Made by Hand: The Bike Maker

​The fifth Made by Hand film turns to bike maker Ezra Caldwell (Fast Boy Cycles), who was diagnosed with cancer in 2008. When the cancer threatens to shatter his love of bikes, Ezra survives by documenting his illness as thoroughly as his craft.

This particular edition of the series is profoundly moving. It resonated with me very much, in particular how Ezra's dislike of dance changed his life. ​

A project from Bureau of Common Goods, Made by Hand is a short film series celebrating the people who make things by hand— sustainably, locally, and with a love for their craft.

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Previously on Made by Hand:
​The Cigar Shop
​The Beekeeper
​The Knife Maker
​The Distiller

The Film before The Film

“THE FILM before THE FILM” is a short documentary that traces the evolution of title design through the history of film. This short film was a research project at the BTK (Berliner Technische Kunsthochschule) that takes a look at pioneers like Saul Bass, Maurice Binder and Kyle Cooper by showing the transitions from early film credits to the inclusion of digital techniques, a resurgence of old-school style, and filmmakers' love of typography in space.

​Add this one to the long list of favorite things related to opening title sequences. 

How Pixar Used Moore's Law to Predict the Future→

Pixar co-founder Alvy Ray Smith in Wired: 

We know what Moore’s Law is and how it works, but not many people reflect on why it exists. Yes, there are often physical barriers to innovation. But there’s no imminent physical barrier to the realization of a bit: A bit is merely presence or absence of something, say a voltage, which means it can get exponentially smaller. So with no physical limitation, Moore’s Law reflects the top rate at which humans can innovate. If we could proceed faster, we would.

There are no shortcuts at the edge of discovery and invention. ​

Earth Chorus: Dancing to the beat of Earth

"The Earth has music for those who listen." George Santayana

​In October 2012, NASA satellites recorded mysterious radio waves emanating from Earth. These radio waves known as "Chorus," were given an audio rendering. This is what they heard. For the very first time, we could hear the Earth speak. So we decided to speak back.

Original song "The Night Sky" by Kerry Muzzey. Read more about the NASA research here. Produced by DS2DIO.

PBS 2013 Online Film Festival Starts Today

PBS’ Online Film Festival, accessible beginning March 4 via all PBS digital platforms, You Tube and PBS social media channels, will showcase 25 short films that feature a diversity of subjects, voices and viewpoints.

The featured films were produced by a number public media partners, including Independent Television Service (ITVS), POV, Center for Asian American Media (CAAM), Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB), Vision Maker Media, National Black Programming Consortium (NPBC) and Pacific Islanders in Communications (PIC). This year’s festival also includes films from PBS stations KCTS 9 (Seattle), KLRU (Austin), PBS SoCaL (Los Angeles), WGTE (Toledo) and WCVE (Richmond, Virginia).

You will have the opportunity to vote for your favorite short film from March 4 through March 22; the film with the most votes will receive the People’s Choice Award. The winning film will be announced in early April.

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