The Economist has just released a nice photo slideshow looking back at the transformative work of Andy Warhol.

A quick mention: The Royal Society, the UK’s national academy of science, will celebrate next year its 350th anniversary.

Nina Paley created some buzz earlier this year when she decided to give her award-winning animated film, Sita Sings the Blues, to the public, releasing it under a Creative Commons license. This was another test of the concept that artists can make money by giving their work away.

A quick fyi: On Monday morning (8:30 am California time), Stanford Continuing Studies opens up registration for its winter lineup of online writing courses.

During his Hollywood golden years, Alfred Hitchcock released The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) with Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day. This was actually his second time around the block with the film. Before Hitchcock came to America, he directed another version of the movie with Peter Lorre, and you can catch this 1934 British version above.

T.S. Eliot’s 1922 poem, The Waste Land, is often considered one of the great poems of the 20th century. Above, you can listen to Eliot himself reading his modernist masterpiece (text here). And, if you want more, how about Eliot reading The Love Song of J.

A quick note for US readers: Right now, you can find three films by Luis Buñuel, the great Spanish (later turned Mexican) director. The films, presented by theauteurs.com, include Death in the Garden (1956) and two cinematic works from his earlier surreal period: Un chien andalou (1929) and L’âge d’or (1930).

What’s the best TED Talk ever? That’s the little debate taking place on Reddit.com, and the answer is not obvious, seeing that TED now has over 500 talks available in its archive. (You can find a constantly updated list of every TED Talk in a Google spreadsheet here.

A quick freebie mention: Amazon.com is currently giving away $3 worth of MP3′s until November 30th. That amounts essentially to three free songs. Just click to this page, follow a few easy steps (including using the code code MP34FREE), and you’ll be on your way.

The talk above is the first of 26 lectures making up a free Yale course called “The American Novel Since 1945.