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I recommend watching this short clip to anyone that likes TED talks.

I like TED talks. They are often very informative and expose you to interesting new areas of human endeavor and research. But if you get past the pretty wrapping, sometimes they’re pretty full of themselves. Other times, they aren’t saying anything more than what is already known, one person’s experience, or make unproven assertions in ways that wouldn’t be allowed in academic circles. Sometimes they even assert speculation as probable, or in the worst cases are thinly veiled business plans. That said, there is nothing inherently wrong with any of this.

The thing that is problematic is I have seen perfectly smart people sometimes check their objectivity and critical thought because … well… it’s a TED talk. There seems to be a culture of getting wrapped up in the culture of TED talks and accepting things too easily as fact. It’s a form of egotistical blindness in which one might subconsciously be saying, “I saw it on a TED talk, so that makes me smarter than others.” Or maybe a touch harshly, they get blinded by the showiness and check their thinking caps at the door.

This video does a PERFECT job of capturing all the presentation tropes and verbal cliché’s that stop even smart people from critically thinking about what they’re being presented. Hopefully, it allows you to separate the wrapping from the content.

Are you an aspiring DJ or club owner and want to fill your venue with cool graphics? How about these on Beeple – many of which are released free under the Creative Commons act. Like this one:

p-crawl (loop) from beeple on Vimeo.

All of these films reference famous works of art.

I bet you had no idea the way springs are made was so cool.

Back the 1970’s and 80’s there was a long-running comedy TV show called ‘Are You Being Served?’ on the BBC. It followed the very British way in which a collection of the most unlikely clerks made their way in the Grace Brother’s department store. What made it so fantastic was the characters. Each one was so unique, yet represented a very distinct person each of us likely knows. An aging military man always recounting his past glories, an attractive girl from the less-classy part of town, rough-edged maintenance men, near retirement department heads, and even a young (constantly hinted at) gay man – all of which operating under most hilarious British etiquette and hierarchy while dealing with the most ridiculous of ordinary experiences.  I loved this show to death and watched it on PBS whenever I could catch it.

To my joy, I did discover that almost ALL the original episodes are available on YouTube – for free! Go check out a few episodes and see for yourself. It doesn’t get going well until about the 2nd or 3rd season in, but it’s a grand ride. I remember being very heartbroken when I’d watched them all and the series came to an end.

To my surprise, however, it turns out BBC just did a remake here in Aug 2016. On the surface, it looked almost identical to the original. Sadly, however, it’s gotten very poor reviews. Mostly because it seems to have tried too hard to revive the exact same characters – characters who’s actors had almost no hope to re-create the magic that the much-loved original cast had generated over the 10 seasons they worked together. It also played on social jokes that only worked at the time. Perhaps it’s for the best we leave the show as it was.

Tainted Donuts – this Cowboy Bebop and Trigun mashup is considered by many as one of the best AMV’s (Anime Music Video’s) of all time.