Genesis – Los Endos

An evening pause: Performed live 1987. The piece however begins with a spectacular six minute drum duet performed by Phil Collins & Chester Thompson. The level of musical communication going on between these two drummers as they play is literally impossible for a non-musician to conceive.

Hat tip Chris McLaughlin.

Private Snafu – Coming!!

An evening pause: This was the first of a World War II cartoon series directed by Chuck Jones, voiced by Mel Blanc, and written by Theodor Geisel aka Dr. Seuss and designed to with humor raise the work ethic of soldiers and officers.

Hat tip Lazurus Long, who adds that “it was a bit racy and [thus] popular with the servicemen.”

Today our military authorities probably consider our servicemen and women to be too fragile for such stuff. And hopefully this evening pause will air before Google’s YouTube decides it must be banned.

The Offspring – Self Esteem

An evening pause: Performed live 1995.

Hat tip Jim Mallamace, who added, “A time before cell phones waved in everyone’s hand. A time where crowds were in the moment. A time when there were crowds.”

I would add it was a time when people were also not afraid, but lived life with spirit and exuberance, ignoring its natural risks because to pay attention to them would make life intolerable.

Enjoy your weekend. Get out of your house. Do something grand. And do it with as many people as you can find.

Military band joke

An evening pause: One marching band from Britain is performing to an Italian audience when a band representing the Italian Bersaglieri (mobile light infantry who traditionally run at a trot instead of march) arrives to upstage them.

Silly and staged, but fun nonetheless.

Hat tip Jim Mallamace.

Mechanimations – It’s Worth It

An evening pause: An animation that actually is real and useful, showing the full rebuild of a dirt bike engine.

What struck me is the number of parts and pieces and their complexity. Pause and consider the engineering thought that went into creating this and all such engines.

Hat tip David Eastman.

Bell Telephone: Explaining mobile phone technology, c1946

An evening pause: Hat tip Jim Mallamace, who notes that he watched this video on his modern mobile phone.

What strikes me is how much we take this capability for granted, especially when you watch and see how “compact” the car units were. Yet, in the 1940s when this technology was first being developed the use of telephones themselves was only a few decades old. The very idea of being able to communicate instantly with anyone over long distances was still relatively new. Now it included talking to people at random locations. For the people of that time, this was exciting news harboring a bright future.

Stockholm 1913

An evening pause: The footage is gently colorized but with little else changed. Like previous such pauses showing film footage from the past, it gives us a glimpse into a different world that appears more dignified and civilized.

Hat tip Björn “Local Fluff” Larsson, who notes, “All men wear suits and hats. All ladies are dressed up. All buildings are beautiful. Then socialism happened.”

1 32 33 34 35 36 126