Tag: entertainment
A Night to Remember
An evening pause: With the death of film director Roy Ward Baker yesterday, I think it appropriate to watch a clip from one of his classics, A Night to Remember (1958). This understated but frighteningly powerful film captured the reality of the Titanic’s sinking in a style that is unfortunately rare today.
Kate and Anna McGarrigle: Heart like a wheel
An evening pause: A belated memorial to Kate McGarrigle, who passed away from cancer on January 18, 2010. Here she and her sister Anna sing their classic, “Heart like a Wheel”, Cafe Lena 1990.
Engineer spice
If you do this in an email, I hate you
To duck or not to duck
Zenyatta wins again
On a different subject, Zenyatta, a 6 year old thoroughbred mare, won her 19th consecutive race today. What makes the horse so amazing is that she always hangs way back, and then charges past everyone in the stretch.
On a different subject, Zenyatta, a 6 year old thoroughbred mare, won her 19th consecutive race today. What makes the horse so amazing is that she always hangs way back, and then charges past everyone in the stretch.
Fred Astaire dancing on the ceiling
Playing catch with a cat
Dancing robots
The Snowbird Human-Powered Ornithopter
An evening pause: August 2, 2010: The first flight of a human powered ornithopter, an aircraft propelled by flapping wings.
An evening pause: August 2, 2010: The first flight of a human powered ornithopter, an aircraft propelled by flapping wings.
11 Predictions About 2010 That the Simpsons Got Right
Crystal ball alert: Eleven correct predictions about 2010 that the Simpsons television show made in 1995.
Crystal ball alert: Eleven correct predictions about 2010 that the Simpsons television show made in 1995.
Hand Dance – Up & Over It
Yankee Doodle Daffy
Slot Canyon
An evening pause: A walk through an unidentified slot canyon somewhere on the Colorado Plateau in the Navaho reservation.
Field of gold played by Sungha Jung
An evening pause: Fields of Gold, played by Sungha Jung. Man, can this kid play the guitar!
Holst’s Jupiter movement from The Planets
An evening pause: Though Gustav Holst entitled the fourth movement of his The Planets suite Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity, its sweeping melody has always invoked for me the open and majestic plains and mountains of the American west. Sir Charles Mackerras conducts the BBC Philharmonic orchestra.
Lady of Shalott sung by Loreena McKennitt
A real cat burgler
Rube Goldberg music video
An evening pause: Here’s another Rube Goldberg machine, this time created for a music video from the band OK Go.
Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain
An evening pause: The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain doing the music (with sound effects!) from the film The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966).
The Westerner
An evening pause: The Westerner (1940). Gary Cooper is wonderful, but it is Walter Brennan as Judge Roy Bean who steals the show.
Corny Concerto
Someone in a tree
An evening pause: From Stephen Sondheim’s Pacific Overture, the song “Someone in a Tree,” from the 1976 Broadway production.
It’s the fragment, not the day
It’s the pebble, not the stream
It’s the ripple, not the sea
That is happening.
Not the building but the beam
Not the garden but the stone
Only cups of tea
And history
And someone in a tree.
Singing in the Rain
Kittens on vacuum
The best Johnny Carson show ever
An evening pause: This clip is only one segment from what Johnny Carson himself considered the best Tonight Show of all time. George Gobel comes on last and steals the show. Also, watch Dean Martin closely during the segment.
Marriage break up scene in Best Years of Our Lives
Lawrence of Arabia
An evening pause: Lawrence of Arabia (1962). One of the greatest epic films ever made. And though the story is heavily dramatized, it captures quite accurately the substance and reality of T.E. Lawrence’s time in the Middle East during World War I. Sadly, I wonder if anything has changed.
Bugs Bunny — Water Water Every Hare
An evening pause: Bugs Bunny in Water Water Every Hare. “In my business you meet so many interesting people.”