Splitscreen: A Love Story

Edinburgh International Film Festival has seen some pioneering cinema in its 65 years. This year, audiences saw another first: short films shot on a phone. Eight pocket-sized productions got a big screen premiere and one picked up the Nokia Shorts 2011 Jury prize. Congratulations to all these creative filmmakers for trying something new. 

This short film employs a very simple idea to express a beautiful story.


Splitscreen: A Love Story from JW Griffiths on Vimeo.

New camera lets you focus photos after you shoot

A camera that lets you focus after you've already taken the photo? And lets you focus anywhere within the image you want? That's got people talking and, according to its creator, is the start of "a picture revolution."


Oh yeah -- it can also transfer a regular photo to 3-D.
Lytro, a company launched Tuesday by 31-year-old entrepreneur Ren Ng, promises that camera will be released soon.
"I am thrilled to finally draw back the curtain and introduce our new light field camera company, one that will forever change how everyone takes and experiences pictures," Ng wrote on the startup's blog. "Lytro's company launch is truly the start of a picture revolution."





Go to the Lytro website to see how 'light field' pictures work.

China's latest craze: dyeing pets to look like other wild animals

They only look like pandas.

Dyeing pets has been a trend in pet pampering for quite some time. At last summer's Pets Show Taipei, there was a fierce dog-dyeing competition. Check out photos.

But dyeing your pets to look like other wild animals is a more recent development.

The trend demonstrates how quickly and dramatically attitudes toward pets — particularly dogs — have changed in many parts of Asia.

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Iran bans necklaces for men and warns them about wearing jeans

Every year before summer rolls around Iranian authorities tighten clothing restrictions. Normally the “Moral Police” crackdown on the women forcing them to wear their hijab so that it covers all of their hair, for example.  But since last year, the "Moral Police" have been targeting the men too.

Last summer, the Iranian government issued a men’s hairstyle guide.

This year, they banned necklaces for men.

In addition, Iranian state TV has taken issue with jeans as well. A YouTube video from Iranian state TV features a discussion in which jeans are said to actually come from the word "jinn" - invisible creatures who know the unknowable (AKA "Genie"). The young man in the video says wearing jeans is also supposed to have a hazardous effect on a man's testicles because it raises the temperature. This, according to Iranian state TV, renders men infertile.

I thought they said Levi when I bought them!

Iran government issues style guide for men's hair

An official describes appropriate hairstyles for men at an official hairstyle show in Tehran Photo: REUTERS

In an attempt to rid the country of "decadent Western cuts", Iran's culture ministry has produced a catalogue of haircuts that meet government approval.

The list of banned styles includes ponytails, mullets and elaborate spikes. However,quiffs appear to be acceptable, as are fashioning one's hair in the style of Simon Cowell or cultivating a 1980s-style floppy fringe.

Most of the models are clean-shaven although one picture features a man with a goatee beard, previously frowned upon by Iran's conservative clerics. Using hair gel is also within the law, albeit in modest quantities.

The "journal of Iranian hairstyles approved by the ministry of [culture and Islamic] guidance" was previewed at a government-approved hairdressing show in Tehran.

Several barber shops have reportedly been shut down and penalised in recent years for offering Western-style haircuts.

15 Things That Are Way Bigger Than You Thought

This page brings together a number of comparisons that put many things into perspective. Click on the post title to see the other 14 examples.

The True size of Africa

Ever been blown ashore?

The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic is the first museum in North America to explore the lives of gay and lesbian mariners in this special exhibit. It combines an exhibit adapted from National Museums Liverpool (NML) in England with an exhibit created by the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. The NML exhibit explores the unique subculture created by gay men working as stewards on British ocean liners from the 1950s to the 80s. The Canadian component compares that experience to the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex mariners in Canada up to the present day.

A potted history of polari (click to read full article)

Polari was secretive language widely used by the British gay community from the 1900s to the 1970s. It was based on slang words deriving from a variety of different sources, including rhyming slang, and backslang (spelling words backwards).

In the eighteenth century it was mainly used in pubs around the London dock area. The language was soon picked up by merchant seafarers and brought back on ship. From the 1930s to 1970s the language was mostly used in gay pubs, theatre and on merchant ships.

The language helped gay men talk to each in front of straight people. It enabled gays to feel like part of an exclusive group. Polari was used in crew shows on ship and some straight shipmates picked up the language from these shows.

Sometimes a kiss is NOT just a kiss

Anyone who thinks same-sex couples in the United States should be allowed to marry was invited to Lush outlets across North America to pucker up and smack lips on June 18th. The smoochers were then invited to sign postcards telling the U.S. government to allow gay marriage.


This campaign took place on June 18 at the Byward Market location of Lush Cosmetics in Ottawa.

Photo by Abder

Same-sex marriage is allowed in Canada. In the United States, however, same-sex couples cannot get married under federal law, so they are not covered by the federal rights provided for married couples.

Susan Boyle's story inspires stage musical

Susan Boyle's phenomenal rise from dowdy, unemployed Scot to international singing star is to become the subject a new stage production.

Susan Boyle and actress Elaine C Smith 

PUBLISHED BY WALES ONLINE

A musical starring Scottish sitcom actress Elaine C. Smith will premiere at Newcastle's Theatre Royal in March 2012.

Subsequently, it will tour for at least six months, with dates already scheduled in the U.K., Australia and the U.S.

Fittingly, the production is titled I Dreamed a Dream — the tune from the musical Les Misérables that shot Boyle to fame after her performance of it on TV reality contest Britain's Got Talent in 2009.

From protesting for gay rights to the Order of Canada

Parliament Hill, site of Canada's first demonstration for gay rights, is visible from the National Gallery of Canada, where Charlie Hill is the long-time curator of the Canadian collection. (Paul Galipeau)

Charlie Hill, 65, is known for two things: he is a pioneer in the Canadian gay liberation movement and he is a prominent curator at the National Gallery of Canada. 



After the 1980s, Hill left gay politics and focused on his career. He was already known for his 1975 exhibition and catalogue Canadian Painting in the ’30s. In 2001, Governor General Adrienne Clarkson made him a member of the Order of Canada for his contribution to Canadian art and gay liberation. Hill lives with his partner of 16 years, Brian Foss.