Knowledge

I find Knowledge to be incredibly beautiful. This show, Qi, takes the cake for beautiful knowledge... Qi (or Quite Interesting) is an English panel show hosted by Stephen Fry (Blackadder, A bit of Fry and Laurie), and quizzes the guests on the most peculiar trivia, debunking common myths, and educating the audience without dumbing down the dialog.
Gorillas sleep in nests, Earth has more than one moon, and most mushrooms are actually not poisonous, are just a few of the facts learned on the show.

Inventors and waterfalls

I'm a huge fan of Tesla, an inventor who more or less gave power to millions of people. He basically started the "electification of the world".

All inventors have a place in my heart. Well, inventing keeps kids off the streets (unless they're inventing drugs). Anyhow, I came across a great documentary, although a bit dated and low in production value, about Nikola Tesla. Great information about the inventor's life and inventions.

Definitely looks like he could be a relative of mine.





While I'm at it, I like waterfalls too.

Philanthropy

Philanthropy is beautiful, no matter what form it comes in. One of my favorites is of course monetary philanthropy. In Japan, some person or group of people are dropping off cash in peoples mail boxes, and in bathrooms, among other places. There may even be "copycat" philanthropy occurring around the area.

How neat!

A while ago I found an article about a man, Larry Stewart, who finally came in from the cold on his numerous acts of secret philanthropy. Over his years as a public servant, he is estimated to have given out millions to complete strangers. He explained it all started when he met a waitress who looked like he was having a bad day. He handed her a larger than average tip, and she began to cry and thank him, saying "sir, you have no idea what this means to me". You can read the full story here at wiki.

Computer Music Video and Poetry

Jed's Poem (Beautiful Ground) is a pretty nice song. Sweet. Subtle. Poetic. But this video tops it off. Appropriately using a computer for this video; so fitting to the sounds of the song. The creator of this video was made it as a fan, and the band Granddaddy liked it so much they adopted it as an official video.

That's beautiful.

The computer is timed perfectly with the music, which seems like it would have been difficult to accomplish... many lines of C++ something or another. The poetry moves on the screen like something from e. e. cummings.

Here's the video.

Another World video game

Also titled Out of this World, Another World was one of my childhood favorites. Extremely difficult game to complete, but addicting non-the-less, your goal is to survive and escape this "other world" of aliens, creatures, and scary disintegration laser guns.
This isn't your average platform game. For one, it's so difficult, you are guaranteed to die countless number of times, in every stage of the game. You have to die, in order to learn what not to do, where not to go, and to perfect your timing.
The animation also sets this game apart. The 2d animation, created by Eric Chahi, was so ahead of it's time, people still rave about the game today, almost 15 years later.
But what makes the game especially beautiful, in my opinion, is the story. You team up with an alien fugitive, and with no more communication than simple gestures, you work together to escape a hostile land.

Here is the entire game from start to end. I think it would make a great big-screen action movie. I wonder who would play the ginger hero?



And for those of you who speak French, here is the 'making of' interview with Eric Chahi in 1993.

Six Feet Under Series

Alan Ball, the director of Six Feet Under, once said "Beauty is in the strangest places. A piece of garbage floating in the wind. And that beauty exists in America. It exists everywhere. You have to develop an eye for it and be able to see it."

I wonder if he would enjoy this blog?

Likely one of the best TV shows I've ever seen, Six Feet Under is a beautiful 5 season drama. I just spent the last few days watching it from episode one to end. And now, emotionally drained, and a bit depressed and lonely, I thought I'd post it in this archive of beautiful things.

The series, for those who haven't heard, is about a family and their funeral home business. Unsurprisingly the series deals with death in every possible facet the writers can think up. They pull the characters through a web of depressing situations, most of which are caused by the characters inability to communicate with their family and friends.

A melodramatic daughter, a gay mortician, an aimless son, and a stifled mother make up the main cast. The acting is believable, and the characters are both loved and hated by the audience on any given episode.

I love this show. But now after finishing, I may need to see a shrink.
Truly beautiful.
Two thumbs up.

Here is the final 6 minutes of the last episode, which by my standards is the most complete and appropriate series finale I've seen... but i recommend watching the entire series before this. And I also recommend having some tissue at hand, and a phone by your side to call your loved ones.

Flash Animated Creep

More praise for Radiohead, but this time I'm more focused on the animation itself in this video. Radiohead makes good music. That's pretty obvious. But these flash animators have really done something wonderful with this acoustic version of Creep. Being a flash animator myself, I empathize with the pains of putting something like this together. I also empathize with the character in this video, having spent the last few weeks in an office.

If you've used flash, you'll appreciate the title and credits sequence. Click here to play the official version, or watch below for the video only. Enjoy!