Foreign Intelligence Brief #413: On The End Of Caviar And The Last Roll Of Kodachrome

Got 30 minutes? Good. Press play above to watch what legendary photographer Steve McCurry did with the last roll of Kodachrome film (spoiler alert: he took good pictures with it).

Options he smartly dismissed: salt and pepper shakers, magnets, paper towel holders.

If anyone ever asks you if analog can hold a candle to digital in the internet age, there any number of correct responses, but the coolest is always going to be Banana Drawings.

Counterpoint: these Gothic/Islamic architecture-inspired stained glass window designs that were made from 100 sheets of laser cut paper.

Aw, a sweet home movie starring Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera at the Blue House in Mexico City.

Facebook introduces free telephone calls for iPhone users. The service is not available in Canada, though. Because Canada.

The New Yorker wonders what it would be like if Facebook worked like Yelp. Because The New Yorker.

After (maybe) going on a donkey killing spree in Africa, Google files patent for a virtual keyboard.

How mainstream has marijuana become? I don’t know, man. What?

Related: Dude, I think I just saw an 80 ton bird nest in South Carolina.

Unrelated: the future of green architecture (exists mostly on design and architecture blogs).

Real science: Americans, British, Russians, and The New York Times race to find life under Antarctica’s ice.

Not so much science: Hey! This off the shelf breakfast cereal actually is freakishly rich in iron.

It’s the end of wild caviar as we know it, and I feel fine.

So there’s a cross-dressing meth priest who digs cathedral sex in Connecticut. The local paper writes of how he liked it in the “rectory”. For serious.

Head scratcher: The elfven hero of the American Left, Dennis Kucinich, has joined the cast of Fox News.

Bonus: How the Hobbit should have ended.

Foreign Intelligence Brief #406: Kiwi Troops Welcome Home Dead With Big Haka

The government of New Zealand has announced that it will withdraw its small troop contingent (145) from Afghanistan as rapidly as possible after three soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb attack outside Bamiyan last week. This chilling video shows members of the 2/1 RNZIR Battalion acknowledging the return of their comrades’ bodies to their parade grounds with a traditional Haka war dance.

Foreign Intelligence Briefing #394: Canada Officially Enters US Presidential Election…

After looking at the field of candidates and without our permission, Vancouverite Brian Calvert has officially entered our nation into the US Presidential race.

Foreign Intelligence Briefing #393: Which Nations Give Employees The Most Time Off?

That’s us at the bottom, via The Economist. Ouch. Shed a tear and then get the fuck back to work!

Foreign Intelligence Brief #377: On Why It’s Not A Good Idea To Look Up For A While…

Via TDG: in case you haven’t heard…

NASA’s 65-ton Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) will be re-entering Earth’s atmosphere sometime in late September or early October, but NASA isn’t actually sure when and where it will happen.

So have a great day Vancouver!

Foreign Intelligence Brief #377: On Staying Calm & Carrying On With Hurricane Irene…

As nasty-looking Hurricane Irene hits land today, our hearts go out to the folks at this restaurant in Wilmington, North Carolina and all our friends, colleagues and blogging brethren in the American northeast (we hope you were able to fly out in time, Shaun). Good luck all. We’ll see you on the other side!

Foreign Intelligence Brief #376: On Apple’s New Digs And Amoebas Hungry For Brains

Lost 1992 promo video for The Smiths turns up. Meh. It was really nothing, William.

Germans being German of the day: exploring the underground city that is no taller than you are.

And now with extra Germany: Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow.

Sign of the et cetera: Catholic Spain not keen on shelling out S144,000,000 for papal visit during time of economic crisis.

The guy who might be the next President of the United States is terrifying. Him + her = the most awesome nightmare since … (actus me invito factus non est meus actus)

A gift for the camera-loving alcoholic in your life, because one day he might pour a tot of Bruichladdich on his Canon EF 24-105mm lens and that would kind of be funny, though alcoholism is very serious and you should definitely seek help for your friend.

When food geeks dream jewelery, someone punches a baby deer.

Brain eating zombie amoebas kill three. Wait…what? This isn’t fear-mongering journalism at its worst. It’s CNN, brother, and “this is the time of year when there is an uptick in cases.” Not to worry. I spelled amoebas right.

(above and below) Steve Jobs’ new plans for Apple Headquarters, circa 2015. “This new four-story infrastructure is a minimalist design from Foster + Partners, and features heavy use of glass and an indoor park. Jobs compared it to a landed spaceship.” (via Curated)

MORE FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE BRIEFINGS

Foreign Intelligence Brief #375: An English Cabbie Expertly Explains The London Riots

Thank you, sir. Now, to The Savoy if you wouldn’t mind…

Foreign Intelligence Brief #374: Giant Flying Bugs With Highbeams On Attack Tottenham

The BBC has the latest news on the Tottenham riots, but I can’t help but be marginally more transfixed by the gnat-like helicopters swooping over the action in calculated feints before buzzing off and back again in this time-lapse. Bzz…

Foreign Intelligence Brief #373: On The FBI Killing Hemingway And Shakespeare Stoned

by Andrew Morrison | The new (and terrifically vapid) Canadian edition of the Huffington Post wonders if the beaver is still a potent image of what it means to be Canadian, “or are we clearly due for a new and improved national symbol?” Such a profound question! Here’s another: is the future of Canadian journalism to be written by bubble gum twirling interns fresh from Bishop-Strachan?

He may have his heart in the right place, but no amount of Twitter followers can stop Ashton Kutcher from being an asshole and a bully.

To mark the 50th anniversary of Ernest Hemingway’s death, The New York Times publishes an op-ed by the Nobel Prize-winning novelist’s friend and biographer, A.E. Hotchner. In it, he posits that Hemingway tried to kill himself several times (eventually succeeding with a shotgun in the mouth) in part because the FBI was tailing him and bugging his phones. His friends and family chalked it up to paranoia, but it turns out he was right.

What happens when you mount tiny cameras to the tips of fireworks? Oh.

Did William Shakespeare smoke a lot of weed? There is some evidence that suggests he may have. A pipe with traces of marijuana in it was found in his home in Stratford-upon-Avon some ten years ago. Also,  Dunsinane was “high” and there are definitely some sections of A Midsummer Night’s Dream that have pothead written all over them (“My Oberon! What visions I have seen! Methought I was enamoured of an ass!”). Now an academic is petitioning to have his bones exhumed for testing. If the legendary Bard’s drug use ends up as scientific fact, cue the inevitable consequence: some idiot parents will demand to have his plays banned from the school curriculum and dog-eared copies of Richard III will be traded for grams of coke in highschool smoke pits across the English-speaking world. Sigh. “My conscience hath a thousand several tongues, and every tongue brings in a several tale, and every tale condemns me for a villain.” I feel for you, Shakes.

Yaarrrh! Somali pirates go hi-tech with “GPS systems, satellite phones, and open-source intelligence such as shipping industry blogs in order to figure out the location of ships.” I don’t know about Interpol, but we follow them on Twitter.

Toronto’s TTC to sell subway station and line names in $324 million advertising gambit. Maybe we should do that here, as in “I’m on the Donnelly Hospitality train heading north on the Edgewater Casino Line. Meet you at Bob Rennie Station in five.” Best city ever!

Foreign Intelligence Brief #371: A Closer Look At The Boston Bruins Victory Bar Tab

A copy of the bill assessed to the Boston Bruins after a night spent celebrating their win of the Stanley Cup last week has made it’s way onto Reddit. It takes a lot of Champagne (and some 136 Bud Lights) to fill that bowl. Add on a $25,000 gratuity to have it poured, and you have a good night for everyone. Naturally, the first comment underneath the photo nailed it:  “I’m betting the Vancouver bill was more.” Plus we got stiffed.

Foreign Intelligence Brief #369: An Eyeful Of Quiet Juxtapostion From Tim Hetherington

“Diary’ is a highly personal and experimental film that expresses the subjective experience of my work, and was made as an attempt to locate myself after ten years of reporting. It’s a kaleidoscope of images that link our western reality to the seemingly distant worlds we see in the media.” – Tim Hetherington, British photojournalist and Academy Award-nominated documentary filmmaker.

Hetherington was the co-director of the documentary Restrepo (trailer below). He was killed two days ago by a rocket-propelled grenade in the tenuously rebel-held town of Misrata, Libya.

Foreign Intelligence Brief #368: On Twitter Masturbators And Beer Spiked With Viagra

To celebrate the impending Royal Wedding, a cheesy UK brewer has crafted 1,000 bottles of “Royal Virility Performance” beer made with Viagra. Times have certainly changed. Whatever happened to slapping on a CD of Handel’s Zadok the Priest followed by his Royal Fireworks?

Syria opposition getting secret American aid. Fox news host unhappy (gasp).

British boots on the ground in Libya (again).

The view from your rear-view mirror.

The 50 best restaurants in the world named for 2011.

How to cater a Roman orgy.

Huffington Post asks “was the hipster really all that bad?” Answer: You wouldn’t understand.

Bonus: hipsters and their inner animal identities. Also, hipsters play Tetris.

A seriously WTF salmon tragedy in Goldstream Park.

The new VW Beetle.

The first reviews of the much-dreaded Atlas Shrugged adaptation are out. Surprise! It sucks.

Extra: Twitter users are chronic masturbators. @obvious #busyrightnow

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