Friday, July 21, 2006

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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