Atlantis Completes 135th Shuttle Mission

When Atlantis touched down July 21st at Cape Canaveral, the high-flying era of the space shuttles came down to earth as well. After 30 years, the shuttle program, which began on April 12, 1981 with Colombia, has ended with the 135th mission. Atlantis delivered the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module packed with supplies and spare parts to the International Space Station, and retrieved a failed pump unit and other items for the return trip. Atlantis went aloft 33 times, logging over 125 million miles. The last shuttle will become a museum exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center.

Portal: No Escape

“Portal: No Escape” is a beautiful live-action short film based on the game Portal starring Danielle Rayne as Chell. It was directed by Dan Trachtenberg, with visual effects by Jon Chesson and matte painting by Maxx Burman.

"The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it's profitable to
continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too
expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will
pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of
the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater."
-- Frank Zappa

Bill Moyers interviews David Simon

Creator of HBO's The Wire, Generation Kill, and Treme. Circa 2009.

8 Hours in Brooklyn

Next Level Pictures presents “8 Hours in Brooklyn” featuring beautiful slow motion video shot with a Phantom Flex high speed camera in and around Brooklyn. Cinematographer Jonathan Bregel describes his concept for the video:

"Anyway, the idea behind this video was to document whatever sort of culture we could find within an 8 hour span with literally no pre-production. I have honestly seen too many slow-motion explosions, face slaps, and popping water balloons, that I thought capturing real culture, and real emotion would be a cool change of pace. My goal was to successfully pull of a few of these shots with a small crew in order to be able to pitch the Phantom Flex for a lot of the documentary work we shoot/produce. A big misconception is that you need a massive crew and massive lights in order to use this camera… false. However, you do need to know how to use natural daylight to your advantage along with having a kick-ass core crew to support you."

London Riots

LONDON -- As a riot exploded in north London this weekend, here's a sad truth, expressed by a Londoner when asked by a television reporter: Is rioting the correct way to express your discontent?

"Yes," said the young man. "You wouldn't be talking to me now if we didn't riot, would you?"

The TV reporter from Britain's ITV had no response. So the young man pressed his advantage. "Two months ago we marched to Scotland Yard, more than 2,000 of us, all blacks, and it was peaceful and calm and you know what? Not a word in the press. Last night a bit of rioting and looting and look around you."

Eavesdropping from among the onlookers, I looked around. A dozen TV crews and newspaper reporters were interviewing the young men everywhere.

The truth is that discontent has been simmering among Britain's urban poor for years, and few have paid attention. One out of two children in Tottenham live in poverty.