J.S. Bach – Toccata and Fugue in D on Glass Harp
An evening pause: Hat tip Danae.
Tag: entertainment
Akilah Hughes – Every youtube video ever
An evening pause: Hilarious video on the banality of much of youtube and our modern culture from Akilah Hughes.
Senator proposes criminal charges against global warming skeptics
Fascists: Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island) has proposed that racketeering charges be considered against fossil fuel companies who express skepticism about human-caused global warming and dare to disagree with any environmental regulations imposed based on this theory.
As he writes today in his Washington Post op-ed:
The fossil fuel industry, its trade associations and the conservative policy institutes that often do the industry’s dirty work met at the Washington office of the American Petroleum Institute. A memo from that meeting that was leaked to the New York Times documented their plans for a multimillion-dollar public relations campaign to undermine climate science and to raise “questions among those (e.g. Congress) who chart the future U.S. course on global climate change.”
Gee, industry skeptics of global warming wish to use their first amendment rights to debate the issue! How dare they! Worse, they might use money to finance their effort! (I wonder why I and most other skeptic bloggers never get any of this cash.)
As noted at the first link, the idea that any disagreement with global warming advocacy should be criminalized is not a new thing, and has increasingly been advocated by that leftwing community. Whitehouse is now tying this to the criminalization of the use of money to express that disagreement. Tie that to the effort of the Democratic Party to rewrite the first amendment to allow government to restrict speech, and you have the basic outline of a fascist movement intent on squelching freedom.
Steve Martin – The Crow
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.
Carrie Underwood – Different Drum
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.
Sesame Street – Fat Cat Sat Hat
An evening pause: Time again for some silliness.
ABBA – Arrival
An evening pause: Performed live at the 2014 Netherlands Military Tattoo, their version of Great Britain’s annual Proms.
Hat tip Danae.
Kenny Rogers – The Gambler
An evening pause: Hat tip Danae.
B.B. King – The Thrill Is Gone
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.
Jack Johnson, Eddie Vedder, Kawika Kahiapo – Constellations
An evening pause: Performed live at the Kokua Festival 2007.
Hat tip Danae.
Chico and Harpo Marx – At the piano
An evening pause: From The Big Store (1941).
Hat tip to Phil Berardelli, author of Phil’s Favorite 500: Loves of a Moviegoing Lifetime.
Guang Dong – Pas de deux
An evening pause: Just watch.
Gordon Lightfoot – Carefree Highway
An evening pause: Performed live in Reno in 2000. It is amazing to compare this older Lightfoot with Lightfoot performing in 1974. He is as good, but he looks like a different man.
Hat tip Danae.
Lorrie Morgan – Something in Red
An evening pause: I posted a Morgan 1992 performance of this classic back in 2012. In 1992 she was performing the song when it was fresh and a just released hit. Almost a quarter century later it remains one of the best songs ever written, and so I think I should post it again, this time in a more recent live performance from 2007.
Nina Conti – “I think the world is ready to see my dance moves.”
An evening pause: Really clever and funny routines, especially the last third, when she turns an audience member into her ventriloquist dummy.
Hat tip Tom Biggar.
Willie Nelson – Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain
An evening pause: Performed live in 1980, around the time that Nelson, who had been working in relative obscurity for years, had suddenly been “noticed”.
Hat tip t-dub for reminding me that Nelson deserved more notice, again.
Clint Mansell – Lux Aeterna (Requiem for a Dream)
An evening pause: I normally don’t post performances recorded by only one camera, as the visuals can get boring. This performance, however, is an exception definitely worth viewing.
Elton John – Daniel
An evening pause: Performed live, at the request from the audience.
Hat tip Danae.
The Americanization of Emily – “War is not moral”
An evening pause: A fine performance by James Garner from a Paddy Chayefski screenplay. While I agree that putting soldiers on pedestals is often a misplaced emotion that can lead to future unnecessary wars, I do not agree that all war is immoral. There are times, as a last resort, when good people have to stand up and fight, if only to prevent bad people from dominating the battlefield. In 1964, when The Americanization of Emily was released, Americans could be forgiven for being hostile to war. After World War II the country had gotten itself into a string of wars, the goals of all having been poorly considered. It was also a time when evil people were well restrained by our willingness to stand up to them.
Today, our fear and hostility to war is allowing evil to run rampant worldwide. It will very soon descend upon our heads if we do not begin to fight back.
Having said that, this is a fine and thoughtful scene from a fine and thoughtful movie, raising many profound thoughts about the nature and consequences of war. Hat tip to Phil Berardelli, author of Phil’s Favorite 500: Loves of a Moviegoing Lifetime.
Extreme wood bending with ammonia
An evening pause: For the science geeks in the audience.