A nightly pause from the news to give the reader/viewer a bit of classic entertainment.
An evening pause: Wells made one of the greatest films ever, Citizen Kane (1941), and then spent the rest of his life failing at finishing almost anything. Along the way he met some interesting people, and in this short clip during an interview on the Dick Cavett Show from July 27, 1970, he tells some of those stories.
His story about Churchill fits the gracious and humorous personality of that man to a “T”.
Hat tip Cotour.
An evening pause: Some jazz, that starts like 1950s cocktail music, and transcends into something very different.
Hat tip Diane Wilson.
An evening pause: I think only someone who was raised speaking Russian (or some variant) could naturally be able to achieve these deep sounds.
Hat tip Thomas Biggar.
An evening pause: Unlike yesterday’s evening pause, tonight we look at some remarkable engineering that works perfectly, from the 1920s.
I would love to learn how this works.
Hat tip Diane Wilson.
An evening pause: A breath-taking collection of crashes and failures during the 2018 National Hot Rod Association race season One could call this a collection of engineering failures, but I don’t see it that way. For one, absolutely no one was seriously hurt, proving the design of their safety features. For another, the engine failures show how they are pushing the engineering to the max to win.
Hat tip Cotour.
An evening pause: There is a lot of modern art blarney in this artist’s view of the depth of this work, which is both literally and figuratively very shallow. Nonetheless, attention must be paid to the brilliant engineering and beauty of the work.
Hat tip Cotour.
An evening pause: We could also call this Hollywood vs Bollywood, the West vs the East, America vs India.
Or we could simply say it is a wonderful example of how music can transcend culture.
Hat tip Jeff Poplin.
An evening pause: The dancing here is as good if not better than anything you will see in an Astaire & Rogers movie.
Hat tip Thomas Biggar.
An evening pause: Don’t ask me, I’ve never seen the show, but the guitar work here is fun to watch.
Hat tip Cotour.
An evening pause: From the Carol Burnett Show, a skit staring Don Rickles, Nanette Fabray, and Harvey Corman.
Hat tip Phill Oltmann.
An evening pause: I really have no idea who is performing this, as the Vimeo link provided no information. Web searches also came up dry. I couldn’t even find the lyrics.
Nonetheless, it is beautiful, and worth more than one listen.
UPDATE: I have finally located a description of this work of art. It is called The Wound in the Water,
music by Kim André Arneson (2016); libretto by Euan Tait (August 2015). This is from part 2, “The cry of the exile” and is called “Song of the Sea Exile.” The lyrics:
I, the exile,
my heart burning,
my lost life
a terrible fire,
songs of loved ones
crying all around me.
Oh endless,
endless home, the sea.
Oh my missing,
I am listening,
yet your silence
cannot answer me.
There, we left
our singing unfinished,
and our lives now
fall into the endless sea.
This the broken
gift of love:
the exile calls,
remembered names.
What you were
scorched on me,
your wounded names
sung to the endless sea.
Waves like voices
roar around you:
we’re not silenced,
but cry out like the
sea.
Your anger,fiery, living
is like love
that bleeds
like the endless sea.
Oh our exile,
torn by love,
singing words
you can no longer sing,
where’s the shores,
the harbour, the horizon,
wanderer,
calling to the endless sea
calling to the endless sea?
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
An evening pause: The sad part is that there is a cut in the middle, which I think suggests they were forced to delete some really funny but probably risque stuff that was unacceptable for television.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
An evening pause: Stay with it. The first half is good, but it is merely an appetizer for the second half.
Hat tip Rex Ridenoure from Ecliptic Enterprises, who says of this clip, “This video went viral, and he’s now the drummer for the Blood, Sweat and Tears band and seeing the world.”
An evening pause: She was seven when this was performed live in Moscow on September 13, 2018.
Hat tip Thomas Biggar.
An evening pause: I know this is late for the anniversary of D-Day, but I think it actually expresses well the same determination that made it possible for Americans to go to the Moon. Those men at Normandy, as well as in Apollo, stood for freedom, to paraphrase John Kennedy. And they were willing to die to make sure their friends, families, and nation remained free.
What do you stand for?
Hat tip commodude.
An evening pause: The first is amazingly beautiful, the last especially silly.
Hat tip Diane Wilson.
An evening pause: It’s been awhile since this group has been an evening pause. And here they do it all, at once.
Hat tip Tom Biggar.
An evening pause: “…and returning him safely to Earth.”
Splashdown from the perspective of the frogmen. Stay with it, as they show every detail, including the recovery of the capsule after the astronauts are already on board the aircraft carrier.
An evening pause: In honor of the fiftieth anniversary.
The astronauts plant the American flag, after they had unveiled a plaque on the lunar module with the words, “We came in peace for all mankind.”
This was an American achievement, accomplished because our free and competitive society gave us the resources and trained talent to make it happen. We did it for all mankind, in good will, but we did it, no one else.
It is time that we as well as everyone else do it again.
An evening pause: In honor of the fiftieth anniversary.
Neil Armstrong takes the first steps on the Moon. Note his focus is almost entirely on describing what he sees and experiences. He is doing this for two reasons, first to provide knowledge of the Moon to the world, and second to provide engineers as much information as possible for future missions.
This focus explains why the first thing he does is to get a contingency rock sample, just in case they need to leave the Moon quickly.
Note also that when Buzz Aldrin joins Armstrong on the surface, he is as professional and calm, proving that the way he has been portrayed by some recent movies as as undisciplined jerk is simply a slander. He would not have been picked for this mission if he really behaved that way.
He wanted to be the first, and lobbied to get that chance. After the decision was made he got down to work to make the mission a success.
For a different view of these same events, watch this video.
