via whitstillman.org
“Metropolitan” is a personal favorite. This “slightly squashed” video was posted at the wonderful unofficial Whit Stillman website.
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Public figures, bloggers, and journalists from the left and right unite behind an idea I think is long overdue…
An Open Letter to Our Fellow Americans
February 3, 2010
We live in a world that increasingly demands more dialogue than monologue. President Obama’s January 29th question-and-answer session with Republican leaders gave the public a remarkable window into the state of our union and governing process. It was riveting and educational. The exchanges were substantive, civil and candid. And in a rare break from our modern politics, sharp differences between elected leaders were on full public display without rancor or ridicule.
This was one of the best national political debates in many years. Citizens who watched the event were impressed, by many accounts. Journalists and commentators immediately responded by continuing the conversation of the ideas put forward by the president and his opponents — even the cable news cycle was disrupted for a day.
America could use more of this — an unfettered and public airing of political differences by our elected representatives. So we call on President Barack Obama and House Minority Leader John Boehner to hold these sessions regularly — and allow them to be broadcast and webcast live and without commercial interruption, sponsorship or intermediaries. We also urge the President and the Republican Senate caucus to follow suit. And we ask the President and the House and Senate caucuses of his own party to consider mounting similar direct question-and-answer sessions. We will ask future Presidents and Congresses to do the same.
It is time to make Question Time a regular feature of our democracy.
Please join us by signing the Demand Question Time petition.
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via scribbling.net
“‘A Way Forward in Afghanistan’ by Jamie Kennedy”
“The Daily Show Was Funny Yesterday… You Should Watch It Embedded Next To Our Ads”
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via blog.naxos.com
Baltimore Symphony music director Marin Alsop talks about the American classical composer Roy Harris. A podcast interview from Naxos.
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The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York said several images of the Prophet Mohammed were removed from a collection and are ‘under review.’
via upi.com
After the cowardice of Yale University Press (not publishing the controversial Danish Mohammed cartoons in a book about the cartoon controversy), a cave-in by the Met would signal a truly depressing collapse of intellectual freedom. The original reporting for this story comes from the slightly sensational NY Post, so I hold out hope that Metropolitan Museum has not really bowed to fundamentalist pressure.
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via slashfilm.com
By now, you’ve probably heard about this series of YouTube videos by “Mike from Milwaukee.” It’s more than an hour of carefully edited clips and furiously intelligent slashing and burning. In the character of a foul-mouthed rambling madman, a perceptive amateur film critic lays out exactly what is so awful about the soulless Star Wars prequel. It’s perfect viewing for the holidays… a wonderfully satisfying experience for the whole family (seventeen and older).
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In my experience, current forms of digital magazines either (a) slavishly ape print conventions or (b) overwhelm the reader with gizmos, animation, too many links, and disjointed fragments of digital stuff.
Mag+ is an elegant model for future digital magazines that seems to overcome the weaknesses of both approaches. It’s logical, simple, but also interactive. It also looks like a perfect fit for the rumored Apple “Tablet” (now supposedly due in March 2010). Here’s an interesting video illustrating the Mag+ concept:Ideally, the design, formatting, and user interface could be adapted to existing blogging/content management systems like Wordpress or Drupal. Then we’d be in business!
[via @themediaisdying]
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via neh.gov
Imagine inheriting the majority of the planet:
“In 1689, Kangxi, the emperor of China, embarked on a tour to inspect his southern provinces, undertaking a two-thousand-mile journey from Beijing to the cities and towns of the Yangzi Delta and back…”
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