A nightly pause from the news to give the reader/viewer a bit of classic entertainment.
An evening pause: Taped on August 25, 2014. Hat tip Danae, who wrote, “It was 111.4 degrees under the side porch roof this afternoon, which explains why this video appeals to me. The visibility of the sea floor is just frosting on the cake.”
To me, this probably gives one who has never surfed (like myself) the best sense of what it is like to do it.
An evening pause: The conductor, Joe Hisaishi, is also the composer for the music in Hayao Miyazaki‘s best animated films.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
An evening pause: From a performance during the 1970s the Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour.
Hat tip Danae. As she notes, this was when Cher “still seemed semi-normal.” Without doubt, she could sing, and act. Too bad in later years she stopped focusing on where her best talents lay.
An evening pause: For the geeks out there, this video is a very nice and detailed explanation of the engineering that makes this jet engine so powerful.
Hat tip Tom Biggar.
An evening pause: From the September 19, 1981 Simon & Garfunkel concert in Central Park.
Hat tip Danae for suggesting the song in this troubling time.
An evening pause: I especially like the simplicity of the music, combined with the interplay between the guitarist and the singer.
An evening pause: Here is an fine example of a man following his dream and making it happen.
Hat tip Danae.
An evening pause: Stay with it. The last bits of dialogue are worth it.
Hat tip to Phil Berardelli, author of Phil’s Favorite 500: Loves of a Moviegoing Lifetime.
An evening pause: This SpaceX video taken by a camera attached to the fairing of the Falcon 9 rocket is cool not because of the video itself. Cameras on rockets have become routine, even for NASA. What is cool is that they have unveiled it using the same Johann Strauss waltz used in the move 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). It shows that SpaceX is aware of the cultural impact of what they do.
Hat tip Tom Wilson, Tom Biggar, and others.
An evening pause: Tonight’s pause is a bit different, in that it has a newsy aspect to it, illustrating the uncertainty of knowledge that makes science so difficult. It is also incredibly entertaining and funny, almost like the 1960s TV show Candid Camera. Would you be fooled like these people were?
Hat tip Phillip Oltmann.
An evening pause: Mary Elizabeth Bowden on trumpet and Naomi Woo on piano.
Hat tip Danae for suggesting the music.
An evening pause: For anyone who has ever listened to NPR, it will be hard to distinguish the satire here from reality, since the skit so well captures public radio’s often empty-headed blather disguised as profound intellectualism, framed by a strong desire to promote anything the government wants done.
Hat tip to John Harman.
An evening pause: From the 1983 reunion concert.
An evening pause: Hat tip Tom Biggar, who wrote, “As one of the comments said: ‘You know that fine line between bravery and stupidity? Well, you passed it up about 5 miles back.’ My question is how did he get it on the planks from that narrow pier?”
Though I always approve of having the courage to push the envelope and take risks, this is not an example of that. They get away with it, but not because they used their brains. They were merely lucky.
An evening pause: Hilarious video on the banality of much of youtube and our modern culture from Akilah Hughes.
An evening pause: Here’s Steve Martin, Bela Fleck, Tony Trischka, and Brittany Hass playing a song written by Steve Martin.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
An evening pause: For a long time I tried and failed to find an original performance of this song by Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys, but could never find it. Carrie Underwood, however, does a great Ronstadt imitation at Ronstadt’s 2014 induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Hat tip Danae.
An evening pause: Performed live at the 2014 Netherlands Military Tattoo, their version of Great Britain’s annual Proms.
Hat tip Danae.
An evening pause: For Memorial Day, on which we not only honor the war dead but we are supposed to refresh our memories about why we fought in the first place. This color footage of occupied Berlin shortly after surrender shows the devastation after World War II. Though it is tragic to see, I will be honest and admit that I feel little sorrow. The Germans brought this upon themselves by plunging the world into two world wars, and in the second used it as an excuse to commit unspeakable genocide. In order to make sure they would never do it again, and would instead become a part of the civilized world, it was necessary to hit them as hard as these images show. Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin all understood this. So did the entire populations of all three allies.
If only we had the courage today to do the same to the petty dictators and Islamic fanatics in the Middle East. They are as brutal, as violent, and as bigoted as the Nazis were, and will soon have atomic weapons at their disposal to use as they wish. To really bring them to heel they need to be given the same harsh lessons we gave the Germans.
I fear however we will not have the courage to do so until after they drop some nuclear bombs on a few cities.
An evening pause: To B.B. King, may he rest in peace.
Performed live at the 2010 Crossroads Guitar Festival.
Hat tip Tom Wilson and Tom Biggar.
An evening pause: From The Big Store (1941).
Hat tip to Phil Berardelli, author of Phil’s Favorite 500: Loves of a Moviegoing Lifetime.
