Wall of Toilets

Couldn't resist this. Per boingboing, it was part of a "ceramics festival" in China. (Thanks, Ben!)

Anonymous asks, and the wall of toilet paper is where . . . ?

Dept. of FB Apps

Should you have the right to know who commissioned the creation of the Facebook quizzes you take? At All Facebook, you can't see who commissioned them, but at least you can see which developer made them – except that in some cases, even that info's left blank. E.g., "Who is your one true love," "How annoying are you," "Which member of the 'Scooby Doo' gang are you?," "Do you know yourself [in German]," etc.

I heard the gummint has a Dept. . . . . (just kidding; but I wouldn't rule it out).

Views You Can Use from Assume Vivid Astro Focus

From a show at the National Museum Oslo, 2008:



Love the backing-into-things part.

Action Alert: Join Artists in Demo for Health Insurance Reform

PAC-WE is organizing an artists' performance action Sun., Oct. 25, 11am - noon at the Morton Meyerson Symphony Hall, Dallas, TX, and you're invited! Just bring yourself and your friends; everything else will be supplied. More details here or in my previous post, here.

Click on the image, right, for a larger version. Even larger version (for printing posters or flyers) available here.

And tell your friends!

To get you in the mood, here's a video created by Ben Jones of Paper Rad to celebrate Pac-Man's 25th anniversary and the launch of the Pac-Man Inspired Music Series:

Speaking of Obama's Choices,

For much of 2005, an embattled Democratic Party fought Pres. G.W. Bush's initiative to privatize Social Security. The plan was defeated, but (Halloween surprise!) the brains behind Bush's initiative are being implanted in the Obama admin. – by Obama, who's nominated Chuck Blahouse to one of two public trustee slots on the Social Security Board.

Blahous was a deputy director of the Bush National Economic Council and executive director of Bush’s Commission to Strengthen Social Security. That commission was tasked to draft the policy recommendations for maintaining Social Security solvency, in part through partial privatization.

More at The Wall Street Journal; more on Obama's personnel picks here.

UPDATE: Speaking of changealiciousness, Obama has given Shell a conditional green light to drill for oil and gas "in the environmentally sensitive Beaufort Sea." "Rebecca Noblin, an Alaskan specialist with the conservation group the Centre for Biological Diversity, said: 'We're disappointed to see the Obama administration taking decisions that will threaten the Arctic. It might as well have been the Bush administration.'" Details at the UK Guardian.

Ansen Seale's "The Corn Crib"

is a permanent installation at The Land Heritage Institute, in San Antonio, TX.

Gene [Elder]: ". . . [Y]ou put photos in an old rock shed.

[Seale]: My only instructions were that the piece had to be about the land and that it had to contain photography. With those wide-open parameters in mind, Penny Boyer, Michael Mehl and I went scouting around looking for a location and a project.

[Elder]: I came. I saw. It was a long walk to the corn crib.

[Seale]: Yes. On this 1200 acres are several human habitation sites that vary in age from 10,000 years old to the mid 1970's when it ceased operations as a farm. One of the complexes of buildings was constructed in the 1850s using the stacked-stone method of construction. Most of the buildings have fallen to ruin, but the one that remains was a place where corn was stored in the winter to feed animals (and perhaps humans as well). . . .

[Elder]: Unusual site. I expect there won't be that many people that come to see it.

[Seale]: Unusual indeed. And that's exactly the point. The viewer must travel and experience the land in order to gain the fullest appreciation of the art. This place was perfect for the installation because it provides protection from the weather. Photography is an inherently fragile medium and until recently, its place in public art installations has been limited. So I was thrilled when I realized that this small structure would protect the photos, and the photos would protect the building, both by keeping people from touching the walls and, in a larger sense, by giving the building a purpose.


The photos are back-lit – they're the only light-source in the space – and powered by solar panels. (Click on the images for larger versions – the image at left is esp. amazing.)

Thanks to Elder for his interview; more at San Antonio Current. Best collection of pics plus more work by Seale on his site, here. Review at Glasstire

Obama's Choices in Art for the White House

. . . seem slightly more progressive than his picks in personnel. Click on the images for larger versions; see artnet for more of Obama's art choices.

Best Health Insurance Reform Etc. Debate Yet

Maher can't keep up; give him credit for enjoying the challenge (he doesn't get many).