May 2008 Archives

Why Those Chicken Wings Were Good

MAY 31, 2008

A month or two ago I tried David Chang's chicken wings at Momofuku Noodle Bar. They were second, and just barely second, to the wings at Dinosaur BBQ but they were far more interesting and complex. I finally got around to reading the profile of David Chang in the 3/24/08 issue of the New Yorker and I got an explanation of what made those wings so delicious.

Take the chicken wings, for instance. All you knew when you were eating them was that they tasted really good. What you didn't know was that they'd been brined in a salt-and-sugar solution for a whole day (but not longer, or they'd be too salty), then dried out and cold-smoked over mesquite for forty-five minutes, then poached in a vat of pork fat for an hour and a half, then browned on the flat-top, then glazed in a chicken-infused soy sauce combined with mirin, garlic, and pickled chili peppers. Each step, executed perfectly, was vital to the dish. This was what the cooks at Noodle Bar understand.

Posted in Food at 3:17 pm.
1 Comment |

Guitar Hero Ad: You Just Blew My Mind

MAY 28, 2008

Normally I'd just stick this in the sidebar as a quick post, but I didn't want to make you click again to see this. Hot damn, this is the worst/best ad I've ever seen. It may be our modern day Wendy's training video rap.

via kotaku

Posted in Video Games at 2:16 pm.
1 Comment |

VW's 235 MPG Car

MAY 28, 2008

It's an in-line two seater, which is weird, but they are bringing this to market in just two years. The tank will only hold 1.7 gallons, but that will take you 400 miles. It maxes out at 75 mph, but at 700 lbs. that seems plenty fast. Hopefully they can keep costs down and provide adequate storage because that will be the determining factor.

Quick Post link: http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/05/27/transportation-tuesday-vws-235mpg-concept-coming-soon/

Posted in Quick Post at 2:05 pm.
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The Hood Internet Drops Another Awesome Mixtape

MAY 27, 2008

Hood Internet vs. Chicago is the name, and being awesome is its game.

Quick Post link: http://www.thehoodinternet.com/2008/05/hood-internet-vs-chicago.html

Posted in Quick Post at 3:16 pm.
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Metal Gear Solid 4 Will Have Multiple 90 Minute Cutscenes

MAY 23, 2008

In between the gameplay, you will essentially watch several movies. I am excited for this game, but that is insane. [via Evil Avatar]

Quick Post link: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=189543

Posted in Quick Post at 11:27 am.
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Weezer's Meme-Filled Video for "Pork and Beans"

MAY 23, 2008

I'm amazed. This is a good song and the video kind of rules. I wish this had premiered at ROFLCon.

Quick Post link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muP9eH2p2PI

Posted in Quick Post at 11:23 am.
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AirCraft by Jeffrey Milstein

MAY 20, 2008

On Saturday, Jori and I took in the New York Photo Festival. There wasn't a whole lot to get excited about, but we were both curious about Jeffrey Milstein's AirCraft typology.

The photos are much more striking when seem large, but we couldn't help but wonder how he took these photos. A release about another exhibition explains, "Standing with his camera at the end of a runway watching them descend, he freezes their headlong 200 mile per hour motion, capturing all the details of their shapes and construction with absolute precision."

That was my guess, but the photos were so perfectly aligned and photoshopped it was hard to believe. Now, Mr. Milstein, I believe.

Posted in Art at 10:07 pm.
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25 Resources for Ornaments, Fleurons and Frilly Bits

MAY 19, 2008

It pains me to link to "X Ways to Y" lists, but I always have a tough time finding good frilly bits when designing a site.

Quick Post link: http://cameronmoll.com/archives/2008/05/25_resources_ornaments_fleurons/

Posted in Quick Post at 4:13 pm.
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Keith Olbermann Evicerates Bush in a Special Comment Piece

MAY 19, 2008

Even though it doesn't do much, it's still incredibly satisfying. [via buzzfeed]

Quick Post link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qvz9jyf4gUk

Posted in Quick Post at 10:50 am.
1 Comment |

Time-Lapse Video of a 4 Day, Cross-Country Trip

MAY 15, 2008

By Michel and Oliver Gondry, for French pop star Laquer. I also just watched America Unchained, which is Dave Gorman's attempt to cross the country without purchasing anything from corporations, including gas. It was good. [via alaina]

Quick Post link: http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1609676

Posted in Quick Post at 3:54 pm.
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MUTO: A Wall-Painted Animation by Blu

MAY 15, 2008

It's a little long, but completely mesmerizing. This must have taken weeks to finish.

Quick Post link: http://www.vimeo.com/993998

Posted in Quick Post at 8:57 am.
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Favorites from the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Awards

MAY 12, 2008

The winners were announced sometime in the last week or two (based on where these links lived in my tabs) and I tabbed through all of them for some creative inspiration. These were my favorites.

Sanlitun North by Lot-EK

This is a mixed-use building in Central Beijing by Lot-EK and designer Kengo Kuma. I'm a sucker for boxy with a twist.

Title Sequences by Prologue Films

The film stills above are from the title sequence of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, a pretty good move with great titles. This team is also responsible for the great Spiderman 2 and 3 title sequences.

Magazine Design by Open

I've long been a fan of Good's design, especially the covers, and I was taken with what I saw of Scott Stowell's (he is the head of Open) work on The Nation.

Posted in Design at 3:47 pm.
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Crazy Photos of an Electrical Storm Above an Erupting Volcano

MAY 11, 2008

I imagine this is what the earliest time on earth looked like. [via kottke]

Quick Post link: http://megagalerias.terra.cl/galerias/index.cfm?id_galeria=30734

Posted in Quick Post at 1:14 am.
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Four Stories, Eight Feet Wide, One Home

MAY 9, 2008

Some remnant space between two bigger buildings was used for a home. The images really show the ingenuity and thought that went into this project. [via coudal]

Quick Post link: http://archinect.com/features/article.php?id=74943_0_23_0_C

Posted in Quick Post at 2:51 pm.
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Free Design Plans for a Green Home

MAY 9, 2008

"David Wax and his team at Free Green turn the home design business model on its head. They are charging exactly what most people are willing to pay for design: Nothing." They make their money from partnerships with vendors they include in the design plans.

Quick Post link: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/05/free-green-turns-house-design-on-its-head.php

Posted in Quick Post at 10:52 am.
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How I Spent My Stimulus

MAY 9, 2008

Quick Post link: http://www.howispentmystimulus.com/

Posted in Quick Post at 10:24 am.
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Green Porno by Isabella Rossellini

MAY 7, 2008

Seven short films on the sex lives of insects. No matter how awesome (or not awesome) you think this will be, it is awesomer.

Quick Post link: http://www.sundancechannel.com/greenporno/

Posted in Quick Post at 2:34 pm.
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The Beginning of a Blog

MAY 7, 2008

For anyone who has fallen in love with blogging, you remember those early days when writing 5,000 words a week was like breathing. Of course, back when I started, I wasn't nearly as poignant as Roger Ebert.

Ebertt is following a trend I see of established writers who finally get blogging. Their first few months of posts are filled with topics that have been sitting in a large pile — similar to my pile of New Yorkers — of information waiting to be shared. Yesterday's post from Ebert is a good example of something he's probably thought about a lot but hadn't found the right outlet to share.

Frank Bruni's Diner's Journal started the same way. Now that he has gotten all of the long held tidbits off his chest, he's invited other writers to keep up the output.

This is certainly not a revelation, but it is fun seeing well respected writers following the same trends we've seen from bloggers since the beginning. Unfortunately for all of us, Ebert and Bruni have never written blog posts like this.

Posted in Technology\Web at 10:23 am.
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Impossible Still Life

MAY 1, 2008

If I had only come across one of these, I probably wouldn't have even bothered to post them in the sidebar, but seeing them together somehow changes that.

Johan Lorbeer is a German street performer. He became famous in the past few years because of his "Still-Life" Performances, which took place in the public area. His installations includes "Proletarian Mural" and "Tarzan", which are famous in Germany. Several of these performances feature Lorbeer in an apparently impossible position.

Johan Lorbeer's Still Life Performance and its Secret via monoscope

Chinese artist Li Wei from Beijing started off his performance series 'Mirroring' and later on took off attention with his 'Falls' series which shows the artist with his head and chest embedded into the ground. His work is a mixture of performance art and photography that creates illusions of a sometimes dangerous reality. Li Wei states that these images are not computer montages and works with the help of props such as mirror, metal wires, scaffolding and acrobatics.

The Impossible Art of Li Wei via Buzzfeed

Posted in Tidbits at 3:13 pm.
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