Oliver Messiaen- 'On Birdsongs'

Oliver Messiaen is one of my favorite 20th century music composers. I had always heard that one of his big influences was the songs of birds...


 These influences of birdsongs are important to keep in mind when you hear his work, for example one of his most famous works, the 'Quartet for the End of Time':

Ant Web

I saw this site yesterday. If you have any interest in ants, they have photographed and documented many of the world's 10,000 known species of ant.   http://www.antweb.org/

Ants are incredibly diverse. They can be as small as the point of a pin, or as big as a walnut. They can look as sleek as sports cars, or as bulky as tanks. AntWeb illustrates this diversity by providing information and high quality color images of many of the approximately 10,000 known species of ants. AntWeb currently focuses on the species of the Nearctic and Malagasy biogeographic regions, and the ant genera of the world. Over time, the site will grow to describe every species of ant known.

TED Talk: Matt Ridley: When Ideas Have Sex

At TEDGlobal 2010, author Matt Ridley shows how, throughout history, the engine of human progress has been the meeting and mating of ideas to make new ideas. It's not important how clever individuals are, he says; what really matters is how smart the collective brain is.

Dad Life

It's been way too long since I posted last, so I will post some of the more interesting things I've seen in the last week. This one is hilarious. It's a mock gangster rap video called 'Dad Life'.

Rodney Mullen Defying the Physical Laws of Gravity

Since I was a kid, the skateboarder, Rodney Mullen has existed in a category completely unto his own... It's great to see him still at it...Technically, there is no one who even comes close...

Stephen Fry: The Importance of Unbelief

I posted an interview with Stephen Fry just a few weeks ago and I was really impressed by how well articulated and thoughtful his responses were. I think this interview is even better.

BIG BANG BIG BOOM - the new wall-painted animation by BLU

Wow! I saw this today and was amazed to see that they had outdone themselves. Their animated video called MUTO from a few years ago was great, but this one is even more mindblowing. Check out the website http://www.blublu.org to see more.

BIG BANG BIG BOOM - the new wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

RSA Animate - The Secret Powers of Time

Axis of Awesome - 4 Four Chord Song

This is funny as hell and really well done. The perfect ironic example of why I find most pop music mind-numbing and irritating all at the same time. They put together single lines taken from dozens of pop songs set to the exact same chord progression. I recognized maybe half of the songs they used, which says something about how much attention I pay to mainstream media...

BP Slick Covers Dolphins and Whales

This is the most disturbing thing I've seen from the oil spill yet.
 John Wathan, the person who took the footage and narrated the video had a few words to say here:

This was the most emotionally disturbing video I have ever done!
A flight over the BP Slick Source where I saw at least 100 Dolphins in the oil, some dying. I also photographed a Sperm Whale covered in oil all around it's blow hole.
Please spread this around the world. Send me any links to places it gets posted so I can follow.
I want to piss off the world. Who will answer for these gentle creatures?