The Froghall View

BBC Archive: HG Wells rejects patriotism and nationalism

2011-03-02T03:42:00.000-08:00

Awesome 1934 radio broadcast by HG Wells from the BBC Archive. Listen here.

The City on the Edge of Forever

2011-03-02T03:27:00.001-08:00

Peter Hadfield: Climate Change

2010-11-06T09:51:00.001-07:00

Peter Hadfield, science writer for New Scientist and the BBC, has made a very popular series of YouTube videos about climate change.

Here's the whole playlist. It's a triumph of video journalism, meticulously explaining the science of climate change in the early videos, before using the later ones to disprove the arguments of climate skeptics with scientific rigour.

BBC Archive

2010-10-14T11:56:00.000-07:00

Turns out that the BBC had an online archive all along. No Blackadder or Fawlty Towers, but if old episodes of Tomorrow's World and Panorama are your bag, you're in luck.

Also check out the British Novelists collection - archive footage and interviews with Aldous Huxley, Virginia Woolf, JG Ballard, Robert Graves... Fucking A.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/

Right Wing Radio Duck

2010-10-10T04:32:00.000-07:00

Donald Duck Meets Glenn Beck in Right Wing Radio Duck

From rebelliouspixels.com

Untitled

2010-09-27T08:48:00.000-07:00

This short Bush-era web comic has a very dark twist.

http://www.viruscomix.com/page198.html

The Hero's Journey

2010-09-22T13:25:00.000-07:00

I'm so depressed about Star Wars.

The Phantom Menace was over 11 years ago now, and still it hurts, perhaps now more than ever.

This has probably all been brought on by watching the truly heroic Harry Plinkett Star Wars film reviews at redlettermedia.com.

It didn't help when I read the revelations about the originally intended ending to Return of the Jedi, where Han Solo was supposed die meaninglessly in the speeder bike chase on Endor. (Which explains why it was meant to be called Revenge of the Jedi, why David Lynch was originally asked to direct, and would have given all the main characters a proper story arc, and would have turned the final Star Wars film into the most epic, emotionally engaging, spiritually fulfilling and beautiful piece of cinema ever, in my humble opinion.)

I'm truly gutted at what a missed opportunity the Star Wars saga really was. And I'm deeply saddened that George Lucas sold out his opportunity to make something that would have endured countless generations for a quick buck.

To commiserate, let's look at Joseph Campbell's archetypal account of the Hero's Journey, which informed the original trilogy and was so tragically forgotten in the prequels.

The Hero's Journey

Departure
1. The Call to Adventure
  The call to adventure is the point in a person's life when they are first given notice that everything is going to change, whether they know it or not.
2. Refusal of the Call
  Often when the call is given, the future hero refuses to heed it. This may be from a sense of duty or obligation, fear, insecurity, a sense of inadequacy, or any of a range of reasons that work to hold the person in his or her current circumstances.
3. Supernatural Aid
  Once the hero has committed to the quest, consciously or unconsciously, his or her guide and magical helper appears, or becomes known.
4. The Crossing of the First Threshold
  This is the point where the person actually crosses into the field of adventure, leaving the known limits of his or her world and venturing into an unknown and dangerous realm where the rules and limits are not known.
5. The Belly of the Whale
  The belly of the whale represents the final separation from the hero's known world and self. It is sometimes described as the person's lowest point, but it is actually the point when the person is between or transitioning between worlds and selves. The separation has been made, or is being made, or being fully recognized between the old world and old self and the potential for a new world/self. The experiences that will shape the new world and self will begin shortly, or may be beginning with this experience which is often symbolized by something dark, unknown and frightening. By entering this stage, the person shows their willingness to undergo a metamorphosis, to die to him or herself.

Inititation
1. The Road of Trials
  The road of trials is a series of tests, tasks, or ordeals that the person must undergo to begin the transformation. Often the person fails one or more of these tests, which often occur in threes.
2. The Meeting with the Goddess
  The meeting with the goddess represents the point in the adventure when the person experiences a love that has the power and significance of the all-powerful, all encompassing, unconditional love that a fortunate infant may experience with his or her mother. It is also known as the "hieros gamos", or sacred marriage, the union of opposites, and may take place entirely within the person. In other words, the person begins to see him or herself in a non-dualistic way. This is a very important step in the process and is often represented by the person finding the other person that he or she loves most completely. Although Campbell symbolizes this step as a meeting with a goddess, unconditional love and /or self unification does not have to be represented by a woman.
3. Woman as the Temptress
  At one level, this step is about those temptations that may lead the hero to abandon or stray from his or her quest, which as with the Meeting with the Goddess does not necessarily have to be represented by a woman. For Campbell, however, this step is about the revulsion that the usually male hero may feel about his own fleshy/earthy nature, and the subsequent attachment or projection of that revulsion to women. Woman is a metaphor for the physical or material temptations of life, since the hero-knight was often tempted by lust from his spiritual journey.
4. Atonement with the Father
  In this step the person must confront and be initiated by whatever holds the ultimate power in his or her life. In many myths and stories this is the father, or a father figure who has life and death power. This is the center point of the journey. All the previous steps have been moving in to this place, all that follow will move out from it. Although this step is most frequently symbolized by an encounter with a male entity, it does not have to be a male; just someone or thing with incredible power. For the transformation to take place, the person as he or she has been must be "killed" so that the new self can come into being. Sometime this killing is literal, and the earthly journey for that character is either over or moves into a different realm.
5. Apotheosis
  To apotheosize is to deify. When someone dies a physical death, or dies to the self to live in spirit, he or she moves beyond the pairs of opposites to a state of divine knowledge, love, compassion and bliss. This is a god-like state; the person is in heaven and beyond all strife. A more mundane way of looking at this step is that it is a period of rest, peace and fulfillment before the hero begins the return.
6. The Ultimate Boon
  The ultimate boon is the achievement of the goal of the quest. It is what the person went on the journey to get. All the previous steps serve to prepare and purify the person for this step, since in many myths the boon is something transcendent like the elixir of life itself, or a plant that supplies immortality, or the holy grail.

Return

Refusal of the Return
So why, when all has been achieved, the ambrosia has been drunk, and we have conversed with the gods, why come back to normal life with all its cares and woes?
The Magic Flight
Sometimes the hero must escape with the boon, if it is something that the gods have been jealously guarding. It can be just as adventurous and dangerous returning from the journey as it was to go on it.
Rescue from Without
Just as the hero may need guides and assistants to set out on the quest, often times he or she must have powerful guides and rescuers to bring them back to everyday life, especially if the person has been wounded or weakened by the experience. Or perhaps the person doesn't realize that it is time to return, that they can return, or that others need their boon.
The Crossing of the Return Threshold
The trick in returning is to retain the wisdom gained on the quest, to integrate that wisdom into a human life, and then maybe figure out how to share the wisdom with the rest of the world. This is usually extremely difficult.
Master of the Two Worlds
In myth, this step is usually represented by a transcendental hero like Jesus or Buddha. For a human hero, it may mean achieving a balance between the material and spiritual. The person has become comfortable and competent in both the inner and outer worlds.
Freedom to Live
Mastery leads to freedom from the fear of death, which in turn is the freedom to live. This is sometimes referred to as living in the moment, neither anticipating the future nor regretting the past.

Taken from http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/smc/journey/ref/summary.html

Lightning resistant guitar, tesla coils, Iron Man

2010-09-12T04:27:00.000-07:00

Apparently they got a MIDI electric guitar, wired the MIDI signal through a tesla coil, and rocked out in the lightning wearing electricity conducting suits. Cool, but must have been scary the first time.

Arthur C. Clarke predicting the future in 1964

2010-09-07T11:22:00.000-07:00

Amazing. Watch the whole thing here: Part one / Part two. Monkey slaves, robot overlords, cryogenics and personal computers, and the Star Trek replicator!

How Facts Backfire

2010-09-07T11:07:00.000-07:00

Researchers discover a surprising threat to democracy: our brains.

Recently, a few political scientists have begun to discover a human tendency deeply discouraging to anyone with faith in the power of information. It’s this: Facts don’t necessarily have the power to change our minds. In fact, quite the opposite. In a series of studies in 2005 and 2006, researchers at the University of Michigan found that when misinformed people, particularly political partisans, were exposed to corrected facts in news stories, they rarely changed their minds. In fact, they often became even more strongly set in their beliefs. Facts, they found, were not curing misinformation. Like an underpowered antibiotic, facts could actually make misinformation even stronger.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/07/11/how_facts_backfire/

(Joe Keohane, How Facts Backfire, Boston Globe, July 2010)

Russia in colour, a century ago

2010-09-03T13:27:00.000-07:00

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/08/russia_in_color_a_century_ago.html

RSA: 21st Century Enlightenment

2010-08-28T06:24:00.000-07:00

Matthew Taylor explores the meaning of 21st century enlightenment, how the idea might help us meet the challenges we face today, and the role that can be played by organisations such as the RSA.

Watch more animations, lectures and more at the RSA website

2010-08-13T10:15:00.001-07:00

aldaily.com

The Struggle for the (Possible) Soul of David Eagleman

2010-08-09T17:14:00.001-07:00

"I can tell you from my internal experience, and from my scientific training. Internally, I have felt as I’ve gotten older that I am not the same as my body, despite all of the neuroscience. How do I put this? What’s clear is that I depend entirely on the integrity of my body. As things in my brain change—if I were to develop a tumor, for example—that could completely change who I am, how I think. So I’m somehow yoked to my brain in a very strong way, and the question for all of us is, are we yoked to it 100 percent or is there some other little bit going on? From the inside, I have an intuition that I’m not just equivalent to my body. That said, intuitions always prove to be a very poor judge of reality. So, if you ask me, ‘do I have a soul?’ I would say ‘you know, I kind of feel like there’s something about me that’s a little separate from the biology.’ But I have no evidence for that.”http://killingthebuddha.com/mag/witness/the-struggle-for-the-possible-soul-of-david-eagleman/

Jonathan Haidt: The New Science of Morality

2010-08-05T07:31:00.000-07:00

An absolute corker from Jonathan Haidt, brought to you by edge.org.

Haidt connects bottom-up and top down approaches in psychology and neurology, evolutionary theory and moral philosophy to deliver this deliciously appealing Humean perspective on the age old conundrum of morality. Persuasive, illuminating, clear and insightful - you won't forget this one.

▼ Watch the talk

▼ Watch the panel discussion

Read the transcript.
Download this talk as an mp3.

When the scientific evidence is unwelcome, people try to reason it away

2010-07-04T13:53:00.000-07:00

Everybody should read this.

Laurie Anderson - O Superman

2010-06-05T05:46:00.000-07:00

A slice of art-house electronica from Laurie Anderson, now Mrs. Lou Reed. This was a surprise number two hit in the UK singles chart back in 1981, after appearing on the John Peel show. Despite being voted the "least popular single of the year" by Radio Times readers, it's actually fantastic.

The full title of this song, taken from the album/performance piece United States is 'O Superman (for Massenet)' and the opening refrain of the song "O Superman, O Judge, O Mom and Dad" refers to the aria "Ô Souverain, ô juge, ô père" from Massenet's Opera Le Cid, performed here by Placido Domingo.

xkcd: The Tell Tale Beat

2010-05-21T12:23:00.001-07:00

xkcd.com

Cognitive Bias

2010-05-16T05:52:00.000-07:00

Learn all about why smart people (and everyone else) think stupid things.

▼ Watch The Cognitive Bias Song

▼ Watch Pitfalls of Thinking: Cognitive Bias

▼ Watch Pitfalls of Thinking: Anecdotal Evidence

▼ Watch Eliezer Yudkowsky Lecture: Heuristics, Biases & Rationality (20 mins)

Heuristics, Biases & Rationality from Jeriaska on Vimeo.

Wikipedia: Cognitive Bias, List of Cognitive Biases

Charlie Brooker's Newswipe

2010-04-23T19:34:00.000-07:00

▼ Watch Newswipe Series One

Use left and right arrows to switch between videos.

▼ Watch Newswipe Series Two

Use left and right arrows to switch between videos.

The Short Films of Jan Švankmajer: 1988-1992

2010-04-21T06:03:00.000-07:00

Czech film-maker Jan Švankmajer (1934-Present) is one of the great surrealist artists of the 20th century. His work combines animation, claymation and other cinematic wizardry into films that are evocative, emotionally resonant, beautiful and occasionally disgusting. These are his most recent short films, including some of his most accomplished work. It is a period where his art and technique are informed by the younger artists whose own careers had been inspired by Švankmajer - Terry Gilliam, Shinya Tsukamoto, David Lynch and Tim Burton to name but a few.

His cult classic early feature films, Alice (1988) and Faust (1994) come from this period. Švankmajer continues to produce stunning movies, Conspirators of Pleasure (Spiklenci slasti) (1996) was followed by Little Otik (Otesánek) (2000) and Lunacy (Šílení) (2005), and this year he will be releasing his latest - Surviving Life (Theory and Practice) (2010)

▼ 1988: The Male Game (Mužné hry)

▼ 1988: Another Kind of Love - music video for Hugh Cornwell

▼ 1988: Meat Love (Zamilované Maso)

▼ 1989: Darkness/Light/Darkness (Tma, světlo, tma)

▼ 1989: Flora

▼ 1990: The Death of Stalinism in Bohemia (Konec stalinismu v Čechách)

▼ 1992: Food (Jídlo)

Ben Goldacre: Placebo, Nocebo

2010-04-20T04:53:00.000-07:00

The good doctor Goldacre recently posted these videos on his wonderful website badscience.net.
The first is a short discussion of the placebo effect made for the NHS choices website (a great website btw, especially the Daily Mail debunking "behind the headlines" section).
The second is Goldacre's contribution to Robin Ince's Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People, where he discusses the amazing nocebo effect - "placebo's evil twin".

▼ Click to reveal videos

The Pleasure of Finding Things Out

2010-04-18T08:29:00.000-07:00

Nobel prize winning quantum physicist Richard Feynman discusses his life, work and passions.

▼ Watch The Pleasure of Finding Things Out

Jeremy Paxman Interviews Nick Clegg

2010-04-18T05:40:00.000-07:00

From the BBC Parliament channel.

All of a sudden, the Lib Dems are looking quite plausible, aren't they? Clegg is starting to look rather appealing, Prime Ministerial even, especially when you stand him next to the other two. Something in the air? With some current polls putting Conservatives on 31%, Labour on 27% and Lib Dems on 29%, this looks like it will be a far more exciting election than I was expecting.

Filmed a few days before the first Prime Ministerial debate, Paxman's comments about the impossibility of Clegg being Prime Minister now seem pretty off the mark. If, like me, you're feeling a bizarre pull towards voting Lib Dem, watch Clegg confidently dance the dance with Paxman and learn a bit about their policy, you might be pleasantly surprised.

Both Cameron and Brown have confirmed that they will also sit for a half hour interview with Paxman in the coming weeks. However, I will be neither strong stomached enough to watch them or sadistic enough to post them. Apologies for quality - the first section is much worse than the rest. Watch it on iPlayer instead before Monday 19th April 2010 for a slightly longer and much prettier version.

The video below uses YouTube's fancy new embedded playlist player, which automatically loads the next parts. Use the left and right arrows to manually flick between parts.

Charlie Brooker - How to Watch Television

2010-04-14T20:40:00.000-07:00

Charlie Brooker's 2003 contribution to Channel 4's The Art Show.

Very droll, Mr. Brooker.

▼ Watch How to Watch Television

Craig Venter Talks

2010-04-13T11:03:00.000-07:00

A Craig Venter double bill.

▼ Watch The Richard Dimbleby Lecture 2007 | Dr. J. Craig Venter

▼ Watch Craig Venter@GoogleTalks

The Genius of Charles Darwin

2010-04-13T09:45:00.000-07:00

Richard Dawkins 2008 Channel 4 series.

▼ Watch Episode One: Life, Darwin & Everything

▼ Watch Episode Two: The The Fifth Ape

▼ Watch Episode Three: God Strikes Back

Large Hadron Rap

2010-03-30T08:57:00.000-07:00

Today (Tuesday 30th March 2010) those brilliant boys and girls working at the CERN laboratory successfully collided two proton beams in the Large Hadron Collider. To celebrate, watch this awesome rap written and performed by CERN staff members, which explains just about everything you need to know about high energy particle collisions (unless you are a particle physicist, in which case I imagine you need to know a huge amount more).

▼ Credits etc.

Rappin' about CERN's Large Hadron Collider! Links below...

Apparently YouTube fixed the sound! Still, Will Barras made two options trying to get around the original problems:
Other YouTube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3iryBLZCOQ
Vimeo: http://www.vimeo.com/1431471?pg=embed...

Vimeo is downloadable if you log in.

There has been a lot of interest in the original mp3, lyrics, and vocals for remixing. You can find all that here:
https://www.msu.edu/~mcalpin9/lhc_rap...

There's also been interest in translation. You can get a subtitle-free version from Vimeo here (downloadable):
http://www.vimeo.com/1730771

With backing track available here (with and without Hawking-style voice):
http://barras.ws/rappin.html

Go ahead and translate, rap it, and post it! Just give us a shout-out, and it's probably a good idea to include the following credits ;-)

Images came from:
particlephysics.ac.uk, space.com, the Institute of Physics, NASA, Symmetry, and Marvel

I forgot Einstein Online, and they called me out:http://www.einstein-online.info

And I forgot Physics World (dunno what I was thinking when I put together the extra dimensions bit). Steve Abel set me to rights (but made no demands): http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/p...

The talented dancers doubled as camera people, with some work by Neil Dixon. Stock footage is CERN's.

Will Barras is responsible for the killa beats:
http://www.ling.ed.ac.uk/~s9527813/

And thanks to MC Hawking, who first thought of using computer-voice to bring Stephen Hawking to the world of rap :-)
http://www.mchawking.com/

The rapper has a day job (we agree this is a good thing) as a science writer.
http://www.katemcalpine.com

They'll have a lot of data to sort. 15 million GB per year, actually. Want to get involved and donate your computer's downtime? Try LHC@home:http://lhcathome.cern.ch/lhcathome/

Lizzie and Sarah

2010-03-26T06:02:00.000-07:00

On Saturday 27th March 2010, in the graveyard slot of 11:45am, BBC Two broadcast a pilot written by and starring Julia Davis (Brass Eye, Jam, Nighty Night) and Jessica Hynes (née Stevenson - of Spaced fame).

The show is called Lizzie and Sarah, and it is truly, truly wonderful. It is a beautiful example of what British comedy does best: it is dark, funny, biting social satire, in turns horrific, profound, hilarious, and captured in the best tradition of British kitchen-sink realism. It is about two fifty-something housewives in middle-class suburban hell, living lives of obsequious drudgery, almost invisible to their cheating husbands and trapped in the humdrum of their local community.

The characters, Lizzie and Sarah, are beautifully observed. There is something almost heroic in their quiet acceptance of their miserable lot - Julia Davis' character is an archetypal middle-aged housewife, an amiable doormat, masking the years of pain and thankless giving with a stoic smile and a shrug. It is a far subtler performance than her other self-written character, Nighty Night's Jill Tyrell, and here Davis gets to prove what a wonderful actress she really is - every nuance of her performance, every eyebrow gesture and every little sigh brings to life a rich, deep character struggling to emerge screaming through the mundane roles and rituals where she is stuck.

Jessica Hynes also gives a bravura performance, easily her best since Spaced. As Sarah, she is always turning a blind eye to the constant degradations of her despicable and distant husband (played by Mark Heap, oh yes), and yet she is a genuinely charming, funny and likeable, often heroically buoyant in the face of her pitiful existence. In a brilliant scene where Lizzie and Sarah confess their misery to each other, Hynes delivers a piece of dialogue that is both the funniest on TV in years and at the same time a tragic and very sad indictment of men who subject women to years of mental abuse, and the women who silently suffer.

The plot turns in this pilot episode when Lizzie and Sarah reach breaking point and take back their lives, in a marvellous twist that I won't ruin for you.

That the BBC has so far only produced a pilot is a crime. That the pilot aired so late at night, with so little fanfare, shows how toothless and cowardly the BBC has become. Their failure to recognise the combination of peerless comedy brilliance and profound, timely social satire is highly disturbing to say the least.

~~Until Saturday 27th of March you can watch the pilot here on iPlayer.~~

Update: Lizzie and Sarah is no longer on iPlayer. From Tuesday 30th March, you can buy it on iTunes for less than a couple of quid, which might even help it get commissioned. Or you can download a torrent here if you're a cheap bastard.

The BBC are asking for feedback on the pilot here. If you care about good television, I insist that you go there and add your voice to those who want to see this show made into (at least) a full series.

You can join the Facebook campaign here.

In the meantime, thank you to Jessica and Julia, you have proven that British comedy is still a shining beacon in a world of shit. You have made a challenging TV programme that carries the best of what art can be, it is illuminating and deep, it peers into the abyss of our lives and laughs, it is subversive and edgy, with a steely moral centre and an outlook that is ultimately humane and empowering. In any sane world you would be lauded as heroes.

Atom

2010-03-02T09:22:00.001-08:00

Professor Jim Al-Khalili's mind bending three-part 2007 documentary series.

It's just as good as Al-Khalili's recent documentary, The Secret Life of Chaos, which you can watch here.

▼ Watch Episode 1: Clash of the Titans

▼ Watch Episode 2: Key to the Cosmos

▼ Watch Episode 3: The Illusion of Reality

Joseph Campbell - The Power of Myth

2010-03-02T08:51:00.000-08:00

Joseph Campbell, author of The Hero with a Thousand Faces, talks to Bill Moyers about his ideas, his studies, and his philosophy, in this six-part 1988 TV series for American network PBS.

Campbell's work in comparative mythology and comparative religion is truly fascinating, and across these six hour-long episodes he gets to explain his compelling take on life, the universe and everything.

Part historian, part academic, part mystic, Campbell has profound answers for life's mysteries. Picking up where writers such as James Frazer and Northrop Frye left off, Campbell shows how human cultural output - religion, ritual and fiction - reflects universal human values and shared experiences that deeply connect all members of mankind across historical and geographical divides.

(youku.com)

Charlie Brooker's Gameswipe

2010-02-24T06:42:00.000-08:00

Better late than never, it's Charlie Brooker's one-off special Gameswipe from last year. You can read about it on the BBC Comedy Blog page here.

As always, it's beyond praise. Enjoy.

▼ Watch Gameswipe

Stewart Lee - Don't Get Me Started

2010-02-23T09:00:00.000-08:00

In the wake of the controversy surrounding 'Jerry Springer the Opera', comedian, writer and broadcaster Stewart Lee goes on the offensive, asking "what's wrong with blasphemy?" in this one-off 45 minute special.

▼ Watch Stewart Lee: Don't Get Me Started

Does Homeopathy Work? - feat Dr. Ben Goldacre

2010-02-18T05:51:00.000-08:00

Footage of a debate titled "Does Homeopathy Work" held three years ago in the Natural History Museum. The wonderful Ben Goldacre (badscience.net, Guardian column) goes head to head with clinical director of the Royal National Homeopathic Hospital, Dr. Peter Fisher.

▼ Watch 'Does Homepathy Work?'

Douglas Adams - Hyperland

2010-02-16T04:15:00.000-08:00

In 1990, Douglas Adams made a documentary for BBC Two. It was called Hyperland, and was presented as a fantasy, a dream of the future. Here, Adams discusses what was to become known as the internet, and explains the concept of hypertext - many years before the invention of the first web browser. He ends Hyperland with a prediction of the future, 2005, where the sum total of human knowledge is laid out in a virtual world that anybody can access - just like the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

It really is marvellous. Not only are Adams' predictions stunningly accurate (apart Lawnmower Man-esque 3D virtual reality, which never did come true, for no particular reason), his enthusiasm for his subject and optimism about what the internet could do for society and individuals is stirring, thought-provoking stuff. And it stars Tom Baker. What are you waiting for?

▼ Watch Hyperland

Run time: 50mins

The Secret Life of Chaos

2010-02-07T06:20:00.000-08:00

It may have disappeared from iPlayer, but you can still watch it here - perhaps the greatest science documentary of the past few years, The Secret Life of Chaos. A fantastic layman's introduction to chaos theory, presented by Jim Al-Khalili. You'll want to watch it a couple of times to take it all in, but it's a rewarding, mind-bending, and ultimately beautiful learning experience.

Watch The Secret Life of Chaos at Tudou

Nick Davies - Falsehood, Distortion and Propaganda in the Global Media

2010-02-07T05:43:00.000-08:00

Flat Earth News author Nick Davies gives a great performance under an unusually fierce grilling from Guardian journalist David Lee. Recorded for frontlineclub.com, a must watch for anyone interested in falsehood and distortion in the media.

Ghostwatch

2009-10-31T11:44:00.000-07:00

The Selfish Green

2009-10-15T08:37:00.000-07:00

The Selfish Green was the opening event of Wildscreen 2004, a debate on the future of conservation led by Jonathan Dimbleby with Sir David Attenborough, Professor Richard Dawkins, Dr Jane Goodall and Dr Richard Leakey. Oh yes.

Why We Fight

2009-10-15T08:25:00.000-07:00

Eugene Jareki's 2005 documentary about the US military industrial complex. Winner of the Sundance Festival Grand Jury Prize.

Dangerous Knowledge

2009-10-15T08:15:00.000-07:00

In this one-off documentary, David Malone looks at four brilliant mathematicians - Georg Cantor, Ludwig Boltzmann, Kurt Gödel and Alan Turing - whose genius has profoundly affected us, but which tragically drove them insane and eventually led to them all committing suicide.
Source: bbc.co.uk

The Enemies of Reason

2009-10-12T16:06:00.000-07:00

Richard Dawkins' awesome 2007 two-part Channel 4 series.

▼ Watch Episode One: Slaves to Superstition

▼ Watch Episode Two: The Irrational Health Service

Miss Whiplash Goes to the Afterlife

2009-09-21T03:55:00.000-07:00

80s Celebrity prostitute Miss Whiplash describes her out-of-body experience after a car crash. This probably shouldn't be as funny as it is. But it is. Like a lost Chris Morris sketch.

Watch her give her bizarre account of the underworld here.
Read the article on BBC News.

The Genius of Charles Darwin - Uncut Interviews

2009-09-12T16:22:00.000-07:00

Uncut Richard Dawkins interviews from The Genius of Charles Darwin. Some really wonderful, even life affirming stuff.

You can buy the full 3-DVD set of uncut interviews, over 18 hours, in the RichardDawkins.net store: http://richarddawkins.net/store/index...

Click to reveal videos.

▼ Steven Pinker

▼ Daniel Dennett

▼ Craig Venter

▼ Peter Singer

Homer Groening Short Films

2009-09-11T18:47:00.000-07:00

A Study in Wet

Two short films by Homer Groening. You can even see little Matt, Lisa and Maggie in "The Story". Lovely.

The Fog of War

2009-09-08T05:51:00.000-07:00

The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara is Errol Morris' electrifying 2003 documentary about the life and times of former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara. It is one of the many anti-Iraq war films of the period, and in my opinion one of the best, and it has not dated one jot. The Philip Glass soundtrack is wonderful, and the archive materials are a real treat.

Tetris: From Russia with Love

2009-04-28T11:36:00.000-07:00

"This is the story behind the fiendishly addictive game, a tale of high stakes, intimidation and legal feuds set against the backdrop of Cold War tensions between East and West."

Watch - Tetris: From Russia with Love (Youku.com)
Read - Magnus Temple interview
Play - Tetris

documental

2009-04-26T16:30:00.000-07:00

I just came across this website - documental. It's basically the site that I was trying to make here at The Froghall View - just links to all the best documentaries on Google Video.

documental really is awesome. It has everything I've posted over the past two months, plus many other, better films. In fact, I don't know what you're still doing here. Get over there and bookmark it.

Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe

2009-04-20T12:25:00.000-07:00

Series One

3 Episodes. Originally aired 2 March 2006 - 16 March 2006

Series Two

7 Episodes. Originally aired 20 July 2006 - 31 December 2006

Series Three

4 Episodes. Originally aired 5 February 2007 - 26 February 2007

Series Four

7 Episodes. Originally aired 25 September 2007 - 19 December 2007

Series Five

6 Episodes. 18 November 2008 - 24 December 2008

Specials

Screenwipe USA (2006), XMAS Screenwipe (2006), Review of the Year 2006, 2007 and 2008, Culture Show Special (2007), The Screenwipe Guide to TV (2008), plus Adverts.

Police Brutality at G20 Protests

2009-04-15T17:55:00.000-07:00

▼ Watch these again.

spEak You're bRanes

2009-04-15T10:41:00.000-07:00

As a perfect antidote to the rage induced by reading abysmally stupid comments posted on comment boards, why not join in taking the piss out of the very stupidest at spEak You're bRanes.

They are mostly gathered from the typically heinous posts over at the BBC News 'Have Your Say' board, with a few other gems thrown in.

Don't read too much, though - it's funny for a while and then unbearably depressing. I'll never forget reading the chilling line-

"She should be slowly tortured to death by decent mums like us."

http://ifyoulikeitsomuchwhydontyougolivethere.com/

The Obama Deception

2009-04-15T10:07:00.000-07:00

You may remember radio DJ and conspiracy theorist extraordinaire Alex Jones from the 'Bush did 9/11' documentary Loose Change.

He's another loon, of course. He sees the US as the centre of the universe, and is both distrustful and ignorant of anything taking place off his own shores. This fucks up his world view and grasp of politics somewhat. Still, he has great talent as a documentary filmmaker, and his line of argument is often persuasive. Much like an American David Icke, he sees great patterns in the chaos of world events, yet lacks the ability to step back for a moment and realise that it is all bollocks.

It's very watchable stuff. However, if you've been daft enough to be convinced by Alex Jones and his ilk, I'd recommend watching some of the Adam Curtis documentaries, and realising that the truth is far more complex.

Watch The Obama Deception on YouTube (1:53:40)

Gods of the New Age

2009-04-14T19:46:00.000-07:00

This unintentionally hilarious 1984 documentary warns Americans of the dangers of Hinduism, and attempts to show how the west has been infiltrated by New Age practices that have Hindu tradition at their core.

It is two hours of laugh-a-minute nonsense, as the Reaganite Christian filmmakers go from silly (suggesting that yoga and meditation fads are corrupting decent American values) to ridiculous (lumping in Dungeons and Dragons and Star Wars as evil and heretical) to outrageously offensive (claiming that Hindu gods are in fact Christian demons).

Thoroughly recommended.

Watch Gods of the New Age Online
See the Amazon page (for Christ's sake don't buy it!)

Mark Thomas at the 28/03/09 G20 Protest

2009-04-06T17:36:00.000-07:00

Visit www.markthomasinfo.com

Or go straight to the goodies on the audio/video page

Howard Goodall: How Music Works

2009-04-06T10:13:00.000-07:00

Watch Howard Goodall's 2006 documentary, How Music Works.

Episode One: Melody
Episode Two: Rhythm
Episode Three: Harmony
Episode Four: Bass

I can't find Goodall's other documentaries, so if anyone knows where I can find a link, especially for 20th Century Greats, I would be very grateful.

Conscious Entities

2009-04-06T09:28:00.000-07:00

This blog-style website about consciousness is full of sharp, insightful analysis of new ideas in psychology, neuroscience and philosophy. It is run by a chap called Peter Hankins who is perhaps the smartest and most interesting person I have come across on the web.

This website a must-see for anyone interested in understanding consciousness.

In addition to Peter's highly readable articles, he has provided many pages of background information about all the leading thinkers in the field, run-downs of all the major schools of thought, and enough introductory information to engage any layperson in this fascinating and exciting subject.

www.consciousentities.com

Daniel Dennett: Ants, Terrorism, and the Awesome Power of Memes

2009-04-01T08:33:00.000-07:00

A fantastic clip of Dennett talking about Meme Theory.

Watch Ants, Terrorism, and the Awesome Power of Memes

Also:

Dennett's 2007 speech for Atheist Alliance International

Dennett makes some interesting points here, and fans will enjoy seeing him do his usual schtick of bold evolutionary hypothesising and down-to-earth philosophy. I would have enjoyed this more if the audience in the room weren't clearly a bunch of self-congratulatory intellectual narcissists.
www.sciencestage.com

Visions of the Future

2009-04-01T07:48:00.000-07:00

Michio Kaku's cheery and optimistic vision of the future is laid out in his 2007 BBC4 documentary. It's a brave new world with strong appeal for Star Trek fans and teleologists, with enough disturbing undertones to keep you misery junkies happy.

Episode One - The Intelligence Revolution
Episode Two - The Biotech Revolution
Episode Three - The Quantum Revolution

Unfortunately for anyone who has derived some sort of solace from Kaku's bright ideas, he's a total loon. See for yourself.

Michio Kaku on Future Civilizations

Kaku Interview 1991

Brain Story

2009-04-01T07:30:00.000-07:00

Susan Greenfield's eminently watchable introduction to neuroscience. Full of interesting bits and bobs, if a bit slow and BBCish sometimes. Enjoy.

Episode One - All in the Mind
Episode Two - In the Heat of the Moment
Episode Three - The Mind's Eye
Episode Four - First among Equals
Episode Five - Growing the Mind
Episode Six - A Final Mystery

Batman: The Brave and the Bold

2009-03-29T10:21:00.000-07:00

Watch this new Batman cartoon. It's damn entertaining.

SurftheChannel - Batman: The Brave and the Bold

Adam Curtis Documentaries

2009-03-29T07:26:00.000-07:00

Watch the greatest documentary films you'll ever see.

1984: Inquiry: The Great British Housing Disaster.

1988: An Ocean Apart. Episode One "Hats Off to Mr. Wilson” (concerning the process by which the United States was involved in the First World War).

1992: Pandora's Box examined the dangers of technocratic and political rationality. It received the BAFTA Award for Best Factual Series.

(rewtube.com)

1995: The Living Dead investigated the way that history and memory (both national and individual) have been used by politicians and others.

Episode One - On the Desperate Edge of Now
Episode Two - You Have Used Me as a Fish Long Enough
Episode Three - The Attic

1996: 25 Million Pounds a study of Nick Leeson and the collapse of Barings Bank. Won the Best Science and Nature Documentary in the 1998 San Francisco International Film Festival.

Watch - 25 Million Pounds

1997: The Way of All Flesh tells the story of Henrietta Lacks, the "woman who will never die". It received the 1997 Golden Gate Award.

Watch - The Way of All Flesh

1999: The Mayfair Set looked at how buccaneer capitalists were allowed to shape the climate of the Thatcher years, focusing on the rise of Colonel David Stirling, Jim Slater, James Goldsmith, and Tiny Rowland, all members of The Clermont club in the 1960s. It received the BAFTA Award for Best Factual Series or Strand in 2000.

Episode One - Part One | Part Two
Episode Two - Part One | Part Two
Episode Three - Part One | Part Two
Episode Four - Part One | Part Two

2002: The Century of the Self (BBC Two) documented how the rise of Freud's individualism led to Edward Bernays' consumerism. It received the Broadcast Award for Best Documentary Series and the Longman-History Today Award for Historical Film of the Year. It was released in the US through art house cinemas and was picked as the fourth best movie of 2005 by Entertainment Weekly.

Episode One - The Century of Self
Episode Two - The Engineering of Consent
Episode Three - There is a policeman in my head he must be destroyed
Episode Four - Eight People Sipping Wine

2004: The Power of Nightmares (BBC Two) suggested a parallel between the rise of Islamism in the Arab world and Neoconservatism in the United States in that both needed to inflate a myth of a dangerous enemy in order to draw people to support them. It received the BAFTA Award for Best Factual Series in 2004.

Episode One - Baby It's Cold Outside (20/10/04)
Episode Two - The Phantom Victory (27/10/04)
Episode Three - The Shadows in the Cave (03/11/04)

2007: The Trap - What Happened to our Dream of Freedom (BBC Two - working title Cold Cold Heart), a series regarding the modern concept of freedom.

Episode One - Fuck you Buddy (11/03/07)
Episode Two - The Lonely Robot (18/03/07)
Episode Three - We will Force you to be Free: (25/03/07)

2007: Curtis provided a tongue-in-cheek version of his owndocumentary style for a section about television news reporters in the third episode of the fourth series of the BBC Four programme Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe.

2009: Curtis provided another mini-documentary for Charlie Brooker and his new current affairs programme Newswipe, this time focussing on the rise of "Oh Dear"-ism

2009: July 2 saw the release of a new mixed media documentary, called It Felt Like A Kiss.

Watch the trailer

2010: Curtis provided a third mini-documentary on paranoia and moral panics for the fourth episode in the second series of Charlie Brooker's Newswipe.

More to come.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Robin Cook fights Evil

2009-03-28T13:08:00.000-07:00

A total gem of a find on YouTube.

A flashback to February 1996, when the Arms-to-Iraq scandal took a turn for the worse for Conservative Government, after the long-awaited Scott Report was finally published. The report was highly critical of the government, raising concerns over ministerial accountability, incompetence and public deception. It picked out certain members of the Conservative party for particular misdeeds. Scott had even described their slippery evasions when asked to cooperate with the research for the report - in colourfully venomous language.

In the media, the Conservatives had already begun to try and declare it a victory, claiming that Scott had exonerated the Government. In their press pack, they included dull sounding, inoffensive extracts from the report. For now, they had successfully avoided media scrutiny. Before the parliamentary debate, Tory MPs had been fully briefed on how to defend themselves against the findings. The Scott Report was only made available to the Labour party through Robin Cook, then shadow foreign minister, who had been given only two hours, directly before the debate, to scrutinise the report under Tory supervision, where he was expressly forbidden to make any copies.

Robin Cook and a team of researchers read the entire 1800 page report, then he walked into parliament, and battled the entire Conservative party single-handed for an hour.

We miss you, Robin Cook.

Unfortunately only half of it is here. Especially because Neil Hamiltion stands up a bit later, which is always good for a laugh.

John Major declared that a no vote would be a vote of no confidence, and an aye would exonerate the Governement. The Government won 320-319.

Read the Wikipedia article

Read the House of Commons debate 26th February 1996:

Read the horribly butchered extracts from The Scott Report

Read some shitty BBC On This Day thing.

If anyone could tell me where to get a PDF of The Scott Report, I would be very grateful.

Red Nose Day 2009 - Best Bits

2009-03-15T13:15:00.000-07:00

I didn't watch Comic Relief this year. That's because experience has taught me that it's a shit way to spend an evening. Apart from a few five minute clips that you spend the whole bleedin' night waiting to see, you wade through hours upon hours of godawful celebrity 'variety performance', harrowing reports about all the terrible things that happen in this damned world, and dreading the cruelly inevitable appearance of Lenny Henry, the least funny man on the planet.

Thank goodness for YouTube. I got to watch all the best bits without the gumph. What I really could have done with was a list of links to all the good stuff. So here it is.

Mitchell & Webb, Armstrong and Miller

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four

Outnumbered

Part One | Part Two

Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant: The Office - The Opera

Full Version

Robert Webb does Flashdance

Full Version

Radio 4 Presenters Stand-Up

Link to Playlist

Tell me if I've missed anything worth watching. Little Britain can fuck right off.

Street Fighter: The Later Years

2009-03-08T21:07:00.000-07:00

We like this. People who didn't waste their childhood may not.

Here's the rest of the parts:

part 2 - part 3 - part 4 - part 5 - part 6 - part 7 - part 8 - part 9

Fox News celebrates inauguration day, showers Obama with shit

2009-03-08T20:04:00.000-07:00

Fox News, the home of evil, has predictably begun its four-year plan of slinging shit at Obama and hoping something sticks. Here they are:

1) Spinning the closure of Guantanomo Bay (affectionately known as 'Gitmo' in Foxland) as a bad thing.
9/11 Families Outraged by Obama Call to Suspend Guantanamo War Crimes Trial
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/01/21/families-outraged-obama-suspend-guantanamo-war-crimes-trials/

2) Implying that during the few days of transition between governments, Obama's staff has been hopelessly wandering around the Whitehouse like a load of teenagers on work experience, trying to find the forms that they need to fill out and getting lost on the way back from the coffee shop. And it comes with a paternally reassuring, wild west themed headline:
Bush Appointees Holding Down the Fort While Obama Nominees Await Confirmation
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/01/21/bush-appointees-holding-fort-obama-nominees-await-confirmation/

3) Having a pop at Obama for stumbling the oath:
Obama, Chief Justice Roberts Stumble in Recitation of Presidential Oath
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/01/20/chief-justice-roberts-officiates-inauguration/

Before recognising that it was actually Chief Justice Roberts fault (yeah- the other dude said the wrong thing, and it messed Obama up 'cos he was all like "whoa - that's not the thing" but he'd already said the thing, so, he, like, stopped saying the thing.) in a rather catty tone, and slipping in the marvellous line: "Obama then repeated the oath in the incorrect order. His presidency is unaffected, however."
Biden Takes Shot at Roberts for Flubbing Presidential Oath
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/01/21/biden-takes-shot-roberts-flubbing-presidential-oath/

4) Finally, getting their dicks out and swinging them around the room, pissing all over goodness and decency, fornicating with demons and swearing allegiance to the wicked one, the tempter, the dark lord of the pit...

Five Reasons Americans Should Be Concerned About Hamas

Including:

3. The Deck Is Stacked Against Israel
Despite an enormous advantage in firepower, intelligence and military training, Israel is the underdog in this conflict — there is enormous pressure on Israel not to attack Hamas.
So, why should you care? Because Hamas and other Islamists throughout the world view Israel as a warm up for the greater foe– the United States.

Despicable. Also an article on the front page "Give Bush Credit for Keeping Us Safe". Lovely.

Bruce Lee was Awesome

2009-03-08T19:58:00.000-07:00

Awesome-fucking-Welles.