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I already have a lifetime supply of notebooks, but I'll be buying these Lego Moleskines just in case there's a mortality cure coming down the pipes.

Could Facebook save Twinkies?

Move over, Buffy.

Will do anything.

Gotta save that money.

The Force continues to be used.

Tadashi Kawamata has a new installation 'Under the Water' at the Kamel Mennour gallery in Paris. (Want more? See NOTCOT.org and NOTCOT.com)

Bunpei Yorifuji's illustrated history of Japan. (Want more? See NOTCOT.org and NOTCOT.com)

When people ask me what Vancouver is like, this is the video I’ll show them. Watch the video in all its glory below.

Rebecca Ing captures the beautiful collision of two liquid jets of sugar syrup at a low rate of flow (left) and high rate of flow (right). (Want more? See NOTCOT.org and NOTCOT.com)

From an article by Jake Brodkin at Ars Technica:

"Twitter has taken the unusual step of making DMCA takedown notices public, in partnership with Chilling Effects, a project of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and several universities. The site shows 4,410 cease and desist notices dating back to November 2010."

Here's the database on Chillingeffects.org. (Twitter's effort to expand partnership with Chilling Effects on this issue and the "countr-specific censorship" policy is, IMO, most laudable.)

Sound it Out # 15: Nada Surf "Waiting for Something"

Nada Surf has been playing intelligent and catchy guitar-based rock music for two decades. Their records are lush and beautifully written, and the constant sense of wonder and optimism throughout is a joy for this cynic to discover each time. Nada Surf always makes me believe that everything is going to be all right.

The Stars are Indifferent to Astronomy is Nada Surf's new record and it came out Tuesday. The songwriting covers lots of introspective themes about the passing of time without even a hint of sullenness or pomposity. 'Waiting for Something" is a fine example of Nada Surf at their best and may well stick in your head for the foreseeable future. It's been in mine for days.

Click the play button below to listen or the little arrow on the right side of the widget to download.

Nada Surf - Waiting For Something by Sound it Out

The world's top chefs talk about their favorite kitchen tools

We were recently invited down to check out the Cayman Cookout taking place at the Ritz-Carlton in Grand Cayman, and we jumped at the chance to talk to some of the world's top chefs. In our latest video we learn a little bit about what makes a good kitchen tool and why. We chatted with Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin, April Bloomfield of The Spotted Pig, José Andrés of Minibar and Anthony Bourdain of No Reservations. This eclectic, multi-national crew of elite food experts shared their favorite kitchen tools and offered insight into why they are essential.

The Flutter collection from Loveramics, designed by Peter Ting, features the surreal introduction of flowers within the silhouette of hummingbirds, having them fly across plates and feeding from flowers. (Want more? See NOTCOT.org and NOTCOT.com)

An explainer from Eva Galperin at the Electronic Frontier Foundation on Twitter's "country-based tweet takedown" news:

Until now, when Twitter has taken down content, it has had to do so globally. So for example, if Twitter had received a court order to take down a tweet that is defamatory to Ataturk--which is illegal under Turkish law--the only way it could comply would be to take it down for everybody. Now Twitter has the capability to take down the tweet for people with IP addresses that indicate that they are in Turkey and leave it up everywhere else. Right now, we can expect Twitter to comply with court orders from countries where they have offices and employees, a list that includes the United Kingdom, Ireland, Japan, and soon Germany.

Twitter's increasing need to remove content comes as a byproduct of its growth into new countries, with different laws that they must follow or risk that their local employees will be arrested or held in contempt, or similar sanctions. By opening offices and moving employees into other countries, Twitter increases the risks to its commitment to freedom of expression. Like all companies (and all people) Twitter is bound by the laws of the countries in which it operates, which results both in more laws to comply with and also laws that inevitably contradict one another. Twitter could have reduced its need to be the instrument of government censorship by keeping its assets and personnel within the borders of the United States, where legal protections exist like CDA 230 and the DMCA safe harbors (which do require takedowns but also give a path, albeit a lousy one, for republication).

Read more at EFF.org.

The acclaimed artist offers us a rare glimpse inside his Brooklyn studio ahead of his upcoming mini retrospective

While we all like to tap into an artist's brain, find out exactly what goes on in their mind to make them create what they do, sometimes there isn't really more behind a work of art than simply a vision that a person is unable to explain through words. The different approaches to making art—from pragmatic to utterly emotional—is part of what keeps the field perpetually intriguing.

A reticent painter originally from Côte d'Ivoire, Ouattara Watts recently opened up his studio to Cool Hunting for a preview of the newly formed works comprising his forthcoming exhibition. The large, garage-like space is located in an industrial part of Brooklyn between Williamsburg and Bushwick that's home to numerous emerging artists. With both the Whitney Museum and Venice biennials on his résumé, the veteran painter may hold more clout than his neighbors, but his artistic spirit seems unaffected by his widespread success.

Organized by Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld, Watts' upcoming NYC exhibition—which Roitfeld says is more like a small retrospective—will feature 18 new paintings alongside a few existing pieces. Watts completed all of these large-scale works in a matter of about six months, explaining that with the way the world is right now, he has a lot to say. At the moment, he is mostly preoccupied by the population of mistreated children in the world, a concern that presumably evolved since the birth of his own child, a life-changing moment for him.

Bursting with color and layered in fabrics and objects picked up from his global travels, Watts' paintings are still entrenched in his own style of Neo-Expressionism. Cryptic serial numbers abound, alluding to a secret code that only he knows about, but one that could potentially be worked out through clever deciphering or a deep understanding of West African cosmology. The mysticism that prevails reflects a coalescent spirituality, his beliefs not tied to one religion or another, but that together are very much a part of his enduring creative passion.

The mix of media Watts uses is also symbolic of his constant exploration, and the people he encounters along the way. For example, the massive piece, "Vertigo #4" is covered in a denim remnant given to him by the shop owner of a fabric store near his Midtown apartment. Glued to this is an Ikea-like dish cloth embroidered with the initials "JL"—who they belong to Watts claims not to know. These found objects and recycled fabrics likely speak to the movement against using expensive materials, a notion developed in the 1970s by fellow Ivorian painter Mathilde Moraeau which she called Vohou-Vohou. The mix also undoubtedly marks a more natural way for Watts to express himself, free of monetary limitations or a prescribed aesthetic.

Although known in his own right, it's difficult not to associate Watts with the legendary artist Jean-Michael Basquiat. The two met in Paris while Watts was studying at the renowned L’École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, and while their friendship was short-lived due to Basquiat's death, Watts considers him almost like a soulmate. Basquiat convinced him to move to NYC, where Watts gave rise to African art with prominent shows at the Gagosian and Vrej Baghoomian galleries.

The exhibition opens 7 February and runs through 19 February 2012 at the cavernous space known simply as 560 Washington Street.

All images by BHP, see more in the slideshow below.

Pat Aufderheide sez,

When is it OK for me to put copyrighted material on e-reserves for students?

I've got an ancient VHS and the company that made it is defunct. Can I copy it to DVD for a prof's class?

A student's thesis analyzes advertisements and includes some of them. Can I put the thesis in our digital institutional repository?

Academic and research librarians can employ their fair use rights to make such decisions, and now they have a Code of Best Practices in Fair Use to help them decide what's appropriate. Librarians developed this code under the aegis of the Association of Research Libraries and with funding from the Mellon Foundation in sessions over the course of two years, in locations around the country. Legal scholar Peter Jaszi (Washington College of Law, American University) and communication scholar Patricia Aufderheide, who have facilitated several codes of best practices in fair use, also participated.

Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Academic and Research Libraries (Thanks, Pat!)

Schematics : A Love Story, by Julian Hibbard, "a sparse, meditative, and enigmatic narrative embroidered with found schematic diagrams". (Want more? See NOTCOT.org and NOTCOT.com)

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[Video Link] Amy Seidenwurm says: "'Brothers' by The War on Drugs was possibly my favorite song of 2011. They just released a supremely creepy video for it."