Summa This, Summa That

Some Monstrous Links for Your Friday Afternoon

Joseph Susanka — Fri, 17 May 2013 21:30:52 +0000

Pixar’s Monsters University is definitely on my radar. It’s not a direct result of my affection for Monster’s Inc. or its creators. (“Like” would probably be a better description of my response than “Love,” and I have some growing concerns about Pixar’s apparent drift into sequel territory.) Instead, it is a direct result of their brilliant viral marketing. Like this. Which [...]

“Ring of Fire” — Capturing Last Week’s Solar Eclipse

Joseph Susanka — Thu, 16 May 2013 17:15:58 +0000

Wow. What exactly are we looking at here? The event is known as an annular eclipse, when the moon moves directly between the Earth and the sun, producing a striking ring of fire effect. During annular eclipses, the new moon’s apparent diameter is smaller than the visible disk of the sun. Since the moon’s orbit [...]

The Man Behind the Booth — Part IV

Joseph Susanka — Wed, 15 May 2013 20:45:44 +0000

“It is hard to be human. It is hard to know what to do. It is hard to know how to take care of those we love. It is hard to give up on our fantasies of immortality, or power, or the thought that if we could shape the world to our will everything would [...]

Musical Pop Quiz

Joseph Susanka — Mon, 13 May 2013 20:45:42 +0000

I’ve always been fascinated by the aural and emotional differences between “The Big Three” keyboard instruments — the organ, piano, and harpsichord. The organ’s ability to serve as a sort of mini-orchestra is astonishing. The harpsichord’s tintinnabulatory clarity is wonderfully suited to the continuios (continuii?) that underpin so many of my Baroque favorites. And my personal experience [...]

No Commentary Necessary — “First Taste” Edition

Joseph Susanka — Fri, 10 May 2013 18:15:51 +0000

This “First Taste” video (courtesy of TEDxSidney) is probably the best thing I’ve seen on YouTube since Alan Rickman’s Epic Tea Time. Take a moment or two, sit back, and watch it light up your Friday like the Fourth of July!(Epic HT chain from Laughing Squid to Good Food to TEDxSidney’s YouTube channel)

Searching for Bobby Fischer – Family Movie Night

Joseph Susanka — Thu, 09 May 2013 17:30:10 +0000

The Story: Chess prodigy Josh Waitzkin refuses to harden himself in order to become a champion like the famous but unlikable Bobby Fischer. The Stars: Joe Mantegna, Ben Kingsley, Laurence Fishburne Release Date: 1993 Rating: PG Our Take: Despite laboring in relative (and surprising) obscurity when compared to many of its “Based On a True Story” counterparts, [...]

The Man Behind the Booth — Part III

Joseph Susanka — Wed, 08 May 2013 19:30:44 +0000

“There is a notion, popular especially in Hollywood, that people who watch things on the Internet have no attention span. This is, of course, nonsense. People are people. They’ll watch something as long as it engages them. That’s all that matters.” – From my ongoing conversation with Christopher “C.K.” Kubasik, creator and writer of The Booth at [...]

Music From Up On Poppy Hill

Joseph Susanka — Mon, 06 May 2013 18:15:34 +0000

Somehow, I managed to fight my way through the weekend’s Graduation Insanity. An unanticipated benefit of my (frankly, unexpected) survival was last night’s opportunity to sit down and watch my sadly-neglected screener for Studio Ghibli’s latest, From Up on Poppy Hill. It was the perfect antidote to the craziness of the past few days — gently [...]

The Man Behind the Booth, Part II

Joseph Susanka — Wed, 01 May 2013 18:45:46 +0000

“I like strange things with strong, unique voices.” — The second part of my lengthy conversation with Christopher “C.K.” Kubasik, whose The Booth at the End show is one of my favorite “accidental discoveries” in recent memory. Joseph Susanka: From Michael Eisner (who has produced both Booth seasons through his production companies, Tornante and Vuguru), to Xander Berkeley [...]

Chandeliering: The Strangest Thing You’ll See Today

Joseph Susanka — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 18:30:30 +0000

This is amazing. …and sort of creepy, especially if you watch as many sci-fi shows as I do. (Somewhere out there, Roland Emmerich is screaming “I told you so!” at the top of his lungs.) On a day in which spring made its return to Minnesota with a vengeance, Nadalie Thomas caught Old Man Winter [...]