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How do they put the centers in chocolates?
05.23.2011
02:12 pm
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“Life,” as Forrest Gump’s Momma used to say, “is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” Which suggests (as may have been the intention) that Mrs Gump was either illiterate or just too damned lazy to read the chocolate box menu card before cramming a fistful of soft centers into her gob.

Well, this enlightening little film, How Do They Put the Centers in Chocolates? shows exactly how those tasty surprises Mrs Gump favored so much are added to every box of chocolates.

Chocolate is produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. In 2007, archaeologists at a site in Puerto Escondido, Honduras, uncovered the oldest known cultivation and use of cacao dating back to around 1100 to 1400 BC. Mayans used cacao to make a rather frothy drink, and it wasn’t until the Spanish invaded South America did rich Europeans first get a taste of the delightful stuff.

Cacao was a luxury, and it wasn’t until 1847, that Englishman Joseph Fry invented the modern chocolate bar when he mixed cacao butter with Dutched chocolate, added sugar and made a chocolate paste that could be molded.  Roald Dahl that fabulous writer and connoisseur of chocolate believed such historical events were more important than the tiresome facts of battles and kings taught at school:

“Never mind about 1066 William the Conqueror, 1087 William the Second. Such things are not going to affect one’s life ... but 1932 the Mars Bar and 1936 Maltesers and 1937 the Kit-Kat - these dates are milestones in history and should be seared into the memory of every child in the country.”

Europe still consumes around 40% of the world’s chocolate, with Ireland, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom making up the top 5 of the per capita chocolate consumption table. The USA is 12th, ahead of Australia, Italy and Canada.
 

 

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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05.23.2011
02:12 pm
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Mountain Men action figures: Mao, Marx, Lenin, and Thoreau
05.23.2011
12:48 pm
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Imagine the conversation amongst these gentlemen during a leisurely trek in nature!

These Mao, Marx, Lenin, and Thoreau figures come in a set of four and retail for £145. Check ‘em out here

Each mountain figure is dressed in hiking outfits with rucksacks and hiking boots. They come carefully packaged in printed Mountain Research box.

(via Super Punch)

Posted by Tara McGinley
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05.23.2011
12:48 pm
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Terrence Malick’s ‘Tree Of Life’ wins best picture at Cannes
05.23.2011
03:19 am
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Terrence Malick’s The Tree Of Life which was five years in the making has won the Palme D’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Personally, I’m thrilled. I am a huge Malick fan and the film’s trailer suggests something quite magical. The reviews confirm my sense that this movie may be one of the few contemporary American films that aspire to the kind of consciousness raising that has been all but abandoned since Kubrick’s 2001: Space Odyssey and Peter Weir’s Fearless. Gaspar Noe’s Enter The Void stands alone among recent films that recognize cinema as a form of alchemy.

With Sean Penn and Brad Pitt in starring roles and the Palme D’Or,  it is conceivable that a pure art film may find an audience in the USA.

Tree Of Life opens next weekend in New York and L.A. and expands to other cities on June 3rd.
 

Posted by Marc Campbell
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05.23.2011
03:19 am
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Mexican punk rock Japanoise freak out!
05.22.2011
10:46 pm
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Madness, sheer madness.

Mohawk mayhem meets Japanese apocalyptic rock as Intrepidos Punks collide with the epically deranged sounds of Yamantaka Eye in this ballistic mashup-up from Z-movie hell.

This not suitable for children, the easily offended or anyone with a scintilla of good taste. The rest of you, enjoy.
 

 
Badass music video from Three Souls In My Mind after the jump…

READ ON
Posted by Marc Campbell
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05.22.2011
10:46 pm
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Scenes from the Gay Marriage debate last night in MN
05.22.2011
10:40 pm
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It is the best of times. It is the worst of times. A must-watch clip.

Representative John Kriesel was one of only four Republicans to vote against the amendment. He seems like a stand-up guy, so why is he a Republican? (I’ll bet he’s asking himself that very question today).
 

 
Via Joe.My.God

Posted by Richard Metzger
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05.22.2011
10:40 pm
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Rarely seen video of Patti Smith on daytime TV in 1978
05.22.2011
07:37 pm
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Patti Smith appears on the Mike Douglas Show - March 8, 1978.

A giggling Kristy McNichol seems quite amused by Patti. Anne Meara, Jerry Stiller and William Shatner were also on the same program. Imagine a Shatner/Smith duet of “Rock and Roll Nigger.” One can only dream.

Patti is ostensibly on the show to promote her book Babel. Odd to see a poet making the daytime television rounds to promote a book of poetry that was published in a limited edition. She ends up spending most of her time talking about Muhammad Ali.
 

 

Posted by Marc Campbell
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05.22.2011
07:37 pm
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Thar she blows! Icelandic volcano erupts
05.22.2011
06:09 pm
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Thar she blows! Grimsvoetn, Iceland’s most active volcano began erupting late on Saturday, sending a plume of smoke and ash 12-miles high. It was reported there was so much ash blasted into the sky that it blocked out the sun and covered nearby villages and farms.

Last year, the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull volcano shut down airspace in 34 countries (the largest since World War Two), which cost the global airline industry $210million a day during the disruption. According to the Telegraph:

Experts and aviation authorities said the impact of the Grimsvoetn eruption should not be as severe and was likely to mainly affect Iceland.

Gunnar Gudmundsson, of Iceland’s Meteorological Office, said: “I don’t expect this will have the same effect as Eyjafjoell volcano because the ash is not as fine.”

However, they acknowledged that changing weather patterns could sweep the ash into areas where it would affect other countries.

Einar Kjartansson, a geophysicist at Iceland’s Met Office, warned: “If the eruption lasts for a long time we could be seeing similar effects as seen with Eyjafjallajökull last year.”

He added that “most of the traffic at least to the south of Iceland will probably not be affected” but said: “We don’t know what will happen after that.”
The forecast is for winds to clear the ash from Reykjavik and dissipate the problem over the coming days.

Bjorgvin Hardarsson, a farmer in the village of Kirkjubaejarklaustur, close to the latest eruption, described the ash, saying: “It’s just black outside, and you can hardly tell it is supposed to be bright daylight.”

Eurocontrol, the European air safety organisation, said no impact was expected on European airspace outside Iceland or on transatlantic flights for at least 24 hours.

Grimsvoetn, which has erupted nine times between 1922 and 2004, is located in an enormous caldera - a collapsed volcanic crater – five miles in diameter near the centre of the Vatnajoekull icefield.

When it last erupted in November 2004, volcanic ash fell as far away as mainland Europe and caused minor disruptions in flights to and from Iceland.

A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority said: “It’s early days and we’re keeping an eye on the situation but at the moment the weather patterns are looking pretty favorable.

 

 
More footage of Grimsvoetn, after the jump…
 

READ ON
Posted by Paul Gallagher
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05.22.2011
06:09 pm
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The Modern Utopian: Jimi Hendrix in ‘Rainbow Bridge’
05.22.2011
05:07 pm
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“Rainbow Bridge” by Jeff Kopp

For those you reading this lucky enough to be in Los Angeles tonight, our pal Jodi Wille of Process Media will be hosting a special screening of the freak-o-delic new age documentary, Rainbow Bridge at Cinefamily, along with a discussion, in conjunction with the new Process title, The Modern Utopian: Alternative Communities Then and Now

Back to the Land. Urban homesteads. Sustainable cooperatives. The movement that swept the nation in the 70s is back with a new passion. Economic, permaculture, and social concerns have drawn thousands across the country to rediscover the benefits of collective living. The new Process book The Modern Utopian is the definitive examination of the alternative communities in the ‘60s and ‘70s, documented by those who knew it and lived it—from the fabled Drop City to Morningstar Ranch, Timothy Leary at Millbrook to Detroit’s Translove Energies and the still-thriving Stephen Gaskin’s Farm.

Join Process Media’s Jodi Wille as she leads a conversation with members of a new generation (mostly in their 20s and 30s) of intentional communities in Los Angeles. Afterwards, Process presents a rare screening of the 1972 documentary/concert film RAINBOW BRIDGE. This gem of occult/commune 70’s cinema features Warhol stars Pat Hartley and Chuck Wein, Dr. Bronner, cosmic surfers, black power soul sisters, clairvoyant shamans, Jesus freaks, and the actual inhabitants of a chic mansion commune in Maui called the “Rainbow Bridge Occult Research Meditation Center.”

Then Jimi Hendrix drops in, and on the slopes of the Haleakala volcano, he performs for his penultimate live concert in the U.S. before his departure from the planet only two months later.

Rainbow Bridge is is a mind-blower. It was directed by a guy named Chuck Wein who palled around with Andy Warhol in the 60s and who “discovered” Radcliffe debutante Edie Sedgwick (at their mutual therapist)

Cinefamily, 611 N Fairfax Avenue, 7pm, but if you get there early, there is a meet-n-greet with snacks thing on the patio with the special guests.
 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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05.22.2011
05:07 pm
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‘Sonic Boom’: short comedy with Keith Moon, Ricky Nelson and Sal Mineo
05.22.2011
04:30 pm
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Made by UCLA students in 1975, Sonic Boom is a short comedy starring George Kennedy, Ricky Nelson, Keith Moon, Jonathan Winters and Sal Mineo. Directed by Jeff Mandel, the associate producer was Eric Louzil, who went onto make a successful career as a writer, producer and director of low budget horror films. In an interview with Chris Radcliffe, Louzil explained how he had two ideas for his student film:

One was about killer bees coming to California either to be called Deadly Buzz or Deadly Hum to star David L. Lander and Michael Mckean a.k.a. Lenny and Squiggy before they had been cast in the hit television show Laverne & Shirley (1976-1983) and the other was Sonic Boom, a comedy short about a supersonic jet that lands in a small town and creates hysteria over an impending sonic boom that never happens. The former project got scrapped because Landers And Mckean wanted too much creative control over it.

“The way they cast Sonic Boom was simply this: they would get together at production meetings, take out the entertainment section of the Los Angeles Times and find out who had made it into press. Then they would essentially stalk these performers and ask them to help out with their student film.

Mandel and Louzil wanted either Keith Moon or Elton John to appear in the film, as Radcliffe explains

Elton John was in town playing at the Troubadour so it was a toss up between Keith or Elton. They chose Keith because he was a bigger name at the time. They began hanging out at the clubs he was know to frequent until they caught up with him and he agreed to appear in the film for $1,400 In cocaine and a television, though the one page agreement signed between the producers and Keith read for “One Case Of Coke And A Television” - to which one can only assume that the latter he used to throw out of some window.

“There was something of a scene when the Director and some other guy went down to Palm Springs to get the cocaine and were afraid they would get busted on the return trip. In any event Keith’s scene was filmed at the Burbank Court House where he played the part of a professor wearing a cotex on his upper lip for a mustache. He arrived on the set in a gold limousine (which at that time was extremely rare and impressive) and left in a different one. The short film was eventually released theatrically in 1975 where it was shown before the feature film of the evening Man Friday (1975) starring Peter O’ Toole and Richard Roundtree. Man Friday was a retelling of the Robinson Crusoe story with a strong social message.”

 

 
Also on DM

The incredible friendship between Oliver Reed and Keith Moon


 

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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05.22.2011
04:30 pm
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Swimming through millions of jellyfish
05.22.2011
01:16 pm
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Simply sublime. Happy Sunday.

 
(via Nerdcore)

Posted by Tara McGinley
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05.22.2011
01:16 pm
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