Pophistory: music, movies, history, and life.
This time-lapse video shows the Earth from the perspective of the International Space Station. European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst took a large number of photos during his six-month Blue Dot mission on the station.
Check out the video of our home.
For more on the the video, head over to Salon.
Leave your two cents in the comments.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)
Recently on The Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon remembered his days in high school with the Saved by the Bell cast. Check out as Fallon reunites the gang from Bayside High: Slater (Mario Lopez), Zack (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), Kelly (Tiffani-Amber Thiessen), Jessie (Elizabeth Berkley), and Mr. Belding (Dennis Haskins).
One thing missing from the reunion was Screech Dustin Diamond, who was recently arrested.
What is your favorite memory of Saved by the Bell? Leave your two cents in the comments.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)
Kanye West and Paul McCartney help out on the new song from Rihanna, “FourFiveSeconds.” In the new black-and-white video for the song, you can see and hear Rihanna and West sing while McCartney plays an acoustic guitar.
Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin directed the denim-clad musicians in the video. Check it out.
“FourFiveSeconds” is the first single from Rihanna’s upcoming album, which is currently without a title.
What do you think of “FourFiveSeconds”? Leave your two cents in the comments.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)
On February 3, 1930, William Howard Taft stepped down from his position as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. The resignation ended what was an impressive run in public service, as Taft is the only person to serve as both head of the Executive branch of government as President (1909-1913) and as head of the Judicial branch, as Chief Justice (1920-1930). By most accounts, he enjoyed his time as a Justice more than he did his time as President.
As president, Taft faced the problem of succeeding the popular Theodore Roosevelt, who initially supported Taft as his successor. But eventually, Roosevelt would challenge Taft when Taft ran for reelection in 1912, splitting the vote and giving the victory to Woodrow Wilson.
I recently visited Taft’s childhood home at the William Howard Taft National Historical Site near Cincinnati, Ohio. Taft came from a relatively powerful family, and the house showed that the family did well for themselves, even if they were not extremely rich.
The home is worth visiting. The tour of the house takes around 30 minutes, and there is a film about Taft’s life. The National Park Service and the people who worked on the house to restore it to its current state did a great job. At one point, the building had been converted into apartments, but now it is easy to imagine the Tafts living there. For example, in addition to the historic furniture, many rooms have the same carpet and wallpaper designs as when the Tafts lived there.
In contrast to presidential homes like those of Abraham Lincoln or of Franklin D. Roosevelt, there is no aura of awe and wonder. But a visit is a nice modest introduction to Taft’s political and public service career.
When Taft resigned from the Supreme Court in February 1930, he had been facing medical issues for some time. He had several heart attacks in 1924 and he had memory problems in the years after that. At the beginning of 1930, he experienced hallucinations, and after his retirement was often semi-conscious. He died on March 8, 1930, only about a month after his retirement from the Supreme Court.
Photos of Taft home by Chimesfreedom. Leave your two cents in the comments.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)
Recently it was revealed that Sam Smith had agreed to pay royalties from his mega-hit “Stay With Me” to Tom Petty because of the similarity between Smith’s song and Petty’s 1989 hit “I Won’t Back Down.” The deal also involved giving credit to Jeff Lynne (of ELO fame), who contributed to Petty’s song.
Prior to the announcement, a number of folks had noticed the similarity between the two songs. Below is on the the mash-ups from YouTube.
Meanwhile, Slate argues that the reason Petty’s representatives have heard similarities between Petty’s songs and other hits at least three times is because Petty’s music uses basic rock and roll progressions. And, they explain, it is hard to avoid the basics. As for Petty, he released a statement saying he has no hard feelings against Sam Smith and understands how these things happen.
What do you think? Leave your two cents in the comments.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)