Circuitos

Author unknown.

Mon, 20 May 2013 16:58:50 +0200

Author unknown.

claytoncubitt: If you haven’t seen the stunning 2001...

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:07:52 +0200

If you haven’t seen the stunning 2001 documentary “War Photographer” about prize-winning conflict photojournalist James Nachtwey, you really must. It’s a beautifully filmed, deeply contemplative study of what it means to be a photographer, and what it means to be a witness to conflict.

It also features an absolutely enthralling cinematic technique: a tiny camera mounted above Nachtwey’s own shutter button, so you can see the stream of time and context around each of his decisions to capture (or not capture.) You can see it in the trailer above, at the 1:17 mark.

And this brings me back to my recent essay, On the Constant Moment. If the Decisive Moment is Nachtwey’s shutter button there with the protestors on the West Bank in 2001, the Constant Moment is your ability to choose different moments from the video feed, from wherever you are, in 2013.

Freed from instant decision in the middle of chaos, able to pause and rewind, did you make different aesthetic choices about when to “shoot?” Would Nachtwey, if he could?

That’s the Constant Moment.

"Unfortunately not all teachers are thinkers. Some are just large fleshy MP3 players."

Fri, 17 May 2013 14:36:31 +0200

“Unfortunately not all teachers are thinkers. Some are just large fleshy MP3 players.”

- Someone on Reddit

Tim Roth, age 21.

Wed, 08 May 2013 16:02:57 +0200

Tim Roth, age 21.

Ghetto delivery service.

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 03:19:38 +0200

Ghetto delivery service.

Founder George Lincoln Rockwell and members of the American Nazi...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 01:03:15 +0200

Founder George Lincoln Rockwell and members of the American Nazi Party attend a Nation of Islam summit in 1962 to hear Malcolm X speak.

Photo by Eve Arnold.

"It’s a beautiful thing, the destruction of words. Of course the great wastage is in the verbs..."

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 03:11:33 +0200

“It’s a beautiful thing, the destruction of words. Of course the great wastage is in the verbs and adjectives, but there are hundreds of nouns that can be got rid of as well. It isn’t only the synonyms; there are also the antonyms. After all, what justification is there for a word which is simply the opposite of some other word? A word contains its opposite in itself. Take “good”, for instance. If you have a word like “good”, what need is there for a word like “bad”? “Ungood” will do just as well — better, because it’s an exact opposite, which the other is not. Or again, if you want a stronger version of “good”, what sense is there in having a whole string of vague useless words like “excellent” and “splendid” and all the rest of them? “Plusgood” covers the meaning, or “doubleplusgood” if you want something stronger still. Of course we use those forms already. but in the final version of Newspeak there’ll be nothing else. In the end the whole notion of goodness and badness will be covered by only six words — in reality, only one word. Don’t you see the beauty of that, Winston?”

- George Orwell, 1984

On Wal-Marts

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 15:08:57 +0200

User DonTago on Reddit elaborates on what Wal-Marts really are.

“I know it is fashionable to hate on Wal-Mart and all, however, I believe that Wal-Mart is simply an inevitable result or endgame of American’s ultimate desire for convenience, cheapness and efficiency. The development of the car-centered “world of tomorrow” after WWII put the death-nail in just about all down-towns across the US. People in the 60s were convinced by now the world would look like THIS . You saw it in cartoons like the Jetsons, landing on the moon, modern conveniences like the microwave, etc. People really felt we were in the future, so they were willing to discard the tradition of small downtowns for the 60s shopping centre and one-stop grocery stores. Walmart was the predictable outcome of a mega-combination of those two ideas.

Once people had the luxury of doing all their shopping at just 3 places, then 2 places, the next logical step would be they would want somewhere to do all their shopping at just ONE place. Consumers would refuse to go backwards at that point, where they previously had to stop at 6 or 7 different stores just to do their errands. Hell, it was the future after all, forget that shit. Also, we constantly demanded more, but at cheaper prices. However, we failed to notice [or failed to care] that our demand in cheapness inevitably resulted in a reduction in quality of our products.

So, only now we look back at the traditional model of a town, these hollow shells that exist now, and we sigh. Many blame Wal-Mart for the death of our towns. However, I believe it was not them, it was us. We demanded it, we created it. We saw it as our destiny. We wanted our flying cars, our 5 second pizza, our mega-screen TV, our Back-to-the-Future world. Well, our future arrived, but we don’t like it. And now we are forced to lie in the bed we have made for ourselves.”

Enjoy the insight.

Adiós, playa. (en Playa de La Antilla)

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 11:59:15 +0200

Adiós, playa. (en Playa de La Antilla)

A lady is hitting a skinhead with her handbag; she had been in a...

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 11:31:51 +0100

A lady is hitting a skinhead with her handbag; she had been in a concentration camp during World War II. Växjö, Sweden, April 1985.

The photo was taken at a provocative demonstration by ten Neo-Nazis at the corner of Norrgatan-Kronobergsgatan in Växjö (very close to another demonstration by the communist party). The Nazis were attacked by the public and chased to the Växjö train station where they locked themselves in the bathroom - and had to be rescued by police.

The James Webb Space Telescope primary mirror, post-assembly.

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 03:37:00 +0100

The James Webb Space Telescope primary mirror, post-assembly.

These fucking Russians don’t know what...

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 02:50:05 +0100

These fucking Russians don’t know what “limits” are.

Simply gold.

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 02:47:47 +0100

Simply gold.

“Mongolia holds numerous records related to the...

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 02:31:00 +0100

“Mongolia holds numerous records related to the consumption of alcohol, among them having the most alcoholic population in the world. According to the information published by the Center of Mental Health and Narcotics (CMHN) of Ulan Bator, 22 percent of the Mongolian males between 15 and 65 are addicted to the alcohol, which is equivalent to the fourth of its masculine population.”

-40/96º by Mikel Aristregi Prieto

Wow. robsheridan: Glitch furniture by Fratelli Boffi. This is...

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 02:08:56 +0100

Wow.

robsheridan:

Glitch furniture by Fratelli Boffi. This is not Photoshopped. Incredibly cool.

Internet’s primary fuel.

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 02:08:02 +0100

Internet’s primary fuel.

Hola, vengo a poner orden. (Liebherr LTM-11200)

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 01:58:45 +0100

Hola, vengo a poner orden. (Liebherr LTM-11200)

He aquí a un niño que, haga lo que haga, dejará su impronta en...

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 00:27:00 +0100

He aquí a un niño que, haga lo que haga, dejará su impronta en el mundo.

¿De qué tanque me hablas, payo?

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 16:47:17 +0100

¿De qué tanque me hablas, payo?

Taylor Morris, four limbs lost in Afghanistan and restored at...

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 01:40:00 +0100

Taylor Morris, four limbs lost in Afghanistan and restored at home.