Baikonur allows its first feature film
The Baikonur space port: a movie set.
The Baikonur space port: a movie set.
The Baikonur space port: a movie set.
An evening pause: Since I am out in California, giving a lecture to the Orange County section of the AIAA, I figure this song might be appropriate.
An evening pause: From the film, The Haunting (1963), based on the story by Shirley Jackson. Stay for the closing scene in this clip.
An evening pause: As it is the Halloween weekend, how about an appropriate clip from Hayao Miyazaki’s surreal masterpiece, Spirited Away (2001).
An evening pause: In honor of the anniversary of the 1929 stock market crash, Bing Crosby singing “Brother, can you spare a dime?”
An evening pause: From Yellow Submarine (1968). Some trivia: the dialogue was spoken by actors, not the Beatles.
An evening pause: The commenter Lino already posted a link to this video, but I thought it deserved more prominence. It shows the final stretch of all 19 wins by the race horse Zenyatta. In every case, she hangs back and comes from behind, sometimes at the last second. I don’t really know much about horse racing, but anyone who watches this video will be as amazed as I am by this horse.
She runs her 20th and last race on November 6 at Churchill Downs in Louisville. If she wins, Zenyatta will have had the most spectacular record of any race horse in history, 20 wins out of 20 races.
An evening pause: Who says miracles cannot happen? In 1969, the New York Mets proved that they can. Even if you are not a sports fan, watch this short film (which only covers the World Series and not the entire astonishing season) and you’ll get a glimmer of how miraculous that victory was. Today, October 16, is the anniversary of that victory.
An evening pause: With the death of film director Roy Ward Baker yesterday, I think it appropriate to watch a clip from one of his classics, A Night to Remember (1958). This understated but frighteningly powerful film captured the reality of the Titanic’s sinking in a style that is unfortunately rare today.
An evening pause: A belated memorial to Kate McGarrigle, who passed away from cancer on January 18, 2010. Here she and her sister Anna sing their classic, “Heart like a Wheel”, Cafe Lena 1990.
On a different subject, Zenyatta, a 6 year old thoroughbred mare, won her 19th consecutive race today. What makes the horse so amazing is that she always hangs way back, and then charges past everyone in the stretch.