Snippets:
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DVD: Message to Love: The Isle of Wight Festival (1997). 127 min. Documentary of the 1970 music festival held on an island in the south of England. Shows some of the music (e.g., The Doors, Bob Dylan, ELP, Jimi Hendrix, Jethro Tull, Joni Mitchel, Ten Years After, The Who) but also 'life' of the fans during the concert, and the crisis that led to allowing free entrance for many thousands. Great music! Some touching moments. Describes well the clash of the Hippie generation with the music business. Overall rating: 8 out of 10.
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DVD: Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989). 100 min. Directed by Steven Soderbergh (Oceans' Eleven, Solaris, Erin Brockovich). w/ James Spader (Graham Dalton; Stargate), Andie MacDowell (Ann Bishop Mullany; Green Card, Hudson Hawk), Peter Gallagher (John Mullany), Laura San Giacomo (Cynthia Patrice Bishop). Guy who films video tapes of women talking about their sex life visits former best friend who has an affair with the sister of his wife. Unusual idea for a movie. Sometimes appears too static. Plot rather confined. Acting alright. Memorable quote: "I remember reading somewhere that men learn to love the person they're attracted to and women become more and more attracted to the person they love." Overall rating 7 out of 10.
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Art: Thomas Rowlandson (1756–1827). English caricaturist. Pictures at Artcylopedia. Large collection at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
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Art: Rodney Graham. Canadian artist. Tree pictures mounted upside down. Looped videos. Whitney Biennial 2006: Torqued Chandelier Release, 2005.
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DVD: Code 46 (2003). Directed by Michael Winterbottom (The Road to Guantanamo). w/ Tim Robbins (William Geld), Samantha Morton (Maria Gonzales). In a future world where an insurance policy is the basis of normal life, a detective who can read the mind of others through a placed virus falls in love with a woman who sells insurance cards on the black market. The couple ignores Code 46, a law prohibiting physical relations between gentically similar human beings, that has become necessary after human cloning and IVF is common practice. Dystopic love story set somewhere in the near future. Some unrealistic parts, but not entirely improbable. Some stunning city scenes. Robbins' acting is good, but Morton rather disappointing in her role. Overall rating: 7 out of 10.
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Technology: Silent Aircraft Initiative (SAI). Researchers from Cambridge University (UK) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) unveiled their revolutionary concept for a silent aircraft.

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Music: Guano Apes. German band with a fusion of metal, pop and rap beat.
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Music: Two bands that somewhat remind of Evanescence: Fireflight and Nightwish.
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Art: Dahesh Museum of Art, NYC: Napoleon on the Nile: Soldiers, Artists, and the Rediscovery of Egypt, June 8 - December 31, 2006. Focusses on the 'Description de l’Egypte', the seminal multi-volume work that remains the single most important European scholarly study of ancient and modern Egypt. It was initiated under the patronage of the young General Napoleon Bonaparte as he invaded Egypt in 1798, and completed in 1829 during the reign of King Charles X. The 'Description' was written by Napoleon’s savants, i.e. 167 physicians, engineers, economists, mathematicians, zoologists, botanists, archeologists, translators, journalists, and artists who accompanied the army. The exhibition tells the story of Napoleon’s ill-fated bid to add Egypt to the growing French empire, and how the British, who had their own colonial interests in the region to protect, ultimately thwarted this plan. Informative exhibiton.
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Food: Stash Teas. Founded in 1972. Includes Peppermint herbal tea from Oregon. Also has loose herbal teas. Mail order.
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Health: Confabulation: memory disorder; the confusion of imagination with memory, and/or the confusion of true memories with false ones. Spontaneous production of false memories: either memories for events which never occurred, or memories of actual events which are displaced in space or time.
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Biology: Gribble (e.g., Limnoria Iignprum). Sea mite. Mostly pale white and small (1-4 mm long) crustaceans. Bore into wood and plant material for ingestion as food. Ecologically important role, by helping to degrade and recycle driftwood, but also cause damage in costal areas, such as piers.
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Food: German products at German Deli, located in Southlake, TX. Russian products at Russian Foods.
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Shopping: The Find. Search meta engine for online stores. Useful!
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Literature: Klaus Mann. German writer. Son of Thomas Mann. Opposed the Nazi regime. Comitted suicide in 1949. Re-discovered in Germany in the mid-1950s. Important works: Mephisto (1936), Der Vulkan (1939), The Turning Point/Der Wendepunkt (1942).
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Video: The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945). w/ Hurd Hatfield (Dorian Gray), Donna Reed (Gladys Hallward), Angela Lansbury (Sibyl Vane; Murder She Wrote). Directed by Albert Lewin. After the novel by Oscar Wilde. After being painted by his friend, Dorian Gray gives his soul to evil in order to retain his youth and let the painting age instead. Great moral story, typical Hollywood presentation. Overall rating: 6 out of 10. The original picture of the aged Dorian Gray was painted in 1943-44 for the film by Ivan Albright (1897-1983) and is now on display at the Art Institute of Chicago.
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Poetry: 'The Light of Asia', an epic poem written by Sir Edwin Arnold (1832-1904). First published in 1879. Arnold also wrote The Light of the World (1891) about the life of Jesus.
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Tea and Coffee: Simpson & Vail in Brookfield, CT. Many lose-leaf teas.
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DVD: Unforgiven (1992). 131 min. w/ Clint Eastwood (William 'Bill' Munny), Gene Hackman (Little Bill Daggett), Morgan Freeman (Ned Logan). Directed by Clint Eastwood. Retired assassin leaves his farm one last time to kill two men that mutilated a prostitute in a small Western town. Won 4 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Gene Hackman). One of the themes is the difficulty of cold-blooded killing without good reasons. Different from the average Western movie. Film has some funny, self-ironic moments, but becomes boring quickly. Unrealistic. Overall rating 4 out of 10.
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DVD: Th Rolling Stones Rock And Roll Circus (1996). Originally filmed in December 1968. w/ The Rolling Stones, Jethro Tull, The Who, Marianne Faithful, Taj Mahal, John Lennon, Yoko Ono. Ties together musical acts in a circus theme. Some great spontaneous moments. Last big project of Brian Jones. Overall rating: 5 out of 10.
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Music: Michelle Walker. Jazz vocalist. Played at 55 Bar, NYC, on November 25, 2006. Good voice, but little change between songs.
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Physics: Tachyon: Hypothetical particle that is predicted to move faster than the speed of light. When a tachyon loses energy its momentum increases. Existence has been neither proven nor disproven.
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Literature: Medea. Play written by Euripides (c. 480–406 BC) around 431 BC. Based on the myth of Jason and Medea. After Jason leaves Medea for another woman, Medea is devastated at first, but than gathers new strength and kills the new bride with a poisoned robe, as well as the two children she has with Jason in order to cause him further pain. Medea is also the third part of Franz Grillparzer's trilogy 'Das Goldene Vlies' (The Golden Fleece; 1821). More works by Euripides and Grillparzer.
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DVD: History of the World Part 1 (1981). w/ Mel Brooks. Directed by Mel Brooks. Comical retelling of important periods in world history. Typical Mel Brooks comedy. Funny moments. Overall rating 6 out of 10.
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Health: The Glycemic Index (GI) is a ranking system for carbohydrates based on their immediate effect on blood glucose levels. Defined by the area under the 2 hour blood glucose response curve (AUC) following the ingestion of a fixed portion of carbohydrate (usually 50 g). Glucose is used as the reference food (GI = 100). Low-to-moderate GI: pasta, vegetables. High GI: potatos, white rice. A database of GIs can be found here. The Glycemic Load (GL) takes the amount of consumed carbohydrates into account: For a single serving of a food the GL can be calculated as the quantity (in grams) of its carbohydrate content, multiplied by its GI.
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Recreation: Allamuchy Mountain State Park, NJ. Includes Waterloo Village with several historic buildings located on the banks of the Morris Canal.

Morris Canal at Waterloo Village

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Food: Cambiotti's Cafe Tomato Pie Cafe in Landing, NJ (Northwestern part of the state, near Lake Hopatcong). Neighborhood restaurant stablished in 2000, known for its unique thin crust pizza and home cooked Italian food.
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Snippets:
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DVD: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Whitch, and the Wardrobe (2005) w/ Tilda Swinton (White Witch), Georgie Henley (Lucy Pevensie). Directed by Andrew Adamson (Shrek). Four children discover and rescue the magical land of Narnia from the powers of the White Witch. Rich in special effects, but sometimes too obvious, some poor acting. Often too melodramatic. Swinton in excellent. Overall rating: 5 out of 10.
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DVD: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005). 109 min. Book and screenplay by Douglas Adams. Directed by Garth Jennings. w/ Martin Freeman (Arthur Dent), Zooey Deschanel (Trillian), Mos Def (Ford Prefect), Sam Rockwell (Zaphod Beeblebrox), John Malkovich (Humma Kavula). Slightly stupid earthling flees from his planet with his alien friend just before the earth is destroyed by Vogons, and meets the love of his life. Silly comedy after the renowned book. Some great costumes. Entertaining, but does not live up to expectations. Overall rating: 5 out of 10.
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Music: Sparklehorse. Is essentially the singer/songwriter Mark Linkous. Acclaimed debut album 'Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot' in 1995. New album 'Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain' in 2006. Rock-Pop, sometimes reminds of Neil Young, Pink Floyd etc., but not as good.
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Music: Brett Harriss. CD Release Party at the Bitter End, NYC, on 9/9/06. Straightforward rock-pop, sometimes reminds of Dave Mathews.
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Photography: Shomei Tomatsu. Japanese photographer.
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DVD: Good Bye Lenin (2003). w/ Daniel Brühl (Alex), Katrin Saß (Mutter), Chulpan Khamatova (Lara). Directed by Wolfgang Becker. Son creates a GDR-like world around his socialist mother who lay in a coma during the days of Germn reunification in 1989. Great idea, but sometimes dwells to long on a topic. Khamatova is good. Overall rating 6 out of 10.
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DVD: March of the Penguins (La Marche de l'empereur, 2005). 85 min. Directed by Luc Jacquet. Won 2006 Academy Award for Best Documentary. Describes a year in the life of a pengin colony in the Antarctic ice. Sunning pictures. Narration and music have too much emphasis on feeling and well-being. It is annoying that some interpretations of the animal world are 'humanized' (love, joy etc.). There often is not enough detail given to actually learn about the penguins. Overal rating: 5 out of 10.
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DVD: More (1969). 116 min. Directed by Barbet Schroeder. w/ Mimsy Farmer (Estelle Miller), Klaus Grünberg (Stefan Brückner), Heinz Engelmann (Dr. Ernesto Wolf). Experimental young man meets heroin addict in Paris, and joins her to Ibiza to live a relaxed live. Sun worhipping is one of the themes throughout the film. Experimenting with drugs. Describes well the thinking of drug addicts for the next fix. Bumpy dialogues. Great 60s atmosphere. Overall rating 7 out of 10.
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DVD: The Wall (1982). 95 min. Written by Roger Waters. Music by Pink Floyd, based on the 1979 album. Directed by Alan Parker (Fame, Birdy, Evita). Animation by Gerald Scarfe. w/ Bob Geldof. Burnt out rock star retracts in hotel room in front of a TV and goes insane over reflecting about his parent, his upbringing during WWII, his failed marriage, and his need for power. Mostly music, little spoken text. Cult film. Overall rating: 6 out of 10.
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Music: Hiromi. Jazz pianist with modern influences.
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Poetry: Emma Lazarus. Written in 1883, her celebrated poem, "The New Colossus," is engraved on a plaque in the Statue of Liberty. Over the years, the sonnet has become a part of American culture, serving as everything from an Irving Berlin show tune to a call for immigrants' rights.
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Real Estate: Buy property on Moon, Mars, or Venus at Moon Estates.
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Technology: The Kinzua Viaduct was a railroad bridge in Kinzua Bridge State Park, McKean County, in Northern Pennsylvania. Originally built in 1900, the bridge was mostly destroyed by a tornado in 2003.
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Life: Free international phone calls at FuturePhone. Gateway access number 712-858-8883. Iowa-based. Works, but often has problems actually getting connected to the destination number.
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Photography: Terra Galleria by Quang-Tuan Luong. Photos from around the world.
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DVD: Good Night, and Good Luck (2005). 93 min. Directed by George Clooney. w/ David Strathairn (Edward R. Murrow), George Clooney (Fred Friendly), Jeff Daniels (Sig Mickelson). Story is set around 1953, the early days of televison, and tells the story how the journalist Edward R. Murrow takes on Sen Joseph McCarthy (Wisconsin) on his CBS show 'See It Now'. Mc Carthy was known for his intense anti-communist politics. A main theme of the film is freedom of the press. Film tells a good story, but appears too narrow and static. Overall rating: 5 out of 10.
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Life: Cohiba: Cuban cigar brand.
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Humor: Darwin Awards: Saluting the improvement of the human genome by honoring those who remove themselves from it.
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Humor: Demystifying urban legends at Snopes.
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Humor: Learn about the dangers of DHMO (dihydrogen monoxide).
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Snippets:
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DVD: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) w/ Paul Newman (Butch Cassidy), Robert Redford (The Sundance Kid), Katharine Ross (Etta Place). Directed by George Roy Hill. The adventures of two bank and train robbers on the run. Unusual for a Western. Some funny moments. Well-carved characters. Some sequences are too long. Overall rating: 5 out of 10.
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Art: Figure Drawing.
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Art: Art Mobs. Amateur audio blogs for select painting in the MoMA, NYC. Information rather diluted.
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DVD: Alexander (2004). w/ Colin Farrell (Alexander), Angelina Jolie (Olympias), Val Kilmer (Philip), Anthony Hopkins (Old Ptolemy), Jared Leto (Hephaistion). Directed by Oliver Stone (Natural Born Killers, JFK). Story about Alexander's conquests in Persia and India. Mostly bad acting (especially Farrell and Jolie). Gory fight scenes. Poor development of story. Overall rating 2 out of 10.
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DVD: The Snow Walker (2003). w/ Barry Pepper (Charlie Halliday), Annabella Piugattuk (Kanaalaq). Directed by Charles Martin Smith. Follows closely the short story 'Walk Well My Brother' by Farley Mowat. Arrogant pilot in Northern Canada crashes his plane while flying a young Inuit woman with tuberculosis to the hospital. While they struggle for survival in the tundra, she teaches him many things about life in the wilderness. Great landscape scenes. Good story. Acting alright. Too slow at times. Overall rating: 6 out of 10.
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Life: Engines of Our Ingenuity No. 1840: Questions and Igorance by John H. Lienhard: Water flows from high places to low places. It flows from a region of high pressure to one of low pressure. Knowledge likewise flows to the point of greatest ignorance.
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Video: The Paper Chase (1973). w/ Timothy Bottoms (James T. Hart), Lindsay Wagner (Susan), John Houseman (Charles W. Kingsfield Jr.). Directed by James Bridges (Mike's Murder). First year law student falls in love with the daughter of his most difficult professors, who also happens to be his idol. Campus life. Well done, even though rather dry at times. Funny moments. Lindsey Wagner is good. Overall rating 6 out of 10.
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DVD: Alice in Wonderland (1951, 2004 release). 75 min. w/ Kathryn Beaumont (Voice of Alice). Walt Disney animated feature after the book by Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, 1832-1898). Film varies from the book, but includes Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, the White Rabbit, the Cheshire Cat, and the Queen of Hearts. Story is partly nonsense. Some poor singing. Overall rating: 4 out of 10.
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Video: NOVA: Infinite Secrets: The Genius of Archimedes (2003). 60 min. Documentary about the discoveries of the Greek mathematician Archimedes (c. 287 BC – 212 BC), and the Archimedes Palimpsest, a medieval manuscript discovered in 1906 and resurfaced in 1998.
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Astronomy: NASA has found direct proof of dark matter (photo: in blue) in a composite image of the galaxy cluster 1E 0657-56 (a.k.a. bullet cluster)



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DVD: The China Syndrome (1979). 121 min. Directed by James Bridges (The Paper Chase). w/ Jane Fonda (Kimberly Wells), Jack Lemmon (Jack Godell), Michael Douglas (Richard Adams). Reporter team experiences an accident in a nuclear power plant and starts an investigation on the cover-up. Film was released only days before the Three Mile Island accident near Harrisburg, PA. Film picks up pace slowly. Gripping story, especially in the context of nuclear fear in the late seventies. Last 30 min are best. Overall rating 6 out of 10.
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Computer: Good Windows XP tips and tricks at The Elder Geek.
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Computer: Jay Lee has posted a solution to a very annoying problem: "How to set Internet Explorer window size. Q. When I open up the Web from any source, including shortcuts, it comes up in a reduced size and I have to click on Maximize to get the window to its full size. I have closed the windows in every way possible that I know of including File, Exit. But nothing changes. How can I get my Web pages to open up in full size? A. Programs like Internet Explorer will open to the same size and placement as they were when they were closed. The gotcha is that clicking the X in the upper right corner of the application does not officially close the program. That just exits the application quickly. If you want Internet Explore to open full-size when you start it up, you must first start IE. Then maximize the window. Now click File, then Close. Now restart IE, and it should start up in a full-sized window. If half of the window is off the screen when you start a program, bring the window to the location you want and then click File and then Close, and it will re-open in this position the next time." However, this does not seem to solve the problem when links are opened in a new window --- then it opens again in non-maximized mode.
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Art: Cai Guo-Qiang on the Roof: Transparent Monument. Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC. April 25, 2006–October 29, 2006. Cai Guo-Qiang (pronounced sigh gwo chang, b. 1957) is a contemporary Chinese-born artist known for sculptures and gunpowder projects.
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Art: AngloMania: Tradition and Transgression in British Fashion. Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC. May 3, 2006–September 4, 2006. Focuses on British fashion from 1976 to 2006. Set in the Metropolitan Museum’s English period rooms—the Annie Laurie Aitken Galleries. Exciting territory to explore.
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Music: Syd Barrett (1946-2006). Co-founder of Pink Floyd. Was asked to leave the band in 1968 because of mental instability. 'Shine on you crazy diamond' on the Pink Floyd album 'Wish You Were Here' was written about him. Incidentially, Barrett showed up unexpectedly in the studio with his hair and eye brows shaved off when the song was recorded in 1975.
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Music: Tender Forever. Album: The Soft and the Hardcore. Interesting lyrics, but music is raw. Vocals by Melanie Valera. Review at PopMatters. Song: Then If I'm Weird I Want to Share.
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DVD: Shikoku (1999). 101 min. w/ Yui Natsukawa (Hinako Myoujin), Michitaka Tsutsui (Fumiya Akizawa), Chiaki Kuriyama (Sayori Hiura ). Directed by Shunichi Nagasaki. After the novel 'Shikoku' by Bando Masako (Kadokawa Shoten), who also wrote 'Inugami'. Woman returns to her home town on the Japanse island Shikoku and finds that a childhood friend she long admired is about to return from the dead. Not very scary, but some great moments. Slow, but adequate pace. Acting not always at its best. Overall rating: 6 out of 10.
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Music: Charly Haden Quartet West at the Blue Note, NYC on 8/18/06, 8 PM. Charlie Haden (b), Ernie Watts (ts), Rodney Greene (d), Alan Broadbent (p). Great concert.
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Video: Valley of the Dolls (1967). 123 min. w/ Barbara Parkins (Anne Welles), Patty Duke (Neely O'Hara), Sharon Tate (Jennifer North Polar), Paul Burke (Lyon Burke). Directed by Mark Robson. Three young women in film and show business are trying to manage their careers, lives and love affairs, and their addiction to dolls (happy and sleeping pills). Some good moments, but overall melodramatic, and dwells too long on the same theme. Overall rating: 5 out of 10.
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Snippets:
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Games: Magnetic Poetry Online Kits. Allows to publish results on the web.
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Poetry: Karoline von Günderrode (1780-1806) (suicide with dagger). German poet during the period of Romanticism (time between 1795 and 1848). Poems at Gutenberg.de.
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Life: Computertakeback.com has information on how to recycle computers and other electronic devices that produce toxic waste. Find a recylcer near you.
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Photos: When They Were Young: A Photographic Retrospective of Childhood. Library of Congress.
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DVD: Solaris (2002). 99 min. w/ George Clooney (Chris Kelvin), Natascha McElhone (Rheya), Viola Davis (Gordon), Jeremy Davies (Snow). Directed by Steven Soderbergh (Traffic, Erin Brockovich. Ocean's Eleven). Produced by James Cameron (Titanic). Based on the novel by Stanislaw Lem. Remake of the 1972 Russian movie 'Solyaris'. A psychologist (Clooney) tries to figure out mysterious events on a remote space station. As he gets pulled into the events, he tries to make up for the suicide of his wife. Very slow story, very boring. Profane, pseudo-intellectual plot without any meaning. Many questions remain unresolved. Overall rating: 3 out of 10.
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Photography: Gary Fong. Markets the 'Lightsphere', an inverted dome system that is put on top of the flash to diffuse flash light. Fong is a sucessful wedding photographer; also holds seminars. Webjournal.
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Life: Public Routes. Public transportation in the NY Metropolitan area. Usefulness questionable though. Lacks connections via Path train from NJ to NYC.
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DVD: Crash (2004). 113 min. w/ Matt Dillon, Sandra Bullock, Brendan Fraser, Don Cheadle, Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges. Direccted by Paul Haggis. Scenes from a neighborhood in L.A. Focusses on racial/ethnical issues. Characters all interact with each other at one point. Parable. Diffuses the boundaries of black and white. Well done. Overall rating 9 out of 10.
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Philosophy: Herbert Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980). Canadian educator, philosopher, and scholar, professor of English literature, literary critic, and communications theorist, who is one of the founders of the study of media ecology. Today an honorary guru among technophiles. Coined the phrase "The medium is the message", in which he proposes that the media themselves, not the content they carry, should be the focus of study.
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Physics: Mpemba Effect: Under certain circumstances, warmer water will freeze sooner than colder water. Also see 'Engines of Our Ingenuity' #2100.
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Art: Gail Ingis-Claus. Paints a veriety of motives, including architechture, seascapes, people, and abstract.
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Music: Isa and the Filthy Tongues: Rock-Punk-Blues band from Edinburgh, Scottland. Debut album 'Addiction'.
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Music: Lala. Search engine for CD swapping. Cost $1 per CD plus $0.75 S&H. Currently 1.8 million titles. Provides envelopes and shipping labels. A new way to update the CD collection.
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Life: He really did it! It has taken Kyle MacDonald only 1 year to trade one red paper clip into a house. Amazing!
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DVD: Solyaris (1972). a.k.a Solaris. 169 min. Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. w/ Natalya Bondarchuk (Hari), Donatas Banionis (Kris Kelvin). After the novel by Stanislaw Lem. Science fiction movie about the psychologist Kris Kelvin who tries to find out what is wrong on a space station orbiting the mysterious planet Solaris. When his wife Hari, who committed suicide many years ago, appears on the station, Kelvin is plagued by his conscience. Very slow story, but better than the 2002 remake (see above). Listening to the commentary on DVD helps to understand important details. Overall rating 5 out 10. Study Guide for Stanislaw Lem's Solaris.
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Maps of all kind:

1.) David Rumsey Historical Map Collection
2.) Maps.com: Commercial
3.) Platial: Personal maps
4.) Google Maps
5.) Yahoo Maps
6.) Mapquest
7.) Nighttime!
8.) MapMachine: Some theme maps
8.) Google Earth
9.) Google Moon
10.) Google Mars


Snippets:
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DVD: Miles Electric: A Different Kind of Blue (2004). Documentary on the music of Miles Davis, with focus on his innovative style. Interviews with fellow musicians. Includes his performance at the Isle of Wight in 1970, a Rock festival in the south of England with 600,000 attendees. Good interviews, great perfomance. Overall rating 7 out of 10.
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DVD: House of Sand and Fog (2003). 126 min. w/ Jennifer Connelly (Kathy, from A Beautiful Mind), Ben Kingsley (Behrani, from Ghandi). After the book by Andre Dubus III. Woman, deserted by her husband, gets evicted from her house under allegations of not paying her taxes. A Persian refugee/imigrant buys the house at an auction and moves in with his family, but the former owner refuses to accept this. Even though every character makes grave mistakes, the plot has a natural flow, spiraling downward. Ends in drama. Good acting. Gripping story. Always gives the viewer a sense of suspense. Overall rating 7 out of 10.
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Evolution: Darwin. Exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History in NYC. Nov 19, 2005 - Aug 20, 2006 (Extended). Includes live tortoises and a green iguana (from Clyde Peeling's Reptiland in Allenwood, PA). Notes to Online Exhibition: Charles Darwin's grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, had already formulated ideas of evolution several decades prior, but was not taken seriously. Jean-Baptiste Lamarck proposed that use of a body part would make it stronger, but thought this quality was then inherited. Darwin's voyage on the 'Beagle' was from December 1831 to October 1836. He brought back specimens of more than 1,500 different species, hundreds of which had never before been seen before in Europe. On the Galapgos Islands, many animals had no fear of humans, making them easy to catch. Darwin, who as a student at Cambridge had formed a club dedicated to eating animals "unknown to human palate," cheerfully sampled the iguanas. Glyptodont: an immense shelled animal that looked like a giant armadillo. Penguins usually live in Antarctica or the southern tip of South America. One species lives on the Galapagos Islands. Darwin kept his theory of evolution secret for two decades before publishing it in 'The Origin of Species' (1859), only prompted by emerging competition with the young naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace. A follow up publication was 'Descent of Man' (1871).
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History: Alien and Sedition Acts: Acts of Congress passed during the administration of President John Adams, who signed them into law in 1798. These laws were designed to silence and weaken the Democratic-Republican Party. The acts increased the residency requirement for American citizenship from 5 to 14 years, authorized the president to imprison or deport aliens considered "dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States" and restricted speech critical of the government. Negative reaction to the Alien and Sedition Acts helped contribute to the Democratic-Republican victory in the 1800 elections that made Thomas Jefferson president. Congress repealed the Naturalization Act in 1802, while the other acts were allowed to expire.
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Life: GasBuddy. Compare gas prices across the U.S. Includes maps and historical price charts.
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Art: Andrew Wyeth: Memory and Magic. Philadelphia Museum of Art. March 29, 2006 - July 16, 2006. Retrospective of the works of the American artist over seven decades. Ticket includes audio tour. In self-portraits, Wyeth usually did not show his face, but -- for example -- his shoes. Strong symbolism (e.g., grass, doors, windows). Unfortunately, Christina's World (1948) was not on display. Overall, good exhibition, but crowded at times.
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Art/Science: Places & Spaces: Mapping Science. New York Public Library, Science, Industry, and Business Library. Attempt to physically show what and where science is today, how different branches of science relate to each other and where different branches of study are heading. Some comparisons to early topographic maps. Podcast from the New York Academy of Sciences with explanations. Includes a map of Henry Smith Williams' (1863-1943) 'History of Science' (all 4 Parts) created with TextArc. Also includes map and globes by Ingo Gunther from his 'Worldprocessor' project.
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Literature: Fifteen Thousand Useful Phrases by Greenville Kleiser (1868-1953) at Project Gutenberg.
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Sightseeing: The Beast Speed Boat, operated by Circle Line, 42nd St., NYC. Ride on the Hudson River to the Statue of Liberty and back.
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Snippets:
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Video: Alexander Nevsky (Aleksandr Nevskiy, 1938). B/W. Directed by Sergei M. Eisenstein (Battleship Potmekin). w/ Nikolai Cherkasov. Music by Sergei Prokofiev. 13th century Russian prince defeats an army of Teutonic knights on the frozen Lake Peipus. Extensive battle scenes. Russian propaganda movie, commissioned by Stalin. Eisenstein's first sound film. Overall rating: 5 out of 10.
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Art: 'Masterworks from the Morgan' at the Morgan Library & Museum (formerly Pierpont Morgan Library), 225 Madison Ave @ 36th St, NYC. Re-opened April 29, 2006 after 2-year renovation. Collection of more than 350,000 objects. Books, drawings, prints, manuscripts, ancient seals and tablets etc. Many famous artists and writers. Also library and study of Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), including a hidden passage to upper bookshelves. A gem.


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DVD: Lady Sings the Blues (1972). w/ Diana Ross (Billie Holiday), Billy Dee Williams (Louis McKay), Richard Pryor (Piano Man). Directed by Sidney J. Furie. Story of Billy Holiday, her rise to fame and drug addiction. Diana Ross puts her own style into the movie, does not try to imitate Holiday. Remarkable acting for her first movie role. Story too corny at times. Overall rating: 6 out of 10.
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DVD: The Crucible (1996). w/ Daniel Day-Lewis (John Proctor), Winona Ryder (Abigail Williams). Directed by Nicholas Hytner (The Madness of King George). After the play by Arthur Miller, who also wrote the screenplay. Story around the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Dramatic, melodramatic at times. Brilliant acting. Overall rating 7 out of 10.
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Real Estate: Prices: Zillow. Including price development over time.
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Photography: Pentti Sammallahti. Finnish photographer (b. 1950). Great nature shots, often with an animal or a figure in the foreground. Pictures have incredible depth.



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Photography: Ed Ruscha. American Photographer (b. 1937). Series on 'gas stations' and 'parking lots'. Raises questions on the nature of art.
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Photography: Sally Kuzma: Scans botanical objects directly on flatbed scanner, then the image is cropped, the color inverted, and the sample is layered and rotated to create a series of kaleidoscopic variations. Example: Corn Rotations (2003-06).
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Astronomy: When Halley's Coment approached the sun in May 1910, some believed it would be the end of the world when the earth passed through the comet's tails. Well, the world did not end, nor was this the last 'doomsday comet' to be seen.
~~~~~~~
Music: Find music that is similar to the one you like: Pandora and the Music Genome Project.
~~~~~~~
Music: Mario Pavone. Bass player.
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Science: Johann Joachim Becher (1635-1682), German physician, alchemist, precursor of Chemistry, scholar and adventurer. Father of the phlogiston theory.
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Art: Antoni Tàpies (b. Barcelona, 1923): Catalan painter. Considered one of the great master artists of the 20th century.
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Photography: James Balog. Fotos of large trees.
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Science: Mars Exploration: Rovers (Sprit, Opportunity), Orbiters (Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Odyssey, Mars Express [ESA], Mars Reconaissance Orbiter [March 10, 2006])
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Excerpt from Meditation by Venerable Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen Rinpoche, August 21, 1997, at Ratnashri Meditation Center, Sweden: "Another type of meditation is the calm-abiding, stabilizing meditation or the Shamata meditation. There are many ways of doing the calm-abiding meditation. One easy and effective way to calm the mind is to watch the breath. Sit on a cushion or chair, relax and breathe normally. It is easy because we have to breathe anyway so we just need to be aware of it. Our breath and mind become inseparable. When the mind is somewhere else, just simply bring it back to the breath and meditate. There is no need to push, chase or feel upset. It is important to relax and do it without expectations and worries. When we have high expectations wanting to achieve all the good qualities in one session, at the end of that session, we may feel depressed. There is nothing to achieve. There is no need to achieve anything. Just be yourself, relax and sit for half an hour or so. It is just a method to train to be with our mind. When thought arises, just look at it, let it go, and not attach to it. Thinking that you have no thought is itself a thought. Thought is something very subtle and can come at any time from any direction. So there is no need to cling to it or chase it. Just be aware of it. Place our mind, without consciously adopting or abandoning, in a fluid, natural state of being here and now. Be mindful in the ever-present moment and not to wander at all from this state. When we have a sinking mind during meditation, we need to uplift ourselves by, for example, moving the head more forward instead of downward, turn on some bright light or do some walking meditation. Shamata or the calm-abiding meditation is the cause as well as the result of analytical and insightful (vipasyana) meditation." Topics for analytical meditations: 1.) Precious human life, 2.) Impermanence, 3.) Interdependent nature of every phenomenon, 4.) Loving kindness and compassion.


Snippets:
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DVD: Shackleton (2002, TV, 3 Discs). 206 min (2 parts). w/ Kenneth Branagh. Directed by Charles Sturridge (Longitude). The story of Ernest Shackleton's 1914-expedition on the 'Endurance', attempting to cross Antarctica from one side to the other on foot. After getting trapped in the ice and losing the ship, the 28-men crew survived for many months under harsh arctic conditions. Film recreates some of the photographs taken by Frank Hurley Hurley. Some emphasis is put on the Shackleton's leadership qualities. Well done. Overall rating 8 out of 10. More info on the expedition here.
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History: Photos of the San Francisco Earth Quake on April 18, 1906. Search or Browse. Vast collection. Allows large magnification of pics. Other Collections at the Bancroft Library.
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Literature: British cult authors of historical novels about the British Navy during the Napoleonic Wars around Admiral Horatio Nelson (1758 - 1805): C.S. Forester, Patrick O´Brian, and Alexander Kent. More recent author: Julian Stockwin.
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Art: Whitney Biennial 2006: Day for Night. Remarkable Artists: 1.) Rudolf Stingel (b. 1956): Photorealistic painting. 2.) Urs Fischer (b. 1973): Two candles at the end of rods, rotating from ceiling, intersecting paths. 3.) Kenneth Anger: ICONS 2006. Filmmaker 4.) Adam McEwen: Chewing gums on canvas, symmetrical like a Rorschach Inkblot Test. 5.) Anne Collier: Spill, 2005. "You only tell me you love me when you're drunk' 6.) Lucas de Giulio: Works with sticks found in woods and city streets. 7.) Troy Brauntuch (b. 1954): Coat of girlfriend on armchair, in B/W crayon. 8.) Marilyn Minter (b. 1948): Stepping Up, 2005. Enamel paint on metal, softened with fingers (can see finger prints). 9.) Robert Gober (b. 1954): Photographies with picture in picture. 10.) Richard Serra: Stop Bush. 11.) Zoe Strauss: Photographer, Philadelphia.
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Art: Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh. Metropolitan Museum, NYC. 3/28/06-7/9/06. 18th Dynasty (~1500 B.C.) Egyptian art around the female Pharaoh. Some pieces of great beauty. More info.



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Art: Kara Walker at the Met: After the Deluge, 3/21/06-7/30/06. Rather dissappointing.
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Art: Edvard Munch: The Modern Life of the Soul. Metropolitan Museum, NYC, 2/19/06-5/8/06. Paintings and prints of the Norwegian painter. Often displays the interior state rather than the exterior of the people in the picture. Often shows people in different phases of their life. 'Frieze of Life' is a cycle of pictures that includes many of his best-known motifs. Listened to audio tour. Memorable: The Dance of Life, Madonna, The Scream (as print), Despair. Well done exhibit.
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Theater: Cupid and Psyche, played by The Thematics Group. Altered Stages, 212 W 29th St, NYC, NY. 4/10/06-4/30/06. Contemporary comedy adapted from ancient mythological story. Some good actors. Entertaining.
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Music: Paul Meyers 'World on a String' at 55 Bar, NYC, on 4/18/06. Jazz Guitar w/ Donny McCaslin, Helio Alves, Leo Traversa, and Vanderlei Pereira. Good sound.
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DVD: Longitude (2000, TV, 2 Discs). w/ Michael Gambon (John Harrison), Jeremy Irons (Rupert Gould), Ian Hart (William Harrison, John's son). Directed by Charles Sturridge (Shackleton). Story of the clockmaker John Harrison (1693-1776) and the measurement of longitude at sea using an exact clock. After the book by Dava Sobel. The time difference between two points on the earth allows to calculate their distance and therfore the longitude of a ships position. Harrison (later with his son William) spent decades to built time pieces exact enough to detemine the position within a few miles. The film also tells of Rupert Gould (1890-1948), who restored the chronometers in the mid-20th century. Well done, although lengthy at times. Overall rating: 7 out of 10.
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Photography: Captured in Color: Color photographs from the First World War. Includes pictures and brief bio of Frank Hurley (see above, Endurance).
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History: The Great Exhibition and the Crystal Palace in London, 1851. Display of industrial progress in early Victorian England. Includes pictures.
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Art: Per Kirkeby. Danish Expressionist painter, sculptor and writer. Born in Copenhagen, 1938. Pictures at Artcyclopedia.
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DVD: Red Dwarf. Series I. British Sci-Fi Sitcom. Starring Chris Barrie, Craig Charles. Title track composed by Howard Goodall and sung by Jenna Russell.
"It's cold outside, there's no kind of atmosphere / I'm all alone, more or less / Let me fly far away from here / Fun, fun, fun in the sun, sun, sun / I want to lie shipwrecked and comatose / Drinking fresh mango juice / Goldfish shoals nibbling at my toes / Fun, fun, fun in the sun, sun, sun / Fun, fun, fun in the sun, sun, sun"
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Music: Sara Gazarek. Song: Yours. Jazz singer. Good voice.
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Literature: Isabella Bird (1831-1904). English traveller and writer. Wrote 'The Englishwoman in America', summarizing travels in America in 1854.
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Music: Yoik: Traditional form of song of the Sami people. The Sami are the indigenous people of Sapmi, which encompasses parts of northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia.
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Literature: Louis Auchincloss. Prolific American writer. Wrote 'Manhattan Monologues', a collection of short stories about life in the high society of 20th century New York.
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Video: The Godfather (1972). 175 min. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola. w/ Marlon Brando (Don Vito Corleone), Al Pacino (Michael Corleone). Adaptation of the novel of the same name, written by Mario Puzo. Story of a New York mafia family. Memorable quote: "I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse" (Don Vito). Lengthy at times. Good acting. Overall rating: 6 out of 10.
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Exploration: David Livingstone (1813-1873). Scottish medical missionary and explorer of Central Africa. Discovered the Victoria Falls.
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Art: Franz Radziwill (1895-1983). German painter. Friends with Otto Dix.
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Music: Sweet Georgia Brown and the Blues Crusaders at 55 Bar, NYC, on 4/29/06. Blues singer. Good entertainer.
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Mathematics: Arithmetic: Opertions on numbers. Algebra: Symbols and elements, polynomals. Calculus: Integral and differential calculations.
~~~~~~~
DVD: Brokeback Mountain (2005). Directed by Ang Lee. Heath Ledger (Ennis Del Mar), Jake Gyllenhaal (Jack Twist). Great landscape pictures, but story slow and often boring. The aspect of a homosexual relationship in the wilderness makes the film unusual, but that novelty fades rather quickly. Even though the director wants it to be a love story, it remains a 'gay cowboy movie'. Dramatization seems exaggerated, and logic is not a strength of the movie. Overall rating: 4 out of 10.
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Snippets:
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DVD: The Aviator (2004). 170 min. w/ Leonardo DiCaprio (Howard Hughes), Cate Blanchett (Katharine Hepburn), Kate Beckinsale (Ava Gardner). Directed by Martin Scorsese (Gangs of New York, Kundun, The Age of Innocence, The Last Temptation of Christ). Life of the Hollywood filmmaker and aviator Howard Hughes. Won 5 Academy Awards in 2005, including Cate Blanchett for Best Supporting Actress. Story too long. Acting okay, but not always great. Blanchett seems awkward in her role during the first few scenes, but gets better later on. Film takes many historical liberties. Some poor special effects. Overall rather disappointing. Overall rating 5 out of 10.
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Art: John Tallis was a London publisher, and one of the most popular cartographers of the 19th Century. He became famous for the very accurate and visually appealing maps that featured the extensive use of vignette views from around the World and ornamental perimeter engraving. Principal engraver and mapmaker to John Tallis was John Rapkin, renowned for his extraordinary artistic and engraving skills. Between them they produced many books of travel and exploration.
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Video: Down By Law (1986). 107 min. Tom Waits (Zack), John Lurie (Jack), Roberto Benigni (Roberto). Written and directed by Jim Jarmusch (Night on Earth, Broken Flowers). Music by Tom Waits. Cult movie about three characters who break out of prision. Intentionally slow at times. Funny moments. Good acting. Overall rating: 6 out of 10.
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Art: Fitz Hugh (Henry) Lane, 1804–65, American painter and printmaker, mostly ships and coastal panoramas. Painted 'New York Harbor 1852'. Some additional info at Engines of our Ingenuity No. 1804. Lane was a leading figure of luminism, an American art movement of the 19th century. and an outgrowth of the Hudson River school. Luminism wanted to capture the effects of light and atmosphere. It is sometimes linked to impressionism. Besides Lane, its practitioners included Frederick E. Church (in his early career), John F. Kensett, Sanford R. Gifford, and Martin Johnson Heade.
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DVD: Master and Commander (2003). 138 min. w/ Russel Crow (Capt. Jack Aubrey), Paul Bettany (Dr. Stephen Maturin, Surgeon) . Directed by Peter Weir (Green Card, Dead Poets Society). After the novels by Patrick O'Brian. Won two Academy Awards (Best Cinematography and Best Sound Editing). The British war vessel 'Surprise' chases the French 'Acheron' off the coast of South America. Capt. Jack Aubrey demonstrates leadership to keep the crew together. Great cinematography. Story is straightforward. Overall rating: 6 out of 10.
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Music: Dewey Redman (born 1931): Free jazz saxophonist. Collaborations with Ornette Coleman (1968-1972) and Keith Jarrett (1971-1976, e.g. on 'The Impulse Years, 1973-1974'), and member of 'Old And New Dreams' led by Don Cherry. Also on '80/81' by Pat Metheny Group. Father of tenor saxophonist Joshua Redman.
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Book: Richard Green Parker (1798-1869): A school compendium of natural and experimental philosophy. Editions 1850 and 1856. Comment on the 1871 edition by George Plympton in 'Engines of our Ingenuity'.
~~~~~~~
DVD: Basic Instinct (1992). w/ Michael Douglas, Sharon Stone. Directed by Paul Verhoeven (RoboCop). Evil woman (Stone) plays games with adventurous detective (Douglas) who is trying to reveal her as a murderer. Suspenseful balance of crime, violence, sex, and trust. Sharon stome plays her role as a temptress well. However, plot moves too slowly at times, and some things are made too obvious. Overall rating: 7 out of 10.
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Music: Jal Tarang: Indian classical instrument. Essentially a water-xylophone. Made up of a series of china bowls of varying sizes filled with varying levels of water. Played with two light sticks.
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DVD: City of God (Cidade de Deus, 2002). Brazilian film. w/ Alexandre Rodrigues (Rocket), Phellipe Haagensen (Benny). Young man dreams of becoming a photographer while trying to survive drugs, crime, and gang violence in the favela (slums) of Rio de Janeiro. Spans three decades (60s, 70s, and 80s) and brilliantly crystallizes each main character. Contains some extreme violence. Many of the actors are actually from the favela. Most memorable is the scene where Li'l Ze chastises the Runts. Overall rating: 7 out of 10.
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DVD: The Fast Runner (Atanarjuat, 2001). Directed by Zacharias Kunuk. Written by Paul Apak Angilirq. w/ Natar Ungalaaq (Atanarjuat). Retelling an Inuit legend with Inuit actors, in Inuktitut with English subtitles. Inuit tribe in the Arctic ice struggles with a magic spell that brings disord and murder. The hero Artanarjuat runs for his life naked over the ice but later returns for his revenge. Rather slow plot, but very unusual, exotic film. Overall rating: 5 out of 10.
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Life: Customer Service: Get Human is a database that lists tips and tricks how to get a human being on the phone quickly when calling custumer service.
~~~~~~~
DVD: For A Few Dollars More (1965). 132 min. w/ Clint Eastwood (Monco), Lee Van Cleef (Col. Douglas Mortimer), Gian Maria Volonte (El Indio). Directed by Sergio Leone. Original Music by Ennio Morricone. Bona fide Western about two bounty hunters who decide to capture the most vicious gang in the area. Cool movie. Overall rating: 5 out of 10.
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Buying Used (and New) Books Online:

1.) U.S.:

• A1Books: New and used books. Provides seller ratings and comments by buyers. Also has DVDs.
  
• AddAll: Meta engine. New and used books. Sorted by overall price. Provides shipping cost.
  
• Alibris: New and used. Also has music and movies.
  
• Amazon.com: New and used. Much more than just books.
  
• Barnes & Noble: New and used. Books and music.
  
• Barnes & Noble Professional, Technical & Business Bookstore: Specialized.
  
• BiblioFind/Amazon: Rare books on Amazon.com.
  
• BibliOz: Australian site. Mostly stocked in U.S. or U.K.
  
• Book Closeouts: New bargain books. Smaller selection.
  
• BookFinder: Meta engine. Separates new and used in tables. Only search by Author or Title.
  
• Books A Million: Supposed to be cheaper than Amazon.
  
• Ebay: Auction or 'Buy it now'.
  
• Powells: New and used.

2.) International:

• ABE Books: New and used. In German.
  
• Amazon.co.uk: New and used. Books and music.
  
• Amazon.de: New and used. Books and music. In German.
  
• Amazon.fr: New and used. Books and music. In French.
  
• Antbo: Antiquarian Books Online. Antiquarian books, autographs, graphics, musical scores and records.
  
• AntiqBook: Heavy on European antiquarians.
  
• BookLooker: In German. New and used. Shipping info included. Also has music and movies.
  
• ChooseBooks: Formerly ZVAB.
  
• Comenius Antiquariat: Meta Engine. Links to SFB.at.
  
• Eurobuch (SFB.at): Meta engine.
  
• Libri.de: New books, audioboooks, MP3-books, DVD/videos. In German.
  
• Zeusman: Central European engine. In German.

3.) Engine Lists:

• All Search Engines
  
• Bibliomania
  
• Search Engine Z
  
• University of Louisiana, Monroe

Snippets:
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Mathematics: John Forbes Nash Jr (b. 1928): American mathematician. Game theory and differential geometry. Nobel Prize in Economics 1994. Schizophrenia. Movie: A Beautiful Mind (2001); directed by Ron Howard; starring Russel Crowe. Criticized for its inaccurate portrayal of Nash's life and schizophrenia.
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DVD: The Alamo (2004). 137 min. w/ Dennis Quaid (Sam Houston), Billy Bob Thornton (Davy Crockett), Jason Patric (James Bowie), Patrick Wilson (William Travis), Emilio Echevarría (Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana). Directed by John Lee Hancock. Reenacting the 13-day Mexican siege of the Alamo in 1836 during the Texan Revolution, culminating in Sam Houston's successful battle at San Jacinto (yelling "Remember the Alamo."), and the independence of Texas. Extensive movie set. Good cinematography. Claims to be historically accurate. Turgid at times. Bowie is the designer of the Bowie Knife. Overall rating 4 out of 10.
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DVD: Howard Hughes: The Real Aviator (2002). Shout Factory. Biography of the Hollywood producer, pilot, business man, and playboy. Passion for aviation. Phobias and madness in later life. Contains interviews with close friends. Pictures of the 'Constellation' (beginning of commercial aviation) and the 'Flying Boat' (world's largest plane: H-4 Hercules, Spruce Goose). After Hughe's death the Howard Hughes Medical Institute was founded and inherited his entire fortune for medical resarch purposes.
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Video: The Canterbury Tales I (The Nun's Priest's Tale, The Knight's Tale, The Wife of Bath's Tale) and II (The Merchant's Tale, The Pardoner's Tale, The Franklin's Tale) (2000). 2 x 30min. Animated short films depicting stories from the collection by Geoffrey Chaucer. Mixture of model animation and tradtional sketch work. Voices of actors from the Royal Shakespeare Company. Nominated for Academy Award (Best Short Film, Animated) in 1999. Won Emmy in 1999. Bizarre characters. Modern. Overall rating 5 out of 10.
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Video: Search for the Great Apes (1975). 60 min. National Geographic Video. Features the field work of two women scientists expanding the knowledge on apes. 1.) Birute Galdikas-Brindamour in Borneo with orangutans. 2.) Diane Fossey in central Africa with mountain gorilllas. Documents the conditions in the rain forest and thei scientists work. Well done.
~~~~~~~
Theater: All's Well That Ends Well by William Shakespeare (1564-1616). The Duke on 42nd St, 229 W 42nd St, NYC. Feb 26, 2006, 7:00 PM. w/ Kate Forbes (Helena), Lucas Hall (Bertram), Laurie Kennedy (Countess of Rosillion), George Morfogen (The King of France). Woman loves man of higher rank, and marries him against his will through a good deed. He escapes, vowes that he will never be hers, but she tricks him into accepting her as a wife. Unusual story for a Shakespeare play. There is a some good and bad in every character. Good acting.
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DVD: The Quiet American (2002). 101 min. w/ Michael Caine (Thomas Fowler), Brendan Fraser (Alden Pyle), Do Thi Hai Yen (Phuong). Directed by Phillip Noyce. After the book by Graham Greene. Vietnam under French rule in 1952. British journalist (Caine) meets an American medical aid worker (Fraser), who steals his beautiful girlfriend and turns out to be an agent for the CIA. Interesting anti-American view on American activities in Vietnam before the Vietnam war. Good acting. Overall rating: 6 out of 10.
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Music: Lene Marlin: Singer-songwriter from Norway. First album: Playing My Game (1999). Sounds somewhat like Dido.
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Life: Belvedere Castle: Central Park, NYC: 'Recording, Remebering'.
~~~~~~~
DVD: The Eel (jap.:Unagi, 1997). 117 min. Directed by Shohei Imamura. w/ Kôji Yakusho (Takuro Yamashita; appearance in Tampopo), Misa Shimizu (Keiko Hattori). White-color worker kills his wife in rage after finding her with another man. After 8 years in prison, he tries to start a new, quiet life in a small town, but falls in love with a younger woman that reminds him of his wife. Story well told, with a certain degree of unpredictability. Good acting. Fight sequence is rather funny. Overall rating 7 out of 10.
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Technology: Alexander Bain (1811-1877): Clockmaker, inventor. Invented an electric clock, the electric printing telegraph and the first fax machine. Was unsuccessful in capitalizing on his capabilities. "[...} creating ideas and making money are two separate human enterprises. Bain managed only the idea part." (Engines of our Ingenuity No. 2069)
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Philospohy: Alexander Bain (1818-1903). Scottish philosopher and educationalist. Different from the inventor (see above). Wrote 'Moral science: a compendium of ethics'.
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Snippets:
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Shopping: Price Engine: Street Prices.
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Art: MoMA: Jan. 6, 2006: 1.) Elisabeth Murray. Paintings on three dimensional convasses. Shape shifter. 2.) Beyond the Visible: The Art of Odilon Redon. Creepy. 3.) Pixar: 20 years of Animation.
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Literature: World Wide School. Dedicated to the collection, preservation and presentation of educational material.
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DVD: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002). w/ Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley), Emma Watson (Hermione Granger). Directed by Chris Columbus. During Harry's second year at Hogwarts, he rescues lives and ultimately the continuity of the entire school. Action driven, suspenseful at times. Some cheesy moments. Memorable quote: 'It is not our abilities that show what we truly are. It is our choices.' (Albus Dubledore). Overall rating: 6 out of 10.
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Video: The Bride of Frankenstein (1935). 75 min. w/ Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Valerie Hobson, Ernest Thesiger. Directed by James Whale. Cheesy, melodramatic horror classic about the making of a mate for Frankenstein's monster. Overall rating 5 out of 10.
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Poetry: Lord George Gordon (Noel) Byron (1788-1824). Anglo-Scottish poet and leading figure in Romanticism. Most famous poems: Childe Harold's Pilgrimage and Don Juan (unfinished). In life, Byron featured extravagant living and numerous love affairs. Was friends with the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and his wife Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, author of 'Frankenstein'. Mary's stepsister Claire Clairmont had a liaison with Lord Byron.
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Video: The Silk Road: Across the Taklamakan Desert (1990). 55 min. Music by Kitaro. Central Park Media. Taklamakan means 'The place from which nothing living returns!' Visit to the ancient Buddhist city of Miran, southwest of the legendary kingdom Lou-lan in Northern China, and the ruins of Niya. Niya is believed to have flourished from the 1st century BC to the 4th century AD, and is one of the largest ruins of the city states that were scattered along the ancient Silk Road about 1,500 years ago. Rediscovered in 1901 by the British explorer Marc Aurel Stein (1862-1943.)
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Art: Michael Joo: Still Lives. September 23, 2005 - February 4, 2006. Bohen Foundation, 415 W 13th St, NYC. Mixed media installation commisioned by the Bohen Foundation. New York premier of 'Circannual Rhythm (piblotok) in a 48ft-wide nine image projection, which follows the artist's journey along the Alaskan pipeline. In addition, the center of the installation is a spiral formation of sculptures that cascades from the ceiling through the wall in the middle space, then through the floor. On the lower, level small monitors, showing live video images from the room above, replace the sculptures.
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Photography: Felice Frankel. Science photographer at MIT. Gallery at Science and the City.
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Literature: Mica Garen & Marie-Hélène Carleton: American Hostage: A Memoir of a Journalist Kidnapped in Iraq and the Remarkable Battle to Win His Release. Strory at BBC.
~~~~~~~
Theater: Off-Off-Broadway Review (obbr): Listings and reviews.
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Music/Audio: Freesound Project: Post, find, listen to and download common and artificial sounds. Includes Search engine for similar and dissimilar sounds. 'Geotagged Samples' may not work with Internet Explorer. Firefox recommended.
~~~~~~~
Video: The Third Man (1949). 104 min. w/ Joseph Cotten (Rollo Martins), Alida Valli (Anna Schmidt), Orson Welles (Harry Lime). Directed by Carol Reed. Story and screenplay by Graham Greene. Man in post-war Vienna tries to solve the murder of a long-time friend. Film noir. A classic. Overall rating: 6 out of 10.
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Literature: Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343 – 1400): English poet. Best known for 'The Canterbury Tales'. Considered the beginning of English literature.
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Video: Kumonosu jô (Throne of Blood, 1957). 105 min. Directed by Akira Kurosawa. w/ Toshirô Mifune (Taketori Washizu), Isuzu Yamada (Lady Asaji Washizu). Free-flowing adaptation of Shakespeares 'Macbeth'. Ambitious fighter meets evil spirit who foretells him a successful future, but also his demise. He cannot excape his fate. Intriguing version of a classic tale. Yamada is spooky. Overall rating: 5 out of 10.
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Quote: "Liberty is being free from the things we don't like in order to be slaves of the things we do like." by Ernest Benn (1875-1954), British publisher.
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Life: Tea: Mighty Leaf. Handcrafted tea pouches. e.g., Organic Mint Melange.
~~~~~~~
Travel: GotoBus. Bus tours and travels by bus, e.g., New York - Boston.
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Life: Tips for Rental Issues
~~~~~~~
Video: The Living Edens: Borneo (1998). Approx. 60 min. PBS Home Video. Executive Poducers: Alex Gregory and Dennis B. Kane. Stunning pictures of the mountains, caves, rain forrest, and reefs of the third largest island in the world (after Greenland an New Guinea). Natural habitat for the Bornean orangutan, the Asian elephant, and the Sumatran rhinoceros and other almost extinct species. Politically, Borneo is divided between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, and more than half of the rain forrest has been sacrificed to commerce.
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Music: Sapphiel's Fall. British rock/pop band. Corrent album: "Life Half Lived". Recorded at Northampton's, Fitdog Studios.
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Astronomy: Meteorites are best found in deserts like the Sahara or Antarctica, because they appear different from their surroundings in these landscapes.
~~~~~~~

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851):
Rain, Steam and Speed - The Great Western Railway (1844).

Snippets:
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Music: Jens Lekman. Swedish singer/songwriter. Some hilarious lyrics.
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Music: Mrs. Pilgrimm (nee Sophie Williams). Cello, vocals. Signed at Hinterhoff Records. Experimental singer/songwriter. Current CD: Alone Queen.
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Music: 75 Minutes. Weekly podcast from NYC on independent music.
~~~~~~~
Music: Rob Wilkerson. Talented jazz saxophonist.
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Music: Phroyter (Shiny Thing). Scottish indie band, now out of Vancouver, Canada. Favorite song: 'There's Always Someone Else'.
~~~~~~~
Music: Samantha Murphy. American singer/songwriter. Born in Hawaii to Australian parents. Also has her own Podcast called SMtv. Album: 'Somewhere between Starving and Stardom'.
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Theater: Monthy Python's Spamalot. Sam S. Shubert Theater, NYC. Losely base on the movie 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail '. Book and lyrics by Eric Idle. Music by John Du Prez and Eric Idle. w/ Simon Russell Beale as King Arthur. Lauren Kennedy as Lady of the Lake. Winner Tony Award 2005 (Best Musical). Memorable quote: 'Fetchez la vache'. Unusual combination of Broadway acting and silly comedy. Does not take itself seriously. Entertaining.
~~~~~~~
Technology: iTTUSB. USB Turntable from Ion. Helps to convert vinyl records to CD. Includes Audacity as recording software. No drivers needed.
~~~~~~~
DVD: Monthy Python's Flying Circus. Episodes 1, 2, & 3 from Season 1. 1969-70. Classic comedy. Includes Bicycle Repair Man.
~~~~~~~
DVD: Alaska. Spirit of the Wild (1997). 40 min. Director and co-producer: George Casey. Narrated by Charlton Heston. As presented in IMAX Theaters. Intriguing wild life pictures.
~~~~~~~
DVD: The Bourne Supremacy (2004). 108 min. w/ Matt Damon. Directed by Paul Greengrass. Novel by Robert Ludlum. Jason Bourne seeks revenge when his girlfriend gets killed. Movie offers nothing new compared to its predecessor. Pointless. Boring. Waste of time. Overall rating: 3 out of 10.
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Music: Karmyn Tyler. Vocalist from Texas. Also does commercials, theater, film and TV. Great voice, but do not always agree with her selection of tunes. Also has made a jazz album.
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Video: Citizen Kane (1941). 119 min. w/ Orson Welles. Directed by Orson Welles. Rise and fall of a newspaper giant. Inspired by the life of William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951). Probably an important movie for its time. Dramatic portrait of a powerful man, but too obvious and predictable at times. Overall rating: 5 out of 10.
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Video: The Madness of King George (1994). 107 min. Nigel Hawthorne (George III), Helen Mirren (Queen Charlotte). Story of the mental illnes of King George III, presumbably caused by porphyria. Good acting. Funny at times. Dwells on one theme for too long. Overall rating 5 out of 10.
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Computer: Sysinternals. Provides advanced utilities, technical information, and source code related to various versions of MS Windows.
~~~~~~~
Literature: Yasunari Kawabata (1899-1972). Japanese writer. Nobel Prize in Literature 1968. Often balance of beautiful and sad impressions. Kawabata committed suicide in 1972, but left no note of explanation.
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Snippets:
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DVD: Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance (1983). 87 min. Directed by Godfrey Reggio. Music by Philip Glass. A piece of art, telling a story of nature, man, and technology. No actors, no words, just a stream of images and music. Most scenes might just as well be still photographs. Large portion of the film is made in time lapse mode, showing motions in accelerated fashion, thereby creating interesting effects. Title from Hopi Indian language: ko-yaa-nis-qa-tsi: n. 1. crazy life. 2. life in turmoil. 3. life out of balance. 4. life disintegrating. 5. a state of life that calls for another way of living. Life out of balance. Some spectacular scenes, but too long at times. The music is rather annoying, repetitive and monotonous. Overall rating: 5 out of 10.
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Literature: Librivox. Free audio books of classics recorded by amateur readers. Good selection.
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Art/Science: Bodies: The Exhibition. Southstreet Seaport at the Exhibition Center, NYC. $24.50. Showcase of human bodies, body parts and organs, preserved and prepared through a procedure called plastination. Principle: Remove water and fats from the tissue and replace them with polymers, through an intermediate step using acetone. Acetone is replaced by polymer in a vaccum chamber ('forced vacuum impregnation'). Complete exchange takes few days for thin slices, but weeks for whole bodies. Technique developed by Gunther von Hagens, Germany, in 1978. Von Hagens exhibits his specimen in different venues.
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Thought: Two useful qualities: Diversity and moderation.
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DVD: Million Dollar Baby (2004). 132 min. Directed by Clint Eastwood. w/ Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman. Woman (Swank) is determined to become a boxing champion, and is supported by a headstrong trainer (Eastwood). Story takes a U-turn, when she gets severely injured during a fight. Movie well done, but too focused on boxing genre. Some critical points (e.g. assisted suicide) are treated too superficially. Overall rating: 6 out of 10.
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Poetry: Poetry Archive. Collection of poets reading their own work. Also some historic readings. Unfortunately, audio is not downloadable.
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Technology: Skype. Free Internet phone. Also, with SkypeOut, an ordinary phone line can be called, and with SkypeIn, customer receives a regular phone number to be called by any phone. Charges apply.
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Science: Oliver Sacks, a neurologist at New York University (NYU), Mt. Sinai Medical Center, is preparing a new book on memory and music. Recent interview at Science Friday. Described Clive Wearing, who suffers from severe amnesia since a herpes simplex encephalitis in 1985. Can only remember the last 5-30 seconds. Lives entirely in the present. Curiously, his musical memory is intact, i.e. he can play entire tunes on the piano, and even conduct an orchestra.
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Medicine: Cognitive reserve and lifestyle. "The concept of cognitive reserve (CR) suggests that innate intelligence or aspects of life experience like educational or occupational attainments may supply reserve, in the form of a set of skills or repertoires that allows some people to cope with progressing Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology better than others. There is epidemiological evidence that lifestyle characterized by engagement in leisure activities of intellectual and social nature is associated with slower cognitive decline in healthy elderly and may reduce the risk of incident dementia. There is also evidence from functional imaging studies that subjects engaging in such leisure activities can clinically tolerate more AD pathology. It is possible that aspects of life experience like engagement in leisure activities may result in functionally more efficient cognitive networks and therefore provide a CR that delays the onset of clinical manifestations of dementia." Scarmeas N, Stern Y., J Clin Exp Neuropsychol. 2003 Aug;25(5):625-33.
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