Empire of the Sun – P51: Cadillac of the Skies
An evening pause: From Stephen Spielberg’s 1987 film Empire of the Sun.
Hat tip to Phil Berardelli, author of Phil’s Favorite 500: Loves of a Moviegoing Lifetime.
Category: The Evening Pause
A nightly pause from the news to give the reader/viewer a bit of classic entertainment.
Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull) / Kathrin Troester – Griminelli’s Lament
Turkey Drone 2014
An evening pause: Thanksgiving and Black Friday might be over, but there still is Christmas dinner!
Hat tip Diane Zimmerman.
Surprise babies in the 115,000 volt substation!
Ralph Vaughan Williams:- A Song of Thanksgiving
An evening pause: Written for the BBC to mark the end of World War II, Vaughan Williams selected text from the Bible, Shakespeare, and Rudyard Kipling.
Teach us the strength that cannot seek,
By deed, or thought, to hurt the weak;
That, under thee, we may possess
Man’s strength to comfort man’s distress.
Teach us delight in simple things,
The mirth that has no bitter springs;
Forgiveness free of evil done,
And love to all men ‘neath the sun.
Go here for the full lyrics. It is absolutely worthwhile to print them out and read them as you watch this video. The images and words work together with amazing force, and illustrate well the importance of giving thanks on this day.
Ennio Morricone – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
An evening pause: With yesterday’s evening pause in mind, here’s a classical orchestra showing us how they perform spaghetti western music.
Spaghetti Western Orchestra
An evening pause: Recorded live 2011. With sound effects, props, and drinkable musical instruments!
Hat tip Diane Zimmerman
Jennifer Nettles – Hello Again
An evening pause: This song seems especially appropriate with me on the road in Israel and Diane back home in Tucson.
Hat tip Danae.
Images of Falcon 9 first stage fins and landing platform
The heat of competition: Elon Musk today tweeted images of the floating landing platform and new fins to be tested on SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 attempt to safely land the first stage vertically.
The launch is presently scheduled for December 16. Imagine the excitment if that first stage successful lands on that platform.
The heat of competition: Elon Musk today tweeted images of the floating landing platform and new fins to be tested on SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 attempt to safely land the first stage vertically.
The launch is presently scheduled for December 16. Imagine the excitment if that first stage successful lands on that platform.
Lion hug
The Association – Along Comes Mary
An evening pause: Hat tip Keith Douglas. Recorded live during the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. The music is pure 60s pop, great to listen to. The opening intro, however, shows, as Keith wrote to me, that “nerds rock!”
Sandy and Richard Riccardi – Holiday Dinner Party
An evening pause: I think this is appropriate with the coming of the Thanksgiving and Christmas season.
Hat tip to Diane Zimmerman.
The Revolutionary Non Sequitar Turbo Encabulator Transmission
An evening pause: This video below was done during the narrator’s warm-up prior to actually recording a Rockwell International industrial touting that company’s first effort in building heavy duty automatic transmissions. As the website notes, “Now remember this is strictly off the cuff, nothing is written down. Nothing he says is true, it’s all meaningless drivel made up as he goes along.” It is also hilarious to watch.
Sadly, this is drivel we now hear every day from government officials. Unfortunately, not enough people seem capable of recognizing drivel when they hear it. If they could, we might be able to laugh about it more.
Los Angeles Guitar Quartet – Lotus Eaters
What Mechanical Engineers Do When They Retire
Joan Baez – Diamonds And Rust
Tim Conway – Dentist sketch
An evening pause: I’ve posted pieces from the Carol Burnett Show before, but it has been a long while. Time for more.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
Hayley Westenra – For The Fallen
An evening pause: On this November 11, Armistice Day.
With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.
Nicole Atkins – Bird on a Wire
Andreas Scholl performs Handel’s Ombra mai fu
Buddy Greene – Classical Harmonica Medley
Victor Borge and Marilyn Mulvey – Hands Off!
Sha-Na – I’m Gonna Knock On Your Door
Tina Dico & Helgi Jonsson – River
Martin Brest – Hot Tomorrows
An evening pause: Hat tip again to Phil Berardelli, author of Phil’s Favorite 500: Loves of a Moviegoing Lifetime. As Phil wrote to me, this scene is “the sensational finale from Martin Brest’s NYU student film, Hot Tomorrows. Brest, who went on to direct Beverly Hills Cop, Midnight Run and Scent of a Woman, broke all the rules in scrounging every resource he could find to make this 73-minute tragi-comic riff on the subject of death.”
Makes for a perfect Halloween evening pause.
An aside: Long ago, when I was in the movie business, I worked with many of the people who helped Brest make this film, and can say without doubt that he scored the best crew one could imagine finding for a student production.
Kitaro with 12 Girls Band – Matsuri
Bond – Viva
Yael Ahn – Chopsticks
An evening pause: When I was 9 to 11 going to day camp each summer, I had to listen to kids playing this song every day, continually, on the camp piano. I grew to hate it.
This version, however, is absolutely worth listening to and watching, as Ahn adds some percussion, using of all things, chopsticks!
Hat tip to Edward Thelen.
Clean Bandit – Rather Be
Ginger Rogers – We’re in the money
An evening pause: From the 1933 film Gold Diggers of 1933, choreographed by Busby Berkeley. I especially like the section when Ginger sings the song in pig latin!
Hat tip again to Phil Berardelli, author of Phil’s Favorite 500: Loves of a Moviegoing Lifetime.