Our new website is up and running at GOOD.is. We'll see you over there.

GOOD is moving to a new location. We're going to spend the weekend hauling our things over there and getting settled.

This will be the penultimate blog post on GOODMagazine.com. Our next, and final, post will give you directions to the new spot.

Details about the housewarming party to follow.

The artist Swoon, who we wrote about in Issue 005, set sail down the Hudson last week for her boat voyage-themed performance art piece, "Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea." A flotilla of seven waterbound art installations, each hand-crafted with different materials and manned by a hodgepodge of 40 artists and performers, will travel from Troy, NY to Queens before docking on September 7 for an opening at the Deitch Studios, and remain as part of an exhibition.

It's a follow-up to her 2007 project "Miss Rockaway Armada," in which she floated down the Mississippi to New Orleans in a boat made from trash. That one seemed a little more street-artisty; this current Switchback Sea piece might be more on the "Art for Art's Sake" side, kind of like when Matthew Barney decided it'd be a good plan to traverse the entire Atlantic Ocean in a small boat and draw pictures of dead fish and waves for five months. Then again, ambushing the Hudson with art boats is just another way for her to take public space and make it her canvas.

Even tobacco is doing good now. Wired reports a discovery that is the very definition of irony: the nicotine-rich tobacco plant could potentially treat cancer, viruses, and genetic disorders. Holy vaccine!

William Bentley, the University of Maryland professor leading the charge, reveals that the plant’s tubular “mosaic virus is literally a nano-sized syringe,” one that can be hollowed out and stuffed with “small interfering RNA” (or siRNA) molecules. Once injected, these siRNA molecules can program cells to destroy disease-causing proteins. A few scientists even opine that siRNA is the most significant development in medicine since the discovery of vaccines. There are still a few stumbling blocks before this can all be done in practice, of course, but we wish these pioneers luck.

A vast white sheet of ice covered 30 acres in central Kenya this week due to a freak hailstorm that was mistaken by some villagers for the second coming of Jesus—and as it turns out, an ice storm of this ferocity in the region is about as likely.

While locals look to be enjoying their batty weather much more than, say, the Gulf Coast might be right now, there's just something about ice covering African plans on the equator that we find disconcerting. At the very least, it's an odd concurrence with the disappearance of all that ice in the arctic.

Photo: "This is freaking awesome," observed villagers near Nyahururu, Kenya.

"ZERO! ZERO! ZERO!" The audience exploded with zeros and fist pumps whenever a speaker referenced Obama's lack of experience in an executive office—actually, pretty much every time someone referenced Obama.

"DRILL BABY, DRILL! DRILL BABY, DRILL!" Michael Steele coined this gem during his "are y'all ready to party?" speech. The audience loved it and clung to it like they cling to their things they cling to.

"USA! USA! USA!" This old standby could be heard at least once during every prime-time speech, most notably in what seemed like an attempt to prevent McCain from making the slightest concession that some people are going through tough economic times. Earlier in that speech, it successfully (and by design) drowned out the shouts of a protester who'd made his way into the nosebleed seats with a giant sign reading: MCCAIN VOTES AGAINST VETS. The sign was destroyed by a nearby patriot.

In a time where our Republican candidate elect fumbles with the press on how many multi-million dollar homes he owns, Christopher Hitchens introduces some shamefully relevant vocabulary: a tumbrel remark (a phrase originally coined by Irish writer Joyce Cary) is "an unguarded comment by an uncontrollably rich person, of such crass insensitivity that it makes the workers and peasants think of lampposts and guillotines." Keep an ear out.

Via kottke

Image: The Duke of Devonshire, who said of the London Times after it had published some criticism of him, that he would no longer have the newspaper "in any of my houses."

Tonight, the crowd went mad for John McCain—but that was a given after the past three days of clap-happy shouting. There's already plenty of praise and criticism being bandied about the media landscape. But what do you think: Did the man win your heart with his humble, patriotic confidence? Did he inspire you with hope that he can change Washington (change being his new campaign, apparently)? Or did it all fall on deaf ears?

In case you missed the speech, you can watch it here, or you can read this transcript if that's what suits your fancy.

Tonight, most of the country will be hanging on John McCain's every word. However, some excess of 2,000 people will take their seats in Minneapolis's Orchestra Hall where Cindy Sheehan, Nellie McKay, Jesse Ventura, David Rovics, Ike Reilly, and Tom Neilson will make a vociferous case to open the presidential debates to Ralph Nader. With the Nader/Gonzalez ticket at about 6 percent in a recent CNN poll, and with an expectation of appearing on the ballot in some 45 states, they certainly have grounds on which to mount an argument. And, just to be clear, let's remember that third party candidates don't ruin elections; they simply enliven the national conversation by removing the either/or-blinders from the eyes public.

With the audience enraptured by her alternately earnest, sarcastic, and fiery tones, Sarah Palin delivered a potent speech about reform, executive experience, and motherhood. At one point joking that the only difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull was lipstick, Palin used the stage as an opportunity to bark at the "liberal media," the "Washington elite," and the Obama campaign:

"And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on [mayoral] experience, let me explain to them what the job involves. I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities."

You had to admire the gumption, sense of humor, and graceful ease with which she addressed the nation—unless, you're a community organizer, most of whom are probably furious right now, wondering why a campaign whose slogan is "Country First" would sic their pit bull on people who dedicate themselves to serving communities when government fails them.



Photo: all eyes, lenses focus on Palin.

That's what photographer Nakki Goranin was thinking when she turned her focus to the history of the instant photo machine for her new book American Photobooth.

Emerging at the beginning of the 20th century, the photobooth was a development that made photography affordable for and accessible to everyone. Today, it's a novelty that makes photography accessible to tipsy hipsters at especially excellent bars and to random mall-goers at a few other select locations around the U.S., where the ~250 remaining authentic chemical booths are still intact.

Goranin's chronicle and accompanying images are the best PR for the photobooth since its major role in Amélie. And we have to mention, we'd be almost as charmed by this very similar endeavor, Found Polaroids, if we weren't still in denial over the impending extinction of polaroid film...

Image: left, from American Photobooth; right, from our personal archives.

Phew, we were worried they wouldn't make it. Then again, how would we know?

"I don't think there is an actual Southern accent. It's just that affected Yankee hearing that confuses things."

"We don't care too much about Canada back home. I guess we should?"

"Nixon told us the press was the enemy, and we remember!"

Photo: red, white, and beer.

As summer comes to a close, we find ourselves politely enduring stacks of other people's vacation photos. Or, what's the word for "stack of photos" if it's being thumbed through on an iPhone? Either way. These are refreshing: Images from an architectural history professor who toured through the catacombs below a little Baroque church Oratorio di San Lorenzo in Palermo, also known as The Museum of the Dead.

The author's descryption: "Like the sanatorium in The Magic Mountain, this is one of those places where every casual visitor ends up a patient at the moment when the nervous joking stops and the infection sets in." Would that make a great postcard or what.

Last night, service (and saying "America is the greatest nation in the world") was the name of the game. Notice the many delegates waving service signs—they were doing so during the final crescendo of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing," one of the cheers-and-applause-laden spectacle's more comically awesome moments. Speechwise, Fred Thompson violently ripped Barack "history-makingly inexperienced" Obama a new one (which, like it or not, was by far the best-delivered speech of the night), and Ol' Joe Lieberman closed the night by crossing party lines (again) to endorse John "his own man" McCain, but neither speech felt as smooth as the elevator-ride seductions of Al Williams's jazz invocation.

Other musical moments included "Johnny B. Goode" (sure, we're on that page) and country singer Aaron Tippin's "I Got It Honest" (nailed it?), as well as a live performance by Rachael Lampa, which gave us an opportunity to step outside and catch up on our voice mail. Also, for the second time since the convention's commencement, Sarah Palin fell victim to a Freudian slip, when Jo Ann Davidson introduced her as Sarah Pawlenty, which must have left Tim imagining what could have been.

Diana Al-Hadid, a 27-year-old Syrian-born artist based in Brooklyn, opens her first major solo show in New York this week. Her large-scale sculptures are informed by classical and gothic architecture, labyrinths, science, Greek mythology, biblical lore, paintings in the school of Bruegel and Bosch, and—like her previous installations of gloriously macabre organs and staircases—"failed attempts to reach God."

Here, her crux theme of God-ward ambition refers to the story of the Tower of Babel and what Al-Hadid calls "our Babel": Geneva's Large Hadron Collider, a 27km-wide machine developed to re-create matter that existed at the genesis of the universe by way of slamming particles together in a manmade Big Bang. Among other things, the work in her new exhibition Reverse Collider is informed by these seemingly disparate concepts (an Old Testament tale and a Swiss-Franco quantum physics experiment), and the parallels she's drawn between the two: working at the limits of technology, the analogous effort to explore the origins of the universe, each construction's resemblance to "an architectural telescope to reach God," and their shared impending sense of danger.

Show: September 4th through October 9th, 2008 at both Perry Rubenstein gallery locations in New York City.

Image: left, Bruegel, right, Al-Hadid

This morning, Wikipedia truly failed us.

A friend just returned from Nicaragua, and told us about Nemagon, the carcinogenic pesticide used by multinational fruit corporations throughout Latin America, west Africa and the Philippines, starting in the late 60s. (Yet another way the banana industry has brought about abuse, torture and death.)

Today, a community of about 1000 people are living in tents and lean-tos across from the government offices in Managua, Nicaragua, asking for support from President Ortega's administration after many (ahem) fruitless years of legal battle for recognition and reparations against banana corporations like Del Monte and Dole. These companies have already paid various settlements (ranging between several million and $100, depending on the plaintiffs' lawyers) to Nemagon victims, but it hasn't been nearly enough; nearly 70% of Nicaraguan bananeros suffer serious health problems linked to the chemical, and 1/3 of women who worked on plantations are afflicted by breast or uterine cancer. Many, including those in the Managua settlement, have yet to be acknowledged, much less compensated.

For a chemical that's been the cornerstone of many a multi-million dollar lawsuit in the past three decades, has killed several thousand people and affected the health of tens of thousands more, and has been covered by major international media sources, the fact that it doesn't at least have a Wikipedia entry is, well, bananas. We guess that's evidence of a marked Lack Of Awareness. If you feel a wave of guilt after your next banana smoothie, try reading more on Nemagon. And sharing what you learn.

Photo: A woman mourns the death of her husband in Managua, who died of liver cancer caused by exposure to Nemagon; via Getty

Thanks Madeline!

President Bush addresses the convention via satellite as journalists stare into laptops. If you'd like to see more out-of-focus photography, just remember this: we're here all week.

This Thursday, our chums over at the Portland Institute of Contemporary Art kick off their sixth annual Time-Based Art Festival (or TBA:08 for the abbreviation-minded). For a week and a half (September 4-14), moderation gets the heave-ho as the festival surveys what’s happening in contemporary art’s multifarious forms—performance, dance, music, new media, visual arts projects. In fact, it's the only North American festival to examine and exalt today’s art with such breadth. The inspired programming includes 250+ artists with new, next-big-thing work, like Justin Gorman and his outsized, site-specific text displays, and 150+ performances, from the otherworldly melodies of Antony and the Johnsons to the deconstructive confrontations of artist collective Superamas.

Each day is stuffed to the second with workshops, salons, performances, and, for the night owls, music and drinks at THE WORKS, the museum’s late-night spot. If you happen to reside in Portland, check out the list of events/exhibits. There are some discounted travel packages and accommodations available for out-of-towners.

Our hotel is currently and almost entirely populated by republican delegates from North Carolina and New Mexico. The other night, while sipping whiskey and making friends, we asked one delegate from North Carolina for his opinion of Ron Paul.

"Who?" he replied with a sneer and a wink.

That curt reaction speaks volumes about Paul's relationship with his party. Nevertheless, the man is here today to host his "Rally for the Republic," which takes place in the Twin City that didn't land the convention proper: Minneapolis. Speakers include Tucker Carlson, Jesse Ventura, Barry Goldwater, Jr., and Paul himself. It's broadcasting live here. Take a look, if you're interested in seeing what's happening on the other side of town—or finally getting an idea of just who Ron Paul is.