New Favourite: Moving Cinemagraphs

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More here.

New favourite: Vice Broadcasting System (vbs.tv)

Holy Moses this site is awesome! The associated blog is also worth looking at.

They seem to focus predominantly on publishing short form documentary-type pieces. They're all very well polished and presented. The content is usually well researched and completely engrossing.

This is a pretty good example of why I love this goddamn site.

The only problem is the trust accounting paper I have due next week.

New Favourite: John Singer Sargent

His Complete works.

His wiki bits.

New Favourite: Tame Impala.

I've been sitting on Innerspeaker and Tame Impala for a while now, but simply haven't had a chance to listen to it properly. Holy goddamn. This is the best fucking psychedelic rock I've heard in a long time.

New Favourite: Bill Bryson.

Ladies and Gents I present Bill Bryson.

Honestly, this probably shouldn't qualify as a new favourite. I've known about this dude for a while now. However, I only just discovered this video. I'm not gonna let him get squeezed out on a technicality. Also, it should be noted that conducting appraisals of literary works isn't really something I'm particularly good at, but this seems like a cause worthy of at lest some effort.

Author and Chancellor of Durham University, Bryson is one of those possessed of a brilliant mind, whose enthusiasm and wit is nothing if not utterly captivating. I've read a fair few of his works now, and consider him to be among the most engaging and wholly entertaining authors I have encountered thus far.

His manner draws a stark contrast to the style of Diamond in Guns, Germs and Steel. Upon any reading of Mother Tongue or A Short History of Nearly Everything it is plain to see that whilst they both cover similar material, Bryson is by far more likely to keep the reader not only engaged, but entertained.

See also: that fucking beard.

See that shit? A fulsome, rich red hue, punctuated along the jawline with notes of silver. That be one distinguished-looking motherfucker.

Seriously, read his shit. A Short History is where you should start.

New Favourite: animated scores.

Beethoven, Symphony 7 Allegretto.


[EDIT]

This; this is even better. So damn cool...

Debussy, First Arabesque, Piano Solo.

New Favourite: This guy!

Kudos first of all, for making that thing.

Bonus points for that fucking charisma. When you see someone that into what they do it is hard not to feel a kind of shared enthusiasm. Sure as hell makes me wanna have a try playing something like that.

As a side note, you know who else made their own cigar box guitar when they were starting out? Bo-fucking-Diddley, that's who. There's a clip of him somewhere on YouTube carving it up. Raw goddamn energy in that one. I need to find it.

[EDIT] Here we go.

New Favourite: CreatureCast!

CreatureCast - Comb Jellies from Casey Dunn on Vimeo.

Truth be told I've been following these guys for a while, but only just realised that this is the first post I've done about them. I guess that's as good a reason as any to put it up as a new favourite.

New Favourite Site: Letters of Note.

I've been meaning to put this up for a while now but couldn't really be assed.

However, in the caffeine fuelled frenzy I am presently driven by, I seem to have struck upon the requisite impetus to give effect to my intentions.

Link: Letters of note.

There are some real gems there.

Hang on, my love, and grow big and strong and take your hits and keep going.

P.S. This is my favorite memo ever.

Okay, you lazy bitch...

Ordinary standards do not apply to Tesla.

New Favourite Site: Iconic Photos

It was as if someone was out there, patiently tracking what I had already spent far too long searching for. This site takes great works of photojournalism and presents with each piece a brief précis of the story and context behind it.

Link: Iconic Photos.

Below is an example of the incredible content available at the site.

In May 1988, President Ronald Reagan travelled to Moscow for his 4th summit with Mikhail Gorbachev. The Soviets prepared a grand welcome; buildings across from the Kremlin were repainted, streets repaved and trees and flowers planted along the boulevards. The president’s schedule included attending the Bolshoi Ballet, speaking to students at Moscow’s State University and visiting Danilov Monastery, while First Lady would tour Leningrad.

The visit was not without its own share of diplomatic incidents. The First Couple took an unscheduled walk through the Arbat, a Moscow shopping pedestrian street, when security police rushed in and roughed up a throng of onlookers, including children. “It’s still a police state,” Reagan was heard to say. When the president’s advance team asked the Russian Orthodox Church to pave the way to the Danilov Monastery so that the president could arrive in the limousine, a clergyman retorted that “One does not ride to see God. One walks either upon his feet or upon his knees.” Because he wore no ID badge, White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater was pursued by security personnel on his way to a Kremlin dinner. The president dozed off during the performance at the Bolshoi and Secretary Gorbachev had to wake him with a tap on the shoulder as the curtains were coming down.

The most telling incident was only revealed 20 years later. In the above photo, the man with the camera around his neck standing behind the boy was the current Russian Prime Minister (and former president) Vladimir Putin. He was pretending to be a tourist on his capacity as a KGB agent. On that day, on the Red Square, Gorbachev introduced Reagan to various tourists, who asked the American president pointed questions about subjects such as human rights in the United States. The photographer of this picture, Pete Souza, turned to the Secret Service and commented, “I can’t believe these tourists in the Soviet Union are asking these pointed questions.” The agent replied, “Oh, these are all KGB families.”

Pete Souza is the official chief White House photographer for Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama administrations. The Kremlin, however, had denied that it was Putin.

If the above excerpt caught your attention I would very strongly recommend that you have a poke around over there. It is absolutely incredible work.

New Favourite Show: Would I lie to you?

Make room, QI.