Can we have Reading Rainbow for adults please?

Reading Rainbow aired on PBS for 23 years and this week, Levar Burton raised more than 3 million dollars (and counting) to bring it back for the 21st century. As a parent I’m really happy about that. Reading Rainbow was a great series for kids and it will be again. In the age of the…

The Velvet Underground, live and in color in 1967 – shot by Andy Worhol

This video isn’t great. The picture quality is off and there are some sound problems but in 1967 very few people thought to get video footage of the Velvet Underground, much less in color. They were a band that would strongly influence future generations of musicians and that would achieve a tremendous amount of success…

Annotated Star Wars blends the scenes with their influences (Video)

Last week a CineFix Video provided a little film history to show how Star Wars got its creative start in Japan in 1910. Now, this video from Michael Heilemann, an interface director at Squarespace, goes above and beyond, mashing up scenes from Star Wars with the films that inspired them. According to FirstShowing, Heilman is…

Watch “Cosmos on Weed” from Nacho Punch

Personally, I don’t know if weed would help. Personally when I consider that we are made of the fallout of collapsing stars and that we are descended from tiny microscopic organisms – that our ancestors managed to live long enough to procreate despite predators, harsh conditions and mass extinctions over millions of years and that…

Grab NASA’s free ebook on communicating with aliens

This eBook isn’t nearly as ‘fun’ as it sounds like it should be. It does not tell you to leave a trail of Reese’s Pieces, or teach you how to speak Klingon. The book is not even about language per se. It is a substantive look at what happens when we find intelligent, extra-terrestrial life…

CineFix explains the origin of Star Wars starting in 1910 Japan

What do silent films in Japan, World War II, Westerns, America’s move the suburbs, the end of the film studio monopolies, an auto racing accident and Samurai have to do with Star Wars? If you don’t know – watch this history lesson from CineFix. (All of this without even getting into Joseph Campbell’s work on…

AsapSCIENCE Explores the Genetic Roots of Laziness vs. Activity

Research with mice has shown that the things that motivate us and how strong that motivation is, at least in part, is genetic. Additionally what we do and don’t do – how we respond to those motivations – gets passed down to the next generation. In other words, the less active we are the less…

Help UNICEF and win a chance to be in Star Wars VII

In a video released today (see below) JJ Abrams announced that, by making a $10 donation to the United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF) through Omaze.com/StarWars fans can win a chance to appear in Star Wars VII. According to the press release “Star Wars: Force for Change, a brand new Star Wars initiative from Disney…

David Bowie explains the origins of Ziggy Stardust and more in a 1998 interview, animated by PBS

The PBS animated series “Blank on Blank” has devoted their latest episode to a 1998 interview with David Bowie. In just over 5 minutes Bowie and music executive Joe Smith manage to cover a lot of ground including the rock and roll life style, the problems with fame (or the lack thereof), the origins of Ziggy…

What if David Lynch had directed ‘Return of the Jedi’ (video)

According to legend (and an MTV interview from sometime in the 80s) George Lucas asked David Lynch if he was interested in directing “Return of the Jedi”. According to Lynch he immediately said no. However, thanks to YouTuber C-SPIT we now have an idea what a David Lynch Star Wars film might have looked like: