Foto del dia 11.08.09
Posted: November 8th, 2009
at 10:59am by Black Ock
Categories: web,mnp is for the children,real life news
Comments: 1 comment
Allen Vandever art post "Self-Punishment"
Self-Punishment Acrylic, Epoxy Resin by Allen Vandever
This painting captures a moment when conscious and subconscious thought, converge in a lucid-dream state. The forest is vibrant with life and natural splendor, desires frolic naked among the trees, but a ghostly oppressor strikes disguised in the colors and forms of our heroine’s dream. Disgusting girl! Your thoughts are depraved, vile, animalistic! So powerful is the sadist-translucent that we cannot escape its grip even in our dreams. This frustration, pain, and fear of punishment deny us the ecstasy of fulfilling our true desires. Often, it is subtler, simply preventing us from discovering what our desires truly are.
When I think upon the progress of Modern Man, I am mesmerized by our accomplishments, but through our society’s progress many of our values have taken on the status of rigid, factual nomenclature, limiting the possibilities of personalized self-discovery. This translucent boundary prevents us from freely creating and exploring dimensions for our own experiences, stifling our potential to bring further enlightenment to the collective conscience. As creatures amidst our own modernity, we cannot be blind-sighted by relative comfort; we must continue the struggle for progress. So, in my pursuit to bring this struggle to light, I embarked on this painting hoping to portray how beautiful such freedom could be.
Posted: November 7th, 2009
at 6:10pm by Koookiecrumbles
Tagged with culture, art, allen vandever, chicago, painting, acrylic, modern, dream, contemporary, erotic, nude
Categories: myninjaplease,art,contemporary,philosophy,art theory
Comments: 1 comment
Public Discourse in the Russian Blogosphere: Mapping RuNet Politics and Mobilization
With funding from the MacArthur Foundation, the Berkman Center is undertaking a two-year research project to investigate the role of the Internet in Russian society. The study will include a number of interrelated areas of inquiry that contribute to and draw upon the Russian Internet, including the Russian blogosphere, Twitter, and the online media ecology. In addition to investigating a number of core Internet and communications questions, a key goal for the project is to test, refine, and integrate various methodological approaches to the study of the Internet more broadly. This working paper analyzes the Russian blogosphere, with an emphasis on politics; it is the project’s first public research release.
Posted: November 7th, 2009
at 1:17pm by Koookiecrumbles
Categories: internets,education,maps
Comments: No comments
My Ninja, Please! 11.7.09: The Shake-Weight?
Words cannot describe…

I wonder how your girl would feel if you tried to explain to her that she was getting a good workout… This is a REAL infomercial…
MNP Staff had plenty to say about this, but the parody video below says it all:

Posted: November 7th, 2009
at 12:00pm by Black Ock
Categories: myninjaplease,youtube,too good to be true
Comments: 1 comment
Vallauris - 1956 Exposition Contest
Win an original, signed linocut entitled Vallauris - 1956 Exposition by Pablo Picasso. Vallauris is a linocut printed in five colours, each made from a separate block.
The organization 10:10 is raising money to fight climate change and so to win the artwork, entrants buy tickets priced at 10.10 GBP and answer a question about Picasso’s work. Correct entries will be drawn from a proverbial hat on 31 January next year and all proceeds go to the 10:10 campaign.
Posted: November 6th, 2009
at 4:46pm by Koookiecrumbles
Tagged with Vallauris, 1956 Exposition, Pablo Picasso, 10:10
Categories: art,art fridays,competitions
Comments: No comments
Trading in Siberia
Wissner-Gross and Freer rounded up the locations and price-speeds on the 52 largest global exchanges, and plotted a map of the ideal locations for traders who would want to be perfectly positioned between any given pair. The map, which appears today in an article in the journal Physical Review E, dictates that some traders’ servers will be ideally positioned in central Africa, others in the remotest forests of Canada, others in the middle of the Indian Ocean, and still others in Siberia. This all assumes, of course, a proper infrastructure in place-in the short term, Freer tells Fast Company, it might make more sense to approximate these locations, rather than invest in installing a server farm underneath the ocean.
A Dozen : Tristan Henry-Wilson
This week for A Dozen we talk with Tristan Henry-Wilson hailing from Brooklyn, NY. He is an illustrator that works with oil paint. He specializes in editorial, portraits, realism and a touch of the surreal.
Seal Our Fate: an illustration of a short story for a current project. Also featured in Faesthetic #8.
14 x 18, oil on panel
Please describe your professional and creative aspirations.
As an illustrator I try to tell stories with my oil paintings. One of the best ways of getting those stories out to the world is print. I’d love to see my work on the cover of magazines and books. I’m working on a long term project with a partner right now. I’m illustrating all the short stories of their book. It’s pretty labour intensive but once complete it will be my proudest achievement to date.
What styles would you say that you prescribe to?
I’m a realistic and figurative illustrator that works in oil paint. Other than that I couldn’t put a finger on a proper description of my style. I’m drawn to beautiful colour and atmosphere with the occasional touch of the surreal. I guess that’s the sci-fi/fantasy nerd in me though, haha.
A Taste of the Space Race: an illustration about companies racing to give families the chance at space flight
9x 12, oil on panel
Where do you see the limitations of art in terms of what it can effect?
I think art is only limited to or by the efforts of its creator. As long as sincere passion and hard work goes into the creation of the artwork time will look favourably on the artist’s intentions.
How do you think your art changes the perceptions of people around you?
I don’t know what people think of me before I tell them I’m an artist or show them my work. I often I see a light bulb go off in people’s heads, "Oh he’s an artist, well that makes sense!"
When people tell me I create beautiful artwork or when any artist is being complimented for their creation it’s important to be humbled. We live in a culture that bombards us with imagery all day long. Everything is trying very hard to get our attention. It’s easy to be numb to the visuals. When you’re being complimented for your art you’re really being thanked for creating something that isn’t insipid.
It’s an honour to break the banality.
Head Above Water: an album cover for the band, Gravehaven.
14 x 18, oil on panel
Where do you believe has the best new art?
In the dew drop of every rose, in the laughter of every child! Haha! I have no idea. I’m inspired by old art. I try to stay away from words like "best", it’s a promise I can’t keep.
Are you a soldier or a general in the art world?
Mercenary in training.
DisInfoNation: an album cover for the band, Feeding The Fire.
11 x 14, Oil on board
Do you feel, that "there is a war out there, that no one is safe from?"
This wouldn’t be a good time to drop a Pat Benatar quote would it?
Are you a fan of the "online" art gallery?
I’m a fan of online illustration directories and artist portfolios. Art galleries in the traditional sense kind of weird me out. The whole scene just isn’t where I am right now.
We Are Fragile: a wrap around album cover for the band, Isle Of Thieves.
14 x 20, Oil on Strathmore 500 series illustration board
What avenues have proven to be the most effective for you in selling your art?
Commissions.
Do you think the an artist should be able to represent themselves on their own (or do they need an agent)?
I’ve never had an agent and there was a time when I was gunning really hard for one. I once heard an agent say they like to deal with artists that have learned the game on their own for a while. After years of trying to establish myself I’m just now beginning to see what I don’t know and how much I need to learn.
I think if I had acquired an agent years ago I would have embarrassed myself; I was too green. I’ve heard great things about reps and I hope to have one someday but for now I need to sharpen my skills and turnaround times.
Dirtys Girl In Her Dirty World: an illustration of Sarah Silverman. The painting contrasts her cute clean look with her racy comedy.
9 x 12, oil on panel
People say that the markets are saturated with new art, do you believe this?
I haven’t scoured all the markets so I can’t say if they’re saturated. I believe there will always be room for artwork that’s professional and inspirational.
When is a piece of work finished?
When it gets the thumbs up from my mentors.
::All images courtesy of Tristan Henry-Wilson
Posted: November 5th, 2009
at 1:56pm by Koookiecrumbles
Tagged with Tristan Henry-Wilson
Categories: contemporary,a dozen
Comments: No comments
Cartography, Pragmatism and the Liberation of Metaphysics
All maps are lies. That's one of the first lessons of cartography, particularly when it comes to the problematic task of representing our 3-D world on a 2-D plane. It just can't be done. At least, not without some distortion. Yet, even in the face of this necessary distortion, and in the absence of the 'perfect' map projection, cartography lives on. Why? Because maps are useful.
I think this is a notion that could lead to a 'liberation' of metaphysics, and its daughter disciplines of epistemology and ontology.
To explain why, we need to venture briefly into the world of map projections. Our planet is a globe. Or an oblate spheroid, if you want to be more precise. A world map is typically a 2-D plane. There is, as a matter of fact, no way to represent an oblate spheroid on a 2-D plane in such a way that it doesn't distort some feature of the original globe.