2008 May: Arundhati Roy, 2010 April: "Walking With The Comrades", 2015 November: Politics by Other Means, 2018 July: What is the Morally Appropriate Language in Which to Think and Write?, 2018 August: Arundhati Roy: Brilliant, troubled and troubling
We are witnessing a crime against humanity - Arundhati Roy
Red Smith
Marin Marais: Pieces for Viol from the Five Books - Jordi Savall (2006)
2020 February: Hespèrion XXI – Orient - Occident (2006)
A Kind of Packaged Aging Process - Jan Morris
“It was for convalescent reasons that I lately undertook a resolutely up-market Mediterranean cruise, with a Greek classical bias, and since I thought of such a cruise generically as being a kind of packaged aging process, at first I decided for literary purposes to rename our ship the Geriatrica. Later I changed my mind.It was perfectly true, though, as I had foreseen, that we formed a venerable passenger list, and sunset intimations were soon apparent. ... Of course the passage of time had to be a preoccupation on board such a ship as ours. ...”
2020 November: Venice (1960)
The Meaning of Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights Explained
Open Culture (Video) 50:57
2016 February: The Garden of Earthly Delights - Hieronymus Bosch (1490 - 1510), 2016 September: Hieronymus Bosch’s Lost Masterpiece, 2018 September: The Hieronymus Bosch Demon Bird Was Spotted Riding the New York City Subway the Other Day…
Morphagene as a Stepping Stone of the Creative Process - Hélène Vogelsinger
Stellarium
Harry Partch – The Bewitched (2021) and U.S. Highball (2021)
2012 February: Harry Partch
The 1619 Project
Noam Chomsky on Anarchism, Human Nature and Joe Biden
“How do you introduce Noam Chomsky? Perhaps you start here: In 1979, The New York Times called him ‘arguably the most important intellectual alive today.’ More than 40 years later, Chomsky, at 92, is still putting his dent in the world — writing books, giving interviews, changing minds. There are different sides to Chomsky. He’s a world-renowned linguist who revolutionized his field. He’s a political theorist who’s been a sharp critic of American foreign policy for decades. He’s an anarchist who believes in a radically different way of ordering society. He’s a pragmatist who pushed leftists to vote for Joe Biden in 2020 and has described himself as having a ‘rather conservative attitude towards social change.’ He is, very much, himself. The problem in planning a conversation with Chomsky is how to get at all these different sides. So this one covers a lot of ground. ...”
2011 January: Peak Oil and a Changing Climate, 2015 May: The Limits of Discourse As Demonstrated by Sam Harris and Noam Chomsky, 2015 October: Electing the President of an Empire, 2015 December: Noam Chomsky on Paris attacks, 2016 December: Chomsky: Humanity Faces Real and Imminent Threats to Our Survival, 2017 April: Requiem for the American Dream: The 10 Principles of Concentration of Wealth & Power (2016), 2017 July: Noam Chomsky: Neoliberalism Is Destroying Our Democracy, 2020 May: Requiem for the American Dream (2017)
Video: Riding Mountain Bikes in the Paris Catacombs
2013 February: Catacombs of Paris
Amplifying the Women Who Pushed Synthesizers Into the Future
“When you hear the phrase ‘electronic musician,’ what sort of person do you picture? A pallid, wildly coifed young man hunched over an imposing smorgasbord of gear? I’m guessing the person you are imagining doesn’t look like Daphne Oram, with her cat-eye glasses, demure dresses and respectable 1950s librarian haircut. And yet Oram is a crucial figure of electronic music history — the co-founder of the BBC’s incalculably influential Radiophonic Workshop, the first woman to set up her own independent electronic music studio and now one of the worthy focal points of Lisa Rovner’s bewitching new documentary ‘Sisters With Transistors: Electronic Music’s Unsung Heroines.’ ...”
Cooking with Herman Melville
Jazz On Film...The New Wave II (2016)
Fine Drone Partita in a Minor Synth Setup
Derek Chauvin Trial Live Updates: Chauvin Found Guilty of Murdering George Floyd
“State of Minnesota v. Derek Michael Chauvin is a criminal case in the District Court of Minnesota in which former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was tried and convicted of the murder of George Floyd during an arrest on May 25, 2020. Chauvin was charged with second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter; the first charge carries a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison. On April 20, 2021, the jury found Chauvin guilty of all three charges. The trial began on March 8, 2021, at the Hennepin County Government Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was the first of two scheduled criminal trials stemming from Floyd's death. It was also the first criminal trial in Minnesota to be entirely televised and the first in state court to be broadcast live. ...”
Capitalist Greed Created the European Super League
“Yesterday, once again, the prospect of a breakaway European Super League (ESL) reared its head. The proposal — to carve out a continental competition in which fifteen of the game’s elite clubs could never be relegated — was met with widespread dismay by those who love the game. Despite a year that has shown just how vital fans are for the ‘spectacle’ of football, it was the match-going fans that once again were of least concern. Instead, if the plans go ahead, the future of football will be shaped by television and advertising — an entertainment industry that the top clubs estimate will deliver them £300 million per year, far outstripping their current domestic and Champions League revenues. It’s important to point out that the Super League isn’t an anomaly. ...”
Twin Peaks Supercut: Every Mention of Pie and Coffee
2020 April: Twin Peaks: Go Down the Rabbit Hole.
What an artist captured on 1950s Orchard Street
Top 10 Night Sky Objects for Amateur Astronomers
Pet Shop Boys Share Live Cover Of Blur's 'Girls & Boys'
2008 September: Pet Shop Boys, 2010 November: Pet Shop Boys - 1985-1989, 2011 January: Behaviour, 2011 May: Very, 2011 December: Bilingual, 2012 March: "Always on My Mind", 2012 August: Nightlife, 2012 September: "Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes off You)", 2012 December: Release, 2013 March: Pandemonium Tour, 2013 November: Leaving, 2014 April: Introspective (1988), 2014 August: Go West, 2015 January: "So Hard"(1990), 2015 February: "I'm with Stupid" (2006), 2015 July: Thursday EP (2014), 2016 May: "Twenty-something" (2016), 2017 September: Left To My Own Devices / The Sound of the Atom Splitting (1988), 2019 May: It's A Sin (1987)
Avant Gardening - New Age Steppers (2021)
2010 October: Ari Up (17 January 1962 – 20 October 2010), 2012 July: Subatomic Sound System meets Lee Scratch Perry & Ari Up of the Slits (7″ vinyl), 2014 September: Live in Cincinnati and San Francisco 1980, 2015 August: Return Of The Giant Slits (1981/2007), 2016 May: "Typical Girls" / "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" (1979), 2016 July: "Man Next Door" - Berlin 1981
Birds by the Billions: A Guide to Spring’s Avian Parade
“... The Northeast: a festival of songbirdsI came to birding relatively late. My parents had a bird feeder on the Jersey Shore where I grew up, and I’d watch house finches and sparrows come and go. But I knew nothing about the migrations of songbirds until my late 20s when I interviewed Roger Tory Peterson, author of the iconic fields guides. With the spring migration underway, this is the time to discover — or rediscover — the allure of birding. ... Each day brings platoons of warblers, vireos, thrushes, tanagers and other migrants. The first thing you learn when you pick up your binoculars and head out is that you are not ‘bird-watching,’ but ‘birding.’ Bird-watching implies a sedentary activity, while birding is proactive. ...”
2008 September: Birds, 2008 June: Bird Songs, 2017 April: Of a Feather, 2017 June: Bird Sounds, 2017 July: Beautifully Designed Tiny Houses… For Birds, 2019 September: The Crisis for Birds Is a Crisis for Us All, 2019 March: She Invented a Board Game With Scientific Integrity. It’s Taking Off., 2019 June: Where Birds Meet Art … After Dark, 2019 September: The Crisis for Birds Is a Crisis for Us All, 2019 October: A Quest to Protect the World’s Last Silent Places, 2020 June: Making a Garden That Welcomes the Birds, 2020 July: New Bird Song That ‘Went Viral’ Across This Species of Sparrow Was Tracked by Scientists For the First Time, 2020 August: How to Use Binoculars - Jason Ward, 2020 October: Get the Birds To Come To You, 2020 June: BirdNET
Banknote embroidery as political art – in pictures
A Guide to the Extensive Musical Legacy of Mills College
“When he started teaching at Mills College in the late 1990s, Fred Frith already had an extensive resume. He had founded British avant-rock pioneers Henry Cow and collaborated with legends such as Richard Thompson, Brian Eno, and John Zorn. Yet he still found himself intimidated by Mills’ status as a breeding ground for inventive and influential experimental musicians. As he later told the L.A. Times, ‘When I first got here, I was a little overwhelmed by the history.’ It’s hard to blame him. The musical legacy of Mills College is dauntingly vast. Just listing all the artists who have passed through as students and professors—figures as diverse as Terry Riley, Laurie Anderson, Phil Lesh, and Joanna Newsom—could take days. ...”
Capitol Police Told to Hold Back on Riot Response on Jan. 6, Report Finds
“The Capitol Police had clearer advance warnings about the Jan. 6 attack than were previously known, including the potential for violence in which ‘Congress itself is the target.’ But officers were instructed by their leaders not to use their most aggressive tactics to hold off the mob, according to a scathing new report by the agency’s internal investigator. In a 104-page document, the inspector general, Michael A. Bolton, criticized the way the Capitol Police prepared for and responded to the mob violence on Jan. 6. The report was reviewed by The New York Times and will be the subject of a Capitol Hill hearing on Thursday. Mr. Bolton found that the agency’s leaders failed to adequately prepare despite explicit warnings that pro-Trump extremists posed a threat to law enforcement and civilians and that the police used defective protective equipment. ...”
2021 February: 77 days: Trump’s campaign to subvert the election, 2021 February: First They Guarded Roger Stone. Then They Joined the Capitol Attack., 2021 February: A Small Group of Militants’ Outsize Role in the Capitol Attack , 2021 March: Police Shrugged Off the Proud Boys, Until They Attacked the Capitol, 2021 March 21: 'We've Lost the Line!': Radio Traffic Reveals Police Under Siege at Capitol