These awe-inspiring time-lapse videos are previews of Tom Lowe’s upcoming astronomy film, TimeScapes:
Gorgeous. Just gorgeous.
It’s footage like this that makes me wish I didn’t live in the city.
via Gizmodo
Movies/TV
From Armageddon:
I address you tonight not as the President of the United States, not as the leader of a country, but as a citizen of humanity. We are faced with the very gravest of challenges. The Bible calls this day “Armageddon”—the end of all things. And yet, for the first time in the history of the planet, a species has the technology to prevent its own extinction. All of you praying with us need to know that everything that can be done to prevent this disaster is being called into service.
The human thirst for excellence, knowledge, every step up the ladder of science, every adventurous reach into space, all of our combined modern technologies and imaginations, even the wars that we’ve fought, have provided us the tools to wage this terrible battle. Through all the chaos that is our history, through all of the wrongs and the discord, through all of the pain and suffering, through all of our times, there is one thing that has nourished our souls, and elevated our species above its origins, and that is our courage.
The dreams of an entire planet are focused tonight on those fourteen brave souls traveling into the heavens. And may we all, citizens the world over, see these events through. God speed, and good luck to you.
It might be a movie, and it might have many factual errors, but about this it’s not far off: For the first time in the history of our planet, a species has the technology to prevent its own extinction. Will we?
Google just announced Google TV at Google I/O today. It’s basically a giant TiVo with Chrome built in:
Google TV is a new experience for television that combines the TV that you already know with the freedom and power of the Internet. With Google Chrome built in, you can access all of your favorite websites and easily move between television and the web. This opens up your TV from a few hundred channels to millions of channels of entertainment across TV and the web. Your television is also no longer confined to showing just video. With the entire Internet in your living room, your TV becomes more than a TV — it can be a photo slideshow viewer, a gaming console, a music player and much more.
It’ll be interesting if they can keep the streaming quality high. YouTube certainly doesn’t have the best track record in that department.
These devices will go on sale this fall, and will be available at Best Buy stores nationwide. You can sign up here to get updates on Google TV availability.
The HBO television series “The Wire” is so authentic that Harvard sociology students will soon be able to score credits by watching it:
At a panel last night, stars of the HBO hit series joined Harvard professors in discussing the applications of the show—which depicts the struggles of urban life in Baltimore—in understanding and combating real urban social issues.
“‘The Wire’ has done more to enhance our understanding of the systemic urban inequality that constrains the lives of the poor than any published study”, Sociology Professor William J. Wilson said.
I just got back from watching District 9 in the cinema, and wow, what a refreshing experience! It’s been a long time since I’ve watched a movie that was awesome (in the big guns, space ships and robots kind of way), smart, scary (intellectually), gory, and fun. It messes with your mind several times over and it feels wonderful. Take a look at the latest trailer for the movie:
I was skeptic after watching the trailer, but it turned out to be more of a distraction than a summarization of the film. Without revealing too much, let me just say that it is worth watching District 9 even if the trailer leaves you thinking it might just be a Resident Evil clone (it’s not).
District 9 is a bloody good action movie (emphasis on bloody) that challenges the viewer’s perception of humankind. I find it hard to believe that its budget was set at a meager USD $30,000,000.
Now my wait for the sequel begins. I wonder if it will be able to successfully expand on the message conveyed so exceptionally by Neill Blomkamp in the first movie.