Art

LATimes.com: Street artist ‘Space Invader’ believed detained in L.A. vandalism case

LATimes.com: Street artist ‘Space Invader’ believed detained in L.A. vandalism case

The Los Angeles Police Department believes one of two French nationals detained on suspicion of vandalism near MOCA’s Little Tokyo gallery was the famed street artist known as “Space Invader.”

I think Invader’s works are whimsical and fun.  But, arrest is part of the risk of being a street artist.

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SI.com: Brewers’ new approach may shift opinions about defensive strategy

SI.com: Brewers’ new approach may shift opinions about defensive strategy

But thanks to information in spray charts that indicate where a batter is likely to hit a ground ball, the Brewers are taking infield shifts to a different level, sometimes to the extreme. For example, the Brewers’ infield shifted against the Nationals’ right-handed batters Jayson Werth, Michael Morse, rookie catcher Wilson Ramos and Rick Ankiel, a lefty.

I think that this is not likely to work.  Spray charts are charted balls in play with the defense in a traditional position.  The spray chart is most likely to change against a different defensive alignment.

Once an extreme visible shift is made, most good players should be able to hit the ball the other way to take advantage of an opportunity.

Books

Another free Seth Godin Kindle Book

Tales of the Revolution: True Stories of People who are Poking the Box and Making a Difference

Early in March, The Domino Project published Seth Godin’s Poke the Box. We Immediately received stories about people taking initiative in their own lives – doing things differently at work or with their families, taking initiative in places they were scared to. Prompted by the number of inspiring stories we received, we launched Tales of the Revolution, profiling examples of passionate self-starters who regularly went above and beyond to make a difference by doing. This free Kindle edition is a sampling of the hundreds of stories we received. Each one could be just the right inspiration for you to keep poking. The Domino Project April, 2011.

Art

Art on eBay, not always a deal

I seem some pretty bad deals on print art on eBay, but this is one of the worst ripoffs I’ve seen in a while.

DavidChoeObamaBad.jpgThis David Choe print is one of my favorite Obama posters from 2008 and I’ve been looking to pick one up since then- but definitely not this one.  For a a mere starting bid of $849, this looted paster print can be yours:

This is a print of the Obama Hope painting by famous artist DAVID CHOE. Around the election in 2008, I was in New Orleans (which is where my family lives) on vacation, my brother in-law is a HUGE fan of David Choe and found out that they had posted some of these posters on broken-down buildings in New Orleans. (He had heard that either David Choe himself or some of David Choe’s family members were posting these exact posters) We drove to a part of town where there was a couple of these posters on a building. I took this one as it was less torn than the others. There are some small rips on the edges, which is understandable as it was out in mother nature. This poster is 18″x24″ inches in size. This is the last time I’m putting this on ebay, I lowered the price dramatically as I need to sell this to pay for our rent since we lost our jobs a while back!

Also, there is a white glare on the poster from the flash of the camera. THIS IS NOT ON THE POSTER ITSELF!

I love this poster and I love David Choe, but I’m resorting to selling this, some of my other personal belongings and my other paintings (Check out my other items!) because we recently lost our jobs.

The white glare is not there, but the folds and tears are real.  I can’t imagine anyone every buying this print.  For comparison, a mint limited edition of this print has been going for $400-500.

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CNN.com: Whoops! Stamp features Vegas babe, not New York lady

CNN.com: Whoops! Stamp features Vegas babe, not New York lady

The U.S. Postal Service on Friday confirmed that the image was of the statue at the New York-New York Hotel & Casino, a fact that was made known to them by a stamp collector a few weeks ago.

But, attempting to make the best of an embarrassing situation, the Postal Service said it would have picked the image anyway, and it said news of the mistake has added enthusiasm to the stamp-loving masses.

I don’t believe for a second that they would have used this image if they had known.  If you look at the windows on the crown, they’re clearly painted in.

t1larg.stamp.mixup.usps.jpg

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CNN.com: China bans time travel for television

CNN.com: China bans time travel for television

New guidelines issued on March 31 discourage plot lines that contain elements of “fantasy, time-travel, random compilations of mythical stories, bizarre plots, absurd techniques, even propagating feudal superstitions, fatalism and reincarnation, ambiguous moral lessons, and a lack of positive thinking.”

time travel = bad
flying kung fu fighters = good

Banning all this pretty much a ban against all science fiction.

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NYTimes.com: Is Sugar Toxic?

NYTimes.com: Is Sugar Toxic?

If Lustig is right, then our excessive consumption of sugar is the
primary reason that the numbers of obese and diabetic Americans have
skyrocketed in the past 30 years. But his argument implies more than
that. If Lustig is right, it would mean that sugar is also the likely
dietary cause of several other chronic ailments widely considered to be
diseases of Western lifestyles — heart disease, hypertension and many
common cancers among them.

Fascinating article.  It’ll make you think twice about adding that sugar to your coffee.

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Videos: World Order (Genki Sudo)

My girlfriend sent me a link to this video by the Japanese group World Order of their song Mind Shift.

I ended up spending a good chunk of the evening watching this and their other videos. The precision choreography is amazing as is their editing of their videos. And the song Mind Shift is starting to grow on me after listening to it over and over.
The lead singer in this group is kind of a renaissance man. Genki Sudo is a former professional MMA fighter, author, musician, and actor.

It’s an interesting play on the Western perception of Japanese businessmen as automatons. 

I’ve embedded four videos, all similar but different. Definitely worth a look.