For this afternoon, yet another in the seemingly endless array of “YouTube Videos That Demonstrate Absurd Levels of Imagination.” Unlike the video I was originally planning to feature this Friday — HP Office Orchestra, (which seems too good to be true) — I think this one might actually be real. It’s called Gravité, and was created by Renaud Hallée, a … Read more
Every time my inner paranoid thinks it can take a little break, something like this comes along: New York State Assemblyman Richard Brodsky nearly lost his daughter, Willie, at 4 years old when she needed a kidney transplant, and again 10 years later when her second kidney failed. “We have 10,000 New Yorkers on the … Read more
For the last several years, I have been nearly endlessly fascinated by the film industry’s attempts to duplicate the astonishing success of Pixar’s animated offerings. In fact, so obsessed have I become that I used a significant portion of my “Predictions for 2010” entry to discuss the remote change that someone might finally topple the 800lb gorilla … Read more
I can think of few 20th century classical performers as well-documented (or as deserving of documentation) as the mad Canadian keyboard genius, Glenn Gould. This YouTube clip from his earlier days demonstrates much of what made him fascinating to countless classical music lovers: the incessant humming punctuated by occasional bellowing, the absurd posture, the uncanny ability to stop-and-start at … Read more
I can think of few 20th century classical performers as well-documented (or as deserving of documentation) as the mad Canadian keyboard genius, Glenn Gould. This YouTube clip from his earlier days demonstrates much of what made him fascinating to countless classical music lovers: the incessant humming punctuated by occasional bellowing, the absurd posture, the uncanny ability to stop-and-start at … Read more
One of the most extraordinary things brought to light by the makers of the BBC’s “Blue Planet” series in their extraordinary episode The Deep was the way in which the discovery of deep sea hydrothermal vents — first identified by scientists in the late 1970’s — was forcing the scientific community to reconsider some of their most long-held … Read more
This past weekend, I made my first-ever visit to New York City. Margaret and her trusty iPhone (complete with the indispensable NY Subway App) shepherded me safely through the most bewildering urban landscape I have ever experienced (as well as the most bewildering one I will ever experience, I suspect). My reactions mostly alternated between “I’m really confused … Read more
Several weeks ago, while wandering through my local library, I happened across an unusual autobiography: More About Boy: Tales of Childhood, by Roald Dahl. (As one might suspect from the name, there is an earlier book called Boy that deals with similar topics, but that one was not readily available. Nor was Going Solo, yet another … Read more
My contact with Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series — a cultural phenomenon of truly staggering proportions — has been blessedly limited. Other than a quick sampling of a few pages from the first book (which left me semi-horrified at the level of prose on display) and a brief brush with most-amusing-if-still-not-entirely-appropriate RiffTrax ever, I am essentially unTwilighted. Even Matthew … Read more
I recently stumbled across a most interesting piece from a website called PopMatters that occasionally happens across my radar. The article, entitled “Mental Machine Music: The Musical Mind in the Digital Age,” is a bit long, but the questions is raises have been haunting me for some time now: I want to discern how, precisely, … Read more
This little gem has been making the rounds lately, in both a “natural soundtrack” version (below) and a music video version (much less fun, yet included for the sake of comparison): This video got me so excited I had to rush off to classic-retro-games.com right away to familiarize myself with some of the old classics on … Read more
In spite of (and, perhaps, at least a little because of) the best efforts of countless individuals and organizations, the visual mediums of TV and film continue to exert a disproportionate amount of influence on American Society. Which is why this sort of post from First Things’ Wesley J. Smith regarding HBO’s upcoming film on … Read more
Ever since I happened across a book on giant lizards in my youth, I’ve been fascinated by komodo dragons and their relatives. And while this story may not be quite a terrifying as the komodo dragon one Margaret and my boys recently experienced while watching Life, it’s still a fascinating one: A dragon-sized, fruit-eating lizard that lives … Read more
For months now, news outlets have been filled to overflowing with stories of the currently-and-impendingly jobless — not surprising, given the dramatic effect unemployment has on those unfortunate enough to experience it. Still, this has got to be the strangest side-effect I’ve seen yet: In this troubled economy, you may be thinking about beefing up your … Read more
Having Easter and Opening Day this close together definitely falls under the “Embarrassment of Riches” category for me. I’m sitting here amidst a sea of empty plastic eggs and Peep wrappers, watching my beloved Dodgers’ attempts to mount a come-back against the oft-hapless Pittsburgh Pirates. The latest 3-run HR from the Bucs’ catcher makes said … Read more
As Robert Reilly reminded us in this morning’s article, Holy Week is an incredibly rich time, both liturgically and musically. And for me, Good Friday is certainly the high/(low?)-water mark. For the last 15 years or so, I’ve tried to take the time to listen to one of the Bach Passions from beginning to end. Kids … Read more
Neal McDonough is one of those actors who has appeared in so many movies and TV shows that his face is almost immediately recognizable to anyone that has watched their fair share of either in the past 10 years. Check out this Minority Report still, for example. He’s not Tom Cruise. And he’s not Colin Farrell. But I … Read more
Over the last year or so, I’ve discovered that one of the biggest problems with not blogging on something “as soon as the idea strikes me/while the iron is hot” is that I can’t always remember where I found the story in the first place. (Of course, I have trouble remembering what happened 5 minutes ago, … Read more
Thanks to Margaret’s helpful reminder last week (and “aided” by the unexpected appearance of a fever that nearly wiped me out for the entire weekend), the boys and I were able to catch up on the first four episodes of Life – Challenges of Life, Reptiles and Amphibians, Mammals, and Fish – airing on The Discovery … Read more
Today’s YouTube treasure is neither particularly humorous nor stop-motion-animation-y. But what it lacks in those departments, it more than makes up for with its high “math geek” quotient and sheer mind-blowing awesomeness: Cristóbal Vila, the man behind the short, has a fascinating website documenting the ideas and process behind his creation: Artists and architects have … Read more