New Zealand Book Council - Going West

Snip snip snip. This gives me chills.

Create Amazing

It seems I'm on a roll today. Since Catherine seems to be our essayist, I think I may be doomed to the role of "poster of internet oddities." Well, I'll see what I can do to change that, but not today. Today I bring your attention a charming and beautiful advertisement by HP. There is a shorter, more talky ad on Youtube, but the director's cut is also available, and I recommend you watch it first, even if it is a large file. The technique is called tilt-shift photography, which distorts the depth of field in a real scene, making it look like a model. The song, in case you wanted to know, is called "Rescue Song" by Mr Little Jeans.

Create Amazing

Lu Guang - Pollution in China

The results of China's insane rate of industrial expansion have been cataloged recently by Lu Guang, who has been garnering acclaim for his work "Pollution in China". The consequences of treating a nation's populace and environment purely as capital-producing resources are laid out in stark detail.

Images here
and here

Delphic - This Momentary

My fascination with abandoned environments continues unabated, and sparked my interest in this music video, composed of recent footage of Chernobyl and the Russian populace living in the region. Beautiful and haunting.

The Third & The Seventh

This is something to experience. Fullscreen the video, turn down the lights, and turn up the sound.

The Return of Flannery and Chesterton

By popular demand, the audio of Flannery O'Connor and G.K. Chesterton have returned. They can be downloaded from the links below.

Chesterton on Canada
O'Connor on Some Aspects of the Grotesque in Southern Literature
O'Connor reads A Good Man is Hard to Find

The O'Connor audios are also available at Black Market Kidneys, where they can be found as mp3s. Thanks, guys!

I met a real live Russian today

Sunday brunch became more interesting than usual when I met Hillsdale's own student from the Motherland. In the course of the conversation I mentioned that Russia has been my favorite country to read and hear about since I was three years old and he said, "...you are very strange." Which is, I suppose, undeniably true. But my fascination with that country remains with me to this day; and I would love to reach a point in my life where I could spend a year traveling all over that country which uses up one sixth of the Earth's landmass. I think what has always drawn me is the deep understanding of pain and suffering that permeates Russian art, music, literature, and history. From Dostoevsky to Rachmoninov, I feel connected to a people who have accepted and lived with suffering more completely than any other culture I've ever encountered.