movies

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Special Frontline Preview: "Obama's War"

Longtime readers will know that I'm a fan of great documentaries, and the PBS series Frontline is among the best televised documentary content in the world. I just got a heads-up that their new season starts on October 13 with an episode called "Obama's War," about the situation in Afghanistan -- sometimes called "the good war" (in comparison to Iraq) or, now, "Obama's War." As a special preview, Frontline producers have released the initial 24 minutes of the documentary, online-only, for a limited... READ ON

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Robot Pancake Sorting Machine Operates With Deadly Speed, Accuracy

For today's weird video enjoyment, I bring you this bizarre promotional video for ABB Robotics and Honeytop Pancakes, in which it is revealed that ABB's robots can sort and stack pancakes at superhuman speed. The repeated shots of the robot's huge "FlexPicker™ Arms" grabbing and stacking pancakes remind me distinctly of The Matrix, in which gigantic spiderlike robots lumbered over fields of humans...occasionally pulling the plug on one, or picking one out of its pod. Of course, these pancake robots... READ ON

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Cymatics: Making Sound Visible

Way back in September of 2007, I posted some links to the bizarre world of ferrofluid, illustrating how fluids can interact with magnets (often magnets driven by sound -- like speakers) to create strange, seemingly gravity-defying patterns. Today I bring you a TED Talk about Cymatics, which is the process of making sound visible, sometimes using special fluids -- ferrofluids among them. (Cymatics often also uses other physical media like sand to make visible patterns.) In this brief (roughly... READ ON

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4 Great Documentaries Currently Free on YouTube

So, recently YouTube started showing whole movies for free -- much like Hulu, there are occasional ads interspersed, but they're not too bad. The video quality is better than average for a YouTube video, and of course, it's free, so what do you have to lose? In this roundup, I'll point you to four great documentaries currently live on YouTube...and later in the week I'll focus on a fifth that might just blow your mind. American Movie This 1999 documentary follows Milwaukee filmmaker Mark Borchardt... READ ON

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The Amazing Life of Audie Murphy

Audie Murphy was a star in more ways than one. He was the most decorated hero of World War II, after being rejected for service because of his youth and size. He returned from war hailed as a hero, only to see hard times once again as he tried to find civilian employment. But that was just the beginning of his story, as he became a movie star, songwriter, veteran's advocate, and a role model. His was a truly amazing life. Audie Leon Murphy was born in Hunt County, Texas on June 20th, 1926.... READ ON

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Werner Herzog Hosts a Cooking Show

Some friends of mine lampoon German director Werner Herzog in this new web series, Cooking With Werner. Herzog is known for his deadpan, Teutonic delivery of deep truths about life, death, and other significant matters. His movies are great (particularly his documentaries My Best Fiend, about his terrifying relationship with actor Klaus Kinski, and Grizzly Man, which was a big hit in the US a few years back), but there's something a little bizarre in his deeply serious speech, which actor Will Maier... READ ON

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Dr. Strange Will Kill Us All

It is with much trepidation that I send this blog to you via Morse Code from Mystery Island. I'm terribly concerned that scientific genius Dr. Strange is running amok with his Projector Beam Ray. Strange is intent on world domination, and if his awesome cape is any indication of his power, I pray for all of us. Below, I bring you an important video demonstrating the Projector Beam Ray weapon and its effects on Mystery Island. Fortunately our heroes, flying above the island in their aircraft Nimbus,... READ ON

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Documentaries I Like: POSSESSED

POSSESSED is a short documentary (21 minutes) by director Martin Hampton, showing the private lives of compulsive hoarders -- people who collect or save things far beyond reasonable limits. It's available online in its entirety (see below), and it's worth a look both for general interest as a documentary, but also for people who are curious about compulsive hoarding -- hoarding being a topic we flossers seem to blog about quite a bit. The film is not too shocking -- these folks don't seem in imminent... READ ON

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Why Did The Vatican Review Harry Potter?

Like millions this weekend, I eagerly saw Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I'm ready to give it rave reviews and apparently I'm not the only one. The Vatican also gave the movie two thumbs up, as it were. The Pope has been down on the boy wizard in the past, saying that the series has the power to "corrupt the Christian faith in souls even before it could properly grow." But a review in the Vatican's official newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, praised the new movie for... READ ON

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The Late Movies: More Richard Feynman Explanations

If you enjoyed yesterday's post Richard Feynman Explains Trains, here are some more clips from the same interview -- from a 1983 BBC program called Fun to Imagine. First up, Feynman explains why mirrors only reflect left-to-right, not top-to-bottom. This clip occurs before yesterday's train explanation; it starts with Feynman talking about his fraternity at MIT. Next, Feynman explains magnets and challenges "'why' questions." Actually, he doesn't really get into the magnet thing so much, but... READ ON