A nightly pause from the news to give the reader/viewer a bit of classic entertainment.
An evening pause: Another video suggested by Phill Oltmann illustrating how engineering has revolutionized the agricultural field. In this case its tomatoes, which I think illustrates quite well why mass produced tomatoes are simply not as good as vine grown tomatoes from your garden. Assuming the tomatoes in this video are not intended for canning, they have to be tough to withstand the harvesting process so that they remain whole for the fruit stand.
An evening pause: The amazing thing about this song is that it was written in the 1960s and does a good job of describing the insanity today. In the 60s it was actually exaggerating the chaos a bit. Today, it probably understates it. The only thing about the song that I objected to then, and now, is its eventual pessimistic view of humanity. We ain’t perfect, but we ain’t all bad either. In fact, I think there is probably more good than evil in most of us. We just need to listen, think, and choose. Chaos happens when we don’t, and instead act like mindless instinct-driven animals.
Hat tip Tom Biggar.
An evening pause: On the eve of this year’s election day, this scene from Becket (1964) expresses well what I wish the American voters would do to both the Democratic Party and the Republican leadership in Congress. They all need to go, for the health of the country and because of their repeated malfeasance in office.
Hat tip to Phil Berardelli, author of the new edition of Phil’s Favorite 500: Loves of a Moviegoing Lifetime.
An evening pause: Performed with spirit by the Radio France orchestra, in anticipation of Halloween.
Hat tip Danae.
An evening pause: Recorded live, September 5, 1967, in Copenhagen, Denmark. Having some fun with the old folk ballads.
Hat tip Danae.
An evening pause: More proof that modern engineering can make almost anything seem easy.
Hat tip Phill Oltmann.
An evening pause: The song, which is really nice, is really just background music to a beautiful video of what it is like to fly fish in Montana. As always, I want to note the sophistication of the human engineering and design that makes this activity possible. It is as beautiful as the countryside and the music.
Hat tip Rocco.
An evening pause: This clip is actually only the last half of the chariot race scene from Ben-Hur (1959), still one of the greatest action sequences ever put on film. And not only was it on film, but they did it without any computer animation. What you see is real, real horses and real chariots and real actors and real very skilled and brave stunt men. (See this short film on how the even earlier 1925 silent-era epic film Ben-Hur version was made, in a similar manner.)
If you get the chance, watch the 1959 film. Truly a great Hollywood epic.
Hat tip Phil Berardelli, author of the new edition of Phil’s Favorite 500: Loves of a Moviegoing Lifetime.
An evening pause: Rocco had suggested this short video about the joys of going out and digging clams. I prefer the video below, of a real clam doing its own digging, because it shows us something we normally don’t see and that is really amazing. Who would have thought that a clam could bury itself so quickly, with a single digging foot?
An evening pause: One of my favorite pieces of music, performed by Xuefei Yang and Barcelona Symphony.
Hat tip Danae.
An evening pause: What this attempt achieves more than anything else is to demonstrate that the scale of the universe is almost impossible to simulate or to conceive. There is a lot of emptiness out there.
Hat tip Rocco.
An evening pause: As noted on the youtube webpage, “The last two components of the Incity Tower spire were put in place by helicopter on Sunday 21 June [2015]. This metallic spire, which measures 50 metres and weighs 25.9 tonnes, took the building to its final height of 200 metres. This confirms its position as the highest tower in Lyon and the third highest in France. Three aerial beacons and a lightning rod will now be placed at the top.”
Hat tip Phill Oltmann.
An evening pause: Though the last two minutes are a commercial and can be ignored, the rest of this video shows the modern way glass is produced for our technological society. Most fascinating, especially because the way it is done surprised me.
Hat tip Rocco.
An evening pause: A very short pause, but one that I think is appropriate today with the success of the grassroots tea party movement in forcing John Boehner out as House Speaker.
Hat tip Diane Zimmerman.
An evening pause: The harvester is the equivalent of a mobile factory assembly-line that operates in the field. It also reminds me of the animated cartoon Transformers.
Hat tip Phill Oltmann.
An evening pause: Hat tip to Phil Berardelli, author of the new edition of Phil’s Favorite 500: Loves of a Moviegoing Lifetime, who notes, “Producer Mike Todd lured dozens of stars to appear in cameos in his still-glorious take on the classic Jules Verne novel, and nowhere were they more delightful than in the San Francisco saloon scene.”
How many well known actors and performers can you spot doing cameos in this short clip?
An evening pause: This hilarious parody of BBC science documentaries, which are not much different than many American PBS science documentaries, captures perfectly the typical empty-headed interviewers that I myself have sometimes had to deal with during too many of my television and radio appearances. They are not only often ignorant of some basic science, they are also ignorant of their own ignorance. They think they know a lot, and thus are easily confused and defensive when suddenly confronted with that ignorance.
I especially like her description of “the famous Greenwich Marillion line.”
Hat tip to Danae.
An evening pause: I must admit I am entirely ignorant of what the Angry Birds game is. The music here and the playing however is stellar.
Hat tip to Danae.
An evening pause: These railroad construction workers don’t waste a move or a word as they weld two track lengths together. It is like watching a roughhewn ballet.
The engineering itself is clever, more than a hundred years old, and fascinating. This video explains it.
Hat tip Phill Oltmann.
