Music is the silence...

In the essay The Pellucid Sound of Rain we delve into the gray area between silence and noise; rain and music; Chopin, Sakamoto, and Malhar. I have linked before to articles about the search for quiet including predictions of dystopian futures in which only the rich will be able to afford silence. Take a few minutes with this one.

Great photo of Mt. Fuji's shadow at sunset by Kris J B.

Finally there's an equation that describes how fashionable your outfit is.

Video of nighttime in Fort Worth, 2011. The Fort.

Consideration of possible use of nuclear weapons in Viet Nam.

I have been reserving my aviation pr0n for my Pinterest board but here's an exception: video recollections orf an SR-71 pilot.

40 warships sailing together. source

Animation Scoop brings us the 2nd trailer from The Penguins of Madagascar. We can only hope the entire movie will be this funny.

I offer this shitty map graphic as an example of what not to do: favorite cereal by state.

Faulkner, in his own words, and his own voice. Recordings of him during his time at U. Virginia. There's even him reading from The Sound and The Fury and trust me, it's less dramatic than the audiobook I'm listening too now.

If you're a man, the results of Harvard's 75-year study on what men need to live a happy life is probably going to be of interest. There are lots of details but two high points are: happiness = love, alcoholism = bad.

Why does Speed Racer's helmet have an M on it?

In the original, Japanese version of Speed Racer, the title character's name is Go Mifune so the M on Speed's helmet is for Mifune. The truly interesting part of this trivia is that the name Mifune is a tribute to actor Toshiro Mifune who's famous for Seven Samurai (fantastic) and other films.

Grand Prize winner of Cartoon Brew's Student Film Fest, Mr. Piggy Dies in 25 Dimensions is not for sensitive people. But for everyone else, it's great.

How about a Game about Squares? No instructions, just figure it out as you go.

Can you guess which abstract artist's painting was the inspiration for this floral arrangement?

Here's a hint. She's the top-selling female artist of all time. And it's not Georgia O'Keeffe. And you can read more about the growing popularity of female artists.

Remember when I told you about the voting for Art Everywhere, the program to post images of works of art throughout the U.S? Well, voting is over and it's now happening. Check out the interactive map to find where art is posted in your area. For my Fort Worth friends there's a de Kooning on NW 28th.

Working with all those tiny parts is what makes watchmaking a craft. But did you ever wonder how all those tiny things themselves get manufactured? More craft pr0n than you can shake a stick at.

This Way Up is one of those games involving abstract art that I, as a fan of abstraction, dread. You see a painting and have to guess which end is up. I got 3 of 5 right.

Where do you go to get your poo authenticated? Is this or is it not a 6 million year old fossil feces?

And now, spend some time with your Gentle Brain.

...between the notes. ~Claude Debussy