Senses working overtime #109

1 Melania's view

Fascinating piece that features analysis of Melania Trump's photos that she posted via her Twitter account. Sad and revealing!

2 Cool movie posters without text

More here.

3 I love maps

I have a Readers' Digest big book of maps that dad used to have. As a kid I'd often gaze and wonder. This site is a pretty cool extension of that idea.

4 RIP Chris Cornell
Dead at 52. What a waste. I have been growing old with Soundgarden and I will miss that voice.

5 The Last Jedi
Trailer is here in case you missed an earlier post and this is a thoughtful piece about what to expect around Christmas this year.

Overtime
JFK! JFK! JFK!!

Had he lived, he would turn 100 on May 29. This selection of thoughts from his daughter, Caroline, and her children, is very moving. But it's the photos that accompany the video that got me...and resonate, even today!

Senses working overtime #108

1 Photo of the week

I love this shot from the great Unsplash photo site.

2 Oblique Strategies

Remove specifics and convert to ambiguities

Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies are a bit of a mystical hoot and a fun way to get over writer's block.

3 Ridley Scott
I'm a fan, and I get how Scott's films are both brilliant and banal.

4 The illusion of confidence

I'm an excellent driver!

I laughed out loud a few times during this look at how we overestimate our abilities. It leads nicely into...

5 The White House under seige
Great piece on how this week's train wreck played out in Trumpland.

Overtime
New Spidey movie looks pretty super cool - Spiderman: Homecoming 

Senses working overtime #107

1 Wonder

I have a file in my brain labelled 'Wonder'. It's a miscellany of images, memories, books, poems, films, sounds. Wondrous-ness is very much a valued commodity in my brain. So I enjoyed reading this piece about how wonder works.

2 Stunning interactive mini-sites

My colleague, Greg Semmens, at Woodford House, would love this one from the creative BBC people.

3 Big Big Train
I'm a big big fan of Big Big Train - take a listen to their brand new song, and you will be too.




4 Marvel movies ranked
I'm a sucker for these kind of lists. Here are the 15 Marvel movies (so far), ranked from worst to best. 

5 Star Wars
Interesting analysis of the Rogue One and Force Awakens screenplays. I know, but this guy delivers his messages well and loves Star Wars as a thing, so...hang in there.




Overtime
1 Hari Georgeson and Slowhand play Taxman. Sharp!



2 Macca on one of my fav Beatle solo albums - Ram.



3 Blade Runner 2049 

Senses working overtime #106

1 RIP Bruce Langhorne

Bruce - far left

Guitarist on one of my favourite Dylan albums - Bringing It All Back Home.

2 What kids looked like 100 years ago

More here!

3 WOW!! World's fastest film camera shoots at five trillion images per second. 
A research group at Lund University in Sweden has demonstrated a camera with the ability to film at some five trillion images per second. WHAAAAAAAAT????????

In order to split time down that finely, the camera pulls several images out of a single frame.  

While the "shutter" is open, several different laser light flashes hit the subject. Each laser flash is visually coded, so it can be separated from the rest of the information in the frame afterwards using a decryption key.

The team will use the camera to document the chemistry of plasma discharges, the initiations of different chemical reactions, and the lifetime of quantum states.

To illustrate the camera’s capability consider using the camera to record the blink of an eye, which takes around 0.3 seconds.  


If the results were played back at a normal cinematic 24 frames per second it would take a little under two thousand years to watch.

4 SkyGuru comes to the rescue.

I am one of those 1 in 3 people who suffer from fear of flying (aerophobia). I liked this article - it offers some hope!

5 Seriously awesome comic book art from James Stokoe 

More here!

Overtime
23 (count 'em!) movies to look out for this year. Some beauties among this lot!

Senses working overtime #105

1 Movie poster cliches

Great run through of some recurring themes in movie posters - check it out!

2 Leadership Freak

A.K.A. Dan Rockwell's blog about education and business leadership is something I read often. He nailed it again with this post that deserves a wider readership.

3 Sorry I didn't email you earlier...

Yeah right! Great piece that made me feel a whole lot better!

4 13 Reasons Why

This show came up in conversation with my daughter, Jade, this week and my other daughter, Samantha, has worked on the Netflicks show in LA. I watched the first episode after some initial misgivings about the premise. This article outlines my misgivings well.

5 Jonathan Demme
Remember him this way - great video for New Order's Perfect Kiss.



Overtime
The Last Steps - the story of Apollo 17 - a great little film about a great big story!

The Last Steps | A Really Great Big Story from Great Big Story on Vimeo.

Senses working overtime #104

1 The Tao of Groundhog Day
Great piece from The New Yorker on one of my favourite movies - made into a stage show. 
 

Andy Karl in the Bill Murray role - on stage!

2 Floating in space
A cool portrait of Italian astronaut Maurizio Cheli’s life in zero gravity.

3 Questions 67 and 68
Thomas Oppong writes thoughtfully on asking questions. Ask - Why shouldn't I read it?

4 Sit-com heaven

Clearly, some people have too much time on their hands. This exhaustive run down on New York sit-com apartments is fun and it includes Seinfeld's one bedroom apartment, so, like, yeah...

5 Reading books you hate
Interesting. I'll maybe give this a go - picking a book that is the opposite of my (ahem) taste. The article hasn't convinced me entirely but I have set myself a challenge of 50 books in 52 weeks so I can afford to do this once.

Now...what exactly is the bizarro world opposite of books I normally read?

Overtime
Stephen King on the rise of Trump. Great great piece. best thing I read all week!

Senses working overtime #103

1 Stars!

Doris Day!

Great look at some golden age stars in the raw (so to speak).

2 Animated Music Video Clips
Twenty might be 15 too many but at least it has Aha's classic Take On Me!

3 Fabs! In colour! Live! Raging!!
Listen to this with some headphones. Amazing.




4 Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Breathe, just breathe!



5 Newspaper black out poems (by Austin Kleon)

Austin writes an interesting newsletter and had this bright idea about writing poetry that is pretty cool!




Overtime

Thor: Ragnarok - this time - they might have got it right! Great trailer at any rate, featuring Led Zeppelin's classic song!