Weird and wonderful theme parks from around the world (not worksafe).

Some roofing ornaments are just wrong (not arachnaphobe safe).

Newsreels of Damascus, Jerusalem and Havanna in the 1930s

Folks, I know stupid Hollywood celebrity is now a redundant term, but let’s not defend Roman Polanski for this, let’s really not. But aforementioned stupid ( Read more... )

The Toronto Star has an acts of kindness column.

Great images of shooting the “big VB ad”.

About being goth.

Mainstream media in the US are starting to find Obama, particularly his healthcare pitch, funny.

Quentin Tarantino lists his favourite 20 movies since 1992 (i.e. since he became a director). The pro-gun dialogue from Death Proof in a ( Read more... )

For those who have not seen it before (1): the literal version of Total Eclipse of Heart.

For those who had not seen it before (2): Buffy v Edward Cullen. (It includes bits from Goblet of Fire because the same actor played Cedric Digory.)

Explaining how it all went wrong.

A mainstream journalist reporting on being at a gay porn movie set ( Read more... )

Classic 1960 photo of modern life.

Walter Cronkite has died.

A post which starts with a revealing Michael Jackson song.

A lovely piece about being thug (uncredited) in a Bruce Lee movie.

About Velvet Underground, the Plastic People of the Universe and the Velvet Revolution.

Explaining con dress-ups at ComicCon to a wider audience. And also. ( Read more... )

An ad that was not quite thought through …

About how originality overwhelmed beauty.

A city in Montana [tried to] requires prospective employees to hand over their Facebook™ passwords[, but has since retreated from the idea].

Remembering Farrah Fawcett.

Remembering Rocky and The Karate Kid.

Asking a spectacularly and offensively stupid ( Read more... )

Actor David Carradine found dead.

About the prose and politics of George Orwell and the search for truth. There is a silly notion you sometimes see among conservative writers that implies that, if he had lived longer, Orwell would have moved rightwards: this strikes me as nonsense, belief in democratic socialism was far too central to Orwell. The ( Read more... )

John Pugh’s 3-D building murals.

About the precious notes of Art Tatum, jazz pianist and amazing virtuoso.

Photos through time: old photos put up and rephotographed against the current backdrop.

Striking black-and-white pictures of the Graf Zeppelin over the Capitol in 1928 and of New York in 1931 here and here.

About the new formalism in ( Read more... )

An Irish student puts a fake quote on Wikipedia™: Wikipedia passed, journalism flunked. More.

Guy Ritchie, Robert Downey Jnr and Jude Law do Sherlock Holmes: what’s not to like?

About the overwhelming majority of Eurovision entrants being in English.

On art not being a special case and the importance of freedom to offend ( Read more... )

7 minutes 31 seconds that justifies every talent show ever broadcast.

The creators of South Park have a signed photo from Saddam Hussein.

Doubting that beauty is a purely a thing of reason.

About the pervasiveness of religious imagery and metaphors in film and TV SF.

Grand Theft Auto as tragic work of art and social commentary ( Read more... )

The Victorian bushfires have probably destroyed this art project and tourist attraction.

Battlestar Galactica to be discussed at the UN.

Plans to turn Das Kapital into a theatrical production in China.

Remembering a 1927 silent movie masterpiece.

Noting how unrepresentative of actual crime crime shows are ( Read more... )