The best free cultural & educational media on the web
The best free cultural & educational media on the web
≡ Category: History | ≅ 1 Comment
The coronation of Nicholas II, the last Russian czar, took place in May 1896, an event captured in some of the oldest footage still in existence (above). The coronation was a high point, and, from there, it was largely downhill for Nicholas. In 1905, the czar lost a humiliating war against Japan, which then partly [...]
≡ Category: Random | ≅ Leave a Comment
Bucks, The New York Times blog dedicated to helping consumers make the most of their money, took things a step further today. They went beyond telling you how to save money. They told you how to get 10 things for free. Free tech support, passport photos, workouts, medicine, and also free ebooks, free online courses from [...]
≡ Category: Art, Film | ≅ 2 Comments
It’s hard not to enjoy this. Artist Eric Power retells the basic story of the Star Wars trilogy, using cut-paper animation. The film runs a very quick 2:40, and Jeremy Messersmith’s ‘Tatooine’ provides the soundtrack. (You can download the song here for whatever price you want.) More animated films by Power appear on his website: [...]
≡ Category: Film, Literature | ≅ 3 Comments
On this day in 1849, the great American writer Edgar Allan Poe met a strange death in Baltimore. If you recall, Poe was discovered, either in a state of delirium or unconscious (accounts differ) and apparently wearing someone else’s tattered clothes, outside a tavern. He was taken to a hospital where he remained, unable to [...]
≡ Category: Art | ≅ Leave a Comment
The New York Times has described Robert Wilson, the avant-garde artist, as “a towering figure in the world of experimental theater and an explorer in the uses of time and space onstage.” Known for breaking conventions and weaving together sound, images and text in evocative ways, Wilson created a series of “Voom” portraits in 2007. [...]
≡ Category: History | ≅ 1 Comment
On September 26, 1960, John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon appeared in America’s first nationally televised presidential debate, an event witnessed by some 70 million Americans. Although radio listeners thought that Nixon handily won the debate (48% v. 21%), television viewers gave the edge to Kennedy (30% v. 29%) – the eventual winner of the [...]
≡ Category: Audio Books, Books, Comedy | ≅ Leave a Comment
Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary, the new book by David Sedaris has hit the stands last week. And now thanks to The Guardian we get Sedaris himself reading a story/chapter from the collection, “The Mouse and the Snake.” It runs nearly 10 minutes. Start playing below… swfobject.registerObject(“ssg_gplayer_object-10836-0″, “9.0.0″, “http://www.openculture.com/wp-content/plugins/ssg-wordpress-google-audio-player/swfobject/expressInstall.swf”); Sedaris Reads “The Mouse and [...]
≡ Category: Music | ≅ Leave a Comment
In a bit of historical irony, the British Invasion hit Germany before it reached the UK or anywhere else. From 1960 – 1962, the Beatles played the gritty nightclubs of Hamburg and really learned to play together as a band. There, they finalized the cast: John, Paul, George and then Ringo. And there they refined [...]
≡ Category: Books, Life | ≅ Leave a Comment
A quick bit of inspiration from the man who has changed the way we buy books, and now the way we’re reading them – Jeff Bezos (CEO, Amazon). Speaking at Princeton’s graduation last May, Bezos discussed the life choices that we all face: Will you follow dogma? Or be original? Will you play it safe? [...]
≡ Category: Art | ≅ Leave a Comment
This past week, an Italian web site (Haltadefinizione)Â placed online six masterpieces from the famous Uffizi Gallery in Florence, all in super high resolution. Each image is packed with close to 28 billion pixels, a resolution 3,000 times greater than your normal digital photo. And this gives art connaisseurs everywhere the ability to zoom in and [...]
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