Archives for category: Best scenes
On the surface – sure it seems like another silly Japanese game show stunt. But it’s pretty damn impressive. This samurai swordsman (woman?) has the sword holstered when the ball comes screaming out of the pitching machine. Not bad Grasshopper!
Hey speaking of which – has anyone seen that the Japanese show Silent Library is going to be on MTV this summer? Can it be as funny as the original? Methinks not.
“A librarian in England is using illustrations he finds in children’s books to create a wickedly subversive blog called My First Dictionary. Using the illustrations as inspiration, he creates a new word of the day using modern-day dystopian themes. Politically incorrect, these bring me the same kind of joy when I received my first copy of Shel Silverstein’s “Uncle Shelby’s Book of ABZs.” Somebody needs to buy this man a drink, or at least publish his collection.”
via VSL
Scientists from the University of Colorado Boulder (go Buffs) have created a video journey of what it would look like if you fell into a black hole. I can’t even believe that people can figure this out. How do they do that? I think it’s amazing that people can figure out things like How Much Does The Earth Weigh? (6.6 sextillion tons – 2 6s followed by twenty 0s.) How do they know this? (and thank you internet for making that so easy for me to find out.)
As you approach, a dark circle is bitten out of the galaxy containing the black hole, marking the event horizon – the point beyond which nothing can escape the black hole’s grip. Light from stars directly behind the hole is swallowed by the horizon, while light from other stars is merely bent by the black hole’s gravity, forming a warped image around the hole.
Full explanation of what you’re seeing, with phrases like “Schwartzschild radius.”
Hulu wins “hero of the day.” They’ve posted all 13 episodes of Carl Sagan’s “Cosmos.” Spectacularity whenever you want it – for free!
`In 1980, the landmark series Cosmos premiered on public television. Since then, it is estimated that more than a billion people around the planet have seen it. Cosmos chronicles the evolution of the planet and efforts to find our place in the universe. Each of the 13 episodes focuses on a specific aspect of the nature of life, consciousness, the universe and time. Topics include the origin of life on Earth (and perhaps elsewhere), the nature of consciousness, and the birth and death of stars. When it first aired, the series catapulted creator and host Carl Sagan to the status of pop culture icon and opened countless minds to the power of science and the possibility of life on other worlds.`
“Perfect” in a scene is a much more condensed, and satisfying slice of perfect. Perfect dialogue, perfect casting, perfect performance, perfect narrative arc, perfect lighting, perfect set direction, perfect visual tone, perfect costuming, perfect camera angles, perfect editing, and perfect sound. A scene like this provides me with an excellent high. (Radiohead concerts & Prince performances, by the way, fall into this “excellent high” category. Specifically Radiohead at Santa Barbara Bowl, 2008)
I’ve been working on a side project. For two years, and now the deadline is less than a month – and we’re in a panic. Almost all we do right now is work on the book. In about two weeks, it’ll be all that we do. So to say I’ve watched two movies in the past week is actually a big deal. To say that I’ve watched the same movie twice is actually a bigger deal.
But I have never enjoyed a Woody Allen film so much and I think it’s incredible that I never hear people talk about “Deconstructing Harry.” That’s actually why I watched it twice. To see if it really was as good as I thought. It really is. Very dark humor. Really imaginative set ups. The screenplay is killer. And some of the characters are just seriously outstanding.
(Except one. Judy Davis is so maddeningly cartoon-ish she almost ruins the movie. But once you are firmly past her first soap operatic performance, everyone else nails it.)
Onto the perfect scene – it is so good it makes me clutch my hands in tiny fists and shake them like I’ve won a pony. It’s the scene with the two old Jewish ladies. If you’ve never seen it, I’m not going to tell you anything about it. Because the best thing about this scene is that you are completely unprepared for every second that reveals itself.
Those of you who have seen it – how about those actresses? Are they actresses? Because I don’t know how anyone could’ve “acted” those parts. And if they weren’t actresses…the dialogue! How could they have delivered that so perfectly?? I loved everything. Their clothing. The set design of the bar mitzvah before we see them again at the apartment. Her husband! Good god where did they find him?
Rent the movie. The whole movie is exceptional. But you’ll know what I’m talking about when you get to this awfully perfect moment.
And just a quick bonus: the scene between Woody Allen and Billy Crystal? When they are talking about sleeping with women? If I ever wrote dialogue like that, I would seriously fall in love with myself.