September 11, 2001
An evening pause:. September 11, 2001. Nine years ago. We mustn’t forget. Such evil must be faced, and defeated.
Category: The Evening Pause
A nightly pause from the news to give the reader/viewer a bit of classic entertainment.
Corny Concerto
Someone in a tree
An evening pause: From Stephen Sondheim’s Pacific Overture, the song “Someone in a Tree,” from the 1976 Broadway production.
It’s the fragment, not the day
It’s the pebble, not the stream
It’s the ripple, not the sea
That is happening.
Not the building but the beam
Not the garden but the stone
Only cups of tea
And history
And someone in a tree.
Robinson Crusoe on Mars
An evening pause: The opening from the 1964 film, Robinson Crusoe on Mars. Though quickly dated by real events in the 1960s space race, this entertaining and surprisingly rational film shows how a determined man can survive, if he simply uses his brain.
Ares I first stage test firing
An evening pause: One week ago today the rocket company ATK test fired the first stage solid rocket motor of the Ares I rocket. At the moment, no one knows if this rocket will even be built, as the Obama administration opposes it while Congress argues a variety of options. Regardless, watch this video of the test and you will understand why it is fun ito build rockets.
Singing in the Rain
Kittens on vacuum
The best Johnny Carson show ever
An evening pause: This clip is only one segment from what Johnny Carson himself considered the best Tonight Show of all time. George Gobel comes on last and steals the show. Also, watch Dean Martin closely during the segment.
Marriage break up scene in Best Years of Our Lives
Totoro
An evening pause: My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Hayao Miyazaki’s classic animated film. This short segment near the film’s beginning, showing the family’s arrival in a new home, illustrates Miyazaki’s incredible ability for creating real characters in a real story, even if that story has a fantasy element.
Lawrence of Arabia
An evening pause: Lawrence of Arabia (1962). One of the greatest epic films ever made. And though the story is heavily dramatized, it captures quite accurately the substance and reality of T.E. Lawrence’s time in the Middle East during World War I. Sadly, I wonder if anything has changed.
Bugs Bunny — Water Water Every Hare
An evening pause: Bugs Bunny in Water Water Every Hare. “In my business you meet so many interesting people.”
“Going Home” from The Snake Pit
An evening pause: The Snake Pit (1948). The story of the rescue of an insane woman (played by Olivia de Havilland). This scene expresses the longing for sanity by all the patients in the insane asylum.
Stars Wars as told with lego
Angel Falls
Laura Petrie and Alan Brady – the toupee
An evening pause: From the 1960s Dick van Dyke Show, Laura Petrie (played by Mary Tyler Moore) has revealed to the world the fact that her husband’s boss, television star Alan Brady (played by Carl Reiner), is bald and wears a toupee. The scene in which she tries to apologize to Brady is probably one of television’s funniest scenes.
Bill Staines – Sweet Wyoming Home
Mount Huashan
An evening pause: Let’s take another hike in a place most people wouldn’t want to go. This time, to Mount Huashan in central China. This is a holy mountain with a temple at the top. To get there you need to climb up a lot of steps along an exposed ridgeline. Eventually, you must also put on a harness and do what is called the plank walk. Enjoy!
How can I keep from singing?
The Time Machine
An evening pause: A clip from The Time Machine (1960). Though not a completely accurate adaption, this enchanting film captured the essence of H.G. Wells’ novel. As Wells wrote,
But to me the future is still black and blank — is a vast ignorance, lit at a few casual places by the memory of [the Time Traveler’s] story. And I have by me, for my comfort, two strange white flowers — shrivelled now, and brown and flat and brittle — to witness that even when mind and strength had gone, gratitude and a mutual tenderness still lived on in the heart of man.
The Muppets again: Mahna Mahna
Cinema Paradiso
An evening pause: A concert performance of Ennio Morricone’s theme from Cinema Paradiso (1988), one of the best films ever made. Even if you don’t speak Italian, see it in Italian with subtitles, rather than the dubbed version.
Commando Daffy
Stan Rogers — Northwest Passage
An evening pause: Stan Rogers’ classic song, Northwest Passage.
For just one time, I would take the northwest passage
To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea,
Tracing one warm line through a land so wide and savage,
And make a northwest passage to the sea.
Jeff Dunham and Achmed the dead Terrorist
An evening pause: I love silly! Here is Jeff Dunham and Achmed the Dead Terrorist, celebrating Christmas.
Johnny Carson and Doc talk about Thanksgiving
Forbidden Planet
An evening pause: Forbidden Planet (1956). Almost a half century after its creation, this science fiction film is still one of the best every made. The story is supposingly inspired by Shakespeare’s The Tempest. This is also the film that gave Gene Roddenberry his inspiration for Star Trek.
Falling Hare (1943)
Tour of ISS, part 4
An evening pause: Mike Finke’s tour of ISS continues in the Progress freighter, moves through the Zarya functional cargo module into the Zvezda service module at the aft end of the station, showing us a Russian crew cabin and the station’s main bathroom facilities.
A Man for All Seasons
An evening pause: Thomas More, played by Paul Schofield, explains why he would allow even the devil his due in law, from A Man for All Seasons (1966).