air america’s maiden flight
today, air america, a radio station styled as a liberal counterbalance to the conservative radio shows that have dominated the airwaves of late goes live. at noon al franken’s “o’franken factor” airs. some other host’s include chuck d and janeane garofalo. in new york the broadcast can be heard on WLIB 1190AM. the broadcasts can also be streamed though the website.
waka waka waka
no that’s not a fossie bear punch line, that’s the pacman sound! found a nice piece at gamespot documenting the history of video game sound design and music. interesting if your into that sort of thing. they provide some sound files to take you back to that simpler time of painfully repetitive midi bleeps. they did leave out one of my favorites though: “valkyrie is about to die” (which i could not find, but found these gauntlet runners up 1, 2). enjoy.
the new atlantis
named after a francis bacon fable about a society living with the benefits and challenges of advanced science and technology, this new journal of science is really worth a look. lots of great articles centering on technology and society. one in particular was of great interest to the nonist in me. it’s about the clash of the scientist and the poet as pillars of wisdom. or if you take it one step further the clash between the romantic and practical within us. in any case, LOTS of good reading here.
killing time with fantasy
as mentioned in my earlier post been having a tough time finding anything interesting to share lately. one thing that did catch my eye was the trailer for the japanese live action anime casshern. looks pretty cool. hardly seems post worthy by itself though does it? so i’ve decided to just post a bunch of trailers today, some of which, alas, are for flicks that will most likely not see american distribution, like casshern.
seems that on the whole there are a ton of fantasy type movies coming sown the pike, lot’s of sci-fi, etc. sundance actually had quite a few entries of the sci fi bent this year, which is rare. (especially of note was primer which won top honors.) does this mean we are culturally going into a cycle of escapism? we are hating reality and need a good ol’ fashioned “calgon, take me away” experience? or is it just the LOTR effect? who knows? i personally like big strange fantasy epics, love sci-fi (though admittedly most of it turns out rotten), a throw back from the sit at home, high, watching movies days i guess. in any case, let’s see what we have here:
immortel which looks to be a weird mixture of bleak futurecrush and eqyptian myth. it’s french. what was the last french sci-fi flick anyway? the third element does not count. speaking of which has anyone ever seen le dernier combat? was luc bessons first. a fine low budget post apocalyptic film.
i robot from the assimov classic. hard to have any hope for this one, looks awfully shiny, like a puffy video, and yes there is the whole fresh prince factor which is hard to overlook. seems very A.I. to me which sucked eggs, but who knows?
the day after tomorrow. not sure really what this is all about. modern entry into the airport / blazing inferno / earthquake disaster film cannon, minus the cannonball run like list of washed up stars? guess this one kind of goes against the “escapism” theory huh? unless it’s all wrapped up real neatly with a mission accomplished banner or whatever.
devilman this ones based on an anime series i think.
aliens vs. predator. well folks, as we all know very well this movie will stink. has to. i recently watched the last two sequels in the alien saga and was so underwhelmed i found myself grumbling at my own stupidity. i can never fathom the mindset of sequel makers. aliens, matrix, terminator, these are all movies that created an alternate universe of sorts and then proceeded to tell the same exact story multiple times. why for instance did they never capitalize on the actual future which they only let you glimpse a few times in terminator. they could have followed that story forward in time instead of doing that go back, save someone, preserve the future thing over and over. imagine strange quiet dramas set in these alternate universes… that would be capitalizing in a good way. why don’t they ever do that? the animatrix came close i guess. why not do a black and white thriller that just happens to be set in the mad max universe, that kind of thing… ah well, never happen. next-
steamboy. mmmmmmmm, purty.
troy. must admit, love a good historical epic. this could be amazing but will most likely stink up the theater. after all brad pit is no peter o’toole or derek jakobi.
the villiage. new m. knight shamalamadingdong film.
appleseed. more anime. looks like a video game.
wonderful days. this one already came and went. maybe it can be found on dvd? no clue. it’s korean and gorgeous looking.
the incredibles. pixar at it again. tom, wasn’t this a comic? sure it will be great.
ghost in a shell 2. not sure what’s up with this stupid design, but ghost in a shell was cool, so i’ll give it the benefit of the doubt.
kill bill vol.2. didn’t see the first volume yet, but am linking to this japanese trailer because it is so much cooler than the american version.
all right. that’s enough. the time has indeed been killed. anyone want to post some trailers i left out that would be swell.
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art of the title screen
came across this site which collects thousands of title screens from films. not sure what use this is, perhaps typographers looking for inspiration, but, truth be told i’ve been having a hell of a time finding anything remotely interesting to post of late. so… movie title screens galore.
from the horse’s mouth
there has been a lot of hubbub these past weeks about richard clarke, beginning with his 60 minutes interview and culminating wednesday with his testimony before the 9/11 commission, and rightly so.
even though others have come out in the past year to shine a light on the bush administration’s agenda or to simply voice serious concerns, they have been medium-sized blips on the media radar, with doubt about their intentions quickly sown… book deals and such. clarke’s words seem to carry more weight, his character harder to assassinate, his long bipartisan service plain to see. he comes across as someone fed-up enough to be honest. his testimony resonates in a way that no finely tooled policy speech or bout of podium semantics ever does, because he says what we intuitively suspect, that yes, the administration is a festering boil, but that it’s a festering boil attached to a diseased beast, the political machine itself.
well, o.k. he didn’t say that exactly, i’m not quoting. that is why i’m posting this actually. there is a whole lot of editorializing on this subject right now, the back and forth is heated, the sound bites whizzing past like rubber bullets. and, as always, if you missed the testimony or the interviews your not likely to get a full picture. so here are some transcripts:
1) the 60 minutes interview
2) on frontline
3) speaking with the guardian uk
4) his 9/11 commission testimony
of course clarke is only one voice, for a real understanding of not only why his testimony feels unique but, you know, the actual issues at hand you might want to check out some of the other speakers, for instance:
1) george tenet, director of the c.i.a.
2) richard armitage, deputy secretary of state
3) rumsfeld
4) powell
5) madeleine albright
6) william cohen, former secretary of defence
now the commission will roll on for a while longer with more heavies scheduled to speak and some very notable exceptions. clinton and gore have agreed to appear before the panel with no time limit (as they ought to considering they are both lowly civilians at this point) whether under oath or not i’m not sure. what about bush and cheney? well, they have agreed to meet with the two heads of the commission, not the whole panel, behind closed doors, not publicly, and for a limited period only, said period decided by them. i guess all the testimony the commission got from airline security personnel, port authority employees, and new york firefighters ought to really shed all the light needed, i mean what special knowledge could the president and vice president of the united states really have to add? christ.
meanwhile condoleezza rice, as i’m sure you’re aware, has refused to testify under oath, for reasons having something nebulously to do with principle. yeah, this is a great instance to stand on principle, “just because”. good choice condi. we all admire your principled stand so much. don’t let that damned commission push you around! the truth is, of course, that she is not legally bound to testify under oath and so unless she’s subpoenaed, or it’s a public relations necessity, she will not. and this is actually par for the course here, which, now that a few big names have sat in the chair, everyone is forgetting. the commission has been resisted every step of the way, having to fight for time, testimony, and documents it needs to do it’s job. the whole thing is sickening… dealing with a VERY diseased beast, no question.
if your interested in the commission you might want to get a sense of who is actually wearing the top hats in this particular circus. the meaningfulness of this whole process might even be questioned i suppose. i find it hard to believe that any Truth will be revealed, at least not with any one who has anything to lose resisting and anyone who has anything to gain pointing the finger. this search for truth will be a great exercise in reading between the lines i would guess. whether any valuable answers will be found, or whether that is even the real point of all this i hesitate to guess.
in any case the commissions web site has a lot to offer. all testimony, including that of mayor bloomberg, governor pataki, people from the intelligence community, contractors, survivors, and victim’s families is offered in transcripts as well as video clips. they offer the submitted testimony of the rank and file, as well as their own initial reports. let’s hope this is real and yields something, however unlikely the diseased beasts track record makes it.
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the apparat
or gwb’s back door political machine and how it’s chugging along to create a one party state. don’t let the alarmist description fool you, this is a very thorough and provocative piece from the good folks over at cursor. give it a read.
faux city sounds
walk this virtual city and record some of the sounds you hear in your travels, then return home and mix a track from all the sounds. kind of cool. tried doing this in real life a while back and got a lot of muddled jumbled crap, then promptly lost my mini-disc player.
a good relationship is all about communication!
well, the world is getting smaller right? world wide web, imperialism, export of jobs, globalization, et-cetera ad vomitum… as such it would be in our best interests to start expanding our communication skills, right? right. begin by learning some valuable foreign phrases. then, brush up on your simple international gestures (with more here). then move on to more complex gestures. happy communicating.
the difference engine
charles babbage was smarter than you. check out this incredibly thorough look at his difference engine, the beautiful great grand dad in some ways of the little plastic box your running right now. lot’s of original drawings too.
the particle adventure
what is the world made of? what is matter? are atomic nuclei fundamental? what is antimatter? quarks? neutrinos? dark matter? and what the hell are baryons, mesons, and leptons?! find out the answer to all your particle related questions at the lawrence berkley national laboratory’s particle adventure website. or not, whatever.
piercing
a quiet, beautifully executed story of the familiar. loneliness- casual attraction- the hunt- the dance- repulsion- alienation. very nice, by david gaddis
explosive decompression for dummies
well, dearest reader, with a brave new world of moon bases and space tourism bearing down on us like a possessed paraplegic turtle i thought i’d try to assuage some of your fears about your new life in the vacuum of space. now, don’t you feel better?
puking properly, with panache
identifying the salad fork and balancing books on your head is so 18th century. we as modern folk need a different skill set to maneuver through our social landscape. hence: the etiquette of vomiting, courtesy of the modern drunkard. study well young jedi.
iraq’s bathroom walls
piss and vinnegar straight from the horse’s mouth. the sentiments of today’s iraqi as glimpsed in their graffiti. check out this very long list of transcribed scrawl (scroll down). fascinating.
the last word
new scientist has a nice question and answer section called the last word which seeks to clear up all those little mysteries which i know gnaw at you endlessly, like how long will astronauts’ footprints on the moon’s surface remain there or why do atomic bombs make mushroom-shaped clouds or does getting beheaded hurt as well as other more practical questions. it’s like the straight dope but more scieneriffic. if your particular itch isn’t scratched in the archives ask your own question.
the rasterbator
fantastique web tool. upload any image and get HUGE, tiled, printable, rasterized version in return. perfect for d.i.y. political activists with sandwich boards to fill and soho “missed the boat” bill posters alike. possibly a great source of hipster wallpaper as well. cool.
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