion to build a Middle Eastern version of the famous French museum.
NPR Topics: Arts & Culture
Will R. Kelly's Career Survive the Sex Trial?  (Fri, 09 May 2008 13:00:00 -0400)
The R&B artist is accused of videotaping himself having sex with an underage girl. It's taken years, however, for the trial to get off the ground.
Summary Judgement: Cam. vs. Ash, Who Cares?  (Fri, 09 May 2008 13:00:00 -0400)
Mark Jordan Legan tells us what the critics are saying about Speed Racer, the latest film by the Wachowski brothers, What Happens in Vegas and The Tracey Fragments starring Ellen Page.
Fighting to Pay the Bills in 'Redbelt'  (Fri, 09 May 2008 10:36:00 -0400)
Fresh Air film critic David Edelstein reviews Redbelt, the new martial-arts film written and directed by David Mamet. The film tells the story of a principled martial-arts master who steps into the professional fighting ring to save his business.
Warren Buffett Reprises Role on 'All My Children'  (Fri, 09 May 2008 11:07:00 -0400)
Warren Buffett, the world's richest person, makes a guest appearance Friday on the ABC soap opera All My Children. He plays himself, coming to aid the soap's veteran vixen Erica Kane. She's in jail for insider trading, and Buffet offers financial advice. He also guest starred in 1992.
Summer's Blockbuster Films Seem Promising  (Fri, 09 May 2008 08:33:00 -0400)
Los Angeles Times and Morning Edition film critic Kenneth Turan explains that he's actually looking forward to summer movies this year, including the latest Batman movie, The Dark Knight.
Late-Night Hosts Poised to Play Musical Chairs  (Fri, 09 May 2008 00:51:00 -0400)
When Conan O'Brien takes over as The Tonight Showhost in June 2009, comic Jimmy Fallon is expected to replace him on Late Night. But where will outgoing host Jay Leno go? And how does it all affect Jimmy Kimmel?
In 'XXY,' a Teen Affair, If Trickier than Most  (Thu, 08 May 2008 17:05:00 -0400)
Fifteen-year-old Alex was born with both male and female sex organs, and that singularity is starting to matter. A doctor offers help, but it's the medico's 16-year-old son whose attentions interest Alex. Quirky, sharply observed performances, paired with tricky questions about identity, gender and sexuality.
'What Happens in Vegas': Not Much to Laugh About  (Thu, 08 May 2008 17:00:00 -0400)
On one wild night in Sin City, two strangers drink themselves into unholy matrimony. When one hits the jackpot with the other's coin, a fight over marriage and money begins — and a predictable romantic comedy ensues.
'Speed Racer': It's Hell, Wachowski Style, on Wheels  (Thu, 08 May 2008 18:00:00 -0400)
How can something look so bright, and move so fast, and still be so dull? Oh, right: The creators of The Matrix are involved.
Queen's Brian May Rocks an Astrophysics Rhapsody  (Thu, 08 May 2008 08:06:00 -0400)
As a member of the glam rock band Queen, May wrote "We Will Rock You" and played that guitar solo on "We Are the Champions." But the curly haired musician also dreamed of a career in astrophysics. Three decades later, he's gotten his doctorate and written a book about the history of the universe.
Growing Up In a Surfer Family, Wipeouts and All  (Thu, 08 May 2008 10:20:00 -0400)
The family of Dorian "Doc" Paskowitz — all 11 of them — lived on a 24-foot camper, traveling the continent in search of good surfing. Their story is the subject of Surfwise, a documentary directed by Doug Pray and produced by Jonathan Paskowitz.
Georgia's 'Geechee' Culture Braces for Change  (Thu, 08 May 2008 11:19:00 -0400)
After the Civil War, freed West African slaves remained on Sapelo Island, an isolated plantation community off the Georgia coast. Lifelong resident Cornelia Bailey says development could erase the Geechee culture.
'Speed Racer' Film a Far Cry from Its Anime Roots  (Thu, 08 May 2008 11:00:00 -0400)
The movie Speed Racer opens Thursday. It's based on the Japanese animated series that was a hit with American kids in the late 1960s. The movie is directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, who directed The Matrix.
Fashion Designer Inspired by Southern Heritage  (Wed, 07 May 2008 12:00:00 -0400)
Hilton Hollis, a native of Natchez, Miss., is a big name on the international fashion circuit. But he says he first became interested in style growing up in the south. Hollis explains how his southern heritage comes to life in his designs.
Facebook vs. Yearbook: Memories Saved Online  (Tue, 06 May 2008 14:51:00 -0400)
The hardcover yearbook used to be an indispensable part of the high school and college experience. But today, online social-networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace allow students to memorialize their friendships online — for free.
Wired: Culture
Stitched-Together Pencils Evolve Into Beastly Sculptures  (Fri, 09 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT)
: Before pencils, Maestre was originally building with nails and a liquid rubber-type glue. She started to worry about inhaling all the toxic fumes, however, and began to experiment with different techniques until she settled on beading. Her method of choice? The peyote stitch. : Basilisk is one of Maestre's most technically difficult sculptures because she wanted to create a more specific four-legged form. Depending on the size of the sculpture, it can take her up to two months to complete one sculpture. Of course, there's plenty of trial and error involved. : In Watchtower, Maestre focuses on a more architectural form. Peer inside and you'll see a series of pencil struts spiraling up like a staircase in a tower. "I like to make sculptures that people can look into," Maestre explains. "That's why I leave a lot of openings. I really like the contrast of the different textures." : This Pokemon-like creature may look cute and cuddly, but don't get too friendly. Maestre was originally inspired by the push-pull reaction she had to sea urchins. The alluring yet dangerous interplay led her to create the prickly sculptures she's come to master today. : Hive is one of Mastre's unintentionally more suggestive sculptures. "Certain viewers find it a little obscene," she says. "Maybe because I used the pink eraser ends to outline the orifices." : Some see a frog, others a gorilla, and some even an Egyptian mask. What does Threnody look like to you? Maestre may not know herself, but her primary goal was to convey the feeling of something howling.
Sex Drive: Motion-Capture Suits Will Spice Up Virtual Sex  (Fri, 09 May 2008 01:00:00 GMT)
No matter how beautiful the sex animations are in your favorite virtual playground, they can't compete with the movement of your own body. How soon will we be slipping gracefully into motion-capture suits or using 3-D cameras to capture those uniquely natural moves and engage our entire bodies in online sexual adventures, rather than limping along with keyboard and mouse? Sooner than you might think. Kevin Alderman, who's already infamous for the sex animations his company Strokerz Toyz creates for Second Life, is developing a wireless, consumer-level motion-capture suit that's expected to hit shelves in 2009. "Right now only a dozen or so sites on the web offer downloadable mocap files," Alderman says. "You have to wait until some studio becomes benevolent enough to make the animations you want, or you have to engage them for your specific needs." Personal motion-capture suits will enable residents to contribute sex animations to the world of their choice -- and to develop scenarios tailored to their own deepest desires, especially if they team up with others who also have the suits. It's the bridge between today's expensive studio mocap and the real-time avatar control of tomorrow. Meanwhile, technologists Mitch Kapor and Philippe Bossut have developed a less exotic, yet more familiar, prototype for hands-free interaction in virtual worlds: They're using a 3-D camera to track body movements, which are in turn translated and used to control avatars in Second Life. These new technologies won't instantly set off the "ZOMG it's sex!" media alarms the way Bluetooth-to-sex-toy interfaces do. These developers can position themselves as facilitators of dancing and flying and walking around, creators of new input devices rather than instigators of a whole new level of cybersex. But you can be sure we'll adapt whatever they come up with to our own erotic purposes. I would gladly put up with a few technical glitches for the chance to play with home mocap systems and virtual worlds. Traditionally, home motion-capture animation has been financially out of reach for most geeks, costing about a half-million dollars for a studio setup -- a big room, multiple cameras to capture all the angles, the spandex suit with the white pingpong balls, the software that calculates the movement of those points through space and maps it to a digital figure. However, Rick Hall, production director at the Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, sees "a trend to move away from big external optical systems" like the mocap setups used for movies and game development. Hall suggests that MMORGs will most likely provide the first venues for real-time mocap. "Picture the more sedate scenes like in a bar, or dance clubs," he says. "That could be an interesting application, putting on a little virtual-reality mocap suit and dancing." Ask hard-core game developers about the limitations of using real-time motion capture devices to control your avatar and they'll remind you that your living room is a finite space. Even if you could strap on the motion sensors and use your body to maneuver your digital alter ego, you can't do much flying, climbing or fighting without hitting a wall. "You can swing a baseball bat or kick a football, but you can't go dive, can't run, can't explore a cave," Hall says. "We're always going to have this problem. Duplicating the Holodeck on the Enterprise sounds nice, but when they turn the screen off, it's just a big room.... It's not limited by (mocap) technology but by the walls in your house." With virtual sex, that's not such a problem. Sometimes what you want to do in a virtual world takes up no more physical space than a sleeping bag. And sometimes you actually need a wall. Where else would you secure the tie-downs? "I'm not sure I want to go there," Hall says. (That's OK. Everybody has a day job.) Strokerz Toyz's Alderman wants to go all the way there. While the world waits for his $10,000 home mocap suit, he's launching a mocap studio, StroCap, that focuses on mature content. "We are soliciting (Second Life) residents to tell us what they want to see in adult motion capture," Alderman says. "More realistic caresses? More erotic dances? More action?" With StroCap's offerings and the inevitable use of home mocap suits and 3-D cams to control avatars, people who want to express themselves sexually in a virtual world -- but can't draw or animate -- will still be able to translate their own desires and preferences into in-world animations. Gradually, our avatars will begin to mirror the way our bodies actually move, which could have an interesting effect on the gender play virtual worlds are so keen on. If we get it right, we'll become at least 50 percent more attractive to other residents, according to a collaborative study conducted last year at Texas A&M University and New York University. People are more than ready to replace keyboards and controllers with more holistic interfaces. Look at the demand for Wii Fit, even though nothing prevents us from popping in an exercise video or walking the dog. As for the lag that can still be a problem in virtual worlds, well, you wouldn't have expected people to use webcams night after night over their 14,400-baud modems, and yet we did, somehow. My first real-time mocap action will be to kiss whoever develops the system I use. See you in a fortnight, Regina Lynn - - - Regina Lynn invites you to move her at reginalynn.com.
You Hacked an Epilespy Site with Flashing Pix. Really.  (Thu, 08 May 2008 15:17:00 GMT)
Hackers who probably also think that torturing small animals is funny bombed an epilepsy foundation's site with animations and link forwards to sites that serve up pulsating kaleidoscopic images. Severe migraines and near-seizure reactions were reported by the afflicted. The FBI is investigating, and we're wondering what punishment fits this crime.
Papa John's Sells $1 Billion in Pizza Online  (Thu, 08 May 2008 14:56:00 GMT)
Papa John's says it has sold more than $1 billion worth of pizza online in the seven years since it has taken orders over the web. In the fierce battle for click orders the nation's third-largest pizza chain says it has spent $15 on fulfillment technology and has seen online sales grow at 50 percent a year, to $400 million last year alone.
Alt Text: Sad Explanations for Supernatural Phenomena  (Wed, 07 May 2008 01:00:00 GMT)
I was pleased to see the recent news about alien images appearing on a wall in Canada. If you haven't seen the story, the upshot is that some reflected light shows up every non-overcast day on someone's house in Calgary, and the resulting image looks something like a cross between Gollum and the Reddit mascot. Thus, aliens. Alt Text Podcast Download audio files and subscribe to the Alt Text podcast. This is nonsense, unfortunately. I would love for even one of the completely wall-slappingly insane phenomena that bubble up these days to be true. If even one funnel-shaped cloud or particularly reflective seagull ended up being an actual alien craft, if even one person's Pomeranian really did house the mind of an ancient Egyptian emperor, if even one winged hominid got run over by a meth-infused trucker and examined by reputable scientists, then I could be happy in a world that's even weirder than it initially appears to be. Tragically, though, none of them pan out in the long run. And yet, people keep devising theories. Some, not content to come up with explanations for unexplained phenomena, instead go to great lengths to come up with bizarre takes on explained phenomena. Exhibit One: Rods On some videos and photos, you can see odd smudges made up of a straight line with a sort of twirly fuzz around it. What are these things? Well, one theory is that they are creatures living in the atmosphere, invisible to the naked eye but for some reason able to be caught on videotape. This theory is wrong. While I love the idea that your basic handheld Panasonic camera has mystical-vision powers, the fact is that you can capture "rod" video of your own by pointing a camera set to a slow shutter speed at a bunch of insects. The paranormal response? Yeah, those rods are insects, but there are other rods that are visually identical to the insects, but which are actually rods! Exhibit Two: Orbs If rods are too interesting for you, check out orbs. Where rods take the form of moving blurs, orbs manifest themselves as roughly circular blobs. Spine-chillingly circular! Here's how it works. You take a photo of something with your cheapie digital camera, and the picture has a translucent gray dot on it. Clearly there's no explicable way for weird little visual artifacts to end up on digital photos, so they must be the spirits of the departed. This one's just sad. It's like you want to see Bigfoot, but you hate camping, so you just classify the dust bunnies under the couch as cryptids and call it a day. Exhibit Three: Crowd Demons I'm being a bit unfair here, because crowd demons aren't really a well-known phenomenon among the desperately wacky crowd, but the idea is so deliciously stupid I'm highlighting it here in hopes it will catch on. On the GhostStudy.com website, you'll find a photo that purportedly shows two demons sitting next to each other at a musical recital. The site suggests that if you look long enough you'll see a shadow ghost. It also says it shows "a dinosaur attacking a man (however, this is most likely an illusion)." Yeah, most likely. There is less than a 50 percent chance that the photo actually shows a demon dinosaur eating a guy's head. Another guy found a bunch of crowd demons at a Republican rally. I'm not actually seeing most of those, but maybe I just don't have the patience to play a proper game of Where's Weirdo? As obvious as the rational explanations for all these phenomena are, I'm a bit sad. I'd enjoy living in a world filled with normally invisible creatures that only show their true, blurry forms on discount audiovisual equipment. Kind of like YouTube, only with more flying and fewer anime clips. - - - Born helpless, nude and unable to provide for himself, Lore Sjöberg eventually overcame these handicaps to become a Jersey Devil, a Dover Demon and a Pittsburgh Penguin.
Travel Tips for Globetrotting Geeks  (Wed, 07 May 2008 00:15:00 GMT)
Before galloping off on that around-the-world trip, learn what to bring to maintain your gadget-geek fix. In Wired.com's How-To Wiki.
Colbert, will.i.am Among Special Webby Winners  (Tue, 06 May 2008 12:57:00 GMT)
Stephen Colbert's use of the Internet to connect with fans and will.i.am, the Black Eyed Peas frontman behind the popular "Yes We Can" video, win special achievement Webbies.
Lights, Rockets, Robots Take Center Stage at Maker's Faire  (Tue, 06 May 2008 01:00:00 GMT)
: SAN MATEO, California -- Maker Faire has a reputation as the premiere destination for people who like to build stuff of all shapes, kinds and scales. This year's Bay Area iteration of the event didn't disappoint, with tens of thousands of nerds, hackers and crafters descending on the San Mateo fairgrounds outside San Francisco for two days of circuit boards, fire and do-it-yourself demonstrations. With nearly 500 exhibitors presenting their creations, the Faire can be bewildering, so we sent a crack team from the Wired.com office down Highway 101 to cherry-pick the 12 coolest projects that we spotted over the weekend. Left: Members of LUNAR, the Livermore Unit of the National Association of Rocketry, sent rockets flying into the air. They also provided the lighter side of rocket science. In this shot, some of the group's junior members give it a go. : Bay Area husband-and-wife art team, Dan Das Mann and Karen Cusolito led the creation of these 30-foot-tall sculptures along with more than 100 collaborators from the Headless Point Artists' Retreat and Labor Camp. Originally created for Burning Man, the two sculptures, Ecstasy, the feminine sculpture, and Mambatu, the squatting man, guarded the food court at the Maker's Faire. The oversize figures are part of a larger eight-figure installation called Crude Awakening. : An enormous skull greeted visitors to the Faire, 9-feet-tall and made out of e-waste. Its eyes and teeth were flat-panel screens. A projector mounted on the skull played a series of sci-fi classics like The Last Man on Earth. Faire-goers could even text the skull and hear their message read aloud by one of hundreds of synthesized voices. Self-powered, it moved to the theme from the movie Jaws. Its maker, James Burgett, describes himself as a "self-educated electronics recycler and generally strange guy who gives away computers." : Acme Muffineering presented their whimsical take on personal transportation, which is essentially an electric vehicle set inside a metal "muffin" tin. The group says the muffins are about 18 times the size of your average muffin, but decidedly less delicious. On the other hand, the muffin cars can speed up to 18 mph, which is beyond the reach of your ordinary morning confection. : A 17-foot robotic giraffe with webcams in his eyes and special touch-sensitive sensors proved a crowd pleaser over the weekend. "Hello, my name is Russell," the electric giraffe, aka Rave Raffe, said to a crowd of children. Russell rewarded kids tickling his sensors by saying, "He. He. He. That tickles," and "That feels nice." The whimsical giraffe is the creation of Russell Pinnington, after whom the robot was named, and Lindz Lawlor, who provides the base for its voice. You might have caught earlier versions of the beast at Burning Man over the last couple of years. : Husband-and-wife industrial-arts team Dan Das Mann and Karen Cusolito presented their 6-ton, 20-foot-tall sculpture Epiphany to the Maker Faire. The team considers the fire-spewing figure a manifestation of the current state of an oil-dependent economy. "She could be fearful or hopeful, worshipping either a tree or oil derrick," Cusolito said, "but either way, she's engulfed in a state of fervor." Fire technicians Danya Parkinson and Joe Bard of art collective Pyrokinetics were responsible for rigging Epiphany's pyrotechnics: They installed a pilot light in the cardiac region of her 20-foot-tall frame that, when triggered, radiates fire outwards through her hands. The blazes are supposed to mimic a fiery vascular system. : Any good carnival wouldn't be complete without rides, and at the Maker Faire, a 21st-century experiment in artistry, science and sideshow acts, the Unwheeldy, a two-wheeled cycle, was in high demand. In the photo, Festival-goers Alex Woodman and Taylor Johnston, both 12, pedal the tandem two-seater. Bay Area computer software engineer Matthew Blaine, 34, co-designed and built the vehicle, which he called a "giant tandem dicycle." The dicycle's wheels are each 9-feet tall and positioned 5-feet apart from one another, set in a steel frame. The hardest part about building a monstrous bike? Finding super-size materials. "Most bike shops don't carry giant, 4-foot spokes," Blaine said. "So we made them out of salvaged steel." : Stanford neuroscience grad student Alan Rorie showed off his hand-built, steam-powered time machine. Created out of copper, sheets of steel and nitric-acid etched brass plates, the sculpture is hooked to a steam engine with a steam boiler to power its movement. Of course, Rorie's machines don't actually bend the laws of physics, but he credits his creations with helping to pass the time and "keeping [him] sane." His steampunky time machine, or "dihemispheric chronaether agitator," as he calls it, was handcrafted over the last few months. : If one thing is true about the crowd at Maker Faire, it's that they love robots. If two things are true about Makers, it's that they love robots fighting. This year, the world's largest robotic fighting league, RoboGames, put on an exhibition called the ComBot Cup. You've undoubtedly seen RoboGames bots in action, so we went backstage to snap some pictures of the competitors retooling their machines after several rounds of combat. Here, R.D. van Noy and Scott Kincaid worked on their heavyweight robot "S.J." on Saturday. : This year, the world's largest robotic fighting league, RoboGames, put on an exhibition called the ComBot Cup. You've undoubtedly seen RoboGames bots in action, so we went backstage to snap some pictures of the competitors retooling their machines after several rounds of combat. Backstage at the RoboGames competition at Maker Faire, Curt Meyers pushes his robot, "Jaws of Death," into position. : At sunset Saturday, the emphasis of the fair shifted from making to burning. One group, Interpretative Arson, built a "large-scale fire toy that translates anyone's movements into fire." Functionally, the 2πR project consisted of a series of propane tanks arrayed in a circle around a central platform. The platform was mounted with ground-based sensors that were rigged to torches atop the propane tanks. A person standing on the platform could point in the direction of a tank, thereby covering the sensor, causing the torches in that direction to explode into fire. The group allowed audience members to get into the central platform and make the fire dance, like this young boy. : Russell the Giraffe lights up after dark, an indication that he was originally designed as a sideshow for raves. Inside that friendly exterior lurks a 1,000-watt sound system for all your electronic music needs.
Maker Faire 2008: Scale Model Battleships and Pyrotechnic Sculpture  (Mon, 05 May 2008 21:15:00 GMT)
Wired.com's Alexis Madrigal checks out this year's Maker Faire in San Mateo, California. DIY hackers at the tech festival showed off everything from a robotic giraffe to a life-sized Mouse Trap game.
Wired.com Photo Contest: Black and White  (Mon, 05 May 2008 01:00:00 GMT)
This week we want you to throw away your color crutches and walk boldly into the shadows. No more hiding behind hues, it's time to put your photo chops to the test. Use the Reddit widget below to submit your best black-and-white photo and vote for your favorite among the other submissions. The 10 highest-ranked photos will appear in a gallery on the Wired.com home page. Though the format is called black-and-white, the name is misleading: It's really all about the grays -- what happens between creation and death. For this assignment, shadow and light are your left and right fists of truth, and your subject is your punching bag. The photo must be your own, and by submitting it you are giving us permission to use it on Wired.com and in Wired magazine. Please submit images that are relatively large, the ideal size being 800-1200 pixels or larger on the longest side. Please include a description of your photo, which may include exposure information, equipment used, etc. We don't host the photos, so you'll have to upload it somewhere else and submit a link to it. If you're using Flickr, Picasa or another photo-sharing site to host your image, please provide a link to the image directly and not just to the photo page where it's displayed. If your photo doesn't show up, it's because the URL you have entered is incorrect. Check it and make sure it ends with the image file name (XXXXXX.jpg). Please bookmark this page and check back periodically over the next two weeks to vote on new submissions! Also, check out the winner's galleries from our previous contests: Holga, Red, Self-Portrait, Night and Macro. Vote on black-and-white photos submitted by other readers. Show entries that are: hot new top-rated. Submit your black and white photo. Submit your black and white photo. (No more than one every 30 minutes. No HTML allowed.) Back to top

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