The best free cultural & educational media on the web
The best free cultural & educational media on the web
≡ Category: Music, Video - Arts & Culture | ≅ Leave a Comment
You may recognize Luka Sulic and Stjepan Hauser, aka 2CELLOS, from their rocking arrangement of Michael Jackson’s Smooth Criminal earlier this year. This time, the classically-trained musicians have done themselves one better, with a frenetic, hard-hitting take on GNR’s “Welcome To The Jungle” that would give Slash himself a run for his hardcore cred. 2CELLOS are currently [...]
≡ Category: Film, History, Literature, Music, Philosophy, Psychology | ≅ 1 Comment
Time to roll out a new media collection — a big collection of Cultural Icons. Here you will find great writers, dazzling filmmakers and musicians, brilliant philosophers and scientists — figures who have changed our cultural landscape throughout the years. You’ll see them in video, or hear their voices in audio. The list currently features [...]
≡ Category: Music | ≅ Leave a Comment
A witty rendition of Queen’s classic played by the Finnish award winning street band Porkka Playboys. More of their work appears on the band’s YouTube channel. Enjoy… FYI: It looks like “Inside Job,” the Oscar-Winning Documentary on the 2008 financial meltdown, is back online, thanks to the Internet Archive. via Alec Couros
≡ Category: Science, Video - Science | ≅ 10 Comments
We’re a bit embarrassed to admit that it took us three times to spot the change in this fascinating video illusion at New Scientist, even after reading about the research behind the video. The test was developed by Kevin O’Regan and his team at the University of Paris Descartes as part of their work on [...]
≡ Category: Animation, Film | ≅ 1 Comment
In 1937, Walt Disney Studios shot Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs with a new-fangled camera, the multiplane camera, which allowed cartoon animation to take a quantum leap forward. Thanks to this new “super cartoon camera,” animated scenes suddenly looked more realistic and three-dimensional. You only need to watch this presentation by Walt Disney himself (recorded in 1957) [...]
≡ Category: Google, Music | ≅ 3 Comments
Google celebrated Les Pauls’ 96th birthday today with a playable electric guitar doodle. And, naturally, some tried to make it sing. Above, we have a version of Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven, while others strummed out versions of The Beatles’Â Ob-la-di Ob-la-da, Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean, and Lady Gaga’s Paparazzi. By popular demand, the doodle will [...]
≡ Category: e-books, Literature | ≅ 7 Comments
We told you this was coming, and now it’s here. The British Library has started to release 60,000+ texts from the 19th century in digital format. And they’re getting rolled out with the release of a new iPad app. (If you have any problems downloading the app, try doing it directly from the app store [...]
≡ Category: Art, Literature | ≅ Leave a Comment
Samuel Beckett’s haunting short story “The Lost Ones,” which tells of a group of people doomed to wander forever inside a narrow cylindrical prison, makes Waiting for Godot seem like Little Miss Sunshine. It is also nearly unadaptable since a story driven by the certainty of damnation leaves little room for dramatic tension … until [...]
≡ Category: Music | ≅ Leave a Comment
One of the most unique concerts from the British blues revival of the 1960s was the “Blues and Gospel Train,” filmed May 7, 1964 by Granada TV for the BBC. Fans who were lucky enough to get tickets–some 200 of them–were instructed to gather at Manchester’s Central Station by 7:30 that evening for a short [...]
≡ Category: Life, Music | ≅ Leave a Comment
This week, U2′s 360° Tour hit the west coast of the US, stopping first in Seattle, then Oakland and next Anaheim. Though critics have offered mixed reviews (this v. that), we had ourselves a ball, horrendous traffic jams aside. And we were particularly touched by one moment with a poignant backstory. During the show, the [...]
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