FANS FORUM
First there were the bowling alley conventions, now The Big Lebowski is getting the chin-stroker treatment with The Lebowski Cult, an academic symposium in Louisville, Kentucky. Its aim is “to invent a critical program equal to the task of interpreting” perhaps Jeff Bridges’s finest hour, and find out why the film has inspired such fanaticism. The Fifth Annual Lebowski festival, meanwhile, will include unlimited bowling, costume competitions, farthest travelled contests and, of course, endless supplies of White Russians.
www.lebowskifest.com/fests.asp
PODCAST OF THE WEEK
The vast majority of podcasts are designed to entertain people, or, more likely, the podcasters themselves. Some, however, aim to educate, too. The excellent Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco has produced a series of Artcasts that are meant to “bring you closer to the voice and sounds of artists, writers, curators, musicians and visitors” as they respond to the artworks on display. Original in its execution, the latest, very diverse episode includes the cellist Joan Jeanrenaud, formerly of the Kronos Quartet, performing an original composition inspired by the artwork of Bruce Conner. You can’t help but get the feeling that one day all arts institutions will be doing this sort of thing.
www.sfmoma.org/education/edu_podcasts.html
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BLOG OF THE WEEK
The Asian-American stand-up comedienne Margaret Cho is one angry and defiant lady, as evidenced by the title of her latest book, I Have Chosen to Stay and Fight. On her blog you get her liberal-leaning rants about George W. Bush, Republicans and the death penalty, as well as thoughtful ruminations on being seen as a foreigner because of her Korean background. “I still get questions about where I am really from,” she writes. “Then, when I try to explain this feeling of invisibility to those whose every move and moment is entirely visible, they come back at me with: ‘Maybe Asian-Americans don’t want to be in entertainment!’ Yes, someone really said that. I just screamed because there was no other way I could answer without hitting him.” This blog is a godsend for those who may feel they have been scorned because of their ethnic heritage, left-wing beliefs or gender.
www.margaretcho.com/blog
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PICTURE PERFECT
If you want pictures adorning your desktop of a girl leaning over a tennis net, some multicoloured balloons or a white church set atop a hill, then www.stock.xchng, the leading stock photography website, is definitely for you. The gallery contains more than 170,000 quality stock photos that can be used for website design or merely to provide inspiration for some artistic or design task. Just click on the Browse icon and “random high rated photos” will pop up — you can do that for hours. Tips on using Photoshop and doing things such as creating a white background are also provided by the 10,000 or more users, whom the website gleefully calls “photography addicts”.
www.sxc.hu