DA VINCI UPDATED
Leonardo da Vinci filled his notebooks with sketches of fantastic and complex things, attesting to his extraordinary versatility. Now the Victoria and Albert Museum has used a combination of traditionally drawn and computer- generated animations to bring nine of them to life. In one example, his Vitruvian Man has a wing slowly constructed across his left arm, in another you see a pulsing human heart slowly expand in size and reveal its inner workings. Drawings of humans in motion do indeed move. His ideas on warfare, geometrical solids and light rays are also ingeniously updated.
www.tinyurl.com/yheuoa

FILM FOUL-UPS
Smug film geeks take great delight in spotting mistakes by film-makers. They should therefore be in seventh heaven when they discover a site dedicated to foul-ups. Martin Scorsese’s big new hit The Departed has already come under scrutiny for 12 errors, which are categorised under “Revealing” (when the moviegoer’s suspension of disbelief is disturbed by wonky props), the self-explanatory “Continuity” and the insanely pedantic “ Factual error”. Here it is claimed that “it is impossible for Matt Damon to have an apartment overlooking the (Boston) State House from that angle. Where his apartment and balcony would be, there are actually business buildings.” Elsewhere on the site, enjoy “Most mistakes” and “Best mistakes”.
www.moviemistakes.com

BLOG OF THE WEEK
“Born from a simple passion for theatre”, the London Theatre Blog is an erudite take on the world of drama.

It delves into such diverse subjects as BBC radio plays, an Iraqi theatre company, and the meaning of the subtext in Bernard-Marie Koltès’s play In the Solitude of Cotton Fields. Learn to appreciate the pitfalls of participatory performance. A list of the best theatre-related sites and an events calendar are included and you can look forward to such ambitious forthcoming articles as “Theatre and the Blogosphere” and “The state of dramaturgy in the UK”.
www.londontheatreblog.co.uk

PODCAST OF THE WEEK
For years National Geographic magazine has won acclaim for exploring parts of the globe that people never knew existed. Turning its hand to music, its Afropop Worldwide podcast takes a look at the vitality of a continent that has produced Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Salif Keita and Fela Kuti, and its influence on the wider musical world.

The range of genres and artists it covers is eye- opening; take your pick from episodes that cover such subjects as the Coca-Cola Ebony Festival in Dakar, Novo Tropicalismo, Ethiopia’s “unique, brassy pop music” and current trailblazers such as Souad Massi of Algeria.
www.podcast.nationalgeographic.com/afropop