When Books Come to Life

Love this.

I wish all book covers were designed with hand-stitched felt.

Spike Jonze: Mourir Auprès de Toi on Nowness.com.

via Open Culture

I Want to Hold Your Hand

In the sixth grade, Mrs. Rushing had Karaoke Day, an event where individual students or groups dressed up and performed a song of choice with a choreographed dance.  I'm not sure how such an activity pertained to science, but I am certain in saying that I was terrified for this day.  My group somehow decided on The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand," and since the track was recorded on this day in 1963, I found it fitting to share here.

The Child in Us All

Certainly Maurice Sendak and Shel Silverstein figured out the solution to the problem Picasso describes.

Both authors/illustrators have new publications out this fall: Silverstein's Every Thing On It, a collection of poems and illustrations released by his family and published posthumously, and Sendak's Bumble-ardy, a picture book that tells the story of an orphan pig planning is ninth birthday party.  You can read more about the books here and here.  Click on the images below to get a closer look!

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Rock 'n Me

In elementary school, while my friends were raving over Hansen, N'Sync, Backstreet Boys, and the like, I was sneaking into Kathleen's room and listening to the Jamiroquai, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and Hootie & the Blowfish albums she left behind in her room at home while away at Centre.  To be accurate, it all began around the age of seven, when she gifted me with my first tape, Alanis Morissette's single "You Learn" (it was also the first time I heard the 'f'-word, on the B-side live version of "You Oughta Know"). That day, sitting in Kathleen's little white Honda in the driveway, gripping the green-and-yellow cardboard cassette sleeve, my love affair with alternative rock commenced and would continue throughout my adolescence.

By the early 2000s, indie rock began to emerge from the alternative scene at a commercial level, and in 2004, just as I had been endowed a genre of music by my older sister, my friend Sarah experienced the same with her older sister, Meg, in the form of a mix CD Sarah would later title "Wierd" (yes, it's spelled incorrectly, but I'll cut her some slack--she was only sixteen).  Sarah, of course, shared with me the CD--which, I believe, had originally been burned by one of Meg's friends at college--and to this day I keep it stored along with my other favorite CDs I have vowed never to throw out.

While I realize not all of the songs fall under the indie rock category, I generally attribute my current appreciation for the genre to this compilation:

1. Anecdote--Ambulance LTD
2. All the Way up to Heaven--Guster
3. Baby Britain--Elliot Smith
4. Magic--Ben Folds Five
5. In the Aeroplane over the Sea--Neutral Milk Hotel
6. Strange Condition--Pete Yorn
7. She Sends Kisses--The Wrens
8. Where Is My Mind?--Pixies
9. Flake--Jack Johnson
10. Comfortable--John Mayer
11. Jesus, etc.--Wilco
12. White Christmas--Guns N' Roses

Update: Stars and Galaxies

I wasn't kidding when I said this class from senior year has been following me around as of late: yet again today I found more relevant material to share (check out my earlier post for other astronomy-related goodies).

I think Carol showed me this video some time ago, and since then I have learned that it is part of a seven-video series, called The Sagan Series, honoring the late Carl Sagan.  The videos are quite beautiful and touching.

Today, I discovered that a spin-off series is in the works titled The Feynman Series, narrated by the late Richard Feynman.  The Feynman videos that have been produced so far are equally as awe-inspiring.  Check out "Beauty" below!

Stars and Galaxies

My apologies for the recent hiatus...I've done a poor job recently of managing my time well.

Senior year at DePauw, Carol, KJ, and I signed up for what we thought would be a breeze--Physics 104: Stars and Galaxies.  Much to our surprise, Mary Kertzman's freshman-level class gave us a run for our money.  I found the course fascinating (although I think Carol and KJ would beg to differ), and lately it seems to have been following me around, so here are some articles, photos, and videos I've been collecting from the world of astronomy.

Not only is our universe expanding (that is, the space between objects is expanding; the objects themselves are not moving away from each other), but it's also accelerating due to what scientists believe is a mysterious dark energy linked back to the Big Bang.  I had an embarrassing breakdown in the middle of class one day when trying to understand this concept, and just yesterday I woke up to this story on NPR about the three scientists who were recently awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering this phenomenon.  This NPR blog has a nice compilation of interviews and videos about the subject.

Photo of the Milky Way from NPR's Tumblr:

An awesome time-lapse of flying over Earth from Radiolab's Tumblr:

Another time-lapse of the Northern Lights from space from Open Culture (watch how it works here):

Some 2011 award-winning astronomy photographs from BBC News: