Suspicious emails: unclaimed insurance bonds, diamond-encrusted safe deposit boxes, close friends marooned in a foreign country. They pop up in our inboxes, and standard procedure is to delete on sight. But what happens when you reply? Follow along as writer and comedian James Veitch narrates a hilarious, months-long exchange with a spammer who offered to cut him in on a hot deal.
Watches
Playlist of watched movies, television shows, online videos, and other visual-based events
📺 The Marvel Symphonic Universe | Every Frame a Painting on YouTube
Every Frame a Painting from YouTubeOff the top of your head, could you sing the theme from Star Wars? How about James Bond? Or Harry Potter? But here’s the kicker: can you sing any theme from a Marvel film? Despite 13 films and 10 billion dollars at the box office, the Marvel Cinematic Universe lacks a distinctive musical identity or approach. So let’s try to answer the question: what is missing from Marvel music?
📺 Vancouver Never Plays Itself | Every Frame a Painting on YouTube
Every Frame a Painting from YouTubePerhaps no other city has been as thoroughly hidden from modern filmmaking as Vancouver, my hometown. Today, it’s the third biggest film production city in North America, behind Los Angeles and New York. And yet for all the movies and TV shows that are shot there, we hardly ever see the city itself. So today, let’s focus less on the movies and more on the city in the background. Press the CC button to see movie names and locations.
📺 “The Big Bang Theory” The Tesla Recoil, Season 11 Episode 8
Directed by Anthony Rich. With Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Simon Helberg. Howard and Leonard become upset after they discover that Sheldon has been working with the military without telling them; Bernadette asks Raj to investigate her suspicions that Ruchi is attempting to take her job away from her.
Not as good an episode as usual. Some of the Kripke part was funny, but overall there was just too much pettiness and not enough comedy here.
📺 “The Big Bang Theory” The Geology Methodology
Directed by Mark Cendrowski. With Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Simon Helberg. Bert asks Sheldon to collaborate on a project with him, Sheldon becomes dubious others finding out because he thinks geology is beneath him. Raj begins dating Bernadette's Indian coworker.
a nice little episode–you’ve gotta love Bert
📺 Blue Bloods “Pain Killers” Season 8 Episode 9 (CBS)
Directed by John Behring. With Donnie Wahlberg, Bridget Moynahan, Will Estes, Len Cariou. Danny and Baez join a narcotics task force to track a drug supplier; Baez comes into contact with drugs and gets an accidental overdose; Jamie and Eddie work to protect a rehabilitated sex offender; Frank forms an unlikely alliance with Mayor Dutton.
Episodes have gotten a bit more interesting lately. This one wasn’t too bad, though I’m still debating giving up on the series.
The political machinations between the PC and the governor were a bit odd and difficult to follow and seemed a bit like phony drama to me.
🎞 Watched Snowden (2016)
Directed by Oliver Stone. With Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley, Melissa Leo, Zachary Quinto. The NSA's illegal surveillance techniques are leaked to the public by one of the agency's employees, Edward Snowden, in the form of thousands of classified documents distributed to the press.
This was far more interesting than I had expected. It certainly humanized Snowden far better than any of the stories I’ve seen thus far.
Rating:
📺 OK Go and The Muppets – Muppet Show Theme Song | YouTube
📺 Wisdom of the Crowd Season 1, Episodes 2-4
A drama about a visionary tech innovator who creates a cutting-edge crowdsourcing app to solve his daughter's murder, and revolutionize crime solving in the process. Inspired by the notion that a million minds are better than one, Silicon Valley entrepreneur Jeffrey Tanner, develops "Sophe," an online platform for publicly shared information he's certain will find his daughter's killer.
I managed to miss the first episode. Episodes 2 and 3 are a bit stilted and feel a bit preachy, but I’m willing to watch a few to see where it goes.
It seems like a relatively timely concept though they could do a better job explaining the science behind what they’re doing. They do manage to do a reasonable job on the drama though.
It seems like a relatively timely concept though they could do a better job explaining the science behind what they’re doing. They do manage to do a reasonable job on the drama though.
I haven’t read any of the recent articles on Jeremy Piven, but I’m a bit curious how long this series will last given his recent PR scrape. It seems relatively interesting and has some potential, but I’m not sure if it’s got traction to go more than a season. If allegations pull on it, it may not make it very far. Piven is pretty good in the show, but I actually think he could be better if he removed his stereotypical “geek” glasses. They somehow drag on his performance.
I thought it was pretty funny that the series uses the fictional search engine “Chum Hum” which also appeared as a search engine in the CBS series The Good Wife.
Episode four delves into some interesting moral questions about technology and follows in the footsteps of Law & Order in their “ripped from the headlines” plotting. I’m curious if they’ll follow some of the nebulous moral endings that Law & Order had as well?
📺 New Perspectives – What’s Wrong with TED Talks? Benjamin Bratton at TEDxSanDiego 2013 | YouTube
Benjamin Bratton, Associate Professor of Visual Arts at UCSD and Director of The Center for Design and Geopoltics at CALIT2, asks: Why don't the bright futures promised in TED talks come true? Professor Bratton attacks the intellectual viability of TED, calling it placebo politics, middlebrow megachurch infotainment, and the equivalent of right-wing media channels. Does TED falsely present problems as simply puzzles to be solved by rearranging the pieces?
📺 Don’t Worry Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin
Music video by Bobby McFerrin performing Don't Worry Be Happy.
Most will think that Robin Williams’ cameo in this video is the headline, but to me it’s Bill Irwin! I’ve been enamored of his work (and clowning) since watching My Blue Heaven in my youth. There’s nothing better than running into his work anywhere on film and television. I hope he ultimately gets the recognition he deserves for his work, which I think is sadly underrated. If you haven’t seen his Mr. Noodle work, go out and track it all down.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-diB65scQU
📺 Are University Admissions Biased? | Simpson’s Paradox Part 2 | YouTube
Simpson's Paradox Part 2. This video is about how to tell whether or not university admissions are biased using statistics: aka, it's about Simpson's Paradox again!
REFERENCES:
Original Berkeley Grad Admissions Paper
Interactive Simpson’s Paradox Explainer
No Lawsuit, But Yes, Berkeley Study on Gender Bias
Statistics on college majors by gender:
https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/2016menu\_tables.asp
http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2014/10/28/359419934/who-studies-what-men-women-and-college-majors
http://www.randalolson.com/2014/06/14/percentage-of-bachelors-degrees-conferred-to-women-by-major-1970-2012/
Earnings by college major
Wall Street Journal Article on Simpson’s Paradox
📺 ‘The Dangerous Case Of Donald Trump’: 27 Psychiatrists Assess | The Last Word | MSNBC on YouTube
In a new book, 27 psychiatrists and mental health experts asses President Donald Trump's behavior. Do his impulses explain his decisions? The book's editor Dr. Brandy Lee and Tony Schwartz, co-author of Trump's "The Art of the Deal," join Lawrence O'Donnell.
📺 Ron Perlman Talks President Donald Trump Speech Patterns | AM Joy | MSNBC on YouTube
Joy Reid is joined by actor and author Ron Perlman, and Columbia University professor of linguistics John McWhorter, on the bombshell statements and run-on sentences from Donald Trump’s recent New York Times interview.
📺 The Decentralized Social Web | Keith J. Grant | recallact.com
We tend to have a love/hate relationship with social networks. The ability to interact with friends, colleagues, and even celebrities is wonderful, but the lack of control over privacy or content algorithms is troubling. A better way lies ahead, where you aren't tied to large social networks and where you can own your own data.