Top Picks: Tony Molina's 'Kill the Lights,' PBS's 'Ancient Invisible Cities,' and more
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Beautiful blues
With his youthful, plaintive tenor voice leading the way, the San Francisco Bay Area’s Tony Molina, flanked by shimmering jangle-pop guitars, sounds like someone with a case of the beautiful blues, much closer to a melancholy Simon & Garfunkel than Howlin’ Wolf. The 10 songs on his latest collection, Kill the Lights, clock in at less than 15 minutes, but that’s no problem. The melodies are memorable and the hooks are more than effective. Heartbreak songs “Nothing I Can Say” and “Look Inside Your Mind/Losin’ Touch” permeate this touching gem of an album.
Typing away
Do you know a young person who needs to learn to type or are you looking to brush up on your own skills? The Typist app teaches touch typing, providing information on your accuracy and giving a score. The app is free for iOS.
Invisible no more
Developments in technology, including 3-D scans, have allowed us to learn more about cities such as Istanbul, Cairo, and Athens than we possibly could have otherwise. On the new PBS series Ancient Invisible Cities, archaeologist Darius Arya explores various historical sites and discusses the knowledge we have gained about these areas. The series debuts Aug. 29 at 9 p.m.
To market, to market
A new National Geographic video explores the biggest wholesale market in the world – the Yiwu International Trade City in Zhejiang, China. The video provides a glimpse of the many varied goods that are sold there and how the vendors spend their days. You can find the film, released through National Geographic’s Short Film Showcase, at http://bit.ly/yiwumarkets.
Avengers assembled
Marvel’s various heroes join together to fight a powerful foe – the villain Thanos (Josh Brolin) – in the latest from the comic book studio, Avengers: Infinity War. The movie stars Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., and Scarlett Johansson, among many others. Will the superheroes triumph against Thanos? The film is available on DVD and Blu-ray.
