BLR – iDiots
An evening pause: For the New Year, this short film epitomizes the modern computer world. Do you use an iDiot?
Hat tip Jim Mallamace.
Category: The Evening Pause
A nightly pause from the news to give the reader/viewer a bit of classic entertainment.
U2 – New Years Day
A New Year
An evening pause: Written by Michael Hunter Ochs and performed to celebrate the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashahah, this song applies now as well. As it says, “As long as there are stars above, there comes a new year.”
Johann Strauss Sr. – Radetzky March
An evening pause: Performed in 2011 by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra as part of its annual New Year’s Eve performance.
I like how little conducting the conductor does. This is music his orchestra can play in their sleep.
Hat tip Danae.
Ørkenens sønner – Dance in the fog
An evening pause: Some true silliness for this truly silly season, between the holidays.
Hat tip Jim Mallamace, who notes that this Danish comedy group’s name translates to “Sons of the Desert” in English.
100 Years of Men’s Fashion: New Year’s Style
CUFI Cornerstone Singers – Hava Nagila Texas Style
An evening pause: Here’s some more Jewish music to celebrate Hanukkah, though somewhat different from yesterday’s piece.
Hat tip Jim Mallamace.
Adam Shugar – Hanukkah Overture for String Orchestra and Clarinet
An evening pause: A fitting musical piece in the middle of Hannukkah. Performed by the Orchestre Nouvelle Génération.
Normally I don’t post orchestra performances filmed in their entirety from only one wide shot, as this is. I make an exception here for three reasons: 1. The music is good. 2. It is not well known, and should be. 3. Unlike most orchestras, this string orchestra performs while standing, and the high angle looking down allows you to see them all as they play together, almost like a choreographed dance. It works.
Hat tip Danae.
Ben Abraham and Guests – O come, O come, Emmanuel
An evening pause: Recorded at The Thornbury Theatre, December 13, 2013. The guests are Jane Patterson, John Flanagan, Tash Parker and Wally De Backer.
In good will I — a secular humanist born a Jew — wish all of my Christian brethren a very Merry Christmas.
A Christmas Carol
A daytime pause: For Christmas Day, what better than to watch Alastair Sim’s incredible performance in the 1951 adaption of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
I watched this again and felt like weeping, not because of the sentimentality of the story itself but because it is so seeped in a civilized world that increasingly no longer exists. There was a time when this was our culture. I fear it is no longer so. As noted by the Spirit of Christmas Present, “This boy is ignorance, this girl is want. Beware them both, but most of all beware this boy.”
Enjoy, and I hope you all have a Merry Christmas Day.
Kaylee Rodgers & Killard House Special School – Hallelujah
An evening pause: As noted at the webpage where I found this video, “Kaylee Rodgers has autism and ADHD, but has been growing in confidence with every performance after starting to sing at the age of just three.”
Rod Stewart – Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
Gloria Estefan – Turn the Beat Around
A Very Murray Christmas – Fairytale of New York
Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan – El Pastor
An evening pause: The solo is by Arturo Vargas. Mariachi Vargas is accompanied by the Philharmonic Orchestra of Querétaro.
Hat tip Jim Mallamace. The lyrics, in English and Spanish, are below the fold. It is definitely worthwhile to read them during the song.
Joe Journeys – Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood, Saint Petersburg, Russia
An evening pause: Hat tip Danae. As she wrote, “This next may be in keeping with religious or security undercurrents just now, or as something beautiful to see at any time at all. Tsar Nicholas III was mortally wounded in his carriage by a bomb thrown by revolutionary terrorists in 1881. As a memorial to him, his family built this fabulous church on the very spot in St. Petersburg where the attack occurred. The interior is amazing, walls and ceiling entirely covered with colorful religious mosaics.”
Just watch. You will wish you were there in real life.
The first powered flight
An evening pause: Tomorrow will be the anniversary of the first powered flight at Kitty Hawk. How about a compliation of movie clips showing the Wright Brothers themselves in the air.
Hat tip Tom Biggar.
Joe Satriani – Midnight
Louis Armstrong – When The Saints Go Marching In
An evening pause: As the video says at the start, in quoting Duke Ellington, “He was born poor, died rich, and never hurt anyone along the way.”
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
Shonen Knife – Sweet Christmas
An evening pause: Hat tip Jim Mallamace, who wrote, “From Japan a girl group named after a boy’s pocket knife.”
Miyako Arishima – Nocturne in G major Op. 37 No. 2
An evening pause: In watching her play this Chopin piece the word that came to my mind was “graceful.”
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
Sammy Hagar – Eagles Fly
Christmas in Hollis Carpool Karaoke
An evening pause: I normally don’t like rap, but this version of the Run-D.M..C. original is quite appealing, and very appropriate for the season.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
STAR WARS Stormtrooper VS. Fort Worth Police Officer!
An evening pause: While this Fort Worth police department recruitment video isn’t directly related to the historical events at Pearl Harbor that occurred on December 7 in 1941, I think it illustrates how a free people, with gun rights, are going to always be better prepared for war than those raised under tyranny. And it’s funny too!
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Susan Boyle with Libera – In the Bleak Midwinter
An evening pause: For my Christian readers, a song for this Christmas season.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
Billy Joel – Just The Way You Are
Mark Knopfler – Brothers in arms
Megan Lee – Winter Wonderland
An evening pause: December has arrived, which to me is when the Christmas season should really begin. And what better way to start it but with this incredibly happy rendition of this classic.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
Modest Mussorgsky – Pictures at an Exhibition
An evening pause: Orchestration by Maurice Ravel. Performed in Carnegie Hall, New York, July 22, 2014 by the National Youth Orchestra of the U.S.A. This long for an evening pause, but it is worth listening to every note.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
ISS Fisheye Fly-Through
An evening pause: Make sure you watch this full screen. In many ways this video tour of ISS illustrates its magnificence and its failure. It is not an easy thing to build a house in space, and it is clear that we have done it here. At the same time, ISS hardly appears to be a comfortable vessel to live in during travel to other planets. Skylab was much more livable.
Hat tip Phil Berardelli and Tom Wilson.