More is a great short film created by Mark Osborne back in 1998, only to see Hollywood confused as to what to do with it. Then, five years later, he uploaded it to the internet and garnered a huge audience. It’s a great little 6 minute film that took a gigantic 6 months to create.
Oh, and it’s also the first stop motion film to use the IMAX format.
In his latest book, “The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet is Killing Our Culture”, Andrew Keen argues that Web 2.0 and the cult of the amateur is dumbing down our culture. I haven’t yet read the book, but it seems like he’s taking the conservative view with respect to social media and its positive effects on culture. There is one interesting quote from MSNBC, which states:
What scares Keen is that some Web 2.0 enthusiasts argue that we no longer need traditional media companies — the Internet provides artists and writers their own means of distribution and promotion. But publishers and record labels provide more than just distribution and promotion. In a sense, they’re the venture capitalists of culture, advancing money so that a writer can take years to research a great book or a band can concentrate on creating a strong body of music. Sure, there are lots of writers and bands who keep their day jobs and still create good work — but most of them wouldn’t mind an upfront check and some uninterrupted time. Even the most faithful bunch of MySpace friends will probably never be able to offer them that.
I’ve never thought of publishers and record labels as VCs, but, it does make sense. They’re betting on pretty risky investments — some of which are even more risky than the typical web startup.
Continuing with the theme of contrasting popular dance forms and music in American history, here is a wonderful video juxtaposing the Charleston dance with Daft Punk. Based on African rhythms, Charleston is one of the roots of Lindy Hop.
We see a lot of similarities between the Charleston and top rock form in breaking. In fact, Wikipedia states
Charleston can be danced solo, its simple, flexible basic step making it easy to concentrate on styling, improvisation and musicality.
which also perfectly describes breakdancing. Also, the high kicks in the beginning remind me of the outside crescent kick in Wushu.
I’ve always been fascinated by human movement. The frenetic energy, strength, and flexibility of the human body never ceases to amaze me. In the past, I’ve been involved in various different kinds of artistic movement, including ballroom dancing, breakdancing, martial arts, popping, and gymnastics. I’ve found that there is a core set of movements and skills that are common in all of these activities. After watching countless videos, I’m convinced that all of these activities can be tied together in a huge graph mapping out the various human movement characteristics.
This is why it’s always a joy to see two videos highlighting the similarities between two disparate movement arts. And, it’s even more satisfying when the two movements have radically different demographics and culture.
I stumbled upon an amazing Lindy Hop competition video that reminded me of the energy and movements in breakdancing. The video highlights a lot of fast and technical footwork similar to top rocking in breakdancing, in addition to the high flying acrobatics. Without further ado, this is the video of the Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown 2006:
Now, compare this to the footwork of Dyzee, one of my favorite breakers. Pay attention to the footwork after the first cut (the rest of the video is a bit low on quality). Dyzee just has one of the most fluid footworks I’ve seen, and mirrors the footwork seen in the Lindy Hop video.
Also, here is another oldie but goodie from Dyzee. I remember watching this in my college days:
UPDATE: And let’s not forget the original Lindy Hop style, captured in this video from “Hellzapoppin” (1941) featuring Frankie Manning (in the Mechanic’s Dungarees).
Michio Kaku, theoretical physicist and author of Hyperspace, talks about the different types of civilizations. He mentions that we’re not even on the scale with regards to the different types, since we have not yet harnessed the entire energy of our planet.
He also states that we’re in the most crucial part of human history, since we are currently making the transition between a Type 0 and Type 1 civilization, which is the hardest transition for a civilization. He claims that within about 100 years, we’ll be able to make this transition, and thus control the Earth.
I tend to disagree with this — I believe that it’s going to take us a bit longer, perhaps 500 to 1000 years before we attain Type 1 status. We just have too many problems with nuclear proliferation, poverty, and worldwide unity.
I was looking at Wikipedia’s entry on cell phones, and was examining the percentage cell phone usage in the world. It’s amusing that there are two places that are colored gray, which don’t even correspond to anything on the scale: North Korea and Vatican City.
It happens every year. I always get suprised by the commercial Christmas enterprises that seem to loom earlier and earlier. Tippy and I were walking around Union Square and happened upon what seemed to be a special Macy’s Christmas store. I quickly glanced at my wrist, realized I didn’t have a watch, and exclaimed, “It’s September people! Are you really whoring the glittery holiday merchandise already?!” Then, I proceeded to go in and browse, just for fun.
I’ve never seen so many themed Christmas trees before. There’s everything from Chinese Christams trees (with little takeout baskets), to Russian themed, to TV themed. Has anyone seen a theme tree in anyone’s house before? There must be a market out there somewhere.
The store itself was starkly empty. There was probably at most two other customers besides us. The employees were basically milling around twiddling there thumbs. It was indeed an empty and cold Christmas at Macy’s.
There are just some things in this world that are too scary. On my way to the Indonesian festival in Union Square, I happened upon a gaggle of grannies singing and protesting the torture of people in places like Haiti.
You know, I’m all for people expressing themselves and exercizing their right to speech, however, the mere thought of grandmas doing this type of activity makes me feel… well, awkward. The guy in the orange jumpsuit with a sack over his head doesn’t help either.
