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Why is it so?

[A] ground-breaking TV series with the enigmatic Professor Julius Sumner Miller - ran on the ABC from 1963 to 1986. Professor Miller’s infectious enthusiasm for physics delighted, educated and entertained generations of Australians, most of whom have at some point asked each other ‘Why is it so?’ in the characteristic Julius Sumner Miller voice.

I’ve watched 1 1/2 episodes. It’s sort of a drag because of it keeps freezing as it tries to buffer. I should be on a quick enough pipe to handle it. I can’t imagine what it would be like on dial-up.

The show rocks though. From the initial close-up on that freaky black & white eyeball to his Socratic grilling of the students, he’s like a cooler, crazier Mr. Wizard.

I drove up to Downtown LA so I could check out Union Station. The building and the chairs and everything have such classic feel to them. It’s really too bad they don’t build things like that anymore. By comparison, LAX, which I guess would be like a modern equivalent, feels sterile and way less relaxed.

Anyway, I took some pictures including a few from Olvera Street next door.

Wow, this video of a drive from Los Angeles to New York is incredible. Definitely worth several looks provided you can handle huge, honkin’ big QuickTime files. via

True Americans is a site that aims to show you the people behind the polls. Didn’t seem to be too many surprises, but it’s an interesting idea. Maybe if they can get more photos.

Mmmmm… Pongomania! Plus … I think I’m in Luv.

The world has a new prophet. God speaks to her through Scrabble. She’s the Craziest. I don’t get the sense that she’s all that earnest. Well, maybe a little earnest. I’m not sure. It does kind of make we want to get out my Scrabble board though. Maybe I’ll get the tripple-tripple.

Is Phantom of the Paradise the worst movie ever made? It might just be.

OK, I’m sure it’s far from the worst, but it is laughably bad, and I mean that in the best possible way. They’re showing it on Fox Movie Classics. Do try to check it out — you know, if you’re into that kind of thing.

This:

Warning - by visiting this site, you will destroy it. Each visit will remove one pixel from these photographs. However, we will tell you a story. It’s a story about Romania, which is to say, it’s a story about change.

…is an interesting idea.

Mark Cuban has some interesting thoughts on using hard drives to deliver content to consumers.

On the one hand, I like a lot of what he’s saying. I’d very much like to move my 200+ DVDs onto a single media server. On the other hand, if you go down that road, you lose some of the sense of ownership. For some reason I like having those plastic discs when it comes to movies (I could care a less about having the discs when it comes to music though, so it may just be that I’m stuck in the past).

I don’t think his vision will happen, but it’s interesting to think about all the same.

When I saw the photo collages that the Claire character did in this season’s Six Feet Under, I was very intrigued. First because I thought they were original and highly compelling images. But, more importantly I was curious about whether that technique was developed as a plot point or if the show appropriated somebody else’s work. I really liked the idea of some production assistant/wannabe artist coming up with this incredible photographic technique, so I was hoping it was developed just for the show.

It turns out that it was the work of LA artist David Meanix. To judge from the Salon article, it hasn’t created much in the way of exposure for him yet. That’s kind of too bad.