The best free cultural & educational media on the web
The best free cultural & educational media on the web
≡ Category: History | ≅ Leave a Comment
We take you back to July 16, 1969 and the launch of Apollo 11, which landed humans on the moon for the first time. The footage slows things down, stretching 30 seconds of action to over eight minutes of viewing time. Here’s what it looked like in real time. via @SteveSilberman
≡ Category: Art | ≅ 4 Comments
Take  Johannes Vermeer‘s, The Girl with a Pearl Earring, and then try to reproduce it with a simple BiC pen. That’s what artist James Mylne does here. In 90 seconds, we see what took him 90 hours to pull off. Here it goes.
≡ Category: Audio Books, Literature | ≅ 1 Comment
We’re bringing you some great authors this week. First it was Hemingway, then Orwell, and now Capote. In 1958, Truman Capote put his stamp on the American literary scene when he published his short novel, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, in the pages of Esquire magazine. Authors and critics were quick to recognize what Capote had accomplished [...]
≡ Category: Audio Books, Literature, Most Popular | ≅ 13 Comments
Writing in The Guardian earlier this month, Christopher Hitchens revisited Animal Farm, George Orwell’s “dystopian allegorical novella” that took aim at the corruption of the Soviet Union and its totalitarian rule. Published in 1945, the short book appears on the Modern Library’s list of the 100 Best Novels of the 20th century, and Time Magazine’s own [...]
≡ Category: Literature | ≅ Leave a Comment
Perhaps Ernest Hemingway wasn’t the best at reading literature aloud. And it’s why A.E. Hotchner once said, “one of Ernest Hemingway’s deadliest enemies was The Microphone.” But even so, it’s worth recapturing the voice of the American literary giant – especially when we can hear him read from his own work. The reading is called [...]
≡ Category: Art | ≅ Leave a Comment
Click the image two times to take a closer look! It’s a creative take on Oscar Wilde. And Erika Iris Simmons doesn’t stop there. You can find more of her creative “paperwork” creations on her web site. Beethoven, Hitchcock, Einstein – they’re all here… (For more of her work, also see Simmons’ Flickrstream.) via Metafilter
≡ Category: Film | ≅ Leave a Comment
This short film is best watched in full screen mode. Just click here to expand. Thanks to Yoni for sending this one along. If you have a great piece of open culture to share with your fellow readers, feel free to contact us any time.
≡ Category: Television | ≅ 4 Comments
Recently a friend of John Meroney at The Atlantic discovered this 1954 episode of General Electric Theater featuring Ronald Reagan and James Dean. Dean’s performance is superb, and the episode (edited to 6 minutes) is a parable of the cultural tensions of the time — with drugged up, beatnik delinquents invading the home of a [...]
≡ Category: Astronomy, Science | ≅ Leave a Comment
20 years ago (April 24, 1990) the Hubble Space Telescope was launched, beginning a long period of discovery. Today, NASA is celebrating the Hubble’s 20th anniversary by releasing one of the many brilliant photos taken by the space telescope. The image shows us a small portion of one of the largest star-birth regions in the [...]
≡ Category: Science | ≅ 5 Comments
Discovery Channel’s Life series has been receiving a lot of rave reviews for its stunning footage of plants and animals.  This excerpt showing creeper plants climbing trees lives up to the hype. Leave it to a little time-lapse video–not to mention a voice-over by Oprah Winfrey–to blur the line between plant and animal. UPDATE: A reader in [...]
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