http://mer-chan.com/blog Techno-cuddly Culture Mon, 08 Mar 2010 06:23:59 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Apparently Koreans are using sausages to control their iPhones instead of taking off their gloves in the winter. There are even reports that the sausage manufacturer has to ramp up production due to an alleged surge in demand. We hope this isn't an "Asians are so wacky!" thing. ... http://mer-chan.com/blog/2010/03/08/spoof-sticks/ Artists Sabina Keric and Yvonne Bayer are in Urban Camouflage. They don the elements of their environment (bags at Ikea, work gloves at a hardware store, soda bottle suit at a grocery store) and camp out. The best part is seeing their feet stick out at the ... http://mer-chan.com/blog/2010/03/04/urban-camo/ It's come all the way around and stops at this: Bonusroom Books, which is like Netflix for readers. For a reasonable fee, you get Chinese language books by mail (maybe more language will be added later). Send them back and get more. It's still in Beta test ... http://mer-chan.com/blog/2010/03/02/netflix-for-boox/ Check out McG's video of Kirsten Dunst in full on sailor moon cosplay, produced by Takashi Murakami, the Superflat artist and Vuitton visionaire. I most enjoyed the wtf faces of the tokyo street kids. Takashi Murakami did great with product placement; I see his blossom flowers everywhere. ... http://mer-chan.com/blog/2010/02/25/murakami-in-the-muck/ Step aside Rosie the Riveter! There's a new techno-chic on the bloc. Barbie has a new life as a computer engineer. Women and technology are often at odds in the cultural imagination, so we're glad to see everybody's favorite glamor girl geeking out. But will it ... http://mer-chan.com/blog/2010/02/23/binary-barbie/ Less than a month after it opened, the tallest tower in the world closed itself to visitors. We went up the Burj Khalifa (even though the signs still bore its original name, Burj Dubai) the day before it shut down indefinitely due to concerns of the elevator failing. ... http://mer-chan.com/blog/2010/02/22/tallest-tower-of-mystery/ Step by step our documentary is getting finished. Cue Cultural Capital: Finding Art in Dubai montage sequences: Cultural Capital: Finding Art in Dubai Teaser from Katy Mer-chan. * Music for the first video (Art Dubai) by Moby, with his ace Moby Gratis that lets indie filmmakers like me use his music ... http://mer-chan.com/blog/2010/02/17/cultural-capital-teasers/ You have or will soon, have Buzz integrated into your Gmail. Buzz automatically brings social networking into Gmail and the rest of the Google-sphere without the 140-limit of Twitter, which means soon be flooded with buzzes about being hungry, then cut'n'paste recipes followed by TMI workout regimes. Lifehacker ... http://mer-chan.com/blog/2010/02/10/quiet-the-buzz/ In Time OutDubai's how do I love thee countdown to the city, the Global Village Pavilion gets a mention. Dubai loves having measurable successes that mainly include being in the Guinness World Records. In Dubai's Global Village, the world’s first (of course) world record pavilion, invites visitors to break ... http://mer-chan.com/blog/2010/02/08/worlds-geekiest/ Sorry for cross posting this tweet, but we had to say more than 140 words about Dziga Vertov's brill experimental film Man with a Movie Camera. Playing with the idea of hidden cameras way before (1929) Candid Camera, the camera finds itself at a birth and death, and even ... http://mer-chan.com/blog/2010/02/01/man-with-a-cam/