8th Feb 2015
1) Lots of us enjoying the BBC’s adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall at the moment and it’s getting cracking reviews. Some however , are concerned with the level of historical accuracy on display.
But this article from The Spectator takes me way back to my History degree and points out that all History is , in fact, made up up – ‘If bestselling history books are about one parts fact to two parts fiction, it’s because that’s the ratio that most historians have to work with. Richard Starkey ( the historian) may consider himself to be ‘someone who actually knows what happened’ in Henry VIII’s court, but the truth is he doesn’t – no one does.
2) Now this is definitely worth a look – Other Valleys – A short list of creative/technology ideas, sent weekly, that are by and large NOT from the US/UK/EU. Inspiration can strike from many different places….
3) Great piece from @davidpearlhere The Power of No – Portland, Oregon is a good example of how saying NO has made this city very different and in some ways, much better than others.
4) Great piece from The Atlantic on colour in film – How Technicolor Changed Storytelling.
‘There’s some irony in the fact that colourising film-ostensibly to make it look more like the real world-may have cemented the medium’s dreamy, escapist quality’.
5) Haunting – a Drone’s aerial footage of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
6) Fabulous. 1,000 Light Paintings Form One Beautiful Stop-Motion Animation.
7) So it was Groundhog Day on Monday, spiced up a bit this year when the groundhog (Punxsutawney Phil) predicted 6 more weeks of winter and bit the Mayor. Meanwhile it’s Groundhog Day of a different kind in Woodstock, Ill., where Groundhog Day was filmed, and where hundreds of fans gathered this year-and every year, year after year- to celebrate their favourite movie.
At this juncture worth sharing a classic clip of said film – the bit when Bill Murray decides he is an all knowing god.
8) The Super Bowl was on Sunday. An amazing game that the Seattle Seahawks literally ‘threw away’ in the last few moments. The US media went ballistic.
Nationwide ran an ad (about child accidents) that upset a whole load of people , many of whom went on Twitter to vent their feelings.
..and here are all the ads from the game – from best to worst.
9) Great piece from @neilperkin – Why Some Teams Are Smarter Than Others. In essence –
- Where team members contribute more equally, no individuals dominating.
- Teams where people are good at reading the emotional states of other group members.
- Teams with more women outperformed teams with more men.
This chimes greatly with the message in one of my recent blog posts – The Geography Of Ideas.
10) So this is properly weird – A group of Idollators loudly and proudly share their love of silicone women with the world.