Jon Batiste & Randy Newman team up for a song called Lonely Avenue. This is lovely. (via craig mod)
Tags: Jon Batiste · music · Randy Newman · video
Jason Kottke's weblog, home of fine hypertext products since 1998
- Generator
- Movable Type 4.2
Corporation for Public Broadcasting says it’s shutting down (due to a lack...
Corporation for Public Broadcasting says it’s shutting down (due to a lack of continued federal funding). Just catching up from last week and this one fucking stings.
I’d like to say that I’m a proud member of The Great...
I’d like to say that I’m a proud member of The Great I Haven’t Economy™ — “owning zero Labubus, consuming zero matchas, having zero dating profiles, eating zero Dubai Chocolates, owning zero Stanley Cups” — but more likely I’m just old.
The Panama Playlists is a collection of the Spotify accounts of celebrities,...
The Panama Playlists is a collection of the Spotify accounts of celebrities, politicians, and journalists (JD Vance, Pam Bondi, Marc Andreessen, etc). “The Panama Papers revealed hidden bank accounts. This reveals hidden tastes.”
Cory Doctorow is coming out with a book on enshittification in the...
Cory Doctorow is coming out with a book on enshittification in the fall: Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It.
“If the behavior that this administration has exhibited in just its first...
“If the behavior that this administration has exhibited in just its first six months continues and is amplified for its full four years, the America you know will be gone. And I don’t know how we will get it back.”
Two Ways To Film The Same Scene
In a review of City of Angels, the 1998 Hollywood remake of Wings of Desire by Wim Wenders, Roger Ebert says:
To compare the two films is really beside the point, since “Wings of Desire” exists on its own level as a visionary and original film, and “City of Angels” exists squarely in the pop mainstream.
In his latest video, Evan Puschak leans into the vast gulf between the two films to “explore the differences in cinematic cultures and styles”. He takes a close look at the same scene in both films and what they reveal about Hollywood on the one hand and European art cinema on the other.
Tags: City of Angels · Evan Puschak · film school · movies · video · Wings of Desire
1787: “Caroline Lucretia Herschel became the first woman to receive a salary...
1787: “Caroline Lucretia Herschel became the first woman to receive a salary as a scientist and hold a government position in the UK.” 2025: “Professor Michele Dougherty CBE FRS FRAS became the first woman appointed Astronomer Royal in the UK.”
Two of the most promiscuous snack brands, Oreo and Reese’s, are teaming...
Two of the most promiscuous snack brands, Oreo and Reese’s, are teaming up to bring the eating public two new treats: the Oreo Reese’s Cookie and Reese’s Oreo Cups. 🫱 Is this… 🦋 innovation?
The Rule of Law Is Dead in the US. “I did not...
The Rule of Law Is Dead in the US. “I did not write an ‘end of term’ Supreme Court review piece this year because… what’s the point? [Critiquing individual cases] feels like a guy on the Titanic complaining about the song selection from the band.”
How to Upload an Image to a Bird
Entertaining YouTuber Benn Jordan built a setup to record and analyze bird sounds, songs, and calls. He used it to record a starling who has mastered mimicking all sorts of manmade and artificial sounds in its environment, including things like the default iPhone camera sh...
Motherfucking windfarms. In Europe, they’re called Royale with Breeze. (I stole that...
Motherfucking windfarms. In Europe, they’re called Royale with Breeze. (I stole that joke from Bluesky.)
Always Stand on the Side of the Egg
In 2009, novelist Haruki Murakami controversially accepted the Jerusalem prize for the Freedom of the Individual in Society in the aftermath of Israeli military action in Gaza. In his acceptance speech, he related a story about something he keeps in mind while writing:
“Be...
Forthcoming book from Bill McKibben: Here Comes the Sun. “Energy from the...
Forthcoming book from Bill McKibben: Here Comes the Sun. “Energy from the sun and wind is suddenly the cheapest power on the planet and growing faster than any energy source in history — if we can keep accelerating the pace, we have a chance.”
Bill McKibben: Rooftop Solar Is a Miracle. Why Are We Killing It...
Bill McKibben: Rooftop Solar Is a Miracle. Why Are We Killing It With Red Tape? In many countries, getting rooftop solar or “balcony solar” can be as easy going to the store, buying some panels, and plugging them in. In the US, it’s not so easy.
Rebecca Solnit: The renewable energy revolution is a feat of technology. “It...
Rebecca Solnit: The renewable energy revolution is a feat of technology. “It is nothing less than astonishing and unbelievable that we have achieved so much progress in so little time.”
The End of America as a Center of Science
Ross Anderson writes about how scientific empires, from the ancient Sumerians to the Nazis to the Soviet Union in the 1950s, have crumbled (or been willfully dismantled by ideologues) and the clear signs that the same thing is happening here in the United States under the co...
Side effect of the Tour de France: pro riders gobbling up all...
Side effect of the Tour de France: pro riders gobbling up all the Strava top times (King of the Mountains) across France: “1,809 KOMs nabbed by the pros during the three weeks of racing”.
How conspiracy theories about COVID’s origins are hampering our ability to prevent...
How conspiracy theories about COVID’s origins are hampering our ability to prevent the next pandemic. “Evidence hasn’t emerged” to support that idea that SARS-CoV-2 originated in a laboratory. Here’s what the evidence says.
The Wirecutter’s list of the best canned cocktails. Very interested to hear...
The Wirecutter’s list of the best canned cocktails. Very interested to hear people’s thoughts on this. None of these are available at my local liquor store, but we do have Barr Hill’s canned G&T, which is the best canned cocktail I’ve ever tasted.
How to Leave Substack. “Unfortunately, Substack willingly platforms, and allows bad actors...
How to Leave Substack. “Unfortunately, Substack willingly platforms, and allows bad actors to monetize, hate speech and misinformation. You should probably leave Substack.”
“Israel has deliberately starved the people of Gaza. It couldn’t have done...
“Israel has deliberately starved the people of Gaza. It couldn’t have done it without the west’s help. The current hand-wringing by Keir Starmer and other western politicians is empty bluster. They knew what was happening all along.”
Photos: Starvation and Chaos in Gaza. “Israel’s blockade of most food and...
Photos: Starvation and Chaos in Gaza. “Israel’s blockade of most food and aid, along with distribution difficulties inside the Gaza Strip, have driven many of Gaza’s 2 million Palestinians to the brink of starvation.”
A compilation of super hero landings from the Marvel Cinematic Universe....
Covid safety measures drastically reduced flu deaths, but the fatality rate has...
Covid safety measures drastically reduced flu deaths, but the fatality rate has risen sharply again. “90% of reported pediatric deaths this season have occurred in children who were not fully vaccinated against influenza”.
Weird & Wonderful Historical Photos From the 20th Century
From Alan Taylor at The Atlantic, whose curatorial eye I’ve always admired, “a grab bag of curious and interesting historical images from the 20th century”, including photos of the world’s largest banjo, diving archery, death-defying photography, and underwater alligator racing.
Tags: Alan Taylor · photography
💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
Someone Played a Perfect Game of Tetris
A perfect game in Tetris is defined as achieving the max score (999,999) in the least amount of time possible, meaning you need to score a bunch of Tetrises in a row (and nothing else) at the highest possible starting speed. A few years ago, a player used a tool to develop...
Zim&Zou’s ’80s-Inspired Paper Cassettes and Boombox Radiate with Color. Strange, now I...
Zim&Zou’s ’80s-Inspired Paper Cassettes and Boombox Radiate with Color. Strange, now I have a hankering to watch an entire papercraft version of Do The Right Thing.
Note to self: spend some time checking out Tapestry, Iconfactory’s universal feed/social...
Note to self: spend some time checking out Tapestry, Iconfactory’s universal feed/social reader app. (Old heads will remember FriendFeed…)
Substack sent a push alert promoting a Nazi blog. “Substack is primarily...
Substack sent a push alert promoting a Nazi blog. “Substack is primarily funded by Andreessen Horowitz, a firm whose founders have pushed extreme far right rhetoric.” There was *an actual swastika* in the push alert!