Ah-mazing

From BBC News

Tens of millions of starfish-like creatures, known as brittlestars, have colonised a vast underwater mountain, south of New Zealand.
The animals are packed so tightly that scientists have dubbed the seamount "brittlestar city".
The team, from New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa), says it is rare to see such an enormous array of the five-armed creatures.
The scientists recorded life at the Macquarie Ridge for the CenSeam programme, which is funded by the Census of Marine Life.

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BRITTLESTAR CITY!!!

Sneak / The Brothers Bloom

Saw a screening of The Brothers Bloom last night--a film written and directed by Rian Johnson (of Brick semi-fame). It stars Adrian Brody, Rachel Weisz, and Mark Ruffalo and will hit theatres in October 2008. It’s a dark comedy heist film, with a Wes Anderson flair, about two brothers and their super fierce Japanese accomplice Bang Bang (Rinko Kikuchi), who’ve learned to survive in the dog-eat-dog world by performing elaborate cons that envelope their lives and blur the lines between reality and deception. Penelope (Rachel Weisz) is supposed to be their last “mark,” but she surprises both of them with her eccentric and genuine personality (the montage sequence of her obsessions with any and all hobbies is priceless--stilt walking while juggling chain saws anyone?). Needless to say, everything goes wrong and the brothers have to change their con and their lives because of her. I liked most of the film, but the cons-upon-cons became too much at the end and I literally did not know how the movie ended. It left me with a lot of questions, but not in that profound kind of way. Hopefully before October they can iron out the convolution. It’s a fun film, though, and I think it’ll be successful. Also, if nothing else, see it for Weisz; she’s absolutely fantastic and I think I have a lezzie crush now…

Music / Jonathan Coulton - Where Tradition Meets Tomorrow

Though he has many songs and albums on his website, Jonathan Coulton (known affectionately as JoCo) is never more amusing nor catchier than on his five-dollar EP, Where Tradition Meets Tomorrow. The six songs in this collection of playfully geeky folk-pop, share oddball themes of evil overlords and potential cyborg wars. Sound strange? Tell that to his fans - growing in number by the day. Not since They Might Be Giants has an artist erupted on the nerd-rock - some might say "geek-rock"- scene with the fanfare of Coulton.

How does he do it? Coulton loves a good hook, clever lyrics, and a well thought-out melody. Take "The Future Soon" - a song from the prospective of an adolescent who can't wait until "the things that make me weak and strange/get engineered away." Coulton drops a 1980s reference to "couples skating" then faux-rhymes of "I'll probably be some kind of scientist/building inventions in my space lab/in space" to show that yes, this really is written by a 12 year old trapped inside the body of a 37 yr old ex-computer programmer.

It's this childlike innocence that is at the core of Coulton's appeal. Harnessing the pure passion of a twelve year old with the complexity and drive of thirty-something. In other words, he is an artist, an entertainer, and someone who just might awaken the twelve-year-old in you.

Download: "The Future Soon"

Buy: Where Tradition Meets Tomorrow