Capturing the Speed of Light, Catching a Catfish, Record Store Day, Michael Jordan, etc.
In which we also finally learn exactly why urine is yellow. What a time to be alive.
🏀 Michael Jordan was also one of the game’s best defensive players. “Jordan's defensive acumen was apparent in real time; he was selected first team All-Defense on nine occasions, tied with Gary Payton, Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant for most ever. And during the Bulls' three-year title run featuring Jordan, Pippen and Dennis Rodman, Chicago led the league in defensive efficiency.” He is still the only player to win Defensive Player of the Year and average over 35 points per game in the same season. Next closest is Hakeem Olajuwon who won while averaging 27.3 PPG in 1993-94. Jordan is currently 5th all time in steals, barely below players that played four-five more seasons than him.
🔦 Two gents captured the speed of light on camera at 10 trillion frames per second. “Since light travels at an unfathomable 186,000 miles per second, Free and Gruchy had to reach out to CalTech for a camera that could capture ‘10 trillion frames per second,’ which they said was ‘20 million times faster than the fastest we've ever filmed on this channel.’”
🪼 A recent deep sea exploration “uncovered a treasure trove of scientific wonders, including more than 100 previously unknown marine species and a handful of never-before-seen underwater mountains — the largest of which is around four times the size of the world's tallest building.”
🦾 A robot arm controlled by breathing is apparently very easy to use. “Extra limbs could provide a productivity boost to people working in a range of jobs, and experiments show that people are capable of controlling them intuitively.”
🤘 For those that celebrate, a look at this year’s Record Store Day releases, divided by genre. Nothing jumped out at me, but maybe I am just telling myself I don’t want that Lenny Kaye or Ramones album. Or all that jazz… If there’s something you’re looking to cop, lemme know.
👩⚖️ Celebrity Roasting: how does South Park get away with using actual celebrity and business names? There is a longstanding tradition of satire, and of course in law there is fair use, but does that cover South Park not parodying names the way The Simpsons or MAD Magazine so often does? Some legal experts weigh in.
🎳 Jason Belmonte is the most successful 10-pin bowler in Pro Bowling Association history, controversially changing the sport with his own two hands. “And not some granny shot, to be clear, but a kickass power move in which he uses two fingers (and no thumb) on his right hand, palms the front of the ball with his left, and then, on his approach, which is marked by a distinctive shuffle step, rocks the ball back before launching it with a liquid, athletic whip, his delivery producing an eye-popping hook, his ball striking the pins like a mini mortar explosion.”
🚽 Big breakthrough in science last month: why now know why urine is yellow.
🦻 The sound design in Zone Of Interest is truly haunting. This week Variety wrote about how the true story’s chilling sounds were shaped. “As for the film’s muted gunshots, Burn didn’t just shoot guns in the distance and record them — he went to Auschwitz and measured the distance between the garden and block 11.” (See also: The Movie You Need to Hear)
PS: the film is (obviously) not an easy watch, but it was easily the best film I saw from 2023.
🎬 Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Road to Perdition, a couple Bonds) is directing four Beatles films, all set to be released the same year. “Each of the Beatles will be the subject of his own biopic in a new Sam Mendes tetralogy set for 2027—the first scripted Beatles films with rights to the band’s life stories and music catalog.”
🤘 A Kickstarter for Logo Rhythm, “A lavish, 440-page book celebrating the overlooked art of band logos (1960–now) by Jim K Davies and Jamie Ellul. Discover the intriguing and often untold stories behind more than 90 of the most iconic and interesting music marques ever created.”
🎨 Antonio Santín’s hyperreal oil paintings of life-size, undulating rugs are a “surprising illusion of a carpet in 3D space, but up close, they’re even more impressive. Painstakingly applied with a modified syringe, thousands of tiny brushstrokes demand sustained inspection and a new fascination for both textile and paint.”
🐷 That’s all, folks. Talk to ya next week. Until then, remember to keep the Hoping Machine running.
Love,
Luke
