Plunderbund » Art

A Balkanized US?

Brian — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 22:10:16 +0000

In an interesting intellectual exercise, Matthew White imagined how North America would have looked if separatist movements had succeeded rather than failed in the history of North America… starting with a 1787 fire killing many of the Constitutional Convention. Instead of 3 countries, we could have had 19. StrangeMaps has the tale… and the map.

‘Mocking’ the Last Supper

Brian — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 13:01:21 +0000

The other day I pointed out the Catholic League’s overreaction to a poster for a gay pride festival that took it’s inspiration from da Vinci’s “Last Supper”. Lisa Renee mentioned in the comments that she found it insulting (perfectly valid for her to feel that way) and that it ‘mocked’ Christianity.

I wanted to point out that the ‘Last Supper’ is nearly iconic, and is often used as a source of inspiration for more ‘base’ sentiments. Dan Savage has an extensive collection of ‘Last Supper’ themed images, most or all with nary a peep from the [...]

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

Brian — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 13:13:59 +0000

This is a sneak preview of tonight’s PB Late Night Theater entry. This is a clever, creative homemade video for Daft Punk’s song “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.” It starts a bit slow (and silly), but stick with it. By the end, this might make your top ten list of coolest things you’ve ever seen on YouTube. Seriously. This qualifies as performance art, IMO.

Some wisdom from a little kid and his stuffed tiger

Brian — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 11:28:48 +0000

“America is nothing! America is a piece of trash!”

Brian — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 12:46:55 +0000

Who would dare say such a thing? Why, only Captain America, that’s who.

Go read the context at the above link – it does a tremendous job explaining exactly why Captain America would say what he said, and how he got to that place. Throw in the fact that ultra-patriot and WWII hero Captain America came down on the side fighting against the government in the recent Civil War storyline, and I think Cap might just be my favorite Marvel comic book character. A man who holds principle above all else.

And you thought comics just stories [...]

Death threats to a children’s author

Brian — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 11:22:41 +0000

Man, I love Christianists. Those guys know how to have a good time.

On criticism of the books from Christians in Britain and the United States:

“I had one letter from a vicar in England — this is the difference — saying would I please not put Christmas trees at Hogwarts as it was clearly a pagan society. Meanwhile, I’m having death threats when I’m on tour in America.”

That’s JK Rowling, Harry Potter author. That’s right – she gets death threats here in America. I wonder who else might issue death threats to authors they don’t like?

They Tried To Teach My Baby Science

Brian — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 17:39:53 +0000

This magazine cover (courtesy The Onion) gave me quite a chuckle…

Silent Beats Speaks Powerfully (video)

Eric — Wed, 16 May 2007 11:37:28 +0000

Silent Beats, a USC student film project:

Let’s not make an ASS out of U and ME.