Justin Quayle (Ralph Fiennes), a member of the British High Commission based in Africa, launches a quest for the truth and begins his own international investigation when his wife (Rachel Weisz, in an Oscar-winning turn) is murdered. Not even the rumors of his wife's infidelity will stop him from uncovering what really happened to her -- a conspiracy that's much more dangerous than he ever imagined.
Exposing the snobbery, backbiting and machinations of a disappearing class system, this series chronicles the comings and goings of the upper-crust Crawley family and their assorted servants.
This flat tire means we are officially on plan B.
Subtle little earworm courtesy of Adrian.
Neurotypical: A term used by those on the Autism Spectrum to describe people who have typical neurological development and functionality.
In my ongoing question to provide scientific input into everything regardless of its applicability, I’m now helping put the science in cars! I’m working with Jason Torchinsky, a contributor to the car site Jalopnik, on articles that combine physics and cars. First up is Jason’s discussion of how to build a lunar rover for as [...]
In my ongoing question to provide scientific input into everything regardless of its applicability, I’m now helping put the science in cars! I’m working with Jason Torchinsky, a contributor to the car site Jalopnik, on articles that combine physics and cars. First up is Jason’s discussion of how to build a lunar rover for as little money as possible. Look for more articles soon!
Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein send up the righteous, artistically inclined and 100% organic residents of Portland, Ore., in this sketch-based comedy series. Typical targets include artisanal light bulbs, feminist bookstores and indie rock.
We weren't extremely hungry when we got here, but we had a mission: hot chocolate. We got a cup each of their signature hot chocolate, with a huge, decadent marshmallow in each one. It's the thickest…
I was pleased with what I saw. A good mix of current fabrics, plus good standbys and basics -- batiks, Japanese imports, even some feedsack repro fabrics. Saw a couple of wide backing fabrics I've not…
Stop petting the cat, or try to move him? The throat gets it.
Shipped on 01/30/12.
History comes to life in Disney's animated tale about love and adventure in the New World. Pocahontas, an American Indian woman, is supposed to marry the village's best warrior, but she yearns for something more -- and soon meets Capt. John Smith.
Misty has been haunting Pinterest ever since she discovered that it would serve her a never-ending stream of Doctor Who-related content. A while back she thought, what if I showed our animal-obsessed daughter the Pinterest board that has nothing but animals on it?
The answer: Liza becomes so enamored of Pinterest that her gasps of excitement [...]
Misty has been haunting Pinterest ever since she discovered that it would serve her a never-ending stream of Doctor Who-related content. A while back she thought, what if I showed our animal-obsessed daughter the Pinterest board that has nothing but animals on it?
The answer: Liza becomes so enamored of Pinterest that her gasps of excitement suck all of the oxygen out of the room.
The best part is that I shot this video some twenty minutes after Liza first started looking at animals on Pinterest. This is her after she’s calmed down.
Cast members of Godspell mingle and share wine with the audie
Wine is shared during the intermission at Godspell.
Circle In The Square is a tiny theater. I am on the second row. I approve of this seat for Godspell!
At the corner of Broadway and West 49th, people watching before Godspell.
Next up: Book of Mormon!
The focus of the bachelorette party I shared the F train with last night. their stated intention: to get really, really drunk. Note the tiara...
The hot chocolate at City Bakery is so thick that a spoon could stand upright in it.
Seen at B&J Fabrics. stunning in person.
Yesterday I tweeted a link to Rhett Allain’s fun article comparing name-brand batteries to dollar-store batteries. Rhett covers numerically approximating integrals, energy, energy density, and cost per joule of energy. As a bonus, his commenters taught me about eneloop batteries. My take-away from his article: if you’re going to use disposable batteries and you’re buying [...]
Yesterday I tweeted a link to Rhett Allain’s fun article comparing name-brand batteries to dollar-store batteries. Rhett covers numerically approximating integrals, energy, energy density, and cost per joule of energy. As a bonus, his commenters taught me about eneloop batteries. My take-away from his article: if you’re going to use disposable batteries and you’re buying from a local store rather than Amazon, it’s worth buying the name-brand ones to minimize waste since all of the batteries he tested had roughly the same cost per joule1.
(Added later: it turns out Rhett was comparing name-brand alkaline batteries to dollar store “heavy duty” zinc chloride batteries. That doesn’t invalidate the results, but it doesn’t answer whether or not the dollar store alkalines would be better or worse than name brand ones.)
Shortly after I tweeted the link, I got a reply from the Rayovac twitter account.
This amused me to no end: I’d posted a link to a nice analysis of battery lifetimes, complete with data and plots, and the Rayovac twitter account’s reply claimed their batteries’ awesomeness (without any data) and linked to coupons. A friend of mine and I laughed about this spamming on Twitter. Big mistake: Rayovac wasn’t about to let that stand.
Well. I’ve learned my lesson. Links to coupons and unsubstantiated claims of battery lifetime in response to an article with actual battery lifetime data is absolutely not spam.
Also, “Have a Powerful day!” is how I’m going to say goodbye from now on.
1There are a number of possible refinements to Rhett’s quick-and-dirty Mythbusters-level analysis, including measuring a ton of batteries’ characteristics to get a better average measurement, that might alter the final result, but that’s just me being nit-picky. And physicists are never nit-picky.↵
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Growing up, I loved the Sierra On-Line video games. They were the first adventure games I played that had graphics. Oh, the graphics they had! Sixteen colors! (Assuming you had an IBM PCjr or a Tandy 1000, like me.) And the music! Blippy bloopy music! Plus instant-death and read-the-designer’s-mind puzzles!
Look, it was the ’80s. We [...]
Growing up, I loved the Sierra On-Line video games. They were the first adventure games I played that had graphics. Oh, the graphics they had! Sixteen colors! (Assuming you had an IBM PCjr or a Tandy 1000, like me.) And the music! Blippy bloopy music! Plus instant-death and read-the-designer’s-mind puzzles!
Look, it was the ’80s. We took what we could get.
They had several series, but my favorite by far was Space Quest. The early games had a serious science fiction setting contrasted with a bumbling protagonist named Roger Wilco who, like Inspector Clouseau, managed to succeed despite himself. If you want an idea of what the early Space Quest games were like, read through this “Let’s Play” transcript from Space Quest I.
I blazed through Space Quest I…until I snuck on board the evil Sariens’ spaceship. I hit a point where I was skulking in a laundry room when a Sarien came in and shot me. I hid in the washing machine, only to have the Sarien turn on the washing machine. I assumed that that killed me, since the game was as full of instant-death moments as a deep-fried turducken is of cholesterol, so I reloaded and tried to find another solution.
I failed. I failed so hard that I scraped together my allowance and bought the hint book. Imagine my surprise when I read the clues for this puzzle to find out that hiding in the washing machine didn’t kill me, it magically dressed me in a Sarien uniform.
Even today I remember how stupid I felt.
Despite that moment of dumbness, I kept going and ended up being a fan of the Space Quest series. Now, nearly two decades since the last Space Quest game was released, there is not one, not two, but three fan-made sequels. In one month. This is akin to finding a twenty-dollar bill in the couch and pulling it out to find two thousand-dollar bills taped to the twenty.
The first is a remake of Space Quest II: Vohaul’s Revenge. The creators have replaced the original game’s text parser (which was fiddly at the best of times) with the icon-based interface Sierra used in its later adventures, updated the graphics, and added voice acting. I loved SQ2 when I was wee, which means that it’s probably a terrible game that you should never play. Nevertheless, if you play only one SQ2, this remake should be it.
The second is Vohaul Strikes Back. It’s an entirely new game in the Space Quest universe that’s set after the official series ended. By all accounts it’s somewhat self-referential but still playable even if you’re not already a fan of the series, and has a lot of the humor you’d expect from a Space Quest sequel.
The final one is Space Quest: Incinerations. This is the one that I find the most intriguing. For one, all of the graphics look like rotoscoped CG characters. For another, the scope of the game is much larger and more epic than the others — it’s Space Quest on a more truly interstellar scale. It also appears to fit tightly into the Space Quest universe, with many plot elements from earlier games making an appearance.
Richard Cobbett reviewed all three games for Rock, Paper Shotgun if you’d like to learn more — and I know you do. Me? I’m going to be playing Incinerations this weekend.
If you paid attention to the internet at all yesterday, you probably saw people complaining about the proposed US bills SOPA and PIPA. The Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect Intellectual Property Act are designed to help content creators fight piracy.
Oh, sure, there’s been a lot of whining from the usual suspects about how [...]
If you paid attention to the internet at all yesterday, you probably saw people complaining about the proposed US bills SOPA and PIPA. The Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect Intellectual Property Act are designed to help content creators fight piracy.
Oh, sure, there’s been a lot of whining from the usual suspects about how it will stifle free speech and be used as a club by the entertainment industry. Sure, the bills are worded so broadly that they could be used for all kinds of nasty things. And perhaps content creators from Hollywood editors to authors have said that SOPA and PIPA are like fighting piracy by burning all of your boats.
That’s all balderdash, as my Disasterpiece Theatre co-hosts and I are here to show you. While you were doing silly protests and calling congresspersons and writing letters, we recorded an episode that demonstrated how SOPA and PIPA have no effect on content creators.
So there.
Shipped on 01/13/12.
Disney's golden age of animation is revived with this digital restoration of Bambi, the tale of a wide-eyed fawn who experiences nature's wonders, braves the dangers of the forest and grows to buckhood with help from his friends. Animators restored the film's original hand-rendered animation, bringing beloved characters like Thumper the Rabbit and Flower the Skunk to life, in this special edition that also features a remixed soundtrack.
This disc includes the following episodes:"Wildfire" and "TS-19."
The Brothers Bloom made a name for themselves as the world's best con men. Now, the younger (Adrien Brody) is ready to retire on the millions the pair has swindled. But when his brother (Mark Ruffalo) lures him into one last job, he reluctantly agrees. What he hasn't counted on, though, is falling for their mark, an adventure-seeking heiress (Rachel Weisz). Robbie Coltrane and Babel's Rinko Kikuchi co-star.
In the small burg of Wheelsy, housecats are turning into hellcats and townsfolk are morphing into zombies, prompting Sheriff Bill Pardy (Nathan Fillion) and the concerned wife (Elizabeth Banks) of one of the town's richest citizens to uncover the dark forces at work. James Gunn writes and directs this creepy horror tale -- his first project since the sleeper hit Dawn of the Dead -- that has its protagonists keeping their wits about them.
Buck Brannaman, inspiration for "The Horse Whisperer," is revealed as a complex figure in this Sundance Audience Award winner for Best Documentary by Cindy Meehl. The master horseman reveals details of his troubled childhood and his dawning awareness of new ways that humans and horses might work with one another. As Buck learns more about horses, he finds that the ways we communicate with our animal companions offer lessons on how we relate to fellow human beings.
Dumbo is a baby elephant born with oversized ears and a supreme lack of confidence. But thanks to his even more diminutive buddy -- Timothy the Mouse -- the pint-sized pachyderm learns to surmount all obstacles. This vintage Disney classic earned an Academy Award for Best Score and an Oscar nomination for Best Song ("Baby Mine"). Other memorable musical gems include the "Pink Elephants on Parade" dream sequence, Walt Disney's ode to surrealism.
A bold, energetic masterpiece from Zhang Yimou, the foremost director from China's influential "fifth generation" of filmmakers. Continuing his brilliant collaboration with China's best-known actress, Gong Li, Zhang weaves a tapestry of personal and political events, following the struggles of an impoverished husband and wife (Ge You and Li) from their heyday in the 1940s to the hardships that accompanied the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s.
Wealthy big-city executive Da Ming (Quanxin Pu) returns to his boyhood home, where his aging father (Zhu Xu) and mentally disabled brother (Jiang Wu) run an old-fashioned communal bathhouse that's threatened by modern progress. At first, Da longs to return to his job. But soon, the leisurely pace and abundant camaraderie of the bathhouse, where men gather to chat and play games, has Da thinking twice about leaving his family.
When Madame Adelaide Bonfamille leaves her fortune to Duchess (voiced by Eva Gabor) and her children -- Bonfamille's prize family of domesticated house cats -- the butler plots to steal the money and kidnaps the heirs, leaving them out on a country road. All seems lost until the wily Thomas O'Malley Cat (Phil Harris) and his jazz-playing alley cats come to the Aristocats's rescue. Scatman Crothers lends his voice to this animated Disney classic.
Shortly after celebrating the birth of 15 pups, Dalmatians Pongo and Perdita find themselves on a mission to save their offspring from the clutches of the dastardly Cruella De Vil before she turns the cuddly canines into a fabulous fur coat. With the aid of London's underground dog network, the determined Pongo and Perdita stage a daring rescue in this animated Disney classic featuring one of the screen's most hissable villains.
History comes gloriously to life in Disney's epic animated tale about love and adventure in the New World as Pocahontas (voiced by Irene Bedard), a Native American woman whose father has arranged for her to marry her village's best warrior, yearns for something more. A vision tells Pocahontas that change is coming, but she comes face to face with it in the form of Capt. John Smith (Mel Gibson), an adventure-loving Englishman.
Shipped on 01/13/12.
Disney's golden age of animation is revived with this digital restoration of Bambi, the tale of a wide-eyed fawn who experiences nature's wonders, braves the dangers of the forest and grows to buckhood with help from his friends. Animators restored the film's original hand-rendered animation, bringing beloved characters like Thumper the Rabbit and Flower the Skunk to life, in this special edition that also features a remixed soundtrack.
Received on 12/24/11. Go to http://www2.netflix.com/Movie/Pirate-Radio/70111325 to rate it.
Shipped on 12/13/11.
Walt Disney's dewy 1940 version of the classic tale of Pinocchio, the wooden puppet that longs to be a real boy, is one for the ages -- and among the most magical animated films ever made. Aided by his friend Jiminy Cricket, Pinocchio faces many challenges on the way to making his dream come true. The film won Oscars for Best Original Score and Best Original Song ("When You Wish Upon a Star," which became a Disney anthem).
Shipped on 01/07/12.
Quite by accident, an engineer builds a machine that can transport the user back in time. But his discovery comes with an ominous caveat: At the heart of this puzzling device, nothing is as it seems on the surface.
Writer-director Joseph L. Mankiewicz's sharp script anchors this story about New York City theater life, with Bette Davis playing an aging Broadway diva who employs a starstruck fan (Anne Baxter) as her assistant, only to learn the woman is a conniving upstart. The now-classic All About Eve won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director (Mankiewicz), Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor (George Sanders).
