Tag: entertainment
Margaret Thatcher does “Yes Minister” skit
An evening pause: Yes Minister was a British comedy show set within the halls of Parliament. In the past year I have posted a number of clips from the show (here, here, here and here) that illustrate how truthfully it skewed the political class.
Today we have a skit with two of the show’s stars performing with the actual prime minister at the time, Margaret Thatcher. She clearly understood the truthful humor of the show, as she explained once during an interview.
Hat tip Andrew Worth.
Louis Armstrong – A Kiss To Build A Dream On
Make it Move – Stellar
An evening pause: A cute little animated film about what we may find in our search of the heavens.
Hat tip Gary McDaniel.
U. S. Army Band – Bugler’s Holiday
An evening pause: Seems somehow right for the start of a new year. Enthusiastic and hopeful, as much of American music of the past was.
Hat tip Tom Biggar.
Straight No Chaser – Auld Lang Syne
An afternoon pause: To all my readers, supporters, and even those who disagree with me, may you all have a much better year in 2021 than you did in 2020.
With good will and hope for the future, Happy New Year!
Verdi – Libiamo ne’ lieti calici
An evening pause: I have never been a fan of opera, but this piece by Verdi is truly beautiful and fun to watch.
Hat tip Jim Mallamace, who also notes its opulence.
Simpals Animation Studio – Dji Death Sails
Joan Baez – Diamonds And Rust
James Doohan’s ashes have been on ISS for the past dozen years
Video game developer Richard Garriott admitted in an interview this week that when he flew to ISS as a space tourist in 2008 he smuggled some of the ashes of the late James Doohan, who played Scotty on Star Trek, to hide there.
[Garriott] printed three cards with Doohan’s photo on them, sprinkling ashes inside and then laminating them. He then hid the cards within the flight data file, which was cleared for the flight (the cards were not). “Everything that officially goes on board is logged, inspected and bagged — there’s a process, but there was no time to put it through that process,” he said.
…According to Garriott, one of the cards is on display in Chris Doohan’s home, while another was sent floating in space, where it would have inevitably burned up when re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere.
The third card, however, remains in the ISS, hidden beneath the cladding on the floor of the space station’s Columbus module, where Garriott hid it. “As far as I know, no one has ever seen it there and no one has moved it,” he said. “James Doohan got his resting place among the stars.” Since being hidden in the ISS, Doohan’s ashes have travelled nearly 1.7 billion miles through space, orbiting Earth more than 70,000 times.
I hope that now that Garriott has revealed the location of that third card, the petty dictators at NASA and Roscosmos won’t insist that it be removed. For ISS having the ashes of the world’s best space engineer on board can only be good luck.
And it might encourage the government workers at NASA and Roscomos to follow Scotty’s most sage advice, which to paraphrase is “Always under-predict and over-perform. It keeps their expectations low.”
Video game developer Richard Garriott admitted in an interview this week that when he flew to ISS as a space tourist in 2008 he smuggled some of the ashes of the late James Doohan, who played Scotty on Star Trek, to hide there.
[Garriott] printed three cards with Doohan’s photo on them, sprinkling ashes inside and then laminating them. He then hid the cards within the flight data file, which was cleared for the flight (the cards were not). “Everything that officially goes on board is logged, inspected and bagged — there’s a process, but there was no time to put it through that process,” he said.
…According to Garriott, one of the cards is on display in Chris Doohan’s home, while another was sent floating in space, where it would have inevitably burned up when re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere.
The third card, however, remains in the ISS, hidden beneath the cladding on the floor of the space station’s Columbus module, where Garriott hid it. “As far as I know, no one has ever seen it there and no one has moved it,” he said. “James Doohan got his resting place among the stars.” Since being hidden in the ISS, Doohan’s ashes have travelled nearly 1.7 billion miles through space, orbiting Earth more than 70,000 times.
I hope that now that Garriott has revealed the location of that third card, the petty dictators at NASA and Roscosmos won’t insist that it be removed. For ISS having the ashes of the world’s best space engineer on board can only be good luck.
And it might encourage the government workers at NASA and Roscomos to follow Scotty’s most sage advice, which to paraphrase is “Always under-predict and over-perform. It keeps their expectations low.”
Alan Jackson – Amazing Grace
An evening pause: This most famous of all gospel songs seems appropriate for Christmas day. Note the humbleness of the words. To be humble means you recognize your imperfection, and can address it with grace.
Hat tip Mike Nelson.
Kathy Mattea – Mary did you know
An evening pause: This song honoring Jesus I think really speaks of every child born on Earth, and how every parent should see them. As Wordsworth said, they come “trailing clouds of glory.”
Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
When you kissed your little baby then you kissed the face of god.
Hat tip Diane Zimmerman.
Anna Weatherup – Be Thou My Vision
An evening pause: It all depends on how you define God. To me, God is the entire universe, of which I am part. To recognize such a reality is terribly humbling, and leads to wisdom.
Billy Preston – You Can’t Beat God Giving
An evening pause: Feel the joy and good will. We should all feel this way, all the time.
Hat tip Cotour.
Werner Klemperer & John Banner – Silent Night
An evening pause: Silent Night is followed by Robert Clary singing a French carol. All three were actors from the 1960s television comedy series, Hogan’s Heroes, with Klemperer playing the Nazi prison commander, Banner the foolish guard (“I know nothing!!!”), and Clary the French prisoner.
I don’t know exactly when this aired, but it was likely in the late 1960s. It signals the good will fundamental to western civilization. The Germans had only two decades earlier put the world through a horrible war. Still, Americans were glad to hear two Germans immigrants sing this gentle song in their native language, despite the evils that nation had subjected the world to so recently.
The war was over. We are all fallible humans. Time to forgive, and move on.
Hat tip Phill Oltmann.
The Piano Guys – Emmanuel
An evening pause: I think this makes for a nice start of this year’s set of Christmas season evening pauses.
Note that though this piece is available on youtube, I specifically chose to embed it from Vimeo. It is time to no longer rely solely on google, if at all possible.
Ambosspolka
An evening pause: Hat tip Jim Malamace, who correctly notes that “The ‘electric cords’ on the hammers are hilarious and fitting because the hammer impacts actually caused sparks.”
Royal Guardsmen – Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron
Voorhees Choir – Three Hanukkah Songs
An evening pause: This week is Hannukkah. Three songs to celebrate the lit candle that did not burn out.
Glenn Yarbrough – Baby The Rain Must Fall
Elise Trouw – The Girl from Ipanema
The Diamonds – Little Darlin’
BouzoukXp – Belenos
Nandi Bushell – Rock and Grohl
An evening pause: The musical talent and passion are both outstanding. The shallow philosophy, when compared to Aristotle or Plato or Moses (to list only a few), is kind of sad to watch. She really believes that life is that simple. As a child such shallow passion is fine. I fear however that in the arriving dark age no one will ever do anything to make her think more deeply.
Hat tip Mike Nelson.
Wendy Law – Comparing cellos: Bach Cello Suite No. 1
An evening pause: She plays the same Bach piece on three different cellos, valued respectively at $5,000, $180,000, and a $1 million. Can you tell any difference, and if so, which do you like the best?
Hat tip Phill Oltman.
Mark Korven & Tony Duggan-Smith – The Apprehension Engine
Buster Keaton – Elevator chase
An evening pause: Some funny silliness from the silent movie era. And if you don’t know who Buster Keaton was, it is time you found out.
Hat tip Cotour.
Chiquita Banana – The original commercial
An evening pause: This will not mean anything to my younger readers, but this song and commercial seared itself into the brains of everyone who went to the movies or watched television in the 40s, 50s, and 60s. The first version, shown here, was produced by Disney for the United Fruit Company.
I can think of no reason not to sear this song into some new generations.
Hat tip David Nudelman.
Eiro Nareth – Interstellar
Eva Vergilova – Free Bird
An evening pause: Another guitar piece, but of a very different kind from yesterday’s.
Hat tip Mike Nelson. Note also that this pause was taken from Rumble, an alternative to Youtube. I encourage those who wish to suggest evening pauses to always see if they can find something there first. Reliance solely on Youtube is not healthy, and the competition will do everyone good.