One of my favorite things about the Thanksgiving season? The opportunity to post this clip from “Shibboleth” (which aired during Season 2 of The West Wing). C.J: They sent me two turkeys. The more photo-friendly of the two gets a presidential pardon and a full life at a children’s zoo. The runner-up gets eaten. Bartlet: If the Oscars were like that I’d watch. Read more
…and as the evening of the Sixth Day drew nigh, God thought back over all the good creating He’d polished off in the last few days, and looked forward to a quiet, restful Sunday. And coasted, maybe. Just a little. Because here’s a metal artichoke. With a tongue. OK, that’s not actually an artichoke. It’s a pangolin. What’s a pangolin, you ask? Pangolins, often called “scaly anteaters,” are covered in tough, overlapping scales. These burrowing mammals eat ants and termites using an extraordinarily long, sticky tongue, and... Read more
For those among us who have always wondered what will happen to all the cute Corgis when the Apocalypse comes along, here’s John Cody Kim’s “Steadfast Stanley” with the answer to our burning question: Stanley the Pembroke Welsh Corgi is left behind in the outbreak of an apocalypse. All he wants to do is get back to his owner… The dog reminded me of Madeline Sharafian’s “Omelette” short, which I posted a few months back. Sure, the setting was a bit less endearing/a... Read more
Filmed on location by the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration. I’ve had space exploration very much on the brain over the past few weeks, so it should come as no surprise that I recently made room for a space-themed film I’ve been meaning to watch for ages: For All Mankind, which is currently streaming on HULU PLUS. And AMAZON INSTANT($) and ITUNES($$$). It’s amazing. If you haven’t seen it yet, please watch it as soon as possible. You’ll literally see... Read more
His name’s Zhenya Aerohockey. He’s a Siberian photographer from Saint Petersburg. And his Instagram project named #catchingcorners is amazing. Instagram project #catchingcorners is an extraordinary view on ordinary things. It was started as an entertainment, a way to train imagination and look around more. That’s a little abstract, so here’s a sampling: A photo posted by Zhenya Aerohockey (@aerohockey) on Oct 10, 2014 at 9:32pm PDT A photo posted by Zhenya Aerohockey (@aerohockey) on Aug 8, 2014 at 9:51pm PDT A photo posted by Zhenya Aerohockey... Read more
Stumbled across these two things a few days ago, and thought they went well together. Yes, of course there’s more where these two came from. Lots more. We’re talking about the InterWebs, after all. (BONUS and similarly charming-if-odd musical mashups available from “Postmodern Jukebox’s” YouTube library.) Read more
Now for something (almost) entirely different than my usual Summa Shorts fare: CYMATICS (from Greek: κῦμα “wave”): the study of visible sound; a process for making soundwaves visible; a subset of modal phenomena. The only thing I love more than this video itself? The fact that all the scientific effects used in the video are real, and they have a “Behind the Scenes” page to prove it. (The drum/hose combo is my favorite part, I think, though the slo-mo cymbal is amazing. Also, the world needs more flaming organs.... Read more
Today, in a not-entirely-unexpected development given my previously well-documented obsession, I’m of a mind to recommend a Western. Of course, saying I want to pick something from the “major defining genre of the American film industry” is a bit like throwing darts into the Pacific Ocean. I’ll definitely hit something, and it’ll probably be wet-ish. But I might want to think about narrowing it down. Just a tad. I don’t want a super-fun one today, for some reason. But I don’t want an uber-dark one, either. Nothing... Read more
During the last few weeks, I’ve been mildly (TRANSLATION: full-blown, all-out) obsessed with all things Philae/Rosetta. But even as I was geeking out, I didn’t understand the magnitude of the achievement, nor recognize the extraordinary technical expertise involved. Not really. At least not until I saw this (courtesy of the folks at ESA): Wow. Just…wow. These Flickr images do not diminish my obsession. Not in the slightest. Nor does this rough-cut of next week’s PBS special, “To Catch a Comet:” Apparently, the... Read more
For the past few weeks, the boys — the ones that are awake, that is — and I have been doing The Grey Lady’s Scientific 7-Minute Workout when we get up in the morning. So far, the only ones who have made it to every session are Dominic (#1) and David (#4). This morning, Dominic barely made it out of bed, dragging himself into the living room at the last possible second. He even tried to curl up and take a quick nap during... Read more
Summa This, Summa That
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In