Today is John Lennon’s would-be 71st birthday, and it jogged my memory, reminding me of this lengthy 1970 interview. Conducted by Jann Wenner, the founder of Rolling Stone Magazine, this important conversation (listen via iTunes) was recorded shortly after The Beatles’ bitter breakup, and the emotions were still running high. Running over 3 hours, it is one of Lennon’s most extensive interviews, touching not just on the breakup, but also on art and politics, drugs, Yoko, primal therapy and more. It’s not always flattering, but it gives you a good feel for the man and the great artist.
One drawing by The New Yorker cartoonists says it all. Brilliantly done. You can find the original cover here, and watch how the cartoonists go about their work here.
And then from across the very big pond, we have Australian cartoonist Peter Nicholson offering another creative take on Mr. Jobs’ meeting with St. Peter. Find original here, and thanks Geoff for sending…
Time to resurrect another suddenly relevant item we first mentioned back in 2009…
Between 1968 and 1972, Stewart Brand published The Whole Earth Catalog. For Kevin Kelly, the Catalog was essentially “a paper-based database offering thousands of hacks, tips, tools, suggestions, and possibilities for optimizing your life.” For Steve Jobs, it was a “Bible” of his generation, a life ‑transforming publication. Speaking to Stanford graduates in 2005, in what Ken Auletta has called the “Gettysburg Address of graduation-speechism,” Jobs explained why he drew inspiration from this intellectual creation of the 60s counterculture:
When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960’s, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.
The good news is that The Whole Earth Catalog and some related publications are available online. You can read them for free, or download them for a fee. We suggest diving in right here, in Fall 1968, where it all begins. Enjoy.…
Once again, we’re heading back to 1971. Yesterday we had Dick Cavett’s 1971 interview with George Harrison. Today, it’s the clash of two intellectual titans, Noam Chomsky and Michel Foucault. In ’71, at the height of the Vietnam War, the American linguist and French historian/social theorist appeared on Dutch TV to debate a fundamental question: Is there such a thing as innate human nature? Or are we shaped by experiences and the power of cultural and social institutions around us?
40 years later, you can find the classic debate on YouTube. If you need subtitles, make sure you turn on the captions function at the bottom of the video.
All we can say is bless Don Pettit. While working on the International Space Station in 2008, the NASA astronaut shot videos that are literally and figuratively out of this world: The Aurora Borealis Viewed from Orbit and What It Feels Like to Fly Over Planet Earth. And then we discover that Pettit invented a “zero‑g coffee cup” that lets you drink coffee in outer space without using a straw. That’s one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind.…
With a series of three films, director Kirby Ferguson has been gradually making the case that “Everything is a Remix.” In doing what they do, artists collect material, combine and transform it, and eventually mold it into something unique, though not entirely new. Ferguson has traced this idea through literature and music, filmmaking, and technology/computing. And while we wait for the fourth and final installment in the series, we get a little treat to tide us over — a six minute look at the cinematic origins of the 1999 sci-fi action film, The Matrix. Made by Robert Wilson and with the help of some crowdsourcing, this fun video identifies 24 films that influenced The Matrix. They’re are all listed below the jump. Consider watching the clip in a wider format here.
Yesterday was the 42nd anniversary of the first broadcast of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. The original BBC show aired for only five years, but its impact on popular culture has been lasting. To celebrate, we bring you the 1982 film, Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl. The image quality isn’t the best here, but the humor shines through. The movie combines live sketches, filmed in 1980, with excerpts from a two-part 1972 German television special, Monty Python’s Fliegender Zirkus. Highlights include: “The Ministry of Silly Walks,” “Nudge Nudge,” “The Lumberjack Song,” “Silly Olympics” (featuring the “100 Yards For People With No Sense Of Direction” and the “200-Meter Freestyle For Non-Swimmers”) as well as one of our favorites, “The Philosophers’ Football Match.” Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl has been added to our growing collection of Free Movies Online.
We originally posted this video back in 2009, and it seems like the right time to bring it back. It captures the first of many times that Steve Jobs thrilled audiences with the promise of what technology could deliver. The video takes you back to January 1984, when Jobs demoed the first Macintosh. (The event was famously promoted by Ridley Scott’s commercial during the Super Bowl. See below) A young Jobs, sporting a bow tie and a fuller head of hair, could barely hold back his smile and some tears, and the crowd simply couldn’t contain its enthusiasm, giving Jobs a five-minute standing ovation. That’s where the video ends, fading happily and suitably to black. We’ll miss you Steve. Read the New York Times obit here.
For another great Steve Jobs moment, don’t miss his inspiring Stanford 2005 graduation talk where he discussed his approach to living and urged the young graduates to “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish.” So far as commencement speeches go, it’s hard to beat this one.
Both video mentioned above appear in our Cultural Icons collection — a media collection that features great artists and thinkers speaking in their own words.
It’s a good time to be a fan of Haruki Murakami. Last month, his short story, “Town of Cats,” was published in The New Yorker. Later in October, his new book 1Q84 hits the stands in the US. (Watch the book trailer above.) And, right now, the British bookmaker Ladbrokes is giving Murakami 7‑to‑1 odds of winning the Nobel Prize in Literature, to be named tomorrow morning. They’re strong odds. But the Syrian poet Adonis (read three poems here) is the actual favorite right now with 4‑to‑1 odds. Stay tuned. We’ll know more soon …
After dismissing the popular notion that scientists are unable to truly appreciate beauty in nature, physicist Richard Feynman (1918 — 1988) explains what a scientist really is and does. Here are some of the most memorable lines from this beautiful mix of Feynman quotes and (mostly) BBC and NASA footage:
People say to me, Are you looking for the ultimate laws of physics? — No, I’m not. I’m just looking to find out more about the world.
When we’re going to investigate [nature], we shouldn’t predecide what it is we’re trying to do, except to find out more about it.
I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it’s much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers that might be wrong. (…) I don’t feel frightened by not knowing things, by being lost in the mysterious universe without having any purpose.
When you doubt and ask, it gets a little harder to believe.
By profession, Matthias Rascher teaches English and History at a High School in northern Bavaria, Germany. In his free time he scours the web for good links and posts the best finds on Twitter.
We're hoping to rely on loyal readers, rather than erratic ads. Please click the Donate button and support Open Culture. You can use Paypal, Venmo, Patreon, even Crypto! We thank you!
Open Culture scours the web for the best educational media. We find the free courses and audio books you need, the language lessons & educational videos you want, and plenty of enlightenment in between.
Today is John Lennon’s would-be 71st birthday, and it jogged my memory, reminding me of this lengthy 1970 interview. Conducted by Jann Wenner, the founder of Rolling Stone Magazine, this important conversation (listen via iTunes) was recorded shortly after The Beatles’ bitter breakup, and the emotions were still running high. Running over 3 hours, it is one of Lennon’s most extensive interviews, touching not just on the breakup, but also on art and politics, drugs, Yoko, primal therapy and more. It’s not always flattering, but it gives you a good feel for the man and the great artist.
