Anteater (AKA a worthwhile waste of time)

So there's this woman who posts videos on youtube of her pet anteater. Yes - anteater. I've seen a lot of nature shows, but I'd never seen these creatures before. They are oddly mesmerizing. You just have to watch it. They will surely be stocked on the shelves of your favorite stores come Christmas time.

Quality Matters

Here's a nice little piece over at Slate that explains through very basic methodology how quality films actually make more money. This is a concept most regular people seem to understand, yet it seems to narrowly elude the minds behind the movie business. Sneaky bugger.

The pic above is from my favorite "quality" movie of last year - The Diving Bell And The Butterfly.

A little postscript to this entry - an article in today's LA Times about Pixar's Secret Ingredient for success; QUALITY.

My Dog Cheese (AKA Google Self-Worth)

If you google "cheese", you get a million hits about cheese. If you google "cheese dog" you get a million hits and pictures about chili cheese dogs and a few about how dogs like cheese.

My dog's name is Cheese and this is my attempt to get her moving up the google search ranks under "Cheese". When people think "Cheese" I want them thinking about my crazy ass canine companion rather than a chunk of rotting dairy.

Skinny Love: Your music moment of the day

For Friday, just a great song and another great piece from the folks over at The Blogotheque.
Bon Iver - Skinny Love

Hope And Change (AKA The Audacity Of Art)

I recently stumbled upon this artist named Travis Louie. His paintings of Victorian era monsters and chimeras are indelibly haunting. The style of those old, hazy portraits which he draws upon pulls you in like a living fog, and you find yourself wading deeper into melancholy. You recognize that as alive as you are this very moment, one day you too will be a thing left to a distant past; a photograph, a DVD collection, a dusty blog stumbled upon by a Tom Sawyer and a Huck Finn who marvel at it for a few moments until a frog croaks and their chase of life and wonder begins again.

I'm impressed at how quickly the artist is able to make you see past the monsters and through to the life within them. Like us, even monsters need to remember. Like us, even monsters want to stop time. Like us, even monsters have an innate and subconscious understanding that memory is not an inert thing like a photograph or a letter; memory is an act of creation. But there are times where we need that memorabilia. To call upon it as a guide when we've gotten turned around in the back roads we've traveled thousands of times, catching frogs, playing make believe.

I would love to see these works in person because it's almost hard to believe they are actual paintings and not digital images.

Please visit his website here.

Dry Drowning. The Possible Impossible.

I couldn't have even imagined this possible:

Johnny Jackson, a 10-year-old American boy from South Carolina, died at home on Sunday from "dry drowning" more than an hour after going swimming and walking home with his mother. The sad event highlights a little known danger that parents and child carers should be aware of, that drowning can kill hours after being submersed in water.

Johnny's mother, Cassandra Jackson, told NBC News in a story broadcast on the TODAY show on Thursday that:

"I've never known a child could walk around, talk, speak and their lungs be filled with water."

Johnny must have got some water in his lungs while he was swimming in his local pool at Goose Greek, South Carolina. He didn't show any signs of respiratory distress, but he had an accident in the pool and "soiled himself", said the TODAY report. He then walked home with his mother and sister.

His mother said she bathed him and he told her he felt sleepy. When she went to check on him later she saw his face was covered in a "spongy white material". He was rushed to hospital but it was too late.

Pictures In Motion

Go over to McSweeney's, where you'll find an amazing article from 1896 where a man reports on his first time seeing a movie. Fascinating.

Get Smart

The man who says he is willing to meet you halfway is usually a poor judge of distance.

Lawrence J. Peter

Christian The Lion (AKA Your Warm Fuzzy Feeling Of The Day)

Out Of This World

A sunset on Mars. Thanks, NASA.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

It's over.

Senator Obama's nomination was well earned. His campaign platform of change has already followed through on that promise. Not only is he the first black Presidential candidate in history, but more importantly, he has already managed to elevate the level of politics in America. That is profound change for any government, and this was only a primary.

When faced with the issue of Reverend Wright, he took the path no other candidate would have even considered viable; he didn't hide from it, or try to find the perfect ten word sound byte - no, instead he gave his now historic speech on race. A 40 minute speech that was mature and complex. A 40 minute speech in a time when polls and market research tells us that the public can't watch a news item that is longer than 2 minutes. He spoke to the nation as if they were adults and not merely a focus group. And they in turn responded as such.

That is good politics. That is why I am certain he will win the Presidency. That is why I am very hopeful he may achieve some great things in his time in office. Getting things done in Washington is getting things done through politics, and Senator Obama is very, very good at politics. Having that ability, coupled with fortuitous timing, is what enables the chosen few to make real history.

I hope for the best and now have only these words of advice for him, which I have taken from Bill Strickland:

"You must be prepared to act on your dreams, just in case they do come true".

Sex And The City (AKA Emotional Train Wrecks Of Self-Pity)

Anthony Lane's review over at the New Yorker is hilarious and spot-on. If you can't find the 7 minutes it takes to read it, his last line probably sums it up best:

All the film lacks is a subtitle: “The Lying, the Bitch, and the Wardrobe.”

Hallelujah

Everyone and their mothers love this song. The Jeff Buckley version, that is. As they should. It still ticks me off that people thought that dreadlocked kid from American Idol sang it well. I thought it was horrendous. (I know his name, but if college stoner kids who really can't sing and who can barely strum a guitar, can have a legitimate pop music career, I am certainly not to going to help it along).

This performance of the song is worth checking out. Simply gorgeous. Two of these guys are from the Norwegian Idol or Icelandic Idol or something like that, and the other two are... well, two other guys I don't know.



Oh, and here is a fantastic blog entry about the history of the song. I love when people put this much thought into something from pop culture that deserves to be seriously considered.

TED - My New Best Friend

TED now posts all their conference talks. If I didn't have to function in the world by working, eating and sleeping, I would watch these talks day and night. For now I watch one a day because I want to stretch them out like a great book you never want to end.

In case you don't know what TED is:

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader.

The annual conference now brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).

Do yourself a HUGE favor and watch these fascinating, ingenious and bold ideas presented to the world.

Lifestraw (AKA Do something worthwhile with your life)

Danish water purification company Vestergaard Frandsen has developed the Lifestraw Personal, a small filter that requires no power and can be worn on a string around the neck. There are no moving parts and no maintenance is required. Sip water directly through the LifeStraw® and it removes 99% of waterborne bacteria and viruses. There are several layers inside to filter out increasingly smaller pathogens, then iodine to kill the smallest, and finally charcoal to remove the iodine taste. After use, you blow air back through the straw to clear the filters. A personal filter lasts for about a year’s use. It is not effective against the parasite Giardia lamblia, which is smaller than 5 microns, but the company is working on it.

The Lifestraw costs $3.

Which is less than what most people spend on their morning coffee.

More than one billion people in the world do not have access to safe drinking water - i.e. around 1/6th of the world's population.
(Source: Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council)

The average distance that women in Africa and Asia walk to collect water is 6 km.
(Source: Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council)

Via their link you can read more and donate a Lifestraw personal or a Lifestraw Family, which can be used to filter a household water supply.

I read about this on mental floss.