Cigarettes & Red Vines - Featured Blog of Interest

I'm not quite sure how i am just now discovering PT Anderson's gem of a blog, but here it is.

Link:  Cigarettes and Red Vines - The Definitive Paul Thomas Anderson Resource since 1998

Arts & Crass: The Highbrow Lowbrow Film Podcast - with Cullen and Tod

The Highbrow Lowbrow Film Podcast with Cullen Wade and Tod Gorman

Tod (arthouse film-school rebel) and Cullen (cultured gorehound) subject each other to films they wouldn't watch otherwise.
WARNING: All films are spoiled!

It's about this simple:  Tod loves arthouse films. 
                                   Cullen loves horror films. 
                                   Tod hasn't seen many horror films. 

                                   Cullen hasn't seen many arthouse films. 

                                   Cultural exchange ensues.

That's right, yours truly and Cullen Wade, good friend/fellow cinephile (aka film nerd) and biab contributor, have been recording and broadcasting a BRILLIANTLY UNIQUE (ummm?) film podcast for nearly a year now.  Yes, I am just now getting it posted to the blog.

It has been engaging, educational, cinematically challenging and an all around positive experience. Actually, to ruin any cool I may have about personal projects, I'm  having a blast with this one.  What better forum could a hopeless film nerd ask for? - especially counter to one of my elite favorite film-banter partners.  And now I can at least fake some level of savvy dirty knowledge of cult horror/gore with the best of them - well, at least not sound like a complete dumdum for about five minutes of passionate horror-film chat.
You actually could have heard us discuss all of this and much more in the episode 10 anniversary round-up, had we not so very sadly lost episodes 7-11 in the ever fatal mac hard-drive crash (unedited and not backed up - that's right, kids).  So, there are technically 13 episodes, one of which is a two-part special edition, and two more soon to be posted (however, 6 episodes shall remain a mystery, at least for the time being - there is an unpublished pilot/Ep.1).  So, that's 16 episodes minus 6 for a soon to be grand total of 10 released episodes.  Wow, that was probably unnecessary.

I will continue to embed each episode as a running series on boy in a box, but you can find all episodes streaming or as downloads at Arts & Crass: The Highbrow Lowbrow Film Podcast blog, on iTunes, Facebook and a handful of other places.  As with any venture, I'm sure we got off to a rocky start, being relatively new to voice radio, but we hit our stride relatively quickly and naturally (i think).  We have quite a few less "ums" and "uhs" than early on, and ever evolving dialogue and cinematic analysis - with heart.  Hope you enjoy - at least a little.

Water Flowing on the Surface of Mars - Image of Intrigue

Researchers recently revealed the first evidence for the current existence of liquid water on Mars.

Link:  Scientific American Blog

Portishead - Roads - Song for the Day

"How Can it Feel This Wrong" - Posted by NY Times columnist and Princeton professor Paul Krugman to his blog - The Conscience of a Liberal - in response to the recent debt ceiling/spending cuts "compromise" passed by congress.

I do not join in the applause for the children of congress that supposedly came together to accomplish something, nor any other major participants. Shame, sadness, and disillusionment is what i have come away from the recent political (not legislative) debacle with - as we have observed from oh so far away.

Meet the Black Squirrel: The Ark in Space - Images of intrigue and Blog of Interest

Image Credit Flickr User James Martin Phelps

This is the black squirrel. Out of the squirrel population of the United States and Canada perhaps only one in ten thousand is black. However, this is not a separate species in itself. It is in fact a sub-group of the grey squirrel and, little by little their numbers are growing. In fact in some areas they outnumber the greys. However, this black coloring is not a recent trend among the squirrel community – research indicates that in the days before the European settlement of the America the black squirrel was probably much more numerous than the grey. 

I think that it has become apparent that i am slightly, and inexplicably, intrigued by squirrels. However, these little guys are pretty interesting regardless. On another "squirrel" note, i have discovered that the squirrels in Texas are the toughest, most independent, seemingly intelligent squirrels around - they have my full respects. I will post a few pics of our local gang soon.
And, yes, i am quite aware that this post has absolutely nothing to do with film, media, music, or even social/political affairs - maybe justified as photography. Oh well, i like squirrels. Follow the link below for more pictures and information on these fascinating critters.


Link/Blog of Interest:  The Ark in Space: A Compendium of Creatures

Where Is Now? The Paradox Of The Present - NPR Blog

by ADAM FRANK

The European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile captured this striking view of the nebula around the star cluster NGC 1929 within the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our own Milky Way separated by a mere 179,000 light years.

The night sky is a time machine. Look out and you look back in time. But this "time travel by eyesight" is not just the province of astronomy. It's as close as the machine on which you are reading these words. Your present exists at the mercy of many overlapping pasts. So where, then, is "now"?

As almost everyone knows, when you stare into the depths of space you are also looking back in time. Catch a glimpse of a relatively nearby star and you see it as it existed when, perhaps, Lincoln was president (if it's 150 light-years away). Stars near the edge of our own galaxy are only seen as they appeared when the last ice age was in full bloom (30,000 light-years away). And those giant pinwheel assemblies of stars called galaxies are glimpsed, as they existed millions, hundreds of millions or even billions of years in the past.

We never see the sky as it is, but only as it was.

Stranger still, the sky we see at any moment defines not a single past but multiple overlapping pasts of different depths. The star's image from 100 years ago and the galaxy image from 100 million years ago reach us at the same time. All of those "thens" define the same "now" for us.

The multiple, foliated pasts comprising our present would be weird enough if it was just a matter of astronomy. But the simple truth is that every aspect of our personal "now" is a layered impression of a world already lost to the past.

To understand how this works, consider the simple fact, discussed in last week's post, that all we know about the world comes to us via signals: light waves, sound waves and electrical impulses running along our nerves. These signals move at a finite speed. It always takes some finite amount of time for the signal to travel from the world to your body's sensors (and on to your brain).

A distant galaxy, a distant mountain peak, the not very distant light fixture on the ceiling and even the intimacy of a loved one's face all live in the past. Those overlapping pasts are times that you — in your "now" — are no longer a part of...

We live, each of us, trapped in our own now...

The reality that even light travels at a finite speed forces us to confront the strange fact that, at best, the present exists at the fractured center of many overlapping pasts.

So where, then, are we in time? Where is our "now" and how does it live in the midst of a universe comprised of so many "thens"?
For the full post, follow the link below.

Link:  Where is Now? The Paradox of the Present - NPR Blog

Today's Total Eclipse Of The Moon: How To Watch - NPR News Blog

Those of us in North America won't be able to see it happen "live," but if all goes well we can catch a webcast of what's going to be "an unusually long total lunar eclipse" today.

Basically, every continent except North America will get a view. Adding to the celestial drama: Spaceweather.com says "exhaust from the erupting volcano in Chile could alter the appearance of the eclipse." The moon may look darker than in other eclipses.

Now, for those who can't go out to watch, there's this option: the Sky Watchers Association of North Bengal, India, is hosting a live webcast.

Check it out:

Watch live streaming video from swansiliguri at livestream.com

For more information and the complete Blog from NPR follow the Link:  NPR News Blog
This post is actually more for the sake of my nephew, Henry, but enjoy the intrigue nonetheless.

Resources for New Screenwriters & Filmmakers: Kurt Vonnegut at the Blackboard

Blog of Interest:  Resources for New Screenwriters & Filmmakers: Kurt Vonnegut at the Blackboard - Lapham’s Quarter...

Link:  "Kurt Vonnegut at the Blackboard"  -  Lapham’s Quarterly  

A Beautiful Tune for a Grey Day, and Blog of Interest - Some Kind of Awesome

Just a beautiful tune for a grey day... thanks to a good friend for bringing this my way. Damon Albarn and part of the Gorillaz performed this xx cover live on BBC Radio 1 in November, 2010. It was posted to my newest blog of interest, Some Kind of Awesome - highly recommended music blog with endless posts of live performances and audio tracks from some of today's more innovative and progressive musicians. Enjoy.

Links:

Some Kind of Awesome

BBC Radio 1

Beatnik Wanton - Image of intrigue

Thanks to one of my favorite blogs, If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger... , for the image - too funny, and culturally intriguing on many levels. Follow the link for more pop culture photographs and images.

P is for Pulp #58

Beatnik Wanton (by Don Elliot, Corinth Publications: 1964)

Blogs of Interest - Flickeringmyth.com, and The Frustrated Ramblings of an Aspiring Filmmaker

Frustrated Ramblings: 3D - The Future of Cinema?

DJ Haza with more "Frustrated Ramblings Of An Aspiring Filmmaker"...

3D seems to be the next big thing in cinematic leaps forward, but is it really all it’s cracked up to be? Bullets seemingly fly past your head, explosions leap off the screen and the film world surrounds you in three different dimensions. Or so we are led to believe. Is 3D the eye-watering future of cinema or a cinematic gimmick that just makes your eyes water?

There have been some real big endorsements of 3D in film with James Cameron’s Avatar (2009) smashing all box office records and Martin Scorsese telling The Guardian of his admiration for 3D. The Oscar-winning Mr. Scorsese told Mark Kermode, “I always liked 3D. I mean we are sitting here in 3D. We are in 3D. We see 3D. So why not?” Scorsese has just finished shooting his most recent project, Hugo Cabret, which unusually for him is a family friendly film and his first shot in 3D. Scorsese has stated that it has allowed him to “rethink cinema” and has “liberated” his filmmaking. He continues by assuring film fans that he hasn’t resorted to using the new technology as a “gimmick”. Only time will tell.

James Cameron’s Avatar (2009) is hailed by some as the pinnacle of 3D after its huge success at box office’s worldwide. Some even say it redefined cinema and dawned a new age of 3D filmmaking. However, the story was appalling in my opinion and no matter how much CGI, 3D or other effects were thrown at me I was bored. Five minutes in I had lost all faith in the film and it was never reinstated. My eyes grew sore, my patience thin and I wanted the film to end as soon as possible. To this day this is my only real 3D cinematic experience and I couldn’t care if it was my last...

To read more, follow the link: Flickeringmyth.com

For more from DJ Haza, you can follow the link to his blog: The Frustrated Ramblings of an Aspiring Filmmaker.

Always happy to have insightful support on one of my paramount (pardon the pun) vexations with contemporary cinema. Indeed, Cameron is a gray-haired techie with an elementary mind for story (to say the least) and a 4 yr old's egocentric sense of self. He has never, by any stretch or assertion, aspired to artistic innovation or thematic wisdom (except perhaps in his own mind's eye). Yet, his cause for 3D imagery and video game ascetic has universally captivated the studio interests - and giving lobotomized children a warhead, calling it a toy, and asking them to be creative with it is never a good idea. As for Scorsese, Burton, and other self-aware filmmakers embracing the new notion of three dimensions in cinema, i am bewildered and a bit saddened. The illusion has always been there, by the way (an integral function of cinematic artistry) - the new 3D simply puts your creative mind to rest with less participation and honest stimulation. That's right, Cameron and the studios are assuming the audience (YOU and ME) stupid and inadequate to play a participatory role in the cinematic experience, and, as of yet, they have not been proven wrong by the masses. Thanks to DJ Haza and Flickeringmyth for the "Frustrated Ramblings." I feel your pain.

The Arab Parrot - Highly Recommended Blog/ Images of Intrigue

One of my close friends and Master of all things pop culture surreal (an invaluable media resource) recently tuned me in to this blog. I must say wow, haha, and intriguing - I can't quit checking it out. Think urban art, Andy Warhol, paparazzi, street photography, performance art, image journal, gritty, soft, voyeurism, communal, hipster pretense, urban soul, potential brilliance, potential pointlessness. Actually, maybe I should let this one speak for itself. Enjoy.

The Arab Parrot

Two Monks of Different Orders: Images of Intrigue

Dylan meets the Bishop of Rome

I nabbed this image from one of the finer blogs that I have come across: If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger, There'd Be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats (perhaps the best title as well). It is #13 from the series, Orpheus in Action.

I wonder which of these men carries more sadness and wisdom - and which one is the better bullshitter? I wouldn't want to play cards at that table.

Tom Waits - Images of Cool

“If I exorcise my devils, well my angels may leave too.”

–Tom Waits

The Selvedge Yard - Interesting blog and excellent archive of images from 20th century American pop culture.

Tom Waits image archive - Just because he's Tom Waits. Need I say more?