What Darwin didn’t Know
September 28th, 2009 1 comment or # link to posted by david
The BBC iPlayer link is here.
[Note this is not the creationist nonsense of the same name]
What Darwin didn’t know was exactly how right about natural selection he was.
This is a great documentary, not so much in terms of production, but solid content. It looks at the evolution of the concept of natural selection, from Darwin to evolutionary developmental biology, where the correspondence between the fossil and DNA records are exactly what prove the theory beyond all doubt.
The history of natural selection is the opposite of its popular perception, it is a story of slow acceptance in the scientific community culminating in total validation and proof rather than an antique concept which has raised recent doubts. Vapid but noisy objections emanating from the current rise of religious extremism are an irrelevance in terms of the time-line of evolution by natural selection as an idea and reasonable debate about it.
Who knew that without knowledge of genetics, Darwin’s humility in absence of absolute proof of his ideas, would allow him to insert in his last edition of the Origin of Species a nod to the possibility of Lamarckian evolution; that de Vries’ (false) idea of the origin of species as coming out of nowhere through single mutations almost replaced Darwin’s gradual selection after he died; or that for the 50th anniversary of his death, the Natural History Museum in London put on a show of Darwinian evolution that ignored the very idea of natural selection that makes it Darwinian in the first place?
Exotically named and unplaceable accented Dutch-Kiwi-Canadian-South-African biologist, Armand Marie Leroi, leads us through this history with the eventual triumph of natural selection. This culminates in the Neo Darwinian synthesis of evolution and genetics and the ‘evo-devo’ combination of evolutionary and developmental biology, which create an accurate view of the tree of life and realize the full grandeur of the mechanism that describes its growth – natural selection.
Tarkovsky’s Cinema
August 3rd, 2009 5 comments or # link to posted by david
I have low tolerance for self indulgent artsyness and Tarkovsky films look superficially like they might be in this category, which is a shame because, as Tony the Tiger might say, they’re great. Nothing comes as close to a moving painting as a Tarkovsky film.
Here is a documentary where the director recounts his life and work.
5 comments » (report dead embeds in comments) tags: biography
Hallmarks In British Ingenuity Presents: The Mellotron
July 28th, 2009 comment or # link to posted by huntergatherer
The Mellotron M400 in lucite. Gorgeous….
With the possible exception of a Gibson Les Paul or SG running riot through an overdriven Leslie speaker, there is no more glorious sound than that of a Mellotron being put through it’s paces.
The invention that dates back to the late 40’s was perhaps the first “sampler” that utilized a keyboard and tape loops with pre-recorded tones. Although the intent was to mimic a string section, the result was a lush, uniquely ethereal, unmistakable tone. The design also allowed practically any tone to be recorded and installed for application. Eventually, it became a vestige of 60’s and 70’s rock.
In case you can’t quite place what a Mellotron sounds like, let’s have a look at the wide spectrum of applications that Harry Chamberlain’s invention brought us, shall we?
But when the Mellotron was in the hands of a true master, say Mr. John Paul Jones, the result was pure magic. The Mellotron and Mr. Jones make an appearance at the 1:45 mark, of this live rendition of ‘The Rain Song’ performed at Earl’s Court, London in 1975.
comment » (report dead embeds in comments) tags: music science technology
Paris is Burning
July 28th, 2009 11 comments or # link to posted by jim
This is a documentary about vogueing, and the extremely refined and detailed aesthetic sensibilities it reflects, shot in New York City around Chelsea, the Meatpacking District, and Harlem in the mid- to late-80s. The city has changed in dramatic ways since then, to say the least.
The characters of the film are complete outsiders with, at the same time, a deep understanding of the world they are outside of. As Terrence Rafferty wrote in The New Yorker, “the material is almost too rich, too suggestive. Everything about the ball culture signifies so blatantly and so promiscuously that the movie induces a kind of semiotic daze.”
It is certainly hard to view human behavior the same way after watching this film. I hope this low-quality version will be interesting enough to inspire you to rent the real thing.
(The video player embed here should allow you to watch all 11 segments of the film.)
11 comments » (report dead embeds in comments) tags: New York City history society
He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss)
July 26th, 2009 12 comments or # link to posted by david
The Crystal’s “He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss)“, caused a storm of protest when it was released in 1962, and its ambiguous sentiment underlies ‘It Felt Like a Kiss’, Adam Curtis’ new film. It is a portrait of America between 1958 and 1965, a period when radical individualism emerged with superficial freedom and underlying entrapment. The film has been conceived of as much as a multi-media art piece, as a TV documentary, the BBC having given Curtis an unusual degree of freedom, possibly because they are not quite sure what to do with him.
Curtis is like the Malcolm Gladwell of film making, there is a nagging doubt that what is being argued isn’t science but the delivery is so masterful and thorough that its utterly compelling. It Felt Like a Kiss looks stunning from the trailer (look out for the full version), but perhaps its rhetoric will elicit similar mixed feelings as inspired the subject. Regardless, Curtis, who creates movies that are like the conspiracy theory films that clog Youtube (except that they produced with intelligence), will no doubt become a web celebrity when his next film, which deals with the Internet itself is released combining the meme like qualities of his format with a self-referential subject.
The BBC, in their infinite wisdom, have regionally restricted everything including trailers of It Felt Like A Kiss, so I am linking to the Guardian. A full version of the film is on Curtis’ web site, but is also UK only (I cannot watch it, because I’m in France).
It Felt Like A Kiss (Trailer).
12 comments » (report dead embeds in comments) tags: history society