Tuesday, March 19, 2013

What I Was Reading... and Watching... and Listening

I had some interesting reading and watches this week... well actually over the last few weeks but I'm only getting to writing this now.

Salman Khan (no not our beloved drunk driver), but the founder of Khan Academy gave a fantastic commencement speech at his alma mater, MIT in 2012.

Next, "the worm", returns to the world of Chaos - Dennis Rodman on his visit to DPRK.  Rodman, who was once the member of perhaps the greatest Basketball team of all time (and less famously the husband of the "Baywatch thespian" Carmen Electra), spoke to George Stephanoppolous about his recent tete-a-tete with Kim Jong Un on The Week.

A fantastic read on the processed food industry and the science behind junk food addiction in the New York Times.  A must read.

This afternoon I had two conversations, where as per standard rules, I ended up doing most of the talking.  The conversations reminded me of a bunch of "things" that I had stored in the back of my attic brain which I divulge to you now.  
The first was regarding the conspiracy theory behind the Moon landing.  Somehow the conversation drifted from Physics HL to astronomy, dark matter, telescopes and finally... the "fake" Moon landing.  It reminded me of a brilliant sketch by the genius British comedy duo David Mitchell and Robert Webb from their sketch show The Mitchell and Webb Look.  Have a gander.
The second conversation, started with a girl with a guitar, meandered around mandolins, ukuleles, banjos, and The Infamous Stringdusters and The Goat Rodeo Sessions (The collaborative album by Chris Thile (mandolin), Yo-Yo Ma (that's right!), Edgar Myers (double bass), ans Stuart Duncan (violin)). While I was talking, two distinct images entered either side of my head: Eddie Izzard talking about Tigers and Banjos, and The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain covering "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly".  Have a hark.

I also recently had a conversation with a few people about Formula 1 racing as the season started last Sunday.  We got around to the topic of drift racing, and someone mentioned The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift.  I was reminded of Keiichi Tsuchiya - the original "Drift King" who made the sport popular.  But who I want to write about today is the master of the Gymkhana - Ken Block!  Kudos to BBC Top Gear for another brilliant set.  Enjoy!

Till more, excelsior! 


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