Coming back to the grind and the stress after a holiday can be a real downer. I know it isn't Christmas; but, I found myself frowning this morning on the way to the office. Post Holiday funk, I suppose. Then, I remembered the ending of this wonderful movie about appreciation for the gift of life, and all that goes with it. This scene always makes me smile. Sometimes, it isn't about the happiness of the experience. It is about the happiness of living. Have a great day.
Roku 3 - Digital Media Receivers - CNET Reviews.
There was a time when I thought I would never watch more TV on the Internet than on my Cable or Satellite connected sets. However, with the advent of Roku and Google TV, that time has come. I have a Roku box at the office, and, for day to day news, and occasional leisure watching, the Roku is more than I need. I cancelled a $70 a month cable box, and haven't missed it. The Roku provides Netflix, Hulu Plus, Smithsonian Channel, The Twit network, and many other channels that stream through my Intenet connection. Now, the box is being upgraded with a dual WiFi antenna for better connectivity, and a faster processor and better interface. Pay cable is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. Jump on the Internet TV bandwagon. You won't miss anything.
Most of us are familiar with the movie A Christmas Story. I actually have an Old Man Lamp action figure in my den. Most of us, however, don't know that the story came from a chapter in a Jean Shepherd book. This reading is from his radio show on Christmas Eve 1974. Take ten minutes and let the magic voice carry you back in time.
If you can watch this without goosebumps, you have no soul. Kenneth Branagh, giving King Harry's speech on St. Crispin's Day, before his vastly outnumbered band of Englishmen face the French is one of the best acting performances of all time. Shakespeare's words are timeless.
This incredible video was actually shot from a video camera on Curiosity as it floated to the Martian surface. It has been stitched together and enhanced from 4 fps to 30 fps, 1080P; but, it is exactly what you would have seen, and heard, if you were hanging on to the parachute ropes. Watching the heat shield fall to the surface, and watching the cameras pan around on the surface is really stunning.
One of my guilty pleasures growing up was the Andy Griffith show. Its sweet innocence, and down home values, warmed my heart. Andy is gone; but, comedy routines like this one from 1953, live on. This is Andy's description of a football game. Classic.
Metropolis Restored: A Sci-Fi Cinematic Masterpiece Is Whole Once Again. Think Frankenstein meets Scientist's dead wife, who meets 1984, and you have the plot line for the first great scifi film, Metropolis. Now, you can watch the original Director's cut, thanks to modern technology, and an old print. Of course, you must suspend disbelief, and believe that a cyborg named Maria would lead a rebellion of the working class against the repressive regime running things. Nowadays, the cyborgs would join up and kill all the humans; but, a minority of rebels would live in squalor while they fought bravely against the machine.
Saturday morning heads up. One of the classic movie scenes of all time: the euthanasia scene from Soylent Green. After we have destroyed our planet, will we become cannibals? Soylent Green.
Silence Is Golden - NYTimes.com. This Maureen Dowd piece nails it. Our society has forgotten the pleasure of silence. You know, that brief interlude in which no one is speaking, howling, singing, yelling, or otherwise breaking the powerful contemplative mood that silence brings. It is now early morning, and I am learning about what is happening in the world before anyone is stirring, and the only sound I hear is the tapping of the keys on my keyboard. I love the silence. It is instructive that the avant garde now in movie making is a movie that contains long, silent passages, in which the actors merely do what people do. Siri, the newest innovation that allows you to talk to your smartphone when you aren't talking on your smartphone, and the Android alternative, Jeannie, are merely symptoms of a larger disease. Are we so afraid of our thoughts that we must fill every moment with talking or other sound? When I was growing up, the holiest men were thought to be the monks who lived their lives in silence. If I have to interact with machines to get my work done, and to find out the necessary information to live my life, please let me do it in silence.
Soylent Green Closing Scene A mid-week reminder of the consequences if we fail to take care of our planet. And, the Pastoral Symphony is one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever composed.
