1. Warner Bros. is in the final stages of acquiring the rights to produce a prequel or sequel of Ridley Scott’s cult classic Blade Runner — but the deal would not allow them to do a remake of the orignal. [via Guardian]

2. “Here is the lyric: ‘Come on now, this beat is sick. I wanna take a ride on your disco stick.’ Here is the problem: 1. There is no ideal translation for the word ‘disco’ in this circumstance. 2. The word Ison might normally sign for ‘stick’ generally refers to what would snap off of a tree branch. Thus, if the sentence is translated word-for-word from English to its corresponding signs, the resulting phrase could come across as something like, ‘I want to ride on the twig of John Travolta’s dance moves.’” – from What sign-language interpreters make of the likes of Lady Gaga and Bon Jovi

3. Courtney Love has settled the Twitter-related defamation lawsuit brought against her by fashion designer Dawn Simorangkir to the tune of $430,000. [via THR]

4. After waiting six years since the release of the last novel in the saga, the next book in George R.R. Martin’s bestselling A Song of Ice and Fire series, A Dance With Dragons, has a publication date: July 12, 2011. You might want to start working out now, because at over 900 pages long, it’s going to be a total brick to lug around. [via EW]

5. Michael Stipe has asked filmmakers like James Franco, Sophie Calle, Albert Maysles, and Sam Taylor-Wood to create video clips to accompany each track on R.E.M.’s forthcoming album Collapse Into Now. [via Paste]

Bonus link: Blockbuster Training Video, c. 1990

Miru Kim is fearless. She ventures into places to make her art that most of us would neither enter nor risk arrest to be in: underground tunnels, sewers, abandoned factories, power plants, the tops of bridges and churches. Once she arrives at these hidden and desolate places, Kim explores the setting, finds the best point of view, puts her camera on a tripod, and removes her clothes — in order to take some of the most engaging photographs of the moment.

The nude has a rich history in art, and its use as subject matter is constantly evolving, especially in contemporary photography and video. Spencer Tunick uses naked bodies to create installations of flowing flesh in public places, which he captures in photography and exhibits as prints; Katy Grannan finds her subjects via classified ads and photographs them nude or provocatively clothed in the privacy of their homes and in nature; and Pipilotti Rist puts sensuality center stage in her surreal video fantasies, where fruits, flesh, and flowers merge to create moving installations.
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On October 30th, 1974, Muhammad Ali touched gloves with George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire. After eight epic rounds, Ali put the mighty Foreman, and the demons of his late career achievements, down to the mat. The Oscar-winning doc When We Were Kings told the story of The Rumble in the Jungle and captured Ali’s magical verbal sparring, along with the feeling generated by American pop and confidence merging with tribal rhythms and homecoming warmth. But that was only half the story. Read More »