This is awesome: The Google Art Project uses the company's Street View technology to capture some of the world's greatest paintings, sculptures and other art.
The video above shows the great lengths the company took in documenting amazing works of art in the proper light. And the Google blog details the project further.
But just take a trip through at least one museum. The experience is stunning, with high-resolution images and clear navigation. A project like this could easily come across as artificial, but Google really has succeeded in almost putting you right inside the museum.
Yeah, yeah, everyone knows Moon was a great drummer up to his untimely -- yet unsurprising -- death at age 32 in 1978. His manic playing inspired legions of fans and musicians, and helped power some of the greatest music ever made.
The New Yorker podcast features writer James Wood, who wrote an accompanying feature on Moon for the magazine (here's a link to an abstract; you have to pay to read the complete article, which is something like 5,000 words).
There are two things that make this 14-minute podcast worth your time:
1) Woods' impressive display of finger drumming; this man could power a band with his hands alone. Woods uses his talents to show the difference between how Ringo Starr and Moon would approach the same song.
2) Hearing an isolated drum track from a "Quarophenia song called "The Dirty Jobs" that shows just how complex and unorthodox some of Moon's playing really was. As Woods says, Moon was different in that he often never repeated any fills as he drove through a song.
My favorite Moon track is "I Can See for Miles," a 1967 psych-pop classic that features manic drumming from the get-go, building to a long, amazing snare roll crescendo accented by crashing cymbals. Back in the day I tried many times to play that long fill, let alone the entire song, and was left exhausted and humbled and nowhere close to the real thing. I keep thinking they had to multi-track his parts, in order for him to have been able to pull off such magic.
But even if the band is miming in the video above, check out Moon's 40-second barrage that begins at 3:18. It's a recorded performance for the ages, and one that packs a wallop more than 40 years later.
The piece on Peter King is good, and captures some -- not nearly all -- of the manic pace King keeps in producing his weekly stories, columns and blogs for Sports Illustrated, as well as TV and radio appearances. (If you'v enever experienced his "Monday Morning Quarterback" column, start now.
1) A disturbing examination of two former NFL players who are broke after burning through millions of dollars in a few short years. What's crazy is more than half of NFL players go broke after they retire. Why? Simply living like kings while they're in the league, unwilling to accept the fact their careers are the shortest of any pro league.
2) An illuminating profile of Troy Aikman, who is earning respect in his second career as a TV analyst, following his playing career as a three-time-winning Super Bowl quarterback.
3) A sad update on a previous look into the post-career health problems experienced by the growing number of players who weigh more than 300 pounds. You couldn't script a story where one of your subjects dies just five days after you interview him. But here you have it.
I was heartened to read recently that B.J. Raji, the fearsome Green Bay defensive tackle who weighs in at about 350 pounds, saying his retirement planning includes a full-time chef who will keep him on a healthy diet. Raji knows his big weight is a part of his job, but also smart enough to know that he'll need to plan to ensure he doesn't become just another casualty among linemen whose weight earns them short-term glory but long-term pain, let alone early death.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011 at 11:29 PM 
