weekly notes: february 4, 2011

before you read on, just want to mention that a new podcast episode should be posted in the next few days, so keep your eyes open.

this is useful

• clip converter, convert any youtube video to almost any format you want.

check this out:

• the splendiferous array of culinary tools. i want to hang out with the folks behind pop chart lab.
• the origin of the names of every country. chalk me down for being from the ‘land of noah’s great-great-grandson, hayk.’
• how tech tools transformed new york’s sex trade. when i visited new york last year, i stayed in midtown. had i known this beforehand…
• van gogh paintings visualized as pie charts. can you guess which is which? i can’t.
• the nicolas cage matrix. because you need to get our weekly nic cage fix.
• wearable planters. 0% useful, 100% neato.

look at this:

• where subway cars go to retire. really? the ocean? makes no sense.
• oregon trail street sign. awesome.
• a harrowing, historic week in egypt

read this:

• 5 complaints about modern life (that are statistically b.s.)
• 5 sidekicks who got screwed by history
• 14 great filmmakers who never won “best director”. this list is mind-blowing. none of these directors have won an oscar for ‘best director’, yet ‘crash’, the worst film in the history of cinema (no movie has made me want to punch more orphans (and not in a good way),) won an oscar for best picture in 2005. fuck the academy.
• 10 common phenomena explained

listen to this:

• Loren Dent – This Thing We Enjoy
• Bersarin Quartett – St. Petersburg
• Ef – Longing for Colors
• Caspian – Vienna
• Grizzly Bear – Foreground

watch this:

• The United Kingdom Explained

• Steve Reich’s ‘Clapping Music’ performed by Lee Marvin and Angela Dickinson