Spraycan Swat Team Covers Entire Train with Graffiti in Minutes

Compared to some of the street artists featured on Watch. Read. Repeat. who tend to, relatively speaking, take their time when creating their images, this group in Germany is a friggin graffiti swat team.

10 Centuries in 5 Minutes: Video Map of Changing European Borders Over past 1,000 Years

Images created by historicalatlas.com, this video takes us through the rise and fall of European empires over the past 1,000 years.

Sharks are Friends, Not Food

With many shark species on the brink of extinction, a new community of conservation-minded divers and videographers are working to change our perceptions of an animal long demonized in popular culture.  Like many of my generation, I was scared shitless at an early age by the movie Jaws.  I remain to this day inherently fearful of deep, open water.  I can, at anytime, cause myself anxiety with a simple thought…

Paris vs. New York: A Tally of Two Cities

Bagel vs. baguette, subway vs. metro, un petit cafe vs. grande frappuccino.  Graphic designer Vahram Muratyan, having recently moved from Paris to NYC, shares with us his realizations of the quaint little idiosyncratic iconography that most of us overlook, these cosmopolitan ambassadors of salt, pepper and tarragon.

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“Paris versus New York: a tally of two cities” is Vahram’s blog, where you will find the rest of his minimalist depictions and contradictions.

Framework- The Most Iconic Men’s Eyewear of the Last 100 Years

Legend:

01. Woody Allen 02. Kanye West 03. Buddy Holly 04. Michael Caine 05. Kurt Cobain 06. John Lennon 07. Geordi LaForge 08. Malcolm X 09. Johnny Depp 10. Dame Edna 11. Stephen Colbert

Play Digital Spy with Covert USB Drives Hidden Around the City

In a scrupulous world, this would be a really cool idea.  As part of his residency with EyeBeam in New York City, Aram Bartholl has created an interesting sociological experiment.  An anonymous, offline, peer-to-peer file sharing network.  On the sly, he has secreted USB flash drives into walls, buildings and street curbs, in publicly accessible spaces

My Brain is Ignoring My Nose! Kooky Song of Mind Blowing Facts

It’s Friday afternoon and about the right time for a bit of buffoonery.  I’ve called on farcical songster and today’s court jester, Jonathan Mann, to fire up his patented Songatron and spin us out an amusing little ditty.  Please note that it’s always my goal to make sure you learn something new when you visit, regardless of how idiosyncratic. 

What Jonathan has created for our enjoyment accomplishes both of our goals by giving you a few nuggets of titillating info and a smile on your face, both of which I encourage you share with friends this weekend.  Want more from the Songatron?  You can sign up here to receive Jonathan’s Song-a-Day via email.

Jonathan: “I stumbled on to a really wonderful thread on Reddit.com about the most mind-blowing facts people could think of. I collected a bunch of them and made this song!”

Christopher Walken Cooking Chicken and Pears

 

There’s really no commentary needed here.  It’s simply a joy to watch this man do… well, anything.  (watch the video after the jump)

Banksy Creates “The Simpsons” Opening. Dark, Political… Surprise.

This past weekend’s “The Simpsons” took their regular opening credits “couch gag” somewhere they haven’t been before.  Dark… actually, very dark and unexpectedly thought pervoking (unexpectedly until you realize who storyboarded it, that is).  Riffing on slave labor-like conditions in Asian factories, that happen to be making “Simpsons” animation slides and dvds, the opening sequence was created by none other than our favorite guerilla street artist Banksy.  (video after the jump) 

Grand Taxonomy of Rapper Names

Ever wonder how rappers come up with their stage names?  We’ve chilled with the Ices: Ice-T, Ice Cube, Vanilla Ice.  Have been graced by royalty: Queen Latifah, Sir Mix-a-lot, the Fresh Prince.  And got a bit funky with the Lil’s: Lil’ Wayne, Lil’ Kim, Lil’ Romeo.  Spend some time squinting at this new infographic from Brooklyn design shop Pop Chart Lab to see the connections between 266 nom de plumes (consider using your browser’s zoom for a better look).

Jason Schwartzman Demos the Hell Out of the New Yorker iPad App

The new App has everything that is in the print edition and more: extra cartoons, extra photographs, videos, audio of writers and poets reading their work.

This week’s inaugural tablet issue features an animated version of David Hockney’s cover, which he drew on an iPad. There is also a short film starring Jason Schwartzman and directed by Roman Coppola.

Future of Reading’s Present Filled with Smart Concepts

By Tim Carmody

With the success of the Kindle, Nook, Sony readers, and tablets like the iPad, it seems like electronic books have finally arrived. But I think we’re actually still stuck in between two developmental phases on the way to the future.

For a long time, work on interactive books was about building either theory or prototypes. People talked about what multimedia reading might or could or should look like, and they built what were mostly one-off or low-volume projects using CD-ROMs, software applications, or the web.

Now, though, the theory and the prototypes have blended: