Damn.

Whoopsi Gras 9/7/05

Sneak Previews of New, Unreleased Films With Conversations

Each fall and spring Harlan Jacobson's TALK CINEMA offers its subscribers a unique series of quality films. Each series showcases innovative independent and foreign films. Screenings are followed by discussions led by distinguished critics and filmmakers.

The Element of Surprise

TALK CINEMA subscribers don't know in advance what the film is or who the guest speaker will be. We think this is part of the fun -- seeing a film the way the critics do, without any preconceived notions, without the hype.

In Los Angeles, Talk Cinema is hosted by The Bridge: Cinema De Lux, at the promenade at Howard Hughes Center. The fall series begins on September 25.

Talk Cinema

Perhaps the life of June Carter Cash will always rest in the shadow of her husband, who passed away a mere four months after she did in 2003, though one gets the impression from the many collaborations found on this compilation (and from her selflessness in support of her famous husband and children) that perhaps her intention was never to be the "star", but to be the woman standing at the center of an unbroken circle of family, creativity, integrity, and love. By merely listening to her 1999 recording of "Will the Circle Be Unbroken", one cannot help but feel moved to faith that this legacy will find its expression in the next generation of musicians.

June Carter Cash: Keep on the Sunny Side

Listening, it turns out, fills a big silence at the center of so much media noise. The memes of mainstream coverage - heroes and victims, right and left - did not situate well over Katrina. It is easy to tut-tut from a distance, to suggest that this was bound to happen and everyone should have gotten out of Dodge, but that does not reflect the practical issues that people without cars or money confronted.

The Pendulum of Reporting on Katrina

Number Seventeen is a design studio in New York City.

What I Did This Summer | Op Art

My whole life, something had buzzed in the back of my head, a yearning that I could not put into words. But now it was taking shape at last. It was telling me that I too was an alien, someone who did not belong in this white house in this small town in the middle of nowhere.

The Boys of Summer

Technically, it's still a coffeehouse.

"The overall strategy is to build Starbucks into a destination. It's not about driving coffee sales. It's about providing the music consumer new ways to acquire and discover music. This is a transformational opportunity."

I do like Hear Music.

DVDs and Fries: New Ways To Consume Technology

On sale in September! I've seen reports as early as September 14, but the consensus seems to be on September 20.

The King of All Cosmos grew to stardom after taking all of the Prince's Katamaris and replacing the stars. His fans knew no bounds and wished to see more Katamaris fill the sky. The king of all Cosmos desired to appease all of their requests and recruited the Prince and his cousins to help. Now they are tasked with rolling up even more clumps, each larger and more different than the one before.

We love Katamari

I take considerable pride in my huge collection and carefully refined taste. And I consider bad rock taste--or, worse, no rock taste at all--clear evidence of a fallow soul. I am, in other words, a certified Rock Snob. But I fear that Rock Snobs are in grave danger. We are being ruined by the iPod.

In some ways, the iPod revolution is a Rock Snob's dream. Now, nearly all rock music is easily and almost instantly attainable, either via our friends' computers or through online file-sharing networks.

But there's a dark side to the iPod era. Snobbery subsists on exclusivity. And the ownership of a huge and eclectic music collection has become ordinary.

In the context of book-collecting, the philosopher Walter Benjamin spoke of "the thrill of acquisition." But, when everything's instantly available online, the thrill is gone.

Remastered

Only 20 to 25 percent of Americans are scientifically savvy and alert. Most of the rest don't have a clue.

At a time when science permeates debates on everything from global warming to stem cell research, people's inability to understand basic scientific concepts undermines their ability to take part in the democratic process.

American adults in general do not understand what molecules are (other than that they are really small). Fewer than a third can identify DNA as a key to heredity. Only about 10 percent know what radiation is. One adult American in five thinks the Sun revolves around the Earth, an idea science had abandoned by the 17th century.

Scientific Savvy? In US, Not Much