The compilation of film director Paul Thomas Anderson's extreme close-ups is yet another excellent editing work from Jacob T. Swiney. The soundtrack is the songs "Wonderful World" by Sam Cooke and "Boogie Shoes" by KC and The Sunshine Band.

The following films were used:

• Hard Eight (1996)
• Boogie Nights (1997)
• Magnolia (1999)
• Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
• There Will be Blood (2007)
• The Master (2012)
• Inherent Vice (2014)

Don't miss Jacob's wonderful edit "First and Final Frames" of the opening and closing shots of 55 films.

And in closing, the compilation of film director Darren Aronofsky's sound effect shots.

The episode "Trading Stories with The Printers" in Lee Howell's ongoing video series "Trading Stories", is just a beautiful portrait of two skilled craftsmen, Lou Young and Bud Obst, who try to preserve the art of traditional printing at Ferrymead Printing Society in New Zealand. Directed by Simon Waterhouse, this short film is meditative, full of love, and a homage to great craftsmanship.

The two-part BBC documentary "Traders: Millions by the Minute" is a fascinating look into the world of trading. In the documentary, you'll meet both industry veterans and beginners.

You'll meet hedge fund manager Karen Finerman, traders working at the trading floor or by computers in Chicago, New York and London, and the large number of retail day traders working from home. The documentary discusses the industry's transition from doing less floor trading to today's computerized trading, with big changes occuring in the latter area.

Watch part one:

And part two:

For more, visit my ongoing list of videos related to finance and trading

The short documentary "Pit Trading 101" (2013) directed by Jonathan Hoenig takes you back in time when pit trading flourished. Back in 1996, a documentary crew was given access to observe the teaching of a class of aspiring traders, a class that included director Hoenig himself, at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange when they had attended the University of Trading.

The footage was never used until 17 years later, and by then, computerized trading dominated the market, with only 250 floor traders working at Chicago Mercantile Exchange in 2013, compared to 10,000 in 1996.

The average person, observing the trading floor from one of the viewing stations, would see a chaotic mass of sweaty bodies, standing shoulder-to-shoulder, shouting and making incomprehensible hand gestures. But in reality, pit trading was an orderly process. The hand signals were used to communicate orders; once mastered, the traders could communicate faster with gestures than they could with their voices.

The trading floor attracted people from all walks of life. You didn't need an Ivy League degree; in fact, you didn’t need a diploma at all. A mix of intelligence, physicality, independence and tenacity enabled a person to thrive as a pit trader. You needed to be able to take a risk and think for yourself, to differentiate yourself and stand out in the crowd. These are lessons that transcend the pit.

Watch trailer:

A supercut of 62 sci-fi films from 1902 to today by Iban Corominas. The introduction speech by Orson Welles is taken from CBS Radio's radio drama "The War of the Worlds" (1938).

You find the complete list of films here.

Featured image: Tron (1982)

Online travel company Expedia lets you explore some of the largest cities in the world in their video series "One Day in One Minute".

One day in Barcelona, Spain:

One day in Prague, Czech Republic:

And one day in Austria:

Here's the rest of the cities currently available:

• Sydney, Australia
• London, England
• Istanbul, Turkey
• Berlin, Germany
• Miami, United States
• Bali, Indonesia
• Singapore
• Bangkok, Thailand
• Phuket, Thailand
• Amsterdam, the Netherlands
• Hong Kong, China
• San Francisco, United States
• Los Angeles, United States
• Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• New York, United States
• Bergen, Norway
• Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
• Budapest, Hungary
• Cancun, Mexico
• Guadalajara, Mexico
• Rotterdam, the Netherlands

Featured image: One Day in Bergen, Norway.

The ongoing The New York Pizza Project documents NYC's last authentic pizzerias by photographing and interviewing the people who run these places and the people visiting them. Living in Sweden, I found places like Katz's Deli in NYC to be somewhat exotic and fascinating, so I'll definitely follow this project.

The team behind this project has created a 192-page hardcover coffee table book of the material they've captured over the past five years.

For more, watch the short documentary "Delivery" to meet charismatic bike messenger Billy, who delivers pizza, and/or find out more about the The Pocket Pizza Journal that easily captures your best pizza moments.

Via kottke.org.

Featured image: Luigi's Pizza in South Slope, Brooklyn.

Based on the book "The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine" by author Michael Lewis, here's the trailer for the yet-to-be-released film "The Big Short" (2015) about the build up of the housing bubble in the mid-2000's and the resulting credit crisis and housing market crash.

Among the cast are Steve Carell, Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt, Melissa Leo, Max Greenfield and Marisa Tomei.

Update: Find out more on how to watch the film in digital (the site has audio autoplay enabled).

Via @SallyPancakes.

John Moschitta, Jr. is the former world record holder of being the fastest talker with the ability to articulate 586 words per minute. Since 1995, the world record holder is Sean Shannon, who broke Steve Woodmore's world record of 637 wpm that took place in 1990, with Sean being able to articulate 655 wpm.

In 1987, John got interviewed by reporter Marcus Jones for WGBH's The Ten O'Clock News in Boston, and he'll give you a speedy and, according to him, a sloppy version of Michael Jacksons' song "Bad", taken from the studio album with the same name that was released in August that year.

Here is the FedEx commercial they're talking about:

And here's the slowed down version. Pretty amazing!

You can still get hold of used copies of John's audio course "10-Minute University" over at Amazon. Here's the CD version.

In my daily Twitter feed, French digital multimedia communications expert and designer Nicolas Chapuis, posts some amazing photographic works done by others (and lots of other interesting things). If you're into photography, you'll definitely appreciate his feed.

But, he's also a very talented photographer himself, and below is a tiny selection of his work.

Havana, Cuba, December 1995:

Mountain hut Rifugio Giacoletti at Monte Viso, the highest mountain of the Cottian Alps, Italy:

A sandy beach in Seahouses, Northumberland Coast, England:

Col Sellière, the Cottian Alps:

Rifugio Granero (the Granero refuge), Pellice Valley, the Cottian Alps:

A lifeguard at beach Lumière, La Ciotat, Southern France:

Featured image: Abriès, the Regional Natural Park of Queyras, Southern Alps, France:

Former German investment banker Rainer Voss talks about his successfull career in the banking industry, and paints an unflattering picture of what went on behind the scenes in the documentary "Master of the Universe" (2013) – original title "Der Banker: Master of the Universe". When I watched the documentary, one thing stood out: the cinematography by Boerres Weiffenbach. He beautifully captures the setting of the 13-storey building located in Mainzer Landstrasse 23 in Frankfurt am Main, that has stood empty since 2007 after a merger between two banks.

For the first time, a true international finance industry insider tells all. Rainer Voss, a man who was once one of Germany's leading investment bankers and who easily handled millions in his heyday, reveals his personal insight on how the glittering financial world really operates, from all its dark abysses and lack of scruples to its semi-religious rules. Did the global financial crisis change anything? Voss's forecast is disquieting…

"One word characterizes our cinematic work in the finance industry: FEAR. The industry is afraid to reveal itself. Every move could be falsely interpreted by the outside world. Before they take that risk, they'd rather say nothing at all." Marc Bauder, Director

Watch the trailer:

You can watch the film via Amazon or at Distrify.

Huffington Post has provided us with a nice infographic and article about all the health benefits that follows a yoga practice.

The Eastern practice of yoga has become a modern-day symbol of peace, serenity and well-being in the West. More than 20 million Americans practice yoga, according to the 2012 Yoga in America study, with practitioners spending more than $10 billion a year on yoga-related products and classes.

The mind-body practice is frequently touted for its ability to reduce stress and boost well-being, but it also offers wide-ranging physical health benefits that rival other forms of exercise. While the scientific research on yoga's health benefits is still young, here's what we know so far about its potential effects on the body.

Via @bhanu_bhatnagar.

Image credit: Infographic by Jan Diehm for The Huffington Post.

Amazing wilderness visuals from the short film "La nuit du cerf" (Night of the Deer), edited by Laurent Joffrion, that accompany the book with the same name by wildlife photographer Vincent Munier. The book also comes with a CD of nature sounds recorded by Marc Namblard.

Watch surfers Kiron Jabour, Koa Rothman and Nathan Florence master some monster waves at Teahupo'o, a village on the island of Tahiti, French Polynesia, in the video "Liquid Monuments" by filmmaker Etienne Aurelius and award winning cinematographer Tim Bonython.

Via @Laurentjamet.

Related:

• Teahupo’o From Above: Drone Footage Captures Big Waves on Tahiti

Former Citi trader Anton Kreil, who now acts as the Managing Partner of the Institute of Trading and Portfolio Management, gives an excellent talk from 2013 to the students at Cass Business School about the art of trading.

Some things he covers are:

• how he started out trading
• the ins and outs of the trading and banking industry
• some sound advice to undergraduates
• traits of successful traders
• the transition to computerized trading
• how he got involved in the BBC production "Million Dollar Traders" (watch)
• man vs machine
• pitfalls of various trading courses
• the development of his own trading learning material
• and the freedom of being self-employed

Watch part one:

And here are the rest:

• part two
• part three
• part four
• part five
• part six

Related:

• The Forecaster (2014): The Man Who Can Predict Economic Growth and Financial Crises
• Hedge Fund Manager Ray Dalio's Principles
• On Yahoo! Finance: Why Wall Street Stockbrokers Should Consider Learning Transcendental Meditation

The documentary "The Forecaster" (2014) is one of the best documentaries I've seen. It portrays self-taught economist Martin Armstrong, whose Economic Confidence Model can predict economic growth and financial crises through the use of cycles.

I instantly became very fond of this poster design by ad agency Cold Open for the French film "Samba" (2014), with actors Omar Sy, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Tahar Rahim in the lead.

Image credit: Poster via IMP Awards.

Hedge fund manager Ray Dalio learned Transcendental Meditation in 1968 and has been an avid meditator since then. In this footage, Dalio talks at length at the John Main Centre for Meditation and Inter-Religious Dialogue at Georgetown University about his Transcendental Meditation practice, and how it has benefited him. A great conversation that might motivate you to start meditating, or keep you on track.

Read my post "Transcendental Meditation and the Alternatives" to learn more about how to start this type of practice.

Update: Another great talk with Ray Dalio about his Transcendental Meditation practice can be found here.

Image credit: Photograph by Jason Alden / Bloomberg.

The beautiful video of Håkan Hellström's "Valborg", from the live album "Håkan Boma Ye!" (2014). You find the complete album over at Spotify.

The ordinary life as a Star Wars Stormtrooper, as imagined by photographer Jorge Pérez Higuera.

Via Design Taxi.

Meditation teacher Bob Roth (@meditationbob), who serves as the executive director of the David Lynch Foundation, learned Transcendental Meditation in 1968 while a freshman at the University of California at Berkeley.

To draw from his rich experience, freelance writer Cathy Margel sits down with Roth for a lenghty interview to discuss the healing effects of Transcendental Meditation, and how and why it works so well.

Can you explain how TM lowers cortisol levels and what does that mean to someone with high anxiety?

Cortisol is a hormone secreted by the adrenal glands (which sit atop the kidneys) and has been called the "stress hormone." There are high levels of cortisol when we are stressed, fearful or anxious. And it becomes a vicious cycle. High levels of cortisol fuel high levels of anxiety, which then spur the adrenals to secrete more cortisol, so then we feel even more anxious. The whole process becomes a vicious cycle—and can even lead to a panic attack. A good night's sleep may drop cortisol levels by 10% to 12% but 20 minutes of TM reduces cortisol levels by 30% to 40%. TM is not magic. We are just accessing a mechanism in the nervous system to take profound rest at will. That allows the body to reset, or "reboot" itself. As a result, we are naturally far less anxious and tense and far calmer and happier inside throughout the day—and sleep much better at night.

Image credit: Cropped portrait of Bob by Cathy Margel.

Italian photographer Anna di Prospero's self-portraits take place in a variety of settings and circumstances. Here, from her photo series "Self-portrait in temporary houses".

Via Fubiz.

American best-selling author and negotiation expert William Ury has a rich library of streaming lectures, so that you can get to yes more often with yourself and others.

Image credit: Photography by Kiko Ferrite. Via Revista Trip.

Via Inc. Magazine.

In the country Belarus, local officials have since the 80's, commissioned artists to paint murals onto bus stops. Photographer Alexandra Soldatova has captured some of this art in her photo series "It Must Be Beautiful".

We tend to think of bus stops as utilitarian pieces of public infrastructure, but in the eastern European country of Belarus, they're works of art. Pretty birds, sunflowers, and glistening sunsets adorn their concrete walls — emblematic, photographer Alexandra Soldatova says, of the Belarussian desire to have everything looking "neat, clean, and beautiful."

Soldatova photographed the bus stops for her series It Must Be Beautiful. She told Hyperallergic that the paintings first began appearing in the 1980s, when local officials commissioned artists to embellish the structures. Their motifs vary from region to region; flowers grace the ones around the eastern town of Orsha, while idealized landscapes dominate those along the southern road of Zitkovich Turov.

Via Fubiz. H/t iGNANT.