Stephen Colbert Tries to Make Sense of MOOCs with the Head of edX in Comedy, MIT, MOOCs | July 31st, 2013
Last week Anant Agarwal, President of edX (the MOOC consortium launched by Harvard and MIT), paid a visit to The Colbert Report. And it didn’t take long for the host, the one and only Stephen Colbert, to ask funny but unmistakably probing questions about the advent of Massive Open Online Courses. “I don’t understand. You’re in the knowledge business in a university. Let’s say I had a shoe store, ok, and then I hired you to work at my shoe store. And you said, ‘Hey, I’ve got a great idea! Let’s give the shoes away for free.’ I would fire you and then probably throw shoes at your head.” In other words, why would universities disrupt themselves and give education away at no cost? Where’s the sanity in that? If you have five minutes, you can watch Agarwal’s response and get a few laughs along the way. And if you’re ready to take a MOOC, then dive into our collection of 550 Free MOOCs from Great Universities. 120 new courses will be starting in August and September alone.
Last week Anant Agarwal, President of edX (the MOOC consortium launched by Harvard and MIT), paid a visit to The Colbert Report. And it didn’t take long for the host, the one and only Stephen Colbert, to ask funny but unmistakably probing questions about the advent of Massive Open Online Courses. “I don’t understand. You’re in the knowledge business in a university. Let’s say I had a shoe store, ok, and then I hired you to work at my shoe store. And you said, ‘Hey, I’ve got a great idea! Let’s give the shoes away for free.’ I would fire you and then probably throw shoes at your head.” In other words, why would universities disrupt themselves and give education away at no cost? Where’s the sanity in that? If you have five minutes, you can watch Agarwal’s response and get a few laughs along the way. And if you’re ready to take a MOOC, then dive into our collection of 550 Free MOOCs from Great Universities. 120 new courses will be starting in August and September alone.
Andrei Tarkovsky
Revealing The Truth from Tadao Cern on Vimeo.
When Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler was a kid growing up in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, England, he dreamed about getting his own guitar. “I remember standing outside music stores with my nose pressed up against the glass, just staring at those electric guitars,” he told People magazine in 1985. “I used to smell Fender catalogs, I wanted one so bad.” Knopfler eventually talked his father into buying him a Höfner Super Solid V2 guitar for £50. The only problem was, it didn’t come with an amplifier. “I didn’t have the nerve to ask poor old dad for an amp,” Knopfler says in the documentary above. “I blew up the family radio in fairly short order.”
Knopfler tells the story of that first guitar and five others that shaped his career in this fascinating 45-minute documentary that aired in Britain last October on the Sky Arts television channel. Guitar Stories: Mark Knopfler is hosted by Knopfler’s friend and co-founder of Dire Straits, bassist John Illsley. The film offers a number of insights into Knopfler’s music and the key instruments that influenced his evolving style.
From the opening scenes at a music shop in Newcastle’s Central Arcade, where the young Knopfler spent hours staring at guitars through windows, Illsley and Knopfler move on to the city of Leeds, where Knopfler once worked as a junior reporter for the Yorkshire Evening Post. There they meet up with his longtime friend and mentor Steve Phillips, a member of Knopfler’s post-Dire Straits band The Notting Hillbillies. An aficionado of the Delta Blues, Phillips introduced the young Knopfler to the distinctive sound of “resonator” acoustic guitars.
Although it wasn’t the first resonator guitar he ever owned, Knopfler chooses as his second key guitar a 1937 National Style “O” guitar he bought from Phillips in 1978. The distinctive nickel-plated brass guitar, with its palm tree etchings around the edges and on the back, was featured on the cover of Dire Straits’ bestselling 1985 album Brothers in Arms, and was used for some of the band’s best songs. At one point in the film, Knopfler picks up the National and demonstrates how he hit on the famous arpeggio lines in “Romeo and Juliet,” from the Making Movies album, while experimenting with an open G tuning.
From Leeds, Illsley and Knopfler travel to the location of the original Pathway Studios in London, where they recorded their 1978 debut album, Dire Straits. Knopfler picks up his third key guitar, a 1961 Fender Stratocaster, and plays a few notes from the band’s breakthrough song, “Sultans of Swing.” The Stratocaster was the guitar Knopfler had always wanted, but as his music progressed he sought to diversify his sound. Knopfler’s fourth key guitar, which he played on Brothers in Arms, is a sunburst 1958 Gibson Les Paul. In one particularly interesting moment in the film, Knopfler explains how he came up with the distinctive guitar sound for the hit song “Money for Nothing” by playing the Les Paul through a static, partly depressed wah-wah pedal.
While touring with Dire Straits, Knopfler found it difficult to constantly change back and forth between guitars, so he decided to look for a single guitar that could produce a variety of sounds. To explain what happened next, Knopfler and Illsley travel to the SoHo neighborhood of New York, where they pay a visit to Rudy’s Music on Broome Street and talk to the proprietor, Knopfler’s longtime friend Rudy Pensa, who has built custom guitars since 1982. Knopfler and Pensa describe their collaboration on the design of Knopfler’s fifth key guitar, the Pensa MK-1, which he played during his final years with Dire Straits.
The film ends with a visit to the Long Island workshop of master luthier John Monteleone. In 2008 Monteleone built the sixth key guitar in Knopfler’s life, the acoustic “Isabella” archtop, named after Knopfler’s eldest daughter. Knopfler was so inspired by Monteleone’s craftsmanship that he wrote a song called “Monteleone” for his 2009 solo album, Get Lucky. The song speaks eloquently of Knopfler’s admiration of Monteleone and, between the lines perhaps, of his lifelong love affair with guitars:
Knopfler tells the story of that first guitar and five others that shaped his career in this fascinating 45-minute documentary that aired in Britain last October on the Sky Arts television channel. Guitar Stories: Mark Knopfler is hosted by Knopfler’s friend and co-founder of Dire Straits, bassist John Illsley. The film offers a number of insights into Knopfler’s music and the key instruments that influenced his evolving style.
From the opening scenes at a music shop in Newcastle’s Central Arcade, where the young Knopfler spent hours staring at guitars through windows, Illsley and Knopfler move on to the city of Leeds, where Knopfler once worked as a junior reporter for the Yorkshire Evening Post. There they meet up with his longtime friend and mentor Steve Phillips, a member of Knopfler’s post-Dire Straits band The Notting Hillbillies. An aficionado of the Delta Blues, Phillips introduced the young Knopfler to the distinctive sound of “resonator” acoustic guitars.
Although it wasn’t the first resonator guitar he ever owned, Knopfler chooses as his second key guitar a 1937 National Style “O” guitar he bought from Phillips in 1978. The distinctive nickel-plated brass guitar, with its palm tree etchings around the edges and on the back, was featured on the cover of Dire Straits’ bestselling 1985 album Brothers in Arms, and was used for some of the band’s best songs. At one point in the film, Knopfler picks up the National and demonstrates how he hit on the famous arpeggio lines in “Romeo and Juliet,” from the Making Movies album, while experimenting with an open G tuning.
From Leeds, Illsley and Knopfler travel to the location of the original Pathway Studios in London, where they recorded their 1978 debut album, Dire Straits. Knopfler picks up his third key guitar, a 1961 Fender Stratocaster, and plays a few notes from the band’s breakthrough song, “Sultans of Swing.” The Stratocaster was the guitar Knopfler had always wanted, but as his music progressed he sought to diversify his sound. Knopfler’s fourth key guitar, which he played on Brothers in Arms, is a sunburst 1958 Gibson Les Paul. In one particularly interesting moment in the film, Knopfler explains how he came up with the distinctive guitar sound for the hit song “Money for Nothing” by playing the Les Paul through a static, partly depressed wah-wah pedal.
While touring with Dire Straits, Knopfler found it difficult to constantly change back and forth between guitars, so he decided to look for a single guitar that could produce a variety of sounds. To explain what happened next, Knopfler and Illsley travel to the SoHo neighborhood of New York, where they pay a visit to Rudy’s Music on Broome Street and talk to the proprietor, Knopfler’s longtime friend Rudy Pensa, who has built custom guitars since 1982. Knopfler and Pensa describe their collaboration on the design of Knopfler’s fifth key guitar, the Pensa MK-1, which he played during his final years with Dire Straits.
The film ends with a visit to the Long Island workshop of master luthier John Monteleone. In 2008 Monteleone built the sixth key guitar in Knopfler’s life, the acoustic “Isabella” archtop, named after Knopfler’s eldest daughter. Knopfler was so inspired by Monteleone’s craftsmanship that he wrote a song called “Monteleone” for his 2009 solo album, Get Lucky. The song speaks eloquently of Knopfler’s admiration of Monteleone and, between the lines perhaps, of his lifelong love affair with guitars:
Eric Clapton recently allowed a camera crew into his London home for an intimate talk. The purpose was to demonstrate a new series of high-priced, limited-edition reproductions of some of his most famous guitars, which will soon go on sale to benefit his Crossroads Centre in Antigua. But as Rolling Stone noted in a recent online piece, the conversation went much deeper.
In the video above, Clapton tries out a replica of an early sunburst Fender Stratocaster, nicknamed “Brownie,” that he purchased in 1967 and played with Derek and the Dominoes. The original guitar, which had a heavily worn maple neck that Clapton attached to a Fender Telecaster body during his days with Blind Faith, was sold at auction in 1999 for $497,500. The replicas were made by the Fender Custom Shop and will sell for $15,000. In the video, Clapton plugs the guitar into a 1950s-era Fender “Tweed Twin” amplifier and tries it out, playing a few blues lines and reminiscing about his early Stratocaster-playing influences: Buddy Holly, Buddy Guy and Jimi Hendrix.
In the video above, Clapton tries out a replica of an early sunburst Fender Stratocaster, nicknamed “Brownie,” that he purchased in 1967 and played with Derek and the Dominoes. The original guitar, which had a heavily worn maple neck that Clapton attached to a Fender Telecaster body during his days with Blind Faith, was sold at auction in 1999 for $497,500. The replicas were made by the Fender Custom Shop and will sell for $15,000. In the video, Clapton plugs the guitar into a 1950s-era Fender “Tweed Twin” amplifier and tries it out, playing a few blues lines and reminiscing about his early Stratocaster-playing influences: Buddy Holly, Buddy Guy and Jimi Hendrix.
Eric Clapton Tries Out Guitars at Home and Talks About the Beatles, Cream, and His Musical Roots in Music | February 23rd, 2013 11 Comments
“Brownie” Fender Stratocaster:
Eric Clapton recently allowed a camera crew into his London home for an intimate talk. The purpose was to demonstrate a new series of high-priced, limited-edition reproductions of some of his most famous guitars, which will soon go on sale to benefit his Crossroads Centre in Antigua. But as Rolling Stone noted in a recent online piece, the conversation went much deeper.
In the video above, Clapton tries out a replica of an early sunburst Fender Stratocaster, nicknamed “Brownie,” that he purchased in 1967 and played with Derek and the Dominoes. The original guitar, which had a heavily worn maple neck that Clapton attached to a Fender Telecaster body during his days with Blind Faith, was sold at auction in 1999 for $497,500. The replicas were made by the Fender Custom Shop and will sell for $15,000. In the video, Clapton plugs the guitar into a 1950s-era Fender “Tweed Twin” amplifier and tries it out, playing a few blues lines and reminiscing about his early Stratocaster-playing influences: Buddy Holly, Buddy Guy and Jimi Hendrix.
Martin 000-28 and 000-45:
Above, Clapton tries out a pair of acoustic guitars made in his honor by Martin & Co. He talks about his early infatuation with Martin guitars, which he developed after hearing other musicians talk about them and after seeing footage of Big Bill Broonzy playing the 000-28 model. Unlike the other “Crossroads Collection” guitars, the Martins were apparently not modeled after individual guitars Clapton once played, but were instead handmade to his specifications. The Crossroads model 000-28 will sell for $6,000 and the 000-48 will be offered in two editions made with different materials, one for $13,000 and the other for $50,000.
Eric Clapton Tries Out Guitars at Home and Talks About the Beatles, Cream, and His Musical Roots in Music | February 23rd, 2013 11 Comments
“Brownie” Fender Stratocaster:
Eric Clapton recently allowed a camera crew into his London home for an intimate talk. The purpose was to demonstrate a new series of high-priced, limited-edition reproductions of some of his most famous guitars, which will soon go on sale to benefit his Crossroads Centre in Antigua. But as Rolling Stone noted in a recent online piece, the conversation went much deeper.
In the video above, Clapton tries out a replica of an early sunburst Fender Stratocaster, nicknamed “Brownie,” that he purchased in 1967 and played with Derek and the Dominoes. The original guitar, which had a heavily worn maple neck that Clapton attached to a Fender Telecaster body during his days with Blind Faith, was sold at auction in 1999 for $497,500. The replicas were made by the Fender Custom Shop and will sell for $15,000. In the video, Clapton plugs the guitar into a 1950s-era Fender “Tweed Twin” amplifier and tries it out, playing a few blues lines and reminiscing about his early Stratocaster-playing influences: Buddy Holly, Buddy Guy and Jimi Hendrix.
Martin 000-28 and 000-45:
Above, Clapton tries out a pair of acoustic guitars made in his honor by Martin & Co. He talks about his early infatuation with Martin guitars, which he developed after hearing other musicians talk about them and after seeing footage of Big Bill Broonzy playing the 000-28 model. Unlike the other “Crossroads Collection” guitars, the Martins were apparently not modeled after individual guitars Clapton once played, but were instead handmade to his specifications. The Crossroads model 000-28 will sell for $6,000 and the 000-48 will be offered in two editions made with different materials, one for $13,000 and the other for $50,000.
“Lucy” Gibson Les Paul:
Perhaps the most interesting of the three videos involves a guitar Clapton is not usually associated with: a Gibson Les Paul. The guitar is a reproduction of a heavily worn 1957 cherry-red guitar Clapton bought in about 1967, when he was touring America with Cream. He gave the guitar to George Harrison of the Beatles, who nicknamed it “Lucy” and played it on the White Album and Let it Be. When Clapton accepted Harrison’s request to play lead guitar on the recording of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” he played it on Lucy. In the video, Clapton reminisces about the Beatles session and talks about the amplifier he used during his days with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers and the ones he used afterwards. Harrison briefly loaned the original Lucy Les Paul back to Clapton, who played it during his famous Rainbow Concert in 1973, but the guitar still belongs to the Harrison estate. The Gibson-made replicas will sell for $15,000 each.
“Brownie” Fender Stratocaster:
Eric Clapton recently allowed a camera crew into his London home for an intimate talk. The purpose was to demonstrate a new series of high-priced, limited-edition reproductions of some of his most famous guitars, which will soon go on sale to benefit his Crossroads Centre in Antigua. But as Rolling Stone noted in a recent online piece, the conversation went much deeper.
In the video above, Clapton tries out a replica of an early sunburst Fender Stratocaster, nicknamed “Brownie,” that he purchased in 1967 and played with Derek and the Dominoes. The original guitar, which had a heavily worn maple neck that Clapton attached to a Fender Telecaster body during his days with Blind Faith, was sold at auction in 1999 for $497,500. The replicas were made by the Fender Custom Shop and will sell for $15,000. In the video, Clapton plugs the guitar into a 1950s-era Fender “Tweed Twin” amplifier and tries it out, playing a few blues lines and reminiscing about his early Stratocaster-playing influences: Buddy Holly, Buddy Guy and Jimi Hendrix.
Martin 000-28 and 000-45:
Above, Clapton tries out a pair of acoustic guitars made in his honor by Martin & Co. He talks about his early infatuation with Martin guitars, which he developed after hearing other musicians talk about them and after seeing footage of Big Bill Broonzy playing the 000-28 model. Unlike the other “Crossroads Collection” guitars, the Martins were apparently not modeled after individual guitars Clapton once played, but were instead handmade to his specifications. The Crossroads model 000-28 will sell for $6,000 and the 000-48 will be offered in two editions made with different materials, one for $13,000 and the other for $50,000.
Eric Clapton Tries Out Guitars at Home and Talks About the Beatles, Cream, and His Musical Roots in Music | February 23rd, 2013 11 Comments
“Brownie” Fender Stratocaster:
Eric Clapton recently allowed a camera crew into his London home for an intimate talk. The purpose was to demonstrate a new series of high-priced, limited-edition reproductions of some of his most famous guitars, which will soon go on sale to benefit his Crossroads Centre in Antigua. But as Rolling Stone noted in a recent online piece, the conversation went much deeper.
In the video above, Clapton tries out a replica of an early sunburst Fender Stratocaster, nicknamed “Brownie,” that he purchased in 1967 and played with Derek and the Dominoes. The original guitar, which had a heavily worn maple neck that Clapton attached to a Fender Telecaster body during his days with Blind Faith, was sold at auction in 1999 for $497,500. The replicas were made by the Fender Custom Shop and will sell for $15,000. In the video, Clapton plugs the guitar into a 1950s-era Fender “Tweed Twin” amplifier and tries it out, playing a few blues lines and reminiscing about his early Stratocaster-playing influences: Buddy Holly, Buddy Guy and Jimi Hendrix.
Martin 000-28 and 000-45:
Above, Clapton tries out a pair of acoustic guitars made in his honor by Martin & Co. He talks about his early infatuation with Martin guitars, which he developed after hearing other musicians talk about them and after seeing footage of Big Bill Broonzy playing the 000-28 model. Unlike the other “Crossroads Collection” guitars, the Martins were apparently not modeled after individual guitars Clapton once played, but were instead handmade to his specifications. The Crossroads model 000-28 will sell for $6,000 and the 000-48 will be offered in two editions made with different materials, one for $13,000 and the other for $50,000.
“Lucy” Gibson Les Paul:
Perhaps the most interesting of the three videos involves a guitar Clapton is not usually associated with: a Gibson Les Paul. The guitar is a reproduction of a heavily worn 1957 cherry-red guitar Clapton bought in about 1967, when he was touring America with Cream. He gave the guitar to George Harrison of the Beatles, who nicknamed it “Lucy” and played it on the White Album and Let it Be. When Clapton accepted Harrison’s request to play lead guitar on the recording of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” he played it on Lucy. In the video, Clapton reminisces about the Beatles session and talks about the amplifier he used during his days with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers and the ones he used afterwards. Harrison briefly loaned the original Lucy Les Paul back to Clapton, who played it during his famous Rainbow Concert in 1973, but the guitar still belongs to the Harrison estate. The Gibson-made replicas will sell for $15,000 each.
Gryphon Strings from Cinema Mercantile on Vimeo.