Modcult

The overgrown remains of Lilbourne station in Northamptonshire, on the former LNWR line from Rugby to Market Harborough which closed in 1966, one of thousands of rural stations and lines which were closed by the Beeching Axe.

This spammer added a little surreality to my day by making me briefly consider if it was possibly that Danah was doing some kind of crazy spam experiment in grad school.

Modified subway station ad. Seen here.

Ship Breakers, BLDGBLOG-style

2chan FTW! o_0

In 2004, an anonymous user posted in a 2channel thread for single men to bemoan their woes. According to his account, he had been sitting next to a young woman on the train when a drunken man entered the car and began bothering the other passengers, most of whom were female. When the drunk began to badger a particular woman, the poster took the risk of telling the man to stop bothering the passengers. The two struggled for a short time while the other passengers used this distraction to summon the conductor, who took control of the situation.

Never having done such a thing in his life, the poster was amazed to find the woman thanking him deeply for saving her from harassment. The young woman requested his address, telling him that she wanted to express her appreciation for his act, before they parted ways. The poster, upon returning home, shared his experience with other posters in the thread and was eventually nicknamed “Densha Otoko” (Train_Man).

A few days later, TrainMan received a package from the woman: an expensive set of cups and saucers made by Hermès. Flabbergasted, the man turned to the 2channelers for advice; he was soon convinced that the tea set was too expensive to be a mere thank-you gift. Following the advice and suggestions of the other posters, TrainMan eventually contacted the woman.

As Train_Man had never been on a date before, he consistently posted updates on his situation, asking for advice on everything from restaurant choices to what clothing to wear. After an enjoyable first date, they began meeting regularly. Following the 2channelers’ collective advice, he got a haircut, updated his wardrobe, and began to emerge from his shell. After several dates, his demeanor had changed for the better and this culminated a few months later in his confessing his love for her. She reciprocated, and when the 2channelers were informed, there was a mass celebration; posts began flowing in congratulating the new couple, and extravagant Shift JIS art pictures were posted. Because 2ch has an enormous impact on net culture in Japan, this story quickly spread throughout the media.

Somehow, if this was big on English-language blogs, I totally missed it. In Japan, it was a national craze. The story was made into a television series.

The archived ascii art is pretty cool too.

Margret Eicher has revamped the old tradition of the gobelins tapestry (which dates back to the 15th century but keeps receiving some attention from contemporary artists) except that instead of hand-embroidered tapestries, sewed by skilled craftsmen/craftswomen, the tapestries are refined industrial products, woven by a computer. Scenes depicted in the Gobelins were usually inspired from famous paintings or religious art. Eicher remained truthful to this inspiration and uses the pillars of modern days religion and visual culture -TV series, video game and luxury- to set the scene of her tapestries.

I’ve had this record for ages and had no idea there was a weird Indiana Jones quest style video for the song. Are they racing camels across the sands searching for the pharaoh’s stash of heroin?

I fixed this post for you, jkottke.

The Fall

David Fincher, who has a “presented by” credit on the film along with Spike Jonze, describes the film as “what would’ve happened if Andrei Tarkovsky had made ‘The Wizard of Oz.’”

From a piece last year on Tarsem’s The Fall in the LA Times.

The trailer is now online, as the film is being distributed by Roadside Attractions.

via coudal.