I've always been fascinated by scientific principles and how they show the interconnectedness of life and matter. Here's some of my favorites.
Theoretical physicist Brian Cox now does a lot of TV work, trying to garner interest in the sciences and expanding people's understanding of how things work in this reality. I found this clip (from BBC's "A Night with the Stars") via the science and science fiction web site io9.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Monday, February 27, 2012
Music Monday - Peter Gabriel, Genki Sudo and Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Get ready to dance and sing... it's another Music Monday!
My niece likes to play a game in the car called "Favorites." Someone choses a category and everyone says what their favorite is. Favorite song came up this week. This was my pick.
Genki Sudo was originally a talented and entertaining mixed martial artist. I became a fan, not only of his creative fighting style but because, at the end of each match he won, he would hold up a banner that read "We Are All One." The banner also had flags from scores of countries around the world.
After retiring, Sudo took to the world of music and dance, continuing his message of world peace. With a dance group he named after his first single, this is the first release, "World Order." (I particularly like the kids that show up toward the end.)
You couldn't have told me before seeing it but "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" is an incredibly good movie. It's about a transgender rock singer who is following her former lover, a hugely successful rock star, around the country to confront him about stealing songs she wrote. The music runs a gamut of styles. I can only say, if you haven't seen this, treat yourself to a night of good music and a moving story.
My niece likes to play a game in the car called "Favorites." Someone choses a category and everyone says what their favorite is. Favorite song came up this week. This was my pick.
Genki Sudo was originally a talented and entertaining mixed martial artist. I became a fan, not only of his creative fighting style but because, at the end of each match he won, he would hold up a banner that read "We Are All One." The banner also had flags from scores of countries around the world.
After retiring, Sudo took to the world of music and dance, continuing his message of world peace. With a dance group he named after his first single, this is the first release, "World Order." (I particularly like the kids that show up toward the end.)
You couldn't have told me before seeing it but "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" is an incredibly good movie. It's about a transgender rock singer who is following her former lover, a hugely successful rock star, around the country to confront him about stealing songs she wrote. The music runs a gamut of styles. I can only say, if you haven't seen this, treat yourself to a night of good music and a moving story.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Funny Friday - The Celebrated Ape of Calaveras County, Woody Allen's Taxi Driver and Questions with Cleese (plus bonus)
Dana Gould is one of the most talented guys in comedy. He is a wonderful stand-up, an incredible writer and a precise improviser. He took up this incredible challenge from John Hodgman.
Lee Zachariah knows more about film than you ever will. He also makes them better than you ever will. Don't be disheartened. He's extremely talented and lives in Australia so, if you are an aspiring director, he's not much of a threat to you - yet. (All bets are off if he ever gets to Hollywood.)
With Shannon Marinko, the two created the Bazura Project (clips of which are available on YouTube), the best public access show I've ever seen. It featured movie spoofs, news, history and reviews, all while being hilarious. Someone in Australian television finally pulled their head from under a rock in the Outback and recently gave Lee and Shannon a series, also called the Bazura Project, which covered different subjects of film - violence, sex, money, profanity, drugs and fame - again in a humorous fashion. I highly recommend watching it. (And you know me, I never underline anything.)
This is a funny short film Lee made exploring a world where Woody Allen was the Director of "Taxi Driver."
Here's comedy legend John Cleese answering a few questions from us commoners. (I love he has no idea who Jeff Dunham is - as it should be - and his interesting take on stupidity.)
And a bonus:
"Conan" staff writer Jose Arroyo has a new comic book out, "Seething with Joy," described as "24 pages of comedy and aggravation." I haven't read the comic but I've seen many of the individual pages he's posted and they are funny, funny, funny.
See his blog for sample pages. And if you want to buy the comic, you can get it at Indy Planet, if not your local comic retailer.
Wanderlust hits theaters *I am somewhere in the background*
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| Me and Takota in the Bus School on the Wanderlust set |
Thursday Fun - A Patient Dog, The Beginning of the End and Dolphin Surfing (plus a bonus)
Here's a few sites and videos that I've enjoyed recently. (Don't judge me!)
And as a bonus : I call this a Bad Day at the Circus. A motorcycle daredevil. A misplaced wire. A massive fall. (Note: The guy wasn't seriously injured.)
If I felt this dog were suffering in any way, I wouldn't link to it. I do think is this is the best-behaved dog in the world. I also think this is hilarious!
For more wonderful pictures of the most patient dog in the world, go to the Food On My Dog blog.
For this video, I will only say this because I know we are all monitored here on the Internet:
Skynet is here.
I wouldn't mind if this happened to me... I mean, if I wakesurfed... and if I could stand more than 15 minutes in the sun... and if I weren't scared of dolphins...
And as a bonus : I call this a Bad Day at the Circus. A motorcycle daredevil. A misplaced wire. A massive fall. (Note: The guy wasn't seriously injured.)
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Whatever Wednesday - Blow Your Mind Edition
I've always been fascinated by scientific principles and how they show the interconnectedness of life and matter. Here's some of my favorites.
Theoretical physicist Brian Cox now does a lot of TV work, trying to garner interest in the sciences and expanding people's understanding of how things work in this reality. I found this clip (from BBC's "A Night with the Stars") via the science and science fiction web site io9.
The following web site is one of my favorites on the Internet. "The Scale of the Universe" shows the large and small of things that exist in our reality. Use the scroller at the bottom of the page after it loads to move forward and backward in size - it can make you feel infinitely big or little, depending on which end of the scale you are on. (I couldn't embed it on this page. Clicking the link below will take you to the site... just don't completely lose yourself and forget to come back.)
Any time our science teachers in junior high didn't know what to do for the day - or wanted an easy time of it - they would pop in a VCR tape of Carl Sagan's "Cosmos: A Personal Voyage." And I'm not complaining about that...
The 13-episode series covered all aspects of science, from the large to the small, from development of the universe to the development of life on Earth. If you've never seen it, it's worth the watch. Or if you'd rather wait, Seth McFarlane (yes, of "Family Guy" fame), Ann Druyan (Sagan's widow and co-writer) and astrophysicist Steven Soter (who worked with Sagan on the original) are creating a successor series called "Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey" for 2013.
The original series was one of the most influential things from my youth. It was mid-bending and eye-opening. Below is a clip from the original series where Sagan explains humanity's relationship to all of time in this universe.
Finally, to end things on a lighter note, "The Big Bang Theory." No, not the beginning of the universe - the TV show. Mixed with "Firefly." This inventive picture by designer Megan Levens, found over at zap2it, shows the "Big Bang Theory" cast as the characters from "Firefly."
Can't say I agree with all the pairings but the idea is fun!
Theoretical physicist Brian Cox now does a lot of TV work, trying to garner interest in the sciences and expanding people's understanding of how things work in this reality. I found this clip (from BBC's "A Night with the Stars") via the science and science fiction web site io9.
The following web site is one of my favorites on the Internet. "The Scale of the Universe" shows the large and small of things that exist in our reality. Use the scroller at the bottom of the page after it loads to move forward and backward in size - it can make you feel infinitely big or little, depending on which end of the scale you are on. (I couldn't embed it on this page. Clicking the link below will take you to the site... just don't completely lose yourself and forget to come back.)
Any time our science teachers in junior high didn't know what to do for the day - or wanted an easy time of it - they would pop in a VCR tape of Carl Sagan's "Cosmos: A Personal Voyage." And I'm not complaining about that...
The 13-episode series covered all aspects of science, from the large to the small, from development of the universe to the development of life on Earth. If you've never seen it, it's worth the watch. Or if you'd rather wait, Seth McFarlane (yes, of "Family Guy" fame), Ann Druyan (Sagan's widow and co-writer) and astrophysicist Steven Soter (who worked with Sagan on the original) are creating a successor series called "Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey" for 2013.
The original series was one of the most influential things from my youth. It was mid-bending and eye-opening. Below is a clip from the original series where Sagan explains humanity's relationship to all of time in this universe.
Finally, to end things on a lighter note, "The Big Bang Theory." No, not the beginning of the universe - the TV show. Mixed with "Firefly." This inventive picture by designer Megan Levens, found over at zap2it, shows the "Big Bang Theory" cast as the characters from "Firefly."
Can't say I agree with all the pairings but the idea is fun!
Monday, February 20, 2012
Music Monday - Josh Joplin, Erato and Tim Minchin (again!)
Happy President's Day Music Monday!
I heard Josh Joplin for the first time on Letterman. I don't usually listen to the musical guest at the end of the show unless I've heard of them but he had a folksy sound so I decided to give him a try. He was promoting his new album, "The Future That Was," and this is the song that made me buy his excellent album.
Erato is a Swedish vocal group and this video is something that someone shared on Twitter. Just shows what you can do with harmony, clapping and butter tubs.
Another one from the brilliant Tim Minchin. Again, a little religiously irreverent but fun. The appearance on the Jonathan Ross Show, however, was removed before airing even after the song he was going to play was reviewed by ITV standards.
Have a rockin' Monday!
I heard Josh Joplin for the first time on Letterman. I don't usually listen to the musical guest at the end of the show unless I've heard of them but he had a folksy sound so I decided to give him a try. He was promoting his new album, "The Future That Was," and this is the song that made me buy his excellent album.
Erato is a Swedish vocal group and this video is something that someone shared on Twitter. Just shows what you can do with harmony, clapping and butter tubs.
Another one from the brilliant Tim Minchin. Again, a little religiously irreverent but fun. The appearance on the Jonathan Ross Show, however, was removed before airing even after the song he was going to play was reviewed by ITV standards.
Have a rockin' Monday!
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