February 28, 2015
Anthony Daniels [Theodore Dalrymple] - Freud: Apostle of Freedom or Apostle of Enslavement?
February 27, 2015
February 26, 2015
Shooting Whitney Houston
"Robert Capa was famously supposed to have said that "if your photographs aren't good enough, you're not close enough,' but that rule apparently didn't apply in this room, where it was more like 'If you're too close, your photograph might be too good." For not the first time I was reminded that enforced mediocrity is one of the less attractive by-products of a democracy."
February 24, 2015
Sva Li Levy - Amorosa Anticipación / Anticipation of Love by Jorge Luis Borges (2015)
"This nearly 14-minute videopoem was conceived, shot and edited by Sva Li Levy, AKA syncopath. Initially I wondered how it was going to hold my attention for so long, especially considering that Borges’ original poem is fairly short, but I needn’t have worried: I found it mesmerizing, a brilliant concept beautifully executed. How better, indeed, to anticipate love than by going through a soapy car-wash, Coltrane’s “Love Supreme” playing on the radio? And then playing around with the radio dial and finding Borges’ poem mysteriously transmitted in different languages: Hebrew (read by Yitzhak Hyzkia), Spanish (Julio Martinez Mezansa), English (Yonatan Kunda, reading the Alastair Reid translation), Portuguese (Martha Rieger) and French (Ravit Hanan)."
Vogue - Watch Roller-Skating Vanessa Axente In Spring's Must-Have Jeans
February 23, 2015
The Story of Joy Division's "Unknown Pleasures" Album Design
"Former Factory Records graphic designer Peter Saville discusses the design + effect of Joy Division's iconic "Unknown Pleasures" album cover. This video is the first in a series on the new language of data and its impact on culture and business."
546: Burroughs 101
"This American Life host Ira Glass was never into William Burroughs. Didn't get why people love his writing so much. Then he heard this radio story that changed all that, partly because it wasn't very reverential about Burroughs. For Burroughs 101st birthday, we hear that story."
February 22, 2015
DNA - The Secret of Life, Episode 1
"The discovery of double-helix structure of DNA is to science what Mona Lisa is to painting. It has been called the single biggest discovery of all times. But it was not just stumbled upon - it was a race.
"Specifically, it was a race between two teams of young scientists working in Britain. Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins were trying to identify the structure by studying X-ray diffractions of the DNA molecule. But Jim Watson and Francis Crick studied a little bit of everything -- including, to the consternation of some, the work of their competitors. A few have gone so far as to accuse Watson of stealing Franklin's X-ray work."
Patti Smith on The Biggest Misconception About Her
"I’m not a celebrity, I’m a worker. I’ve always worked. I was working before people read anything about me, and the day they stopped reading about me, I was doing even more work. And the idea that if you’re a mother, you’re not doing anything—it’s the hardest job there is, being a mother or father requires great sacrifice, discipline, selflessness, and to think that we weren’t doing anything while we were raising a son or daughter is appalling."
February 20, 2015
The Sound of Progress (1988)
Pop Music according to Foetus, Coil, Current 93 & Test Dept: "A Dutch documentary (around '88) originally aired on Dutch television, as well as shown at the 1988 Rotterdam International Film Festival, with Interviews with J.G. Thirlwell, John Ballance, David Tibet and the guys from Test Dept and parts of live performances of the bands."
February 18, 2015
Doves Type
"No one seemed to notice him: A dark figure who often came to stand at the edge of London's Hammersmith Bridge on nights in 1916. No one seemed to notice, either, that during his visits he was dropping something into the River Thames. Something heavy."
February 17, 2015
February 16, 2015
Michael Caine - Master class on Acting In Film (1967)
"'The theatre is an operation with the scalpel, i think movie acting is an operation with the laser.' Michael Caine teaches in this documentary the art of movie acting to five young actors, who perform scenes from 'Alfie', 'Deathtrap' and 'Educating Rita'. He talks about how to perform in close-ups and extreme close-ups. He warns about the continuity dangers of smoking cigarettes or fiddling with props. He talks about screen tests, special effects, men who are cavalier about your safety and speaking to someone who is off camera. The movie camera is your best friend and most attentive lover, he says, even though you invariably ignore her."
Sia - Elastic Heart
Hat tip to the divine SondraK. Glad you're in the world.
February 14, 2015
February 10, 2015
February 09, 2015
February 08, 2015
Ralph Vaughan Williams - Household music (1920)
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958): Household music, three Preludes on Welsh Hymn tunes (1920).
No. 1. Crug-Y-Bar: Fantasia. Andante sostenuto
No. 2. St. Denio: Scherzo. Allegro vivace (Start at 4'.50'')
No. 3. Aberystwyth: Variations. Theme: Lento (Start at 8'.09'').
Northern Sinfonia directed by Richard Hickox.
Gospel of the Lots of Mary
"In the ancient world, a special type of book, sometimes called a 'lot book,' was used to try to predict a person's future. Luijendijk says that this is the only lot book found so far that calls itself a 'gospel' — a word that literally means 'good news'."
February 07, 2015
Louis Vuitton Spring/Summer 2015
"A beginning is a very delicate time."