Matt O’ Rama

Merlin Mann: Scared Shitless

Sheesh, pretty much everything Merlin does blows me away in some way or another. Even without hearing the talk that goes along with these slides he succeeds in moving me in a very real way that few other writers do. You should listen to his podcast, follow his blog, and keep up with his tweets (which are more of an acquired taste but once you get on his wavelength frequently inspire me and/or make me laugh out loud (for real, not in a LOL sense)).

Must Be Questioned

Indexed » Blog Archive » The world used to be flat.

I’ve been following Jessica Hagy’s work on Indexed for a long time and I’m always glad to see her getting more and more popular.

Say yes.

No is for wimps. No is for pussies. No is to live small and embittered, cherishing the opportunities you missed because they might have sent the wrong message.

Awesome old Dave Eggers interview. It’s worth reading the whole thing. One of my favorites ever.

Words as video

‘What does Marcellus Wallace look like?’

This is a completely awesome video of a speech from the movie Pulp Fiction. They’ve made the words just as riveting as the scene in the actual movie. This is both a testament to the power of video and to the just plain coolness of the Quentin Tarrantino’s script for the movie (and actor Samuel Jackson’s forceful speaking style as Jules, the hitman who gives this speech).

It’s 100% Not Safe For Work but do yourself a favor and watch it anyway, when you won’t get fired. :)

Professor Buckaroo Banzai?

Robocop, PhD in Wired

This article makes me smile. It’s about the actor Peter Weller, best known for being Robocop and Buckaroo Bonzai is now a professor teaching about Rome. I love to see smart people being able to do their thing and learn, which is what he’s doing now. He’s even an architecture buff, which makes me like him even more. His class on comparing movie portrayals of Rome to the real-life culture sounds incredibly interesting too, I wish I could take it.

It’s hard to imagine what freshmen think when they wander into Professor Banzai’s lecture hall. Weller reports that he loses a lot of students after the first class. “They thought they were going to get the easy A from old RoboCop,” he says with a laugh. The 450-page course reader tells them otherwise.

Movie / Cinema / Film fans

This is a funny comparison. I think you can safely say that people who would buy the 3-disc Criterion collection of Seven Samurai aren’t your average movie watcher.