How many great orchestras do we have?

We'll get to that in a moment. First, a look at an underappreciated art: the furniture of video games.

The article discusses the Sims, which had ugly furniture. Unless you bought the IKEA pack. Nothing about the interiors of Bioshock Infinite, which were quite remarkable.

And what of Doom? So many office chairs! At least two styles!

MOVIES I was going to discuss the impact of the Hunger Games movies, but then I realized I would be quoting a story that said

"The far-reaching relevance of Katniss' fight for freedom is so current that the Harry Potter Alliance has successfully launched the #MyHungerGames campaign two years running"

I think you can divide the entire world along the lines of People who Are Aware of the Harry Potter Alliance, and people who aren't, and I know where I stand. So let's move along.

ART I had the honor of performing with the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra yesterday afternoon, narrating "Journey into Jazz." Great fun - and what an orchestra! They tore up the Rossini and Beethoven with the brio you'd expect from big professional organizations, and reminded you that the idea the 'burbs are empty bland expanses devoid of culture is nonsense. "Journey" was written by Gunther Schuller, and here's what Wikipedia says about his early days:

Yikes.

VotD Sudden-acceleration syndrome, Russia-style:

Liveleak posts the Google Translate version of the news story: "Drunk motorist from Novosibirsk imprinted own long journey, ending a serious traffic accident on the street soldiers. The TV channel '360' published record of the incident, which occurred the day on 22 November. In the shooting, made road recorder, you can see how the car starts moving uncertainly, and then stopping on the roadside. Gradually he picked up speed, causing dodge oncoming pedestrians. Then parked the car touched a foreign car, which apparently does not bother the man at the wheel."