Archive for December, 2009
The Thrilling Charts ‘n’ Graphs of Hans Rosling
Hans Rosling might be a brilliant statistician (how would I know?), but he’s definitely a brilliant presenter of stats. In this TED Talk about Asia’s rise, he turns his graphs into a horse race and even manages a few good visual gags. See more of Rosling’s TED presentations.
Weekend Watching: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (Hulu; US only)
Directed by Sergio Leone
For me, this is the pinnacle of the Leone style: the gigantic close-ups, the glacial show-downs, the deep perspective photography. Inglorious Basterds opening obviously owes a debt to this film’s early interrogation scene.
Seeing it in on the big-screen without all these commercials is a zillion times better, but watching classics in butchered form also has its charms. I saw plenty of Hitchcock, Kubrick and Scorsese on VHS and still loved them.
The first two installments of Leone’s Man With No Name trilogy, A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More, are also on Hulu.
DIY Destruction
Uruguay filmmaker Fede Alvarez gives Montevideo an NYC-style demolition — and does it for a few hundred bucks. The video has landed him a production deal with Sam Raimi’s Ghost House Pictures. The effects are sensational but the nicks from District 9, Cloverfield, Independence Day, and you-name-it are countless.
OK Go are annoying
It irks me when a band who makes pretty catchy tunes also possesses an unerring talent for producing ingenious videos (see above). Even this “making of” video displays an inventiveness that suggests if they weren’t writing songs, they could just as easily be excellent filmmakers.
Maybe I can find solace in the latest tune being so derivative of The Flaming Lips.
Goodie Bag Soundtrack on sale for $6.99
The Goodie Bag Soundtrack is on sale on Amazon MP3 for a mere 7 bucks. If you enjoy the music, if you enjoy the show, I’d greatly appreciate if you could take a moment to purchase the album. If you’d like to give it as a gift, you can also purchase a CD for $12 (still pretty cheap). Or if you’d rather just give me money, you can do that through PayPal. The bottom line is, gimme some money, people.
Amazon also has some other great deals in their MP3 store, like Neko Case’s Middle Cyclone for $2 (!) and the Beastie Boys’ classic Paul’s Boutique for $5. Or if you’re in the mood for comedy there’s Eugene Mirman’s God Is A Twelve-Year-Old Boy With Asperger’s and The Flight of the Conchords.
