Mike Arauz - Thoughts on New Media and Assorted Links: February 2007

Bruni + TandA = Great Restaurant Review

This morning the NYTimes has a wonderfully entertaining review of Robert's Steak House, located inside the Penthouse Executive Club, by chief restaurant critic Frank Bruni [link].

Why do poets always wear scarves?

For those of you who enjoy reducing artists down to their discipline-specific stereotypes, this little blog entry will give you some good fodder [link].

Ads from Children of Men

Among the many details that made Children of Men so good were the various media/ads/graphics littering the background of every scene. Coudal [link] posted a link to this video [link] by the design agency that created the media for the movie.

Monologue from Pulp Fiction in animated text

This great video [link] puts the text of Samuel L. Jackson's "What does Marsellus Wallace look like?" monologue from Pulp Fiction in a stylish graphic animation (h/t www.coudal.com).

The car race through paris video returns

In 1976 French film maker, Claude Lelouch, made C’était un rendez-vous. The short film is an unedited point-of-view shot from the front of a very fast sports car racing through the streets of Paris at dawn. Supposedly the shoot was completely unauthorized; the driver speeds the wrong way down one-way streets, blows through red lights, and nearly runs over several innocent pedestrians. It's awesome. Now the band Snow Patrol has made the film their new music video. Enjoy. [link]

Coming Soon: Hot Fuzz

From the British team behind Shaun of the Dead, comes a new comedy/horror/action flick called Hot Fuzz. The Guardian is raving about it [ link], and the trailer looks great [link]. It's supposed to open in the US in April.

How can Democracy work better?

I just came across this post on Doc Searls blog [link], where he quotes Steve Urquhuart [link] who had this to say about the state of Democracy: There's no reason why we can't create means for productive connections between citizens and their representatives. The challenge is to create means for participation by citizens and accountability by representatives. In other words, making democracy work. Searls goes on to mention Politicopia [link], an interesting experiment in new participatory law making.

Red Hook, Brooklyn - Sugar Refinery

Another NYTimes Petit Trend

Every couple weeks the top-notch journalists at the NYTimes create headlines around the world by uncovering a surprising, yet 'so-true,'trend about modern life. This article last month revealed that even in this post-feminist world, some women are still hiding their spending habits from their husbands [link]. The amusing thing is that upon later reflection, these articles leave the reader wondering, Is this really a leading indicator of a new way of life? or Is it just a senseless anecdote about the author and his/her 5 friends. So, I've decided to give these non-trends a name: Petit (pronounced like petty) Trends. Today's Petit Trend is the Alpha/Beta Cook personalities [link]. (Special thanks to Hannah for help with this research.)

A new brain teaser

For those of you who enjoyed Whose Fish? [link], my favorite blog Coudal [link] has posted a new brain teaser [link] to keep you sharp.

Op-Ed in the WaPost about Iraq

William E. Odom, a retired Army lieutenant general, tells it like it is in this great op-ed from the Washington Post [link]. This is a very clear and thoughtful articulation of the tragic situation we are in in Iraq; what the administration is doing to make it worse; and what congress is failing to do to make it better.

What is Real Beauty?

Here are two interesting essays that challenge the blissful notion that there really is no such thing as true objective beauty. This article from the Atlantic focuses on the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty [link]; and this essay focuses on the implications of Evolutionary Psychology [link].

Michel Gondry shorts on the web

The Guardian gives a great run down of some of the best Michel Gondry short videos available on the web [link]. There are a couple ads that I didn't realize he did for Smirnoff and Gap.

onBeing - Video Feature on WAPost

I just came across a very interesting new video feature just launched on WashingtonPost.com [link]. Every week they'll post a new short interview with one random person talking about their life, interests and passions. The videos are very simple, but the little stories are very compelling.