Seeking In The Zeitgeist

The Beauty of Pixar

2011-12-27T00:01:00.000-05:00

After spending 11 days re-watching all 11 Pixar feature films, Leandro Braga took 500 hand-selected scenes and made an amazing tribute to the best animation studio on the planet.

Happy Holidays and Have a Wonderful and Safe New Year!

2011-12-23T14:08:00.000-05:00

Brian Cox Demonstrates Why Atoms Are Empty

2011-12-23T12:38:00.000-05:00

Brian Cox gives a science lesson to celebrities. The comedian Simon Pegg and physicist Jim Al-Khalili help him explain standing waves in a demonstration to show why atoms are so large and empty.

Via: Geeks are Sexy

Playing Shakespeare

2011-12-18T12:43:00.001-05:00

If you're interested in Shakespeare, in poetry or in theater, I think you'll enjoy PLAYING SHAKESPEARE now available to stream on Netflix.

In 1979 Trevor Nunn, then artistic director of Britain's Royal Shakespeare Company, created a TV workshop on the art and technique of acting in Shakespeare's plays. He was joined by RSC co-founder and Associate Director John Barton and a group of the leading RSC actors of the day. There were 9 programs that aired from 1979 - 1984.

Among the actors participating in PLAYING SHAKESPEARE were: Ian McKellen (Gandolf/Magneto), Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard/Prof. X), Ben Kingsley (Gandhi/Schindler's List), Judi Dench (M from the Bond films/As Time Goes By), David Suchet (Hercule Poirot) and Peggy Ashcroft.

And here is Fry & Laurie's parody of PLAYING SHAKESPEARE. It's a sketch about a Shakespeare masterclass ("an actor prepares"), where a teacher (Stephen Fry) with delusions of grandeur gives pretentious, nonsensical acting advice to his eager student (Laurie).

Thursdays With Thorrie

2011-12-12T15:17:00.000-05:00

You can't have Christmas with out Christ? We can't have Thursday with out Thor or Hanukkah with out Han either. OK, that last one may not be right. Historians and astronomers now place Christ's birth as possibly mid-June. Most of our Christmas traditions are simply co-opted winter solstice rituals that made it easier to convert celebrants to Christianity. If one really wants to get back to the meaning and message of Christmas, just fully and with humility, follow the words and deeds of Christ all year 'round. On Christmas day; spend less, give more and love all.

Flirting Tips

2011-12-11T12:06:00.000-05:00

I am so clueless, I'm not sure I'd even pick up on Ms. LaRue's advances. Really, seriously, I'm clueless.

If you need holiday flirting tips, look no further than Rebecca LaRue (Kristen Wiig) hulu.com/watch/309560/s…
— Seth Meyers (@sethmeyers21) December 11, 2011

The 200 Greatest Movie Insults of All Time

2011-08-28T17:45:00.000-04:00

VERY NSFW - Language.

Spend $176 million to save $60000?

2011-08-26T16:52:00.001-04:00

Florida's Governor Scott claims that welfare recipients are "More likely to abuse drugs" than others, as his justification for this invasive & costly program.

Since it has been enacted, only 2% of those who are applying for welfare benefits in Florida have been found to have illegal drugs in their system. 2% is hardly "Most". The law doesn't create the Tea Party's wish for a smaller, less intrusive government. It's an example of Rick Scott's Really, really, really big government.

As it takes money from Florida taxpayers, it also personally enriches Governor Scott, because his wife owns the companies the state has hired to do the testing.

Rick Scott Takes the Piss Out of Florida Taxpayers | Mother Jones

At the time, this comic cross-over made sense -- sort of

2011-07-22T02:11:00.000-04:00

Hey, remember when this happened?

American Family Association Head: The First Amendment Does Not Apply to "Non-Christian Religions"

2011-07-21T13:05:00.001-04:00

"The First Amendment was written neither to guarantee freedom of religion to Muslims or Buddhists or Hindus nor to prohibit their free exercise of religion. It wasn’t written about them one way or another. It was written for one specific purpose: to protect the free exercise of the Christian religion. We must be clear: the First Amendment does not prohibit the free exercise of alternative religions, but neither does it guarantee it. It simply does not address the issue at all." - American Family Association spokesman and national radio host Bryan Fischer.

Playing With InfoGraphics

2011-07-13T16:19:00.001-04:00

The new site, Visual.ly is way too much fun! It's new and growing. What is it? It's a warehouse of Infographics and data visualizations curated from across the web. Go check it out, but plan to be there for a while. I played with the Twitterizer tool:

Discover Your Twitter Character on Visual.ly | InfoGraphics

Today's Best Thing! The Empire Strikes Back Re-Imagined as a Silent Film‬‏

2011-07-06T13:14:00.000-04:00

'Plot Device' a Short Film

2011-07-01T14:41:00.000-04:00

Plot Device from Red Giant on Vimeo.

A young filmmaker buys an Amazon featured extra. When it arrives, this mysterious object unleashes the full force of shop-worn movie Plot Devices right in his driveway.

Via: The Mary Sue

The Future As Predicted in Film - A Video Timeline

2011-06-29T18:11:00.002-04:00

Cinematic History of the Future from Handshake Magazine on Vimeo.

Via: SF Signal

Remembering Slim Pickens on his Birthday - Major Kong Rides a Bomb to Oblivion

2011-06-29T17:01:00.000-04:00

Today would have been Slim Pickens' 92nd Birthday. Happy trails.

Welfare For Dictators

2011-06-28T13:03:00.000-04:00

Welfare for dictators: Officially the US doesn't pay other Governments for rights to use Military Bases - but we are paying $14B to companies controlled by anti-democratic Gulf rulers. SOL Arab Spring, we have wars of choice to fight!

Friday Distraction

2011-06-17T14:43:00.001-04:00

A beautiful series of vintage inspired travel posters of US cities and National Parks by Anderson Design Group. Enjoy.

See the entire set here.

H/T - Laughing Squid

2011-06-17T13:57:00.000-04:00

The Evolution of Faith: How God Is Creating a Better Christianity by Philip Gulley

I'm anxious to read this from Phil. He's a Quaker paster (some would say that's an oxymoron) and an author of If Grace Is True: Why God Will Save Every Person and the Harmony series. In an excerpt of this he asked; "How a book that has been altered numerous times over the decades can now be viewed as God's unchanging truth is a mystery to me." (He is talking about the Quaker book "Faith and Practice" but it could also easily apply to many "Holy Books," I think.) Agree or disagree with Phil, he will always raise provocative questions for folks who consider themselves "Christians" or followers of Christ.

It comes out June 20th. You can order a copy here.

So How Do I Reply To This?

2011-06-17T12:04:00.000-04:00

I need some help with a Facebook debate that began with a guy from my old hometown posting this link: Reaganomics Vs. Obamanomics: Facts And Figures

I said:

Odd how that article doesn't mention that Reagan ended up raising taxes 11 times. Because after his initial tax decrease on the rich from 70% to 28% - by 1983 the debt, skyrocketed from $700 billion to $3 trillion. Have you read Douglas Brinkley's Reagan bios? I have. As Brinkley says, "Ronald Reagan was never afraid to raise taxes.", "He knew that it was necessary at times. And so there's a false mythology out there about Reagan as this conservative president who came in and just cut taxes and trimmed federal spending in a dramatic way. It didn't happen that way. It's false." The 1983 payroll tax hike went to pay for Social Security and Medicare (So Reagan raised taxes to pay for government-run health care)

In the end, Reagan's tax increases didn't completely wipe out the effects of that initial tax cut. But they did eat up about half of it. He wasn't happy about raising taxes, and part of the reason was to work with a non-compliant Congress - but Reagan did what was right to help. He swallowed his pride, and he compromised. Trickle down economics trickled down alright on the poor and working classes except it wasn't with jobs or wealth - it just felt wet.

Then he said:

He had to fight the liberals in congress at the time so a compromise was necessary. A president doesn't raise taxes, congress does and he had a boatload full of ignorant liberals to fight. As for Brinkley. Good God man, he he helped an idiot like Carter win a Nobel prize. That alone should qualify him as a fool. Not to mention his dalliances with Kerry. Keep dreaming your dreams David, your party is full of idiots. As for the debt increase. Quantify the debt. Did it help destroy the Soviet Union. The beloved homeland of your party? How did the Poor pay? Your party has caused more destruction of minorities and the impoverished than anyone.

Then my reply:

‎"the Soviet Union. The beloved homeland of your party" O_o I thought the Democratic party was established in America by Martin Van Buren and a bunch of anti-whig politicians, farmers, urban laborers, and Irish Catholics in support of Andy Jackson? If I had been living in the 1870s to 1910 with the same sensibilities and beliefs as I do now, I'd have been a Republican.

You're right Congress levies taxes, but the pres. budget's suggested them, Reagan and Tip O'neilll had beers together, found common ground - staff, committees and Congress battled it out - then Reagan signed them. I guess the main crux of my point wasn't so much the taxes, as the system of communication and compromise that just doesn't exist anymore - grinding the gears of democracy to a halt. Both parties are to blame.

THEN his reply:

Well over 50% of the democrats that held appointed office during the 40's and 50's were mentioned in KBG reports as associates of the Communist party. i.e. McCarthy was right. Bush tried to communicate and reason with liberals but they turned on him as they seem wont to do.The democrats of today are turd kickers. They have no values. None. The evisceration of a fetus is their primary plank. Want to see a picture?

This is my shocked response:

McCarthy was a discredited paranoid. Where are you getting your facts? I mean. I just... I'm speechless. I don't have anything to say. There is nothing to say. You can't honestly believe these things. I mean, no offence, but I mean these are things that an expositional character in a Brad Metltzer pot boiler would espouse or Mel Gibson's character in that 90s movie Conspiracy theory. I just don't understand what you are saying. This is akin to me debating whether the style of a door is art nuvo or Arts and Crafts and then getting back as a response the dimensions of a window in the Vatican in ancient Etruscan. I'm truly stunned.

Ok. So, what should I have said? How do I reply to something like that? What do I say?

Asimov on Books, Libraries and Imagination

2011-06-16T16:31:00.000-04:00

Via: A Dribble of Ink

The Steel Remains - A Review

2011-06-16T14:17:00.000-04:00

The Steel Remains by Richard K. Morgan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

There is a lot of edgy sex in this book, not unusual for a Richard K. Morgan book. Gritty unapologetic bluntness is his signature. The twist here is the protagonist is gay. So if that bothers you, then this may not be the book for you. If like me, sex is sex and it doesn't bother you - well this still probably isn't the book for you.

I loved the hardboiled, neo-noir, cyberpunk grittiness of his SF Takeshi Kovacs trilogy Altered Carbon, Broken Angels, Woken Furies but his first foray into gritty, violent, fantasy falls flat. This book doesn't stick with you for long and the lack-luster protagonist and meandering plot in no way makes me want to read any future books in the series.

This isn't, as some of the cover blurbs and reviews I've read claimed, "reinventing the genre". This sure isn't Joe Abercrombie, George R.R. Martin, Steven Erickson or Brandon Sanderson. The closest approximation I can make to The Steel Remains is Jim Butcher's Codex Alera series. Butcher is also a writer best known for his SF/Urban Paranormal series but decided to branch into Fantasy with his own series. They are, in my opinon, not as good as his Dresden series, but far better than the opening chapter of A Land Fit For Heroes series.

View all my reviews

A Series of Unfortunate Assumptions Or Fallor Ergo Sum

2011-05-03T15:39:00.000-04:00

Most of us will do anything to avoid being wrong. But what if we're wrong about that? "Wrongologist" Kathryn Schulz makes a compelling case for not just admitting but embracing our fallibility. Excellent and timely talk.

Kathryn Schulz: On being wrong | Video on TED.com

Still Troubled and Conflicted

2011-05-03T15:28:00.000-04:00

The hatred I have witnessed in people’s words and exclamations over the death of Osama bin Laden is just as riddled with violence as the violence we protest against. And until that changes, true peace cannot be possible.

Your Congress at Work

2011-02-19T15:24:00.000-05:00

Government funding for NASCAR: Liberty

Government funding for NPR: Tyranny

Je ne regrette rien ... ca commence avec toi

2011-02-11T22:08:00.001-05:00

In this Edith Piaf song "Je ne regrette rien" (I regret nothing) last line - "ca commence avec toi" (it begins with you...)