Have you been reading Lions and Vultures? You should be - loads of quality content on a regular basis. Including this mix, Cold Hands that is comprised of a majority of artists I've never heard of. Fortunately, I know we happen to have similar taste so I'm downloading it with wild abandon and suggest you do the same.

These images look like they could easily be the latest creation from Presstube but they are, in reality, topographic maps from NASA and the US Geological Survey depicting the surface of the Moon. More maps in this style are stored over on the projects homepage - Mercury, Venus, Mars and more are among the choices. The site is a bit archaic in its presentation but sometimes you gotta dig to find the gold.

HT Radiolab.

Many thanks to Jeremy for the heads up on Adrian Ghenie; super large scale oil painter. I'm quite partial to the "Pie Fight Study 2" image shown above but there's something great about all of them - loads of dark tones and something odd happening in every image. Would love to see these in person...

Remember when I told you about the trailer for the forthcoming NES tribute game Abobo's Big Adventure? Well, you can now play the game and realize how well it delivers on mashing up so many games into one. 8-bit nerds will know they're in the right place from the moment the loading screen kicks in. Play it.

https://i1.sndcdn.com/artworks-000016893118-7s89ow-large.jpg?e76cf77

Every year I post a heads up about remembering Martin Luther King, Jr and this year is no different. I find it fascinating that such a person existed with such clarity of purpose and ability to inspire so many people - a rarity in any generation but, seemingly, especially so these days. So, take some time to read his words and ponder their application to today's landscape.. it's what the day is meant for.

Fraser Davidson has no shortage of great motion graphics pieces to check out in his portfolio but I suggest starting with this Bill Maher piece. Even if you don't agree with Maher's political fueled ranting (and some NSFW language) you should enjoy the animation style. After that, hit up the Zappar, Lucky Guy and Tim Key. Entertainment!

The video experiments compiled over at Self Control Freak are pretty ridiculous. It's lo-fi, silly and oddly engaging. It's borderline the kind of experiment you'd expect someone deeply entrenched in the art world would think was really pushing some boundaries but it's easy to see this wasn't done with that mentality - it's just a repository of goofy experiments that you can't resist clicking through each one.

Take some time today to browse the photostream of Kid Lion as there is a wide variety of pleasant images to discover. I was locked in once I stumbled past this Musk Ox but it's pretty easy to be captivated by the likes of this refinery, some outdoorsy goods or some quality bokeh.

For the most part, I think grassroots movements to show unity against a particular issue on Capitol Hill as expressed through the likes of the web, twitter, facebook, etc are fairly pointless. Sure, changing your avatar may create unity among like-minded friends or, potentially, spread the word to others about a particular issue but it doesn't have any actual impact on changing whatever it is the person may be trying to expose. So, with that in mind, I am a little hesitant to embrace this Stop SOPA Javascript that displays a pop-over on any site it is added to for the duration of January 18th (this Wednesday). SOPA is a quite important but Tweeting about it isn't going to do much - but contacting your representative may.

Long story short, awareness of SOPA is trying to reach the next level via this script. Consider implementation on your own.

• Hatchi - do you yearn for the days of the Tamagotchi but can't bear to carry around another device? Well, Hatchi's got your covered.. as it appears to be the modern day iOS equivalent. I'll admit I know better but I'm pretty tempted to try it out.
• Flexbox CSS - CSS3 has a lot of forthcoming specs for handling box model displays and Flexbox is right there on the cutting edge of being tried out. Basically it's a way to beat the drudgery of float: left. I'm not sure when this will be widely (or even semi-widely) adopted but it seems like a good thing to familiarize yourself with. via Madrid.

I've been told my video writeups for the weekly playlist may be getting a lengthy for their own good.. I'll try to keep it brief but can promise nothing. This weeks collection falls a little bit on the weirder side of things - no Mean Kitty Steals Note, Child vs Lion or Adorable Butterfly Chasing - though I suggest you watch all of those as well.

• Pizza Boomerang - be advised: there is some serious NSFW imagery later on here. You know, once the ripped God character delivers the Pizza Boomerang to save us all.
• Spacerkisser - I don't know the story here and don't want to. Perfection. See also: Beedeer.
• The Basement Promo - cut-for-cut remake of the Three's Company opening sequence done with local bands. If you're in the area, come out to The Basement tonight; it's going to be a good time.
• Sh*t Nobody Says - not phenomenal but a handful of legit chuckle moments throughout.
• Breaking Bad POV Compilation - if you've not watched the show, this doesn't spoil much (okay, it does). If you have, you'll appreciate some of the weirder POV shots that they work in (especially that Shovel Cam).
• Scorpio - from Astrology Songs by Harvey Sid Fisher.. your new favorite artist.
• Twista at Sunset - 5 seconds of unexplainable, spellbinding entertainment.
• Welcome to Urf - a slow build to a strange, ridiculous payoff. Something I believe Mixel would love.

That's it! Hopefully you are entertained. If not, go visit Paul, Casey, Chad, Chris or Paige for plenty more.

Have a great weekend.

If you haven't already watched the trailer for the new Wes Anderson flick Moonrise Kingdom, I suggest you do so immediately. If you have watched it already, why not go ahead and rewatch it? Aesthetically, it delivers full-force Wes Anderson style; just as you'd hope. The story seems a bit more carefree and fun than Darjeeling Limited and Life Aquatic (though they certainly had their moments as well). Long story short, it's new Wes Anderson and it looks great.

Picked up this great article from Jed regarding how Americans Work Too Much for Their Own Good. The basic gist is fairly obvious; an overworked employee is not the best / most productive employee and Americans are among the most overworked. It even goes so far as to state that a two week vacation is near impossible for most working people. While I count myself among the intentionally overworked I have to agree that it'd be nice if more vacation time were forced upon people.

The listo f songs over at Tracks of the Year is easily one of the best, most creative, implementations of a Best Of list I've encountered. Granted, there's a lack of information in regards to Artist / Title matchup for a lot of the tracks but from an artistic variety standpoint, it can't be beat. And there are plenty of great songs to discover just by clicking around.

via Demetre.

• Perfect Full Page CSS Backgrounds - previously this has been possible from a number of tricks; CSS markup workarounds or Javascript implemenation. Turns out there's a forthcoming CSS3 standard for "background-size" that covers the requirement. Exciting.
• The Google-Kenya ripoff - pretty fascinating story about some potentially underhanded tactics being deployed by Google's GKBO project. Was it intentional fraud or just some in-depth indexing?
• Tim O'Reilly: Why I'm Fighting SOPA - unsurprisingly, the tech book publisher is against the SOPA initiative. I wonder if the fact that the author of the bill is a copyright violator himself will carry any water in dooming the bill? Probably not but it helps that more and more folks like O'Reilly speak out against it.

Some lovely miniature work from Kyle Kirkpatrick has been popping up lately. The images here are part of his latest `Fictional Landscapes` undertaking and they are, undeniably, his finest. That's not to say his other works are engaging as well but there's an accessibility and cleverness to the topographic books that you can't not enjoy.

2011 works from Simen Johan are now available for viewing on his official site. You may recall my mentioning him before but if you aren't familiar with his work, please take a moment to dive into his captivating archives.

A hearty thanks to Kate for the heads up.

Arizona State's department of Space and Earth Exploration recently launched a repository of Kodachrome images documenting the series of Mercury and Gemini space exploration missions. The collection, entitled March to the Moon, is a lot to browse through - loads of photos of Earth, blackness, shuttle windows and the occasional astronaut or chart. There are even some slideshow movies posted. While the quantity is bit overwhelming it is still images of space; hopefully not a visual subject that ever gets tiresome (it doesn't for me). You can get a quick Best Of right here.. that should whet your appetite for more.

The official trailer for the forthcoming LCD Soundsystem documentary Shut Up and Play the Hits recently emerged and it looks to be exactly what you'd hope it to be; equal parts concert footage and portrait of James Murphy as he winds down the band. If anyone is going to Sundance this year, please check one of the screenings and let me know how it was!