A last look back at Vancouver 2010 brought to you by Big Picture;

Part 1

Part 2

as well as TPM.

Awesomeness.

Clearly they'd never met this little white girl when they thought that!

This kid must have West African parents or a West African nanny or better still must have lived in West Africa to move like that to Lingala!

Photographer Phillip Toledano explores cosmetically altered beauty (NSFW):

I’m interested in what we define as beauty, when we choose to create it ourselves.

Beauty has always been a currency, and now that we finally have the technological means to mint our own, what choices do we make?

Is beauty informed by contemporary culture? By history? Or is it defined by the surgeon’s hand? Can we identify physical trends that vary from decade to decade, or is beauty timeless?

When we re-make ourselves, are we revealing our true character, or are we stripping away our very identity?

Perhaps we are creating a new kind of beauty. An amalgam of surgery, art, and popular culture? And if so, are the results the vanguard of human induced evolution?

Fascinating.

J-Lo‘s “performance” may have left little to be desired, however SNL’s skit on the disastrous We Are The World 25 was hilarious.

Quincy Jone's must be somewhere extra salty right now miffed that his “genius” is being parodied, as someone else said, 2 of the 3 main people responsible for the original Michael Jackson influenced We Are The World were involved in the remake, the result speaks for itself and also reveals who the genius truly was that made the original version the classic it is, its untouchable.

Quincy did this for a good cause, like the remake or not, please do what you can to donate to Haiti. They still need all the help they can get.

Here's how you can help the people in Haiti:

Download “We Are The World 25” For Haiti from World25.org or iTunes.

The following organizations are accepting SMS donations in the US only:

• SMS text “HAITI” to 90999 to donate $10 to Red Cross relief efforts
• SMS text “YELE” to 501501 to Donate $5 to Yele Haiti’s Earthquake Relief efforts
• SMS text “GIVE10” to 20222 to donate $10 to Direct Relief

Canadians can also donate by going to the UNICEF website, the Canadian government will match every donation made. Please give if you can.

Esquire's profile of Roger Ebert has been making the rounds online.. key quote:

The last thing he said? Ebert thinks about it for a few moments, and then his eyes go wide behind his glasses, and he looks out into space in case the answer is floating in the air somewhere. It isn't. He looks surprised that he can't remember. He knows the last words Studs Terkel's wife, Ida, muttered when she was wheeled into the operating room (“Louis, what have you gotten me into now?”), but Ebert doesn't know what his own last words were. He thinks he probably said goodbye to Chaz before one of his own trips into the operating room, perhaps when he had parts of his salivary glands taken out — but that can't be right. He was back on TV after that operation. Whenever it was, the moment wasn't cinematic. His last words weren't recorded. There was just his voice, and then there wasn't.

Cool read indeed.

Roger commented on his blog after the article came out, offering more insight and his thoughts on the article and the author of the article, he also confirmed via twitter that he will be on Oprah's show talking about his struggles and his new “voice”.

Jennifer Lopez aka J-Lo hosting and performing on SNL.

Jennifer Lopez – “Starting Over”

Jennifer Lopez – “Pieces”

Yikes. If that is what is considered great live performing, aren't we are in trouble. J-Lo performed two new songs off her new album while hosting SNL, both performances where mediocre, it would do J-Lo better next time to find the key in the song. Just a thought. I guess its true what they say “Jack of all trades & master of none”. J-Lo's “restaurant” died, “fashion” line died, so has her movie career, with this SNL “performance” it appears her music career maybe going the way of her “other” careers.

Always fascinating watching “stars” created wholly by a marketing machine… talent be damned, as long as they are pretty and have minimal talent they can be sold.........  as soon as the machine fades, you get to truly appreciate what “marketing/branding” people can do in creating a brand and getting people to believe in something they'd otherwise not think twice about… kudos to them.

True talent died in the 80s.

Just 6 weeks after the devastating Haiti earthquake, an 8.8 earthquake hit just off the coast of Chile early Saturday morning, killing hundreds of people and creating tsunami warnings in more than 50 countries across the Pacific ocean. Thousands are believed to have been left homeless due to the widespread destruction of buildings. The after waves have now hit Japan and Russia.

Join recovery efforts mobilizing around the world to assist earthquake victims. Your donation will help disaster victims rebuild their lives and their communities.

HERE'S HOW YOU CAN HELP:

World Vision – World Vision is sending emergency relief supplies and staff to Chile to help injured survivors. Donate to World Vision's Disaster Response Fund to directly contribute to aid heading to Chile.

Habitat for Humanity – Habitat for Humanity has a continual presence in Chile, where they've helped construct over 1,300 homes. They will be essential in reconstruction efforts, especially in hard-hit rural areas. Donate to Habitat For Humanity or text CHILE to 25383 to donate $10.

You can also make a donation by going to Google's Chile Earthquake page to make a direct donation to UNICEF or Direct Relief International

John Bramblitt is a blind painter:

For color, Bramblitt uses oil paint, which has proven critical to the process. While oil paint is messier, more pungent, and dries much slower than acrylics, it offers something that no other paint can: idiosyncratic viscosity. According to Bramblitt, “White feels thicker on my fingers, almost like toothpaste, and black feels slicker and thinner. To mix a gray, I’ll try to get the paint to have a feel of medium viscosity”. In fact, he has learned to recognize and mix all the colors he uses by his sense of touch. And the colors are the first thing one notices about Bramblitt’s work (www.Bramblitt.net). While the subjects of his paintings are immediately recognizable, proportioned, and smartly stylized, the colors are supremely vibrant, and nearly psychedelic in their rendering.

Check out Bramblitt's website for more images

Hat tip: Mind Hacks