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Showing posts with label Favorite. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Favorite. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Friday, June 13, 2014
* Faster Than the Speed of Light (2011)
In September 2011, an international group of scientists has made an astonishing claim - they have detected particles that seemed to travel faster than the speed of light. It was a claim that contradicted more than a hundred years of scientific orthodoxy. Suddenly there was talk of all kinds of bizarre concepts, from time travel to parallel universes. So what is going on? Has Einstein's famous theory of relativity finally met its match? Will we one day be able to travel into the past or even into another universe? In this film, Professor Marcus du Sautoy explores one of the most dramatic scientific announcements for a generation. In clear, simple language he tells the story of the science we thought we knew, how it is being challenged, and why it matters.
The Ancient Worlds (2004)
Historian Bettany Hughes gives her personal take on the diverse cultures of the ancient world in this 2010 documentary series on More 4. The series begins with an examination of Alexandria, the city founded by Alexander the Great in 332 BC to become the world’s first global centre of culture. The programme explores Alexandria’s role as a powerhouse of science and learning, and focuses on the female mathematician, astronomer and philosopher Hypatia, the subject of the feature film Agora, starring Rachel Weisz.
Alexandria The Greatest City
Three cities dominated the ancient world: Athens, Rome and a third, now almost forgotten. It lies hidden beneath the waters of the Mediterranean and a sprawling modern metropolis. Alexandria was a city built on a dream; a place with a very modern mindset, where - as with the worldwide web - one man had a vision that all knowledge on earth could be stored in one place. Bettany Hughes goes in search of this lost civilisation, revealing the story of a city founded out of the desert by Alexander the Great in 331 BC to become the world's first global centre of culture, into which wealth and knowledge poured from across the world. Until its decline in the fourth and fifth Centuries AD, Alexandria became a crucible of learning; Hughes uncovers the incredible discoveries and the technical achievements of this culture. The film's cast of characters reads like a list of the greatest figures of ancient times: political figures like Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Cleopatra, and intellectuals including female mathematician, astronomer and philosopher Hypatia, Euclid, Archimedes, Eratosthenes and Ptolemy. At last, after 1,500 years squashed under a modern metropolis, new clues are emerging from the earth to the real nature of this grand experiment in human civilisation.
Engineering Ancient Egypt
Through their superlative buildings, the legacy of the Egyptian empire continues to enthrall people to this day. Yet these incredible structures were made over 4,000 years ago. Historian Bettany Hughes explores what drove the people of this ancient civilisation to build on such a massive scale. The story is told through the reigns of two pharaohs - Khufu and Ramesses II. Separated by 1,200 years, they both ruled during periods of incredible architectural ambition. Under Khufu, the Great Pyramid of Giza was constructed; while under Ramesses II the temples of Abu Simbel came into being. But what drove this ambition? This documentary attempts to get into the hearts and minds of these early Egyptians in their unstoppable pursuit of immortality via great feats of engineering.
The Minoans
In this fascinating feature-length documentary historian Bettany Hughes continues her history of the Ancient World with a visit to Crete to recount one of the greatest archaeological discoveries ever made. The story of the Minotaur and the Labyrinth is perhaps the most compelling of all Greek myths. Just over 100 years ago, English archaeologist Arthur Evans went to the 'Minotaur's Island' to explore the roots of this myth and discovered instead a sophisticated Bronze Age civilisation that had been lost to history for thousands of years. He called them The Minoans, and the riches of their culture astonished the world, prompting Evans to proclaim them the first civilisation of the Western World. But was this view unduly romantic? In the past decade, new archaeological discoveries have added fascinating layers of complexity to the picture originally painted by Evans.
Helen of Troy
She is 'the face that launched a thousand ships'; the woman blamed for the Trojan War - a conflict that caused countless deaths - but who was the real Helen of Troy? Bettany Hughes travels across the eastern Mediterranean to disentangle myth from reality and find the truth about the most beautiful woman on earth. Helen's story is a dark and very human drama, interweaving pleasure and pain, sex and violence, love and hate: a tale that started with a messy love affair and ended with a bloody and disastrous conflict. Hughes argues that many images of the mythic Helen, from Hollywood movies to romantic paintings, have got her all wrong: Helen was the original sex goddess. And the film reveals just how a pre-historic princess in Bronze Age Greece - a real Helen - would have looked. The feature-length documentary takes in some of the most beautiful scenery of the ancient world, from the magnificent citadel at Mycenae and the spectacular shrine to Helen in Sparta, to the archaeological site in modern Turkey that will be forever linked with the war fought in Helen's name: Troy.
Bettany Hughes chronicles the rise and fall of one of the most extreme civilisations the world has ever seen, one founded on discipline, sacrifice and frugality where the onus was on the collective and the goal was to create the perfect state and the perfect warrior. Hughes reveals the secrets and complexities of everyday Spartan life; homosexuality was compulsory, money was outlawed, equality was enforced, weak boys were put to death and women enjoyed a level of social and sexual freedom that was unheard of in the ancient world. It was a nation of fearsome fighters where a glorious death was treasured. This is aptly demonstrated by the kamikaze last stand at Thermopylae, where King Leonidas and his warriors fought with swords, hands and teeth to fend off the Persians. But there was bitter rivalry between Sparta and Athens, two cities with totally opposed views of the 'good life'. When war finally came, it raged for decades and split the Greek world until, in a brutal and bloody climax, Sparta finally emerged victorious as the most powerful city-state in Greece. But under King Agesilaus, the dreams of the Spartan utopia come crashing down. By setting out to create a perfect society protected by perfect warriors, Sparta made an enemy of change. A collapsing birth rate, too few warriors, rebellious slaves and outdated attitudes to weaponry and warfare combined to sow the seeds of Sparta's destruction, until eventually the once great warrior state was reduced to being a destination for Roman tourists who came to view bizarre sado-masochistic rituals.
Athens the Truth about Democracy
If contemporary views of ancient Athens, Greece emphasize the peaceful and harmonious nature of that polis's democratic system, historian Bettany Hughes begs to differ. Hughes asserts that the West's establishment of Athens as the platonic ideal of democracy is hugely ironic, for that classical society in fact employed rules, regulations and traditions deemed unthinkable, even barbaric, in our modern age - from the widespread practice of black magic; to the view of women as demonic, fourth or fifth-class citizens forced to wear public veils; to the proliferation of slavery. Most incredibly, Athens relied on inner bloodshed, tumult and strife to perpetuate its existence and strength, declaring war every two years or so. Such practices were commonplace, even as the community soared to new intellectual heights and created wondrous sociopolitical ideals for itself that it strove to live up to and that would later form the basis of contemporary political thought.
When the Moors Ruled in Europe
Bettany Hughes traces the story of the mysterious and misunderstood Moors, the Islamic society that ruled in Spain for 700 years, but whose legacy was virtually erased from Western history. In 711 AD, a tribe of newly converted Muslims from North Africa crossed the straits of Gibraltar and invaded Spain. Known as The Moors, they went on to build a rich and powerful society. Its capital, Cordoba, was the largest and most civilised city in Europe, with hospitals, libraries and a public infrastructure light year ahead of anything in England at the time. Amongst the many things that were introduced to Europe by Muslims at this time were: a huge body of classical Greek texts that had been lost to the rest of Europe for centuries (kick-starting the Renaissance); mathematics and the numbers we use today; advanced astronomy and medical practices; fine dining; the concept of romantic love; paper; deodorant; and even erection creams. This wasn't the rigid, fundamentalist Islam of some people's imaginations, but a progressive, sensuous and intellectually curious culture. But when the society collapsed, Spain was fanatically re-Christianised; almost every trace of seven centuries of Islamic rule was ruthlessly removed. It is only now, six centuries later, that The Moors' influences on European life and culture are finally beginning to be fully understood.
Alexandria The Greatest City
Three cities dominated the ancient world: Athens, Rome and a third, now almost forgotten. It lies hidden beneath the waters of the Mediterranean and a sprawling modern metropolis. Alexandria was a city built on a dream; a place with a very modern mindset, where - as with the worldwide web - one man had a vision that all knowledge on earth could be stored in one place. Bettany Hughes goes in search of this lost civilisation, revealing the story of a city founded out of the desert by Alexander the Great in 331 BC to become the world's first global centre of culture, into which wealth and knowledge poured from across the world. Until its decline in the fourth and fifth Centuries AD, Alexandria became a crucible of learning; Hughes uncovers the incredible discoveries and the technical achievements of this culture. The film's cast of characters reads like a list of the greatest figures of ancient times: political figures like Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Cleopatra, and intellectuals including female mathematician, astronomer and philosopher Hypatia, Euclid, Archimedes, Eratosthenes and Ptolemy. At last, after 1,500 years squashed under a modern metropolis, new clues are emerging from the earth to the real nature of this grand experiment in human civilisation.
Engineering Ancient Egypt
Through their superlative buildings, the legacy of the Egyptian empire continues to enthrall people to this day. Yet these incredible structures were made over 4,000 years ago. Historian Bettany Hughes explores what drove the people of this ancient civilisation to build on such a massive scale. The story is told through the reigns of two pharaohs - Khufu and Ramesses II. Separated by 1,200 years, they both ruled during periods of incredible architectural ambition. Under Khufu, the Great Pyramid of Giza was constructed; while under Ramesses II the temples of Abu Simbel came into being. But what drove this ambition? This documentary attempts to get into the hearts and minds of these early Egyptians in their unstoppable pursuit of immortality via great feats of engineering.
The Minoans
In this fascinating feature-length documentary historian Bettany Hughes continues her history of the Ancient World with a visit to Crete to recount one of the greatest archaeological discoveries ever made. The story of the Minotaur and the Labyrinth is perhaps the most compelling of all Greek myths. Just over 100 years ago, English archaeologist Arthur Evans went to the 'Minotaur's Island' to explore the roots of this myth and discovered instead a sophisticated Bronze Age civilisation that had been lost to history for thousands of years. He called them The Minoans, and the riches of their culture astonished the world, prompting Evans to proclaim them the first civilisation of the Western World. But was this view unduly romantic? In the past decade, new archaeological discoveries have added fascinating layers of complexity to the picture originally painted by Evans.
Helen of Troy
She is 'the face that launched a thousand ships'; the woman blamed for the Trojan War - a conflict that caused countless deaths - but who was the real Helen of Troy? Bettany Hughes travels across the eastern Mediterranean to disentangle myth from reality and find the truth about the most beautiful woman on earth. Helen's story is a dark and very human drama, interweaving pleasure and pain, sex and violence, love and hate: a tale that started with a messy love affair and ended with a bloody and disastrous conflict. Hughes argues that many images of the mythic Helen, from Hollywood movies to romantic paintings, have got her all wrong: Helen was the original sex goddess. And the film reveals just how a pre-historic princess in Bronze Age Greece - a real Helen - would have looked. The feature-length documentary takes in some of the most beautiful scenery of the ancient world, from the magnificent citadel at Mycenae and the spectacular shrine to Helen in Sparta, to the archaeological site in modern Turkey that will be forever linked with the war fought in Helen's name: Troy.
Bettany Hughes chronicles the rise and fall of one of the most extreme civilisations the world has ever seen, one founded on discipline, sacrifice and frugality where the onus was on the collective and the goal was to create the perfect state and the perfect warrior. Hughes reveals the secrets and complexities of everyday Spartan life; homosexuality was compulsory, money was outlawed, equality was enforced, weak boys were put to death and women enjoyed a level of social and sexual freedom that was unheard of in the ancient world. It was a nation of fearsome fighters where a glorious death was treasured. This is aptly demonstrated by the kamikaze last stand at Thermopylae, where King Leonidas and his warriors fought with swords, hands and teeth to fend off the Persians. But there was bitter rivalry between Sparta and Athens, two cities with totally opposed views of the 'good life'. When war finally came, it raged for decades and split the Greek world until, in a brutal and bloody climax, Sparta finally emerged victorious as the most powerful city-state in Greece. But under King Agesilaus, the dreams of the Spartan utopia come crashing down. By setting out to create a perfect society protected by perfect warriors, Sparta made an enemy of change. A collapsing birth rate, too few warriors, rebellious slaves and outdated attitudes to weaponry and warfare combined to sow the seeds of Sparta's destruction, until eventually the once great warrior state was reduced to being a destination for Roman tourists who came to view bizarre sado-masochistic rituals.
Athens the Truth about Democracy
If contemporary views of ancient Athens, Greece emphasize the peaceful and harmonious nature of that polis's democratic system, historian Bettany Hughes begs to differ. Hughes asserts that the West's establishment of Athens as the platonic ideal of democracy is hugely ironic, for that classical society in fact employed rules, regulations and traditions deemed unthinkable, even barbaric, in our modern age - from the widespread practice of black magic; to the view of women as demonic, fourth or fifth-class citizens forced to wear public veils; to the proliferation of slavery. Most incredibly, Athens relied on inner bloodshed, tumult and strife to perpetuate its existence and strength, declaring war every two years or so. Such practices were commonplace, even as the community soared to new intellectual heights and created wondrous sociopolitical ideals for itself that it strove to live up to and that would later form the basis of contemporary political thought.
When the Moors Ruled in Europe
Bettany Hughes traces the story of the mysterious and misunderstood Moors, the Islamic society that ruled in Spain for 700 years, but whose legacy was virtually erased from Western history. In 711 AD, a tribe of newly converted Muslims from North Africa crossed the straits of Gibraltar and invaded Spain. Known as The Moors, they went on to build a rich and powerful society. Its capital, Cordoba, was the largest and most civilised city in Europe, with hospitals, libraries and a public infrastructure light year ahead of anything in England at the time. Amongst the many things that were introduced to Europe by Muslims at this time were: a huge body of classical Greek texts that had been lost to the rest of Europe for centuries (kick-starting the Renaissance); mathematics and the numbers we use today; advanced astronomy and medical practices; fine dining; the concept of romantic love; paper; deodorant; and even erection creams. This wasn't the rigid, fundamentalist Islam of some people's imaginations, but a progressive, sensuous and intellectually curious culture. But when the society collapsed, Spain was fanatically re-Christianised; almost every trace of seven centuries of Islamic rule was ruthlessly removed. It is only now, six centuries later, that The Moors' influences on European life and culture are finally beginning to be fully understood.
Crucible of Empire: The Spanish-American War (1999)
Crucible of Empire demonstrates how and why the Spanish-American War constitutes such an important milestone in U.S. history. This program examines the events and attitudes that led to war, followed by an exploration of the conflict and its outcome. Early film footage and stills of battle scenes, plus rich visuals, a compelling story, and intriguing analogies to current foreign policy make Crucible of Empire a riveting documentary.
Thursday, June 12, 2014
* Greatest Mysteries - American Museum of Natural History (2014)
Don Wildman is in New York to explore a notorious expedition that nearly cost a US president his life, a vicious scientific feud and the secret behind a majestic display of African elephants.
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Brits in Bangkok (2014)
Bangkok Brits is a documentary series which follows different Brits who have moved to Bangkok in an effort to take advantage of the different opportunities on offer there.
The Unbelievers (2013)
‘The Unbelievers’ follows renowned scientists Richard Dawkins and Lawrence Krauss across the globe as they speak publicly about the importance of science and reason in the modern world – encouraging others to cast off antiquated religious and politically motivated approaches toward important current issues – making the world a better place for all. The film includes interviews with celebrities who support the work of these remarkable scientists.
Dinner at 11 (2014)
A group of 11-year-olds have a dinner party and discuss everything from family to politics, in this thought-provoking insight into what's important to today's young people.
The Sixties (Series) (2014)
Episode 1: Television Comes of Age (2014)
“The Assassination of JFK (1963),” broadcast on CNN/U.S. in November 2013, and timed with the observance of the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The inaugural episode will explore the key conclusions of the controversial Warren Commission, as well as the shocking impact of the assassination upon the nation, and upon American politics.
Episode 2: The World on the Brink (2014)
The heady days of Camelot were clouded by the political and military tensions between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. Marvin Kalb, Richard Reeves, Robert Dallek, Sergei Khrushchev and more explain how close the Bay of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis brought us all to World War III – and how two nuclear superpowers moved from near confrontation to the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
“The Assassination of JFK (1963),” broadcast on CNN/U.S. in November 2013, and timed with the observance of the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The inaugural episode will explore the key conclusions of the controversial Warren Commission, as well as the shocking impact of the assassination upon the nation, and upon American politics.
Episode 2: The World on the Brink (2014)
The heady days of Camelot were clouded by the political and military tensions between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. Marvin Kalb, Richard Reeves, Robert Dallek, Sergei Khrushchev and more explain how close the Bay of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis brought us all to World War III – and how two nuclear superpowers moved from near confrontation to the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
The 99%: Occupy Everywhere (2013)
This award winning documentary, narrated by Lou Reed, explores the breadth and depth of Occupy Wall Street and how it quickly grew from a small park in lower Manhattan to an international movement. The film highlights why people from diverse age, ethnic and financial backgrounds support the movement and its focus of removing money from politics in order to reclaim democracy from entrenched corporate interests so that critical issues including job creation, affordable access to health and education, protecting the environment and gun safety can be fully addressed. Featuring interviews with a wide range of subjects including Occupiers, economist Jeffrey Sachs and business magnate Russell Simmons.
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
* Lonesome George and the Battle for Galapagos (2007)
Documentary about Lonesome George, officially the loneliest animal on the planet until his death in June 2012. He was the last remaining Pinta Island giant tortoise in existence and now his race is extinct. He was an icon of his native Galapagos Islands and symbol of the battle to preserve their unique wildlife. The islands are at a critical point in their history - threatened by illegal fishing, the demands of a booming population and an ever-expanding tourism industry - yet the will within the islanders to protect Galapagos is strong. This is both the personal story of Lonesome George and of the local characters intent on turning around the fortunes of their unique tropical paradise.
* Amish: A Secret Life (2012)
Miriam and Dave Lapp are a charming young couple with a brood of adorable children. Dave works in and part owns a construction company. They are also members of the 'Old Order' Amish community in Pennsylvania,whose church forbids all technology - though Dave gets lifts to work in a car and the couple, by allowing themselves to be filmed, risk the wrath of church elders. Having outlined their traditional life-style to camera Miriam persuades several friends to be happily filmed and it becomes clear that the Lapps and other, younger Amish, believe that, having been rebaptized to allow a more open evangelical approach - risking excommunication thereby - they feel the need for a change in the community. The film ends as the family consolidates its dream to own their own farm.
* Copacabana Palace (2014)
It will cost you around £500 to spend a night at the Copacabana Palace hotel in Rio de Janeiro, but thanks to this one-off documentary, you can have a look around for nothing. Famous guests have included Orson Welles, Charles and Diana, Robert De Niro and Madonna. The fortunes of the Copacabana have changed since the 1960s-80s, when Brazil was ruled by a military dictatorship. Now the country's economy is booming and the rich flock to the hotel, where they rub shoulders with celebrities, while many employees live in the poorest parts of the city and take home less than £300 per month.
* Diaoyu Islands: The Truth (2014)
The current geo-political issues surrounding the historically Chinese Diaoyu Islands are a relic of Japanese Imperialism and post-WWII politics of the United States. This film take a deeper look at this subject to provide clarity that is currently escaping the majority of news agencies and Western understanding.
* The Path To Darkness (2011)
Billions have been invested by Saudi Arabia in U.S. universities in the last years. At the same time, our western values have been eroded by moral relativism. This leads an entire generation to believe in new mythologies such as: a genocide is perpetrated against Palestinians; Suicide Killers are kamikazes, or freedom fighters,;Cho, Eric and Dylan, the murderers of Virginia Tech and Columbine are a typical product of our repressive society; the U.S. army is an occupation force in Iraq, and many other relativist revisions of history, leading to the path to darkness.
Pierre Rehov’s latest film “The Path To Darkness” has led him to investigate those mythologies, and takes us to Japan, to meet with WW2 former kamikazes, to Iraq, where he was embedded in the U.S. Army’s 4th Cavalry, into Gaza and the West Bank. And for the first time, he documents the step by step religious brainwashing of a candidate to suicide-terrorism, including the rituals preceding his criminal act and much more. Rehov also has close encounters with families of suicide killers, and local Imams. Following the acclaimed “Suicide Killers”, “The Path to Darkness” will take you on a journey deeper into the mind of terrorists, while debunking the dangerous mythologies propagated among our new generations.
Pierre Rehov’s latest film “The Path To Darkness” has led him to investigate those mythologies, and takes us to Japan, to meet with WW2 former kamikazes, to Iraq, where he was embedded in the U.S. Army’s 4th Cavalry, into Gaza and the West Bank. And for the first time, he documents the step by step religious brainwashing of a candidate to suicide-terrorism, including the rituals preceding his criminal act and much more. Rehov also has close encounters with families of suicide killers, and local Imams. Following the acclaimed “Suicide Killers”, “The Path to Darkness” will take you on a journey deeper into the mind of terrorists, while debunking the dangerous mythologies propagated among our new generations.
* Creating Freedom: The Lottery of Birth (2013)
A three-part documentary series entitled 'Creating Freedom' exploring the relationship between freedom, power and control in Western democracies. The series draws together interviews with some of the world's leading intellectuals, journalists and activists to offer an alternative perspective on today's society and the future we're creating. We do not choose to exist, or the environment we grow up in. Our starting point in life is one of passive reliance on forces over which we have no control. This suggest that from birth onwards our minds are a battleground of competing forces: familial, educational, cultural, and professional. The outcome of this battle not only determines who we become, but the society that we create.
Sunday, May 11, 2014
* Waterfront Cities of the World (Series)
As seen through the eyes of world-famous photographer Heidi Hollinger, we set off to discover vibrant port cities and capture their true essence and soul. Settled centuries ago when boat travel was the only means of communication, these ports have developed into commercial and cultural metropolises, rich in their unique history.
* Mark Steel Lectures (2003 - 2006)
Irreverent yet accurate, Mark Steele takes people who have made a mark in history (or at least are mentioned often enough that their names are familiar) and gives you the highlights of their lives in a way that makes you remember the important bits. If you are looking for fun and history at the same time, these lectures are worth your time and investment--still worth the investment if you are just looking for great laughs!
Part 1: Lord Byron
Mark Steel follows the glorious life of Lord Byron from his birth just off Oxford Street in London to his death in Greece thirty-six years later. We see Byron on the beach, Byron and his pet bear and Byron on Never Mind the Buzzcocks, as Mark traces an extraordinary, unpredictable and rude life in Nottinghamshire, London and Athens, from Byron's bedroom to his deathbed.
Part 2: Isaac Newton
He was a scientist who thought he could turn lead into gold. He was an obsessive with a secret Swiss boyfriend. And, in the world of The Mark Steel Lectures, he likes Alphabetti Spaghetti and the Communards. Mark Steel explores the world and the discoveries of Isaac Newton – surely one of Britain's finest scientific alchemical gay fraud-busting genius MPs.
Part 3: Sigmund Freud
With a life measured out in cigar-cutters and cocaine wraps, Sigmund Freud was clearly a genius. Here was a man who looked around the world at the start of the 20th century, saw brutal empires, millions being sucked into soulless factories, impending world war, and said: “I know what causes the problems - we want to have sex with our mothers.” Mark Steel reveals the absurdity and complexity of that genius as he travels from Vienna to London in Freud's wake. Our Sigmund, played by Martin Hyder, steps out of the darkness like Harry Lime, snorts cocaine like Al Pacino in Scarface, and treats his friends like Richard Ashcroft in the video for Bittersweet Symphony.
Part 4: Aristotle
Mark Steel traces the history of Greek Philosophy from Pythagoras (“never ate beans”), to Plato (“old and bald”), to Aristotle (“made lists of Olympic champions for fun, and possibly a bugger for the bottle, or possibly not”). The lecture takes in all the important areas of classical philosophy, including ethics, Sue Barker, whether the Four Tops are really the Four Tops at all, incontinence and Jim Davidson, ballooning, and why Aristotle would have disapproved of Orange marches. Filmed at the Parthenon and across Athens, Mark Steel brings you the Aristotle that history has forgotten; the one that liked a pretty girl, a shop full of beds and a KFC, and just maybe a drink as well.
Part 5: Charles Darwin
Delving further, and more imaginatively, into the evolution of Charles Darwin than ever before, the Mark Steel Lecture takes this modern hero off the ten pound note and into the present day. We follow him onto the Beagle and into the bedroom, and worry for his sanity as he fashions a turtle out of mashed potato. A tortured figure whose distress eventually forced him to take to his bed and watch Animal Hospital and Countdown all day (probably), this is the show that tells you things about Darwin you never knew - including his opinion on the taste of Galapagos tortoise urine.
Part 6: Karl Marx
As he moved from Paris to London, Marx managed to leave a trail of uncleaned rooms and even more untidy relationships in his wake. Mark picks his way through the discarded Pot Noodle cartons and unexpected children to reveal the real Marx. You'll discover why the state of Marx's flat caused consternation amongst those sent to spy on him, and get to watch him doing his grocery shopping. Mark also explains what made Marx's theories so revolutionary and why Marx wasn't a Marxist. And did we mention the affairs?
Part 7: Ludwig van Beethoven
Mark Steel turns up the volume on Beethoven with his tribute to a man who was the nearest eighteenth-century Vienna got to not only Jimi Hendrix, but also Captain Sensible. Unflinchingly exposing Ludwig's anger management issues and his dependence on Ceefax's 888 subtitle service, Mark Steel sets Beethoven in his revolutionary context and reveals the quirks of his character the history books gloss over. Taking in the revolutionary nature of the Freemasons, Haydn's contractual similarity to Prince, Beethoven's unusual fondness for semi-hemidemisemiquavers and his love-hate relationship with Napoleon, The Mark Steel Lectures once again combines unique reconstructions with inventive graphics to bring Beethoven right up to the minute. This episode is filmed on location in Vienna.
Part 8: Leonardo da Vinci
Creator of some of the greatest works of art in human history, but at the same time barely able to finish them, Leonardo is possibly the most easily distracted genius who ever lived. Mark Steel gets close to some of Leonardo's greatest works, and finds out what The Last Supper has in common with EastEnders. Packing in not just a life of Leonardo but also a brief canter through the political geography and the latest technological advances of the world he was born into, Mark begins by exploring the standards of great art and great beauty as they were before Leonardo truly made his mark. Then it's a whistlestop tour round Italy as Leonardo builds a reputation both for genius and not doing what he's paid for. For this episode, Mark travelled for filming on location in Milan, Florence, and Paris.
Part 9: Mary Shelley
Like Dr Frankenstein himself, Mark Steel has taken the cold-cuts of the traditional TV lecture and brought it back to life with passion and electricity. Taking as its subjects both the book for which Mary Shelley is famous and the tragedy-filled life of the woman herself, the programme moves from England to Geneva and back in search of the spark that created the monster. Almost as if genetically programmed by the pioneering mother she never knew, and on whose grave she consummated her love for the poet Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley created an indestructible legend more relevant today than ever – as Mark Steel discovers with his customary wit and passion. Kenneth Branagh does not feature in this programme. Filmed on location in Britain and Switzerland.
Part 10: Thomas Paine
Surely Britain's greatest unknown international revolutionary, best-selling author and hobbyist bridge builder, Norfolk born corset-maker's son Thomas Paine wrote the Rights of Man and helped inspire the American War of Independence. Thereafter he became the Secretary for Foreign Affairs in a government that hated his country of birth. He then went to France and escaped the guillotine by accident, after having failed to sell a bridge he built over a field in London. One of Mark Steel's great unsung radical heroes, this comedy lecture series shines a light on a little known (in Britain) hero on two continents.
Part 11: Sylvia Pankhurst
Tracing her life from schooldays in radical Manchester to retirement in rural Essex, when Haile Selassie occasionally came to call, Sylvia Pankhurst the revolutionary and Rastafarian sympathiser is brought to life as only Mark Steel can. From a bed-in with Keir Hardie to Kill Bill style ju-jitsu, here's everything you didn't know about this pioneer of democracy. Recalling a time when Manchester was the most radical city in Britain, this latest instalment in Mark Steel's comedy lecture series resonates with today's human rights campaigners and anti-war radicals, as well as containing a short section revealing the best type of stone to smash windows with.
Part 12: Albert Einstein
A great physicist but a lousy father, Einstein played with the nature of space and time as easily as he did his beloved violin. Mark Steel grapples with the fundamental nature of the Universe and Einstein's dislike of socks to provide a comic guide to the essence of the most famous scientist in history. Surely the only television programme in history to explain special relativity with reference to both minicabs and Blake's 7, this is Einstein in a nutshell, at nearly the speed of light.
Part 13: Oliver Cromwell
Mark Steel turns his spotlight to the life and work of the man who would eventually turn down the offer from Parliament to become the King of England. Traditionally, Oliver Cromwell has been viewed as a misery, a killjoy whose Puritan beliefs led him to despise drinking, dancing, music and fun but Mark argues in this programme that far from being these things, Cromwell was in fact a bit of a laugh and never lost his childish sense of humour. We discover that whilst signing the King's death warrant he and his co-regicides involved themselves in a huge ink fight and that whilst a student at Cambridge he was barred from local pubs for his rowdy behaviour and that he would often accost women in the street to ‘perforce ravish a kiss or some lewder satisfaction upon them'. Nowadays he'd get an ASBO or a reality tv show for that sort of thing. Join Mark Steel as he charts Cromwell's course through British history; his election and resignation from parliament, the formation of his New Model Army, the overthrow and subsequent execution of the King, Charles I, the monumental shift of power from monarchy to parliament, the abolition of the House of Lords right through to the massacre at Drogheda. Oh, and the introduction of the first ever pineapple to Britain.
Part 14: Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin was born in 1889, his father, an alcoholic singer, left when Charlie was very young; leaving his mother to bring him and his brother up in tiny rented rooms. Soon she fell ill and the family were forced into the Lambeth Workhouse – an experience which left an indelible impression on the young boy. Music Hall was his saviour; its rise in popularity was accelerated when the working week in factories was reduced to 60 hours and a teenage Charlie discovered his abilities as a natural clown. Whilst touring America in 1912 with Fred Karno's Music Hall Company, Chaplin was spotted by Mack Sennet, creator of the Keystone Kops and was offered a job. Join Mark as he charts Chaplin's course through 20th century history, how through the initial success of the Little Tramp character he managed to negotiate the right to direct his own films and how this character came to be seen as a symbol of resistance to the regimented rules of modern society. He transformed the way comedy films were made, taking control of every aspect of the production process; he taught himself to read music so he could write his own film scores; He even insisted on having a pool of 21 trained studio dogs, all of whom were well versed in the art of comic timing….
Part 15: Rene Descartes
Rene Descartes was the man responsible for the catchphrase ‘I think therefore I am' - Not quite as good as ‘Am I bovvered' or ‘I'm a Laydeeee' perhaps, but infinitely better than ‘Shut that Door.' In many respects, Descartes was a bit of an oddity. Born into the lower ranks of the French nobility in 1596, he made it his business never to get up before noon, he smoked tobacco that was cut with dope and when he'd done that, he laid down the blueprint for all modern day thinking on any given subject for the next 400 years. Whilst sitting in an oven. Yes, an oven. To appreciate the sheer genius of Descartes work, we need to look at it in context: He was establishing his pioneering ideas at a time when philosophical thinking wasn't really encouraged by the church, to such an extent that one philosopher, Vanini had his tongue cut out, was strangled and then burnt at the stake for daring to try and explain how miracles work. charts Descartes course through scientific history; his stint as a card shark in the dutch army, his invention of the little 2, the symbol used to signify a squared number, his invention of the x and y used in algebra. Not to mention his numerous biological experiments that gave us first clear idea that the senses were linked to the central nervous system and his seminal work, ‘The Meditations' in which he constructed a theory of the universe which instead of beginning with blind faith, insisted on the prominence of doubt as a starting point.
Part 16: Geoffrey Chaucer
If you ask most people what they know about Geoffrey Chaucer, they'll probably reply that he was the bloke who wrote bawdy poems about people sticking their bums out of windows and breaking wind. Which, strictly speaking, is true? However, through his writing Chaucer not only managed to become considered as the father of English poetry, he also attained the lofty position of being this country's first ever social commentator. The son of a winekeeper, Geoffrey Chaucer was born around 1342 in London at a time of enormous social change. When he was a young boy, the Black Death swept into England and whilst this was certainly bad news for most, Chaucer ended up becoming a notable beneficiary of its devastating effects. Up until this point, social mobility between the classes hadn't really existed – essentially you stayed in the class that you were born into; which was either the nobility where you owned the land or the peasantry where you worked the land. One consequence of the Black Death was that it created a labour shortage and as a result, the middle ranks of the Royal Court had to be replaced with un noble blood. Which is precisely where a young Chaucer fitted in. Now, for the first time it was actually possible to move from one social class to another and Chaucer took full advantage of this; his subsequent experiences went on to form a sturdy foundation for his later writings…
Part 17: Harriet Tubman
Harriet Tubman, described widely as the Moses of her people' was instrumental in the efforts to abolish slavery in mid 19th century America. Born into a life of bondage, she was forced into work at five years of age and at 12 was horrifically injured by the plantation overseer when he threw a lead weight at her head. At 27 and buoyed by stories of slave rebellions emerging across the country, she escaped her Maryland plantation and headed Northwards where she knew there were strong groups of Quakers and anti slavery campaigners who were collectively known as the ‘Underground Railroad' Despite having a twelve hundred dollar bounty on her head, Harriet would insist on planning and executing a series of audacious raids back in Maryland, returning to free dozens of people from her old plantation. In 1860 Abraham Lincoln was elected President and the South was horrified at the prospect of being governed by a President opposed to slavery; they decided to break away from the rest of America calling themselves the Confederates and soon after the Civil War began. Join the award winning comedian Mark Steel as he charts Harriet Tubman's course through American history; her daring armed raids to rescue fellow slaves, her inclusion into the Underground Railroad network, and her work with fellow abolitionist John Brown and her special meetings with Abraham Lincoln's wife.
Part 18: Ernesto Che Guevara
Walk down any high street in this country and chances are at some point you'll see somebody wearing a Che Guevara t-shirt. Most of whom have absolutely no idea who he was and what he stood for. Still, it's a nice image, and he was handsome. Che Guevara was born in Argentina in 1928; initially he trained to be a doctor but became politically conscious and abandoned his vocation in order to travel across South America on the back of a motorbike. It was in Mexico in 1955 that Che met a young Fidel Castro who with his brother Raul had been exiled from his Cuban homeland and was preparing for an uprising there by training a crack squad of rebels in the Mexican countryside. This was Che's calling. It's what he'd been waiting his whole life for. It was his destiny. In this latest edition of his BAFTA nominated series of lectures, writer and broadcaster Mark Steel travels to South America and turns his attentions to the life and revolutionary times of Ernesto Che' Guevara, a man who started out on a motorcycle holiday, only to end up being made Foreign Minister of Cuba. Which of course is nice work if you can get it.
Part 1: Lord Byron
Mark Steel follows the glorious life of Lord Byron from his birth just off Oxford Street in London to his death in Greece thirty-six years later. We see Byron on the beach, Byron and his pet bear and Byron on Never Mind the Buzzcocks, as Mark traces an extraordinary, unpredictable and rude life in Nottinghamshire, London and Athens, from Byron's bedroom to his deathbed.
Part 2: Isaac Newton
He was a scientist who thought he could turn lead into gold. He was an obsessive with a secret Swiss boyfriend. And, in the world of The Mark Steel Lectures, he likes Alphabetti Spaghetti and the Communards. Mark Steel explores the world and the discoveries of Isaac Newton – surely one of Britain's finest scientific alchemical gay fraud-busting genius MPs.
Part 3: Sigmund Freud
With a life measured out in cigar-cutters and cocaine wraps, Sigmund Freud was clearly a genius. Here was a man who looked around the world at the start of the 20th century, saw brutal empires, millions being sucked into soulless factories, impending world war, and said: “I know what causes the problems - we want to have sex with our mothers.” Mark Steel reveals the absurdity and complexity of that genius as he travels from Vienna to London in Freud's wake. Our Sigmund, played by Martin Hyder, steps out of the darkness like Harry Lime, snorts cocaine like Al Pacino in Scarface, and treats his friends like Richard Ashcroft in the video for Bittersweet Symphony.
Part 4: Aristotle
Mark Steel traces the history of Greek Philosophy from Pythagoras (“never ate beans”), to Plato (“old and bald”), to Aristotle (“made lists of Olympic champions for fun, and possibly a bugger for the bottle, or possibly not”). The lecture takes in all the important areas of classical philosophy, including ethics, Sue Barker, whether the Four Tops are really the Four Tops at all, incontinence and Jim Davidson, ballooning, and why Aristotle would have disapproved of Orange marches. Filmed at the Parthenon and across Athens, Mark Steel brings you the Aristotle that history has forgotten; the one that liked a pretty girl, a shop full of beds and a KFC, and just maybe a drink as well.
Part 5: Charles Darwin
Delving further, and more imaginatively, into the evolution of Charles Darwin than ever before, the Mark Steel Lecture takes this modern hero off the ten pound note and into the present day. We follow him onto the Beagle and into the bedroom, and worry for his sanity as he fashions a turtle out of mashed potato. A tortured figure whose distress eventually forced him to take to his bed and watch Animal Hospital and Countdown all day (probably), this is the show that tells you things about Darwin you never knew - including his opinion on the taste of Galapagos tortoise urine.
Part 6: Karl Marx
As he moved from Paris to London, Marx managed to leave a trail of uncleaned rooms and even more untidy relationships in his wake. Mark picks his way through the discarded Pot Noodle cartons and unexpected children to reveal the real Marx. You'll discover why the state of Marx's flat caused consternation amongst those sent to spy on him, and get to watch him doing his grocery shopping. Mark also explains what made Marx's theories so revolutionary and why Marx wasn't a Marxist. And did we mention the affairs?
Part 7: Ludwig van Beethoven
Mark Steel turns up the volume on Beethoven with his tribute to a man who was the nearest eighteenth-century Vienna got to not only Jimi Hendrix, but also Captain Sensible. Unflinchingly exposing Ludwig's anger management issues and his dependence on Ceefax's 888 subtitle service, Mark Steel sets Beethoven in his revolutionary context and reveals the quirks of his character the history books gloss over. Taking in the revolutionary nature of the Freemasons, Haydn's contractual similarity to Prince, Beethoven's unusual fondness for semi-hemidemisemiquavers and his love-hate relationship with Napoleon, The Mark Steel Lectures once again combines unique reconstructions with inventive graphics to bring Beethoven right up to the minute. This episode is filmed on location in Vienna.
Part 8: Leonardo da Vinci
Creator of some of the greatest works of art in human history, but at the same time barely able to finish them, Leonardo is possibly the most easily distracted genius who ever lived. Mark Steel gets close to some of Leonardo's greatest works, and finds out what The Last Supper has in common with EastEnders. Packing in not just a life of Leonardo but also a brief canter through the political geography and the latest technological advances of the world he was born into, Mark begins by exploring the standards of great art and great beauty as they were before Leonardo truly made his mark. Then it's a whistlestop tour round Italy as Leonardo builds a reputation both for genius and not doing what he's paid for. For this episode, Mark travelled for filming on location in Milan, Florence, and Paris.
Part 9: Mary Shelley
Like Dr Frankenstein himself, Mark Steel has taken the cold-cuts of the traditional TV lecture and brought it back to life with passion and electricity. Taking as its subjects both the book for which Mary Shelley is famous and the tragedy-filled life of the woman herself, the programme moves from England to Geneva and back in search of the spark that created the monster. Almost as if genetically programmed by the pioneering mother she never knew, and on whose grave she consummated her love for the poet Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley created an indestructible legend more relevant today than ever – as Mark Steel discovers with his customary wit and passion. Kenneth Branagh does not feature in this programme. Filmed on location in Britain and Switzerland.
Part 10: Thomas Paine
Surely Britain's greatest unknown international revolutionary, best-selling author and hobbyist bridge builder, Norfolk born corset-maker's son Thomas Paine wrote the Rights of Man and helped inspire the American War of Independence. Thereafter he became the Secretary for Foreign Affairs in a government that hated his country of birth. He then went to France and escaped the guillotine by accident, after having failed to sell a bridge he built over a field in London. One of Mark Steel's great unsung radical heroes, this comedy lecture series shines a light on a little known (in Britain) hero on two continents.
Part 11: Sylvia Pankhurst
Tracing her life from schooldays in radical Manchester to retirement in rural Essex, when Haile Selassie occasionally came to call, Sylvia Pankhurst the revolutionary and Rastafarian sympathiser is brought to life as only Mark Steel can. From a bed-in with Keir Hardie to Kill Bill style ju-jitsu, here's everything you didn't know about this pioneer of democracy. Recalling a time when Manchester was the most radical city in Britain, this latest instalment in Mark Steel's comedy lecture series resonates with today's human rights campaigners and anti-war radicals, as well as containing a short section revealing the best type of stone to smash windows with.
Part 12: Albert Einstein
A great physicist but a lousy father, Einstein played with the nature of space and time as easily as he did his beloved violin. Mark Steel grapples with the fundamental nature of the Universe and Einstein's dislike of socks to provide a comic guide to the essence of the most famous scientist in history. Surely the only television programme in history to explain special relativity with reference to both minicabs and Blake's 7, this is Einstein in a nutshell, at nearly the speed of light.
Part 13: Oliver Cromwell
Mark Steel turns his spotlight to the life and work of the man who would eventually turn down the offer from Parliament to become the King of England. Traditionally, Oliver Cromwell has been viewed as a misery, a killjoy whose Puritan beliefs led him to despise drinking, dancing, music and fun but Mark argues in this programme that far from being these things, Cromwell was in fact a bit of a laugh and never lost his childish sense of humour. We discover that whilst signing the King's death warrant he and his co-regicides involved themselves in a huge ink fight and that whilst a student at Cambridge he was barred from local pubs for his rowdy behaviour and that he would often accost women in the street to ‘perforce ravish a kiss or some lewder satisfaction upon them'. Nowadays he'd get an ASBO or a reality tv show for that sort of thing. Join Mark Steel as he charts Cromwell's course through British history; his election and resignation from parliament, the formation of his New Model Army, the overthrow and subsequent execution of the King, Charles I, the monumental shift of power from monarchy to parliament, the abolition of the House of Lords right through to the massacre at Drogheda. Oh, and the introduction of the first ever pineapple to Britain.
Part 14: Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin was born in 1889, his father, an alcoholic singer, left when Charlie was very young; leaving his mother to bring him and his brother up in tiny rented rooms. Soon she fell ill and the family were forced into the Lambeth Workhouse – an experience which left an indelible impression on the young boy. Music Hall was his saviour; its rise in popularity was accelerated when the working week in factories was reduced to 60 hours and a teenage Charlie discovered his abilities as a natural clown. Whilst touring America in 1912 with Fred Karno's Music Hall Company, Chaplin was spotted by Mack Sennet, creator of the Keystone Kops and was offered a job. Join Mark as he charts Chaplin's course through 20th century history, how through the initial success of the Little Tramp character he managed to negotiate the right to direct his own films and how this character came to be seen as a symbol of resistance to the regimented rules of modern society. He transformed the way comedy films were made, taking control of every aspect of the production process; he taught himself to read music so he could write his own film scores; He even insisted on having a pool of 21 trained studio dogs, all of whom were well versed in the art of comic timing….
Part 15: Rene Descartes
Rene Descartes was the man responsible for the catchphrase ‘I think therefore I am' - Not quite as good as ‘Am I bovvered' or ‘I'm a Laydeeee' perhaps, but infinitely better than ‘Shut that Door.' In many respects, Descartes was a bit of an oddity. Born into the lower ranks of the French nobility in 1596, he made it his business never to get up before noon, he smoked tobacco that was cut with dope and when he'd done that, he laid down the blueprint for all modern day thinking on any given subject for the next 400 years. Whilst sitting in an oven. Yes, an oven. To appreciate the sheer genius of Descartes work, we need to look at it in context: He was establishing his pioneering ideas at a time when philosophical thinking wasn't really encouraged by the church, to such an extent that one philosopher, Vanini had his tongue cut out, was strangled and then burnt at the stake for daring to try and explain how miracles work. charts Descartes course through scientific history; his stint as a card shark in the dutch army, his invention of the little 2, the symbol used to signify a squared number, his invention of the x and y used in algebra. Not to mention his numerous biological experiments that gave us first clear idea that the senses were linked to the central nervous system and his seminal work, ‘The Meditations' in which he constructed a theory of the universe which instead of beginning with blind faith, insisted on the prominence of doubt as a starting point.
Part 16: Geoffrey Chaucer
If you ask most people what they know about Geoffrey Chaucer, they'll probably reply that he was the bloke who wrote bawdy poems about people sticking their bums out of windows and breaking wind. Which, strictly speaking, is true? However, through his writing Chaucer not only managed to become considered as the father of English poetry, he also attained the lofty position of being this country's first ever social commentator. The son of a winekeeper, Geoffrey Chaucer was born around 1342 in London at a time of enormous social change. When he was a young boy, the Black Death swept into England and whilst this was certainly bad news for most, Chaucer ended up becoming a notable beneficiary of its devastating effects. Up until this point, social mobility between the classes hadn't really existed – essentially you stayed in the class that you were born into; which was either the nobility where you owned the land or the peasantry where you worked the land. One consequence of the Black Death was that it created a labour shortage and as a result, the middle ranks of the Royal Court had to be replaced with un noble blood. Which is precisely where a young Chaucer fitted in. Now, for the first time it was actually possible to move from one social class to another and Chaucer took full advantage of this; his subsequent experiences went on to form a sturdy foundation for his later writings…
Part 17: Harriet Tubman
Harriet Tubman, described widely as the Moses of her people' was instrumental in the efforts to abolish slavery in mid 19th century America. Born into a life of bondage, she was forced into work at five years of age and at 12 was horrifically injured by the plantation overseer when he threw a lead weight at her head. At 27 and buoyed by stories of slave rebellions emerging across the country, she escaped her Maryland plantation and headed Northwards where she knew there were strong groups of Quakers and anti slavery campaigners who were collectively known as the ‘Underground Railroad' Despite having a twelve hundred dollar bounty on her head, Harriet would insist on planning and executing a series of audacious raids back in Maryland, returning to free dozens of people from her old plantation. In 1860 Abraham Lincoln was elected President and the South was horrified at the prospect of being governed by a President opposed to slavery; they decided to break away from the rest of America calling themselves the Confederates and soon after the Civil War began. Join the award winning comedian Mark Steel as he charts Harriet Tubman's course through American history; her daring armed raids to rescue fellow slaves, her inclusion into the Underground Railroad network, and her work with fellow abolitionist John Brown and her special meetings with Abraham Lincoln's wife.
Part 18: Ernesto Che Guevara
Walk down any high street in this country and chances are at some point you'll see somebody wearing a Che Guevara t-shirt. Most of whom have absolutely no idea who he was and what he stood for. Still, it's a nice image, and he was handsome. Che Guevara was born in Argentina in 1928; initially he trained to be a doctor but became politically conscious and abandoned his vocation in order to travel across South America on the back of a motorbike. It was in Mexico in 1955 that Che met a young Fidel Castro who with his brother Raul had been exiled from his Cuban homeland and was preparing for an uprising there by training a crack squad of rebels in the Mexican countryside. This was Che's calling. It's what he'd been waiting his whole life for. It was his destiny. In this latest edition of his BAFTA nominated series of lectures, writer and broadcaster Mark Steel travels to South America and turns his attentions to the life and revolutionary times of Ernesto Che' Guevara, a man who started out on a motorcycle holiday, only to end up being made Foreign Minister of Cuba. Which of course is nice work if you can get it.
Friday, May 9, 2014
* Up Series (1964 - 2012)
The Up Series is a series of documentary films produced by Granada Television that have followed the lives of fourteen British children since 1964, when they were seven years old. So far the documentary has had eight episodes spanning 49 years (one episode every seven years) and the documentary has been broadcast on both ITV and BBC. In a 2005 Channel 4 programme, the series topped the list of The 50 Greatest Documentaries. The children were selected to represent the range of socio-economic backgrounds in Britain at that time, with the explicit assumption that each child's social class predetermines their future. Every seven years, the director, Michael Apted, films material from those of the fourteen who choose to participate. The aim of the series is stated at the beginning of 7 Up as: "Why do we bring these children together? Because we want to get a glimpse of England in the year 2000. The shop steward and the executive of the year 2000 are now seven years old."
Wikipedia
Seven Up! (1964)
7 Plus Seven (1970)
21 Up (1977)
28 Up (1984)
35 Up (1991)
42 Up (1998)
49 Up (2005)
56 Up (2012)
Wikipedia
Seven Up! (1964)
7 Plus Seven (1970)
21 Up (1977)
28 Up (1984)
35 Up (1991)
42 Up (1998)
49 Up (2005)
56 Up (2012)
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
* America Revealed: Electric Nation (2012)
America Revealed is a unique look at what makes America tick, what it takes to keeps the biggest food machine in the world going, the delicate balance that keeps our supermarkets stocked with groceries and fast food restaurants supplied with fries. How we keep America moving with its vast and complex transport systems. How we propel ourselves through energy, what maintains the constant supply of fuel and electricity to our homes and businesses and finally how we keep up with the ever changing world, the import and export infrastructure that shapes our manufacturing industry.
From the Corn farmer in Central Valley, California to the live wire cable repairers in New Jersey. Viewers will discover a fascinating new perspective on the hidden patterns and rhythms of American life, by looking through the eyes of individuals who all play a part in keeping America fed, moving, powered and making goods.
Food Machine
Over the past century, an American industrial revolution has given rise to the biggest, most productive food machine the world has ever known.
Yul Kwon explores how this machine feeds nearly 300 million Americans every day. He discovers engineering marvels we’ve created by putting nature to work and takes a look at the costs of our insatiable appetite on our health and environment.
For the first time in human history, less than 2% of the population can feed the other 98%. Yul embarks on a trip that begins with a pizza delivery route in New York City then goes across country to California’s Central Valley, where nearly 50% of America’s fruits, nuts and vegetables are grown and skydives into the heartland for an aerial look of our farmlands.
He meets the men and women who keep us fed 365 days a year—everyone from industrial to urban farmers, crop dusting pilots to long distance bee truckers, modern day cowboys to the pizza deliveryman.
Nation on the Move
America is a nation of vast distances and dense urban clusters, woven together by 200,000 miles of railroads, 5,000 airports, and 4 million miles of roads.
These massive, complex transportation systems combine to make Americans the most mobile people on earth. Yul Kwon journeys across the continent by air, road and rail.
He ventures behind the scenes with the workers who get us where we need to go; at the Federal Aviation Administration command center, he listens in on a call with NASA, the secret service, the military, and every major airline to learn how our national flight plan works today.
He meets innovators creating ways to propel us farther and faster in years to come; in Las Vegas, he heads out into the wild night to see how transportation analysts are keeping traffic at bay by revolutionizing the use of one basic tool: the traffic light. And he uncovers the minor miracles and uphill battles involved in moving over 300 million Americans every day on infrastructure built in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Electric Nation
Our modern electric power grid has been called the biggest and most complex machine in the world – delivering electricity over 200,000 miles of high tension transmission lines. But even though the grid touches almost every aspect of our lives, it’s a system we know very little about.
Yul Kwon will travel around the country to understand its intricacies, its vulnerabilities, and the remarkable ingenuity required to keep the electricity on every day of the year. At New York State’s governing grid control room, he learns how a massive blackout cut power to 40 million Americans and to understand how we can protect against this type of colossal failure joins a live wire repair team who do their daring repairs from the side of a helicopter in flight.
He also visits the country largest coal mine, rappels down the side of wind turbine, takes a rare tour of a nuclear plant and travels on a massive tanker – where Kwon reflects on the challenges and opportunities we face now and in the days ahead to keep the power flowing.
Made in the USA
American manufacturing has undergone a massive revolution over the past 20 years. Despite all the gloom and doom, America is actually the number one manufacturing nation on earth. Yul Kwon crosses the nation looking at traditional and not-so traditional types of manufacturing.
Along the way, he meets the men and women who create the world’s best and most iconic products, engineers who are reinventing the American auto industry, steelworkers who brave intense heat to accommodate radical new ideas about recycling, and engineers who are re-imagining the microchip. He visits one of the most innovative manufacturers on earth: a small start-up company that is building personalized robots – machines that may one day reshape our homes and offices, driving our revolution further forward.
Yul further explores the emerging notion that manufacturing itself is changing from a system based on the movement and assembly of raw materials like steel and plastic to a system in which ideas and information are the raw materials of a new economy based around communications and social connections via companies like Facebook and Google.
From the Corn farmer in Central Valley, California to the live wire cable repairers in New Jersey. Viewers will discover a fascinating new perspective on the hidden patterns and rhythms of American life, by looking through the eyes of individuals who all play a part in keeping America fed, moving, powered and making goods.
Food Machine
Over the past century, an American industrial revolution has given rise to the biggest, most productive food machine the world has ever known.
Yul Kwon explores how this machine feeds nearly 300 million Americans every day. He discovers engineering marvels we’ve created by putting nature to work and takes a look at the costs of our insatiable appetite on our health and environment.
For the first time in human history, less than 2% of the population can feed the other 98%. Yul embarks on a trip that begins with a pizza delivery route in New York City then goes across country to California’s Central Valley, where nearly 50% of America’s fruits, nuts and vegetables are grown and skydives into the heartland for an aerial look of our farmlands.
He meets the men and women who keep us fed 365 days a year—everyone from industrial to urban farmers, crop dusting pilots to long distance bee truckers, modern day cowboys to the pizza deliveryman.
Nation on the Move
America is a nation of vast distances and dense urban clusters, woven together by 200,000 miles of railroads, 5,000 airports, and 4 million miles of roads.
These massive, complex transportation systems combine to make Americans the most mobile people on earth. Yul Kwon journeys across the continent by air, road and rail.
He ventures behind the scenes with the workers who get us where we need to go; at the Federal Aviation Administration command center, he listens in on a call with NASA, the secret service, the military, and every major airline to learn how our national flight plan works today.
He meets innovators creating ways to propel us farther and faster in years to come; in Las Vegas, he heads out into the wild night to see how transportation analysts are keeping traffic at bay by revolutionizing the use of one basic tool: the traffic light. And he uncovers the minor miracles and uphill battles involved in moving over 300 million Americans every day on infrastructure built in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Electric Nation
Our modern electric power grid has been called the biggest and most complex machine in the world – delivering electricity over 200,000 miles of high tension transmission lines. But even though the grid touches almost every aspect of our lives, it’s a system we know very little about.
Yul Kwon will travel around the country to understand its intricacies, its vulnerabilities, and the remarkable ingenuity required to keep the electricity on every day of the year. At New York State’s governing grid control room, he learns how a massive blackout cut power to 40 million Americans and to understand how we can protect against this type of colossal failure joins a live wire repair team who do their daring repairs from the side of a helicopter in flight.
He also visits the country largest coal mine, rappels down the side of wind turbine, takes a rare tour of a nuclear plant and travels on a massive tanker – where Kwon reflects on the challenges and opportunities we face now and in the days ahead to keep the power flowing.
Made in the USA
American manufacturing has undergone a massive revolution over the past 20 years. Despite all the gloom and doom, America is actually the number one manufacturing nation on earth. Yul Kwon crosses the nation looking at traditional and not-so traditional types of manufacturing.
Along the way, he meets the men and women who create the world’s best and most iconic products, engineers who are reinventing the American auto industry, steelworkers who brave intense heat to accommodate radical new ideas about recycling, and engineers who are re-imagining the microchip. He visits one of the most innovative manufacturers on earth: a small start-up company that is building personalized robots – machines that may one day reshape our homes and offices, driving our revolution further forward.
Yul further explores the emerging notion that manufacturing itself is changing from a system based on the movement and assembly of raw materials like steel and plastic to a system in which ideas and information are the raw materials of a new economy based around communications and social connections via companies like Facebook and Google.
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