In the new documentary Ecstasy of Order: The Tetris Masters, we get to see the top Tetris players in the world duke it out, to discover who is truly the master of the game. It's a fun, engaging, and moderately geeky documentary -- my favorite kind. Full disclosure: I know director Adam Cornelius from college, and I did a small bit of writing work on the film in postproduction. So this is, in a sense, shameless friend-promotion, with a little self-promotion thrown in. With that said, here's the... READ ON

"It's Siberia with family restaurants," -the Coen brothers explain Minneapolis in this half-hour documentary about their film Fargo. The film, entitled "Minnesota Nice," explores that eponymous ultra-polite culture of Minnesotans, and how that politeness can be repressive, even leading to violence. Also notable is a discussion of whether the film is entirely fictional -- although the film itself has a title card claiming to be based on real events, it's presented as fiction...except that it appears to be... READ ON

When the Chrysler Building was completed in 1930, it was the tallest building in the world -- for 11 months. (The Chrysler Building did retain the slightly dubious distinction of being the tallest brick building in the world, although the brick is not structural.) Although the Chrysler Building was beaten by the Empire State Building, Chrysler's signature 185-foot steel spire remains its key architectural feature -- and it was a surprise to rivals trying to outbuild it at the time. This short video... READ ON

I've grown up hearing Glenn Gould's two performances of Bach's Goldberg Variations. Gould's first landmark performance was released in 1955, and it was passionate, fast, and popular -- with a runtime of just over 38 minutes, Gould's first performance left out many of the repeats within the variations, plus he kept the tempo up. That 1955 recording was a blockbuster hit (as classical recordings go), and helped to put the Goldberg Variations on the cultural map; prior to that performance the Variations... READ ON