Roundup: CIA writing manuals, Instagram TV and alien phone chargers

I’m officially out this week (enjoying the sauna that is New York), but there’s always time for a roundup. And it’s got all kinds of weirdness, from a CIA writing manual to the attempt to save a brutalist building by Paul Rudolph to stories about incredibly large statues that offend. Internet, you never disappoint:

— We begin with a Facebook plug-in that allows you to manipulate your own feelings. (Art F City)

— Plus, there’s an Instagram “television series” — and it’s about artists and the art world. It’s pretty funny.

— And, a cellphone charging station for aliens, a work of art created by Los Angeles creative services company iam8bit.

— The CIA has a writing manual. And it’s kind of riveting. Sample: “Free World: is at best an imprecise designation. Use only in quoted matter.”

— Salvadoran president turns the country’s presidential palace into an art center.

— An absolutely flabbergasting story about the 1978 World Cup held in Argentina — and the dictatorship it helped prop up. Drop whatever you’re doing and read this piece.

— “Loud, playful and often disorienting.” Ryder Ripps, Internet artist, programmer and founder of the manic image/chat site Dump.fm, gets the New York Times profile treatment.

— Sort of related: The Guardian now has Internet art.

— An advocacy group in Washington, D.C. is trying to stop the dissolution of the Corcoran Gallery of Art.

— The Guggenheim Museum’s famous rotunda gallery in New York has been an all-male zone since 2011, reports Art F City.

— The Huntington Library has acquired two important works by African American artists.

— From the Department of Incredibly Large Statues that Irritate Residents of Long Island, parts one and two.

— In Goshen, N.Y., trying to save a prime example of Paul Rudolph’s brutalist architecture.

— Christopher Hawthorne reconsiders Peter Zumthor’s plan for his Cylon Base Star ... I mean LACMA building.

— Museum director Michael Govan, however, says Zumthor’s project will add a noteworthy new piece of architecture to the L.A. landscape.

— L.A.’s old Cold War sirens.

— How to be totally metal while remodeling your home.

— And then there’s this: Because when you restage your old performance art pieces you want to be wearing Adidas: Marina Abramovic has her own World Cup ad. For serious.

You can find me on the Twitters @cmonstah. Prefer less words? Try me on Instagram.