Art Iz Ferniture

Wholphin

Film arm of the veritable McSweeney's empire, the DVD Magazine, Wholphin, whose name derives from the incredible real-life spawn of dolphins and whales engaging in interspecies sex, has its eye tuned to short films both artful and downright bizarre, rare or unseen.

Issues two through four came packaged with installations of The Power of Nightmares, a totally amazing documentary by Adam Curtis which chronicles the shocking parallels between radical Islam and neoconservativism. (You can see the whole thing on Google Video; that's the link there.)

Even if you don't feel like laying down the $50 for a Wholphin subscription, you should check out the free online content; my favorite being either An Internal Camaraderie, a video made out of appropriated footage from self-help VHS tapes, or Thanks for the ADD, by one of my favorite independent filmmakers, Joe Swanberg. 

While I'm thinking about it, you should check out Swanberg's Young American Bodies, one of the best web series out there. Originally on Nerve Video, it's also been picked up by IFC.com. The series is a great example of new media for new technology.  Someday I'll do a proper post on Joe Swanberg, but today is not that day.

Muxtape

Welly, welly, well. Someone (me) finally got around to making a muxtape; it's going to be a sort-of-ambient mix by avant-garde composers and bands, designed for reading or looking at art - especially comics. I recommend Joe Sayers's webcomic Thingpart. Hope you like it. 

Click the first track to start playing.

Muxtape #1: Art Iz Ferniture

Muxtape allows anyone to make a mix with minimal effort; it was designed by Justin Ouellette, a photographer and web designer from Portland. My main complaint is the slow upload speeds - maybe it's just my internet; after all, I am out here in the midst of nothingness.

But I also had trouble uploading some tracks, and, as a result, was forced to include songs I wouldn't have otherwise. Like I said, it could be my connection, but I had trouble in Austin, too. Also, you can only have 12 tracks under 10MB a piece, which really isn't enough for me. And the window has to be open at all times in order for the next track to start. It's just a lot of hassle, in my opinion. But whatever, I'll give my contribution to the "muxiverse."

Check out this muxtape post on the Famousish for more muxes, or just click around on the Muxtape wiki, there's a good chance someone you know has made one, which is fun to stumble upon.

Also, as a bonus, I thought I'd share with you this video someone made of Rainer Wehinger's aural score to "Artikulation," György Ligeti's electronic masterpiece. At once beautiful and informative, I could kiss whoever spent the time to do this. You may know Ligeti from his scores for Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, Eyes Wide Shut, and of course, 2001: A Space Odyssey.