The Sentinel News Feed

“There’s was the big question of the fifth “skinjob” Cylon, which has spawned some pretty far-flung theories during the show’s mid-season hiatus. Show creator Ronald D. Moore discusses the big reveal and much more on The Watcher blog.

“There’s a certain logic to it,” Moore says, before laughing and asking blogger Maureen Ryan: “Did it work for you?”

WTF?? - they still have to sell me on it. But the scene where Starbuck burns her own dead body makes me LOVE THIS SHOW. It’s like a weirdo futuristic Viking double-self burial. You know what I mean.

The Underwire - Wired Blogs

“Domino Mag offers up a mini-tour of Zooey Deschanel’s fey, fabulous apartment. I am acutely affected by these photos because my childhood kitchen used to be the very same blue, until my mother cruelly painted it while I was away at college. Unrelated: of course Zooey Deschanel has a cute little letter holder for her handwritten notes and perfect stationary.”

01.12.09 | house tour: zooey deschanel: Galleries: dominomag.com

The Washington Post’s Monica Hesse rounds up the year in viral videos. Among her picks are a Scientology promotional video featuring actor Tom Cruise, Will.I.Am’s “Yes We Can” clip in support of then-presidential contender Barack Obama and footage testing whether cell phones can actually pop corn.

01.03.09 | Best of the Web 2008

Bartle Bogle shop Zag is staking out new ground in the agency world with entrepreneurial efforts such as Mrs. O, a fashion blog that offers users the chance to purchase fashions just like those worn by incoming first lady Michelle Obama. Zag’s strategic director Ben Jenkins said, “Zag is about creating the properties ourselves from scratch and having 100 percent of it.” 

01.03.09 | Advertising - Ad Agencies Create and Market Their Own Brands - NYTimes.com

“Matisyahu deployed what may be the only large, mirrored, rotating dreidel in show business — a Jewish answer to a disco ball — at Webster Hall on Sunday night, the first night of Hanukkah. It was also the first of eight New York City shows for Matisyahu in his third annual Festival of Lights series, bringing different opening acts and guests each night. A large menorah was set up for a mid-concert lighting ceremony, with the blessings declaimed in Hebrew by an audience volunteer.”

12.24.08 | Music Review - Matisyahu - A Kosher-Pop Reggae Hanukkah at Webster Hall - NYTimes.com

“Spec ads, unofficial, proposed advertisements to ad agencies, restore our faith in the little guy in the big bad world of advertising - the creative, “regular dude” who actually sits down to his or her computer and bangs out an ad so much better than anything the suits could dream up.”

12.29.08 | Top Ten Spec Ads of 2008 - Urlesque - Internet Trends, Viral Videos, Memes and Web Culture

“The glut of news leaves people overloaded and thus no better informed, a study finds. “The irony in news fatigue is that these consumers felt helpless to change their news consumption at a time when they have more control and choice than ever before.”

12.18.08 | Overload! : CJR:

“It’s a Wonderful Life is a terrifying, asphyxiating story about growing up and relinquishing your dreams,” according to one of the most-emailed stories on the NY Times site today. The writer also argues that George Bailey is mean to his wife and Pottersville is much more fun than boring old Bedford Falls.”

12.19.08 | James Stewart and Frank Capra’s ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’? It’s a Miserable Life! - NYTimes.com

“A new UK study shows that fans of romantic comedies have unrealistic expectations of relationships and often have trouble communicating with their partners. Rom-com fans are more likely to believe that love is predestined, that if a person is meant to be with you they will know what you want without you telling them, and that sex with the right person will always be perfect. John Cusack, Meg Ryan, Hugh Grant, Sandra Bullock: you’re all on notice.”

12.16.08 | BBC NEWS  | Rom-coms ‘spoil your love life’

Four books released in the 1960s and 70s changed the way people saw our soon to be media-obsessed world. Penguin’s re-released them for a new generation, and they’re just as relevant as ever. YES Design took on the job of redesiging them, using a  popular 60s font that reminds one of New Directions’ books of modernist poetry. “They manage to look very smart and slightly kooky at the same time.”

12.16.08 | CR Blog  » Blog Archive  » Penguin on Design

I’ve never been comfortable”—he grabs a sheet of white paper, uncaps his pen, and starts whorling in black ink—“doing Frank Gehry. I would never suppose that someone would look at my sketch and go, Aaahhhhhhhhhh. No wonder architecture’s dead—because that’s what everyone thinks architecture is now. When Calatrava and Gehry die, it’s done—no one’s gonna pay us to do that. So it’s terrifying for me to look at schools trying to bring out your personal vision.”

12.15.08 | Joshua Prince-Ramus - Best Modernist Architecture - Esquire

Most cosmologists believe that our universe emerged from a singularity during the Big Bang. But now physicists are exploring the possibility that our universe was created by the death of an earlier universe.

12.12.08 | Did our cosmos exist before the big bang? - space - 10 December 2008 - New Scientist