James Kassay on the First Ascent of The Wheel of Life Direct (V16)

...And I thought V15 was as hard as bouldering problems got. I guess I was wrong. I've personally done a few V5's and those just about killed me. Imagine something literally three times as hard.

This guy's technique is so flawless that he makes these incredibly difficult moves look easy. The toe-hooks and heel-hooks are what I am fascinated by. But equally interesting is his creativity in finding spots to rest, for example the knee-jam where he hangs hands-free or the spot where he grabs his own shoe for a jug hold to rest on.

Commentary from Chris Parker via Rock and Ice magazine:

Repeating a 70-move, V15 roof climb was not quite enough for the Australian boulderer James Kassay. In fact, he wanted to make the problem harder! The line Kassay envisioned was a direct finish to Dai Koyamada's 2004 testpiece The Wheel of Life (V15), which climbs through the belly of the Hollow Mountain Cave in the Grampians of Australia. In 2011, Kassay repeated Koyamada's original problem, and then set to work on adding a more difficult finish. A year later, Kassay's links became longer and longer, until one November day, he sent The Wheel of Life Direct. Could Kassay's creation warrant the coveted V16 grade? Decide for yourself as you watch the video below and marvel at Kassay's flawless technique and unique rests such as grabbing his own climbing shoe!

Robot Art: Harvey Moon's Drawing Machines

Another great video from The Creators Project. I personally know a few artists who work in this manner, but I don't think any of them have taken it quite this far.

Walk Through Rain Without Getting Wet | Rain Room at MoMA

This is pretty amazing. From The Creator's Project:

Using sensors to detect and track visitors in the room, the piece lets you enter a downpour. As you timidly move forward, the rain around you ceases to fall overhead, allowing a glimpse into what it might be like to control the rain.

Is Sad Music Actually Sad? | Idea Channel | PBS Digital Studios

DNA Portrait

This short documentary is about the intersection between visual art and cutting edge science.

From TED Blog:

 DNA Portrait is a lovely short documentary shot by TED's own Kari Mulholland. It features the work of the artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg, who spent time collecting hairs shed in public spaces... and then sequencing the DNA therein to print 3D sculptures of what those hairs' owners might look like. Whoa. The film is also the secret story of the lab run by TEDGlobal 2012 speaker, Ellen Jorgensen. At Genspace, people are able to experiment with DNA-based technology, regardless of their scientific knowledge or experience. As Jorgensen comments in the film, Dewey-Hagborg's work is super interesting, not to mention searingly contemporary. "It's a very accessible way for the public to engage with this new technology. It really brings it to light how powerful it is, the idea that a hair from your head can fall on your street and a perfect stranger can pick it up and know something about it," she says, adding: "With DNA sequencing becoming faster and cheaper, this is the world we're all going to be living in."

Rare color film shows what London looked like in 1927

From DeathandTaxesMag.com:

In 1927 Claude Friese-Greene shot some of the first-ever color film footage around London. He captured everyday life in the city with a technique innovated by his father, called Biocolour.

A Supercell Near Booker, Texas

This is possibly the most beautiful cinematography of a weather event I have ever seen. It's filmed in super high definition and you can see every little nuance of the cloud formation. Purely by coincidence the storm was near Booker, Texas (no relation to me that I know of). 

It was filmed by Mike Olbinski.

Old Spock Vs. New Spock

I wish all car commercials were this good. We even get a version of "The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins" from Leonard Nimoy while he's driving.
 

Boards of Canada - Reach for the Dead (from Tomorrow's Harvest)

I may have to get this new album. The Boards of Canada's slightly wobbly synth lines have always reminded me of the soundtracks to 1970's film documentaries I watched in elementary school. The motors on the film projectors were never perfectly steady so the soundtrack of the film was always slightly wobbly. It's funny that I just realized that the group got their name from the National Film Board of Canada. This video from their new album is also so very reminiscent of 1970's documentaries and art films, complete with desert scenes, intentional lens-flares and grainy film dust.

Hendrik Poinar: Bring Back the Woolly Mammoth!

The Shape of Soundwaves

I may have posted about this visual phenomenon a few years ago. There have been lots of Youtube videos that conduct similar experiments, but I think this one is really nicely done.

Paul Booker- "Uncharted Waters" June 2013

Friday was the opening reception for my two-person exhibition at the Anya Tish gallery in Houston. The show was called "Uncharted Waters". I focused completely on sculpture for this exhibition. I only had three months to prepare for this show so I've been doing nothing but artwork 24/7 lately. It's nice to finally get a break and catch up on housework, yardwork and maybe even pay more attention to my neglected blog.

Here are some works from the show:

Pink and Gold Hexagons #1, 2013, ink, lexan, steel pins

Pink and Gold Hexagons #1 (angled view), 2013, ink, lexan, steel pins

Pink and Gold Hexagons #1 (detail view), 2013, ink, lexan, steel pins

Meander #2, 2013, ink, lexan, steel pins

Meander #2 (side view), 2013, ink, lexan, steel pins

Clear Frames: Double Cantilever, 2013, ink, lexan, steel pins

Clear Frames: Double Cantilever (detail view), 2013, ink, lexan, steel pins

Clear Frames: Dome Shaped Grid, 2013, ink, lexan, steel pins

Clear Frames: Double Cantilever and Dome Shaped Grid (installation view), 3013

Curved Amber Rectangles #1, 2011, ink, lexan, steel pins

Curved Amber Rectangles #2, 2011, ink, lexan, steel pins

Curved Amber Rectangles #3, 2011, ink, lexan, steel pins