February 2008
66 posts
“And, sorry, all those romantic notions you have of absinthe spoons, manic...”
– Chuck Close - Inspiration is for Amateurs via insuchaworld (via beautifulanddepraved)
Rage Against the Machine - Calm like a Bomb
My...
WatchThe Roots - 75 Bars (Black’s Reconstruction) *WORLD PREMIERE*
The Roots’ new album, Rising Down, will be released on April 29. I like the stripped-down, drum and bass sound on this single, so hopefully we’ll see more of the same.
“Startups succeed by creating wealth, which is the satisfaction of people’s...”
– Paul Graham, The Future of Web Startups
WatchMySpace’s new “Punk’d”-style clip show, Special Delivery. This just feels wrong; making fun of self-obsessed celebrities is one thing, but creating a show that revolves entirely around pranking delivery guys? Not to mention that this first episode isn’t especially funny or clever. Oh, and it wouldn’t hurt if a producer had actually explained how the camera works...
Bruce Springsteen - Adam Raised a Cain (from...
Oscar Thoughts
A few post-Academy Awards thoughts. Disclaimer: I watched very little of the ceremony live; it just seemed to drag even more than usual this year. I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt with the strike having just ended, but they really need to firm this ceremony up.
No Country for Old Men deserved to win Best Picture, as it was a nearly flawless film that drew equally...
Elliott Smith - Christian Brothers
I read a...
Immortal Technique - 4th Branch
Simultaneously...
WatchSuper Slow-motion: Karate Chop Through Brick is Today’s BIG Thing - FEB 19, 2008
Gross.
WatchNew Auto Security System Will Not Allow Car To Start If Driver Is Nick Nolte | The Onion - America’s Finest News Source
“Americans have the right to Nolte-free roadways, and we’re pleased to say this device delivers on that promise.”
Electric Light Orchestra - Showdown
There’s...
TitleThis.com : THE EARTH DOESN'T FALL →
Filmed in New York City on December 10th, 2007, with celebrity guests Adrian Dannatt, Michel Gondry and (the magnificent) Ornette Coleman. Special Musical Performance by Ornette Coleman and Mark Kostabi.
Curtis Mayfield - Get Down
Love me some Curtis...
Watchpaulscheer:
In celebration of the release of “Be Kind, Rewind” a bunch of filmmakers in Austin have been making sweded movies. Here’s one of my favorites, it’s Back to the Future 1, 2, and 3 all in 5 minutes.
Breaking: Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell... →
This would be an interesting take on dealing with Heath Ledger’s death. I’m surprised by the wattage of the replacements (seriously, Depp, Law, and Farrell?), but it will definitely make for a unique twist in what already appears to be a surrealistic movie.
The Streets - Fit But You Know It
Casino Royale →
Finally caught the latest Bond movie, Casino Royale. The review linked above matches my take pretty closely, I think. Daniel Craig far exceeds expectations as an even more violent and athletic version of Connery’s Bond. The story holds up well through the card game and the showdown with Le Chiffre, but I was annoyed by the extra half hour they tacked on to the end to make sure Bond...
Oscar Picks - Best Picture
No Country for Old Men
I thought it was brilliantly directed, a departure of sorts for the Coen brothers but one that they nailed. The sweeping vistas of West Texas, the tightly-wound parallel storylines, and the tension that built throughout the film helped this to edge out a really great year of nominees. Cormac McCarthy’s novel made for a nearly cover-to-cover adaptation, and perhaps...
WatchJohn Edwards Talks to John Kerry About Obama Endorsement | The Ward Room
Gypsy Kings - Hotel California
From the Big...
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme, Part 1 -...
Early VP Odds?
With McCain as the presumptive nominee (barring a Patriots-level choke job) on the Republican side and Obama with the momentum for the Democrats, I’ve been putting a little bit of thought into possible VP choices.
For McCain, I think his choice will be largely dependent on whether he’s facing Hillary or Obama. His chance at the presidency increases dramatically if Hillary wins the...
DJ Spooky - Mr. Brown remix (Bob Marley)
From the...
Watcheveryday by Noah K (via Vimeo)
Noah K’s 2356 days (and still counting?) of self-portraits as individual video frames. I’ve seen this a few times before, and it’s something that’s been imitated all over the web with things like the Flickr 365 days group, but the thing that makes this one so unique is how his facial expression doesn’t appear to change one bit over the...
“Americans think the danger is terrorists. They don’t understand....”
– Mike Gravel, who I apparently align fairly closely with according to Glassbooth.
Obama was my second highest comp, which is comforting considering I voted for him in last week’s primary. I didn’t know about his support for the death penalty or opposition to gay marriage before this...
“I guess my point is that this is just the beginning of using internet tools to...”
– Seth Godin (via Seth’s Blog: New interactions, not just moved interactions)
“…’History’, harmless history, where everything unexpected in...”
– Philip Roth, from The Plot Against America, which I’m still on the fence about after a hundred pages or so. This did remind me of the best professor I had at Holy Cross, Professor Green, who railed against such a teleological conception of history and remarked that the historian’s first...
The Simple Tax Return →
david:
The Simple Return would have the IRS take the information about income directly from the employers and banks and, if the person’s tax status were simple enough, send that taxpayer a return prefilled with the information. … As many as 40 percent of all Americans could be covered by the Simple Return. … This could save 225 million hours of tax preparation time per year and $2 billion in...
Elon Musk takes delivery of first production Tesla... →
Really positive development here. There are still a lot of hurdles to be cleared, but it’s a very good thing that the Roadsters are finally being delivered.
