columbus day special: ken burns the west

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photograph of sitting bull (the indian one with feathers, but not actually from india) and buffalo bill (the white guy with a fake looking stache, looking very custer like) in 1895 by william notman 

“fight no more forever” –chief joseph

according to chief sitting bull … it was a “good day to die”… but it turned out he didn’t have to, it was general custer’s last stand! ken burns: “the battle of little big horn–a good day to die”

ken burns is an incredible, world respected documentary director, and this series is yet another example of his thorough research and amazing story-telling. an apt post for columbus day… happy shopping, but just take a moment to pause in respect of the true natives of this land… and if you enjoy this be sure to look up the documentary by ken burns on the history of jazz, amazing as well. by xy

what really happened to edward snowden?

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what happened to edward snowden? terminal F documentary

i was looking up london fashion week and the latest on lady gaga, and came up with this awesome video of byonce that then, of course, took me to this rare behind-the-scenes clip of an old reality show with baby kendall jenner, when i randomly stumbled upon this downer, which basically ruined my day! but you know what, us millennials know how knowledge is like the awesomest asset, so i thought why not… ill give like 5 seconds of my precious time… and here’s the blah blah about the film:

“the documentary, made by german investigative journalist john goetz and danish documentary filmmaker poul-erik heilbuth, tells edward snowden’s story from the moment he left the US for hong kong to his arrival to terminal F at moscow’s sheremetyevo sirport in 2013. snowden was granted temporary asylum in russia in 2013 after spending a month in the Terminal F of the sheremetyevo international airport. having received a three-year residence permit in 2014, he continues to live in russia.”  by xy

the history of Afghanistan: bitter lake, a film by BBC’s adam Curtis tracing the story of Islamic state

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this is the 3rd time we are embedding this film and it keeps getting taken down (!) you may want to search it on youtube if and when this 3rd copy is taken down again

although “bitter lake”, a film by adam curtis, was produced by the BBC, the content of the film was rather too much for its audience to publicly promote. therefore the film remained in the back logs of  their press efforts, and therefore seldom seen.

here is your chance to delve into the history of afganistan, the taliban, and the role saudi arabia and north america played in their faiths. its the story of how the islamic state (IS) was created and why. how fixing one problem, like the spread of communism, could cause to spearhead another one, like the spread of an extremist sect of wahabism (a version of islam created by the saudi elite).

this was achieved by exporting, funding and supporting this ideology to afganistan and beyond. it was done at a time when an evil entity was supported to bring down yet another enemy. of course today we are left to manage the monster we helped create. a good film to see for anyone interested in world affairs, beyond what fox news has to offer. by ac

time for some Krautrock: the can vs. kraftwerk

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the can surely can: damo suzuki killin’ it on stage

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early kraftwerk rockpalast 

if you like electronic music here are the godfathers before it all started. early kraftwerk experiments using home made machines and instruments

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diggin’ the scene in the 1970’s rockpalast

the can concert : soest 1970

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the audience was dumb founded, going between “can i get the f#@ck out” and “i’m gonna kill the guy on the flute”

you gotta look at this post not as entertainment, but rather as your “duty”. remember history class in 7th grade? yes it’s torturous, but in the name of art, evolution and experimentation, here are two devastatingly difficult concert you must submit to watching. if nothing, just to accept the future generations experiments in the highly intellectual world of music and art. just look at that acclaimed work of today’s giants, like kenya east or lady gogo, and ponder for a moment of what they have contributed to our world. (pardon our sarcasm).

kraftwerk include: florian schneider (flutes, synthesizers, electro-violin) and ralf hütter (electronic organ, synthesizers) met as students at the robert schumann hochschule in düsseldorf in the late 1960s, participating in the german experimental music and art scene of the time, which the british music press dubbed “krautrock”.

the can constructed their music largely through collective spontaneous composition—which the band differentiated from improvisation in the jazz sense—sampling themselves in the studio and editing down the results. bassist/chief engineer holger czukay referred to can’s live and studio performances as “instant compositions”. i think you can see that! by rb

American dream: the ford GT40 story, it’s history and it’s versions at the 24 hours of le mans race

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the story of ford GT40 is an incredible one. and yes that is steve mcqueen next to the MKIV with taped-up front lights. they did that to protect the headlights from flying debris during the day to limit maintenance in the 24hr race. winner of le mans, bagging 1st, 2nd and 3rd position against ferrari in 1966 is the stuff of legends. if you don’t know about the story of ford and ferrari’s feud, it is worth checking this out. here’s a conclusive look at the ford gt models starting with the prototype. anyone with further knowledge is encourage to make corrections in the comments or just email us to update. that would be much appreciated, as we couldn’t find a single site showing the range of models. thanx.

1964-1965 GT40 108

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above and below: henry ford II in the ford GT40 108 prototype roadster back in the USA in 1965

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one of the earlier (i believe 1964) ford GT40 models on the race track

 

in 1964 ford attended the lemans but all cars fell behind ferrari due to repeated pitstops credited to massive gas consumption of the mega powered ford engines. finally all ford GT40’s dropped out due to mechanical failure and ferrari as usual took home 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize.

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1964 official results 24 heures du mans” otherwise known as “le mans 24-hour race”

1st place – ferrari       2nd place -ferrari       3rd place -ferrari

1964-1965 GT40 MKI

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notice the bat mobile wings on this GT40 i had never seen that myself. like back in 1964 ford did not manage to win or even complete the  race with its GT40 prototypes.

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1965 official results of the le mans 24-hour race

1st place – ferrari       2nd place -ferrari       3rd place -ferrari

1966 GT40 MKII-MKI

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this was the decisive year for henry ford the II and his GT40’s, by now ford had various improved versions of the GT40 MKII and MKI’s in the race driven by australian drives bruce mclaren and chris amon amongst others

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the number 5 GT40 in gold and pink livery. in 1966 ford managed to win lemans for the first time, in positions 1, 2 and 3 finally taking vengeance on ferrari for all that enzo ferrari had done to henry ford the II. (more on that story here)

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the #2 for GT40 in black white with gold rims driven by bruce mclaren and chris amon (the 24 hr race requires drivers to take turn as its a continues race for 24 hours)

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the #2 car finishes first ahead of the other 2 fords.

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the trio immortalized in detailed die cast available here for around $2,000

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1966 official results of the le mans 24-hour race

1st place – ford       2nd place -ford       3rd place -ford

1967 GT40 MKIV

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having wounded ferrari ford had to come back to lemans with a bigger gun. the MKIV was born

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but ford wasn’t going to take any chances aside from the 4 GT40 MKIV’s there was also a MKII entered into the race

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and the race was on…

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ford once again took 1st place but this time ferrari was on its tail on position 2 and 3. the aerodynamic MKIV did not stand up to the test as well as the MKII’s did back in 1966, but winning lemans in 1st place is major accomplishment 2 years in a row for a company known for making mass production models Ts.

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1967 official results of the le mans 24-hour race

1st place – ford       2nd place – ferrari       3rd place – ferrari

1968 back to GT40 MKI again

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the revised ford GT40 MKI in gulf livery

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car number 9 driven by pedro rodriguez and lucien bianchi wind the race

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this is also the year actor steve mcqueen films the feature “le mans” using a modified GT40 to mount the camera on

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1968 official results of the le mans 24-hour race

1st place – ford again       2nd place – porsche       3rd place – porsche

1969 GT40 MKI

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troubles for ford

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and yet… ford wins first again for the 4th year in a row… and where is enzo ferrari?

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the story and the cars that came out of that story are simply legend and carry with them more than just beauty and power but an attitude of a man bent on making a point. now how can any one not love that? recently a GT40 used by steve mcqueen sold for an unbelievable price of $11,000,000, what a steal. by dd

cuba: memories of underdevelopment

massively personal and poetic film. based on a book by edmundo desnoes and directed in 1968 by tomás gutiérrez alea (IMDB) during the turmoil of social change in cuba. it is unfortunately his one and only good film, but how many can you do in a lifetime anyway? don’t ask why the titles are in japanese… by dd

electrocuting an elephant with nikola and tom

earlier today, in the dreary cabin in the middle of nowhere known as ts headquarters, we were discussing the differences between nikola tesla, thomas edison and their feuding. more specifically, the war of the currents. the subject came up following a series of paralleled conversations, particularly why there is a difference with 110 and 220 voltage in the united states and europe. basically, the system of three-phase alternating current electrical generation was invented by tesla, and he found that 60hz (cycles per second) was the best frequency for an AC (alternating current) power generation. tesla preferred 240 volts, which angered edison, whose DC (direct current) systems were 110 volts. our mindful kt then added that edison (in my opinion just a lucky inventor and by no means on the scientific level tesla was) had once electrocuted an elephant. we found the video, and if you haven’t seen it, it’s disturbing but historically present. i could go on about their differences, in hygiene and interpersonal skills, but we can leave that for another post on some other day. by sv

Halston 1970’s: how to take down a luxury house in style

halston and his models in black bathing suits

ultrasuede: in search of halston is the film about roy halston featuring the overly excited adolescent director, whitney sudler-smith, and his rent-a-car trans am. bit obnoxious but worth the trouble if you can get past him, and no he doesn’t look like halston, nor burt reynolds, he looks more like a whitney.

halston with betsy theodoracopoulos

halston’s dog

from hat designer of the ‘ladies at bergdorf’ to a global style icon, halston was perhaps the first luxury house to spread its legs… just a bit too wide. he was the face of studio 54, always surrounded by his models, and sometimes his boy toy, victor hugo. he brought a sense of american ease to fashion that not many europeans could appreciate at the time as much yves saint laurent himself. his muted color palette was supreme, he did well. but then he designed uniforms for avis rent-a-car, airline interiors, carpets, one of the most successful fragrance ranges and finally its own demise. all of them expertly designed. it wasn’t the first time a creative soul was tempted with money and a promise to rule the world, only to be dumped from his own company by a bunch of paper pushers. if i recall correctly steve jobs, YSL and many more secured a similar fate. lesson learned… by dd

Voter fraud?

more to come on this in the future

“we’ve all used ATMs, and most everyone has something such as an iPod. now, have you ever, anytime, anywhere, had one of these electronic devices switch data input on you?” asks selwyn duke of american thinking in a recent article. “so how is it that in our high-tech universe of flawlessly functioning electronic gadgets, voting machines are the only ones prone to human-like ‘error’? if there’s an explanation other than human meddling, again, i’d truly like to hear it.”

wow. and i thought voter fraud was exclusive to countries like russia, pakistan and iran, i guess not anymore! here’s what the guy who posted this video wrote:

“i initially selected obama but romney was highlighted. i assumed it was being picky so i deselected romney and tried obama again, this time more carefully, and still got romney. being a software developer, i immediately went into troubleshoot mode. i first thought the calibration was off and tried selecting jill stein to actually highlight obama. nope. jill stein was selected just fine. next i deselected her and started at the top of romney’s name and started tapping very closely together to find the ‘active areas’. from the top of romney’s button down to the bottom of the black checkbox beside obama’s name was all active for romney. from the bottom of that same checkbox to the bottom of the obama button (basically a small white sliver) is what let me choose obama. stein’s button was fine. all other buttons worked fine.

i asked the voters on either side of me if they had any problems and they reported they did not. i then called over a volunteer to have a look at it. she him hawed for a bit then calmly said “it’s nothing to worry about, everything will be ok.” and went back to what she was doing. i then recorded this video.

there is a lot of speculation that the footage is edited. i’m not a video guy, but if it’s possible to prove whether a video has been altered or not, i will GLADLY provide the raw footage to anyone who is willing to do so. the jumping frames are a result of the shitty camera app on my android phone, nothing more.” original post. by ts