Good news for clean energy advocates, as Obama used his Saturday address to announce almost $2 billion in conditional loan guarantees to two solar energy companies. The beneficiaries are Abengoa Solar, whose planned Arizona solar plant will be one of the largest in the world, and solar panel manufacturer Abound Solar, which will build advanced panels at two new plants in Colorado and Indiana. Not......read more
In 1977, the Eameses took a break from designing iconic furniture to produce this mind-expanding video exploring the relative size of things, from the microscopic to the cosmic. Superb. Bonus images: Charles Eames (in lift) filming early version of film, chart plotting film sequences ...read more
Filmmaker Enrique Pacheco adds to his impressive time-lapse portfolio with "Shaped by Time," a hypnotic exploration of the effects of erosion on earth: "Shaped by Time" is a time-lapse film that explore the power of nature trough the erosion of the different landscapes shown on the film. During thousands of years, the wind, the eruptions, the rain, the frost and the water of the rivers, have......read more
In an age when directors often use the music video medium as carte blanche for creative experimentation, it's refreshing to see a simple, literal clip every once in a while. Earlier in the year, Cat Power (Chan Marshall) and Greg Hunt delivered just that with the video for "Manhattan," which finds the enigmatic songwriter chanting and dancing all over the borough. From underground on the subway......read more
The Creators Project recently paid a visit to Anthony Howe's Washington state studio to learn more about how he makes his awe-inspiring kinetic sculptures. In the video, Howe, who started his art career as a painter, explains his decision to pursue a new medium: "I just was bored with everything being static in my visual world. I wanted to see stuff flow." And flow his stuff does, often in a way......read more
It's been a while since we checked in with Eric Power, one of our favorite animators whose work we've featured multiple times here on SHFT. What better way to mark his return than with another truly awesome animation, this time for the Northern Bells track, "Animal Kingdom." Eric applies his signature paper animation style to the video, telling the tale of three strange creatures caught headed......read more
In what she calls "high voltage wood erosion," NYC artist Melanie Hoff uses electrical currents to create seemingly supernatural patterns in pieces of plywood. Hoff, a 23-year-old sculpture major at Pratt Institute, documented her electrified art experiments in "15,000 Volts," a short video that shows the process in stunning time-lapse. Made as part of her senior thesis project, the clip was shot......read more
We know Brooklynites are getting tired of everybody invading their home, but with all the place has to offer, you can't really blame people for wanting to move there. Take Barcade for example. The Williamsburg hangout features not only a huge selection of micro brews, but also a bunch of old school arcade games to fulfill all your 8-bit desires. Not only that, but the whole joint is powered......read more
Spotted this one the other day on Quality Peoples. It's the trailer for Glass Love, a 2006 surf movie directed by Andrew Kidman, featuring Cat Power doing her beautiful, plodding version of Velvet Underground's "I Found A Reason". Along with Cowboy Junkies' rendition of "Sweet Jane", it's surely one of the best VU covers of all time, and pairs perfectly with Kidman's mellow longboard......read more
Cloud Cult is as much a music project as an experiment in green living. From his organic farm in Minnesota, Cloud Cult frontman Craig Minowa heads up Earthology Records, a DIY music company through which all of the band's activities take place. That includes CD replication (Earthology developed the first 100% postconsumer recycled CD packaging in the U.S.), t-shirt printing......read more