movies

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Documentaries I Like: Wesley Willis's Joy Rides - It's A Rock-You-Mentary

So yesterday I posted The Late Movies: Rock On, Wesley Willis, featuring some of Wesley Willis's bizarre-but-awesome music. But the real treat comes today, when you can watch an entire documentary about Wesley Willis online -- this week only. (Later, you'll have to buy the DVD.) The new documentary is called Wesley Willis's Joy Rides, and I think you should watch it. Surprise: Wesley Willis was a skilled visual artist. His drawings, featured in this film, have a powerful architectural style,... READ ON

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Pee-Wee Herman's 1988 Christmas Special: Streaming Online!

Remember Pee-Wee Herman's 1988 Christmas Special? It featured an insanely long list of guest-stars, including: Annette Funicello, Frankie Avalon, Grace Jones, k.d. lang, Dinah Shore, Little Richard, Cher, Magic Johnson, Zsa Zsa Gabor, the Del Rubio Triplets, Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey, Joan Rivers, and Charo. It was a hell of a production, and as far as Christmas specials go, it's a classic. In the special, Pee-Wee makes an absurdly long list of presents he wants from Santa (using his Conky 2000... READ ON

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4-Year-Old Urges: "Give a Chance 4 Peace"

So my friend T'chaka was visiting his sister and his four-year-old niece, Aurora, last December. Aurora began a stream-of-consciousness rant about the need for more peace in the world. Well, rant is maybe too strong a word -- it's more a complex set of observations about world history, politics, peace, money, and bedtime, as seen by a four-year-old. T'chaka captured Aurora's message on his phone, turning it into a song by singing along and playing improvised guitar. In the year since, T'chaka created... READ ON

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Time Lapse: 5 Years of Graffiti in 2 Minutes

The video below, by Arnaud Jourdain, is a time lapse animation showing five years' worth of graffiti at 5a Rue de Verneuil in Paris. By shooting thousands of high-resolution photos over a period of years, the filmmakers were able to reconstruct the graffiti process and even separate out layers of graffiti, creating an impressive 3D effect, seeming to fly through exploded layers. It's really neat. After the jump, check out the Google auto-translation in English (actually pretty decent) of the French... READ ON

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Symphony of Science: 'Our Place in the Cosmos' (ft. Sagan, Dawkins, Kaku, Jastrow)

"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known." -Carl Sagan. Here's the third movement of the growing Symphony of Science, a series of songs that use scientists' spoken voices auto-tuned to make them sing. In this latest installment, the focus is again on the vastness of the cosmos and our place in it. The video also includes a few clips from my favorite film of all time, Koyaanisqatsi (more on that later this week). If you're a fan of the original song ("A Glorious Dawn" featuring Carl... READ ON

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Airing TONIGHT on PBS - NOVA: What Are Dreams?

NOVA: What Are Dreams? airs on PBS stations in the US tonight, Tuesday, November 24. This is a terrific documentary on dreams, packed with specifics on the science of sleep. If you've ever wondered about sleepwalking, why we dream, or why sleep is necessary, this is the documentary for you! Note: after the air date, the entire program will be available for streaming for one full week on the Nova: What Are Dreams website. I'm a big fan of NOVA, the science program aired on PBS stations in the US. I... READ ON

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Required Viewing: "Powers of Ten"

If you've never seen the classic short "Powers of Ten," I've got a treat for you. Created in 1968 for IBM by Charles and Ray Eames (yes, of Eames Chair fame), the film has a very simple premise: start at a static scene, then start zooming out, at one "power of ten" per ten seconds -- for example, from 102 meters to 103 meters. As we zoom out, we see the earth, the solar system, the galaxy, and so forth. Once we reach 1024 meters (the size of the observable universe), the camera then begins a faster... READ ON

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Mel Blanc: Man of a Thousand Voices

Although you may have never seen Mel Blanc's face, you've definitely heard his voice -- he voiced hundreds of classic cartoon characters including Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Speedy Gonzales, Barney Rubble, Foghorn Leghorn, and bunches more. Known as the "man of a thousand voices," he actually claims roughly 400 voices in the video below -- a late 80's interview with David Letterman (Blanc died in 1989). In the interview, Letterman asks Blanc how he develops the characters' voices. Blanc replies, "They... READ ON

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Inside Oliver Sacks's Brain (As He Listens to Music)

Neurologist Oliver Sacks prefers Bach to Beethoven -- I'm just the opposite. But enough about me, let's talk Sacks. Dr. Sacks volunteered to have his brain scanned while listening to each composer's music. What's interesting is that listening to Bach has a visible effect on his brain, which isn't present when listening to Beethoven -- more regions of the brain "light up" to demonstrate his engagement with the Bach. What's particularly remarkable is that even when Sacks doesn't consciously know which... READ ON

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Know Your Meme: Auto-Tune

The Know Your Meme Blog has a great introduction to the history and technology behind Auto-Tune, the audio effect first introduced in 1997 and made popular when Cher's single "Believe" made heavy use of the effect in a way that was never intended -- emphasizing the warbling of pitch correction rather than simply using it to sweeten slightly sour notes. A bit from Know Your Meme's article: With the expense of the Antares Auto-Tune plugin and the relative lack of social networking sites at the time,... READ ON