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30 Jan 2012 00:31

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Offbeat: Beam me up, coffee table: More exciting than a J.J. Abrams reboot

  • In case you’re tired of hearing about people dying in Syria, here’s a picture of a coffee table that looks like the Starship Enterprise. It can be yours for a mere $3,100. [h/t Geekologie] source
  • EDIT: Yes we were trolling. Sorry, all. 😛

08 Jul 2011 16:58

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U.S.: Picasso drawing thief caught thanks to cameras in a restaraunt

  • A couple of days ago, a man blatantly stole a Picasso drawing from a San Francisco gallery in broad daylight. Authorities didn’t expect to catch the thief, but yesterday, they got a break. Authorities spotted the suspect, Mark Lugo (shown left), with the help of surveillance cameras outside a restaurant he happened to walk by. He tried to mail the drawing, authorities say. However, before he could do so, authorities reached him first and recovered the drawing. The museum said they would tighten security as a result of the incident. (photos via ABC7News.com) source

06 Jul 2011 00:21

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Culture: Picasso drawing nabbed from gallery

  • HEIST! A 1965 Pablo Picasso drawing valued at over $200,000 was successfully stolen earlier today from a San Francisco art gallery. It was a sophisticated heist that included eleven individuals, a remote-controlled car, a decoy video feed and several impostor cops. Hah, just kidding, that was “Ocean’s Eleven.” This heist was much less glamorous; apparently, a guy just walked into the gallery, picked up the drawing, and walked out. Clever! The police say that they might recover the piece if someone spots the thief “walking around with it or trying to sell it.” In other words, they won’t recover the piece. source

15 Jun 2011 18:21

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Culture: David Lynch to open “Club Silencio” in Paris

  • David Lynch opening predictably odd nightclub: Perhaps you’re familiar with filmmaker David Lynch, whose movies are broadly seen as prime examples of inscrutable, “outer-edge” American cinema — perhaps none quite as famous as 2001’s Mulholland Drive. Well, yesterday came word that Lynch is in the works of designing and opening “Club SIlencio,” a 1920’s style Parisian nightclub modeled after the Mulholland Drive location of the same name. We’ll be honest, this is rather shocking to us. We could imagine George Lucas opening a fake Mos Eisley Cantina, for example, but David Lynch’s “Club SIlencio?” Just too weird. source

18 Apr 2011 23:07

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U.S.: Artist paints anti-gay church leader in compromising position with Satan

  • Well, this is awesome: The delightful Westboro Baptist Church, best known for protesting the funerals of soldiers and screaming “God Hates Fags” at anyone who will listen, just got a taste of its own medicine. The man pictured above is New York artist Scott LoBaido. LoBaido traveled to the church’s headquarters in Topeka, Kansas last weekend, set up shop across the street, and proceded to paint the above work of art. In case you can’t tell, it’s an image of WBC founder Fred Phelps, wearing nothing but a pair of purple underwear, lovingly embracing the Devil, as his daughter (the equally-charming Shirley Phelps-Roper) gazes on in anticipation. The police tried to stop LoBaido, but as his creation clearly qualifies as art, the anti-picketing laws afforded to the church didn’t apply. LoBaido is a traveling artist who paints patriotic imagery around the United States. He blasted Lady Gaga while making this masterpiece (which he plans to auction off for charity on eBay), earning him a police citation for violating anti-noise laws. We think it was well-worth it. source

11 Dec 2010 15:34

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Culture: David Wojnarowicz: An AIDS victim still caught in the culture wars

  • (Note: The video above contains disturbing images and is NSFW.) In the wake of “A Fire in My Belly” getting removed from the Smithsonian for its imagery of Jesus covered in ants, The Washington Post has a very heartfelt essay on the man who created it, David Wojnarowicz. Wojnarowicz, who died of AIDS in 1992, was an artist at the height of the culture wars who often found his work being co-opted by those who disliked it – which, most notably, led to him suing the American Family Association for misrepresenting his work. The man who pressured the Smithsonian to remove “A Fire in My Belly,” William Donohue of the Catholic League, has a long history of complaining about things he doesn’t like. It’s too bad, though, that the man who created these images – a complex figure to put it lightly (just watch the clip above, as powerful and emotionally affecting as it is difficult to watch) – was lost in the middle. source

30 Nov 2010 00:05

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Culture, World: Tons of new Picasso artwork found in some guy’s trunk

  • 271 previously unknown Picasso works unearthed in France source
  • » Picasso’s electrician just tore the art world a new one. Pierre Le Guennec used to install burglar alarms for Pablo Picasso. Last September, he approached the Picasso estate with an astonishing revelation: for the past several decades, he’d had been keeping 271 previously unreleased Picasso originals in a trunk in his house. He wanted Picasso’s relatives to authenticate the work; instead, the filed suit against him for illegal possession. Le Guennec claims they were a gift from the late artist; Picasso’s family thinks he stole them. No matter who prevails in court, art lovers are the real winners here. This is a huge find.
 

23 Sep 2010 20:34

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24 Jun 2010 11:20

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Tech: The Getty Images iPad app is full of photo-editing win

  • We mentioned this to our boy Charles Apple last night, but it needs to be emphasized. This app makes photo-editing – a job that once required people to spend hours looking at dull Web pages – significantly easier. We used it and found the interface impeccable – it’s just easier than clicking through page after page of photos. We approve. (Do this with iStockPhoto next, guys. Please? You own it. You could do it.) source

13 Jun 2010 12:16

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Culture: 100 Years of Propaganda: Art + Message = Huge impact

  • Smashing Magazine has this amazing gallery of various works of propaganda over the last 100 years. This particular piece, from Russia, is the work of El Lissitzky, whose works greatly influenced the art world in general. source