Wilderness Collective Explores Alaska

Viral urban legends, David O'Reilly's Mountain Game, the moon's two faces and more in our weekly look at the web

This week, adventure purveyor Wilderness Collective released “Alaska on Snow Machines,” a short film from their recent trip. Surreal scenic shots of stunning ice caves and barren, snow-covered landscapes are accompanied by the narrative of a local Alaskan who gave up his busy life in Washington to move his family off the grid and run a remote fishing lodge. While all WC adventures encourage existential …

Table Topography

Viral urban legends, David O'Reilly's Mountain Game, the moon's two faces and more in our weekly look at the web

Pulling logs from the river that runs behind his studio in northern Washington, furniture-maker and designer Greg Klassen’s latest collection draws on the natural lines of rot and decomposition to create topographic map-like representations of rivers. With a piece of hand-cut glass inlaid atop the joined pieces of wood and the texture from the wood’s grain, there is both depth and a sense of calm …

Investigating Urban Legends

Viral urban legends, David O'Reilly's Mountain Game, the moon's two faces and more in our weekly look at the web

A recent paper in the British Journal of Psychology takes a scientific look at why urban legends are so culturally successful. In short, findings suggest the stories are so easily perpetuated due to the way human intelligence and memory has evolved over time—our brains have grown to learn, remember and transmit valuable (mis)information that may be useful for survival within a given environment. Seems reasonable …