Jan/100
Apocalypse Now.
I'm heading up a lengthy, two class seminar on Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now, showcasing how the Movie was adapted from Conrad's Novella. Although inspired by Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, the film deviates extensively from the source material. The novella, based on Conrad's real experiences as a steam paddleboat captain in Africa, is set in the Congo Free State during the 19th century. This scene sets up Willard's mission into the Cambodian jungle and showcases Coppola's killer talent for great film making.
Kurtz and Marlow (who is named Willard in the movie) both work for a Belgian trading company that brutally exploits its native African workers. When Marlow arrives at Kurtz's outpost, he discovers that Kurtz has gone insane and is lording over a small tribe as a god. The novella ends with Kurtz dying on the trip back and the narrator musing about the darkness of the human psyche: "the heart of an immense darkness."
Dec/090
The known Universe.
Another great video showing the incredible time and distance scales of the known Universe:
This one was put together by the American Museum of Natural History. Awesome.
Sep/092
Obama on Kanye: He’s a jackass.
TMZ has posted an audio clip of Obama telling it like it is. Aaaand let a million Kanye jackass interruption photoshops spring forth. (Image and audio via Reddit.)
Edit: I believe this is the official archive for this meme.
Aug/092
John Quincy Adams: Tweeting from the past.
Tweets from John Quincy Adams' daily journal, beginning with his ambassadorial mission to Russia 200 years ago. According to the Massachusetts Historical Society, the sixth president's daily musings are perfect micro-blogging fodder.
Follow him on Twitter here.
PH0T0ADAY.
FLICKR TAG W0RD.CA.
