calling all aspiring losers: here’s kim kardashians awesome IMDB biography

IMDb writer jon hopwood penned a very honest and thoughtful biography for kim kardashian…

“kim kardashian is emblematic of the shallowness of american culture in the first two decades of the new millennium. while some cultural critics call her the prime avatar of the “famous for being famous” faux celebrity crowd, she along with paris hilton is a new breed of cat whose celebrity comes from the release of a sex tape and the canny exploitation of the resulting publicity. like her good friend miss hilton (their relationship predates kim’s “celebrity”, kardashian is possessed of photogenic good looks but is short of any other discernible talents outside of the bedroom. both expanded their celebrity by becoming reality tv “stars”.

“…in the decadence that is america of the $15-trillion deficit and no serious plans from either party for a solution to the economic problems of the “great recession,” kim kardashian is welcomed to her second white house correspondents association dinner in washington, d.c. in 2012 and made fun of not only by host jimmy kimmel but by the president of the united states…that the woman’s fame rests on the february 2007 “leaking” of a four-year-old home sex [tape] (for which she ultimately received $5 million from vivid entertainment) is an apt metaphor for socio-economic-cultural malaise in washington and the country beyond, where everything seems to be run by amoral prostitutes in bed with each other and merely out for a buck.” by fm

big speaker without the big bad bass: Dunlavy Audio Labs SCIV loudspeakers

dunlavy SC-IV, anechoic response on HF axis at 3m with grille on, with nearfield midrange response below 400Hz, nearfield woofer response below 700Hz, and complex sum of nearfield midrange and woofer outputs in the ratio of the drive-unit diameters.

 colin jordan of the boiler room mastering studios on his dunlavy SCVI-A’s (the “A” stands for the newer generation of SCIV’s with modified bass drivers producing slightly deeper bass than the SCIV’s)

dunlavy audio labs: the DAL factory in colorado springs before it closed down

hand made to last a lifetime

its been over a year that i have been looking for a pair of speakers that can fill my large room at low volumes without dealing with exaggerated bass or loss of midrange. i seriously considered magnepan 3.6 or 3.7’s (a brand i owned years ago) but ended up here. i finally had a pair of dunlavy SCVI’s delivered over the weekend and i’m super excited to set them up. they are to be customized for me in white (pics to follow) to blend the 6 foot tall monoliths into my space a bit. dunlavy loudspeakers are a rather special bunch (measurements/specs), hand produced for a short period of time in the 90’s in colorado springs USA by john dunlavy (formerly head designer of the duntech out of australia) before DAL disappeared, as most idealist companies do… john dunlavy also passed away in 2007 making his speakers, and life’s work immortal. the SCVI’s were honored as stereophile’s 1994 loudspeaker of the year and then product of the year. stereophile editor robert deutsch who reviewed the speakers in april 1994 ended up not returning the speakers as they do with the usual reviews and instead ended up buying a pair himself. back in 1994 (more than 18 years ago) they cost what many considered a reasonable $4,995-$5,495/pair or $6,995-$7,495/pair for SCIVAs plus shipping (a considerable amount given they are over 500lbs, 250lbs each) plus tax. today they are still sought after by those looking for an un-exagerated, flat bass, and neutral mids that is due to its dense un-ported modular cabinetry that houses each driver separately. i had listened to them before purchasing them and while they fill the room beautifully at low volumes they still have the incredible ability to be fast unlike the magnepans. i will write more later. by dd

ON ART – CHARLES SAATCHI

ok, so first of all, the guardian is really a great newspaper for anything cultural/art/design related and THIS ARTICLE on charles saatchi’s thoughts on art made my day. a must read. same here charles (even if you started all this bullshit). by pp.

marianne moore

in 1955, eccentric and brilliant poet Marianne Moore found a letter in her Brooklyn mailbox from Robert Young of the Ford Motors Company.  Mr. Young was interested in having Marianne conjure up names for their newest automobile.  he wanted the name to establish, “some visceral feeling of elegance, fleetness, advanced features and design. a name, in short, that flashes a dramatically desirable picture in people’s minds.”  Moore instantaneously agreed, and from the end of October through December of that year she came up with a list of names she wanted to include. her final choice was, “utopian turtletop” which unfortunately did not make the cut.  Young decided on “the Edsel” instead, which completely flopped!  serves him right for not listening to a wordsmith. you can read the rest of marianne’s list here. my personal favorite is the thunderbender.  who wouldn’t want to drive a car that can alter the state of sonic shock waves? by sv

celebrity arrest: even the not so greats get arrested – mugshot 0


not that we want to crucify anyone who mistakenly drank and drove… as foolish as that is we all know one or 2 fools. but again we don’t have problems with those who smoked but never inhaled either.

“on september 4, 1976 (age 30), george w bush was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol (othewise known as drunk driving) near his family’s summer home. he admitted his guilt, was fined $150, and had his driving license in the state suspended for two years, although the white house had claimed 30 days, and no one ever asked for a proof of birth certificate. this incident did not become public knowledge until it was reported by erin fehlau of maine in the week before the 2000 election when no one really cared. by xy

The Lake and Stars: calling all mother teresas

a painting rendition of the actual adverts by dutch painter nop briex

by now you may have heard of the lake and stars (designers of “world famous lingerie line”, no one has ever heard of – until now!) and their nordic mother and daughter campaign with india menuez (daughter) and johanna methusalemsdottir (mom) that sparked an outrage in in press and on TV calling it everything from “incest” to “outright disgusting”. well as usual, we’re not sure what all the fuss is about, other than an affirmation that a lot of dirty minds and a lot of hypocrites still run the public dialogue. if you ask me, there is more incest going on between wall street and the congress than there is in here… and let’s not talk about what is really disgusting these days… such as civil liberties being pummeled while we all sit around… i mean where do these people come from to act all righteous? and about what? i personally don’t find this campaign that great but it doesn’t bother me either. if i want to be bothered by anything there’s plenty more to go around. if i was to analyze this campaign, i would say that it’s more about the beauty of age and confidence in your individual body, than anything else. besides, the nordics clearly have a better way of handling their families and sexuality than we do so let’s settle down there. there are less unwanted child births there than here, there are less STDs there than here, no children appear to be taking machine guns to school, and can’t recall the last news report about an icelandic mom putting her dead child in the fridge in order to continue collecting child care, so maybe we should shut up and take care of the real problems before we act all righteous about such petty things. don’t put out the stars just because you can’t reach them! by uh

jesus-is.org


no that’s not very nice. he’s much more than a taco… you know i don’t like to rag on anyone’s belief, just as long as they don’t try and rag on my non-belief. so let’s stop the advertising and the political lobbying and we can all go out for some mexican. you can have a taco and i’ll have some mole. in case you are interested in this snazzy interactive viral site you can visit it here. ok, vaya con dios. ooops. by dd

on religion and nature: captain paul watson


i’ve never seen the silly television series on him cause i haven’t had a tv for 20 years but i can imagine it to be laced with faux action and manufactured drama at the hands of the station and producers but not this man. anyone, that includes south park, who would dare criticize or rag on this man is spineless, weak, or unintelligent. join him if you can and have the balls, if not send the man your money and praise him for doing what we can’t. just reading this it makes me want to have lunch with him, and i never have lunch. the man is brilliant, i wish i was him.

“you don’t walk by a child that is being abused, you don’t walk by a cat that is being kicked to death and do nothing. so i find it abhorrent to sit there and watch a whale being slaughtered and do nothing but “bear witness” as they call it. i think it was best illustrated a few years ago, the contradictions that we have, when a ranger in zimbabwe shot and killed a poacher that was about to kill a black rhinoceros and  human rights groups around the world said “how dare you? take a human life to protect an animal”. i think the rangers’ answer to that really illustrated a hypocrisy. he said “you know, if i was a police officer in herrari and a man ran out of bark place bank with a bag of money and i shot him in the head in front of everybody and killed him, you’d pin a medal on me and call me a national hero. why is that bag of paper more valued than the future heritage of this nation?” this is our values. WE fight, WE kill, WE risk our lives for things we believe in… imagine going into mecca, walk up to the black stone and spit on it. you’re not going to get very far. you’re going to be torn to pieces. walk into jerusalem, walk up to that wailing wall with a pick axe, start whacking away. see how far you’re going to get, somebody is going to put a bullet in your back. and everybody will say you deserved it. walk into the vatican with a hammer, start smashing a few statues. see how far you’re going to get. not very far. but each and every day, people go into the most beautiful, most profoundly sacred cathedrals of this planet, the rainforests of the amazonia, the redwood forests of california, the rainforests of indonesia, and totally desecrate & destroy these cathedrals with bulldozers, chainsaws and how do we respond to that? oh, we write a few letters and protest; we dress up in animal costumes with picket signs and jump up and down; but if the rainforests of amazonia and redwoods of california, were as, or had as much value to us as a chunk of old meteorite in mecca, a decrepit old wall in jerusalem or a piece of old marble in the vatican, we would literally rip those pieces limb from limb for the act of blasphemy that we’re committing but we won’t do that…” – captain paul watson, sea shepherds marine and wildlife conservation join or donate online to sea shepherds by dd