February 19, 2011
Goin Back Home
The Blues Accordin’ to Lightnin’ Hopkins A 1967 Les Blank film of Lightnin Hopkins visiting his hometown of Centerville, TX "…a gorgeous 31-minute poem of a movie, a series of snapshots from his life as well as a look at an era fast disappearing…Watching the film is something of a revelation, at least if you ever had a doubt where the blues came from." [more inside]
Endnotes: David Foster Wallace
Sometimes even the wisest of men and machines can be in error.
'There is a stench in this body!'
To Madison, WI, to the Wisconsin State Assembly, where the Republican majority attempted to move newly-elected Republican Governor Scott Walker's controversial budget repair bill towards final passage, before the Democrat minority had even entered the assembly. The minority leader then proceeds to rip the majority a new one. The cheering of tens of thousands of protesters, composed of public-sector employees and their supporters, can be heard permeating the walls of the assembly chamber. A minority assemblyman responds to the tactic. [more inside]
Glass dome over temporary Canadian House of Commons
Politicians who live in glass houses, etc. ... The Canadian House of Commons is in need of repair, and while it's being done, a dome will cover the elected gabbers. It might cost as "little" as $42 million or as much as $1 billion. The pre-construction vacuuming has already begun.
wrong concerto
The lunch concerts in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw used to be (possibly still are) often public general rehearsals for the big evening series. Here we can see the mental transformation of pianist Maria Joao Pires, who expects another Mozart concerto than conductor Riccardo Chailly begins to conduct. [more inside]
"She is the walking dead. No matter who / she was before, you must burn her with flame"
Roz Kaveney's Zombie Sonnets. livejournal They start at Feb 3rd.
Well fuck a book.
The Rumpus speculates on how books might be in bed. You don't fuck The Fountainhead, The Fountainhead fucks you.
The Overheated, Oversexed Cult Of Bikram Choudhury
Bikram yoga, popularized in the USA by Bikram Choudhury, is criticized for being overly sexual and as subverting the traditional aims of yoga. The bacchanalian atmosphere at the training clinics held by Choudhury seem to confirm this view.
Underage Tomfoolery
Tired of the hype around MTV's (and before that, the BBC's) modern teen drama Skins? Miss the 90s? Try Orange Juice in Bishops Garden, a web series, detailing the lives of a group of teenagers as they navigate high school in the year 1994. The show is set and shot in the greater metropolitan Washington DC area and is created by the DC-area filmmaker, Otessa Ghadar. [more inside]
Gnome life hit me like the holy ghost.
This will be the story of a gnome who leaves the garden and moves to New York City. The gnome's journey is difficult and lonely but he remains hopeful and even ferocious as he takes life by the horns. [Main page / Archive]
Asteroids In Resonance With Jupiter
A video plotting the movement of Hilda and Trojan asteroids that are locked in a resonance with the orbit of Jupiter. Best watched in HD. Previously
We need to go back in time and solve a thing!
Let's Do It All Over Again
Why do we enjoy prodigies? Barney Ronay asks in reference to the latest footballing wünderkid, Raheem Sterling while Gary Kasporov reflects back on the life of perhaps chess' most interesting one, Bobby Fischer.
The International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge 2010
The International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge 2010 - "Researchers are generating mind-boggling volumes of data at exponentially increasing rates. The ability to process that information and display it in ways that enhance understanding is an increasingly important aspect of the way scientists communicate with each other and—especially—with students and the general public. That's why, for the past 8 years, Science and the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) have co-sponsored annual challenges to promote cutting-edge efforts to visualize scientific data, principles, and ideas. This year's awardees span scales from nanoparticles to colliding galaxies, and from microseconds to millennia."
The Worst Gig
"As any performer can attest, it's not always a glamourous life. There are a million stories of hardship, regret, mistakes and mishaps that can make up the landscape of life as a touring musician. The Worst Gig is a collection of those stories from some of the most influential musicians of our time, told in their own words for your entertainment." [more inside]
Contains very strong language
The Royal Society has a great video that animates one of Steven Pinker’s lectures on ‘Language as a Window into Human Nature’. View the full lecture at the RSA. (via Mindhacks)
« Previous day | Next day »