I thought Jiro Dreams of Sushi was a really great documentary. Yes, it is about sushi, so for anyone who loves sushi it's a must-see (and I know there are a lot of general Japanophiles here...). But much more than that it is about two things: dedication to your craft and father-son relationships.

Jiro Ono exemplifies the concept of conatus. I always thought and was taught to be well-rounded and know and be good at a lot of things. That still holds true, but only recently I've realized that, at least professionally, you should probably choose one thing and just become the best at it. Watching Jiro really inspired me to figure out how I can go on a similar path myself, even though all my impulses tell me to be a "generalist." (After walking out of the theater I was inspired, but I also truly felt like shit because I was hit with the realization that I'm good at a lot of things but not AMAZING at anything).

The film also made me think a lot about father-son relationships. I want to write at length about this it's difficult without spoilers...

Triggered by recommendations from Will Newsome and Gwern I watched all episodes of Death Note in like 3 days and it's by far the best series I know of. I only comment here 'cause I feel really sorry for all the folks out there who haven't watched Death Note yet.

Here's a short overview by Gwern (spoiler warning!):

The anime/manga Death Note is interesting on many levels. The shinigami are unexpectedly Japanese versions of the Grim Reaper; the cosmology is remarkably atheistic1; its genre is almost unclassifiable (detective/mystery, drama, suspense, action, Greek tragedy, supernatural, or what?); the plot warrants considerable analysis, and furnishes considerable scope for thought - just coming up with ingenious ways of exploiting a Death Note consistent with the rules is good intellectual fun, or one can devise interesting theories to analyze (example: could one use information theory to devise optimal strategies for a Kira and a L?).

And here the beginning of a short plot summary (again by Gwern):

The plot is the important thing. The brilliant, ambitious & altruistic Light Yagami comes into possession of a small black notebook called a ‘Death Note’, which allows him to kill anyone he wishes by writing down their name.5 (The Death Note was abandoned by a supernatural being, the shinigami Ryuk, who watches everything Light does with his old Death Note and occasionally helps Light in exchange for delicious food.)

Naturally, Lights begins to use the Note and starts by systematically killing off criminals listed in public records. Arrogantly (or hubristically?) he makes no attempt to conceal his murders, and eventually police all over the world begin to notice that an untimely number of criminals are dying of heart attacks. They dispatch their best detective, L, to hunt Light down and bring him to justice. (L is not his real name, but L, N, & M all adopt pseudonyms to foil the Death Note.)

By clever ploys, L manages to narrow down Light’s location to his town, and begins hunting there in person. Light turns the Japanese police against L, but at the cost of narrowing down the pool of suspects so drastically that L puts Light at the top of the suspect list.

On AngryParsley and probably gwern's advice, I watched Puella Magi Madoka Magica. It starts out as a monster-of-the-week magical girl anime but quickly takes a turn for the absolutely bizarre, intersecting a few LW tropes on its way out.

I also watched the first season of Kore wa Zombie desu ka? (which I think would be better translated as "This is supposed to be a zombie?" or "This is what it means to be a zombie?"). It's also a memetic mutation of the magical girl genre; the main character is turned into a zombie and quickly gathers a harem of supernaturals, while accidentally draining the magic powers of the harem's token magical girl.

I wouldn't watch the second season until all of it is available; Hulu has a bad habit of giving up on a show halfway through (e.g., of all things, Serial Experiments Lain... facepalm).

At the risk of sounding like a sappy old grandmother, I really enjoyed Faces of America and the current follow-up series Finding Your Roots. You can watch them for free on PBS. They're both done by Henry Louis Gates (the Harvard professor that famously got arrested entering his own house).*

The show features extensive research into the genealogies of a whichever celebrities are on that episode. We learn interesting details about their ancestors but it's much more about the historical context in which those ancestors lived. Once the paper trail runs out (for some it's a few generations, for others a 1000+ years) the show turns to genetics.

A few cool things so far:

• about 40% of Ashkenazi Jews can trace their mDNA to just 4 women living somewhere in the Levant about 2,000 years ago (these were probably some really smart gals ;-)
• many African-Americans have a LOT more white ancestry than I previously thought
• thanks to a researcher that recently went around Western Africa taking genetic samples where the slave trade was prominent, many American blacks can now know which exact tribes they descend from
• I got to see Samuel Jackson's face when he saw a photo of his white ancestor

*Funny story: the officer that arrested him said that Gates told him "yo mama." He really said he was coming back from a recording with Yo-Yo Ma (who was featured in Faces of America).

I've been watching Prison Break, which I don't really recommend as "great", but is extremely gripping (at any given moment, everything is about to go wrong - they maintain ridiculous tension for almost all of Season 1). The main character is not particularly interesting, but demonstrates a lot of competence, intelligence and agency. So many shows have "reactive" heroes, and I've developed a particular appreciation for heroes that set themselves big goals and then go out and achieve them in a comprehensible manner.

Prometheus is to be avoided.

I've recently started watching Modern Family, and it's really good. It's a comedy, somewhat a la Arrested Development, about a strange family, although the humor is somewhat different - it's not nearly as dry as AD was, but it's still dry.

I very strongly recommend Avatar: the Legend of Korra. Great plot, strong characters, amazing worldbuiling and terrific art. Also, its very realistic in the sense of avoiding conservation of ninjutsu and several other fiction fallacies.

Film Crit Hulk is a stealth rationalist.

Here is a Monty Python sketch you might not be familiar with: Theory on brontosauruses by Anne Elk In future, when I have the urge to write a post here I am going to ask myself if my idea might be an 'Elk theory'

《舌尖上的中国》 seems to be translated to "A Bite of China" in English (bad translation in my opinion). I have found a few HD torrents and it also seems to be up on YouTube and other video sites. This is an amazing documentary about food in China. It is beautifully filmed, so even those who don't speak Chinese might enjoy it. For Chinese language students, it is packed full of excellent prose.

The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists - known as The Pirates! Band Of Misfits in the US, because scientists apparently don't sell (and that's quite apart from Charles Darwin being a main character). An Aardman Animations film for kids. UK-made, the US financial contribution only added a small amount of gratuitous pseudo-irony and one Dreamworks smirk.

Edit: I didn't actually say if it was any good. It is. Go see it :-)