film & technology — #
Brain Farm Cinema’s Reel showcases their aerial cinematography chops.
29 July 10
culture — #
This video of four guys turf dancing in the Oakland rain is incredible. Does dance this good belong on a stage or is this the perfect venue?
sustainability & technology — #
Study: Solar power is cheaper than nuclear — and, shall we say, less politically charged…
film & culture — #
A really great interview with Bill Murray
You have a lot of lines in this one that get tons of laughs I doubt were on the page. It’s all in the rhythm, the delivery. How do you pitch something like that? How do you make something out of nothing?
I have developed a kind of different style over the years. I hate trying to re-create a tone or a pitch. Saying, “I want to make it sound like I made it sound the last time”? That’s insane, because the last time doesn’t exist. It’s only this time. And everything is going to be different this time. There’s only now. And I don’t think a director, as often as not, knows what is going to play funny anyway. As often as not, the right one is the one that they’re surprised by, so I don’t think that they have the right tone in their head. And I think that good actors always—or if you’re being good, anyway—you’re making it better than the script. That’s your fucking job. It’s like, Okay, the script says this? Well, watch this. Let’s just roar a little bit. Let’s see how high we can go.
food & culture — #
Apparently, Andrew Zimmern of Bizarre Foods was heavily into drugs and alcohol and squatting in a vacant building in lower Manhattan before he turned his life around. Amazing story.
language & culture — #
Does Language Influence Culture?
Do the languages we speak shape the way we think? Do they merely express thoughts, or do the structures in languages (without our knowledge or consent) shape the very thoughts we wish to express?
Take “Humpty Dumpty sat on a…” Even this snippet of a nursery rhyme reveals how much languages can differ from one another. In English, we have to mark the verb for tense; in this case, we say “sat” rather than “sit.” In Indonesian you need not (in fact, you can’t) change the verb to mark tense.
In Russian, you would have to mark tense and also gender, changing the verb if Mrs. Dumpty did the sitting. You would also have to decide if the sitting event was completed or not. If our ovoid hero sat on the wall for the entire time he was meant to, it would be a different form of the verb than if, say, he had a great fall.
In Turkish, you would have to include in the verb how you acquired this information. For example, if you saw the chubby fellow on the wall with your own eyes, you’d use one form of the verb, but if you had simply read or heard about it, you’d use a different form.
Do English, Indonesian, Russian and Turkish speakers end up attending to, understanding, and remembering their experiences differently simply because they speak different languages?
26 July 10
sustainability & culture — #
SnapGoods is like NetFlix for stuff you only use rarely and probably shouldn’t be buying if it’s just going to waste space in your life and have cost the planet resources to get it to you.
culture & life — #
Do you ever wonder how many people have ever lived?
nature — #
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Insect Poop
For one, did you know it’s called frass?
food & san-francisco — #
Prospect serves beautiful, seasonal food in a modern setting in downtown San Francisco. The dishes tonight showed so much clarity; you knew exactly what Executive Chef Ravi Kapur was going for. Not a single wrong note the whole meal.
parenthood & photography — #
Mila’s Daydreams showcases a mother’s fanciful imaginings of her daughter’s daytime naps.
This blog is my maternity leave hobby. While my baby is taking her nap, I create scene around her and take quick snap photos.
I use only few minutes per picture, including creating idea, implementation and editing, ‘cause I don’t want to disturb her sleeping and most of my time is for my family. My camera is small and inexpensive Canon IXUS 750.
food — #
This recipe for a Radler and Spicy Chips seems like a pleasant way to enjoy a warm summer evening.
24 July 10
photography & life — #
On Childhood is my ongoing photographic essay documenting the lessons kids have to teach us about living in the moment and about our larger cultural contexts.