Friday, October 31, 2008

Halloween Video

Video Find of the Day

I should have known The Onion would have the Halloween video I was looking for.

In The Know: Has Halloween Become Overcommercialized?

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Gillespie & Armstrong

Video Find of the Day

I went looking for a Halloween video and got distracted. I won't try to explain how I got distracted this far.

Not only do you get two jazz greats, you get spit.

Dizzy Gillespie & Louis Armstrong - Umbrella Man

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Uyghur Dance

Video Find of the Day

Builds to a thrilling finish. I really like the old-guy-dancers.

Uyghur dance: Dolan meshripi (CCTV dance competition)

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Obama Internship

Video Find of the Day

Next week: McCain's Retirement.

The Onion: Obama Undertakes Presidential Internship

Monday, October 27, 2008

Segovia

Video Find of the Day

Long day, starting at 3:30 AM to write the week's column, means I need something relatively peaceful to end with. Maybe not everybody's idea of peaceful, but works for me.

Leyenda [excerpt] Andres Segovia - Issac Albeniz (1860-1909)

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Children of the Night

Video Find of the Day

I saw parts of this tonight on Classics Showcase and remembered how great it was. Truly one of the top 20 movies of all time, for sure, for sure.

"I never drink... wine."

My favorite part of this sequence is the last minute.

Dwight Frye - Renfield meets Dracula (Dracula - 1931)

Saturday, October 25, 2008

You're A Mohammaden; I'm French!

Video Find of the Day

Unbelievably campy opening to a 1929 movie about Moroccan desert fighters. You have a guy in Arab garb who looks like a short bin Laden. You have exchanges like this: "She's only a woman! Give her up!" -- "That's the Oriental in you! You can't understand Western love!" And this is just the beginning of the movie!

THE DESERT 'MELODY' ~ FROM 1929 (one)

Friday, October 24, 2008

Thumpin' and Pluckin'

Video Find of the Day

Three videos of Larry Graham (Sly & the Family Stone; Graham Central Station) playing snippets, looking like an ad for greatest hits and covers. But it's all good, and you get to learn about fuzz and stuff, if you stick with it.

Larry Graham - Funk Original Pt.1



Larry Graham - Funk Original Pt.2



Larry Graham - Funk Original Pt.3

Thursday, October 23, 2008

The Sun Of The World

Video Find of the Day

"Songs from Nor mgo village, Rtse Khog county, Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai province,PRC."

'tdam gling gi nyi ma (The sun of the world)

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Tomatito

Video Find of the Day

A Flamenco guitar version of the song that gets my vote for best of the 20th Century. Tomatito is a popular name of José Fernández Torres

Tomatito - Bésame mucho

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Gay Racehorse

Video Find of the Day

We loves it.

The Onion: First Openly Gay Racehorse To Compete Sunday

Monday, October 20, 2008

Seth MacFarlane

Video Find of the Day

Seth MacFarlane is the creator of Family Guy. When the headmaster of his former high school found out, the Rev. Richardson W. Schell, he asked Fox not to run it. MacFarlane's parents, who both taught at the school, resigned in protest. Cool.

Anyway, now Seth puts out a weekly internet short cartoon clip on YouTube at SethComedy. Click on that and you'll see all the clips so far, one after the other. This one below is the current one.

Cat Staff Meeting

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Chant, Crowd

Video Find of the Day

Some rock.

Joe Satriani - Crowd Chant [LIVE]

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Four Generations of Flamenco

Video Find of the Day

A couple of videos from a 2005 documentary called Herencias Flamenca. IMDB has nothing to say about the content of the film as a whole but the video descriptions say it chronicles "four generations of a gitano musical dynasty." The clips show a family reunion. I especially like the kids and the old people.

familia habichuela por bulerias



I couldn't embed the second one -- Los Habichuela -Ketama juerga flamenca, "The Flamenco Clan" -- but it's here.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Old Lautari

Video Find of the Day

Old recordings of Romanian musicians. I can't believe this is out there. Warning: the transitions from sample to sample are really abrupt. Also, the first video ends with a long period of dead silence.

Lautari of the Past: Part 1



Lautari of the Past: Part 2

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Rhapsody Rabbit

Video Find of the Day

To me this cartoon totally cuts against the grain of the whole Bugs Bunny franchise. Where's Elmer Fudd? Why is Bugs the villain? What's a mouse doing here? Why is the anarchist bunny bothered by the anarchist mouse?

Rhapsody Rabbit

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Fannie Mae Guthrie

Video Find of the Day

Almost 30 years ago a government bailout of Chrysler inspired Tom Paxton to write something called "I'm Changing My Name To Chrysler." Now, Arlo Guthrie has updated it.

Arlo Guthrie/I'm Changing My Name To Fannie Mae

Shorts

I once belonged to a writer's network that cultivated the art of writing extremely short pieces. Members submitted 200-words-or-less pieces to be voted and commented upon. Cleaning my room tonight I found some printouts of mine. I thought I'd share.

"My Dinner Doggy"

From whence my dinner doggy?
Oh tell me, if I please!
The one who drinks 'til groggy
Then pees upon his knees.
The doggy I call "froggy"
Because I'm such a tease.
From whence my dinner doggy?
Oh tell me, or I'll sneeze.

His butt was 'pon a loggy.
'Twas just about to freeze.
His fur was much too soggy
His tail flapped in the breeze.
And crawling 'bout his noggy
Were sixty-seven fleas.
They'll add fine spice to "froggy"
When I scoff him down with cheese.

From thence my dinner doggy.
Now where'd I put my keys?

"Pizza Dream"

There is the dream of someone else. At first, I may be the star in it. That's how it gets my attention. The hook. There's coffee and pizza, too. But it's just to suck me in. I'm there for minutes, I get some pizza, then I turn into a dog or a cat and then the real dreamer walks in and takes over. Last night I turned into three blackbirds. I woke up with a splitting headache.

Why does this guy want me to be present in his dreams? I'm just present there, I don't get to do anything, I'm just an audience in the form of whatever fauna he's obsessing on at the moment. I don't know this guy. I don't want to know him. I should be in dreams of my own. I have my own wishes that need fulfilling. That should be MY cigar, MY railroad tunnel, MY leap off a tall building to certain death. That should be ME drowning, flying, being chased by an ax murderer.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Our Gang

Video Find of the Day

This was daily fare for me in the 50s. Our Gang, Spanky & Our Gang, whatever they were called, were always cropping up on daytime TV. This is the cream of situational comedy.

Our Gang Little Rascals "Fishy Tales" (1937)

Monday, October 13, 2008

Puericity

Video Find of the Day

In the interest of accuracy I should say that this is, by definition, puerile.

The Onion: 12-Year-Old Boy Scouts Offer To Give Breast Exams

Adore The Sid!

If you look upper right you will see a new "gadget" on this blog. It's an artifact of Facebook, my latest jag.

I am not the only one on this jag. My woman, Anitra "Jagmeister" Freeman is on this jag. My über-boss Timothy Harris is on this jag. Dennis Kucinich is on this jag. And now, Sidney Vicious, the Cat, is on this same jag.

Sid has a Facebook page. If you want to see it, you must be a member of Facebook. If you do that, and go to the "Sid Vicious, the Cat" page, you can become a fan, by clicking on "Become a fan" or some such thing. Please do, because far too few humans have demonstrated their adoration for the One True God.

Your Master:

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Rebroff

Video Find of the Day

Another post brought to you by OCD-delivery.

I cluck melodies out all the time and never get any respect for it. Maybe if I had a better voice when I broke into song between cluckings that would change.

I'm not sure the title is right. It's Poljuschko Polje, for sure, but I thought Cossack Patrol was something else.

Ivan Rebroff - Poljuschko Polje (Cossack Patrol)

Shumba Marimba

Last night Real Change was among the honorees at a dinner put on by Washington State Jobs with Justice, so we got a table up front. The program included amazing performances by Shumba Youth Marimba Ensemble. This is one of those. You can see our director Tim Harris to my right. He has more to say about the event at his blog.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Robeson & Joe Hill

Video Find of the Day

Scenes of a protest in the streets of NYC under Giuliani. The background song is performed by Paul Robeson, so you may want to turn the sound down accordingly. He stressed my own lousy speakers.

This may or may not closely parallel anything going on now, anywhere. We'll probably know better in a week or two. The world appears to be realigning.

Joe Hill protest in the Streets

Friday, October 10, 2008

Gypsy Fiddling

Video Find of the Day

This is the sort of thing that got me hooked on the genre. No regrets.

Virtuoso of the Gypsy Music,Csardas (Sándor Lakatos)

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Chot

Video Find of the Day

About one minute into this video you will see where the idea for LCD displays came from. Fifteen seconds later you'll witness a 1934 precursor of The Wave. Then, out will come Lyda Roberti, who will tell you she is chot (pronounce as in German) and sizzling, and she will sing a song entitled "Take A Number From One To Ten." One video, so much.

Jazzy Musical Number from 1934

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Election News Critique

Video Find of the Day

Recent War For The White House entry by the Onion. Not about the election, but about the coverage. Really, a horrid little video actually.

The Onion: Gunman Kills 15 Potential Swing Voters

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Kirk Douglas' Baby

Video Find of the Day

Spartacus was a cool movie, but my favorite Kirk Douglas movie is also one of my favorite movies ever, Lonely Are The Brave. In this interview in seven parts, Douglas calls it his baby. It's his favorite, too.

I loved it from the first time I saw it at 14. It means more to me now. Having been homeless I've been outside too many fences.

The videos were posted by ChisoxGuy. I've collected them in one playlist that runs about 14 minutes.

Lonely Are The Brave-An Interview with Kirk Douglas, Parts 1-7

We May Survive The Asteroid

Good news from astronomy today!

A meteoroid blew up yesterday in the earth's atmosphere over the Sudan releasing a TNT-kiloton of energy!

Why this is good news:

It was spotted "incoming" about a day earlier by an observer at the Catalina Sky Survey 1.5 meter telescope north of Tucson, Arizona. This was the first time in history that a meteoroid on collision course with the earth was spotted and tracked prior to collision.

The meteoroid itself was at most 15 feet across. This is wonderful news. If we can spot the little ones before they hit, we can spot the big ones.

We won't survive our own greed or gluttony & we'll destroy the planet we have, but we'll probably have plenty of warning before the Mother Of All Asteroids disintegrates us, in time to divert it with the very last of our resources.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Teapot Brass

Video Find of the Day

What with the impending depression, maybe the musically inclined among us might want to watch this video and gets some tips on how to carry on.

Eddie Thomas & Carl Scott - My Ohio Home 1928

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Nickels Can Kiss My Pink Ass

Video Find of the Day

The latest news I've seen out of Nickelsville is that the city is prepared to start fining everybody involved for land use violations, and everybody with a name resembling somebody involved, or known to have talked to anybody involved, or having expressed support, or having been rumored to have done so. The Notice Of Violation specifically charges encampment residents John and Jane Doe. They, the Does, as the others, will be subject to fines of $150 per day. I immediately thought, "I'm a supporter. I AM John Doe." Next I thought of this scene, which bears recalling. Fuck Nickels.

Spartacus [Don't have a clue what language the subtitles are in.]

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Comfort Music

Video Find of the Day

When I'm in a foul mood, like after spending 6 hours dealing with insanity, I look for comfort music. My favorite comfort music includes Rhapsody in Blue, various Requia (sp, grammar?) and Funeral Marches (which facilitate lovely fantasies of murder and mayhem) and this classic.

Mozart - Rondo Alla Turca

Friday, October 3, 2008

Doggies!

Video Find of the Day

I first saw Mon Oncle (France, 1958) on a weak local channel afternoon movie program, ca 1967. It mesmerized me. It was amazingly slow and laid back, and I was not doing drugs or pot, in spite of the times, but yet I was mesmerized. Soul will do that to you. If you can harness soul, you can do anything.

Mon Oncle (1958) [dog scene in opening]

Thursday, October 2, 2008

UTU

Video Find of the Day

UTU (1983) is one of my top five favorite movies of all time. It got very little attention in the US when it was released here. It has generally been treated as either an art film or as an adventure film. It's neither. It's drama, about a clash of cultures and revenge ("utu" is often translated as revenge.) In the first scene of the first video below, TeWheke is a Maori fighting on the side of colonialists near the end of the Maori Wars in New Zealand, when his own village is destroyed by his unit. The movie follows his subsequent revenge. The second scene of the clip shows the opening of TeWheke's personal war.

Utu-TeWheke



UTU is unique among movies that represent a clash of cultures, in that it doesn't try to get the viewer involved by offering a hero he can identify with. There's no Kevin Kostner character in this movie.

Loving Polynesian chant, this next scene is naturally my favorite. In it, we see a unit of Maori soldiers fighting on the colonial side. They are in the hills on the trail of TeWheke and his warriors. They stop for a little uplifting mutual cheer.

Utu - Haka

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Too Much Time on Facebook

Video Find of the Day

Because Timothy Harris, Real Change Director, confessed to joining Facebook, I was deeply concerned, and went in after him, to help shove him in a van and deliver him to the de-programmers.

Once in Facebook I became lost. I made friends with people I thought were already friends. But now, I can poke them, send them kisses, and write on their walls.

Because of the extraordinary amount of wasted time all this represents, today's video find reduces to a plea that pole dancing finally be accepted as an Olympic sport. I mean, look at this. Really. This beats the parallel bars with a two-by-four.

Pantera pole dance act 3 for Hysteria @ noc noc on 7.23.08