Israel Demanding Passwords at the Border:
There have been a bunch of stories about employers demanding passwords to social networking sites, like Facebook, from prospective employees, and several states have passed laws prohibiting this practice.

This is the first story I’ve seen of a country doing this at its borders. The country is Israel, and they’re asking for passwords to e-mail accounts.

Stunning New Photographic Portraits by Leff Jeffries:

I first discovered the gripping portraiture of accountant turned self-taught photographer Lee Jeffries back in December and have been following his journey ever since. His gritty and powerful portraits, most often of the homeless, have since appeared on CNN, Time and the Independant, and he’s even landed behind the camera from Olympian Sir Roger Bannister. Most recently he has a great interview over on 500px. I enjoyed this question:

Most of your portraits are closely cropped to reveal just the subject’s face. Can you explain your decision behind that?
It’s true… my images can be biased to front on views that closely frame the face. Processing in black and white reinforces the contrasts and shapes in the portrait. Infused with light and shadow, I make a conscious effort to place the emphasis on the relief of the face and the strength of the photograph lays in the emotional connection to the subject. I try to magnify the character… tell their story so that it is no longer possible for the viewer to remain indifferent. My photographs become an intimate and personal document which narrates a myriad of emotion.

Jeffries also has a number of prints now available through YellowKorner.

Shakespearean Hokey Pokey:

A bit of genius unsourced net.stuff: if Shakespeare wrote the Hokey Pokey. “The Hoke, the poke — banish now thy doubt/Verily, I say, ’tis what it’s all about.”

Update: And we have a source! It’s from a “Washington Post Style Invitational contest that asked readers to submit “instructions” for something (anything), but written in the style of a famous person. The winning entry was The Hokey Pokey (as written by William Shakespeare)”, “Written by Jeff Brechlin, Potomac Falls, Maryland, and submitted by Katherine St. John.” – Thanks, princessalex!

Shakespeare Teaches the Hokey Pokey

#385 Inconspicuous Consumption:

June 24, 2012:

COOLNESS COMING TOMORROW

OMBRE, “Cara Falsa” by asthmatickitty on SoundCloud – Create, record and share your sounds for free
OMBRE, “Cara Falsa” A beautiful thing happened when Asthmatic Kitty artists Helado Negro and Julianna Barwick first met: they got to know each other. The result, a collaborative band, OMBRE, and a brand-new full-length record, Believe You Me. Recorded as the newly acquainted pair were just becoming friends, OMBRE shows Barwick’s clear, high harmonies and church choir sensibilities melding well with Helado Negro’s rustic-Latin-psyche-folk meets big-city-summer-blockparty. Tracks simmer with the mellow chording of nylon string guitars, bubbling electronics, and the comely pluck of harps; they rise high and mountainous with Miles Davis-y trumpet and then disappear altogether. There’s a very old school jazzy soundtrack air to these sessions. (An inspiration to the sessions was Clu Gulager’s 1969 film A Day With the Boys and Egberto Gismonti’s fantastic late-’60s compositional jazz.) It has the feel of a hot summer day in Brooklyn, 1971, the sun through the tenements and everyone sitting in the shade watching the world drift by. Believe You Me is set for release on Asthmatic Kitty Records on August 21, 2012. brooklyn, juliannabariwck, heladonegro
(tags:music ifttt soundcloud )