ReSTART Internet Addiction Center Opens in Seattle

By Michael Saba at 7:30 AM on September 10, 2009

ReSTART, the world's first internet-addiction residential treatment program, opened recently in Redmond, Wash. (ironically enough, the neighborhood where Microsoft was founded). The center offers a 45-day, $14,000 rehabilitation course that promises to help addicts ease dependencies on social networking, online video games, texting and a host of other technological time-wasters....  read more

Chuck Klosterman Takes on the Beatles Reissues

By Michael Saba at 5:00 PM on September 8, 2009

This is the fairly uncontroversial start of a news item about Chuck Klosterman. A review of the new Beatles reissues anthology penned by him went up today at The Onion's A.V. Club. This follows his protracted absence (which probably has a lot to do with his forthcoming book Eating the Dinosaur) after his 1700-word screed/review of Chinese Democracy....  read more

Happy 107th Birthday, First Science-Fiction Movie Ever!

By Michael Saba at 4:30 PM on September 2, 2009

One hundred seven years ago, the science-fiction film genre was born. On Sept. 1, 1902, French filmmaker George Méliès released La voyage dans la Lune (A Trip to the Moon), loosely based on the novels The First Men in the Moon by H.G. Wells and From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne....  read more

Join Paste in its Quest for Etsy's Best Animal-Inspired Goods

By Christina Lee at 3:00 PM on August 31, 2009

Etsy and Paste are both regular supporters of the best animal-inspired goods, be they of the handmade or musical variety. But for the first time, on this very Wednesday, Sept. 2, the two will embark on a hunt together....  read more

KRS-One Writes 600-Page Gospel of Hip-Hop

By Michael Saba at 2:30 PM on August 31, 2009

The Old Testament has been kicking around in various incarnations for something like four millennia now. And even the so-called New Testament is almost 2000 years old. The Qur'an is getting a little long in the tooth too: almost 1400 years long, to be precise. Yes, eschatological obsessives and spiritualists of all stripes can agree: We're overdue for another revelation. And hip-hop legend and activist KRS-One is stepping into the fray to offer up his own collection of received wisdom: The Gospel of Hip-Hop: The First Instrument....  read more

U.K. Proposes to Shut Off Internet for Illegal Downloaders

By Paste News at 8:37 AM on August 28, 2009

U.K. newspaper The Guardian reported Tuesday that this British government is considering harsher laws to crack down on illegal filesharers. Penalties reportedly on the table could require ISP's to ban access to certain download sites, slow broadband connections and even cut off internet access to repeat offenders....  read more

Polaroid Instant Film Resurrected by Fans and Urban Outfitters

By Michael Saba at 3:00 PM on August 27, 2009

When news broke last year that Polaroid would be discontinuing their iconic line of instant-print cameras and film, there was a collective wail from would-be shutterbugs the world 'round. Dorm room walls would be palpably barer without quasi-artistic snapshots to wallpaper them, and it was looking like Talking Heads would go out as the champions of creative uses for the medium....  read more

Why Yes, There is a Bright-Green Zombie Bar in the Twin Cities

By Jeffrey Bloomer at 2:30 PM on August 25, 2009

If only we had a bigger travel budget. A columnist in the Star Tribune reports that a former Twin Cities dive has been miraculously transformed into a place called Donny Dirk's Zombie Den. ...  read more

No, Seriously: 3D Hamlet Musical Movie in the Works

By Michael Saba at 9:30 AM on August 21, 2009

Shakespeare's Hamlet ranks alongside Romeo and Juliet, King Lear and Macbeth as one of his undisputed masterpieces of tragic theatre. With it, the Bard of Stratford-on-Avon crafted a melancholy and subtle meditation on revenge, politics, religion and philosophy. It's an enduring tale that's been retold by comics, movies, video games, music and a host of other mediums. Well, purists better get ready to shut up and strap in, because the Shakespeare 4 Kidz company recently greenlit the production of a 3D Hamlet movie-musical....  read more

MySpace Confirms iLike Acquisition

By Catherine Prewitt at 3:33 PM on August 20, 2009

Confirming the rumors buzzing around the blogosphere this week, MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta issued an official announcement yesterday that his social networking and music promotion site had purchased online music service iLike. Van Natta declined to disclose details about the terms of the agreement, though initial murmurings on TechCrunch listed $20 million as the price of the acquisition. ...  read more

Twitter: The Opera is a Real Thing That's Actually Happening

By Michael Saba at 7:30 AM on August 19, 2009

@Radames Slavery sux, u should ditch Pharaoh. g2g my dad's here #niledeltaOK, a real Twitter opera will probably look nothing like that, but that doesn't mean the Royal Opera House of London (pictured above) isn't doing it anyway. Yes, that's right, they're creating an opera composed entirely of storyline suggestions sent to their Twitter account. More than 350 people have contributed so far....  read more

The Kora: A Primer

By Eric Calderwood at 5:00 PM on August 18, 2009

The kora is a West African harp with 21 strings and a large calabash gourd body. According to Eric Charry, a historian of West African music...  read more

MySpace Plans to Acquire iLike

By Catherine Prewitt at 11:50 AM on August 18, 2009

Web-hound blog TechCrunch is fueling a rumor that by the end of the week, MySpace plans to acquire one of its competitors in music social networking, Facebook-favorite iLike....  read more

Best of What's Next 2009: Grace Bonney (Design*Sponge) [Blogger]

By Rachael Maddux at 2:00 PM on August 14, 2009

Hometown: Brooklyn, N.Y. Blog: DesignSponge For Fans Of: Etsy, Domino magazine, Martha Stewart ...  read more

U.S. Postal Service Celebrates Classic TV With New Stamps

By Catherine Prewitt at 1:45 PM on August 14, 2009

While we're still waiting on something new from the Tamborello-Gibbard cross-country collaboration of same name, this week the United States Postal Service released its "Early TV Memories" stamp collection, celebrating classic moments from 20 of America's most beloved television shows....  read more

Kings of Leon Photo Gallery Set to Open In London

By Walton Murphy at 1:44 PM on August 13, 2009

Grammy-nominated and Today-syndicated Kings of Leon have broken through the mainstream six years after their debut, Youth & Young Manhood. NME photographer Jo McCaughey will be showing rare Kings of Leon photographs in London from Oct. 22 to Dec. 6, letting fans see photographs of the band during its rise. The exhibition, called "Kings of Leon: 10 Year Reign," will be held at Camden's Proud Gallery. Admission to the exhibition will be free. ...  read more

Vibe Magazine to be Reborn Online First, Then Print

By Michael Saba at 2:51 PM on August 12, 2009

Reports of Vibe Magazine's death have been (somewhat) exaggerated. The mag folded in late June, with news of a massive drop in ad revenue and sagging subscription rates. But as we've just learned, Vibe architects Robert Miller and Len Burnett have brokered a deal with InterMedia Partners and Blackrock Digital to relaunch the magazine, first digitally, and then in print....  read more

Anton Corbijn Book of Tom Waits Portraits Coming in October

By Walton Murphy at 2:30 PM on August 11, 2009

Dutch photographer/director Anton Corbijn is responsible for some of the most iconic portraits, album covers and music videos of the last 20 years. From The Joshua Tree cover to the "Heart-Shaped Box" video, Corbijn has more than left his mark on pop culture. ...  read more

Style Guide: A Passage to India

By Erin Flaherty at 3:30 PM on August 5, 2009

After Slumdog Millionaire’s triumph at the Oscars, it’s no surprise that Indian cultural influence has subsequently folded into America’s melting pot...  read more

Buy the Last Wall-E USB Drive on Etsy

By Angela Pham at 12:40 PM on August 5, 2009

Whether you know them as memory sticks, USB, thumb, flash or jump drives, those portable storage devices are usually rectangular, boring and often an eyesore amongst keychains. So when Gizmodo posted their new favorite thumb drive model, a Wall-E figurine sold on Etsy, we wanted more....  read more