Television’s Best Needle Drops
There are few filmmaking choices that leave as visceral an impact on the viewer than a well placed needle drop. When a recognizable song hits the soundtrack at just the right dramatic moment, it can leave an indelible impression. This year saw a ton of great musical moments in the year’s best TV shows, and Vulture has compiled this list of the ten best. The picks range from the obvious (but undeniable) use of a Fleetwood Mac classic in Daisy Jones and the Six, to an unforgettable, ecstatic Taylor Swift moment in The Bear (a show that could have easily filled this entire list).
The James Webb Telescope Amazes and Confounds
The James Webb Telescope has been in operation for two years, and in that short period of time, scientists and the world at large have gotten a sense of the incredible potential of the telescope to answer all kinds of questions about the nature of the universe. But there’s a flip side to that huge download of knowledge, as this article on space.com points out. It all goes back to the potential rate of the universe’s expansion, hinted at in new James Webb data. It could throw years of cosmological research out the window.
Vollebak Opens the Vault
Vollebak is one of the most compelling apparel brands in the mix right now, and they’ve just opened their vault to close out the year. This is a rare chance to snag some of their ingenious, tech forward pieces at a huge discount. Some of the items that have been brought back are the Blue Morpho jacket, which recreates the iridescent wings of the blue morpho butterfly by incorporating tiny blue glass spheres in the construction of the jacket’s shell, and the 100 Year Sweatshirt, which adds insane durability (it’s flame proof) to a casual staple. Check out the sale here.
Never Trust a Bird
For a while earlier this year, it felt like everyone’s job was about to be replaced by A.I. The technology became dramatically more accessible this year, and for better or worse it’s become easier to imagine a world where artificial intelligences simply do all the heavy lifting. It’s natural to have some concern that your daily work tasks could be taken over by a machine, but while we were freaking out about the coming of Sky Net, nobody was thinking about the birds. In a weird development, it seems that A.I. has been responsible for creating many images of birds that simply don’t exist, causing all kinds of confusion among both casual and serious birders. Sign of things to come? Slate digs in, here. You’ll never trust a bird pic again.