1) A captured ISIS car bomb that looks like something out of Mad Max. Video.
2) Mathematician teaches class on using geometry to become an expert witness in gerrymandering cases.
3) Pixar brings storytelling lessons to Khan Academy.
4) To be filed under: dudes doing stupid shit with GoPro cameras: Kayaking down a drainage ditch. Video.
5) Hieronymus Bosch action figures.
7) A reader remembers the thrill of picking up a little known book called FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING.
1) Gameification gone mad: China has made obedience to the State a game.
2) Thirty of the Most Important Articles by People of Color in 2016.
3) New superhero idea: the paper airplane gun. Video. Shoots 120 planes/minute. Warning: terrible music.
4) Episode one of John Berger’s Ways of Seeing (1972). Video.
5) A CIA Operative’s Nine-Step Hotel Safety Checklist.
6) To follow up on the last entry: How to Book the Safest Room in a Hotel.
Every year, I watch this version of A CHRISTMAS CAROL and post it:
If the embedding doesn’t work, here’s a link.
It’s under half an hour, and while it feels a little rushed, it’s also full of fantastic choices: dark colors, spooky ghosts, and both Ignorance and Want.
It’s fantastic. If you haven’t watched it before, check it out.
This analysis of the cover image Time Magazine used to name Trump their “Person of the Year” is fascinating, especially for someone like me, who’s not terribly visual.
I firmly believe that studying the way other art forms affect us improves my writing, although I’d be hard-pressed to explain why or how. (See also Every Frame a Painting and many other video essays on cinema.) This is one of the great benefits of the modern information age.
2) The best way to perform a “USB drop” hack. Technical, but interesting.
3) Saturday Evening Post covers from the DC Universe.
4) Brainstorming is a terrible way to create new ideas.
5) I don’t normally care about this sort of thing, but this mashup trailer combining The Dark Knight with Scott Pilgrim vs The World is a Batman movie I’d like to see. Video.
6) Gamer problems then and now.
7) The “Glarofon” is not a Pokemon; it’s a percussion instrument made from hand-blown glass tubes.
1) The late great Jim Henson gives a puppeteering masterclass. Video.
2) Inside Portland’s Mystery Hole. #NotPorn
3) Exploding glass filmedin 343,000 fps slo-mo. Toward the end, this gets to be like the drug effects in DREDD.
4) A split screen comparing Los Angeles of the 1940’s with Los Angeles now. Video.
5) What type of low-budget films break out?
6) LA earthquake creates a seiche, a (potentially destructive) wave frequency that amplifies waves and ripples. Video.
7) Police 3D print a murder victim’s finger to unlock his phone.
1) ‘You are a coward’: Hate and misperceptions about substance abuse are broader than I thought
2) Gorgeous cars of the art deco era.
3) This pedal-powered roller coaster gets a massive NOPE.
5) How God Created Animals. <-- Funny 6) Investigative reporter goes undercover in N Korea to find out the truth about life there, writes book, sees book listed as a “memoir” because the reporter is a woman.
1) An OKCupid profile for “A Normal Human.” #lol
2) New data supports Jane Jacobs’s ideas of what makes a city great.
3) Comedian reads fake book covers on subway, records reactions. Very funny, although the covers look fakey.
4) The Brilliant Career of John Cazale. If you’re only going to appear in five movies…
5) Toyota’s wooden concept car, as family heirloom.
6) Fun drawings of monsters added to photos of real world scenes.
1) The Author Who Cyberstalked Me.
2) “Trust me. I’m an engineer.” Video.
3) You have already missed your chance to enter the first beauty contest judged by robots.
4) A small 2009 car demolishes a 1959 Chevy. Oh, what 50 years of safety regulation can do!
5) Surprising applications of the Magnus Effect. Video. This is cool.
6) Highway font Clearview being ditched in favor of older Highway Gothic.
You know how jazz of 50+ years ago was vibrant, complex, commercial art? You know how modern jazz is a kind of high art designed to please knowledgeable aficionados but not the average listener?
While I was on vacation in Lisbon, I found out about an album called Once Upon a Time in Portugal, which is just now available on iTunes.
What it is: complex, vibrant, accessible music aimed at a general audience and played by really great musicians. Basically, it’s excellent commercial art.
Play the previews, for real. For me, I think this music perfectly suits a certain mood. Check it out.