Saturday, March 30, 2019

The Last Blockbuster in the World





















New York Times – "Meet the Curiosity-Seekersand Die-Hards at the Last True Blockbuster"
By Tiffany Hsu and Ian C. Bates

"David Brehm, a local building inspector, remembers when Bend was just a mill town with fewer than 20,000 residents. Now, the population is closer to 100,000.

Over the years, Mr. Brehm, 61, has chatted with Blockbuster workers during his weekly visits about their dating lives, then their marriages and, eventually, their children. Rather than crowdsourcing movie recommendations from Facebook or Twitter, he asks store employees what they think he should watch.

“This is my social media,” he said. "

...

"Ms. Hunter, an assistant manager at Deschutes Brewery, said she found it easier to browse for movies there than on Netflix, which she compared to a dating app.

“You’re on it for hours,” she said. “It’s almost overwhelming.” "

10 Things I Hate About You Twenty Years Later


























New York Times – "‘10 Things I Hate About You’: When Heath Ledger Was Just Breaking Through"

Related,
The Ringer – "The 50 Best Movies of 1999, Part 2"

Redemption


























Bleacher Report – "The Ballad of Dirk and Dwyane"
By Howard Beck

"Even after the 2006 collapse, Nowitzki recalls thinking, "We're gonna be back in the Finals here from now on. This is our time. … And we didn't really notice I guess after '07 our window was closing right in front of our eyes."

Nowitzki had bounced back with his finest season, earning MVP honors while leading the Mavericks to a franchise-best 67 wins…only to lose to the eighth-seeded Golden State Warriors in the first round of the playoffs in one of the greatest upsets of all time.

That made two soul-crushing defeats in 10 months. Disconsolate, Nowitzki retreated to the Australian Outback with his longtime coach and mentor, Holger Geschwindner, for about five weeks in the summer of 2007.

"I take losses obviously very serious," Nowitzki says, reflecting on the moment. "If I'm one of the franchise players and obviously the best-paid player, I felt like if we don't win and we come up short, it's mostly my responsibility. That's how I always looked at it. And '06 was tough, and [after] '07, I was so frustrated I had to get away. So I wanted to get as far away as possible."

Nowitzki references a Geschwindner adage: "In doubt with yourself, always choose the world"—meaning, he says: "Don't stay by yourself; get out and do something. Experience something. Otherwise, you get frustrated and depressed. That's what we did that year. It was great for me. … Once I cleared my mind, I was ready to go again.""

The Legacy of Phantom Menace


























The Ringer – "‘Star Wars: Episode 1–The Phantom Menace’ Is the Most Important Movie of 1999. Seriously."
By Justin Charity

Melting Ice Sculpture of Harbin, China


























The Atlantic – "The Temporary Ruins of Harbin’s Melting Ice Sculptures"






Wednesday, March 20, 2019

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Teaser Trailer



July 26, 2019
Written & Directed by Quentin Tarantino
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Al Pacino, Dakota Fanning, Damian Lewis, Bruce Dern, Emile Hirsch, Luke Perry

Previously,
First Look at Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Stranger Things 3 Trailer



July 4, 2019

Thursday, March 14, 2019

Speed vs. Endurance


















Grantland – "Is the Fastest Human Ever Already Alive?" (2011)
By Chuck Klosterman

"There has never been a time when being the fastest man in the world* was worth so much money (particularly in the 100 meters, where the difference in notoriety between who's #1 and #2 is especially vast).

*Contradictory side note: We should not overlook the large contingent of long-distance runners who find the whole question of "the fastest man alive" patently ridiculous, simply because humans are all relatively slow (at least compared to most other mammals). Humans are designed for distance running. Christopher McDougall, author of the best-selling book Born to Run, actually thinks this debate is borderline sexist. "My bedrock feeling about sprinting is that we only get excited about it because boys are better than girls. Men set the entertainment agenda, so we pick the events that give us an edge over women. As a species, we're awful sprinters. Really bad. The average amputee dog can hold his own against any high school track star ... It takes a really prosperous, secure society to perfect frivolous pursuits. In a way, our quest for speed isn't far removed from [the MTV show] Jackass. But I'm a grouch." Daniel Lieberman at Harvard (who, coincidentally, was Weyand's anatomy instructor) makes a similar point, albeit for different reasons: "It's useful to keep in mind that we should not be too impressed by Bolt and other speedsters. By mammalian standards, they are comparatively slow. Most decent quadrupeds out there—dogs, horses, zebra, lions—can run about twenty meters per second, twice as fast as Bolt, and they can do so for much longer (up for a few minutes). No Olympic sprinter could ever outrun a lion. We humans gave up the ability to run fast by mammalian standards many millions of years ago when we became bipeds and lost the ability to gallop. Instead, what humans excel at is endurance, especially on a hot day." Of course, if we took all these arguments at face value, the Olympics would be pretty bizarre."

U.S. Women's National Team's Discrimination Lawsuit Against U.S. Soccer


























ESPN – "USWNT suing U.S. Soccer for discrimination"

Sunday, March 10, 2019

Long Shot



May 3, 2019
Written by Dan Sterling, Liz Hannah (The Post)
Directed by Jonathan Levine
Starring Seth Rogen, Charlize Theron, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Andy Serkis

Mike D's Malibu Home

























Architectural Digest – "Mike D of the Beastie Boys Lives in This Modern Malibu House"



























BuzzFeed the Newspaper


























Adweek – "BuzzFeed Goes Offline With Its First Printed Newspaper, Distributed Today in New York"



How to Eat a Pineapple


Previously,
Pineapple "the King of Fruits"

Breaking Down the GOT Season 8 Trailer



Previously,
Game of Thrones Season 8 Trailer

Product Design Engineering

Logos Re-Designed in Bauhaus




























Adweek – "Here’s What Today’s Brand Logos Would Look Like If They’d Been Designed in the Bauhaus"






Sunday, March 3, 2019

The Art of Shaping a Bonsai Tree

The Career Arc of Kevin Garnett






































Back Picks – "Backpicks GOAT: #8 Kevin Garnett"


The Value of Bryce Harper




































Via @BriMcCardle.

Houston


GQ – "Houston Is the New Capital Of Southern Cool" (August 2018)

New York Times – "A Day in Houston: 3 Meals, 3 Cultures, One City"

"Houston is widely considered to be one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world. According to the city’s planning department, 48 percent of residents speak a language other than English — and more than 145 languages are spoken in the city. Twenty-nine percent of the population is foreign-born."

Chicago Tribune – "Chicago's population down third year in a row — but we're still ahead of Houston: census" (May 2018)

Atmos sneakers
























Via Hypebeast:

"atmos is a prominent Japanese streetwear and sneaker boutique based in Tokyo, Japan, founded by Hidefumi Hommyo in 2000. Alongside its sneaker and streetwear offerings, atmos also sells its in-house label both in-store and online. atmos initially began as a miniscule retail store in the narrow backstreets of Ura-Harajuku in Tokyo before gradually expanding over the years in influence, stocking major brands such as Nike, adidas, ASICS and PUMA. atmos was formalized several years later, quickly establishing itself in the nascent Japanese streetwear scene with a number of highly coveted collaborations. atmos currently has six shops in Tokyo and one in Osaka, as well as its only international outlet in New York City."


The Irishman



October 2019
Written by Steven Zaillian (Schindler's List, Mission: Impossible, Gangs of New York, Moneyball)
Directed by Martin Scorsese
Starring Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Harvey Keitel

Indiewire – "Martin Scorsese: ‘The Irishman’ Has Almost 300 Scenes, Which Made It Challenging to Storyboard"