Last year, filmmakers Will Hoffman, Daniel Mercadante, and Julius Metoyer III produced their first conceptual video based on a RadioLab episode called “Words.” Now the trio is back, playing on ideas explored in a new RadioLab episode, Desperately Seeking Symmetry, which meditates on how “symmetry shapes our very existence–from the origins of the universe, to what we see when we look in the mirror.” You can watch their latest video above, and stream below the radio episode upon which it is based. And if you’re not familiar with RadioLab, a program that’s changing the medium, then definitely check out this profile in The New York Times.
So Beautiful or So What – Paul Simon’s 12th solo album (and his first release since 2006) hit the streets and ether last week. Critics are calling it his best album since The Rhythm of the Saints (1990), if not Graceland (1986). And it all starts out with “Getting Ready for Christmas Day,” a song that works well outside the conventions of your usual Christmas song. As The Telegraph reminds us, the song is overwhelmingly secular, even a tad political:
I got a nephew in Iraq
It’s his third time back
But it’s ending up the way it began
With the luck of a beginner
He’ll be eating turkey dinner
On some mountain top in Pakistan.
And it’s written by someone outside the Christian faith, though that never stopped Neil Diamond, Barbara Streisand or Carole King from knocking out a Christmas tune. If there is a spiritual element, it perhaps comes down to this: Quite catchily, the song’s chorus builds around excerpts from a 1941 sermon by the Rev. J.M. Gates, an influential preacher who became the most recorded Gospel singer before World War II. Get more on Gates and his sampled sermon here.
Today, we’re offering three videos that accompany this song. First, a splendid animation featured above. Next, the officially released video. And finally a live performance recorded on The Colbert Report late last year.
We have all seen or experienced it. When traveling at the right speeds, bikes can practically steer themselves, remaining upright and defying the pull of gravity. Physicists thought they figured out this minor mystery long ago. But a new paper (read the PDF here) by Andy Ruina (Cornell University) and Jim Papadopoulos (University of Wisconsin — Stout) challenges the conventional wisdom. This video, which comes to us courtesy of Science Friday, explains…
Morgan Spurlock’s newest documentary, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, exposes the myriad ways in which popular media is almost wholly sponsored, leased, bought and branded by powerful corporations. Ironically — and intentionally — Spurlock made sure his documentary would also be almost wholly sponsored, leased, bought and branded by powerful corporations. In his very funny TED talk, Spurlock (Super Size Me, 30 Days) explains how he furthered his experiment in “pure transparency” by encouraging sponsorships of, you guessed it, his very funny TED talk.
Confused? That’s because pure transparency is a lot easier to envision than execute. Find out why starting at minute 6:18.
Sheerly Avni is a San Francisco-based arts and culture writer. Her work has appeared in Salon, LA Weekly, Mother Jones, and many other publications. You can follow her on twitter at @sheerly.
The vintage video above is an excerpt from a 16 mm home movie showing President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on January 20, 1941, the day of his Third Inauguration. This silent color movie was shot by FDR’s son-in-law (Clarence) John Boettiger, who was then working for the Motion Picture Association of America, and the quality of this rare footage is quite outstanding. Watch the full 14-minute version here.
FDR can first be seen at 2:45, heavily supported by his oldest son James. This is one of the rare moments on film where Roosevelt can actually be seen walking, and it’s obvious how difficult it was for him to walk after polio left him paralyzed from the hips down in 1921. Next, FDR is seen on the presidential platform with his wife Eleanor and Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, taking the Oath of Office and giving his Inaugural Address. The full text of the address can be read courtesy of Yale Law School, and a high-resolution scan of the Inauguration Ceremonies Program has been uploaded by The Library of Congress.
FDR was the first American president to successfully run for a third term due to the precarious international situation in 1941. (Get the audio file of FDR’s State of the Union from January 6, 1941 here). After George Washington declined to run for a third term in 1796, it had become an unwritten rule to follow his lead. But it was not until the 22nd Amendment from 1947/1951 (“No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.”) that this restriction was enshrined into law. FDR was, of course, elected for a fourth term in 1945, but died of a massive stroke on April 12, 1945.
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.
Fans of filmmaker Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting, My Own Private Idaho, Milk) will love this 1982 short film – The Discipline of D.E. – based on a story by William S. Burroughs. And fans of Burroughs himself will particularly love its theme: The “D.E.” in the title stands for “Doing Easy,” a quasi-Buddhist notion best explained by the short’s koan-like closing question, “How fast can you take your time, kid?”
But it is to fans of Burroughs’ brief performance in the 1989 Van Sant classic Drugstore Cowboythat we dedicate this post. Playing the kind, ruined dope-fiend Father Murphy — i.e. himself — Burroughs perfectly embodied both the allure of his junky aesthetic and its underlying despair. In the six years between The Discipline of D.E. and Drugstore Cowboy, Van Sant seemed to have traded his youthful infatuation with a cult hero for the mournful appreciation of a wise but broken man. We highly recommend viewing both films together.
Finally, in our collection of Free Movies Online, you will also find Burroughs the Movie (a documentary by Howard Bruckner) andThe Junky’s Christmas, a shortclaymation film written by William S. Burroughs and produced by Francis Ford Coppola.
Sheerly Avni is a San Francisco-based arts and culture writer. Her work has appeared in Salon, LA Weekly, Mother Jones, and many other publications. You can follow her on twitter at @sheerly.
50 years ago (April 17, 1961), the CIA launched one of its famously botched operations. On that day, 1,500 CIA-trained Cuban exiles stormed the beaches of southern Cuba, beginning an invasion meant to topple Fidel Castro and his Soviet-aligned government.
The plan called for airstrikes to soften up Castro’s defenses, then for troops to land on the beaches along the Bahía de cochinos. But things went quickly awry. Ships got stuck in shallow Cuban waters. Bombers missed targets. Further airstrikes were called off. And ground forces were eventually left without support — as good as dead in the water.
The bungled affair, a stinging embarrassment for the young Kennedy administration, gets revisited in a new book by Jim Rasenberger, The Brilliant Disaster: JFK, Castro, and America’s Doomed Invasion of Cuba’s Bay of Pigs. The video above succinctly recaps the events at the Bay of Pigs with the help of historical footage and interviews with historical actors…
The result: A performance that is also the best possible argument for the cause it supports. We could say more, but again, the video speaks for itself.
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Sheerly Avni is a San Francisco-based arts and culture writer. Her work has appeared in Salon, LA Weekly, Mother Jones, and many other publications. You can follow her on twitter at @sheerly
When David Foster Wallace committed suicide in September 2008, he left behind the manuscript for The Pale King, an unfinished novel he started researching back in 1997, not long after the publication of Infinite Jest. The Pale King was finally published this past Friday (April 15), a date that was hardly arbitrary. Offering a lengthy meditation on boredom, The Pale King is set in a Midwestern I.R.S. office. And what was April 15th? The day when Americans traditionally file their taxes (although they have until the 18th this year).
The posthumous novel came together with the help of Wallace’s longtime editor, Michael Pietsch, who spent two years working through heaps of pages left in bins, drawers and wire baskets, hoping to turn this mass of material into the most complete novel possible. The interview with Pietsch above, along with this short piece in The New York Times, brings you inside the editing/making of The Pale King, which has already received some favorable reviews.
If you’re looking to get your hands on the book, give this some thought: If you register for a 14-day free trial with Audible.com, you can download pretty much any audio book in Audible’s catalogue for free. And that catalogue now includes The Pale King. Once the trial is over, you can continue your Audible subscription (as I did), or cancel it, and still keep the free book. The choice is yours…
It’s the second time we have Spain in time lapse video this week. First, the historical landscape of Central Spain. Now El Teide, Spain’s highest mountain, and the home to one of the world’s best observatories. This drop-dead gorgeous footage (click here to watch expanded version) was captured just days ago by Terje Sorgjerd, whose work can be followed on Facebook here. And, don’t miss our Facebook page, where you can get our daily posts and share intelligent media with family and friends…
This week, Yale University rolled out its latest batch of open courses. This release, the first since October 2009, features 10 new courses, and brings the total number to 35. Find the complete list here.
We have listed the new additions below, and added them to our ever-growing list of 350 Free Online Courses. As always, Yale gives you access to their courses in multiple formats. You can download lectures (usually in audio and video) from iTunes, or directly from the Yale web site. And then, of course, YouTube is a good third option…
Early Modern England: Politics, Religion, and Society under the Tudors and Stuarts — iTunes Video — iTunes Audio — YouTube — Web Site — Keith E. Wrightson
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