c u l t i t u d e

in defense of teasing

The reason teasing is viewed as inherently damaging is that it is too often confused with bullying. But bullying is something different; it’s aggression, pure and simple. Bullies steal, punch, kick, harass and humiliate. Sexual harassers grope, leer and make crude, often threatening passes. They’re pretty ineffectual flirts. By contrast, teasing is a mode of play, no doubt with a sharp edge, in which we provoke to negotiate life’s ambiguities and conflicts. And it is essential to making us fully human.
+ ny times +

based on an interesting idea from the triumph of bullshit & expanded on by kottke, namely, that your favorite movies by particular directors may be interesting & discussion-worthy in a way that your favorite-favorites are not. 

first, the options:

joel coen - no country for old men, the big lebowski, fargo, the hudsucker proxy, miller’s crossing, raising arizona, etc.
wes anderson - the darjeeling limited, the life aquatic with steve zissou, the royal tennenbaums, rushmore, bottle rocket, etc.
hal ashby - being there, shampoo, harold & maude, etc.
kevin smith - zack & miri make a porno, dogma, chasing amy, mallrats, clerks, etc.
quentin tarantino - grindhouse, kill bill, pulp fiction, reservoir dogs, etc.
stanley kubrick - 2001, the shining, a clockwork orange, full metal jacket, dr. strangelove, lolita, etc.
p.t. anderson - boogie nights, hard eight, there will be blood, punch-drunk love, magnolia, etc.
errol morris - the thin blue line, the fog of war, mr. death, fast, cheap and out of control, gates of heaven, etc.

followed by my personal favorites:

joel coen - the hudsucker proxy
wes anderson - rushmore
hal ashby - i’ve actually only seen harold & maude
kevin smith - clerks
quentin tarantino - pulp fiction
stanley kubrick - clockwork orange
p.t. anderson - boogie nights
errol morris - the fog of war

close calls - royal tennenbaums, reservoir dogs, 2001, & gates of heaven

happy thanksgiving, everybody.

the criterion collection online cinematheque

love good films?  this is the site for you.  criterion has redesigned their site & now offers a limited number of films for online viewing — $5 per film for a week.  a little pricey for a rental, but the best part is that your $5 will go towards the dvd price if you decide to buy it to keep.  this is the rental/buy model i’ve been waiting for all along… the only question is whether it’s already too late for dvds.  is the idea of “owning” that encoded hunk of plastic already past its sell-by date?

the new deal 2.0 - obama's youtube address with transcript

I have already directed my economic team to come up with an Economic Recovery Plan that will mean 2.5 million more jobs by January of 2011 – a plan big enough to meet the challenges we face that I intend to sign soon after taking office.  We’ll be working out the details in the weeks ahead, but it will be a two-year, nationwide effort to jumpstart job creation in America and lay the foundation for a strong and growing economy.  We’ll put people back to work rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges, modernizing schools that are failing our children, and building wind farms and solar panels; fuel-efficient cars and the alternative energy technologies that can free us from our dependence on foreign oil and keep our economy competitive in the years ahead.

arguably, the best part of quantum of solace — the location title screens

+ via kottke +

netflix streaming movies on my mac (finally)

i’ve been waiting & waiting for netflix to finally roll out their streaming video on the mac so i could finally try it.  today i happened across a link to join the beta program, and lo and behold, it actually works.  finally, an alternative to itunes, whose selection i’ve been a bit disappointed with overall.  tomorrow is the scheduled release of netflix/xbox live streaming movies as well, in case you care about such things.

i know that i am lazy.  i know that my attention span is occasionally shorter than strictly required.  i am aware that i am apt to neglect my poor little website with very little cause.  and my excuses may be plentiful but none entirely convincing.

but i must say, not in my defense exactly, but merely as an observation: maybe it’s google reader’s fault.

ever since i started using google reader, my posts have become more and more sporadic.  yes, it’s easier & more efficient to read interesting things, but the simple act of aggregation (vs browsing) makes sharing & posting much less likely.  by me, anyway.

okay, okay; i’ll try and work on it.

diy x-rays

In the current issue of the journal Nature, Dr. Putterman and his colleagues report that surprisingly fierce flows of electrons were unleashed as the tape was unpeeled and its gooey adhesive snapped free of the surface. The electrical currents, in turn, generated strong, short bursts of X-rays — each burst, about a billionth of a second long, contained about 300,000 X-ray photons.
+ nytimes +

the places we live

a devastating interactive photo essay of the living conditions in the slums of four cities throughout the world.

truthful tv title cards
+ via kottke +

another frightening show about the economy

Alex Blumberg and NPR’s Adam Davidson—the two guys who reported our Giant Pool of Money episode—are back, in collaboration with the Planet Money podcast. They’ll explain what happened, including what regulators could’ve done to prevent this financial crisis from happening in the first place.
+ this american life +

design for obama - designs cool enough to put up with the crappy website…

aaron sorkin conjures a meeting of obama & bartlet

Has the Large Hadron Collider destroyed the earth yet?