1. San Francisco-based studio Soviet Montage has cracked HDR for video. What’s HDR? High Dynamic Range images are created by taking two (or more) shots at different exposures and combing them together, creating truer to life images in the process. It’s all the rage among photographers (there’s even a feature on the new iPhone), but using a beam splitter and two Canon EOS 5D Mark II DSLR’s, Soviet Montage was able to bring the effect to life. Why do you care? Because the results look like this:
2. Billed as “the first major museum exhibition to focus on sexual difference in the making of modern American portraiture”, The National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C. is set to open Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture Oct. 29. Featuring works by Andy Warhol, Robert Maplethorpe and Thomas Eakins, it’s a rare example of a major museum show focused on gay identity and artists and a first for a national museum. Expect it to be horribly transformed into a conservative talking point in 3… 2…
3. Proof that web video isn’t all yuk-yuk comedy skits? Try Spike Jonze’s short film, I’m Here. Presented by Absolut Vodka, the short film is a love story between two robots. One of the neatest touches: When you arrive at the site, you’re presented with a video stream of a cinema marquee that changes depending what time you visit. The movie is pretty clever as well.
4. Tired of rampant Islamophobia? With an ABC News poll showing that 49% of Americans hold unfavorable views of Muslims, despite Islam being a religion practiced peacefully by more than a billion people, the best antidote to rampant ignorance is knowledge. National Geographic’s documentary, Inside Mecca is a fascinating look at the Hajj, the required pilgrimage to the holy city of Mohammed (and for my money, one of the most beautiful and moving expressions of faith found in any religion). The documentary follows an American woman who converted to Islam as she goes travels along with her fellow pilgrims from all corners and stations of the planet. Watch it here:
5. It’s official: Downtown Los Angeles, with hotspots like Church & State and Rivera is now A Place to Eat, according to the New York Times. Of course, the paper throws in Wolfgang Puck’s WP24, continuing the long-running assumption that there’s a Puck restaurant on every corner in L.A. Left out: Chaya, Drago Centro and the anchor od downtown haute dining, Water Grill. Still, plenty of pretty food porn photos to stare at.
