I’ve tried many different ways of keeping track of the things I need to do. From trying to remember it all (yeah, that didn’t work) to writing everything down on post-it notes or in a notebook. I’ve yet to find the perfect solution to meet my needs. A recent post on Hacker News motivated me to try out some task management apps and see if I could find a better way to manage my tasks.

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I first heard of David Attenborough after getting addicted to Planet Earth, a revolutionary nature show that aired last spring. The show’s groundbreaking scenes and footage drove me to learn more about the team that captured these great moments.

Attenborough has been writing, producing and acting in nature videos for over thirty years. I’ve had the chance to watch a lot of his work, and I must say I have yet to be dissappointed. His DVDs have become one of my favorite things to watch. Here’s a short list of some of them along with their IMDB score (out of 10):

• Planet Earth, 9.8
• The Blue Planet, 9.4
• The Life of Mammals, 9.7
• Life in the Undergrowth, 9.5
• The Life of Birds, 9.4

Here’s a short clip of one of the best scenes in Planet Earth. It shows great white sharks hunting seals off the coast of South Africa. The action is slowed down to 1/50th speed to give you every detail:

Last night I watched a moving and exceptionally well made film, Paradise Now. It’s the story of two young Palestinian men who are chosen to carry out a suicide bombing against Israel. The film does a reasonably good job of showing arguments both for and against armed resistance while giving us a unique view into the lives and struggles of the Palestinian people.

The movie also gives a rarely seen view into how Hamas and other organizations recruit, organize and carry out such missions. One striking part of the operation involves an Israeli helping to smuggle the young Palestinians into Israel. I was shocked to realize this, but even in polarized conflicts there are those who are willing to help the other side in exchange for money. The film has a great ending that keeps you on the edge of your seat until the second the credits roll. I won’t ruin it, but this film is worth checking out.

Oh, and a surprise treat on the DVD was a trailer for Everything is Illuminated, which looks pretty good. It was a Warner Independent picture that not surprisingly didn’t get much promotion or distribution.

Back when I used to own a TV and one of the best commercial zapping DVRs around, I would record Frontline eposides on PBS. I usually would save them until I was feeling intellectual enough to watch. I would then be thankful for forcing myself to watching something intellectually stimulating as this is one of the best shows on TV.

Now that I don’t have a TV, I remembered, thanks to a recent WSJ article on good video watching on the web, that PBS lets you watch many of the Frontline episodes online for free.