Link Love for May 19

After missing footage was found in Argentina, Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis” has been restored and its narrative better understood (above).

Oxo Good Grips Designers Take on Tablet Magazines.

How Much Do Music Artists Earn Online?

Apple to xplatform developers: We’re no longer suicidal.

Create Your Own Virtual Instruments With Maize Sampler v2.0.

New Alarm Bells About Chemicals and Cancer: eat organic, drink filtered water, avoid plastic containers.

Dear nerd, start a nerd sash with nerd merit badges (nerd).

SKTCH is an interesting generative drawing iPhone app.

Link love for February 4th

Sync/Lost (above) is a multi-user installation for immersion in the history of electronic music.

Philip K. Dick: A ‘plastic’ paradox. Sneak peek at an upcoming Philip K. Dick film, Radio Free Albemuth.

Steven Frank of Panic Software fame, on the next phase of computing.

Quieting the lizard brain.

The “My” water bottle from Stelton.

Researchers in Japan have shown that a slime mold can design a network in a day that is as efficient as one developed by humans over many years: the Tokyo rail system.

Imagine that instead of having just one wireless carrier, your phone would constantly search for the best connection. An algorithm on your smartphone would assess signal strengths, and balance that with roaming costs, and decide when to switch from one carrier to another.

Humor: Laugh at those quirky, Unhappy Hipster (mostly from the pages of Dwell, it seems).


Recommended: Morvern Callar

14598-large.jpgI recently discovered (through The Onion AV Club’s New Cult Canon series) Lynne Ramsay’s film Morvern Callar. Samantha Morton plays the title character, a young Scottish woman whose humdrum life is overturned by her boyfriend’s suicide. Following her initial paralysis and avoidance, Callar places her name on his unpublished manuscript and sends it off to a publisher. Collecting his assets, she sets out on an impromptu holiday to Spain. The film’s soundtrack—featuring music by Aphex Twin, Boards of Canada, Broadcast, Ween, Can, Stereolab and the Velvet Underground—punctuates her existential journey of clubbing, random impulsiveness and quiet confusion. By the end, Callar seems to find solace from her soul-searching and inherited success.